Time for Ladies: Czech Nationals Winner 1.0

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Hello everyone!

First of all, I would like to thank Czech National's organizers and all participators for making this tournament really special! Jousting Pavilion is here. Videos from tournament are here

I've been playtesting Stark/WTC for a long time since Wyman Manderly was out. I felt in love with that deck, it was fast, it was enough control, it was Stark! I adore Starks in books, but I've never played them in aGoT and it was my first time taking Stark cards in my hand. But I was missing something in WTC deck. After I saw Stark/Crossing won at Pilsen's tournament few weeks ago, I wanted to rebuild my Stark deck into crossing as well and voalá - the perfect deck for me was created.

So, it was my first time playing Stark on tournament and first time playing The Lord of the Crossing at all. My first changes from WTC deck was:

• Characters: -1x Hodor, -1x Dacey Mormont, -1x Shaggydog (WotN), -1x Donella Hornwood, +1x Sansa Stark (Core), +1x Septa Mordane, +1 Greatjon Umber, +1x Bolton Flayer
• Attachments: -2x Bodyguard, -2x Frozen Solid, +1x Ward
• Locations: -1x Isle of Ravens
• Events: -1x Winter Is Coming, +2x "Off To Gulltown", +2x Superior Claim
• Plots: -1x Close Call, -1x Confiscation, -1x Valar Morghulis, -1x Counting Coppers, -1x A Time For Wolves, +1x The Withering Cold, +1x Valar Dohaeris, .

I was palytesting this deck for a while and then I asked Andre to take a look at it and tell me what do I need to change. He told me to get rid of White Harbor and add another Arya Stark and Bran Stark or Northern Armory, and find a slot for the third I Am No One. Then he asked me why do I run ValarD, why not A Storm of Swords instead. I just shrugged my shoulders. I don't feel comfortable without reset in my plot deck, so I decided to leave it there.

So, after his advices, my deck changes were: -2x White Harbor, -1x Bolton Flayer, +1x Arya Stark, +1x Northern Armory, +1x I Am No One. And I never regretted I did it that way :)

Ok, so, let's talk about tournament itself.

1. Jan Bezucha, Stark/Crossing (WIN)

We played first game on Fracas, in Pilsen's tournament and now here, in Prague. I think it was a destiny or something. And yeah, playing against mirror is hard, but I had better setup (Wyman, reducer, Flea bottom and some economy) against his Wyman and Great Hall. It was fast 3-plots game, in which I saw both Wyman (all 3 copies in 1st round) and Robb, two Superior claims and I am no ones.

2. Lukas F., Targaryen/Fealty (LOSS)

Unfortunately, I didn't playtest against Targs at all and it was really low chance to meet any at tournament, because there were only 4 Targ players there. Lukas had Daenerys Targaryen in play since round 1st, in hand he had two A Dragon Is No Slave. And even despite me having Catelyn Stark, Bran Stark and Flea Bottom it wasn't enough to prevent all the burn he had. Fortunately, I got Meera Reed, but it was too late. And after 5 rounds game was over for me.

3. Mil, Baratheon/The Free Folks (WIN)

As my opponent pointed out, Free Folks is the best agenda for Baratheon at the moment. I didn't play against this agenda as well, so I didn't really know how to win here. When I saw Greatjon Umber in my hand, it was obvious I had to open with The Withering Cold instead of normal Time of Plenty opener. Unfortunately for me, he had Ygritte, but at least I managed to survive first plot. I think Mil had really bad hand, that's why he decided to play You Win Or You Die as his second plot. He wiped my board, I had only Greatjon Umber, but I knew he would have now cards in hand for the next round, so I played Breaking Ties and git rid of his Ygritte by sacing Sansa and doing . So he had only duped Varamyr Sixskins which I knelt by Forced March for the next round and won the game. I was lucky having good draw and a lot of chuds. Rickon Stark was really great in this game, he decided to die to let her mother live :D

4. sirajch, Greyjoy/Banner of the Dragon (WIN)

I knew his deck, because I had built something similar. It was hard location control deck with King's Landing, Sea Bitch, Victarion Greyjoy and so one. In setup he had Tris Botley, but I had Ward as an answer. Unfortunately (for him), he didn't draw any small characters, so 3rd plot Valar Dohaeris vs. Valar Morghulis left only Euron Crow's Eye with Queensguard in play and Meera Reed did her job very well by blanking 2 characters per phase.

5. Jenda D., Night's Watch/Alliance (Rose/Qohor) (WIN)

This was a deck built around new Jon Snow. Jenda had him in 1st round with Sworn to the Watch, but when he saw Rickon and Flea Bottom on the board, he decided to milk that small guy instead of someone better to prevent me from canceling his qohor search. I think, for the whole game I did not win any "crossing" challenge, because of Cravens and Jon's intimidate, but Jenda had to valarM me on some point and killed his own Jon, because he discarded Bodyguard from him to put some other attachment in play. And that was big game swing, because I was really lucky with my draw and managed to repopulate board quickly to end the game.

6. Herly, Martell/The Wars to Come (WIN)

After 5th round, I was only 13th, while Herly was 7th. So if I lost, I wouldn't be able to get to top16. Herly had Dorne in 1st round, and I must say it's the worst location against Crossing, because he drew 3 cards per turn. I knew I had to be quick to win this one, before million power Doran's Game hit the table. We were really close for the whole game and during the last round it was something like 13 for me and 10 for him, so I decided to play Breaking Ties. Fortunately, I drew Meera Reed and managed to blank his Host of the Boneway and return to the hand another one. So he had for five, I was checking my board and told "Unopposed". In a moment I realized how stupid it is, because of knelt The Water Gardens on his side. He let me get it back (he was in top16 anyway), and I defended with Septa to prevend "win by 5" trigger. That's was the game for me :)

TOP16 Hanno Lunser (Tyrell/Dragon).

I lost against Hanno at Fracas, top32. He destroyed me with his song deck, and now he was sitting against me again, playing song deck with another agenda. In setup he had Ser Mark Mullendore, and because I knew how bitchy that character could be, I warded him right away. Hanno didn't have any eco location in play, but Randyll Tarly, Crown of Golden Roses and Plaza of Pride was enough. As second plot he played The King in the North and I reveled The Withering Cold, because I had Arya Stark on board and The Wolf King in my hand. Meera Reed blanked Randyll Tarly, Greatjon Umber intimidated him, and next plot I finished with Breaking Ties. I was really exited about getting that nice playmat :) And I would really love to thank Hanno for the game. He is one of the nicest person I've ever played against!

TOP8

Gerion (Martell/Wolf)

Gerion is one of the best Czech players, so I didn't really except to win against him, especially because I knew he ran Harrenhal and King's Landing (yeah, that deck is nasty). And he had Harrenhal in setup, while I had Greatjon Umber with a dupe in my hand and Robb Stark, reducer and Gates of the Moon in play. For the first round I opened with Time of Plenty against his Peace and Prosperity. I marshalled Arya and took my first reaction to dupe her, he obviously didn't trigger Harrenhal. Then I played Septa and asked him if he wanted to kill her. He smiled :) Then I marshaled Sansa and asked him again. He laughed :) Actually, I knew he would wait for some big dudes, so I reveled Breaking Ties as my second plot agains his Exchange of Information. He revealed Ward and Venomous Blade, so I was save giving him Blade. I discarded Sansa to get rid of Harrenhal and put Greatjon Umber with dupe and another copy of Sansa. At the end of the second round, I had only 6 powers left. So I decided to play You Win Or You Die, but I didn't realize Gerrion could have Valar Morghulis. He swiped my board, only Greatjon Umber stayed in play. I didn't get any small characters, so I had to play Wyman Manderly and The Wolf King. I did all 3 challenges and get back to my 9 powers (I lost 2 from Robb and 1 from Sansa). The next plot was Marched to the Wall and Gerion was first player, I send Wyman to the Wall and my draw was Umber Loyalist and Catelyn Stark. Since last turn, Gerion had his Harrenhal, so I decided to play Loyalist first. He killed him and I marshaled Cat and it was the game.

TOP4

Honza H. (Lannister/The Free Folks)

This game was almost the same, as my third game in swiss. The first game I didn't mulligun for economy, because I had Greatjon Umber, Sansa Stark, reducer and I Am No One and "Off to Gulltown". I opened with The Withering Cold against his Famine. I had to populate my board as much as I could, but it wasn't possible with 5 golds. So I played Summer reducing his cost by 1 and Flea Bottom. I miscalculated, so I was 1 gold short to play "Off to Gulltown"/I Am No One combo on Sansa, and it was only I Am No One. That Ygritte was pain in the ass, but who cares, once she was knelt, she wouldn't be able to stand back again thanks to my plot, so I was save for the next round. With King Beyond the Wall Honza made 3 claim and with his agenda. I did a huge mistake by playing Time of Plenty as my next plot, because I thought I would be save. Honza choosed him to go first. But he only marshalled 2 charactes with no icon, I played 2 characters as well and I had 2 "Off to Gulltown" in hand, so I blocked both challenges and managed to do my crossing. Third plot was Forced March against another 2 claim winter plot. I started, did my crossing and got to 13 powers. Honza had only Ygritte standing (oh, thank you Greatjon Umber), and did challenge and took 3 powers from me with agenda. I had to close the game next round, so I decided to play You Win Or You Die. Honza did have that plot as well, but he played something else and it won me the game.

FINAL

Lennart Paga (Martell/WTC)

I didn't believe it. I made it to the finals of the nationals. Was it real? And I'm sitting against another good player from Germany (well, it was quite funny, because it was Czech nationals, and 2 foreigner were playing in finals, because I'm originally from Ukraine :D). This game was full of mistakes from my side and I don't understand, how did I managed to win that one. My opponent had bad hand, mostly eco locations and events, which is not not great against crossing. During fist intrigue challenge, I discarded the only character from his hand full of cards. For the whole game Lennart didn't have any power on his power card, which was really sad for me. He also had Ghaston Grey, so I had to put Catelyn Stark in every important challenge. In first round I had all my ladies in play: Catelyn Stark, Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, Septa Mordane. Arya was immune to plots, but somehow I forgot about that, and when Lennart ValaredD me, I saved her, Cat and Sansa without Septa Mordane, which slowed me so much. We played 6 plots, my last plot in plot deck was ValarD and I had to win on round 6th before I swipe my big board. I was missing just 1 power and Lennart had 2 Shadow City Bastard and Flea Bottom to get icons from 3 of my charactes (Arya Stark, Catelyn Stark, Sansa Stark), and I had only Robb Stark, Eddard Stark and his Areo Hotah I warded few rounds ago. He had too much gold left and I didn't know what to think. That Ghaston Grey was pain in the ass, so I decided to pass my challenges with hoping to take dominance and win. He did and claimed 9 power for UO and Doran's Game thanks to Ricasso. And then he started to shuffle his hand and think. He had to go for power, but he didn't have enough STR to push through Robb Stark, Eddard Stark and Areo Hotah. And at this moment I realized he did a mistake. For the whole round he thought he had The Prince's Plan in his hand, but both of them were in his discard pile. He had to lose a challenge to get them back, but because I passed mine, he couldn't be able to do that. I won Nationals thanks to dominance, what a loser I am :) And I said after the finals, it was mostly car, not a driver, who won the tournament :D

It was my first tournament win and I hope it wasn't the last! :)