Double Skillz Plot - Runner-up Sheffield Prime! 1.0

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So this is the deck I took to the Sheffield Prime and apparently did alright.

After taking Stark Rains to the Brighton Prime and only realising what the prizes were the day before, I just wanted to play Lannister to try and get my hands on the full bleed Tyrion Lannister (LoCR) as Clansmen is my jam, and this was the next tournament to try.

I had pretty much built this as I hadn’t really had much inspiration from the Targ box and I can play The Lord of the Crossing on auto-pilot; win quick or lose quick. The deck kinda built itself, and it did feel a little risky with the ever present Barring the Gates at the moment, but I had had relative success with it in some practice games. The non-kneeling element of Lannister lends them a good fit for the agenda. Also with both Hear Me Roar! and I Never Bet Against My Family, they have huge temp, but the addition of The Regent's Guard is SUPER good to not lose the character just bounced in. The deck originally had 3 Myrcella Baratheon (SoD) but I reduced to one as I wasn’t getting a lot out of her non-kneel but she’s super good to still include. This brought in a copy of Shae who probably should have been in the original list as she’s real good for obvious reasons. Three red cloaks is an interesting choice but I definitely didn’t think about the mercenary trait as a problem, which became apparent in one game. A cheeky core Joffrey Baratheon (Core) just because he gains power and with the addition of Widow's Wail he gains an additional icon that some people forget about and is always just good to have.

Anyhoo, on to the games, and I apologise now for have a rubbish memory of the games.

Round 1 - Rik Raddigan (Stark Lion) Sitting down I wasn’t sure what to expect based on the Faction/Agenda combo, but Rik immediately said “you’re owed a win against me” which referenced our hilarious crossing off from WAR not so long ago. I don’t overly recall much about the game unfortunately, other than it was a somewhat slower game than crossing usually wants as he had Catelyn Stark (Core) on setup which was causing my Cersei Lannister (LoCR) to not do much. A clutch intrigue Claim took his The Red Keep (DotE) but Winterfell soon hit the table later on. Also, the new The Iron Throne (LMHR) was super annoying in this game, but continual pressure was able to pull through. Win

Round 2 - Callum Gillespie (Baratheon Hollow Hill)

Not ideal to come all this way and play against a meta mate, but these things happen. I sit down and am already on the back foot - I’ve never beat Callum in a tournament and whilst some might say his deck is janky-ish, when it works, it’s pretty much game over immediately.

This game was an camera and was an unfortunate run for Callum, indeed giving me my first win against him, but not in a way I wanted. Turn 1 pretty sure I get lucky and draw enough econ to flood the board including Cersei Lannister (LoCR) and keeping 1 gold, for Callum to Marshall Selyse Baratheon (FotOG) and I treachery this, giving me pretty much the biggest start possible. Whilst I’m then stupid and forget to trigger my Cersei, it’s soon clear Callum can’t bring it back. Win

Round 3 - Calvin Green (Baratheon Qohor)

So I know how strong bara qohor can be so I need to be on my a game and not really allow him much wins on attack, which kinda goes against the rush option.

I believe I have cersei out who promptly gets Hunting Accident on her which is annoying, but a ninja Skillzplot pulls an Alester Florent and I can still trigger Cersei. I think I have Casterly Rock out and am able to still pull through the intrigue challenges and ramp up the power on Cersei. It then comes down to me being on 14 and I have enough to win dom and so Calvin concedes showing two copies of Alester Florent in his hand; his only two cards. Win

Round 4 - Matt Slade (Targ SoB)

So I’m really happy to have won three games at this point and sitting down against Matt playing his deck is not good; the Targ box gave them so much aggro it’s painful. Hiwever by some miracle I setup a duped Cersei Lannister (LoCR) and a chud, hopefully allowing me to not immediately die....sad to say that I’m immediately deflated seeing Drogon (IDP) setup on the other side (with a Horselord as well). I open my usual At the Gates to Matts Fury of the Khalasar....ouch! At this point I’m facing SoB so make the decision to actually fetch a The Kingsroad instead of my usual Great Hall because it’s gonna get blown up.

Matt elects to go first and Marshall’s Jhogo (TS). I look at my hand have a few options but elect to kingsroad into Joffrey Baratheon (Core) as I have a widows wail in hand in case he makes a mistake, I then choose to Marshall a Burned Men as I can use my reducer, saving 3 gold. Fury triggers and Matt pops in Qotho giving him and intrigue icon. He then Goes all out military for around 17 strength. I can’t stop that, and it’s time for a yolo with I Never Bet Against My Family and my only target is Tyrion Lannister (Core). I choose to actually put him into play to try and bait the Put to the Sword on him instead of the dupe on Cersei. I then ambush Widow's Wail on to Joffrey to keep him out of Drogon (IDP) range and announce unopposed, Matt triggers dragon on Tyrion, I Treachery the shit out of it! He then triggers SoB and chooses to take the dupe of Cersei anyway. I now have to take 2 Claim and I umm and ahh for a while and actually kill Tyrion as he’s going to leave the board anyway and need so presence - I also then get a power on Joffrey. I also kill the chud. My challenges, I then do intrigue with Cersei, Matt plays Waking the Dragon on Qotho and defend but win and Cersei trigger, then military with Joffrey unopposed and then power with Cersei and boom Superior Claim and crossing. i then win dom with my 1 remaining gold, and Matt has 5 cards in hand and elects to discard 2 to put Qotho back into play again as he bounced back to hand - another Cersei trigger. So I have now survived turn 1 and ended up on 10 power - 1 Joffrey, 2x Cersei, 2 unopposed, Crossing, Claim, Superior Claim, dominance.

So now we’re in plot phase and I have a number of options - do I go for Weapons at the Door simply to try and go first, but I do the maths and don’t think I can win and I’ll get wrecked on his return challenges. Matt only has 2 cards in hand so he could be playing a draw plot....but which one - I HAVE to go first! I then just yolo and play Skillz plot, and he plays Counting Coppers, boom! I go first trigger first and hit....Put to the Sword, not what I wanted but I trigger Cersei - 11 power.

My marshalling, I play my Casterly Rock and sit on my remaining 2 gold. Matt sees that I’m on 11 power and deliberates for a while and then Marshalls Cohollo, which I’m kinda fine with as he triggers Cersei. He does the maths and is ire I can only get to 14 as he has no claim. I do 2 intrigue challenges which are opposed my Qotho and Cohollo giving Cersei 2 triggers - that’s all 3 for the round...13 power. Then boom, Look who turned up = Tywin for the crossing power challenge plus the renown! Win 15-0!

Well that was unexpected, and I was super tense during that game!

Uhhhhh so apparently that puts me into the king of Swiss game against none other than Wamma playing Baratheon Steel.

Wamma opens The Prince Who Came Too Late and I try to rush as much as possible, but keeps me and bay, and then fetches Robert Baratheon (Core) with the plot who apparently, is still bonkers good even now. It then basically becomes Wamma stalling me as much as he can as he knows how fast my deck can go, even to the point where he’s like “I will def the power challenge because you always play Superior Claim” and he’s annoyingly correct haha. It takes Wamma a few turns, but Bob now has Lightbringer and Seal of the Hand which is just super annoying, nearly as annoying as Motley on my Shae - who thought that card didn’t need terminal...?! I try to slow his voltron down with Weapons at the Door. ur it’s just a stop gap and then my only hope is to dig for Cersei, meaning I have to play Return to the Fields Sacrifice 3 relatively good characters that I can’t remember, and draw 5 cards into chaff, and then I conceded - loss.

But wow, always a fun game against Wamma and apparently I’m 2nd after Swiss, wtf?!?! I now get the top in Faction prizes (sweeeet) and apparently am in the cut! CRAZY!

The Cut So tbh, I’m just happy to be here right now - I’ve unexpectedly got what I came for, and am super happy to get this far; let’s see what happens and all have some dune slamming cards haha.

Round 6 - Savvy (Stark Steel) So I recall aspects of this game, namely I setup Tywin Lannister (Core) and immediately think I will lose (the ratio of win loss when I setup Tywin is REALLY bad) and he promptly gets Strangled, which is super annoying, but not the end of the world and his gold is still available. I’m then able to get Cersei Lannister (LoCR) out who promptly gets Reckless on which is irritating as hell. Catelyn Stark (Core) on the other side of the board is super annoying as well and is Bran Stark (Core). Savvy then puts Needle onto Bran Stark (Core) which I promptly give him a high five because that’s EXCELLENT! A Winterfell soon also hits the table with a Eddard Stark (WotN), however I’m able to keep going first with my high initiative plots which is causing the Reckless to not be as painful, and I also now have a Ser Jaime Lannister (Core). I’ll be honest, I’m not really sure how the game progressed, it some fun plays of me doing a military challenge and Savvy defending for me to ambush Widow's Wail for him to play Arya's Gift to move Needle to fast eddy was all fun and games. I can’t really recall how I was able to push it through, but somehow was - it was a great game.

Round 7 - Joe Zimmer (Lannister Kingdom)

This game is on camera by The White Walkers.

Woohoo, a guaranteed Lannister player in the final, go us! We’re both kinda nervous I think at the start, we both know that my deck can win super fast, but also know that if he gets the lock on, it’s game over.

Zoe sets up 2 cards in shadows and econ and The bane of my life. I think I set up some chuds, I can actually recall.

Joe promptly names Ser Jaime Lannister (Core) round 1 and Marshall more of a board presence. He puts a billion cards in shadows. The game is quite a slow. runner to start with me scared shitless of Ser Robert Strong as I have Tyrion out, but just have to keep going.

I think round two I end up with Ser Jaime Lannister (Core) as well as Tyrion on the board (Joe kept naming Cersei Lannister (LoCR) after round 1) and am able to push through a few challenges and get crossing off so am making a good start. I think it’s round 3 that I Save my skin against his Valar Morghulis - he then names Cersei Lannister (LoCR) again for his iron throne and I am able to Marshall Ser Jaime Lannister (Core) and duped Tyrion Lannister (Core) out from sheer luck of the draw. He then brings Ser Mandon Moore from shadows and I choose the Tyrion dupe. doing challenges I’m able to bounce in the hound and keep him on board. A Marched to the Wall subsequently follows to my Skillz plot and bang - hit Ser Mandon Moore.

There is definitely a chance I have mixed up the plot orders in remembering the game, but I won’t spoil the ending as it’s kinda broken on my ultimate draw on the final turn.

Win.

Holy shit, I’ve made my very first final and I’m basically playing a deck from 3 years ago haha. Who cares, it’s been a great day, and I’ve had a great time.

Round 8 - Kostas (Tyrell Dragon)

So let’s not beat around the bush, this was probably over turn 1....I setup Tywin Lannister (Core) and a chud and promptly say “well I’ve lost haha”. I then open Boringly good into At the Palace of Sorrows from Kostas - he goes first and promptly bounces Tywin with House Florent Knight. I do what i can where I can to maintain some semblance of a board, but Bribery showing up and taking my Red Cloaks out of nowhere was painful as was the 2nd At the Palace of Sorrows. I knew this deck was a thing but not seeing my Treachery at all hurt, but I can’t blame that, it was just superbly done by Kostas. Also my ninja ability with Skillz plot ran out as I missed twice.

The game was on camera so I’ll be reviewing it myself as to whether I made any mistakes, but there we go.

Well done to Kostas for winning, and thanks to Patriot games for holding the tourney.

Thanks to all the players and especially the Northampton meta for being super awesome. Mega thanks to Dan for driving and sorry for making you have to wait to drive home. Thanks to Katt for supporting me from afar.

I’ll stop rambling now.