Thanks to quarantine I had a lot of time to spend studying various opening for each houses, their best strategies and their key territories in a full 8p version.
To me seemed that Baratheon, Stark and Arryn are very slow to maneuver at the beginning of the game.
But while for Arryn it's not a big problem thanks to its hyper-defensive deck and easy turtle position, for Stark and Baratheon is not the same.
Baratheon doesn't have a good opening, and every strength he had in a vanilla 6p game has been deleted (except for PT farming). His position now is trash, with 5/7 houses bordering his natural territories, and his sea surrounded by 3 houses. His fast early game has been destroyed by a nerf in King's Court track.
Stark instead is the same as 6p game, but 40% of his natural land has been given to Arryn, and the chaddest chad Lord Commander of the Iron Fleet Victarion Greyjoy has never been stronger thank to his new shiny naval orders.
For other houses: Greyjoy is still op as fuck, Tyrell is the new Baratheon, Martell has somewhere easy to go (Essos) and Targaryen must be fought in forces to be countered, but his defeat rewards very little. "Pentos delenda est"
Changes I would do:
I) Replace Bara's FM in Dragonstone with a KN
II) Add a barrel from iron's bank token in White Harbour
III) Add a Castle/Fortress in Essos
IV) Replace 1KN in The Eyrie with 2FM
V) Add a FM in Lannisport
What do you think? Are they good or trash for an 8p game?