by Aaron Glazer (PulseGlazer)
So, someone canceled an article, and I’m filling in. Given that it’s pretty late, I decided to try something new. What follows is very stream of consciousness. It’s time for an indeterminate number of thoughts about Thrones!
- Podcasts are fun, and, apart from editing, relatively easy. I can see why there are so many. I wish more differentiated themselves though. Not us, we’re the originals.
- Randoms on OCTGN are a good way to test concepts and get practice, but, man, am I incapable of focusing for those matches.
- 80% of my games at this point are with Darknoj. That’s good in that he’s one of the best players in the world, but bad in that cards that he or I don’t like, we just don’t see. I’ve been caught off guard this way more than once, specifically by Fortified Position.
- Everyone is running 3x of all high-impact characters that are available. It’s cool, and a bit silly, that it works… but then people complain about Gregor. I mean, if you build like that, no shit he’s going to hit important characters regularly.
- The trend mentioned in #4 has also made Wildfire better. First Snow warped the meta this way, but with all these big dudes, running Wildfire is great. Generally running both, but not optimal in GJ or Bara.
- I really hate that we can’t get pre-book characters into the game. I don’t need, like, original Nymeria, but Rhaegar is so important to the immediate lore…
- Stall plots should be better than they are, but I still really only care about them with Varys. I get stopped for a turn by Fortified or Game of Thrones, but without a reset, it feels kind of like stalling without purpose and they annoy, but rarely beat me.
- Banner of the Kraken is silly. Asha and Theon are nice, but Iron Mines…man, saves for any house and awesome set-up cards.
- Theon is going to cost folks some games once Ward is out. Stacking power on him is just scary. Ward is really going to mess up a whole lot of power characters, from Margaery to Cersei.
- I can’t make Winterfell work for now, and I give up until we get more Winter stuff. This makes me sad – it should be so good.
- I hate the Lannister complaining. Let’s go into that.
- I don’t like Bronn. I’ll write a lot more about him later, but if you don’t have Tyrion AND initiative, he’s going to badly screw up kill plans.
- Lannister is the best right now, but the fun of the meta is finding decks that can beat it, or at least compete. I have three, at least, that can compete with the top Lannister decks. Get building, test. If you can’t be bothered, you don’t deserve to beat the top discovered builds. Eventually, I or someone else will post some new hotness for you to complain about. Still, nothing is even close to unbeatable.
- Lucas’ jumper deck is just so much fun. So happy Buzz won that huge tournament with it. So happy they let me help tweak with them. We’ll discuss that on Second Sons at Twitch.tv/agotnordic tonight (Wed 4/20) at 8:00 PM Eastern while drinking. The cast will go up plenty of other places, including here, Thursday morning.
- Alex Hynes’s nickname should really be Catsup/Ketchup. I hate that both of those spellings are acceptable.
- Martell still plays most like a first edition deck, and I love it for that. The Boneway is really annoying and good. This game is weird.
- I still think cards are bad from a first-edition-efficiency standpoint all the time and then find I’m wrong. Not having Valar, increasing the gold curve, and limiting economy did weird stuff to the game.
- Tyrell would be the best house in the game if not for Greyjoy. And they made them worse to GJ with that stupid Arbor ruling. I blame Catsup.
- Everyone forgets about Baratheon, but they didn’t get any weaker. I freaked when I saw Even-handed Justice. I have no idea why I was the only one.
- The Red Keep remains the best location in the game, by far. That plus two strength is not to be underestimated.
- Targaryen handles First Snow better than expected. Of course, the way they do that empowers Gregor. See #4.
- Rebuilding/Shadowblack/Building Orders are a must-include in my Targ decks. A lot of good players, especially those who played first edition, dislike the combo, but it’s so easy to pull off!
- Night’s Watch will get a T1 defense build in the next cycle. I don’t know that for a fact, but when cycle 2 was probably tested, everyone thought defense was terrible. That means power cards were made by the time people realized NW was good.
- Greyjoy is dumb. I hate the design on Fishwhiskers. I don’t like play that isn’t interactive. This all makes me sad.
- April 30 is A Dance with Dragons: an NYC tournament experience. We have the Ottawa meta coming down, including Beyond the Wall’s Darknoj. We have Patrick Haynes of The White Book flying in. If you’re in the area, you have to be there! I won’t compete, but will be out for the end of the tournament, and, as is tradition, Karaoke.
- My cat and/or baby will bug me while I live cast tomorrow.
- Wasn’t Stealth supposed to be rare in second edition? Why is there so much stealth? And Kill! Holy crap, there’s a lot of kill. I’m not a fan of either of these design decisions, but, hey, the game is good.
- The show is back Sunday. Last season sucked, but I am still irrationally excited.
- If I ever non-ironically say takesy-backsy on a podcast, feel free to murder me. I will have outlived my usefulness, and no court will convict.
- I think I’ll go to sleep now. I need to teach in the morning, then watch the baby, then drink and podcast. But hey, you made it this far, so have a weird thing I built as a reward! https://thronesdb.com/deck/view/79056
Good night! or Day! or Whatever!