Ser Arys Oakheart pulled up his hood to cover his face. It would not do for him to be recognized. A fortnight past, a trader had been butchered in the shadow city, a harmless man who’d come to Dorne for fruit and found death instead of dates. His only crime was being from King’s Landing.

Our staff has put together a first blush analysis of the newly released “Shadow City” chapter pack. Answers to frequently asked rules questions can be found on the individual card pages on thronesdb.com. Cards are listed in numeric order and scored on a scale ranging from one through five, with five being the best possible score.

For the next few pack reviews, several guest reviewers will contribute their thoughts for five cards each. Let us know in the comments how you feel about the cards in this pack!

Now onto the reviews, starting with….

Varamyr Sixskins (3.5 Average)

OKTarg – 3.5 out of 5

I like this card! I’m a big wildling fan and I think Varamyr’s entrance into the game is a good thing. I like the flexibility that his trigger affords, but he’s not super-over-the-top efficient. The Intimidate is really nice, though, and great in Brotherhood.

scantrell24 – 3 out of 5

Varamyr is good in Brotherhood decks, but you have to make the right choice to maximize his potential (and remember to trigger him when the Challenges phase begins).

Von Wibble – 3.5 out of 5

A fun card to start with, each effect has its uses but I think the strength pump to win challenges by 5 may be strongest (no pun intended), making him appealing for aggro Stark or Targ. He looks like a very solid 1 of in many decks.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5

A lovely combination of theme (both the effect and continuation of starting cycles with a prologue card), fun-factor, flexibility and somewhat efficiency. There should always be at least one thing Varamyr does that you want.

Bolton Flayer (3.8 Average)

OKTarg – 4 out of 5

I love this card. Very flexible in terms of its cost, with you able to either straight-marshal it, shadow it, or Flea Bottom it, it adds that extra tad of attrition to your deck. The 3-cost INT icon is also fantastic in Stark, and I think this will be a good card for many cycles to come.

scantrell24 – 4 out of 5

The kill is limited to 3 gold or less characters, but there are plenty of juicy targets in that price range. Also, opponent’s can’t save from this effect, so Core Arya, for example, will die despite any duplicates. However, it’s a Forced Reaction, so consider carefully before you bring Bolton Flayer out of shadows.

Von Wibble – 3.5 out of 5

This card is not one to just throw into a deck, you have to build around the ability, considering the curve you are using carefully, as well as making sure you don’t kill the only viable opponent’s targets with military claim before the end of challenges. The fact that Stark have a lot of decent 2 costers hurts here as well. The card I’d want to compare this to most is the House Florent Knight, very powerful if used well but not the easiest to get working consistently (at least, before Mace showed up!). Lots of potential here.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5

He’s a card that primarily exists to set up the Marched/Ramsay play next round, and he does that pretty well despite often hitting a card that came in with Flea Bottom. The Flayer having the shadows keyword makes him a touch safer than we’d like. Perhaps fittingly for a Bolton he seems best poised against other Stark, as one of the few factions that runs multiple chud uniques they’d like to save.

Thomas Carasso – 3.5 out of 5

And letʼs Start with the first ever Shadow Card for our dear 2nd Ed!! And the first shadow card that comes out doesn’t need to come out of Shadows to have his effect … Ok, I must admit iʼm not a huge fan of this, but this is a matter of taste I guess. His ability allows you, as long as you control the Flayer, to kill (Cannot be Saved!) a character amongst the lowest cost on the board. Itʼs quite interesting to see how he will fit in the different bolton themes we’ve had so far, mostly, Martell Banner Wolf and NW Banner Wolf. Those two decks turns around the idea of reducing your opponent board until a critical point where either there is no board at all, either you let all alone some big guns without any claim soak around. Therefore youʼre free to use Ramsay Snow/Marched to the Wall to force your opponent into getting rid of the aforementioned big guns. Those archetype, usually called Attrition or Weenie Aggro had some real good times not so long ago, but would need some more help in the current meta game. Overall I think this 3 coster will fit more into NW decks than Martell ones. The last already have access to Venomous Blade to get rid of the smallest chump and also plays more small characters than his NW counterpart and itʼs already hard to find some more rooms, while the NW being less aggressive would really need some help with those. And they might do really well in a Toolbox/aggro deck that could also sacrifice them to not fear any downside neither, with the help, of let say on overweight lovely man from White Harbor that will show up in a few weeks now …

Northern Armory (4.2 Average)

OKTarg – 4 out of 5

Non-limited Economy! This card is quite nice, with a setup-able 1 gold on top of your normal stuff being quite nice. The one-off stand is gravy (needed gravy, so maybe more like toppings on your pizza?) and perhaps even fueling a deck more Stark-centric, with Gates, Maege, and Favor of the Old Gods all getting better significantly when you’re only playing White cards. I think it would go 3-of into all my recent Stark decks for sure.

scantrell24 – 4 out of 5

You’ll want to build your deck with impactful characters like Eddard Stark (WotN) for best use of the stand ability. I’m glad to see Stark finally have a playable economy option besides Heart Tree Grove. Maybe next Stark could get some draw that isn’t clunky?

Von Wibble – 5 out of 5

Non limited economy is easily worth 1 gold to play out, and I’d say a 1 shot stand for the other gold is a bargain. It will be hard not to include this in any Stark deck for me. Just watch out for the Lordsport Shipwright.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5

We’re in suspense over what exactly it cannot stand – southerners, presumably. We’re torn on the value of a 2g non-limited +1g card, but tentatively happy with this one because there’s basically no point of the game in which it’s a bad draw – early on it’s non-limited economy with a stand you can save until later; later on you’d much rather top-deck a stand effect than an econ location. That versatility gives it a leg up.

Hagarr – 5 out of 5

I love this card. I’d definitely pay two gold to stand my important character at an impactful stage of the game, in any action window I choose. We see from Magister Illyrio the price of stand, and the fact this provides gold every round from a non-limited location is the cherry on top. Once you’ve used it, it becomes perfect fodder for The North Remembers or Nothing Burns like the Cold if you’re that way inclined.

Scheming Septon (4.5 Average)

OKTarg – 5 out of 5

This card is dumb. At WORST it’s a Courtesan of the Rose, with tons ladled on top. Throw in the synergy with Oldtown and Mace and I’m crying, and not in a good way.

scantrell24 – 5 out of 5

Gold in the challenges phase is much more valuable now that Shadows are back as Any Phase Actions. I expect this guy to be everywhere. And he’s loyal, so great to draw with Renly’s Insight.

Von Wibble – 4 out of 5.

A card that repeatedly pays for itself is good, and more deck manipulation for use with Oldtown and the Spy is also strong. The shadows cost is a bit of a corner case as usually you will just want to marshall him.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5

Why is this shadows? The best we can come up with is that it has “Scheming” in its title and a quota of cards needing the new mechanic had to be met. Regardless, it’s a strong card as you essentially get it for ‘free’ if you just marshal it then trigger after a challenge. Synergy with Renly’s Insight trigger and Oldtown help it out a lot too, and it’s another loyal chud for Breaking Ties. The combination of power creep and unnecessary keyword leaves something of a poor taste though, although as rules lawyers we’re pleased to see the limit to stop potential silliness (at least until we get an effect to put it back into play and wish it was a “max” instead).

Thomas Carasso – 4.5 out of 5

And the second Shadow Card, phew, gosh what a card. Those Septons sound really strong and worrying to me. Along with Mace Tyrell, The Hightower and Oldtown, those boys can be really impressive. By itself this guys is already nice, allowing you to dig a bit into your deck and giving you some gold even during a turn of letʼs say Supporting the Faith, or as any shadow or ambush character, bypass stealth etc etc. But in his context he is basically a monster in terms of support. This guy can allow you to trigger everything you need to trigger in Tyrell: Mace Tyrell, The Hightower, Flea Bottom, and Oldtown. If he comes out of shadows, you can trigger Mace Tyrell and The Hightower, giving you both draw and passive power grab, while giving you a chud that can bypass The First Snow of Winter. Then by triggering his ability, he can give you the gold you need to play some event for instance, and more than anything give you the gold you might need to trigger Mace Tyrell AND for a Flea Bottom to get back one of those tasty “enters play” ability chuds, letting Mace Tyrell trigger his own ability to have those ready for dom while fetching you one more power thanks to his reaction AND on top of that by getting on top of your draw deck, you now know for sure that youʼll be able to trigger Oldtown, to get him safely back in your hand and giving you again one more power (i would suggest to trigger old town during the taxation phase in this case, if you are already to high in cards for your reserve value). Not to mention that he will also allow you to trigger without losing money all the reactions to a card getting out of shadows that will eventually come. Some of us can still remember those time dark and full of terrors with some Black Cells or Blanking Margaery Tyrell … The problem I have with that is that he just give some more tools to make Mace Tyrell/The Hightower decks even more reliable, as if they needed it. The Shadow Thematic, by giving you access to more opportunity to trigger Mace Tyrell and The Hightower during all the phases of the game naturally pushes some more those deck, and those are already doing quite well in a competitive environment, the only thing we can do is hope that FFG will eventually help balance the game some more through for instance a restricted list or some kind of limits on effects.

Margaery’s Influence (2.4 Average)

OKTarg – 2 out of 5

It’s like a wonky, expensive Craven. Which, is probably still pretty good, but I think the good Tyrell decks won’t want this. There is a control theme in Tyrell, but it’s not as good as the good Tyrell stuff or the good control stuff, so I don’t think we’ll see this quite yet.

scantrell24 – 2.5 out of 5

The Terminal keyword hurts, but it’s probably necessary or multiples of these would get out of hand quickly. I want to like Margaery’s Influence, but if Highgarden, Offer of Peach, etc. haven’t materialized into a viable control deck then will this attachment make much of a difference? I doubt it.

Von Wibble – 2 out of 5

It’s a cheaper but more predictable Highgarden, with the flexibility that unlike, say, Craven, it can be just as good on your characters as your opponents. The fact it isn’t loyal and has no restrictions on who you can put it on goes in its favour too. I like it, but like so many positive attachments I just feel there won’t be room to put it in your deck.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5

We’ve seen this effect like a dozen times already, snore. And terminal attachments are arguably the worst cardtype in the game. This at least gets flexibility from being non-loyal and working on attack and defence, as well as being an effect that can build towards saturation (at which point, they all get more annoying to play against).









Janos Slynt (3.9 Average)

OKTarg – 4 out of 5

This seems very cheap for what it does. Two gold for the best bicon spread in NW, albeit with the drawback, seems very nice. Cheap beef isn’t always what the watch needs, but it’s what Janos brings.

scantrell24 – 3 out of 5

I’m not a huge Night’s Watch player, but Janos seems reasonable, especially for Wall decks. He can wait in Shadows (avoiding stealth, kills, kneels, etc.), then come out to defend when necessary.

Von Wibble – 4.5 out of 5

A 0 cost shadows card could be a dangerous thing, although at least this one requires you to have a Night’s Watch character on the board to get much out of it. If decks in future exist that benefit enough from just getting someone out of shadows then cards like this could get of hand. The sacrifice for Night’s Watch isn’t even necessarily a cost, removing Yoren from the board to play out another one is decent for example – and it can even help to remove Milk if Spare Boot decides to not show up. Plus, strength 5 bicons apparently win challenges.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5

Cool that we’re already subverting the expectations for Shadows in the first pack of the cycle; shame we’re doing it with vanilla beef. With the sacrifice trigger it feels like it should be a Stark card more than a Watch one. The deal of 2g and a chud sacrifice for a 5 STR bicon is reasonable enough, especially being able to bring it in after attackers are declared for the defense faction.

Simon R.- 5 out of 5

EGAD!! Look, I know the comparison to Qotho isn’t perfect, but if the last year has taught us anything it’s that a 5-ST bicon that you can put into play when you have ZERO GOLD is absolutely amazing! Other things we’ve learned: Sacrificing a character here or there is not that bad, and sometimes its even good! Seriously––what NW deck would NOT want this….?

Hararr – 4 out of 5

This guy is incredibly efficient, providing some strong stats at the cost of marshalling to shadows and sacrificing a NW character. We’re all aware that whilst in magical Flea Bottomland, sacrificing a three cost character or lower can certainly be a benefit, especially to sacrifice a knelt Satin for example, just to return him to play standing. The tempo you can gain is strong, and Ally-hate still hasn’t materialised, so expect to see a lot more of this miserable sod in future.







Fresh Recruits (4.0 Average)

OKTarg – 3 out of 5

Card advantage is nice, with search being even better. I think usually most Watch decks will have one of each to find, but the three-cost is steep. Then again, Meddling and the like ran for Tricksy birds will help boost this as well. I think it still will get edged out for more efficient cards, but it is worth a look to find Aemon, Qhorin, etc.

scantrell24 – 4 out of 5

Great with Littlefinger’s Meddling, which NW wants to run anyways for Tricksy Bird. With Fresh Recruits, Night’s Watch deck builders have more freedom to run all 3 traits without necessarily focusing on one. But even if you are focused on just Builders for example, you could potentially run this AND Watch Has Need to grab Qhorin, Aemon, etc. Seems good.

Von Wibble – 4 out of 5

The ability to search for cards can’t be underestimated, especially as you don’t even have to win challenges or anything to do it. Any Night’s Watch deck with a centrepiece can now find this and just get a couple of chuds into the bargain – if you search for a centrepiece ranger those could just be easily playable reducers. Cost 3 is a lot but high gold plots and Meddling all exist. It loses points for not being able to fetch Coldhands or Yoren though.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 5 out of 5

If this said “draw 3 cards” it might still see some play. Tutoring for 3 specific characters of your choice is incredible value. The deck it immediately slots into is a Jon Snow deck, as fetching Jon, Grenn and Halder sets you up for the game; we suspect other combos are lurking too though. Even simply being able to fetch Benjen after you shuffle him in is lovely.

Shadow Priestess (3.8 Average)

OKTarg – 4.5 out of 5

I think this card is really good. Yes, a five-cost kneel is spendy, but you can choose to pay 3 for an extra Mel kneel, split the cost across two rounds, or get your pick of triggers after marshalling. (This is a big deal) She adds so much extra redundancy to your kneel package that I think she may even push out Fiery Followers. Yes, she’s attachment limited, but who runs attachments?

scantrell24 – 3.5 out of 5

If Shadow Priestess were simply a 5 gold character she’d be mediocre, but splitting the cost (2 gold into shadows, 3 out) makes it playable. I’m glad “without attachments” is included. More abilities should have that targeting restriction to encourage use of positive attachments.

Von Wibble – 3 out of 5

So, a 5 cost single kneel is definitely expensive, but the fact you can do this in addition to your Rh’llor trigger makes things a bit fairer. Comparing this to Even Handed Justice, a card that sees regular play, you are paying 3 more net, but getting a 3 cost bicon and not having to kneel one of your own characters. Overall I like it, but I don’t like that she doesn’t trigger Melisandre too.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5

Kind of just a body with a kneel event on it. The kneel event being relatively unconditional means this is quite playable though, despite its pricey nature. And no, she won’t trigger Melisandre (Core).

Hagarr – 4 out of 5

Shadow Priestess has some awesome artwork; yet her ability is just ‘okay’. She provides some redundancy for Melisandre triggers when marshalled, at a better strength than the Fiery Followers, possessing two icons, but without the useful text box. When triggered from shadows, her total cost is five golds; a fairly expensive conditional kneel with a reasonable body. Her value rises however, if Baratheon ever gain effects that trigger from cards coming out of shadows.













Stormlands Fiefdom (4.3 Average)

OKTarg – 5 out of 5

More rated for the econ boost to Bara than for the narrowly-applicable effect. Yeah, you might want this, especially in a Bara Seven deck, but more often you’re happy to run ten econ effects with a better setup and not have to run the Dominance one!

scantrell24 – 5 out of 5

Bara has wanted this ability for a long time. It’s flexible and great for so many abilities, especially Painted Table, but also for when your opponent doesn’t have any power to claim when you win a power challenge, or before a reset or military claim to save power from your renown characters. The non-limited gold is icing.

Von Wibble – 5 out of 5

Non limited economy is worth the gold as I said before, and having power on the house card rather than on opponents characters is a good thing for Baratheon, especially with cards like the Bastard of Nightsong wanting to steal away more.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 2 out of 5

Unlike Northern Armory, this is a card you only want to draw early. And given that we think you’d rather draw one of the cheaper limited cards instead, that marginalises this a lot. The effect is fine, but we wouldn’t pay 0g for it if it were its own card, and the econ boost just doesn’t feel worth it for us.

Ser Robert Strong (4.1 Average)

OKTarg – 4 out of 5

Yeah, he’s expensive, but very strong (get it?). I think this is just what Lannister needed to get a bit more of a boost…a card safe in the shadows, waiting for the right moment for the kill is excellent. And, you can still run Gregor! It’s been awhile since Lanni inspired real fear, and I’m glad to see them getting some good cards here.

scantrell24 – 4 out of 5

Lannister can easily find 5 gold in the Challenges phase (Goldroad probably gets a 2nd look in the Shadows era). Robert’s kill can hit Dany, Arianne, and so many other key characters in the meta that I’m keen to see how he shakes things up. It’s interesting that FFG has disallowed Esgred & Asha co-existing but not Robert Strong & Gregor.

Von Wibble – 4 out of 5

The first of (I hope) many impactful shadows cards! 5 cost isn’t cheap, but it’s not like Lannister have struggled to pay for the Hound. To play around this is difficult as most decent targets are going to kneel at some point, but as with Targaryen burn, the fear of this card will influence games.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5

Big beefy kill dude is a dude who is big, beefy and kills. Lanni can afford this, even if it’s just expensive enough for them to do it through gritted teeth. It looks like your opponent could try to play around it, but they really can’t.

Hagarr – 4.5 out of 5

I’m legitimately terrified of this guy. ‘The Mountain that Rides’ reaffirms that the Lannisters are pretty damn good at murdering their enemies if they’re unprepared. With plentiful access to gold in the challenge phase via Goldroads, Core Tyrion, Lions of the Rock (lol), The Iron Bank will have its Due etc, I’m not sure I’ll want to kneel my five cost character whilst the Lannister player has cards in shadows and gold to pay for this. In addition to the kill effect, he will also be a huge standing military icon ready to cut through your board further. One day, I expect we’ll get effects that ‘return to shadows’ and I’ll be super sad.

Beneath the Bridge of Dream (2.5 Average)

OKTarg – 3.5 out of 5

This is a great card, but it’s also a terrible card. The moment that you get to access your Valar faster or your Coppers again, you’re loving it. The moment you crap out on your plot reveal, you’re not loving it at all. High variance cards never see competitive play, but this is a super fun one so I hope it does!

scantrell24 – 2 out of 5

The random reveal is huge downside, but getting access to your used plots again could be worth it. This event will require dedicated deck building and lots of playtesting to find the

risk-reward threshold.

Von Wibble – 1.5 out of 5

Wow! Seems terrible in general as you don’t really want to accidentally reset yourself, but if you used a reset early and want to get access to another then it at worst gives it you next turn – and gives the gold needed for you to recover as well. I still think it’s unlikely to see play, but have a feeling that the deck that does find a way to use this could be dangerous.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5

This is cheap and interesting enough that we like it. Not a ‘good’ card, but it has two main uses. Firstly, it allows you to run a reset even if you may not want to use it, then take the 1-in-7 hit on resetting yourself instead of the 1-in-1; secondly, you can play a good 2x effect plot (be it pure card advantage Counting Coppers route, or challenge control with Grand Melee, or any number of other things), play it rounds 1 and 2, use this round 3 to flip whatever, then flip that effect plot again rounds 4 and 5. It probably won’t be tier 1, but it’ll be fun and different.

Nighttime Marauders (4.1 Average)

OKTarg – 5 out of 5

Perhaps this is overrating them, but I can’t see this card not being awesome. You get hand knowledge (fantastic for your save choices), a surprise body, and heretofore unseen hand control in Greyjoy. I’m very happy to pull away every one-cost thing in Targaryen, for example, or every two cost thing in Martell. Very happy indeed.

scantrell24 – 3.5 out of 5

Hand knowledge is great even if you don’t discard anything. These guys are a touch expensive though, and they’re competing with Silence’s Crew for space in a dedicated Pillage deck, so I don’t see more than one or two copies at most making the cut there. They might have more of a role in goodstuff decks.

Von Wibble – 4 out of 5

Another decent shadows card, this one can help Greyjoy a lot against event heavy decks, as even if you don’t make them discard the events, you at least know they don’t have them in hand. The Targaryen matchup is much easier if all the 1 cost events are discarded and Tris has removed Consuming Flames for example. However, a net cost of 5 gold given the card itself is only a 3 strength bicon seems fair.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5

This is a potent and interesting card. With so many key non-character cards (most limiteds, most events) costing 0 or 1, you can potentially reduce an opponent’s hand to just beef early game. Simply being able to name a 1-cost card and guarantee that, one way or the other, your opponent doesn’t have Nightmares or Treachery in your hand – that has value. Better going first too, which remains a nice ‘soft’ theme for Greyjoy.

Seize the Initiative (3.3 Average)

OKTarg – 3.5 out of 5

Five in melee, probably, and one in joust. I feel like you have better initiative control in joust games, should you want that, and the upside of marshalling last (or even just not-first) and going first in challenges when you need it is vital in melee. It reminds me of the old Knights of the Storm, a true bomb in that format.

scantrell24 – 2 out of 5

Marshaling second but attacking first certainly has its advantages, but I don’t see this event being worth the deck space, especially when it doesn’t cantrip like Ahead of the Tide and costs more gold. Maybe in Melee (I’m no expert there).

Von Wibble – 3.5 out of 5

This card gives you the best of both worlds, marshalling your Milks after seeing your opponent’s plays, then getting to do all your challenges first. The cost of X does make it vulnerable to Hand’s Judgement, but nonetheless this will see play. I can see Martell Kraken particularly enjoying it. Its a 5 in melee and a 3 in joust.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5

The only thing stopping this being a 5 (which, for Melee, it is) is that FFG continues to resist treating it like a proper format – even though we do applaud the design of this card in taking the format into account by building in a seamless melee/joust scaling on the cost. To be fair, it still doesn’t see play in Joust, as if you really need to spend an event to go first (you don’t), Ahead of the Tide is cheaper and cantrips.

Aegon Targaryen (4.5 Average)

OKTarg – 4 out of 5

This is a good card, ran at 1x for now I think. He won’t be very tricksy, being the only shadow card available (I guess there is a neutral one), but still the card advantage and tempo swing seems quite nice. I like him quite well!

scantrell24 – 4 out of 5

Daario, Second Sons, Raiding Khalasar and Starfall Cavalry (in Martell Dragon) are prime targets for Aegon’s ability. There isn’t a ton of depth for targets yet, but Aegon could become even better with future releases.

Von Wibble – 5 out of 5

A free Daario, Honour Guard, or Unsullied, even for 1 round, is a powerful effect. And that’s just considering some in house options for your character. With Aegon, Qotho and Missandei around Targaryen are getting to the point where they can turn an empty board into a dangerous one very quickly.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 5 out of 5

A low 5, but the combination of efficiency and fun just about nudges him there. Reminiscent of Blood of my Blood, only cheaper (well, sorta), and more versatile. There are some really great targets for this, both in faction and out (and note that Aegon is non-loyal). At the very least he replaces himself. Now we just need some more armies/mercs with enters play effects, to join Starfall Cavalry in making this silly.

Unexpected Return (2.5 Average)

OKTarg – 2 out of 5

This is expensive, but could be fun. It would help grab Marched characters or even stuff you’ve seeded your own discard pile with. It feels like a better card in an old-school Crossing or a Bloodrider-type deck than it does in the efficient burn decks, but that’s probably okay. It’s sort of like a better-yet-worse version of Blood of my Blood, a good card, so if that adds redundancy I’m okay with that!

scantrell24 – 2 out of 5

Expensive and unreliable are not a good combination. Unexpected Return, like Aegon, could have a home in Martell Dragon because it’s reducible by Water Gardens. Here’s a rough decklist that uses a couple low reserve plots to seed it’s discard pile with targets.

Von Wibble – 3 out of 5

Expensive, but if you can cheat 7 cost characters into the discard pile, which I hear Targaryen are quite good at, then you are getting a bargain. The only thing I’d say against this is that a lot of Targaryen decks currently run a fairly low curve, however this fits a different kind of build.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5

It’s expensive, but it has a lot of fun applications (and like Aegon above can do so in both Targ and Banner of the Dragon). Reducing the cost with The Water Gardens sounds fun, at the very least. Our one real issue is Bran making this cry somewhat.

Ser Gerris Drinkwater (3.5 Average)

OKTarg – 4 out of 5

I think that renown in Martell is quite nice to see! This guy is expensive, yet useful in his ability. You can also store him in Shadows early and wait until you need his effect. I can’t see him being ran more than 1x, though, so I have to cap his rating at a 4. But, I’m super happy to draw him I think.

scantrell24 – 3 out of 5

Powerful ability, renown keyword, shadows character…. But he’s expensive, and Martell is saturated with Mil/Int characters already. I don’t think he makes the cut in every deck, but many will want him as a “nice to have” 1x and some may even include 3x for specific strategies, like repeating “limit 1” plots.

Von Wibble – 5 out of 5

Gerris is possibly the most cheerful card in the game, and maybe it’s because he knows that you can get some very powerful tricks with him. Returning a reset to your plot deck, particularly in Wars to Come where otherwise you have to wait a long time, could be game winning. A strength 5 renown bicon with a positive trait isn’t a bad thing to have either.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 2 out of 5

It’s so expensive for what the most obvious usages are. Feels like if you want to pay this much for an extra reset you should just be running Varys, and he’s kinda unsatisfying as a 4th copy because you’re still left with the reset’s lousy stats. In more rushy/mid-range decks, are there plots so vital that you need to repeat them? And why is he grinning cheerfully in the sun when he’s meant to be lurking in the shadows?

The Shadow City (3.3 Average)

OKTarg – 4 out of 5

I’m guessing that this will become really good as it becomes “pay a gold and a card to draw two cards” which isn’t bad, really. Especially with Flea Bottom recursion, this could get out of control quick. Or, Martell shadows will be bad and it won’t. We’ll see. I feel like reviewers often say things like “we’ll see how this theme fleshes out” and then the theme never does. Shadows, though, I think (hope!) will be different.

scantrell24 – 4 out of 5

An economy and draw engine in one is difficult to beat (see: Hightower). As mentioned by FFG in their preview article, Shadow City will likely be a potent HRD choice… in about 10 months when the shadows theme is fleshed out. That won’t’ stop me from trying sooner though.

Von Wibble – 3 out of 5

I think this is a hard card to really judge until we see all the packs. It will live or die entirely on whether enough shadows cards see regular play. Assuming they do, this is likely giving you 1-2 gold per turn, with an option to draw should you have no use for the shadow card that is just a dupe of your dead Gerris, to give an example.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 3 out of 5

The econ is fine-but-meh; the draw effect isn’t bad (although Dorne outshines it for only 1g more), effectively making this “kneel, discard a shadows card from hand and pay a gold to draw 2 cards”, but it needs Martell to have enough shadows cards to justify running a draw engine. As we don’t know whether that will pan out based on what has been spoiled so far, we’re hitting the middle rating as a copout.

Simon R. – 2 out of 5

Eerily similar to Brandon’s Gift, this a card that is brutally premature, but one that may shine in the distant future. Currently, though… very meh. It’s true that this can eventually (after 3 or 4 triggers) earn you a profit in both cards and money, but… which was Martell short on, was it the cards or the econ? (Answer: Neither.) If you have a dedicated Shadows deck (read: a Banner, which The Shadow City seems limited to for the foreseeable future), you’d probably want to run this at x2/x3, but it’s such a crippling tempo hit early on, and as a late-game top deck, it’s even worse. This could have been a playable card if things like Dorne didn’t exist, but I’m not seeing any use for this it until Martell has enough shadow cards to support it in a House with the Red Door deck, and that is realistically a year or so away.

Thomas Carasso – 4 out of 5

And one more really strong card amongst the new Shadow Mechanic. Sadly it goes to one of the top Faction at the moment, Martell. The economy effect is a nice push to start a new mechanic. The second effect is way scarier. By discarding a card in shadows you can draw 2 cards. Thankfully the effect is limited by the kneeling of the location, and by the number of shadow cards playable. Yet it is one of the strongest and reliable draw effect weʼve seen so far, in an house who already gets some of the most effective of those with Dorne and Secret Schemes. No surprises how good theyʼve done during the European Championship, and this card can only help them some more. For now, itʼs quite limited by the fact we donʼt have much shadow cards, but it can only getʼs better and better. I wonʼt be surprised to see some The House With the Red Door decks go for the Shadow City to get a reliable draw solution right since turn 1. Note that itʼs ability can be really good with some recursion cards ability as Flea Bottom. If you get some 3 costers with Shadows, you could perfectly discard them to draw 2 cards than get those back in play with Flea Bottom for one gold ! Something else we would have to pay close attention would be effects that allows you to put some card back in shadows from play, you could have some really effective loop engine there that you might want to get an eye on!

Nefarious Acolyte (2.5 Average)

OKTarg – 4 out of 5

A very cost-flexible Maester is nice to see, and one with a nice ability is also welcome. Can you blank Breaking Ties? Yes please. Long plan? Sure. Maybe there are a few other nice ones, but those are the first few to hop to mind. How about blanking your own Marching Orders? Okay, probably not 🙂

scantrell24 – 2 out of 5

If you’re deck is hard-answered by a non-When Revealed plot or two, then maybe you consider this guy, but I think his ability is too narrow for widespread play.

Von Wibble – 2.5 out of 5

Whilst there aren’t many plots that see play that this guy can blank for you, I can see this card being used well in melee where a blank Tourney for the King or Clash of Kings can make a big difference. In joust I think the rarity of plots that see play that this works against, combined with the high cost, makes for a much less used card – but I can certainly see some shagga appeal in the card. I rate this a 2 in joust and 3.5 in melee.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 2 out of 5

Meta needs to swing pretty heavily towards plots that you need to blank during (but not for the start of) one specific phase after you’ve already gained gold. Does this make Late Summer Feast good at last? (No.) If it does, weird angle-head man might have a place, but otherwise? Nah.

Thomas Carasso – 2 out of 5

We have a neutral candidate for our previously mentioned Shadow City deck ! In terms of pure stat itʼs already weaker than the aforementioned Scheming Septon, not a really good start. Then his ability, while being interesting at first is not that significant for several reasons. Blanking a plot can be really strong, but the fact that you need to kneel him and pay one gold really reduced the impact there. If he is not already in play, youʼll have to let an opportunity to your opponent to deal with him before he can triggers (Targaryen can quite easily burn him down, and anyone running Nightmares would also have all the time to prevent him to help you, if he is already out, your opponent will more likely not use their plot until they have an answer to him. The fact that his ability only last for a phase also make it less interesting. The current plot you might want to block nowadays is (love on you Luiz) Breaking Ties. Letʼs first mention that the plot will easily get rid of him if needed, and that even if your opponent let you triggers the Acolyte, they would yet be able to trigger their plot during any other phase … The other plots that would be interesting to deal with are the Wardens of the South, Winter Festival, The Annals of Castle Black, The Long Plan, Wardens of the North, and both The Fire That Burns and For the Watch!. The rest might be pretty niche I fear, and some of the most interesting one to take care is totally immune to it : The First Snow of Winter. It will be not too bad against The Rains of Castamere, if youʼre opponent doesnʼt have an answer to it you might be able to deal with some surprise A Game of Thrones or The Red Wedding for instance. With the game growing and getting better and better we might see some more plots that you might want to take care, but for now, his only positive aspect is being a shadow card to triggers some of the Shadows reaction and being able to bypass resets (or to trigger the Shadow City ability). So, meh, but will eventually get better!

Burning the Dead (1.1 Average)

OKTarg – 1 out of 5

Love the flavor, love the cantrip, don’t love the effect. It seems to be a Drowned God EasyButton counter, but I don’t favor cards like that.

scantrell24 – 1 out of 5

Hard to figure what the designers and playtesters were thinking here. It’s the Silver bullet to end all silver bullets.

Von Wibble – 1 out of 5

I’m struggling to see why you’d want this in a deck, especially with the recent Cudgel errata making Drowned God less of a force in the meta. I suppose if all your opponents like Drowned God and House of the Undying this sees play, otherwise, even with replacing itself, I am not sold at all.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 1 out of 5

Unless you’re playing in the Rookery format, you aren’t going to include this card just for the possibility you might face a Targ/Drowned God deck it hoses. Given that, and given we already have better 1g non-restricted cantrip events (“Off to Gulltown”, f’rinstance), why would anyone run it? At a push the fact that it’s an action not a challenges action will give it a leg up, but we’re talking super-niche here.

Simon R. – 1 out of 5

I think this is the only card in the pack that will likely never see real play. I’m pretty baffled by what the designer of this card was thinking: Did it start out as “all characters”, and then get revised due to concerns of dead uniques being played again? If so, this is an odd conclusion, since many of the most popular recursion effects (Aeron Damphair, Ghosts of Harrenhal) are actually aided by having those uniques in the dead pile. Future cards and mechanics may make this one better, but as it stands now, all it seems to do is slightly nerf Targ’s Characters-In-Opponent’s-Dead-Pile tech, and Greyjoy’s Drowned God tech, two sub-themes which haven’t even yet had their day in the sun.

Hagarr – 1.5 out of 5

This card is trash right now. If and when the Drowned Gods deck ever becomes consistent, this becomes the ultimate tech card providing an important escape valve, and even then you’d probably not run it as it’s useless against almost every other deck. The only saving graces are the fact that it replaces itself with another card, and that the Rookery format exists. Unless there are future mechanics that involve resurrection from the dead pile, it’ll be binder fodder.







Exchange of Information (3.0 Average)

OKTarg – 3 out of 5

It’s more interesting than Coppers, to be sure, but it’s not better than it.

scantrell24 – 3 out of 5

It’s a poor man’s Counting Coppers with the Summer trait tacked on. Maybe this sees play in Bitterbridge decks.

Von Wibble – 2.5 out of 5

I like this plot. If people know your deck well enough then the information about cards isn’t such a bad thing. If you have a smattering of events, attachments and locations then this is drawing you as much as Counting Coppers, but also has better stats, reserve aside. The problem is that your opponent is choosing which cards to give you. In a general good stuff deck, getting a free economy location, chud, and decent event/attachment may be good enough anyway, but any deck looking for particular pieces is far better sticking with Coppers or going for Summons/Building Orders instead.

Q&T Curmudgeons – 4 out of 5

The obvious comparison point is Counting Coppers, which also has low numbers (except Reserve) and is a card advantage plot. Coppers always draws 3 rather than 1-4, doesn’t require you to tailor your deck to maximise its value, and doesn’t require you to give information to your opponent. In Exchange (see what we did there) you get slightly better numbers and the potential for more cards, albeit the least effective ones available for your opponent to select between. Forgive us now while we go on a card advantage statistical deepdive.

Assuming a ‘normal’ deck (30 characters, 15 locations, 10 events and 5 attachments) this gets you 4 cards approximately 52% of the time and at least 3 cards approximately 94% of the time. So in other words, most of the time it’s at least as good as Counting Coppers for pure card advantage, and over half the time it’s slightly better – albeit with the other downsides mentioned before. One potentially interesting use is that if you only have 1 attachment and 14 events, the chance of getting 4 cards drops to ~16% but the chance of getting at least 3 cards stays at a relatively high ~92% – and your mathematically near-guaranteed to get at least 3 cards if you find that one attachment. This means that if a Targaryen deck were to run Crown of Gold and no other attachments, this functions as a Counting Coppers more than 9 times out of 10, but 1-in-6 times will be a Counting Coppers that forces your opponent to give you Crown of Gold. And that’s working off a 60 card deck – obviously you may have already drawn it before your first plot, and if not will be revealing from a smaller deck, so the chances are actually likely even better than this.

This is just one example of how to manipulate what is for Maths nerds like JC quite an interesting card. Combination decks can similarly leverage the ‘forced tutor’ angle, and for Kings of Summer decks this will actually have twice the gold that Coppers does. Overall, Counting Coppers is the better, ‘safer’ plot, but as it is considered the best plot in the game, there’s a lot of wiggle room underneath it. We’ve heard somewhere that draw=win.

Simon R. – 2 out of 5

I could eat my words on this one, but it’s my opinion that this card is not as good as it seems at first glance. That first glance is “Hey, this is a Counting Coppers with better gold and initiative, and, if I build my deck right, perhaps even an extra card!” And in some decks, such as Targaryen (where the faction symbol is often the only thing that matters), this may even be the case. But let’s dig a little deeper… At the time you’re realistically going to be playing this (i.e. round 2 onwards), think of all the things in your deck that won’t help you: Copies of unique locations that you already have in play, copies of unique characters in the dead pile, reducers, extraneous econ, attachments with no target… the list goes on. Most of the time, when people are using CC, they’re digging for something specifically––dupes, saves, econ, burn, control, etc. If you flip this against Valar Morghulis, your opponent will not be giving you a Risen from the Sea. If you flip this while you’re starved for econ, your opponent is not going to give you that Dornish Fiefdom. If you want impactful characters, you will not be getting them. You are unlikely to get that clutch Milk or WDNS which would devastate your opponent. You are not going to get juicy cards to rebuild after that reset. A Counting Coppers this is not.

Thomas Carasso – 3.5 out of 5

For a deck with a classic Type cards breakdown (more or less 30/15/10/5), the stats speaks by themselves, you are more than likely to get 3/4 card every time you plays it, with better stats than Counting Coppers why not running it instead you might ask? Well to begin with, it names suits it quite well. Unlike Counting, youʼll be giving a lot of information to your opponent, first he or she will know 3 to 4 cards out of your hand, thatʼs a lot, and even more, youʼll reveal a 1/6 of your deck which might give some lotʼs of hints on what you are playing and what to expect from you. But what really makes the plot less interesting to me, is that you will not just have 3/4 cards from the top 10 cards of your deck, youʼll get the 3/4 worst cards from the top of your deck. This may include some dead characters, and other useless cards in a given situation. If youʼre opponent is smart enough he will play quite easily against the card he just give you, and of course give you the cards heʼll fear the less amongst the top. The only deck that IMHO can really use this are the one that donʼt care about surprises and have consistent effects throughout their deck and Kings of Summer to pump a bit the stats of the plot. The best example of those might be NW Builders. There characters are basically almost all the same, there locations are only economical/draw ones or defensive bumps, there attachment are either buffer for themselves or Craven/Milk for your characters, all costing 1 gold, and there event are basically Card Advantage. They have not any downside to give you the information, cause they just donʼt care, they just want to sit behind the Wall as long as possible while defending each and every challenge with a tremendously high strength. from this perspective, they are I think the one that would benefits the most. Last comment on this card is that, depending on how the meta accepts it, we might have the comeback of a true Melee deals plot ! Turn 1 you can just settle with another player to go both for this plot and just allows each other to get the best you might need to start your game, and therefore get a head of the game quite quickly ! Just beware of not outsmarting yourself by going with two Varys’s Riddle and just get nothing in the end! 3.5/5 overall for Exchange, 2.5 from a joust perspective, 3-4/5 from a melee perspective, some more points for being a staple in those Builders Deck, that we havenʼt seen shining so bright lately, yet might still be strong!







Total Pack Average: 3.43 (an extremely high score compared to previous packs)

Top Cards:

Aegon 4.5

Scheming Septon 4.5

Stormlands Fiefdoms 4.3

Northern Armory 4.2

Ser Robert Strong 4.1

Nighttime Marauders 4.1

Bottom Cards:

Burning the Dead 1.1

Margaery’s Influence 2.4

Nefarious Acolyte 2.5

Unexpected Return 2.5

Under the Bridge of Dream 2.5

If you’re hungry more content, check out the library of podcasts, articles, game video and more in the Community FAQ. Let us know in the comments how you feel about the cards in this box, and we’ll see you again soon to discuss the March on Winterfell chapter pack!