“My brother is undoubtedly arrogant,” Tyrion Lannister replied. “My father is the soul of avarice, and my sweet sister Cersei lusts for power with every waking breath. I, however, am innocent as a little lamb.”
–George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce Lions of Casterly Rock, a new deluxe expansion for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game!
Tywin Lannister: Warden of the West and lord of his House. Ser Jaime Lannister: the Kingslayer and Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Cersei Lannister: Robert Baratheon’s queen, Crown Regent for Joffrey Baratheon, and one of the most beautiful women in the realm. Tyrion Lannister: Hand of the King and defender of King’s Landing. Across Westeros, the very names of the Lannisters command instant recognition and respect. Tales of their wealth are legendary—matched only by stories of their cunning and ruthlessness. From the Sunset Sea to the Iron Throne, the lions of Lannister hold Westeros in a golden fist.
Lions of Casterly Rock, the second deluxe expansion for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, invites you to take your place among the storied names of House Lannister. Within this expansion, the Lannisters explore new themes, launching an ambush with their Clansman allies, redoubling their focus on the intrigue challenge, and sending out marauders to pillage the lands of Westeros. You’ll also find new versions of the most iconic Lannister characters, including Tywin Lannister, Cersei Lannister, Ser Jaime Lannister, and Tyrion Lannister.
Of course, while House Lannister holds the spotlight here, you’ll also gain two new non-loyal cards for each other faction with new characters entering the game for the first time, including Edric Storm, Victarion Greyjoy, Trystane Martell, and Jeyne Westerling. Finally, you’ll have the chance to reshape your plot decks with seven new plots (six neutral and one loyal to House Lannister).
Even before they were tied by marriage to the ruling family, the lords and ladies of House Lannister shaped the fate of Westeros. They know that wars are not won on the field of battle—the true conflict happens in secret meetings and whispered conversations, with a letter that forces armies to be delayed or a sharply honed assassin’s dagger. These background intrigues can hold power over even the mightiest knights, and no one can manipulate the game of thrones like the Lannisters.
In Lions of Casterly Rock, the Lannisters gain new ways to increase their power by simply making intrigue challenges. Your exact conspiracies may vary, but any deck focusing on intrigue challenges will want to take advantage of the new version of Cersei Lannister(Lions of Casterly Rock, 1). Here, Cersei takes her place among the most expensive characters in the game, but she brings more than enough power to back up her cost.
First, Cersei doesn’t kneel to attack in intrigue challenges, giving you much greater freedom with how you choose to attack and defend. More importantly, however, after one or more cards are discarded from an opponent’s hand, Cersei Lannister gains a power, provided you don’t support that player! Obviously, Cersei can gain power incredibly quickly with the help of cards like Casterly Rock (Core Set, 97) and Wardens of the West (The Road to Winterfell, 30), but she also shines when you feed her information from theMaster of Whispers in a melee game.
Stripping your opponent’s cards with intrigue challenges often brings significant benefits—you remove your opponent’s options, simultaneously constricting the number of characters he can play and removing the chance that he’ll surprise you with unwanted tricks. With the addition of Lions of Casterly Rock, however, House Lannister begins to see cards that become even more powerful when your opponent has no cards in hand.
For instance, you may protect your flow of gold with the towering stronghold of Golden Tooth (Lions of Casterly Rock, 17). Simply by taking an Action, you can kneel Golden Tooth to gain a gold—something that’s useful, but not that much better than a copy of The Roseroad (Core Set, 40). If your opponent has no cards in hand, however, you can kneel Golden Tooth to gain three gold! It’s also worth noting that the ability to gain gold before you marshal can be extremely useful—especially if your opponent is the first player and you want to play Treachery (Core Set, 102) on his copy of The Kingsroad (Core Set, 39).
Though House Lannister excels at controlling the courtly intrigues of King’s Landing, they are no strangers to the battlefield. As Wardens of the West, the Lannisters command a quarter of the realm’s armies, but even though warriors like Ser Gregor Clegane and Ser Jaime Lannister rank among the greatest in Westeros, there are times to call upon more unorthodox warriors, like Tyrion Lannister’s Clansmen.
Throughout Lions of Casterly Rock, you’ll find new Clansman characters and cards that enhance the power of the clans, but ultimately, any Clansman deck revolves around a single character: the new version of Tyrion Lannister(Lions of Casterly Rock, 2). This rendition of Tyrion differs from Tyrion Lannister (Core Set, 89) in several ways—the new version costs more gold, but Tyrion has gained a military icon and increased STR. Still, the most notable difference is Tyrion’s new ability, which reads, “Reaction: After you win a challenge, return an attacking Clansmancharacter to your hand to (choose one): draw 2 cards, gain 3 gold, or raise the claim value on your revealed plot card by 1 until the end of the challenge. (Limit twice per phase.)”
The sheer number of options offered by Tyrion Lannister instantly sets him apart from any other character in the game. Whether you’re short on cards and need to refill your hand, need more gold to play events, or simply want to make your challenge hit harder, Tyrion lets you accomplish this—all you need to do is bounce an attackingClansman back to your hand. Temporarily losing one of your characters may seem like an unwelcome cost, but many Clansman characters, such as the Moon Brothers (Lions of Casterly Rock, 11) let you bring them back into play during challenges, making any drawback completely temporary.
As we mentioned above, House Lannister commands the spotlight in Lions of Casterly Rock, but they’re far from the only ones to receive new cards. Each of the other seven factions receives two non-loyal cards, and several of these cards might help you combat the latest Lannister schemes.
For instance, House Stark receives the Last Hearth Scouts (Lions of Casterly Rock, 34), an efficient character with aForced Reaction that kneels a character whenever it enters play during challenges. Since the Lannisters, and especially the Clansmen, are fond of ambushes, the Last Hearth Scouts could quickly put a stop to their raids.
On the other hand, you may marshal the new House Targaryen version of Ser Barristan Selmy (Lions of Casterly Rock, 35). After the crowning of Joffrey Baratheon, Ser Barristan Selmy was cast out of the Kingsguard, leading him to travel across the Narrow Sea to swear fealty to the last living Targaryens. You can see Ser Barristan’s utter distaste for Lannister intrigues in his ability—after you win a challenge with Ser Barristan Selmy, you can stand him if you have fewer cards in hand than the losing opponent! If your opponent wants to destroy your hand and claim victory, he’ll have to deal with Ser Barristan Selmy.
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