Before we get into full points recap from this week’s Game of Thrones Fantasy League, I need to give a solid shout out to Daniel and Rob, the two co-founders of Fantasizr, who helped me out of a serious jam on Sunday night. Right before Game of Thrones aired, our family had just come back from a weekend camping trip in the (really cold) mountains. Naturally there was no reliable internet access, and I didn’t have a chance to set my team or lock the week’s line-ups. So I rushed to log into my account from a friend’s computer in order to take care of business before the show started.
I log in to Fantasizr through Twitter, which normally works great. But, in my haste to set the week up, I used the wrong email account (a bonehead play, certainly), so the Fantasizr system then associated my Twitter-assisted log-in with the wrong email address. As such, I didn’t have access to the league.
In a moment of quiet desperation, I sent off an 11th hour tweet to Rob. I really didn’t think there was anything to be done on a Sunday night—my best hope was that he’d be able to set things right (namely the week’s point totals) retroactively. But to my surprise, he responded immediately and got Daniel on the line. They reset my log in and every thing went smoothly after that. That’s some amazing service for a free game.
This is your final warning. If you haven’t yet watched “The Door,” the half-way point of this season’s Game of Thrones, and don’t want the events of the episode to be spoiled for you… don’t read any further!
After languishing in last place for the past for weeks, my Harrenhal Halberdiers busted loose this week, earning 171 points. This was in large part due to pulling the White Walkers (special teams) off the bench, thereby benefiting from the Night King’s malicious slaughter of the Three Eyed Raven (50 points) and the collected horde of White Walkers tearing Hodor limb from limb (50 points). My mid-season pick-up gamble of Euron Greyjoy paid off this week when he snatched the salt throne from his niece Yara (30 points) and survived the brutal drowning-and-driftwood crowning ceremony (25 points). Plus he snagged an extra six points for mocking his nephew Theon for using the word “gallivanting.” Jorah Mormont scored my last 10 points when he (finally) confessed his love to Daenerys. I did leave Jaqen H’ghar on the bench, so I missed out on an additional five points from him when he told the history of the Faceless Men.
Arya’s Army kept the pressure on this week. They earned 25 points from the Lord of Light (special teams) when Mereen’s Priestess of Rhallor made the ever-stoic Varys nervous at her re-telling of a key moment in his past. They also earned 15 points for Jon Snow and another 15 Sansa Stark when they rocked the new Sansa-designed Stark-wear. And Sansa pulled down 20 more points for seeing through Petyr Baelish’s machinations and calling him on his duplicity. Add another 10 points for Yara’s political stump speech and 15 for her stealing all the “best ships” right out from under Euron, and that brings the points earnings for Arya’s Army to 100.
America’s Team also scored 100 points this week, but it all came from one player—the stalwart Hodor. He earned 50 points for being ripped apart by White Walkers and 50 points for his paradox-inducing origin story. However, America’s Team made a big mistake this week by keeping Bran Stark on the bench. The Stark kid who made Hodor what he is today would have earned them 110 points (60 for three different spirit walks and 50 for sliding through the time-space continuum to warg the heck out of a young Hodor).
This week’s points loser was the King’s Langing Queens with 90 points, 75 of those coming from a surprising player—Meera Reed. The almost forgotten guardian of Bran Stark scored 50 points for dispatching many of the reanimated dead attacking the Three Eyed Raven’s sanctuary and another 25 points for her devastating blow to a White Walker. The Queens also earned 15 points for Theon as he joined Yara and a host of Ironborn on their surreptitious flight from the Pyke, avoiding an almost certain death at the hands of Euron and his supporters.
Unfortunately, no one had drafted the Children of the Forest (special teams), because they would have earned 50 points for using magic fireball grenades to take out numerous walking dead serving the White Walkers. The big question now is will they continue to post big points? Or is their story done? Now that there are numerous dead players on many of our teams, it may be worth picking up the Children of the Forest, just in case.
Cumulative League Standings
- Arya’s Army … 505 points
- America’s Team … 280 points
- Harrenhal Halberdiers … 254 points
- The Kings’ Landing Queens … 230 points
Check out Emily Yoshida’s episode recap with full points totals and the rationale behind them over at The Verge, and there’s still time to enjoy six episodes if you choose to start your own Game of Game of Thrones League, head over to Fantasizr.
