Here we have the third chapter pack for the black border Clash of Arms Expansion cycle, and this one is almost definite a must get for serious AGOT deck builders, as it introduced the Epic Battles Event cards as well as the first three of the Kingdom cards, which are very useful for the Neutral factions and the (not so useable) Clansman.
As usual, the distribution of the card types -
6 Characters - 1 for each House except Greyjoy, who gets none, and Targaryen gets 2.
6 Epic Battle Events - 1 for each House.
3 Kingdom cards,
5 Locations, with the Stark not getting a piece of this action.
The characters are all over the place, some works with discard pile, some has weird STR bonuses, and a few interacts (or functions with them in mind) with Epic Battle events. But they are all not something that is totally essential, the Targaryen Storm Crows is a reasonably good addition if you want some recursion ability for your deck, but Arstan Whitebeard is pretty much a character that you'll only use in a deck which utilises Epic Battles. (Not that it is not a good thing). Four of the characters only comes in one copy in a pack, but the Storm Crows comes with three, so it is pretty alright.
The 3 Kingdom cards are no brainers, and almost an auto-include in their respective factions or sub-factions. They are in many ways free unique location-like cards which kneel to reduce the cost of the relevant characters you play next by 1, and gives you card draw if you play Epic Battles. There are a lot less Kingdom manipulation cards than location and attachments so I guess their lifespan is usually longer. Plus they're free. All of them comes with 3 copies, so you'll never have a lack of them.
The 5 Location cards are mostly unique 2-cost cards that has good effects and is enhanced if used during Epic Battles. The Baratheon's Claw Isles, for example, kneel to move 1 power from the losing opponent's House card when you win a challenge, and allows you to draw a card if this is done during Epic Phase, while the Greyjoy's (only) non-unique Besieged Shipyard discards 1 Power from opponent's House cards when you win a challenge, also giving you card draw if activated during Epic phase. These are very good locations to consider in a variety of deck-building alternatives, and they all come with 3 copies in the pack.
Now the key of this pack, the Epic Battles Events.
These cards, unique to each House, creates a new Epic Phase after the Dominance phase, allowing each player to initiate a single challenge, of a type that is linked to the motto, or style of the House it is attached to. The event has to be played at Plot phase, so there is no surprise here, and players can all get ready for it. The challenge at the Epic Phase, assuming you have no other cards that sponge off the phase (like the above-mentioned characters or locations), also allow the winner to activate another effect in addition to the normal claim. Needless to say, this is at its best when a player can capitalize it with multiple attacks in the challenge phase and still get to do all the necessary thing (and win) in the Epic phase.
At the very basic, it allows for another challenge to be initiated, which could mean another Power claim (for the Baratheon's Battle of the Wall, for example), or more killing involving the Wolves. When coupled with careful planning, such as High Claim Plots, non-kneeling attackers, unopposed challenges, dead/discard pile manipulators, Shadows/Ambush, the Epic can become quite a surprise element in the game.
The problem, of course, is it only comes in singles in this pack, and that means that you'll need 3 packs (usually) in order to make a Epic-based deck.
Nevertheless, the Epic events in this deck is, IMHO, absolutely necessary for your collection, as it has a lot of implications, and a lot of possibilities. You'd be losing out if you did not take Epics into consideration during your deck constructions.
Ouch time for the wallet.
(o.o)
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