Ser HodorSon Of Hodor
Posts: 758
Games: 1,353
Rank Points: 10,250
Member since: 2016-Mar-20
Topic: House Analysis - Lannister
Posted: 2018-Aug-29 07:05
HOUSE CARDS
Difficult to use, but highly dangerous. Lannister has the most complicated deck, full of unique threats. There is not really a single roadmap for how to use it the way there is for Greyjoy/Stark/Baratheon. So let’s just look at them individually:
Tywin: Not one of the strongest 4 cards, although his ability is nothing to sneeze at. It makes Lannister the only house that can gain power during Feast For Crows, and especially in cash-poor games with a lot of Clashes and Wildling Attacks, 2 tokens can be a huge swing. It is also a big equalizer in a war with Greyjoy. For a house that is the richest in the kingdoms in terms of lore, Lannister really lacks for safe CP positions in the game, particularly if Greyjoy is pressing hard on the coast. If you can get an extra 2 tokens from your housecards while they pay 2 to use Aeron, the gap closes very quickly. Although realistically, if he’s using Aeron it’s in order to beat your big cards, so you’re probably not going to see a full 4 point swing. Still, 2 is plenty bigger than the Ironborn want to see.
The biggest problem with Tywin is not really about his ability, but the neighboring cards that can limit his effectiveness. Wasting him against Balon – who can’t be easily baited out thanks to Aeron – means you don’t see that money. And Baratheon can absorb a loss to him without casualties by playing Patchface and discarding Gregor, leaving you highly vulnerable for an extended period while you cycle through a bunch of low cards whose value can be largely dependent upon surprise. Two tokens is great, but not generally worth that trade off. So more than any other 4 card, Tywin tends to get held back, and back, and then burned off on a pointless battle to facilitate a quick resetting of the hand.
Gregor: The most potent offensive weapon in the game. His ability to wipe out entire armies in a single blow is unparalleled, and of the three houses that can make direct war on Lannister, none of them have the forts to stop more than 1 of the 3 swords. He is a Mountain for all seasons, working equally well on attack and defense, land or sea. Your neighbors fear him, and they should.
Jaime Lannister: Your most basic 2 card. Usually he or Kevan is the one I’m trying to leave for last.
The Hound: An effective defender that only Mace’s ability can overcome. But he’s also your only fort card, which means that “wasting” him on a defeat against an opposing house card without swords is a bigger deal than it is for Stark or Tyrell. And given that all the neighboring houses’ strongest offensive weapons do lack for such swords (Balon, Victarion, Renly, Stannis, Loras, Mace), it can be tricky to judge for that. Luckily, the rest of the Lannister deck makes it awfully risky for opponents to make fancy bluffs with their attacks.
Tyrion: An extremely powerful, but extremely situational, card. Tyrion is at his most devastating when a careless opponent is down to a single card, in which case the Imp becomes like a shrunken Balon, only better because he cancels out any special abilities AND denies the opponent their recycle of their cards. When you catch Greyjoy with his pants down, and Tyrion means he can’t get Balon/Euron back in time to counterattack before Pyke falls…that’s the goods.
He’s also excellent to play defensively against Tyrell. Either blocking the QOT’s attempts to remove key support orders, or stopping Loras in his tracks before he reaches the Lannister heartlands. True, he reutrns the cards to Tyrell’s hand, so you may have to face him/her again soon, but it foils the element of surprise that is so key to Tyrell’s offensives, giving you an extra chance to shore up defenses and arrange counterattacks.
Kevan: A potentially powerful weapon that doesn’t come through all that often. He’s a counter to Balon, in theory. But in practice, Lannister spends most of a war with Greyjoy on the defensive, with the decisive battles involving siege engines or sea combat. The opportunity to attack with several footmen just doesn’t come up too often.
But when it does, you should take advantage. You may really want to kill that knight with Gregor, and especially if it is early and represents a good chunk of your enemy's total forces, perhaps you should. But if you can win an attack with your 1 card (whose is useless on defense), it’s often better to keep Ser Clegane in your hand for his deterrence factor.
This is a bit of a tangent, but it relates to all houses and this seems a good a place as any. Lannister is especially vulnerable once their two big cards are spent, and their proximity to Patchface can force that scenario more often than one would like, so you have to be careful. I haven't talked about this liminal space a lot, but it is important to be aware of it as the game is progressing. Stark has Roose to avoid getting stuck with their pants down. Greyjoy’s strongest card is a 2 and has Aeron to help him cycle through more quickly, so dumping his 4 card early is not a big deal. Baratheon has the strength-boosting properties of Davos and Salla to give him a boost when his hand is thinning out. Tyrell has more forts and swords to protect them in defeat and give teeth to counterattacks, while QOT can punch above her printed weight by removing supports. And Martell has Doran’s enormous deterrent factor and Arianne to freeze advances in their tracks.
Comparatively, Lannister really only has Tyrion’s highly conditional ability to provide special defenses. Cersei is also less effective when you are low on options and opponents can see her coming. Kevan is nothing on defense, and Jaime is nothing special in any instance.
The upshot here is that if you have to face an opponent (or 2 or 3, given their middle board position) with your 3 and 4 card spent, you are going to be in for some hurt. Especially with Lanni’s typically poor fiefdom position, you will most likely be losing both units and territory as you struggle to keep afloat. So if you can play Kevan at 3 or 4 strength when your hand is full, that is generally the best option.
Cersei: The Queen Regent is the most underrated card in the game, if also the most difficult to use to her full effect. She works best with valyrian steel or siege engines, but when she comes through she can spell absolute disaster for opponents. Remove a key support order for a stronghold, or a counterattack march that would otherwise spell doom for your invading army, and watch the gnashing of teeth commence. In a Greyjoy war, the move is often to use your early muster in Lannisport to make sieges, raven ability to maximize the effectiveness of adjoining support/raids, and +1 orders to overpower the footman in Riverrun on the opening march, canceling a counterattack or sea invasion and basically costing Greyjoy a turn. You have to be careful though, since if Greyjoy still has Euron, Cersei requires a stonking +6 combat str advantage to overcome him, and Aeron renders any attempt to gamble on him defending for someone else a suicidal mistake.
My girl is high maintenance, don’t get me wrong. But you want to keep her around, and always look for any opportunity to use her. Even when she “just” cancels a random CP order, that can have powerful ripple effects in coming rounds. And I’ve seen her be directly responsible for wins in the 10th round, when everyone is apt to be abandoning solid defenses to throw all their strength at those last 1-2 conquering marches. In that situation, she can take enemies unawares in seemingly unimportant areas, leaving massive enemy armies stranded at Winterfell or Dragonstone, unable to complete their carefully-plotted conquest.
KEY CARDS: Gregor Clegane, Cersei Lannister, Tyrion Lannister. Gregor’s use should be obvious. Cersei’s value is a bit harder to see, but learning to appreciate her is the first step in learning the Lannister ropes. And Tyrion is similarly not much to look at, but he’s a closer – one of the cards you want to be absolutely, positively sure that you have in your hand on turn 10 with the game in the balance. Denying an incursion by Loras, or QOT’s attempt to rob you of one of your last marches, or Victarion from bringing a crushing amount of sea support to bear on Riverrun…there are any number of ways that he can put paid to your opponents’ elaborate plans to close out a win.