Strip & Charge! (Martell Rush) 1.0

• Versiones
• 1.0

Strip & Charge!

~ A unique Martell Rush experience

Almost half a year ago I decided to build a deck based around The Red Viper (SoD) and his bastards. After many months of playtesting and editing, the deck evolved into something more than just jank. I present to you, the Martell Strip & Charge Rush deck.

Agenda

The Lord of the Crossing

Originally, I built this deck with a different agenda (Banner Stag) and relied solely on The Red Viper (SoD) to win me games. Due to the amount of icon strip, I was able to win many challenges but would ultimately lose due to the single point of failure - Removing Viper from the game. For this reason, I switched to The Crossing and moved the deck to compliment The Viper, not rely on him.

The key reason why this agenda works is due to icon and board control. You can almost always ensure you win your third challenge, if not all of them.

Additionally, there are some hidden combos that can also be made with this agenda, such as the following:

• First challenge with a 1 STR chud (Bastard Daughter, Greenblood Trader, Shadow City Bastard), etc. They'll leave it unopposed due to your attack being 0 STR, boost them with The Prince's Plan or Venomous Blade for that free unopposed challenge.

• Play To The Spears! after your first challenge to prepare an easy 3rd challenge with control from things like The Red Viper's Intimidate and Darkstar's ability.

Plots

Your first plot will almost always be Heads on Spikes to get ahead and hopefully kill something useful. Obviously go for Marched to the Wall instead if they set up something juicy you can hit.

Round 2+3 you want to try to establish control with Marched to the Wall, Valar Dohaeris and Forced March. Use Trade Routes if you need to.

Round 4 (3 used plots) You are able to use cards like Quentyn Martell (SoD) and To The Spears!. If you have any of these, or a good board in general, then hit them hard with You Win Or You Die.

After YWoYD, you might need to use Exchange of Information to get to a stable hand.

Key Cards/Combos

• Forced March - Fantastic synergy with chud Characters (Bastard Daughter, House Dayne Escort) and utilises Quentyn Martell (SoD)'s downside in an extremely useful/efficient way (Use him to kneel for FM when under 3 used plots)

• You Win Or You Die - Extremely powerful rush potential. If your board is set up well enough, you can play this on Round 4 and use To The Spears! and board control to ensure you dominate that round. Additionally, Summer Sea Port helps negate the downside to this plot, being the 0 reserve.

• The Red Viper (SoD) - This one is an obvious powerhouse in this deck, however as I mentioned above the deck does not rely on drawing him in order to win. If you do manage to get him (and hopefully a dupe) he has the potential to rush your deck to victory! His reaction is incredible and the deck is designed around cheap and useful bastards. The icing on the cake is his Intimidate and passive STR boost.

• Nymeria Sand (SoD) - With this deck, you will be going all out with your characters and icon removal. Because of this, there's a good chance your opponent will win dominance phase unintentionally. Not only does Nymeria have the bastard keyword and efficient STR/icons for her cost, but she has the means to turn that losing dominance frown up-side-down! She is is absolutely key to utilising the "downside" of going all-out. Ser Archibald Yronwood also contributes to this, however isn't as cost-effective as Nymeria, thus the 1x.

• The Bastard of Godsgrace - An important bastard for not only his traits and renown, but for his ability. Without The Water Gardens, it may sometimes be difficult to play The Prince's Plan or Venomous Blade during challenges. This bastard's ability gives you a safety net in these low-econ scenarios. And if you don't have Econ issues, then you keep his power. It's a win-win!

• Doran Martell (SoD) - Fantastic addition in any icon-removal deck. He isn't a core driver of this deck, however his abilities are powerful none-the-less. It is not hard to trigger his lose reaction with many low STR chuds, and his Active ability is absolutely incredible with stopping a heavy defender or attacker. With the amount of icon removal in this deck, he is practically another, bigger Areo Hotah (Core). However, after much playtesting I did decide that he only needs to be a 1x due to him not being 100% necessary to rush the win.

• To The Spears! - Honestly one of the most underrated Martell events out there. In many scenarios, it can ensure you make it to your third challenge for that key Crossing power. It synergies extremely well with so many aspects of this deck that it's crazy. Synergies include: The Red Viper's Intimidate AND reaction, Darkstar's Stealth+Reaction, Quentyn Martell's & The Bastard of Godsgrace's Renown, and the efficient use of any of the many Bicon jumpers (eg. Dornish Spy, Shadow City Bastard)

Important Tips

Going first

Contrary to Martell beliefs and values, you don't always want to go second in this deck. Once you have key cards like The Red Viper, Darkstar and Spears, it's actually more beneficial for you to hit them hard first, stripping their icons then taking what's left over hard on.

Go hard or go home

Extending from the previous point, this is a deck where you WANT to go all out. If you can make it to all 3 challenges, then you should go for it, even if they hit you back after. The deck excels at pushing for that Crossing power and with Nymeria and Ser Archie, you're forcing your opponent to either give you Dominance Power (WIN) OR they can lose hand control/kill a character (WIN). The best scenario for them is to DRAW Dominance, which can completely mess with their plans.

Power Spike

Throughout this description, you may have noticed me highlighting Round 4 (3 used plots). From what I've tested, this is where the deck gains a large amount of momentum with the right cards. After this point, it is recommended that you go for the win as many strong cards are usable/useful at that point, such as To The Spears!, The Prince's Plan and Quentyn Martell.

What are resets?

This deck does not run SAT as too many adjustments are needed for it to work effectively. To counter heavy-hitting plots (eg. Valar Morghulis), you will notice almost all characters are 1x or 3x (Characters you need to push this deck are generally 3x). This completely reduces dead draw and honestly can keep you in the game over your opponent after the reset.

Why I'm publishing

I spent months playtesting and tuning this deck and feel that it's in a really good place. Obviously it is not perfect and I'd appreciate any opinions or changes you'd make. I have stopped testing this deck as I am preparing something else entirely. I'd absolutely love to see what you guys think and if you'd make any adjustments and why.

_Edit: I have picked this deck up again due to the amount of people enjoying it. Already have some interesting changes and will publish a revised version when I feel testing is thorough! :D

Feel free to ask any questions or suggestions about this deck. You're more than welcome to use this decklist anywhere just be sure to let me know how you went!! :)