Another Stahleck is under the belt and so many good memories with it. This year was probably the funniest I’ve ever attended, thanks to the great innovation of draft, the crazy passport-mania and the insane prize support from Schwaig and Philine (thanks again for organizing everything so flawlessly)! Also seeing the number of participants increase from 2024, while I thought the trend would have been losing players every year, is heartwarming, and proves this community is still strong and capable of doing great things in the years to come.

The game is alive, long live the game!

Deckbuilding

has been slowly increasing its presence since last year thanks to new impactful cards and welcomed changes on the restricted list, and 8 Regents proved we now have access to a very diverse pool of builds that can please different playstyles. Icon removal is probably the most impactful at the moment, so if you’d have asked me what to play at Stahleck, I would have suggested to explore the combo Ghost Hill Elite+Ser Gulian Qorgyle because they look insanely good together. But as many of you know I like to challenge myself with uncommon stuff, and I had the feeling my Guard deck could still prove worthy. I’ve been playing The Many-Faced God at Stahleck for 3 years in a row now, and thanks to a lot of testing and build adjustments I got every time a little performance improvement (4-4 in 2023, 5-3 in 2024, 6-2 in 2025). So apart from being super proud of my growth as a player, I believe my deck have potential to perform at this level.

Testing was pretty intense in the past months, but gave me the right confidence to approach the tournament without being too stressed of last minute changes. After some decent months in summertime, the deck went downhill in September and October, when I started to face a lot of attrition in form of Kings of Winter. Last year I missed the cut losing to the same deck, and every game against The First Snow of Winter was a nightmare. I was really discouraged and already thinking of playing something like Kings of Summer, but I gave it a last try. I made some major changes increasing the curve with another big renown body (The Red Viper first, Bronze Yohn Royce after), adding duplicates for Tyene Sand (which doesn't have the right traits, but proved to be so good), and increasing non-limited locations for a better and richer setup. Apparently these changes paid off, also the decrease of in response to the raise of convinced me they wouldn’t have terrorized the Stahleck meta, and so it was. It’s true is not a walk in the park either (Robert Baratheon I hate you), but having 3x Tyene Sand helped to keep them somehow in check, since they mostly rely on the dominance package to win games. And since everybody went crazy about the Trading With Braavos agenda, I needed a way to control locations, so The Mad King's Command was added replacing my beloved Wildfire Assault. This meant it wasn’t possible to have my characters killed in a reliable way anymore, especially if the opponent doesn’t attack in . So for the whole tournament the agenda had a less important role in giving traits like it did last year, but still a decent role in giving keywords: a dead Tyene Sand is not the end of the world if you have access to a stealthy tricon Anders Yronwood. Another big change came from the decision of restricting War Scorpion, which meant losing Secret Schemes for draw. And with so many Nothing Burns Like The Cold that could destroy Dorne and feed it to Euron Crow's Eye, the only way left to draw was with plots. The Many-Faced God cannot play Counting Coppers or Exchange of Information, so the only choice was Siege Preparations, paired with reserve bonuses from the faction. By losing initiative in that round the deck went often off path from my designed gameplan, but apparently it was able to manage it better than I expected.

At this point the biggest threat emerged from my testings came in form of : both Dothraki aggro and burn control are terrible matchups, especially if your restricted card is easily discarded by a recurring event, and your board have STR 3 on average (Ser Cletus Yronwood, Myrcella Baratheon, House Manwoody Guard). But I got to a point where I accepted I couldn't counter everything and just needed to trust my luck, plus I didn't predict to be so present as they actually turned out to be. I guess some players rightfully feared Ghost Hill Elite/Ser Gulian Qorgyle to be dominant, so they countered using , similarly to the ones who countered using . Seeing these were the most represented factions at the event makes me believe I’m right. But as I’ve already pointed on Discord, I’m genuinely happy of the meta. Some factions will always be a little behind compared to others, but that's part of the game and its cycles. GOT and DT had a huge credit in balancing the meta from last year when didn’t even make the cut, and such a etherogenous Top8/Top16 proves their balancing decisions were perfect.

The tournament

My personal run was not exciting in terms of diversity, as I’ve only faced (4), (3) and (2), not exactly the easiest matchups for this deck, but the counters proved to be the right calls and helped me go through. It’s already been a week and my memory is kinda blurred, so don’t expect me to go too in detail for each game.

• Round 1 - Dani from Germany – Trading With Braavos (WIN)

I was probably still asleep, I don’t remember much from the game. My opponent was a returning player with great experience, and a super friendly guy to meet. He was controlling the game very well in the start, as my gameplan against Trading With Braavos was focusing my resources on not having the opponent trigger it. We played the whole 55 minutes, but I was pretty close to 15 when time was called. (1-0)

• Round 2 - Andy Boyd from USA – Assault from the Shadows (WIN)

I’ve played Andy many times online, he’s a strong player and I was glad to meet him in person. Assault from the Shadows can be tricky because focuses on challenges which is not my main icon, but I had The Mad King's Command on my side for his locations. After I got a strong start with Tyene Sand, he got in control with the help of Robert Baratheon and I couldn’t close anymore. When last round was called he gained the needed powers to catch me, but I won the game counting cards because he had insight on Jon Arryn since the first round. Unfortunate, but he managed to get to the Top anyway, so well done! (2-0)

• Round 3 - Varu from Spain – Kings of Winter (WIN)

An expert player from Spain, with the most feared agenda of the past months. Luckily, I was more confident thanks to the inclusion of more economy cards and 2 Summer plots for the early rounds. I believe I got double economy on setup, and he played Naval Superiority on my Summer Harvest. He continued with very aggressive plots like Strained Reserves, but I was able to defend the board with the help of War Scorpion. He struggled with economy more than me, and after all the claim 2 had passed I took board control. (3-0)

• Round 4 - Lannister from Catalonia – Kings of Summer (LOSS)

After a great fight last year, I had to face Lannister again. This time he was playing a different faction, so I didn’t know what to expect, plus he was undefeated and looking forward for having this rematch with me. I had an insane start, as I almost closed the game in round 2 with Anders Yronwood and We Guard the Way. But we all know how this game works, and my opponent started an amazing comeback. I made the first big mistake of the day forgetting the kneel from The Laughing Storm, and slowly his Robert Baratheon took control of the board. He was also wise enough to never make a , so that my agenda became useless. Really well played and deserved win for him! (3-1)

• Round 5 - DunMare from Germany – Kings of Summer (WIN)

Third seasonal deck in a row, these agendas really had time to shine this year! I don’t remember many details from this game with Julia, but I believe I locked her At the Gates with Varys's Riddle, and then she struggled with economy for the whole game while I was getting plenty. I played The Mad King's Command after she had already used 2x Exchange of Information, so she couldn’t rebuild an hand quickly while I defended my board position against the scary challenges until time was called. (4-1)

• Round 6 - areindal from Catalonia – Trading With Braavos (WIN)

Areindal got an unlucky pairing as he was 3-2 in this moment, and I didn’t fear Trading With Braavos like I feared Kings of Winter. Like in the previous games, The Mad King's Command did a wonderful job in keeping locations in check, which would otherwise have been complicated to control. He played plenty of big characters (Victarion Greyjoy, Euron Crow's Eye, Balon Greyjoy), but was struggling to keep the chuds alive, so in the Valar Dohaeris turn was left with only one big alone which was killed. We had a very pleasant talk and I was happy to meet him. (5-1)

• Round 7 - TheMeeplesChampion from USA – The Wars To Come (WIN)

After last year drama, where I went from 4-0 to 5-3, I was feeling a bit nervous to play the decisive games for my Cut chances. I was glad to meet the lovely Jeff from USA, less happy to face the 4th of the day. He had a strong start playing Selyse Baratheon twice in the early rounds, so went ahead on powers quickly. Then I started to come back with the help of War Scorpion and Secret Pact, and I got a lot of prized from his non-War plots. Again I don’t remember many details, but I was so happy to make it and to play the last game a bit more relaxed. (6-1)

• Round 8 - Albert Lorenzo from Catalonia – Sea of Blood (LOSS)

Despite being a “friendly” game (with both of us on 6-1), the match against Albert was a massacre! I knew what to expect from his deck, as we already played last year in Swiss and he defeated me brutally thanks to The First Snow of Winter. This time I was more prepared, and I was careful on not spreading too many chuds. Unluckily for me, he got Aegon Targaryen first turn which made him trigger the agenda too soon for my plans. Second round he delivered a huge at claim 4 which I was able to defend "only" 26-26: the carnage destroyed my board, and it was pretty much over from that point. I kept fighting with Anders Yronwood until the last plot, but I knew I couldn’t come back from that hit, as all of my main uniques were dead. Well done Albert, you made it this year again! (6-2)

• Top 32 - Tassos Pap from Greece – Assault from the Shadows (LOSS)

There I was, finally playing my first cut at Stahleck, which took me 4 years to achieve. I was already happy with this result, but of course since I had the chance to go even further, I wanted to take it. My pairing was not the one I was hoping for: first because I don’t like playing against friends knowing one is going out, and second because I was facing burn, which can be quite destructive for my deck. The game was long and tiring: I played super defensively while trying to draw my answers, mainly The Hand's Judgment, Anders Yronwood and War Scorpion. He had Magister Illyrio from setup, and it was the first time I saw him in play: I must say I was impressed, the economy engine was running so smoothly thanks to him, as he even counted the shadow cards I was trying to keep hidden to prevent The Dragonpit! First round I killed Viserion with War Scorpion to be safe from Dracarys!, but he discarded the other I had in hand for . I had plenty of economy but didn’t see my higher strength characters, so I was forced to keep a fight with Ser Cletus Yronwood, Myrcella Baratheon and chuds. Water Dancer's Sword did an insane job here preventing some burn! Since he was keeping events for my best characters and I was reluctant to attack with The Dragonpit on the board, the game proceeded super slow. Key round was Blood of the Dragon turn, as it usually happens. He unleashed the fire on me and killed 4 of my 5 characters on the board. I had to risk partecipating in challenges because he was ahead on powers and I knew we would have played only another round at max. Sadly I didn’t see any The Hand's Judgment, and when time ended he was conducting 7-2. Tassos went on defeating another in Top 16 piloted by a World Champion, so I felt kinda relieved that I did the best I could against a deck that beats most of the times.

Final thoughts

As last year, I got pretty happy of playing my personal deck and get a good result with it. The gameplan was a bit different from the original idea, but I guess I needed to adapt to the meta to survive. As usual I will give the deck a break, focusing on other interesting builds I’ve thought about. The already mentioned Ser Gulian Qorgyle opens a lot of possibilities and has already brought back some forgotten cards like the icon-removal-attachments. Then there are some new & cool events that I didn’t have the time to test but they intrigue me. And we’ll soon get an amazing The Red Viper that works with shadows, so that might be the next big thing I dive deep into. This is all made possible by the huge amount of work that members of DT, GOT and Stahleck team put into this game. I’m really grateful for that and being part of this community, and I hope we keep growing and having fun together for many years to come! See you all in Milan in June, we’re trying to bring back the italian meta!