528 games
50.76% win
1710 points
0.043 QR
Founded in the aftermath of the Long Night, the Night’s Watch has guarded Westeros against the nameless threats beyond for centuries.
Bastards, fallen men, criminals, and knights come together as sworn brothers of the Night’s Watch, and together they hold the Wall – a massive barrier of solid ice that stretches across Westeros.
The vows of the Night’s Watch forbid them from taking wives or holding lands, but that does not mean they have abandoned the game of thrones.
Some would use the Night’s Watch to claim personal power. Others wish to influence the Iron Throne and bring more support to the Night’s Watch, the better to defend Westeros against wildlings and the Others.
The Night's Watch are the scavengers of the realm and they’re adept at picking up scraps and using what others have thrown away or left behind.
They are sworn to defend the Wall and because of this, they’re fierce when defending challenges.
The Night’s Watch also has a specialized character base as they divide their tasks and strengths among Stewards, Rangers, and Builders. As a faction, playing the Night's Watch feels the most distinct from the others. After all, they’re not a Great House and they operate with a different set of goals.
Defense, Builders, Rangers, Choke, Stealing
Without question, the major Night’s Watch strategy is to find, marshal, and defend The Wall (Core). Once it’s in play, the Wall gives 2 power (out of 15 needed to win) every round, as long as you opposed every challenge thrown at you. To help accomplish this task, the Watch features characters that either have the Stealth keyword, like Will and Ghost, or are unaffected by it, like Benjen Stark (Core). They can also defend the Wall with a horde of cheap characters, like Yoren, but this makes them susceptible to Wildfire Assault.
They also use locations like The Shadow Tower and Castle Black (Core) to deter attacks and make “challenge math” difficult for opponents to figure. Furthermore, if you throw too little strength at the Watch, they can defend and activate The Sword in the Darkness (Core). But if you attack with too many forces, look out for Watchers on the Walls.
The Rangers of the Watch, such as Ranging Party, specialize in military challenges. The Stewards like Samwell Tarly always have intrigue icons. And the Builders like Veteran Builder round out the icon spread with the power icon. The Watch also have some flexibility outside this rigid structure in characters like Unsworn Apprentice, who can fill whatever role you need.
Finally, the economy and draw engines of the Watch are distinct in style from the Great House factions. For money, they have Old Forest Hunter and Meager Contribution (rather than a limited location like Lannister’s Western Fiefdom). For card advantage, they have Messenger Raven, a repeatable and easy to trigger engine – if you can pay to marshal him again each round.
† References above provided by scantrell24
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.
- Night's Watch / Kings of Summer by Marcel Arias
This deck is made by Marcel Arias, who is a real beast with orange cards (Martell), and a good deck builder with several factions. Marcel (JP Profile), is a real stand-up guy who helps new players, and is one of the reason Friendly Open became a thing (he helped Zinnie - host of FO, build his first deck ever).
- Night's Watch / Rains by Lukas and The Friendly Council