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

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

House Lannister of Casterly Rock is one of the Great Houses of Seven Kingdoms, and the principal house of the westerlands. Their seat is Casterly Rock, though another branch exists that is based in nearby Lannisport. Their sigil is a golden lion on a field of crimson. Their official motto is "Hear Me Roar!" However, their unofficial motto, equally well known, is "A Lannister always pays his debts."

The Warden of the West is a Lannister by tradition.
Fair-haired, tall, and handsome, the Lannisters are the blood of Andal adventurers who carved out a mighty kingdom in the western hills and valleys. Through the female line they boast of descent from Lann the Clever, the legendary trickster of the Age of Heroes who tricked the members of House Casterly into giving him Casterly Rock during the era of the First Men.
The Lannisters reigned as Kings of the Rock until they fell to the Targaryen conquest, but were allowed to remain the liege lords of the westerlands. The House had fallen on hard times during the rule of Lord Tytos, but was restored to its former glory by Lord Tywin. His daughter Cersei is the queen of King Robert I Baratheon, while her twin Ser Jaime is a knight of Robert's Kingsguard. Members of the family tend to have golden hair and emerald green eyes.

Lets take a look at some of the cards Lannister has to offer.....

 We start with Tywin. 7 cost but 6 strength native, the highest basic strength in the core set and all 3 icons.  He is a beast, he has renown so gains a power each time he wins a challenge as well, provides 2 extra gold to your treasury each turn and gets stronger for each gold you have!  He is just a powerhouse in every way, he adds economy, gain fight in all 3 types of challenge, and has a high strength you can really increase, so your opponent will not know if you are keeping the gold for a card to play for your hand or to power up Tywin.  His Daughter Cersei is 4 cost 4 strength, and has intrigue and power icons.  When she attacks during an intrigue challenge you raise your claim value by 1, so on a claim 1 plot when she wins an intrigue challenge you can discard 2 cards making her very powerful for stripping cars from your opponent.  Her twin brother Jaime is cost 6 strength 5, with military and intrigue icons, and if declared as a n attacker in a military challenge he gains renown.

 Joffrey Baratheon is strength 3 cost 3, with only the power icon, but he has a reaction.... after a lord or lady is killed (it can be your side or your opponents) he gains 1 power up to 3 times a turn, so he can start to gather power not even being involved in challenges.  Tyrion is a cost 5 strength 4, with intrigue and power, he also has stealth so he can pick an opponents character that can not block him to try and get those unopposed challenges through.  He also has a reaction that gains you 2 gold after an intrigue challenge is initiated,, though only twice per round, so that would be yours, and your opponents, this is handy as that gold can be used to play cards, or of course provide a surprise boost for Tywin.  Grand Maester Pycelle is strength 2, cost 3 with intrigue and power icons and the insight ability, which is after you win a challenge in which a character with insight is participating you draw a card.

 The Queens Assassin is a 2 strength 2 cost card with only intrigue as his icon, but he can be played at 4 with ambush meaning you can play him out of the marshalling phase if you want, and he has a reaction that says after he enters play with ambush choose an opponent, if you have more cars in your hand then they must choose and kill a character they control, so if you meet the requirements then I would always ambush him, since getting gold with the lannisters is a lot easier then other factions.  Burned men are cost 2 strength 2 card with military challenge icon only, but they also have an ambush 2, so you can sneak them out when not expected.  The Tickler is cost 2, strength 2 with an action in the dominance phase, you can kneel him to discard the top card of your opponents deck then choose a copy of that card if ti is in play and discard it.

 The Lannisport moneylender is a strength 2 cost 2 card with only the intrigue icon.  He is limited so you can only play one limited card per turn, but he also gives you an extra gold per turn, so he is a great way to have a small blocker out, and to generate more cash to fund Tywin, or just dominate with gold.  The Gold cloaks are a cost 4, strength 3 card with military and power icons, they do have the ambush 2 option, but if you do that they must be discarded at the end of the phase.  Lannisport Merchant is a cost 1 strength 1 card with only the power challenge icon, but he has a marshalling action, you kneel him to reduce the cost of the next lannister card by 1, so he is handy to reduce your costs to get out the bigger cards.

Widows wail is an attachment card that costs 1, and can also be ambushed for 1 to provide a nasty surprise, it gives the attached character plus 2 strength, and if attached to Joffrey he gains a military icon as well.  Hear me roar is an event card for 1 gold, that lets you put ANY lannister character into play, though you must discard it at the end of that phase.  The things I do for love is an event that you can only play if you have a lord or lady character, but in the challenges phase you can kneel your faction card to choose a character with printed cost X (X being how much gold you pay for it) and return that card to the owners hand.  This can work well if you want to do an intrigue challenge with Cersei who raises your claim, you can return a scary card to the opponents hand, challenge with ceersei and hope she can remove it in intrigue, or to be more devious, wait until they block, then return that character so you have a clear unopposed challenge for that power.


The Lannisters are my favourite house in A Game of Thrones, and there deck is excellent, they do not have the sheer military might of the Starks, well except Tywin and Jaime anyway, but they are all about the intrigue and gold, which is very thematic.  When they get set up you will be getting much more gold then your opponent to marshal with, or boost Tywin, so they will never know what you have up your sleeve.

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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