Newly redesigned with gorgeous, full-bleed art, this deck is a card-for-card recreation of the Lannister Banner of the Wolf deck that Joe Mirando piloted to victory on the tourney ground of the 2016 A Game of Thrones: The Card Game World Championships. Whether you’re a new player looking for a pre-made deck as an entry point to the game, an intermediate player who wants to use this deck as a guide for experimentation, or an expert looking for full-art versions of iconic cards and extra copies of key neutral cards, this deck has something to offer for every player.

Rulers of Westeros
Within this deck, you’ll find sixty-nine cards—a faction card, an agenda card, seven plots, and a sixty-card deck—all featuring a stunning extended art style and minimal formatting to draw you into the world of the Seven Kingdoms.

Total Cards: 60
Faction: House Lannister

Agenda: 1
1x Banner of the Wolf (Core Set)

Plots: 7
1x A Noble Cause (Core Set)
1x Calling the Banners (Core Set)
1x Confiscation (Core Set)
1x Counting Coppers (Core Set)
1x Marched to the Wall (Core Set)
1x The First Snow of Winter (No Middle Ground)
1x Summer Harvest (Called to Arms)

Characters: 34
2x Ayra Stark (Core Set)
3x Bran Stark (Core Set)
3x Burned Men (Core Set)
1x Cersei Lannister (Core Set)
3x Eddard Stark (Wolves of the North)
3x Lannisport Merchant (Core Set)
2x Red Cloaks (No Middle Ground)
1x Ser Amory Lorch (For Family Honor)
1x Ser Gregor Clegane (The King’s Peace)
2x Ser Jaime Lannister (Core Set)
3x The Hound (Taking the Black)
1x The Tickler (Core Set)
3x Tyrion Lannister (Core Set)
3x Tywin Lannister (Core Set)
3x Winterfell Steward (Core Set)

Attachments: 7
2x Bodyguard (Core Set)
3x Milk of the Poppy (Core Set)
2x Ward (True Steel)

Locations: 8
3x The Kingsroad (Core Set)
3x The Roseroad (Core Set)
2x Western Fiefdom (Core Set)

Events: 11
2x Nightmares (Calm Over Westeros)
2x Put to the Sword (Core Set)
3x Tears of Lys (Core Set)
1x The Things I Do for Love (Core Set)
3x Treachery (Core Set)

With a powerful line-up of efficient, dangerous characters, the 2016 A Game of Thrones: The Card Game World Championship Deck is perfectly positioned to take advantage of House Lannister’s economic superiority, killing or neutralizing problematic characters on your opponent’s side, and pushing your own challenges through to quickly reach fifteen power. New players could use this deck as a starting point for entering the game, while players of any experience level can enjoy these full-bleed versions of perennially useful cards.

Claim the Iron Throne
With a proven track record and redesigned cards that showcase the art, the 2016 A Game of Thrones: The Card Game World Championship Deck offers a chance for any player to become more involved in the battle for the Iron Throne.

• Play the deck used by Joe Mirando to win the 2016 A Game of Thrones: The Card Game World Championships
• Fully redesigned cards with gorgeous, full-bleed art and minimized graphic design
• Features iconic characters, attachments, locations, and events from House Lannister and House Stark
• A perfect entry point for new players or a way for veterans to collect more copies of useful neutral cards
• Contains sixty-nine cards: one faction card, one agenda card, seven plots, and a sixty-card draw deck

The first Chapter Pack in the Blood and Gold cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game!

In the aftermath of the Battle of the Blackwater, a moment of peace falls across Westeros as the Great Houses lick their wounds. House Lannister has won a decisive victory and forged a new alliance with House Tyrell—but more important than battles are the schemes hatching in the darkness. In the heart of King’s Landing, Tyrion Lannister plots his return to power, as the Queen of Thorns takes Sansa Stark under her wing. House Bolton and House Frey each prepare to strike devastating blows against the Starks. And in the south, the princes of Dorne plot their revenge against the Lannisters for sins long past. Soon, these schemes may determine the fortunes of every Great House…

All Men Are Fools is the first Chapter Pack of the Blood and Gold cycle, and it sets off the themes that will play out throughout. Following the lead of the previous two cycles, Blood and Gold focuses on the next book of A Song of Ice and Fire, calling on key events and iconic characters from A Storm of Swords. At the same time, you’ll find a new focus placed on one of the game’s most important resources: gold. With a brand-new keyword and powerful recurring events, every faction gains new ways to spend their gold, as well as plenty of new ways to earn it. Managing your gold has been crucial since the days of the Core Set, and soon, every faction will have more gold and more options than ever before.

The Prince’s Plan
With the onset of the Blood and Gold cycle, a new keyword—the first since the Core Set—enters the game. This keyword is “bestow,” and it gives you a new level of control over your card’s power level.

For example, one of the first cards to feature the bestow keyword is the blind seneschal of House Martell, Ricasso (All Men Are Fools, 15). Ricasso costs three gold to play, but he also bears bestow (2), which means that when Ricasso enters play, you may move up to two gold from your gold pool to Ricasso. You’re never forced to move this gold, but once the gold is placed on a character, you cannot spend it and you’ll lose the gold if the character leaves play. Still, as we’ll see in a moment, bestowing gold on the right characters is always beneficial.

Placing gold on a card with bestow has no inherent effect, but the purpose of the gold is defined by the rest of the card’s text. In this case, Ricasso’s ability reads, “You are considered to have X additional plot cards in your used pile. X is the number of gold Ricasso has.” Obviously, bestowing gold on Ricasso has powerful implications for cards like Doran Martell (Core Set, 105), Doran's Game (Core Set, 119), and Starfall Cavalry (Called to Arms, 35), but it’s up to you to decide exactly how much you want to invest in Ricasso.

For the greatest impact, you may choose to bestow two gold on Ricasso—the maximum that you’re able to place on him. Still, doing this costs five gold in total, and you may need to save your money for other effects. Bestowing a single gold on Ricasso gives you a lesser effect for a lower cost, and in desperate circumstances, you could simply play Ricasso for his STR and challenge icons, without worrying about his ability. This precise control over the abilities on your bestow cards is exactly what makes them so adaptable and well-suited to the changing tides of the game of thrones.

By bestowing two gold on Ricasso when he enters play, you are considered to have two additional plots in your used pile!

The other Martell card in this Chapter Pack also plays off of Ricasso, and exemplifies another way you may spend your gold in the Blood and Gold cycle. The Prince's Plan (All Men Are Fools, 16) is an event that lets you choose any character. Until the end of the phase, that character gets one additional STR for each plot in your used pile and it gains a challenge icon of your choice! This event isn’t like most events, however, which remain in your discard pile after being played. At any point after you lose a challenge, you may pay one gold to return The Prince’s Plan from your discard pile to your hand—and this card’s versatility means that even when your opponent knows it’s in your hand, you can use it to push your challenges through again and again.

The bestow keyword and recurring events give you plenty of ways to spend your gold… but how are you going to get more? Fortunately, this cycle introduces new economy for every faction, starting with a series of economic locations like the Slaver's Bay Port (All Men Are Fools, 14) for House Targaryen. These non-unique locations cost two gold, and during marshaling, you can typically kneel them to gain two gold—provided the conditions are right. These locations can give you a massive amount of gold, provided you’re playing into your faction’s main themes.

With Slaver’s Bay Port, for instance, you can always kneel the location to receive a single gold, but if your opponent has four or more characters in his dead pile, you receive two gold! With a similar location for every faction and other new economy cards added to your deck, you can gain the gold you need to fuel your deck and your new bestow cards.

Bestow Your Favor
Gold has always been the lifeblood of every faction, and with All Men Are Fools and the rest of the Blood and Gold cycle, you’ll have more gold and more ways to spend it than ever before.

• The first Chapter Pack of the Blood and Gold cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game
• Follows the events of A Storm of Swords, the third book in A Song of Ice and Fire
• Introduces a new keyword to the game: bestow
• Gold becomes even more important with new economy cards and new options for spending gold
• Includes sixty new cards (three copies each of twenty distinct cards)

The second Chapter Pack in the Blood and Gold cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game!

Great changes are coming to Westeros, played out through countless smaller stories. Jaime Lannister has been freed from the prisons of Riverrun and makes his way towards King’s Landing as a captive of Brienne of Tarth. Jon Snow has turned his cloak and fallen in with wildlings, while struggling to keep his true loyalties secret. Robb Stark fights to reclaim the loyalty of his bannermen, Daenerys Targaryen lays her plans to acquire an army of eunuchs, and Davos Seaworth returns to Dragonstone with a dream of assassinating the red priestess, Melisandre. Though the violence of the War of the Five Kings has paused, the intrigues and plots behind the scenes have never been stronger—or more dangerous.

Return to Westeros with Guarding the Realm, a new Chapter Pack of the Blood and Gold cycle! As with the other expansions of this cycle, you’ll be drawn into the events of A Storm of Swords. Gold has always been important in A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, and the ways you earn and spend it will soon become more plentiful than ever before, as you contend with the new bestow keyword and new economic options for every faction. And of course, you’ll have the chance to add iconic characters to your deck, including Gilly, a new version of Melisandre, and a bastard son of House Botley, Wex Pyke.

Shadows Born of Light
Since the days of the Core Set, Melisandre (Core Set, 47) has been a linchpin of any deck that focused on kneeling enemy characters. In combination with the other servants of R’hllor in your deck, Melisandre conspired to kneel your opponent’s most impactful characters and keep them from contributing to challenges.

As the Westeros cycle went by, however, a new deck archetype began to arise for House Baratheon—one focused on consistently winning dominance. With the help of A Feast for Crows (Core Set, 2), Gendry (No Middle Ground, 68), and Chamber of the Painted Table (Core Set, 60), House Baratheon could claim a significant amount of power in the dominance phase, without worrying about challenges. Though Melisandre certainly played a role in those decks, the Guarding the Realm Chapter Pack introduces a new version of Melisandre to join the ranks of your Baratheon dominance decks.

With a price of seven gold, Melisandre (Guarding the Realm, 27) costs more than her previous incarnation, but she has an increased STR to match. Even aside from her newfound STR, Melisandre has gained the insight keyword, helping her increase your options in the midst of the challenges phase. Still, neither higher STR nor insight are sufficient reason to use this version of Melisandre over the Core Set version. Instead, you’ll look at her ability: “Reaction: After you win dominance, choose an opponent and look at his or her hand. Then, choose and discard 1 card form that hand. If that card is a character, place it in its owner’s dead pile.”

For a Baratheon player interested in controlling his opponent and the flow of the game, Melisandre can have an unimaginable impact. In fact, each sentence of her ability brings new benefits. First, you can look at your opponent’s hand, giving you exact knowledge of your opponent’s cards and showing you what you can expect to see in future rounds. Then, you get to choose and discard any card from that hand! If you’re worried about Put to the Sword (Core Set, 41), Milk of the Poppy (Core Set, 35) or The Hand's Judgment (Core Set, 45) messing up your plans, you can easily remove them.

And if those benefits weren’t enough, if you discard a character, you place it in your opponent’s dead pile, preventing your opponent from playing additional copies of that character, even if he draws them. Removing your opponent’s most threatening character in hand is a game-changing prospect, and if you’re allowed to win dominance and trigger Melisandre round after round, there’s little chance your opponent will be able to stand up to your power.

All of that is without even considering Melisandre’s application to other cards in the game. Ruby of R'hllor (Across the Seven Kingdoms, 9) becomes better if you're regularly looking at your opponent’s hand. And timing Heads on Spikes (Core Set, 13) is much easier if you know your odds of hitting a key character.

The only caveat to Melisandre’s ability is that you need to consistently win dominance. Of course, sitting on The Iron Throne (Core Set, 38) will help, but the other Baratheon card in this Chapter Pack is another tool that you can use. Light of the Lord (Guarding the Realm, 28) is a two-gold attachment that can be given to any Baratheon or R’hllor character. Because Light of the Lord stands the attached character at the beginning of the dominance phase, you now have the flexibility to use a character in challenges and still count its STR for dominance. And what will you do with an extra gold in the dominance phase? Perhaps you’ll play Ritual of R'hllor (Ghosts of Harrenhal, 88) to grab the extra power you need to win the game.

Hearts on Fire
The night is dark and full of terrors, but with the light of R’hllor and the power of Melisandre, you may lead House Baratheon to victory. Will you protect Westeros or let it fall to darkness?

• The second Chapter Pack of the Blood and Gold cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game
• The new bestow keyword adds new options and strategic depth
• Added economy and new ways to spend money make your gold more important than ever
• Play as recognizable characters, such as Gilly, Melisandre, and Wex Pyke
• Contains sixty new cards (three copies each of twenty distinct cards)

The third Chapter Pack in the Blood and Gold cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game!

Bloody plots consume the Seven Kingdoms, as once-loyal bannermen turn against the kings that they had sworn to serve. A procession from Dorne marches north to King’s Landing, intent on exacting vengeance against the Lannisters. Robb Stark moves quickly to reclaim Winterfell, unaware of the dark plots being hatched in Harrenhal and The Twins. And on the continent of Essos, Daenerys Targaryen liberates the city of Astapor from the Good Masters and wins an army of Unsullied in the manner of Old Valyria—with fire and blood!

The Fall of Astapor is the next Chapter Pack in the Blood and Gold cycle, continuing the saga of A Song of Ice and Fire into the third volume, A Storm of Swords. Within this pack, you’ll find more cards focusing on the new bestow keyword, powerful new economy, new ways to spend your gold, and the subtly growing influence of House Frey. You’ll even have the chance to add iconic characters and locations to your deck, including Grey Worm, The Twins, and a new version of Theon Greyjoy.

Overthrowing the Masters
Daenerys Targaryen’s conquest of Astapor is one of the most iconic moments of A Storm of Swords, and equally importantly, it marks the first time that her dragons are used in battle. It’s fitting that the Chapter Pack entitled The Fall of Astapor should offer some of the greatest support for Targaryen burn.

In A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, “burn” refers to lowering a character’s STR, and it’s primarily the domain of House Targaryen. Though reducing STR is not inherently lethal, there are plenty of cards to kill zero STR characters, including Dracarys! (Core Set, 176), Plaza of Punishment (Core Set, 173), and Blood of the Dragon (No Middle Ground, 75). Still, with the exception of Dracarys!, most of these cards only reduce a character’s STR by a small amount. In order to burn the largest, most iconic characters in the game, you’ll need a way to reduce their STR much more significantly.

That’s where the two Targaryen cards from The Fall of Astapor come into play. First, you’ll find Grey Worm (The Fall of Astapor, 53), the commander of Daenerys’s Unsullied. Your opponent will soon learn that there are few sights more terrifying than Grey Worm attacking with a Dragon hovering overhead—as a simple Action while Grey Worm is attacking, you can choose a defending character and give that character -3 STR! Even powerful characters like Stannis Baratheon (There Is My Claim, 67) may fear defending Grey Worm’s challenges—combine Grey Worm’s ability with Dracarys!, and nearly any character in the game can be burnt to death. Still, leaving Grey Worm unopposed can be equally dangerous, since his five STR is perfect for playing Put to the Sword (Core Set, 41). And as you might imagine, Grey Worm is even more deadly when commanding a legion of Unsullied (Core Set, 171) in battle.

Still, Grey Worm can only burn your opponent’s characters while he is attacking during a challenge, which makes his scope relatively limited. To get the most out of your burn effects, you’ll need a card like Astapor (The Fall of Astapor, 54).

Like many cards in the Blood and Gold cycle, the effectiveness of Astapor is directly connected to how much gold you choose to spend on it. Astapor only costs one gold to marshal, but it has the bestow (4) keyword, meaning that you can place up to four gold from your gold pool onto this card when you marshal it. Then, Astapor reads, “Action: Kneel Astapor to choose a participating character. Until the end of the challenge, that character gets -X STR. X is the number of gold Astapor has.”

The versatility and power of Astapor cannot be underestimated. First, it’s extraordinarily flexible—it can hit any character, so long as that character is participating in a challenge. And it can be used as an Action at any point during the challenge. Astapor also burns away a significant portion of your opponent’s STR. If you’ve fully charged Astapor with four gold, you’ll reduce a character’s STR by four: bringing almost any character within reach of Dracarys!, Plaza of Punishment, or even Blood of the Dragon. Finally, Astapor is eminently reusable. Rather than a one-shot event like Dracarys!, both Astapor and Grey Worm are effects that remain on your board turn after turn, giving you a cumulative advantage. After all, even if you don’t kill an enemy character by reducing their STR, you may open the door to win challenges and let characters like Mirri Maz Duur (Calm Over Westeros, 93) or Quaithe of the Shadow (Tyrion’s Chain, 113) do their work.

Fire and Blood
Across the continent of Essos, Daenerys Targaryen is gathering her army and calling her supporters to her side as she plans her conquest of Westeros. Whether you fight for the True Queen or you’ve joined the Usurper’s dogs, you’ll find plenty of new cards to enhance your decks in The Fall of Astapor!

• The third Chapter Pack of the Blood and Gold cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game
• The new bestow keyword adds new options and strategic depth
• Added economy and new ways to spend money make your gold more important than ever
• Command recognizable characters and locations, such as Grey Worm, The Twins, and Theon Greyjoy
• Contains sixty new cards (three copies each of twenty distinct cards)

The fourth Chapter Pack in the Blood and Gold cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game!

Though a scheme may spend months incubating in the shadows, there is a moment of terrifying revelation when your plans come to fruition—a grand reveal that shatters your foes beyond repair. For the secret alliance of House Frey, House Bolton, and House Lannister, that moment was the Red Wedding. In a single night, House Stark suffered a devastating defeat, and though Robb Stark had won every battle, he met his demise beneath the roof of his supposed allies.

With The Red Wedding Chapter Pack, you’ll have the chance to continue the saga of A Storm of Swords with one of the most gut-wrenching and iconic moments of the entire series. Even as you walk among the fallen and the deadly power of House Frey continues to grow, you’ll also find new ways to spend and earn your gold, like the other expansions of the Blood and Gold cycle. With iconic characters like Ellaria Sand, Strong Belwas, Othell Yarwyck, and Walder Frey entering the game for the first time, The Red Wedding brings new horrors and schemes into every game.

Lords of the Crossing
Throughout the Blood and Gold cycle, you’ll find an array of new cards with the House Frey trait, and as you might imagine, most of them interact with the House Frey agenda, The Lord of the Crossing (The King’s Peace, 60).

While many agendas significantly influence the ways you can build your deck, The Lord of the Crossing offers no explicit deckbuilding restrictions or opportunities. Instead, it dramatically changes the way you approach the challenges phase—each of your characters are weakened during your first challenge, but in exchange, all of your characters grow stronger during your third challenge, and you gain an extra power if you win! Of course, to gain this advantage, you’ll need to consistently make three challenges, which in turn influences your deckbuilding. More than any other agenda, The Lord of the Crossing forces you to carefully consider what characters you put in your deck and what challenge icons they bear.

Fittingly, there’s are few characters better suited to The Lord of the Crossing agenda than Walder Frey (The Red Wedding, 77) himself. Walder Frey has all three icons, meaning that he can fill any gap and ensure that you can make three challenges every round. More importantly, however, while Walder Frey is attacking, each other House Frey character you control is also considered to be attacking! Whether you’ve already used your House Frey characters to make your initial challenges, or you’re holding them in reserve to defend against your opponent, when Walder Frey attacks, he brings the might of the entire Frey family with him. You may even pair Walder Frey with The Red Viper (Core Set, 109) to claim a potentially massive amount of power with a single challenge.

In fact, with a deck using The Lord of the Crossing agenda, it’s not at all uncommon for your total STR to skyrocket during your third challenge. You’ll find a way to capitalize on that extra STR with Frey Hospitality (The Red Wedding, 79). At first glance, Frey Hospitality may appear to be a slightly different version of Put to the Sword (Core Set, 41). You no longer need to win a military challenge by five STR, but instead you must pay three gold and win your third challenge with an attacking House Frey character for the same reward of choosing and killing an enemy character. The real benefits, however, come when you win big. If you won that third challenge by twenty or more STR, you can choose and kill three characters controlled by the losing opponent! Though it may take significant planning to pull off this level of Frey Hospitality, if you succeed you can guarantee that your opponent will be left with a ruined position.

The impact of Frey Hospitality is significant, but few cards capture the carnage and horror of the Red Wedding better than the plot of the same name. The Red Wedding (The Red Wedding, 80) is a plot that, unusually, offers zero claim, but that’s not to say that your challenges will be useless. When you win a challenge as the attacking player, The Red Wedding lets you choose and kill a Lord or Lady character controlled by the losing opponent. The slaughter is compounded by the next line: “(Any player may initiate this ability.)” Opening the board to this level of destruction may seem insane, especially since your opponent will most likely have a plot that gives him claim in addition to killing one of your Lords or Ladies. Still, there are some ways for you to lay your plots in the darkness and escape the worst of The Red Wedding.

First, it’s important to note that The Red Wedding is a Scheme, meaning that it pairs perfectly (and thematically) with "The Rains of Castamere" (Lions of Casterly Rock, 45) agenda. Although this prevents you from using The Lord of the Crossing agenda, the benefits may be more than worth it. You can manipulate the game to escape any drawback from The Red Wedding—only revealing this plot by triggering “The Rains of Castamere” when you’re the second player. Although The Red Wedding won't be revealed in time for you to trigger it from winning this intrigue challenge, you can certainly use The Red Wedding when you win your other challenges!

The second method for avoiding death at The Red Wedding is simply to build your deck with this plot in mind. Naturally, many decks choose to include Lords and Ladies. These are usually the most iconic characters from the story, and the abilities of cards like Robert Baratheon (Core Set, 48), Victarion Greyjoy (Lions of Casterly Rock, 27) and Cersei Lannister (Lions of Casterly Rock, 1) can be awe-inspiring. Still, there are factions, like House Martell and The Night’s Watch, that can easily leave these traits behind. If you’re building a deck that’s focused on wiping your opponent’s board while drawing on cards like Tyene Sand (True Steel, 115) or Qhorin Halfhand (Tyrion’s Chain, 105), then The Red Wedding could be the perfect addition to your plot deck.

Join the Freys
In a single night of blood and betrayal, House Frey almost destroyed House Stark. Now, they’re offering to do the same for your enemies.

• The fourth Chapter Pack of the Blood and Gold cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game
• The new bestow keyword adds new options and strategic depth
• Added economy and new ways to spend money make your gold more important than ever
• Command iconic characters, such as Ellaria Sand, Walder Frey, and Strong Belwas
• Contains sixty new cards (three copies each of twenty distinct cards)

The fifth Chapter Pack in the Blood and Gold cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game!

Many lives were lost in Robert Baratheon’s bloody rebellion. Some, such as Rhaegar Targaryen, died in honorable combat on the field of battle. Others, like Elia Martell, were brutally slain at the hands of the conquering Lannister forces. For fifteen years, House Martell has held its thirst for vengeance in check, waiting with the utmost patience. And although the Red Viper’s duel with Ser Gregor Clegane ends in tragedy for House Martell, it is also the catalyst that sets Doran Martell’s plots in motion...

Oberyn’s Revenge, the fifth Chapter Pack in the Blood and Gold cycle, continues the major themes of the cycle and invites you to play out some of the most iconic moments from A Storm of Swords. Even as dark events and schemes unfold around you, you can use your gold and the new bestow keyword to gain new levels of control over the game. As new versions of the Red Viper and Bran Stark enter the game alongside characters like Irri and Ser Garlan Tyrell, your vengeance is about to become more vicious than ever before.

A Bloodthirsty Man
When the Red Viper arrived in King’s Landing to take Doran Martell’s place on the Small Council, Tyrion Lannister immediately recognized that there would be trouble between the lords of House Martell and the Tyrell forces already in the city. Yet if anything, Tyrion mistook the true danger. House Martell’s feud with the Tyrells was a simmering anger, but their hatred for House Lannister had been stoked to an inferno over the last fifteen years. Now, Oberyn’s Revenge offers a new version of the Red Viper for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game—one who can challenge your opponent with utter ruthlessness.

The Red Viper’s dangerous arrogance and consummate skill with arms is represented in the new version of this character. The Red Viper (Oberyn’s Revenge, 95) is a six-gold, five-STR character, who features all three icons and the renown keyword. With just those stats alone, The Red Viper is a competitive option for your Martell decks, but his ability is what truly sets him apart: “While The Red Viper is attacking, each defending character with fewer than 2 challenge icons does not contribute its STR to the challenge.”

The ability to simply ignore your opponent’s defenses unless those defending characters have at least two icons cannot be overestimated. Obviously, many characters have two or three icons, but when you combine The Red Viper with Attainted (The King’s Peace, 55), Condemned (No Middle Ground, 77), and Imprisoned (True Steel, 116), your opponent’s defenses quickly begin to crumble around them. You may even use Oberyn’s daughter, Nymeria Sand (The Road to Winterfell, 35) to threaten icon removal in the midst of challenges, forcing your opponent to overcommit if he plans to even oppose the challenge.

Of course, simply pushing a challenge through isn’t enough—there need to be rewards for doing so. The Red Viper’s unique influence on challenges can allow you to trigger powerful effects like Spearmaiden (For Family Honor, 55), Tears of Lys (Core Set, 44), or Doran's Game (Core Set, 119). But there can be other rewards as well—for example using a Dornish Paramour (Core Set, 111) to pull a character with one icon into the challenge, forcing it to kneel without counting its STR. Alternatively, you may decide that it’s time for some Dornish Revenge (Oberyn’s Revenge, 96).

With Dornish Revenge, you can pull your opponent’s characters into a fight they’d much rather avoid. By playing this event after you initiate a challenge, you can choose any character controlled by the defending player. That character must be declared as a defender for this challenge, if able, and if you win the challenge by five or more STR, your opponent must choose and kill a defending character!

In every game of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, your opponent will carefully choose which challenges he leaves unopposed or which characters he chooses to defend with—especially if he’s focused on a defensive strategy like protecting The Wall (Core Set, 137). Dornish Revenge immediately takes this crucial choice out of the hands of your opponent and puts it in your domain. In many circumstances, you can actually put your opponent in a lose-lose situation. Perhaps you initiate your first challenge, and force your opponent to defend with a crucial character like Maester Aemon (Core Set, 125). Your opponent may be able to defend with enough STR to prevent you from killing Maester Aemon—but that only kneels out more of his forces and opens the door for other characters, such as Edric Dayne (Core Set, 106) to slip past his defenses. And, of course, Dornish Revenge is even more potent if The Red Viper is there to make sure single-icon characters won’t count their STR.

The Viper Strikes
You have bided your time, hiding in the grass, stoking the fires of your anger and your hatred—but now the sun is in the eyes of your enemy, and it’s time to strike.

• The fifth Chapter Pack of the Blood and Gold cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game
• The new bestow keyword adds new options and strategic depth
• Added economy and new ways to spend money make your gold more important than ever
• Command iconic characters, such as the Red Viper, Bran Stark, and Ser Garlan Tyrell
• Contains sixty new cards (three copies each of twenty distinct cards)

The sixth Chapter Pack in the Blood and Gold cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game!

The tumult of the War of the Five Kings shook the foundations of Westeros, fracturing the peace that had endured since Greyjoy’s Rebellion. In this new war, the Great Houses were forced to choose sides, some supporting Renly or Stannis Baratheon, others lending aid to Robb Stark, Joffrey Baratheon, or Balon Greyjoy. Yet there are also those who fight for no king, but for the people. To some, they are no more than outlaws, but for others, these men and women are champions and heroes—true knights.

Take up arms with outlaws in The Brotherhood Without Banners, the sixth Chapter Pack of the Blood and Gold cycle! As the cycle draws to a climactic conclusion, you’ll have the chance to see the themes of the cycle more fully realized, with new economy cards and new support for the bestow keyword across all eight factions. Whether you’re serving the Night’s Watch with Donal Noye or leading the brotherhood with Beric Dondarrion, this expansion has plenty to offer, including a brand-new agenda inviting you to join the brotherhood without banners.

The Forgotten Fellowship
Choosing an agenda for your deck is one of the most crucial decisions you’ll make while deckbuilding for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, and there are obvious reasons why that’s true. Your agenda decides the focus of your entire deck, whether you’re choking your opponent’s economy and reserve with Kings of Winter (Called to Arms, 38), revealing unexpected Schemes with "The Rains of Castamere" (Lions of Casterly Rock, 45), or pursuing some other route to victory.

In The Brotherhood Without Banners expansion, a new agenda enters the game, and it immediately opens the door to a wealth of new decks. Yet from its first line, The Brotherhood Without Banners (The Brotherhood Without Banners, 119) agenda immediately sets itself apart from every other deck that you may choose to create.

If there’s been one constant across all agendas released so far, it’s that you can rely on the aid of your main faction’s most iconic characters. House Lannister can always call upon Tywin Lannister (Core Set, 90), for instance, while House Baratheon has the sole privilege of fighting alongside Robert Baratheon (Core Set, 48). All of your old alliances change, however, when you join the brotherhood without banners—this agenda prevents you from including loyal characters in your deck.

Obviously, you’d expect to gain something significant in exchange for giving up some of your most powerful cards, and The Brotherhood Without Banners delivers by dramatically increasing the effectiveness of neutral characters. The agenda reads, “Reaction: After the challenges phase begins, kneel your faction card to choose a neutral character you control. Until the end of the phase, that character gains (choose one): insight, intimidate, renown, or stealth.”

Ultimately, what you gain from The Brotherhood Without Banners is a supreme versatility as you approach the challenges phase. If you’re short on cards, you can grant insight to draw more cards. If you need power to close in on the win, you can gain renown. Or, if you need help to push challenges past your opponent’s characters, you can grant one of your own characters intimidate or stealth. No matter what the current state of your game, The Brotherhood Without Banners can offer a powerful benefit.

The one thing that you need for The Brotherhood Without Banners to have its full effect is a healthy supply of neutral characters. After all, if you’re caught without any neutral characters in play, your agenda offers you nothing. Characters like Jaqen H'ghar (There Is My Claim, 77) are natural fits, though one of the best ways to use The Brotherhood Without Banners, at least initially, is with the Wildlings. It’s easy to see the benefits of giving intimidate, stealth, insight, or renown to powerful characters like Rattleshirt (Watchers on the Wall, 39) or Crow Killers (Watchers on the Wall, 41).

Still, there are few characters better suited to this agenda than the leader of the brotherhood— Beric Dondarrion (The Brotherhood Without Banners, 117). Designed by 2014 European Melee Champion Jakob Hultman, Beric Dondarrion is a formidable leader for your characters—not least because of his near-immunity to death. When Beric Dondarrion first enters play, you’ll place six kiss tokens on him. Then, whenever Beric would be killed, you can discard a kiss token to save him! Removing these kiss tokens reduces Beric’s STR, but if you’re surviving Valar Morghulis (There Is My Claim, 80) or absorbing military claim without sacrificing your board, the kiss of life is a small price to pay. Just like in A Song of Ice and Fire, Beric will keep on fighting for your cause long past when lesser men would have given up and died.

It’s also important to note that Beric Dondarrion bears the R’hllor trait. Beric’s devotion to the Lord of Light means that he works perfectly with Melisandre (Core Set, 47) to keep your enemies knelt. As more brotherhood characters swearing allegiance to R’hllor enter the game, you may find one of the best homes for The Brotherhood Without Banners in allegiance to House Baratheon.

A Flaming Sword
A new agenda is coming to A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, and with it, new options for every faction. Will you take up the fiery sword of R’hllor with Beric Dondarrion and the brotherhood?

• The sixth Chapter Pack of the Blood and Gold cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game
• The new bestow keyword adds new options and strategic depth
• Added economy and new ways to spend money make your gold more important than ever
• Command iconic characters, such as Donal Noye and Beric Dondarrion
• Contains sixty new cards (three copies each of twenty distinct cards)

The first Chapter Pack in the Dance of Shadows cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game!

Darkness falls across the world of A Song of Ice and Fire. While Daenerys Targaryen struggles to rule Meereen, conspirators plot her downfall. Jon Snow serves the Night’s Watch as their new Lord Commander, but there are dissidents hidden within his ranks. In the darkling alleys of King’s Landing itself, House Lannister, House Tyrell, and the faith of the Seven clash for control of Westeros. There are shadows everywhere.

The Shadow City marks the beginning of the fifth cycle of Chapter Packs—the Dance of Shadows cycle. Here, you’ll find the story advancing into the pages of A Dance with Dragons and the return of a beloved mechanic from the game’s first edition: shadows. Throughout this expansion and the rest of the cycle, you’ll find characters, locations, attachments, and events emblazoned with the shadow keyword. Assassins, spies, conspirators, and secrets hide in the twilight, ready to spring into view. Every faction must embrace the darkness and the path of shadows—or fade into obscurity.

Shrouded by Shadow
Your battles for the Iron Throne fall into darkness with the advent of the Dance of Shadows cycle and its new keyword, shadow. Before this cycle, most cards in the game were drawn from your deck and remained in one of two spaces: in your hand or in play. The shadow keyword introduces a new place for your most devious, underhanded, and unexpected cards to be played.

For example, we may look at one of the new characters introduced in this expansion: Ser Gerris Drinkwater (The Shadow City, 16). Ser Gerris Drinkwater may seem like a standard character, but his shadow (5) keyword and the dark sigil attached to his gold cost destine him for the game’s most shadowy areas.

Cards that bear the shadow keyword can be played normally by paying their gold cost, or they can be marshaled or setup facedown in the shadows area by paying two gold! Cards in shadows exist in a unique state—separate from your hand and play area and hidden from your opponent’s sight. Though your opponent can see how many cards you have in shadows, he won’t know what they are until you reveal them. Once you’ve played cards into shadows, you can bring them out of shadows as Actions in any phase, at any point during the game. To bring a card out of shadows, you must pay its shadow cost: the number found as part of its shadow keyword.

In other words, you could marshal or setup Ser Gerris Drinkwater in shadows for two gold. Then, at any point in the game, you could take an Action and pay his shadow cost—five gold—to bring him out of shadows and into play!

The advantages of holding cards in shadows are readily apparent. Your cards in shadows almost form a second hand of cards—a place to put cards where they can’t be lost to intrigue claim or discarded to meet reserve. You can setup shadow cards into shadows, potentially improving your setups. And cards in shadows have many similarities to cards with ambush, letting you spring them into play without warning! Unlike the ambush keyword, however, cards in shadows aren’t fettered to the challenges phase. You can bring them into play as an Action in any phase.

And if the inherent benefits of shadows weren’t enough, many shadow cards offer a powerful effect when they come out of shadows! Ser Gerris Drinkwater, to return to our earlier example, lets you choose a card in your plot deck and switch it with a card in your used pile—potentially reusing powerful plots like Valar Morghulis (There Is My Claim, 80) or The First Snow of Winter (No Middle Ground, 79) without cycling through your entire plot deck. If the plot you need is locked in your used pile, Ser Gerris Drinkwater can get you what you need.

A character like Ser Gerris Drinkwater could be played in a deck without any other shadow cards, simply on the strength of his ability alone. But if you’re trying to build a Martell deck based around shadow cards, you’ll want to enter The Shadow City (The Shadow City, 17). This location can, of course, enter the shadows itself, but its true potency is only apparent while it’s in play. First, The Shadow City reduces the cost to marshal your cards into shadows by one—meaning you’ll only pay a single gold to put a card in shadows. And if that weren’t enough, you can kneel The Shadow City and discard a card from shadows to draw two cards!

By giving you both an economic advantage and a way to reliably draw cards, The Shadow City can serve as the linchpin for a Martell deck dedicated to the shadows. You may even use The House with the Red Door (Journey to Oldtown, 39) to ensure you always start the game with The Shadow City in play. After all, four gold is the perfect amount to setup two cards in shadows.

While many shadow cards can be played normally or into shadows, some powerful cards must pass through the shadows, such as Beneath the Bridge of Dream (The Shadow City, 11). Instead of its gold cost, Beneath the Bridge of Dream bears a cost of “—“ to signify that it cannot be played normally. Instead, you must pay two gold to place Beneath the Bridge of Dream facedown into shadows, and pay its shadow cost (in this case, zero gold) to bring it out. These cards offer unusual and powerful effects, such as regaining access to your entire plot deck. You just need a little forethought to marshal these cards into shadows so they’ll be there when you need them.

Darkness Falls
The summer has been long, but winter is coming to Westeros—and with it, the return of shadows to A Game of Thrones: The Card Game. Your games are about to become much darker.

· The first Chapter Pack of the Dance with Shadows cycle
· The shadows mechanic enters the second edition of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game
· Assasssins, spies, and secrets lurk in the shadows, waiting to spring into view
· Characters like Ser Robert Strong and Varamyr Sixskins enter the game for the first time
· Contains sixty new cards (three copies each of twenty distinct cards)

As the battle for Westeros rages on, the key players of the game of thrones find themselves surrounded by enemies on all sides. Jon Snow is torn between his duty to the Night’s Watch and his love for the family he left behind, while whisperers within his ranks threaten treason. Cersei Lannister struggles to maintain a hold on power as the Tyrells and the newly revitalized faith of the Seven threaten to take everything she holds dear. And Daenerys Targaryen must establish a lasting rule in her city of Meereen while assassins lurk in every shadow and a terrible plague runs rampant through the streets.

As these characters face impossible choices about sacrifice and the true price of power, so must you test your morals in your fight for the Iron Throne. Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce The March on Winterfell, the second Chapter Pack in the Dance of Shadows cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game!

Hidden Thorns
Like the other Chapter Packs of the fifth cycle, The March on Winterfell draws you into the events of A Dance with Dragons, offering you three copies each of twenty new cards to bolster the strength of your chosen House and prepare your armies as the sun begins to set on Westeros. This Chapter Pack continues the themes first introduced in The Shadow City with the resurgence of the shadow keyword.

Shadow invites players to embrace the intrigues of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game by introducing a new way to play treacherous cards, keeping them hidden in the new shadows area until the opportune moment. Acting almost as a second hand that's protected from card effects which may target your hand, you may choose to marshal cards with the shadow keyword ability facedown into shadows for just two gold. Then, you can bring them into play as an Action at any time by paying the Shadow (X) amount marked on each card.

The Queen of Thorns (The March on Winterfell, 23) fully embraces this new layer of intrigue as her long-set plots for her family finally come to fruition. Now equipped with the Shadow keyword, you can marshal this version of The Queen of Thorns into shadows, where she'll patiently wait in the wings until the time arrives to bring her into the light.

Once you have her safely hidden in shadows, you may use an Action to pay The Queen of Thorn’s shadow cost at any point to bring her into play. This is your moment to strike. Evolving from her first iteration (Core Set, 186) in the Core Set and her second variant (House of Thorns, 4) in the House of Thorns deluxe expansion, The Queen of Thorns has now gained stealth, a rare ability among the members of House Tyrell. This, combined with her ability to bring one of your cards out of shadows and put it into play for free after she wins a challenge, makes The Queen of Thorns a deadly challenger. As a character lurking in shadows that's also equipped with stealth, it's easy for you to bring The Queen of Thorns into play when you're certain she can win a challenge and bring your highest-cost shadow card into play for free.

The Mummer’s Farce
Underhanded shadow-play is not reserved for the courts of King’s Landing. The March on Winterfell captures much of the action that occurs in the north, a place where strength, loyalty, and duty are valued above all else. At the Wall, Stannis Baratheon calls upon his key advisors, including the noble Ser Justin Massey (The March on Winterfell, 27), in his preparation for the great battles to come. With the key members of his forces in tow, Stannis may begin his campaign south to claim key strongholds in the north and earn the loyalty of the Northmen by destroying those responsible for the Red Wedding. The March on Winterfell (The March on Winterfell, 28) can be used to draw out your enemy, even without the use of shadows. Once you have initiated a challenge and your enemy has declared their defenders, this event simply lets you end the challenge with no winner or loser. Then, once your enemy’s board has been weakened, you are free to initiate an additional power challenge—exposing your enemy’s plan, learning their strengths, and shifting your own plans, all without risking the lives of your own men.

But this is the Dance of Shadows cycle, and sometimes the best way to serve your House is to move among the enemy. Wyman Manderly (The March on Winterfell, 21) seems to play all sides of the game of thrones. While outwardly appearing to be a cowardly, infirm old man, Manderly still aids Ser Davos Seaworth and, at least seemingly, attempts to restore the Starks to their seat of Winterfell. With Freys and Boltons around him dying or disappearing in disproportionate numbers, can even you trust him? In Wyman Manderly’s own words, “When treating with liars, even an honest man must lie.”

Begin the March
When the long nights of winter descend upon Westeros once again, will you embrace the cold shadows, or will your House fall into nothingness, left to be forgotten by history? Learn the Dance of Shadows, call your banners, and prepare for the nights to come!