Stark Assault Winner of Faiths 2026 (6-0), 3-3 at Online Wor 1.0

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• 1.0

This is a deck I started working after Stahleck. I just went new released cards for deck ideas and noticed Howland Reed. I had also noticed people playing House Umber Berserkers in Stark Battle of the Trident, which seemed to fit Assault from the Shadows as well. And remembered Stark Assault that Neo built during 8R when I was Stark Regent, and that deck was super fun. I think the original draft of the deck was very similar to the end result. I guess most time I spent testing should I run Valar Dohaeris or The Stranger (HMW) as a reset. Arya Stark (LMHR) went from 3 copies to 1, and I added Arya Stark (TFM) to help with decks with a lot of dupes. I also realised that House Umber Berserkers is a must 3x, since the deck is slow! It's also a key card against dothrakis. Other than that I ended up running 2 copies (only one in Online Worlds) or Northern Patriarch, since the deck is vulnerable to Valar Morghulis and lacked power icons. Ended up dropping Crannogmen (AHaH) altogether.

The general strategy for the deck is to build econ base and shadows, and then try to be aggressive on The First Snow of Winter turn or after Dohaeris. And then play Strained Reserves (MaV). The deck can aggro from start as well, if it finds the right card. Yes, looking at you Berserkers, Flayers, Ice and claim raise. It has really nice tricks, like Ice (Core) from shadows or Ramsay Snow from shadows after First Snow has triggered. Other than that it's just good stuff, some surprises like Ward (R), claim raise and stand from Tower of the Hand (BtRK).

Some general tips if you are going to try it out. Econ is tight, you need to learn what to setup and what to marshal in different match ups. I have lost games because of marshaling wrong, using the agenda on a wrong card, discarding wrong cards to reserve etc. Econ is must on setup. I also look for House Umber Berserkers for early tempo. And against rush you need to have some cheapers chars as well. Also there is not a lot of draw. The Wolf's Den (AHaH) is a really nice draw and econ engine, but it costs 3 and requires kneeling, so not the best for setups or during The Withering Cold. So basically it's just 3xUmber Loyalist and 3x Old Gate. If I have Umber Loyalist, I almost always try to hide it in shadows first round. It is a must, if you are expecting The Doom of Valyria. It's not the easiest deck to pilot, but it can be very rewarding! Also, it's not top tier deck which is getting you easy wins. Most games you play with fewer resources than your opponent.

Here are the tournament reports for Faiths and Online Worlds.

Online Worlds

First round loss against Apopas and NW Aloof. It was a difficult game and a difficult match ups. Very hard to win military and that deck finds dupes and saves easy. I marshaled Arya Stark (TFM) during First Snow turn to get a better effect, but then she got discarded to int claim and wasn't able to use her to stop further saves. I think we played a good 7 or 8 plots, but I was behind the most times.

Second game was a win against Nils. He was trying to steal a lot of my stuff and I did some stealing with Ward as well. I was struggling a lot, but I think one plot hurt Nils played hurt himself more than me and I ended up turning the game. I think most players did a lot of top decking as well, so it was tight game.

Third game was against Derek and Targ SoB. I kept my setup, since I had econ and Howland Reed with a dupe maybe. But I didn't re-draw and draw more than one character. So couldn't get board presence early and basically couldn't establish a board in this game at all. Derek also had Womb of the World (R) from start, so I got crushed.

Fourth game was a win against Lirania with Martell Faith. They were getting power fast and were able to avoid most of my attrition with clever choices. However, when the attrition finally hit, I was able to turn it into my favour.

Fifth round was win against Dave's Bara Free Companies. I was afraid of the match up, but I had some luck here. I played Frozen Solid on The Iron Bank (R) and Milk of the Poppy on Khorane Sathmantes the first round. I also had some tempo cards I think, so the game turned out to be very favourable for me. After First Snow Dave couldn't establish a board and I won.

Sixth round was a best game of the tournament for me. I played against Tom with Targ SoB. So similar match up which was my worst game of the tournament this far. But this time I was able to setup stuff in shadows and had House Umber Berserkers early. This was a very good back and forth game. I was able to turn the tide with one of the sweetest plays I have made with this deck. I was doing challenges and brought out Reek (HMW) from shadows to threaten with int. The only int icon Tom had was Daenerys Targaryen (FUtG) who was declared as a defender. Then I brought out Roose Bolton (WK) from shadows and killed Dany and stole some bloodrider with Reek. I put military pressure after and with help of Roose's intimidate I was dominating. Unfortunately Tom run Valar Morghulis and he was able to recover better with help of You Win Or You Die and Womb. This is a game were I brought Umber Loyalist out of shadows too early and discarded wrong cards for reserve. I was struggling with some gold, but I should have marshaled Northern Patriarch. I just wasn't prepared for Morghulis. But I think it was ok, since I would have struggled playing in the cut next day and Tom ended doing very well. I was just super happy about a great game I got as last one of my first Online Worlds.

War of the Faiths 2026

First round win was against Kaur, who played super rushy knights and ladies Tyrell Crossing with Lady Sansa's Rose and Name Day Tourney and some other rush cards as well. I was happy to have some characters and econ on setup against rush. One was even Catelyn Stark (Core), which helped a lot. I also had House Umber Berserkers in shadows first round. I played defensively the first round and then play First Snow the second. Kaur actually did well for his deck and had 3 characters and one of them was duped Margaery Tyrell (HoT). But I had stealth and mil strength to push through military and raised the claim to 3 with Winter Is Coming and Shadow of the North. Then I had Reek (HMW) out to threaten to steal Margaery. This gave me an early concede from Kaur, which was probably the right call. Kaur had Pleasure Barge out and only one Rose Garden and his reset was VD, so there was no come back available for him.

Second round was a win against Eduards and Targ SoB. Unlike the Online Worlds decks, Eduards' deck ran Khal Drogo (DotE) AKA The Cool Khal. In this match up I luckily had what I needed, two House Umber Berserkers from start. I was able to stop the triggers of his agenda all but once and also hand The Hand's Judgment for Blood of My Blood which resulted in Eduards playing another copy. Well, at least he didn't have gold for Aegon Targaryen (TSC) that turn. Eduards was flooding nicely with Khal and I was afraid to play VD, since my curve was also quite high. And he ended having triple duped Khal and duped Daenerys Targaryen (FUtG). I did have 2x Ramsay Snow though, but Eduards did well to also save smaller chars to a protect them or accompany them during VD. I ate 4 claim military at some point, but my board was wide enough for that. Finally I got my own things going on First Snow turn (might have been some other turn as well) when Bolton Flayer killed Devoted Bloodrider and I was able to Ramsay Snow Qotho (R) in dominance and then marshal Ramsey for Dany the next turn. Eduards was left with only triple duped Khal but still had the Womb and Aegon in shadows maybe. Anyway, he didn't run Morghulis and I had a solid board, so I ended up winning it with help of power icon and stealth from Arya Stark (LMHR). I think I would have lost the game if Eduards would have found Consuming Flames at some point (or at least in a critical point). Very good game I won with 14 power before time and would have gotten to 15 if I had 15 seconds more. (Faiths is played with Fracas 5 minute sudden death rules)

Third round was against Kairi, who I haven't won in a tournament before. She was playing Stark Armed to the Teeth deck with The Blackfish (WotN). It looked super cool. I think Kairi had some chud, The Blackfish (WotN) and Jory Cassel first round and a convenient 3 gold saved for Ice (Core). I had Catelyn Stark (Core), House Manderly Knight and some cards in shadows. I was thinking I'm getting board wiped, but bravely did mil with House Manderly Knight. I thought if she defends with both, I still have the knight after Ice kills Cat. But Kairi only defended with The Blackfish and I brought the Ice of my own from shadows to win the challenge and to kill Jory. Then Kairi claimed the chud and was only left with The Blackfish. Lucky for her, she discarded my Ramsay Snow with first round Heads on Spikes, so Blackfish was safe for a while. But in the end, I just kept the pressure and First Snow sealed it at some point.

Third round was against Margus and Bara Fealty, which was a power challenge based deck. I was struggling early and was thinking about playing Dohaeris second round for Stannis Baratheon (FotS) and Stormlord. It felt early, but I decided go for it. It kinda won me the game, since Margus played A City Besieged to put pressure on me instead, but couldn't recover from the reset with such a low gold plot. We played couple of more rounds but I was able to win it after that.

Going 4-0 gave me a second place in swiss and BYE for top 8. I was going to play Tupaq or Siim next. I lost my test games against Tupaq's GJ pillage deck but it seemed winnable still. Siim played Stark Crossing, so I knew First Snow would be important. Siim ended up winning Tupaq, so we played against each other in top 4. He started strong and hoarded a good amount of power with Superior Claim and Winter Festival but his board was very vulnerable to First Snow. So I played that next. Siim is a newer player and hasn't played much, so he wasn't prepared for it and got board wiped. And I just kept the pressure after that and even Passing the Black Gate didn't help him to recover enough.

Final was going to be against Alex and Martell Crossing. This was going to be a rough game, where First Snow would be important. I had to keep my setup with Catelyn and some other char and econ. I just need to have characters early. But Alex was still hoarding power with Myrcella Baratheon (GoH) renown and Winter Festival. I think I made a small mistake first round with not blanking Myrcella with Meera Reed (R) but not sure. I had to go First Snow next, but Alex found a dupe for Ser Gulian Qorgyle (MaV) and had Dornish Spy, so second round was difficult as well. I'm not entirely sure if he remembered to trigger Winter Festival that round, since next round he played Heads and hit something again. I think I played Strained Reserves (MaV) against it, which was also a bit difficult for me. Anyway, at some point Alex was at 14 power, but my pressure started to affect his board. So next round was his You Win Or You Die to my The Withering Cold I think, so Alex won the ini and got one more go at me. He messed up the challenges a bit I think by doing power with his only mil icon, which made the defending much easier. I might have lost it in dom otherwise. Well, I'm not sure if I remember everything correctly from this game. I guess the tiredness and drunkness started getting on me :D It was a bit of a blur with just trying to survive without any fancy plays from me. I think I raised claim on power challenge which is not usually typical early in the game, but against rush it was necessary. Anyway, amazing run from Alex to go undefeated to the final and he beat Emils twice, who would have been really difficult opponent for me as well. (I lost to Emils when we played after the tournament)

Estonia was super fun again and I will recommend going there for everyone! It was great to meet everyone again and special props to Duckbringer who travelled alone from Czech Republic to meet us and play some Thrones.