Pillage for Balon! (3/18 Great Hall) 2.0

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• 2.0

I took this deck to our Great Hall tournament and only lost to our our reigning World Champion Lennart and to Hanno, the best current player according to The Jousting Pavilion. I played most of my matches against Martell Decks, so I cannot really say, if this deck is competetive against a various range of decks. But I can say it is much fun playing this stuff :)

Pillage for Balon!

The main idea behind this deck is to get the best out of Kings of the Isles Balon. As he needs a faction card kneel, agendas like Fealty and Sea of Blood are not useful, so I had to chose between The Lord of the Crossing and The Wars To Come. I decided to go with Wars to get more variety in this deck.

The game plan is very simple: Get at least one of the big three Chars in early game on table and use your board presence to put your opponent under pressure. The Fanatic, the Shipwright and Murenmure help to slow your opponent down.

Plot decisions

A Noble Cause is a stable opener. I tested with Late Summer Feast and Trading with the Pentoshi, but I decided to not give my opponents some gold or some cards. Barring the Gates was one of the most important cards in this tournament since I was playing against Martell most games. Heads on Spikes fills the discard pile with a (maybe) useful card or kills a guy and gives you two power, both options not that bad with this deck. Another very helpful plot card is Political Disaster. Noone expects this in a Greyjoy deck and that is one of its strength. I play few locations (and only the economy locations are supposed to stay on board), so this card works for me. First Snow recycles the Fanatics and Weapons at the Door works perfectly with the Marauders. The incredible We take Westeros! is one of the best plot cards in this game. Use it to recycle your Mines (best when you expext a Valar) or get something juicy from your opponent.
Nothing to say about the other plots.

Card decisions

As I said, I built this deck to have some fun with Balon. The originally idea was to build a deck without any warships. But to fill the opponents discard pile and to get the perfect interaction with Asha and Euron, I decided to play at least two Ships.
I expected many Sea of Blood players in this tournament, so Silence's Crew is there for its pure strength.
The salty crown is not only for the King trait, it gives you some extra and it also works perfectly with the Scouting Vessel.
In testing I played many games against Stark players, who annoyed me with their Wards. So I decided to put Pay The Iron Price in this deck and I did not regret that.
The other cards are solid greyjoy stuff cards.

Short tournament report

I do not remember all games in detail, so I will keep this short and share only some thoughts about the matches.

Round 1 Win vs. Assault from the Shadows
We both had a stable start. My Barring the Gates in turn 2 slowed him down to let me grab enough power to be in a comfortable situation. The Fanatics did their job and I won this game without seeing Balon or Euron.

Round 2 Win vs. The Wars To Come
First round was strange. He had Nymeria Sand (TRtW) and some other char in setup with no economy, so I decided to start with Valar Morghulis. He flipped At Prince Doran's Behest, got first player and saved his Nymeria by playing Marched to the Wall. I marshalled an Acolyte to the wall and saved a duped Reader. Next round he played Naval Superiority into my A Noble Cause. But I was lucky to see one Kingsroad and with one econ card from setup (Roseroad) and one from turn 1 (Gates of the Moon), I managed to play Euron with help of The Kingsroad. Next round I discarded Dorne with We Do Not Sow and grabbed it with Euron. When I saw Balon in round 3 or 4 the win was on my side.

Round 3 Win vs. Fealty
Also in this game I got Dorne early in game on my side (thx to We Take Westeros!). The Fanatics and Murenmure did a great job. Luckily for me he played The Bloody Flux one turn before I played a well saved Valar Morghulis. Few cards in hand and an empty board on his side brought me the win.

Round 4 Lost vs. Red Door (Starfall)
My fourth match against Martell and this time I got beaten badly. No Fanatics, no Maester Murenmure, no Shipwright to annoy him. He filled the board with all his needed locations and even Barring the Gates could not do anything against that. The world champion knows how to play his decks and got a very much earned win.

Round 5 Win vs. Red Door (Meereen)
I got a solid board presence from the beginning. Maester Murenmure annoyed him a lot and I controlled his locations. Balon did a great job dealing with his discard pile and the Fanatics helped to kill his unique characters after usage. He was in front having some power at the beginning, but from midgame I was in control and got a save win.

Top 8 Win vs. Sea of Blood
This game was won by Balon. He could not get him from board and I managed to be in control the whole game. Asha brought me the cards I needed (with the help from the Vessel) and Silence's Crew did its job against the bloody agenda. I was lucky to see my cards in the right moments.

Top 4 Lost vs. Sea of Blood
The song deck is back.
This game was over before it really startet. He got his tricks on table and saw "The Last of the Giants" and Jaqen H'ghar round 1, I did not see a Fanatic and got beaten badly. He killed Balon through 3 saves. I struggled for comeback, but did not have a real chance after this perfect first round for him.