Fire Made FleshAnnouncing the Third Chapter Pack in the Conquest and Defiance Cycle
“I found one account of the Long Night that spoke of the last hero slaying Others with a blade of dragonsteel. Supposedly they could not stand against it.”
–George R.R. Martin, A Feast for Crows
Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of Fire Made Flesh, the third Chapter Pack in the Conquest and Defiance cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game!
The world that George R.R. Martin has created in his beloved fiction series, A Song of Ice and Fire, is so gritty and realistic, and the characters who populate it are so psychologically complex and believable, it’s often easy to overlook how fully the saga is permeated by magic and fantasy. Still, Westeros is a world shaped not only by political intrigues and wars between rival lords, it is a land shaped by dragonfire.
In A Song of Ice and Fire, dragons are fire made flesh, and they are every bit as important as they are powerful. Dragons allowed the Targaryens to unite the Seven Kingdoms. Their return to the world coincided with the revitalization of magic. And some think that dragonfire played some role in the creation of the Valyrian steel of which all the most legendary blades were forged.
In Fire Made Flesh, you’ll find a host of new Prized characters, locations, and events, as well as Prized versions of three of the world’s most storied Weapons: Heartsbane, Ice, and Blackfyre. Meanwhile, three neutral characters, a powerful event, and a plot card with a claim that you can ratchet as high as “6” introduce more support for the Neutral Faction House card and decks that unite multiple Houses.
Ice
One of the cards in Fire Made Flesh that best highlights how the Prized mechanic may impact the struggles of A Game of Thrones is Eddard Stark’s greatsword, Ice (Fire Made Flesh, 53).
Ice (Core Set, 1) already exists within the game as a Weapon attachment that cost two gold, plays only on a Stark character, and allows its controller to discard it to kill another character participating in the same challenge as its bearer. However, by making the new version of Ice “Prized 2” the developers were able to reduce its gold cost and change the number of participating characters its controller may kill. The sword’s thematic and mechanical identity remains largely the same; it still plays only on a Stark character, and you must still discard it to trigger its effect. But now players using the new, Prized version may trade the cost of two power for a greater – more legendary – effect.
This is one of the ways that the introduction of the Prized mechanic pays off within the game, and though it’s immaterial, it’s important to note. Most A Game of Thrones players are fans of Westeros and the stories set within it. They love and despise its characters, and they want their favorite characters and weapons to be represented by fantastically powerful cards within the game. Here, the Prized mechanic allows various cards, like Ice, to be represented by some awesome effects, and to enter the game at costs that aren’t prohibitive.
The question, of course, is whether or not it’s worth two power to include a card like Ice in your deck. After all, two power is a lot of power to hand your opponent when the game plays to just fifteen.
While these two power are part of the cost that balances the new, Prized version of Ice, they shouldn’t keep Stark players from giving it careful consideration. After all, at just one gold, the Ice from Fire Made Flesh is twice as affordable as that from the Core Set, and because there’s no strict limit on the number of participating characters it can kill, it’s very likely going to win you an unopposed challenge – or multiple. Even if you have no other Prized cards, Ice counts itself, allowing you to kill at least one participating character.
Furthermore, experienced players will quickly find ways to use the power cost of their Prized cards to their advantage. When you discard Ice, you give your opponent two power. However, that means you suddenly gain a method of putting power onto your opponent’s House card without ever allowing him to win a challenge. In the long run, this is a huge boon to power rush decks and helps them gain traction in their struggles against other types of decks.
Strike True
Can you conquer the Seven Kingdoms? Can you use Ice, Heartsbane, Blackfyre and the other powerful Prized cards from Fire Made Flesh to defeat your rivals and seize the Iron Throne? Along with these famous blades forged from Valyrian steel, you’ll find other such famous names as Podrick Payne, Longship Iron Victory, and Septon Utt.
Prepare to call your banners. Fire Made Flesh is scheduled to arrive at retailers early in the second quarter of 2014!
...
Source:
Fire Made Flesh
