Spoils of War Is Now Available for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game

“Oberyn was ever the viper. Deadly, dangerous, unpredictable. No man dared tread on him. I was the grass. Pleasant, complaisant, sweet-smelling, swaying with every breeze. Who fears to walk upon the grass? But it is the grass that hides the viper from his enemies and shelters him until he strikes.”
   –George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

Spoils of War, the first Chapter Pack in the Conquest and Defiance cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, is now available at your local retailer and online through our webstore!

This Chapter Pack marks the beginning of the Conquest and Defiance cycle, and you’ll be able to start playing with cards bearing the new prized keyword for the first time. This keyword is the center of this cycle, as lead developer Nate French explained:

“This keyword allows you to experiment with new balances of risk and reward in deck-building and gameplay by introducing an additional ‘risk cost’ to a number of cards. Whenever a prized character, location, or attachment leaves play; or a prized plot moves to its owner’s used pile; or a prized event card is played; each opponent of the player who used the prized card claims power equal to that card’s prized value. But as these cards carry additional risks, they also offer greater rewards.”

When you include prized cards in your deck, you can take advantage of the benefits they offer, but you can also use the cards in Spoils of War to capitalize upon your opponent’s decision to utilize prized cards.

The Long Plan

You’ll find one way to get maximum power from your opponent’s prized cards by using Doran Martell (Spoils of War, 10). Doran possesses the Prized 2 keyword, which allows you to play this powerful character for just three gold. Doran features a host of excellent statistics and traits: four STR, the stealth keyword, an Intrigue and a Power icon, the Learned crest, and the Lord trait. But Doran’s passive ability can shape the way you gain power during a game of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game. Doran’s ability reads, “When a prized card is discarded from an opponent’s hand, claim power for your House equal to that card’s prized value.”

Normally, prized cards only grant power when they are killed or discarded from play, but Doran allows you to discard prized cards from your opponent’s hand with Intrigue challenges and still gain power from them. Even better, Doran’s effect is passive and nonspecific, meaning that anytime a prized card is discarded from your opponent’s hand, you’ll gain the power for it. By pairing Doran’s ability with the plot, Rule by Decree (Core Set, 206), you can force your opponent to make some painful choices about what cards he keeps in his hand.

Meanwhile, when you lose a challenge as a defender you can play You Murdered Her Children (Spoils of War, 12) and kneel two influence to discard an attacking character from play. If you target a prized character with this effect, you’ll be able to grab some extra power, but this event’s effect doesn’t stop there. You also get to search your opponent’s hand and deck for additional copies of that character and discard them. Even if your opponent only runs one copy of the chosen character, the knowledge you’ll gain about your opponent’s hand and deck could prove invaluable.

A final way for you to take advantage of the prized keyword lies in a new plot card from Spoils of War, Seizing the Prize (Spoils of War, 19). This plot possesses good income and high initiative, putting you in good position for the coming round, and it also carries an ability that allows you to claim one additional power whenever you claim power for the prized keyword. You can claim extra power if you target a prized character with You Murdered Her Children while you have Seizing the Prize as your active plot. You may even dissuade your opponent from playing prized cards, for fear the price will be higher than he likes.

Claim Your Prize

In Spoils of War and throughout the Conquest and Defiance cycle, you’ll find new prized cards and cards to help you establish multi-House decks. How you take advantage of these new spoils, however, is up to you. Make the most of these powerful new tools by picking up Spoils of War at your local retailer today!

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