Anyone here?

Well despite the death of our beloved card game in the PH there are still things to look forward to in the lands of Westeros.

The HBO series is firming up and will become reality in 2010. The major cast members have been named and a couple of die hard fans went out of their way to create posters for the yet to be shown series as shown in the link below:

Fan Imagined posters for HBO's upcoming Game of Thrones TV Series

Enjoy!

Updates Updates Updates

It's been a while since anyone posted here. To keep things alive despite the lack of activity in our small community, I've decided to update this blog and post an article or two. Well, let's get it on then...

Finally Tzumainn updated his website! He's posted the complete list of cards for all the chapter packs under the A Time of Ravens chapter. He's also posted updates on the recent chapters of King's Landing and Kings of the Sea. You can check them out at http://www.tzumainn.com/agot/cards/. I must say that the new cards are quite intruiging to say the least. Each house gets something good though I have to say that Stark got most of it. They got another slew of cheap but fairly large characters. Anyways, I'll go into some of the cards that piqued my attention shortly.

A new mechanic was introduced by FFG called Shadow. For anyone who's played Magic: The Gathering, this mechanic has some similarities to the Morph keyword where you pay a default 3 generic mana cost to put a 2/2 creature into play "morphed" (face down). And in order to "morph" the creature at any time as a fast effect to what it really is, you need to pay the morph cost and flip the creature over.

Basically, the Shadow mechanic is similar in that you pay 2 gold to put a card with the Shadow icon face down on your playing field. You can do this as part of the 5-gold setup flop or during the Marshalling phase ignoring the card's out-of-house gold penalty if any; do note that these cards can't be flopped and/or marshalled face up in that they have to be "in Shadow" when they played. Furthermore, these cards when initially played are considered neither "in play" nor "in hand" and are considered to be "in Shadows" instead.

Then it gets fairly tricky after given that this is a mechanic that needs a little practice and getting used to. In order flip the card up and have the card considered to be "in play", you can pay the gold cost indicated. From my understanding, you can only bring only one card from the shadows at the beginning of each phase and this is counted as a player action. If you need to find out more about this mechanic, they have a specific document all to it at http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/agotlcg/support/Shadows.pdf.

One of the upsides playing the shadow cards is that it can't be discarded/killed by normal effects and claim effects. Also, I think that FFG did this to further utilize the treasury/gold tokens mechanic of the game.

Now on to some the cards that caught my eye...

From the Shattered Armies chapter pack:
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Card: Tommen Baratheon (L)
Cost: 1
STR: 1
Icons: P

Traits: Lord. King.

If there is another King character in play, Tommen Baratheon cannot attack, defend, or trigger his character ability. Marshalling: Kneel Tommen Baratheon to draw a card.
*Tommen!!!

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Card: Northern Cavalry Flank (S)
Cost: 4
STR: 5
Icons: M,P

Traits: Army.

No attachments except Siege. Deadly.If an opponent is running an agenda, Northern Cavalry Flank does not kneel to attack.
(War)
*Geez. They really can't get enough of the deadly, don't-kneel-to-attack, friggin' huge armies for Stark. Sigh.


From the City of Secrets chapter pack:
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Card: Tyrion Lannister (L)
Cost: s2
STR: 3
Icons: M,I,P

Traits: Lord.

House Lannister only. Stealth.Response: After a card comes out of Shadows, Tyrion Lannister gets +2 STR and gains your choice of Deadly, Renown, No Attachments, or Immune to Events until the end of the phase.
(Shadow)

=============================
Card: Shadow Politics
Cost: s0
Type: Event

Traits: Small Council.

Response: After Shadow Politics comes out of Shadows, choose a player. That player may initiate an additional I challenge against an opponent of his or her choice as a standard player action this phase.(Shadow)


From the A Time of Trials chapter pack:
=============================
Card: Condemned by the Council
Type: Event

Traits: Small Council.

Response: After you win an I challenge, choose a location controlled by the losing opponent. If that location has the Shadow crest, return it to Shadows. Otherwise, discard it.
*Finally, some location removal for I-heavy decks. A very good thing.


From the Kings of the Sea chapter pack:
=============================
Card: The Price of War
Type: Event

Response: After you win a M challenge in which you control at least 1 attacking War character, choose and discard from play up to 2 non-limited locations controlled by the losing opponent. (Limit 1 per round.)


Well, that's all I have for now. There are a lot of new cards out there and combos waiting to be used and abused. Sadly, access to the cards isn't what it was before. However, I am still hopeful that we could revive this game somewhat...

And Oddly, News...

I know that many of us have let the game slide, and that's not something any one of us can battle singlehandedly. (Ooo. Jaime joke.) But the funny thing is that, even as we see AGOT receding in the rearview mirror, some most unexpected news seems to be coming out of FFG. Nothing earthsdhaking. It's just that there are new Chapter Packs coming out, and they seem finally to be hitting their stride. Not that I don't still miss the old stuff, and certainly the switch to chapter packs, for us over here on the far side of the Poison Water, really hit our ability to acquire the game easily.


But the new packs have me more than ever wanting to put in an order. I don't have the time right now (or the computer know-how) to post the card images, but I'm not even done abosrbing the latest releases (including a fantastic new version of Arya Stark in Cat O' The Canals) and they're starting to talk about the King's Landing cycle with, I swear, hottest Cersei ever.




I'll do it when I can, though , promise. The game has slipped off our radar, but I'm still looking to the skies.



By the way, I'm typing this in between practice DOTA sessions. =)

A question...

We've gotten the new chapter packs.

And yet it is only Richard, so far as I can recall, that has successfully integrated the new cards into his decks.

I personally thought that with the new cards I would find the excitement and drive to build new decks for our beloved game. But alas that was not the case.

With the official demise of UDE's VS system and the lamentations it got from its fan base I couldn't help but wonder at the state of AGOT right now. Especially here in our own little nook.

By last count the only active AGOT players were yours truely, Gil, Richard and Mikko.
Aaron has not really played that much even after getting some cards from the chapter packs. It has been a long time since Icy has played a game and has shifted full time to Bleach.

I myself am guilty of not finding time for AGOT. Like I said in a long gone article AGOT is like a girlfriend with the same enormous demands on a player's time. You cannot casually pick up cards and build decks around it. You cannot expect to win without spending a lot of time testing and tweaking your decks. And with everything going on in my life right now AGOT took the extreme backseat.

I have made my peace with VS. And right now I get the feeling that I should also make my peace with AGOT. What do you guys think?

A Very AGOT Christmas Part II

And so here continues the tale...Of what, I'm not really sure. But I do feel that I should continue writing (well, hopefully) every year adding a piece here and a piece there.

I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Keep safe and bugger yer lord o' light! =]

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Ser Barristan Selmy stood with massive arms folded across his chest. "It will be a dangerous undertaking, my lady," he muttered. He stared at Daenerys Targaryen's face that was seemingly lost in thought. "Our Dothraki Scouts have reported that the Stags, the Wolves and the Lions have joined forces. They are massing at Moat Cailin."

"I'm tired," she whispered softly, "tired so my bones ache and my muscles are like stone to me." Daenerys' head hung low and she rested her brow on one of the tent's makeshift windows. All was quiet out in the night with her tent set a little away from The Great Khalasar's encampment. "I'm sick and tired of the blood-soaked banners, and the noble speeches, and the Horn of Dragons shaking the air in grand defiance. Our path is up to its neck in shit and blood, and a thousand corpses float in the black waste. Each day we become harder and dirtier and meaner. More than once I had to stop our men from the khalasar from torturing some damned prisoner before cutting his head off. And I had Viserion devour one of them for he raped one of the women from Casterly Rock one bright day after a battle. The Arakhs are all red with blood and notched from war, and we die by the thousands no matter how brave we are.

"The horror is always there. The evil that stalks us at night, with dreams and visions, with plagues and pestilence.

"I fear, oh, I fear, not death, not the enemy, but us. I fear that we become like them and if it does not end soon, neither Dothraki nor Westerosi will be naught but the same beast in the same clothing, and all bright heroes a memory scorned."

She turned to face him, her teeth clenched so tight that the muscles of her jaw danced and her eyes hard and dry, for Daenerys, the last of her line, the True Queen and Stormborn, had no tears to give. Selmy stepped back at the sight of it.

"I will do what must be done, ser, because I must, because if I don't, there is noone else who will. For my unborn son, for my beloved Drogo, the stallion that mounts the world, and for my brother whom they call the Beggar King. I who have done nothing unto the Stags and the Lions and they send assassins to hunt and kill me." She bared her teeth as if in challenge to some unseen enemy. "But before I lead my people into battle, I want you to hear the oath of Daenerys Targaryen!

"Should I die or should I live, should I fall or should I fail, with all my power, all my strength, all my heart and all my desire I curse them, they who murder and rape, the destroyers and the power mad. I curse the seller of souls, those wretched Asshai, and the annihilators of dreams. I curse those who have been and who will be the followers of the black path. And I pledge by all that I am and might be and should be that I will hound them, hound them from here to eternity." She did not shout the words, she said them quietly, but with such authority that it chilled Selmy to the core.

Outside, the three dragons, Drogon, Viserion and Rhaegal, roared in unison as if in agreement...

A Very AGOT Christmas Part I

Greetings, sers...

It's been a while since anyone of us posted. But given the holiday season, I thought I might just continue the story of what I texted everyone last year. I know, I know. I flooded the phones of those whom I texted. And I apologize for the length of what I sent, more so to those who ended up receiving multiple texts because their phones can only handle so much characters in a message. =]

Let me just post here what I sent as part of my Christmas greeting last year for posterity's sake and to give some semblance of continuity to my succeeding post which will go above this...

==================

The once mighty armies of Casterly Rock lay among the black and charred remains of The Red Keep. Those that survived fled to the North, bringing tales of terror that they suffered at the hands of the Dothraki horde.

"The True Queen comes," they cry. "All that oppose her are Bathed in Flame! None can Hold The North."

Hundreds of miles away, Jon looked down from The Wall, the wind biting through his thick coat. Putting a thickly gloved hand on Ghost, the only other living thing standing watch with him, he ground his teeth and squinted into the horizon.

"Let her come. A new age is dawning upon us. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. Lions, Stags and Wolves must unite and fight together... not from tyranny, oppression or persecution... but from annihilation.

Scouts have reported that Others are Massing beyond The Wall. Stannis has witnessed them firsthand. He understands that if we do not Muster the Realm, all will be lost. His armies gather at the Last Hearth. My brothers, what pathetic few of us that remain, will stand with them when they march to defend The Wall. Kevan Lannister and the survivors are gathering at Moat Cailin. Together with the Greatjon leading the Hordes of the Wolves and the Great Host, they prepare to meet her and those accursed lizards.

So let her come. If we are to meet this end, then let it be such an end with Lions, Stags and Wolves united!"

Thrones on TV

We've heard the rumors before.

HBO taking our beloved books from the ICe and Fire Cycle to the small screen.

here is more proof:
HBO firming up PILOT EPS for Thrones