A Game of Thrones LCG (First Edition) is the card-game shape of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, published two years after the books went mainstream and six before HBO made them inescapable. It is also the product that coined the Living Card Game model: fixed non-random expansions instead of blind booster packs.
The game
Designed by Eric M. Lang, Nate French and Christian T. Petersen, it is a two-to-four-player political duel where each player runs one of the Great Houses (Stark, Lannister, Baratheon, Targaryen, Greyjoy, Martell) across three simultaneous challenges: Military, Intrigue and Power. Games end when a house secures 15 Power, and every round you must decide which challenges to attack in, which to defend, and which to concede to set up bigger swings later.
The context
Published originally as a CCG by Fantasy Flight Games in 2002, the game was converted to the LCG fixed-distribution format in 2008. Thrones LCG First Edition is the pre-TV run: the art is commissioned illustration in the Fantasy Flight house style rather than cast photography, and the flavour text sticks close to the original novels.
The collector angle
The CCG-era runs (Westeros Edition, Ice, Fire, Winter, Valyrian Edition) and the LCG-era Core + Chapter Packs are the two eras collectors distinguish sharply. The Valyrian Edition single-print-run is the prestige pull. Alternate-art Nissa, Ned Stark and foil Jon Snow promos from pre-release events round out the serious chase list.