A Game of Thrones House of Thorns

A Game of Thrones LCG - House of Thorns

“The word of a Tyrell is worth more than all the gold in Casterly Rock. At least it was in my day.”
   –The Queen of Thorns, A Storm of Swords

Across the verdant stretches of the Reach to their stronghold at Highgarden, House Tyrell holds sway over the south of Westeros. Their title as Wardens of the South gives them command over a quarter of the realm’s armies… but their stranglehold on the Seven Kingdoms' primary source of food gives them power that stretches far beyond their military strength. When observing House Tyrell, a cunning duality slowly grows apparent. On the surface, a veneer of honor and chivalry buys them the love of the smallfolk and the naïve—but beneath the ephemeral petals, you’ll find the iron-hard thorns of deadly schemes and plots.

Now, you can pledge your fealty to House Tyrell and call your banners alongside them with the House of Thornsdeluxe expansion for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, now available at your local retailer! With this expansion, House Tyrell rises to the top with a massive influx of new characters, locations, attachments, and events, including new versions of iconic characters like The Queen of Thorns, The Knight of Flowers, and Margaery Tyrell.

Though House Tyrell justly receives the bulk of the new cards in their deluxe expansion, they’re not alone. Every other faction receives two new non-loyal cards, and fittingly, the Maesters of Oldtown receive several new neutral cards in this expansion, including their own agenda, The Conclave (House of Thorns, 45).

Growing Strong

The words of the Tyrells are “Growing Strong," and few House words can be as directly applied to the game of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game. The connection is obvious—House Tyrell cares about increasing the STR of their characters, making them more powerful during challenges and reaping greater rewards for having stronger characters. This is a theme that has been present since the days of the Core Set, beginning with cards like Margaery Tyrell (Core Set, 181) and Growing Strong (Core Set, 195), and continuing through cards such as  Horn Hill (The Brotherhood Without Banners, 104) and "Lord Renly's Ride" (Guarding the Realm, 24).

With the House of Thorns expansion, the Tyrells gain an arsenal of new effects to increase their characters’ STR—but perhaps none are as reusable as Wardens of the South (House of Thorns, 46). Until the end of the phase, whenever one of your Tyrell characters is declared as an attacker or a defender, Wardens of the South increases that character’s STR. If you’re using a character who can benefit from increased STR across multiple challenges, such asRandyll Tarly (Core Set, 183) or Brienne of Tarth (House of Thorns, 2), then Wardens of the South can have a significant impact on the flow of the game.

Wardens of the South is not the only new card in House of Thornswith the potential to raise your character’s STR either. A new version of The Knight of Flowers (House of Thorns, 7) increases his STR every time that you play an event, while Desmera Redwyne(House of Thorns, 13) can work either way, boosting your allies or lowering the STR of your opponent’s characters.

Boosting your characters’ STR to ludicrous heights can help you win challenges, but it’s not an end in itself—unless you can find some way to capitalize on it. Highgarden Courtier (House of Thorns, 15) offers your first hints of a reward. After any character’s STR is increased by a card effect, you can kneel the Highgarden Courtier to stand that character—letting you use that character in multiple challenges and making every STR boost more important.

Alternatively, you may play Melee at Bitterbridge (House of Thorns, 22). This event lets you choose a number of characters participating in a challenge. The character with the highest STR gains renown, and every other character no longer contributes its STR to the challenge! Unless you find yourself in a melee against the likes of Robert Baratheon (Core Set, 48), there’s a good chance this event can let your Tyrells reign supreme and claim victory at the tourney grounds.

The Power of the Reach

House Tyrell’s ambitions are strong. Their knights are the cream of the realm and their schemers at court are unmatched in cunning.