House Targaryen Faction focus for A Game of Thrones the Card Game Second Edition LCG

In this faction focus we look at House Targaryen.  We will be looking at their strengths, and weaknesses and some of their best cards.

House Targaryen is a noble family of Valyrian descent that escaped the Doom. They lived for centuries on the island of Dragonstone until Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters rode their dragons in the conquest of the Seven Kingdoms.

House Targaryen ruled as the Kings on the Iron Throne and the Great House of the crownlands for nearly 300 years, until their ouster in Robert's Rebellion. Their seats were the Red Keep in the capital city of King's Landing, the island castle of Dragonstone, and the summer residence of Summerhall.

Once a noble family of the vast Valyrian Freehold, an empire spanning most of the eastern continent, the Targaryens were given control of the island of Dragonstone in the Narrow Sea some centuries ago. After the obliteration of Valyria in the Doom, the Targaryens launched a devastating invasion of Westeros using three dragons to spearhead their attack. In a short period of time, six of the seven formerly independent kingdoms had surrendered to the Targaryen leader, King Aegon I, unifying the continent under his rule. The last hold-out, Dorne, joined the kingdom through a political and marriage alliance some two centuries later.

During the increasingly erratic reign of King Aerys II, his son Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna Stark of Winterfell for unknown reasons. This sparked a massive uprising led by Eddard Stark, Robert Baratheon and Jon Arryn. At the end of this war Aerys and Rhaegar were dead and the Targaryen power-base in Westeros destroyed. Aerys's youngest children, Viserys and Daenerys, were taken by Targaryen loyalists into exile in the Free Cities of the East.

Generations of compound inbreeding have preserved in the Targaryen bloodline the classic Valyrian features of silver-white (platinum blonde) hair, and very fair, pale skin. Allegedly, this also preserved in their bloodline the ability to successfully bond with and ride dragons. They also seem to be somewhat more tolerant of extreme heat and high temperatures than other people, though they are by no means invulnerable to fire – or at least, not all of them.

Lets take a look at some of the cards.....


 We start with Daenerys.  she is cost 7 strength 5, has an intrigue and power icon, with insight so each challenge you win you draw a card.  She also has the ability that whilst she is standing all other characters participating in a challenge on the opponents side are -1 strength.  She also has the trait stormborn, watch out for this later......  Khal Drogo is cost 6 strength 5 with renown, and whilst he is out you get an extra military challenge.  Magister Illyrio is cost 5 strength 4, with intrigue and power icons, and as an action you can pay 2 gold to choose and stand a character.
 Now the Dragons!  viserion is cost 2 strength 2, military and power icons, and each stormborn character you control gains stealth.... remember stormborn from above... this is powering her up....  Drogon is cost 3, strength 4 with a military icon, and each stormborn character gains renown. Rhaegal is cost 3 strength 3, with military and intrigue icons and has the reaction.... after you win a challenge in which a stormborn character is participating you may then choose and stand a  stormborn character.  With Daenerys and the dragons out she is a true powerhouse, though it does mean the faction rely on her to do all the heavy work.
 Ser Jorah Mormont, another favourite from the series is a cost 2, strength 4 character with military and intrigue icons, he also has renown.  His downside is each time Jorah wins a challenge he gains one betrayal token, and if he has three he must be sacrificed, so he is a cheap character to soak up 3 challenges.  Targaryen loyalist is a 1 cost 1 strength card, with a power icon that you can kneel to reduce the cost of the next Targaryen character by 1.  Unsullied are 4 cost for 3 strength, with a military and power icon, and when they are attacking all defending characters get minus 1 strength.
 We have 3 events, firstly Fire and Blood, which is a 1 cost event in the challenge phase, you choose a unique Targaryen character in your dead pile and shuffle it bnack in to your deck, if it is a hatchling you may put it into play, this is a great card to fetch back Daenerys as she is the linch pin of the deck.  Dracarys is a 1 cost event where you can kneel either a dragon or Daenerys to choose an opposing character and until the end of the tuen they get minus 4 strength, and if it becomes 0 they are killed.  Lastly we have for 0 cost waking the dragon, for an action you can choose and stand a unique Targaryen character you control, but at the end of the phase it goes back to your hand.
For locations we have the 0 cost Illyrios estate, which you can kneel to reduce the cost of the next Targaryen charcter by 1.  Dothraki sea is a 1 cost location that has a reaction after you win a power challenge, you may sacrifice it to put a Dothraki character into play from your hand, but at the end of the phase it goes back to your hand, this can be handy if you do not have enough gold to get a big character out until next turn, so he can still come in and do some damage, and if it is Drogo he can do an extra military challenge for you.  Plaza of Punishment is a 3 cost location that has a reaction after you win a power challenge.  You can kneel it to choose a character without attachments and give it a minus 2 strength until the end of the phase.

House Targaryen rely very heavily on Dany, and have many ways to keep her standing, and boosted, but be careful as if she goes it will hard to get back into the game.




To learn more about A Game of Thrones the card game second edition take a look here
Stick with us as we look at the Factions in future articles to give you an idea of how they play, and take a look at some of the upcoming chapter packs that add more to your game.

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