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The Champion's Purse

Announcing the Second Chapter Pack in the Conquest and Defiance Cycle

“Life is not a song, sweetling. Someday you may learn that, to your sorrow.”

– George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

Tournaments and the prospect of a champion’s purse attract all kinds of knights, both the scum of the earth and honorable competitors. With such a collection of competitors, even tournaments can quickly become deadly. As you and your opponents compete for the Iron Throne, your struggle for the ultimate prize becomes more dangerous than ever!

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of The Champion’s Purse, the second Chapter Pack in the Conquest and Defiance cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game.

Mercenary Motives

The Champion’s Purse continues the themes began in Spoils of War, introducing new cards with the Prized keyword as well as developing the viability of multi-House decks with the new Conquest (Spoils of War, 1) agenda. But even as you battle for the champion’s purse, you may discover a few soldiers of fortune among the contestants. The Champion’s Purse introduces some of the scum of the realm in the Mercenary warriors of the Brave Companions.

Shagwell (The Champion’s Purse, 38) offers his talents to any House, but he’s most useful in the company of other Mercenaries. Shagwell possesses the Deadly and Prized 1 keywords, but his true abilities activate when you use the Neutral Faction House card. If you do, Shagwell gains, “Response: After you play a Mercenary character, choose and kneel a non-Army character.” Although this Response is limited to once per round, it certainly offers an incentive to separate yourself from a Great House, forming a Mercenary band.

No company of Mercenaries would be complete without the infamous leader of the Brave Companions, Vargo Hoat (The Champion’s Purse, 39). Vargo Hoat is a worthy addition to many decks, offering both a War crest and Renown. Vargo Hoat also possesses a specialized skill, however, offering you a way to directly deal with an opponent’s character agenda. When Vargo Hoat enters play, he can both kneel an opponent’s House card and discard a character agenda from that House card, potentially neutralizing your opponent’s intended path to victory.

With his skills for removing your opponent’s character agenda, Vargo Hoat may seem like the perfect leader of your Mercenary company, but you may want to consider another key character in The Tattered Prince (A Journey’s End, 117). Not only will The Tattered Prince allow you to play out-of-house Mercenary characters without penalty, he also lowers the cost of the first Mercenary character you play. The Tattered Prince can help you get your characters into play and a character like the Gold Cloaks (A Time of Trials, 25) establishes reliable draw. Soon, you can be well on your way to establishing a deadly Mercenary host, full of powerful characters like Shagwell and Vargo Hoat.

The Strength of the North

If you prefer the honor-bound Starks to the other Great Houses of Westeros, you’ll find that even by fighting honorably, you still have a solid chance at the champion’s purse. One of the new characters you’ll find in The Champion’s Purse is a new version of Ser Edmure Tully (The Champion’s Purse, 32). Ser Edmure’s traits, crest, and his Deadly keyword all provide opportunities for you to make him a truly fearsome fighter.

Ser Edmure also possesses a powerful once-per-round free ability, allowing him to shuffle any card from a player’s discard or dead pile back into the deck. Whether you use his ability to recur powerful events like To Be A Wolf (Sacred Bonds, 44), or remove an unique character from your dead pile, Ser Edmure Tully’s commanding presence is certain to make itself felt in your deck.

As you lead the armies and heroes of the north to war, you may need to ensure that your opponent will fight honorably, and one way to accomplish that is by using this Chapter Pack’s new version of Needle (The Champion’s Purse, 34). By giving this sword to any unique Stark character, you can prevent an opponent from triggering any effects while the attached character is participating in a challenge, hampering any tricks they might have hoped to unleash. When one of your character wields Needle, you’ll be able to keep your opponents honest in the challenge.

Reaching for the Prize

All men, from the lowliest hedge knight to the greatest lord, share the dream of winning the champion’s purse. Now, you too can have your chance at victory. Will the spoils of your triumph help you claim the Iron Throne? Seize The Champion’s Purse in the first quarter of 2014!

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Source: The Champion's Purse (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4550)