Hmmm, I think what this episode needs is, oh yes, more death. We did get a dead dragon though, and now it’s an undead dragon (gulp). Limb-itless lost two characters in this episode, although both Thoros and Benjen had barely shown up in the show or even at all in Benjen’s case, so not too much of a loss there. Unless there’s a big shakeup in the finale tonight, I don’t see how Debt Payers loses this one.
The Scorecard is below, with individual team scores after the jump.
All it takes is a little dragonfire to make things a little more interesting. With both Randyll and Dickon burnt to a crisp, that brings Money For Nothing, Pod Free within striking distance of Debt Payers. Only two episodes left!
The Scorecard is below, with individual team scores after the jump.
Dany finally decided to use her dragons and in doing so brought about maybe the most instantaneous amount of death the show has seen in some time. Alas, there were no rostered characters who actually died, so no points for Money For Nothing, Pod For Free. With only three episodes left, it’s going to require one of these teams to kill off Cersei or Euron in order to overtake the Debt Payers; a repeat championship might be on the horizon.
The Scorecard is below, with individual team scores after the jump.
Those pesky Lannisters are at it again. With Ellaria Sand stowed away in a dungeon underneath the Red Keep and Olenna Tyrell having been dealt with by Jaime, Cersei has made it a bit easier on the Lannister armies. Jorah is officially BACK! Jon Snow has dragonglass! Only four episodes left…
The Scorecard is below, with individual team scores after the jump.
Just when we we felt like we’d get all the way through another episode in this shortened season without a single death, Euron comes out of goddamn nowhere and kills not one, but TWO Sand Snakes! While this didn’t necessarily set the teams back who lost those characters, it was a nice little early boost in the standings for the reigning champ, who now holds a seven point lead over runners-up Abominable Snow-Bran and Money For Nothing, Pod For Free. It’s crazy to think there are only five episodes left in the season; things are definitely about to get weird.
The Scorecard is below, with individual team scores after the jump.
With only a few episodes left remaining in the entire series, I think most of us were expecting a little more action in the Season 7 premiere. Even though we didn’t see any early deaths, there were still plenty of appearances to make things intriguing. Everyone is on the board after Episode 1, with reigning champion The Debt Payers in first place and scoring a maximum seven points for having his entire team appear in the premiere. Money For Nothing, Pod For Free is in second with five points, with most of the league tied at four and Many-Faced Team not far behind with three points.
The Scorecard is below with individual team scores after the jump.
It’s been over a year since Season 6 concluded, and, finally, Game of Thrones is back. I feel like most of us could not be more anticipatory of the new season after developing and playing Fantasy Thrones. It made each episode viewing even more nerve-wracking. I, too, almost walked out of a window after Tommen, who was on my team, Abominable Snow-Bran, just gave up on us. Debt Payers‘ insane come-from-behind victory was the stuff of legends. We didn’t give out an MVC award (Most Valuable Character), but I have to believe it would’ve gone to Cersei. So yes, we are extremely hyped to start Season 7 and keep this ridiculous game going.
This season, we decided to use a dynasty league format and allow teams to keep two players from their rosters from the previous season. Once everyone chose his or her keepers, the remaining characters were placed back in their respective groups, with a few new additions added to replace those who had died in Season 6.
The draft order was determined by the number of points scored last season. Many-Faced Team scored the least amount of points, so he got the first pick in the draft, going with the consensus number one pick, Lyanna Mormont. A standard snake draft resumed until all teams rostered one character from each of the seven groups. All available characters and their respective groups are shown in the tables below.
Jon Snow
Eddison Tollet
Sam Tarly
Gilly Tormund Ser Davos Lyanna Mormont
Characters in italics are new additions for season seven. The characters in bold were kept on their respective teams from last season.
*The category formerly known as The Wall. Continue reading You Win or You Die: Season 7→
I gotta say, in the realm of fantasy games and sports, season-ending injuries are one thing, but there’s nothing quite like seeing one of your top-scoring team members just give up and walk out of a window. Fantasy Thrones has been an incredibly fun way for us to engage with the show and we can’t wait to see how the last season pans out.
While Tommen’s death wasn’t necessarily surprising (yet certainly hilarious, even I have to admit), Cersei’s plot to blow the Sept of Baelor back to the days of the First Men was not only one of the biggest moments in the series, it completely flipped the script on our game. In one episode, Cersei took out six rostered characters; the High Sparrow, Lancel Lannister, three members of the Tyrell family in Loras, Margaery and Mace, as well as her uncle Kevan Lannister. We all knew that the longer the show went on, the more kills would matter in the game. Debt Payers ended up absolutely crushing the field, with Cersei netting MMDG’s team a grand total of 52 points!
In fact, Cersei herself scored 35 points over the course of the season, better than my entire team, which barely held on to second place after losing both Lancel and Tommen. The only team unaffected by Cersei’s wrath was Limb-itless, who had no characters die this week.
The rest of the episode featured plenty of other non-death related highlights. Olenna Tyrell forging an alliance with the Martells with the help of Varys, Sam Tarly ultralight beaming in the library at Oldtown, and Arya feeding Walder a sou-Frey and avenging her family by introducing Needle to his throat (didn’t take death long to sneak in to that list, huh?).
Tyrion is still Catelyn’s prisoner, and he’s currently being held at the Vale, yeah? Well, Mord, the gross jailer, offers him some food…
“You want eat?” Mord asked, glowering. He had a plate of boiled beans in one thick, stub-fingered hand.
Tyrion Lannister was starved, but he refused to let this brute see him cringe. “A leg of lamb would be pleasant,” he said, from the heap of soiled straw in the corner of his cell. “Perhaps a dish of peas and onions, some fresh baked bread with butter, and a flagon of mulled wine to wash it down. Or beer, if that’s easier. I try not to be overly particular.”
“Is beans,” Mord said. “Here.” He held out the plate.
Idle Timers agree with Tyrion— a nice lamb dish with a side of peas and onions sounds splendid. I whipped up an easy recipe for rack of lamb that is simple, yet satisying.
While we didn’t get quite as many rostered character deaths as we were expecting to get out of “The Battle of the Bastards,” this might have been one of the most action-packed, stressful, and satisfyingly brilliant episodes in the show to date.
I have to tip my hat to director Miguel Sapochnik’s ability to put the absolute fear in me for my team captain. While Jon has had the safety cushion of being resurrected for a few episodes now, the incredible tracking shot of him going through dozens of near-death experiences on the battlefield had me losing my mind. I was almost 100% convinced he was actually going to die again while he was suffocating under the piles of bodies.
My mood quickly changed upon seeing Littlefinger arrive with the army of the Vale. Once Jon was able to get through the gate of Winterfell thanks to Wun Wun’s valiant last stand (we miss you Wun Wun!), he was able to carry out sweet vengeance on Ramsay’s face, ultimately stopping to allow Sansa to take matters in to her own hands.
There was some deliberation on how we should have awarded the kill on Ramsay, however, we decided to give Sansa and Masters of Cwnage the K point (along with Ramsay’s APP points per usual). While Sansa did not directly kill Ramsay, we felt that her having complete control over whether he lived or died (technically she could have spared his life by letting him free) while sitting in the kennel of hungry dogs made her responsible for his death.
With Sansa getting the kill awarded to her, she now brings Masters of Cwnage up to second place with 26 points, with Limb-itless staying flat at 18 points week-over-week after losing Ramsay.
LDG’s ode to Ramsay
It’s still very close, and with most characters having achieved upwards of 3-4 APP points, that’s a lot of points waiting to be stolen if some are killed by other teams. While we probably won’t see any more deaths in the Winterfell camp, the finale next weekend will be the longest in the show’s history, so who knows what to expect.
The team currently in last place, the Many-Faced Team, just so happens to have a character privy to the location of massive caches of explosives planted throughout the largest city in Westeros. It’s anyone’s game.
The Institute of Idle Time 