Among all the Great Houses of Westeros, none are so wealthy or have such a reputation for cunning as those of House Lannister.

Made rich by the gold and silver mines of the Westerlands and the trade that flows through Lannisport, the Lannisters’ wealth has positioned them as the power behind the Iron Throne for years.

The Lannisters are devious, manipulative, and indirect. They are ambush specialists, they play the intrigue game aggressively, and they are extremely wealthy.

Figuratively, they are “monsters.” They’re not averse to using torture and intimidation to achieve their goals, and this faction is the home for a number of characters who can be quite frightening when they hit the board.

There’s also a chaotic aspect to this faction – the Lannisters deal with a fair number of wild cards and unpredictable entities on their path to the Iron Throne, and being able to make the resultant chaos work in your favor is an important skill for leading this faction.

 

Themes and Strength

Intrigue, Gold, Schemes, Ambush, Shadows

The Lannisters feature some of the game’s most efficient characters. Tywin Lannister (Core) and Tyrion Lannister (Core) give you extra spending money, allowing you to build decks without adhering to some of the normal economy guidelines. Marshaling them early can lead to a big advantage in the long run.

Ser Jaime Lannister (Core) and Ser Gregor Clegane specialize in military challenges, so Lannister often runs Put to the Sword (Core) to capitalize. Cersei Lannister (Core) and Cersei Lannister (LoCR) specializes in intrigue challenges, while Casterly Rock (Core) allows you to make multiple such challenges and Lannisport (Core) lets you draw a card for winning one. The Lannisters are relatively light on power icons, so Greyjoy and Baratheon decks are often able to capitalize on this weakness.

Finally, there’s an archetype known as “Leaping Lions” because the Lannisters feature many characters with the ambush keyword, such as Burned Men (Core) and The Hound. They also bring pseudo-ambush effects such as Hear Me Roar! (Core) that allow you to jump a character into play unexpectedly during the middle of the challenges phase. The Lannisters take advantage of this strength by using plots like First Snow of Winter that will give them a numerical advantage after extra character jump into the fray.

^{† References above provided by scantrell24}

 

Deckbuilding Series

The Friendly Council is a deckbuilding series for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Second Edition). This is a new Friendly Open project, aimed at helping beginner and intermediate-level players build their own decks.

 

Decklists (beginners)

- Lannister / The White Book by Ilja Muromez

This deck is made by Ilja Muromez who is one of the real legends of the Friendly Open. Ilja (JP Profile) has been competing in 14/14 of the FO's and are always welcoming and nice to everyone in the FO community. The Friendly Open's host has been an admirer of Ilja's The White Book deck for a long time, and are super happy to finally have it published in the Beginners list collection!

 

Decklists (intermediate)

- Lannister / House with the Red Door by Cas and The Friendly Council