Quill & Tankard Regulars - Volume 2, Issue 12

Beware the Sphinx - Tywin Lannister (Lions)

Beware the Sphinx is a series of articles concentrating on important cards with several peculiar, complex or unintuitive interactions. An emphasis is kept on both new and competitively relevant cards. Remember, the Sphinx is the riddle, not the riddler.



Tywin (Core) is one of the cards that has garnered the most attention from the competitive community - a truly game-changing body with an effect that has proven itself even more impactful in these early days of a shallow card pool with few economic options. FFG had to be asking themselves: “ How do you design another Tywin that can see play when it’s competing with something as versatile as economy, which can already boost so many different themes? ” And that riddle’s answer happens to be a Sphinx.







Boy is there a lot to unravel here. A 5 coster (a valuable slot Lannister isn’t exactly overflowing with), a int-power bicon, a keyword, and a triggered ability… with a point of STR over Tyrion (Core) , one might say he’s Tyrion writ large. That triggered ability, though, is more than it appears at first glance, so let’s pick it apart:

Exactly 1 card : This wording is very careful - more careful, in fact, than it needs to be (technically, “1 card” is exactly 1 in this game, while “a card” would be “at least one”). Still, FFG thought they wouldn’t chance it to your fickle interpretations, and is therefore ensuring this card works with the likes of : This wording is very careful - more careful, in fact, than it needs to be (technically, “1 card” is exactly 1 in this game, while “a card” would be “at least one”). Still, FFG thought they wouldn’t chance it to your fickle interpretations, and is therefore ensuring this card works with the likes of The Tickler (Core) or Pillage, but doesn’t slow the game to a crawl with a big 9 card Loot (Westeros) , or The Reader (Westeros)

“Instead”: Instead is an extremely important word on all cards upon which it appears. It’s an indication of a : Instead is an extremely important word on all cards upon which it appears. It’s an indication of a replacement effect (RR p18), which means that what this ability is doing is not, in and of itself, discarding cards - but changing the way the existing abilities discard cards. The most important ramifications of this is that it allows effects like Ser Gregor Clegane (Westeros) or The Tickler (Core) to take advantage of this filtering, while still being the source of the discard to satisfy their abilities. There’s a second reason to have this word here; if multiple Tywins hit the board, they won’t infinitely chain off each other’s triggers; like any other replacement effect, whomever triggers last will get to apply the effect on the discard.





But of course, where he really shines right now is alongside what we like to call “Tywin’s Monsters”: the mad dogs he unleashes on the riverlands to sack, pillage and wreak havoc. The beauty of this is how they stack with one another; as each pillage happens in turn, multiple pillages will allow you to “dig” through a deck to set up the perfect Gregor or Tickler trigger.



Here’s how it goes: Even without any other cards to interact with, Tywin himself will be filtering your opponent’s card quality by stacking their deck with the worst of the next two cards (and you’ll know what they’re going to draw) from his own pillage. Remember, this works when Tywin wins on defense too! It also serves as a fun screen against your opponent’s pillage effects; if they choose to pillage you, you’ll get to favourably stack your own deck (or even dodge a nasty Tickler/Gregor/ Euron Crow's Eye (Core) effect). If we ever get cards that discard from our own decks for an effect, Tywin too can even make those better…But of course, where he really shines right now is alongside what we like to call “”: the mad dogs he unleashes on the riverlands to sack, pillage and wreak havoc. The beauty of this is how they stack with one another; as each pillage happens in turn, multiple pillages will allow you to “dig” through a deck to set up the perfect Gregor or Tickler trigger.Here’s how it goes:

Attack with Tywin, pillage , and see two non-characters - ditch one.

Attack with with Wildling Horde (Core) and Gregor together.

Resolve Wildling Horde’s pi llage first (as an optional, “may” effect, the controller gets to decide which happens first), and you’ll find the non-character you didn’t ditch for Tywin’s pillage and a new card... let’s say it’s a 3 cost character. Ditch the non-character.

You're left with Gregor’s pillage trigger - guaranteed to hit at least a 3 cost character, or whatever that 4th card from the top in his deck was.

And if that card happens to be a big 7 coster, you can’t really claim to have been hit by the Gregor roulette - Tywin’s been rigging the game.



In many ways, this new Tywin is very good at pointing Gregor (and his men) in the right direction… and allowing them to let loose. And he also acts as the “brains” of the outfit, bringing order and manipulation into their otherwise somewhat unpredictable efforts.

The Raven’s Message

The Raven’s Message

exclusively reveals and discusses

an up-and-coming, either mechanically or rules-wise interesting, card. The cards are from future products, and have been obtained directly via raven from the Archmaesters at the (FFG) Citadel.

Tywin is interesting, but is he good? Is he condemned to the binder by having the same name as an extremely powerful core card? While his cost-slot is probably enough to avoid true ‘binder fodder’ status with the new competition for 7-costers coming from the Lions box, we think Tywin’s true power will depend upon the “Monsters” he has at his command. Gregor, the Tickler… and Ser Gregor’s Marauders.







Aside from the fact that they get better by being more likely to stand if you have Tywin, and, by virtue of having Pillage, make Tywin (and Gregor, and the Tickler) inherently better too - these are excellently positioned at an otherwise extremely depleted Lannister 4 cost slot. Cersei Lannister (Core), Chella Daughter of Cheyk (Lions) and Gold Cloaks (Core) are the only three contenders, and these Marauders have a perfectly serviceable cost-to-STR ratio, icon pairing, and the chance at action economy.



But for the first non-unique pillage-equipped card in Lannister, they’re also likely to fuel the deck Istaril is really looking forward to building… Tywin’s Monsters .

Questioned by the Conclave

Questioned by the Conclave

is a series of quizzes for our readers, loosely based around the topics of the Issue in question. Correct answers will be posted in the comments, after enough readers have had their chance of testing their knowledge. The difficulty of the questions will vary from those directed at Apprentices, to those best suited for Archmaesters.

You have two Ser Gregor’s Marauders on the board, and you attack with both, kneeling them. You win the challenge, and resolve the first Marauder’s pillage, whiffing - you pillage an attachment. You resolve the second Marauder’s pillage, and - lo and behold - you pillage an event. Do you get to stand both Marauders? Why or why not?

Your opponent decides to Loot (Westeros) you ( Reaction : After you win an unopposed challenge, discard the top X cards from the losing opponent's deck.), spending your gold, but you only have 1 gold remaining - so she is going to be discarding 1 card. Can you trigger Tywin’s Interrupt?

Jojen Reed (Kings), an upcoming card from “There is My Claim”, has an ability that reads:

“ Reaction : After Jojen Reed stands, reveal the top card of each player's deck. You may either: discard each of those cards, or have each player draw 1 card.” How does Tywin’s ability interact with this one?