HOUSE STARK
MILITARY: Very Strong
INTRIGUE: Very Weak
POWER: Moderate
House keyword: Stalwart - A card with Stalwart is returned to the top of your deck instead of being placed in the dead pile.
Overview
A Stark player's focus is military challenges. They get a large number of characters out quickly. Their characters tend to have high strength values for their cost, and they have a number of locations that allow you to search your deck for specific card types (especially Dire Wolves) and put them into your hand/play. Usually, you'll find few cards in your hand, as you're vulnerable to Intrigue challenges. However, you should be able to win military (and, to a slightly lesser extent, power) challenges at will, thus depriving your opponent of characters with which to challenge you.
Subthemes
Direwolves - A strong, synergistic deck style that focuses on the wolves from which the House draws its crest. They are deadly and allow for character search, allowing you to get a dangerous force out quickly.
House Tully - This subtheme focuses on large amounts of 'weenie' characters, weak and cheap ones to gain field advantage.
Stark has a number of decks that they can run. A direwolves deck, focusing on the creatures from which the House draws its crest, is an aggressive, military-focused theme that will allow for quick character advantage in the field and massive losses to your opponent's characters. A House Tully deck is slower and more control-oriented, with a focus on defense. They are also a viable House to run Wildlings and Night's Watch out of, both neutral factions that came to prominence in the Defender's of the North series of chapter packs.
Strengths
Military challenges. Attachment/location control. Targeted kill (second only to Targaryen). Fast decks. Decent cancel effects. Good search.
Weaknesses
Weak draw. Very weak in Intrigue challenges. Lack of stealth.
Play House Stark if you're interested in having strong characters that can easily kill your opponents.
Don't play House Stark if you like having a variety of options at all times and like a strategy that involves more complex considerations and adaptability.
Important Cards
The Blackfish
Catelyn Stark
Robb Stark
Sansa Stark
Eddard Stark
To be a Wolf
Endless Endurance
Shaggydog (LoW)
Grey Wind (LoW)
Reek
Ice
HOUSE LANNISTER
MILITARY: Very Weak
INTRIGUE: Very Strong
POWER: Moderate
House keyword: Infamy - You may place a power on any card with Infamy instead of on your House card.
Overview
Lannister decks are all about card advantage and frustrating opponents. They will generate more gold than most other houses thanks to a number of characters that grant a gold bonus, especially Tywin Lannister (Core Set), who nets you two spendable gold each round (and it's tax free!). They will also outdraw most opponents. This allows Lannister players to get large numbers of characters onto the field. The only problem is that, outside of Intrigue, their characters are lacking icons. This situation allows them to limit their opponents' options by draining their hand, however. They also have a large number of kneel effects, which take their opponents' characters out of the game for a turn. This frustration, however, is just that - a tactic to slow down the opponent.
Subthemes
Clansmen - Not yet fully developed, the Clansmen are a new subtheme that is designed to shore up Lannister's military weakness. With great synergy, characters with this subtheme buff, stand, and allow extra challenges for each other, while also, at times, increasing claim.
Strengths
Intrigue challenges. Strongest draw. Strongest gold generation. Kneel effects. Keyword-adding events. Great for shadows. Claim increase is developing.
Weaknesses
Military Challenges. Targeted kill (or any kill).
All of these advantages come at a price - House Lannister is weak in military challenges, making their characters prone to dying. It also means that they have a hard time getting opponents' characters off of the board. They also lack the strength in power challenges as most other houses, though not nearly as much as military challenges.
Play House Lannister if you like having plenty of gold and options, as well as if you like limiting the options of your opponent.
Don't play House Lannister if you like killing your opponents characters or having more variety of playstyles.
Important Cards
Alchemist's Guild Hall
Castellan of the Rock
Lannisport Brothel
You've Killed the Wrong Dwarf
The 'City' Plots
Golden Tooth Mines
Insidious Ways
I'm You Writ Small
A Lannister Pays His Debts
Sir Ilyn Payne
HOUSE BARATHEON
MILITARY: Strong
INTRIGUE: Moderate
POWER: Very Strong
House keyword: Vigilant - Any character with Vigilant may stand after you win a challenge.
Overview
House Baratheon decks rush to victory using many characters and renown. The traditional Baratheon build is, on average, the fastest deck. They are able to get a large amount of characters onto the field quickly because of their relatively low cost and many cost-reduction cards. They keep their character advantage (and most powerful characters) using character-stealing abilities and recursion abilities to 'resurrect' their dead. Additionally, they have a lot of abilities to stand characters, allowing them to participate in multiple challenges in one round. Decks can be well-balanced, or they can focus on the Knights or Asshai/Holy subthemes. A Knights deck will have characters that synergize well and will win many military and power challenges. This strategy limits the opponents' field, allowing for a quick rush to victory. An Asshai/Holy subtheme focuses on intrigue and military challenges, limiting an opponents' options from hand and similarly allowing a quick rush to victory. However, if this initial rush to victory fails, they can have a hard time reestablishing their advantage and winning against Houses that are better equipped for a longer game. They're also particularly vulnerable to individual character death, as their reincarnation abilities will bring a character out of the grave, but without all of the power it gained from renown.
Subthemes
Knights - This subtheme focuses on Military/Power challenges and buffing each other. The Agenda Knights of the Realm works well with this subtheme, increasing draw.
Asshai/Holy - Baratheon's Asshai deck (and Holy, as well) focuses on their Intrigue/Power characters. They generally have interesting abilities, and the builds tend to focus around an incarnation of Melisandre.
Strengths
Equal strength in all challenges/balanced. Fast decks. Renown. Reincarnation effects. Steal effects.
Weaknesses
Targeted kill. Weaker high-end characters. Draw.
Play House Baratheon if you like having many options for builds and winning quickly.
Don't play House Baratheon if you like a house that is a little bit more versatile and adaptable, able to deal with longer games.
Important Cards (Baratheon has many copies of each character that are important for any deck; which one you pick should align with your deck type; if a set is named after the card, it's generally the preferred version):
Robert Baratheon
Renly Baratheon (KotS)
Melisandre
Stannis (Core)
Royal Entourage
Ser Eldon Estermont
Brienne of Tarth (PotS)
Power of Blood (Plot)
The Fox's Teeth
The Black Cells
Margaery Tyrell
HOUSE TARGARYEN
MILITARY: Strong
INTRIGUE: Moderate
POWER: Strong
House keyword: Ambush - A card with Ambush may be played from your hand as an "Any phase:" response by paying its gold cost in influence.
Overview
House Targaryen is, by far, the best 'attachment' House in the game. They have a wide variety of attachments for every purpose, be it buffing, burning, or almost any other interesting mechanic of which you can think. This wide variety of attachments is made even more powerful by cards (like Lady Daenerys's Chambers (Core Set)), which allow you to bring them back from the discard pile and into your hand. They have balanced characters, allowing them to be competitive in each challenge type. Their strongest feature is their 'burn' abilities, cards that lower characters' stengths and kill them when it reaches 0. This ability allows for the best targeted character kill in the game; if a specific character is giving you problems, you can generally remove it. The cost curve, however, can be a little steep, making it difficult to get your deck setup and running in the early game. They also have relatively weaker characters, which can create problems in the later game. This is mitigated, though, by the debuffing abilities mentioned before. A last, interesting feature of Targaryen is their House keyword, Ambush, which allows cards to be marshalled outside of the marshalling phase (using influence). This allows for surprise attacks, especially after an opponent kneels himself out. All of these features can lead to rather complex gameplay, however, sometimes leading to mistakes.
Subthemes
Dragon -
Dothraki -
Their two subthemes - Dragon and Dothraki - need fleshing out, though their Dothraki theme is stronger based on the recent series of Chapter Packs. The Dragon subtheme focuses on the three dragons Rhaegal, Drogon, and Vyserion (all Core Set) and cards that allow you to find them in your deck and buff them. The Dothraki theme focuses on many characters that, like Knights from Baratheon, synergize well together, providing buffs and extra challenges. Combining the Dothraki subtheme with attachments, the leaders of the Dothraki all have powerful attachments that grant them strong bonuses. Both subthemes are focused on military and power challenges.
Strengths
Equal strength in all challenges/balanced. Attachments and attachment recursion. Ambush. Targeted kill/burn.
Weaknesses
Underdeveloped subthemes. High resource curve. Weaker high-end characters.
Play House Targaryen if you enjoy taking out specific characters and surprising your opponents.
Don't play House Targaryen if you don't like keeping track of many moving parts and abilities all at the same time.
Important Cards:
Dragon Bite (AE)
Foreven Burning
Dragon Thief
Flame-Kissed
Lady Daenerys's Chambers
Hatchling Feast
Jhogo
Viserys (Core)
Khal Drogo (Core)
Meereenese Brothel
Threat from the North
HOUSE GREYJOY
MILITARY: Strong
INTRIGUE: Moderate
POWER: Strong
House keyword: Intimidate - Characters with less strength than a card with Intimidate may not be declared as defenders while that card is attacking.
Overview
House Greyjoy is a rush deck, but it isn't a predictable route to victory (like Baratheon - you know from where they're getting their power). Instead, Greyjoy combos a number of cards that allow them to attack unopposed (like Scouting Vessel (KotS) and Euron Crow's Eye (KotS), and their House keyword Intimidate) with cards that get them extra power for unopposed challenges (like the Rise of the Kraken plot card). As such, a Greyjoy player can amass many power tokens in a single turn, often when opposing players think of themselves as having the advantage. However, they find longer games with straightforward confrontations a challenge, as their characters tend to be weaker. They have a number of save effects (in the forms of events, locations, and character abilities), so they are generally less affected by resets than other Houses; thus, they can usually try to reset and rush a second time if their initial rush fails. Their location control and locations themselves are some of the most powerful in the game, giving them the ability to steal and destroy opponents' most powerful locations. Their warship locations confer powerful bonuses on their own players, whether through saving them from death or providing buffs.
Subthemes
Raiders - Small characters that can quickly take the field (and just as quickly leave it), the Raider subtheme allows for quick marshalling of large numbers, which plays well into Greyjoy's rush strategy.
Warships - One of the few location subthemes, and the only one fully developed, Greyjoy's warships allow for buffing and saving characters, and pushing through unopposed challenges.
Strengths
Unopposed challenges/stealth. Fast decks. Save effects. Location control. Locations.
Weaknesses
Weak characters. Weaker high-end characters. Catching up.
Play House Greyjoy if you like having hard-to-kill characters and sneaking by opponents. Also, if you enjoy looking for weaknesses and quickly exploiting them.
Don't play House Greyjoy if you want a deck that will be able to come from behind, deal with a difficult draw/setup, or include powerful characters that will beat your opponents in a straight-up fight.
Important Cards
Euron Crow's Eye (KotS)
Scouting Vessel (KotS)
Support of Harlaw
Wintertime Marauders
Longship Iron Victory
Risen from the Sea
The Iron Mines
HOUSE MARTELL
MILITARY: Strong
INTRIGUE: Very Strong
POWER: Weak
House keyword: Vengeful - Any card with Vengeful may stand after you lose a challenge.
Overview
House Martell is based around making every challenge against you Pyrrhic - it's going to cost the aggressor much more than it costs you. As such, the early game is spent watching other players attack each other while you establish your board. When you have your cards in play, and the opponents are weak from fighting with each other, the Martell player will use card advantage to march to victory. Usually, this revolves around playing The Red Viper (Core Set), a very powerful tricon (has military, intrigue, and power icons) that is immune to events and character abilities, and doesn't kneel to attack an opponent with more characters than you. A Martell player will generally have a hand full of event cards, a response for every opponents' action. However, it can take several turns to set this up. Also, as the House lacks the ability to save characters, they are most vulnerable to losing a character necessary to their strategy.
Subthemes
Sand Snakes - The most recent subtheme, the Sand Snakes aren't fully developed, but they synergize well. This subtheme, like House Dayne, is better relegated to a support role in a traditional Martell deck.
House Dayne - Martell's other subtheme, House Dayne works a lot like Baratheon's Knights. They have effects that allow gold to be placed on the characters after challenge victories, buffing them over time. Again, this subtheme is better relegated to a support role in a Martell deck.
Strengths
Intrigue challenges. Effects and events. Loss effects (cards triggered by losing challenges)/House keyword Vengeful. Icon removal.
Weaknesses
Since they are lacking in power icons, they tend to have trouble pushing through to 15 power. They also can take several turns to set up, allowing rush decks to sometimes get to victory before they have a chance to get going.
Play House Martell if you like making an opponent think twice before attacking you and like having a response for everything an opponent might do.
Don't play House Martell if you like a quick and predictable route to victory or big characters to beat up on other characters.
Important Cards
The Red Viper (PotS)
Areo Hotah (Pots)
Red Vengeance (PotS)
Burning on the Sand (RotO)
Venomous Blade (TBoBB)
Arianne Martell
Darkstar
He Calls it Thinking
Ser Arys Oakhart
To Be a Viper
War Scorpion
