GZ Moncton SC Winner (4-0) 1.0

• Versiones
• 1.0

Mulled this deck over quite a bit after the King's Peace contents were leaked. The Lord of the Crossing agenda really appealed to me and I felt like it gave Martell the boost it needed as a primary house. Up until about 5 minutes before the tournament began, however, I was still going to play a Lannister Lord of the Crossing deck that I had play-tested the night before. Luckily one of the other players threw down the gauntlet and convinced me to sleeve this sucker up.

The whole strategy of the deck revolves around using icon control (the all-powerful Nym, attainted and Spicy Caleotte), Varys and Ghaston to slow my opponent's power gain until I hit the plot 5-6 sweet spot where Doran's Game puts me over the edge. I know it is 62 cards, I actually didn't realize it until after the tournament. I had slid in the Seal of the Hand thinking I was at 60. It never saw play. The MVP for me was 'In Doran's Name'. Given that this deck has no other house card kneel effects in it, it just plays so nicely. That event let me squeak in 2 surprise Tears of Lys and a Doran's Game in 2 of my games and covered the cost of a much needed Varys in my 3rd.

Game 1 vs Tyrell Banner of the Watch

This was against a close friend of mine who really has not had too many reps in 2nd edition yet. He opened with Benjen and a chud knight. I had had a pretty sad opening hand that mulliganed into a worse one and ended up dropping down Varys, a Rose Road and a House Dayne Knight. I summoned for a Nymeria and drew into 2 Greenblood Traders which I proceeded to play, netting me Hotah and Obara in-hand. My opponent popped in KoF and Knighted Benjen with his Noble Cause. KoF killed a Trader, with a mitt full of characters I comfortably popped Varys and then used Nymeria and Obara to take control of the game. End score was 15-5.

Game 2 vs Greyjoy Banner of the Stag

Tyler, a really awesome player from the Saint John meta sat across from me in what ended up being a great match-up that had me at the edge of my seat from turn one. I had expected a lot of Tyrell, Lannister and Greyjoy in attendance and was not disappointed. Tyler opened with a Kingsroad, Little Bird and Asha, I started with Nymeria, a House Dayne Knight and a Kingsroad. I Marched immediately to get rid of the Asha and apologize to my knightly friend (he has a family, you know). My opponent uses Calm (int), ends up getting out another kingsroad which grants him a duped Euron, a Seastone Chair and a Lordsport Shipwright. I get a Rattleshirt's Raiders, a Grove and pop Kingsroad for Caleotte. I steal Euron's military icon and kill his shipwright, he power challenges me and takes my Kingsroad.

Things are looking grim by the end of turn 3. He has Melisandre, Euron and Balon as well as a Seastone Chair and has just killed my Nymeria. I'm sitting on Arianne, Rattleshirt's and Caleotte. I manage to off Mel but at the end of the turn he is sitting at 12 power and I am at 8 with 4 tokens on Boneway. Turn 4 I draw Hotah and Ghaston and feel a wave of relief. He uses Rise of the Kraken, plays Great Kraken and goes for broke on a power challenge. I mull everything over for a few minutes before pushing out Balon with the Surprise Hotah and Ghastoning his Euron. The 3 power he lost off of Euron keeps me in the game. I also proceed to cancel his Superior Claim with Hand's Judgement and kill Balon. Next turn I use all my gold to drop in Arianne and a Greenblood Trader and he drops in Asha and Aeron Damphair. I end up using In Doran's Name to grab 4 extra gold after he finishes his marshalling. I open with a power challenge which he lets through to avoid popping Boneway and Caleotte. I then swing for intrigue with Arianne and a Trader which procs a Doran's Game and a Tears of Lys on Aeron. I finish it out with a military challenge that gives me the win on the Lord of the Crossing. A really awesome back and forth, I apologize if I screwed up any details, Tyler.

Game 3 vs Lannister Banner of the Sun

This was the game I expected to be the hardest. I was up against Tim, one of my fellow podcasters, whom I have a deep respect for when it comes to the game and he was playing a deck that I knew was strong (I had won the Halifax Winter Championship with it when it didn't have access to Attainted). By turn 2 things were not looking all that hot for me but they were not awful. I was sitting on a Nymeria, a duped up Viper, Ghaston and a randomly generated 2 coster turn 2. In any other scenario I'm loving it but Tim had Gregor Clegane, Syrio and Nymeria. Syrio was a pain in my arse as I wanted to strip Gregor's military but it never mattered. Gregor's reactions killed my Rattleshirt's Raiders and a Desert Trader, with the other 5 costs in my deck the odds were Nymeria would be getting some unlove soon. I drew into a Varys on turn 2 but did not have the gold to play both him and the Viper I summoned turn 1. When I drew my second Viper I chose the guy I could save. At this point, I had been lucky enough to have also drawn into 2 Hand's Judgments, I used my first to cancel a treachery on my Nymeria and saved the second for the possible put to the sword. Turn 3 I went with the Long Plan in hopes of getting enough gold for Varys and played my 3rd Viper as well as a couple chuds. Tim dropped down Tyrion and threw Widow's Wail on him but was being careful because of Ghaston. I stripped Tyrion's intrigue and waited out the turn. Turn 4 I wildfired and dropped in Varys. Tim had used Marched turn 1 and I felt confident he was not running 2 of them. I did make a mistake this turn in that I Ghaston'ed Tim's Gregor when I was planning on using Varys anyway. I really just wanted less board presence in case he treacheried the Varys and it got through. Luckily, when he tried, I still had that second Hand's Judgement. After that, Viper carried the game as Tim was only able to get out his own Varys in subsequent turns and nothing else of any substance. Really solid match with a player that keeps you thinking.

Game 4 vs Lannister Banner of the Sun

There were 3 Lannister/Sun decks at the tournament and I really did not want to play any of them. I felt that while I had lots of tricks, they had most of the same ones but with better Lanni characters supporting them. This game was against one of my other fellow casters, Mark, who was sitting in second based on strength of schedule at this time. I was told if he won we'd do a cut, if I won we'd just leave it here. Mark always has my number in tournaments and I expected more of the same. He opened with Gregor, a merchant and a Rose Road. I opened with Nymeria, a Noble Lineage, Kingsroad and a Knight. Turn 1, I drop in a duped Varys and summons a dupe for my Nymria. Mark plays it safe and puts out a couple of chuds. He then treacheries my attempt at removing Clegane's military icon and when I hand's judgement it, he cancels my cancel, the nerve! A Greenblood Trader becomes claim, as does my Knight when he pillages the other one in the deck.

From this point on, though, I end up in control. Mark keeps claiming power a little faster than myself which is a bit of a concern (the blanked Gregor is a dominance machine), but I feel pretty confident that that will slowly change. I drop in Arianne on my Noble Cause turn and a Ghaston, he pops in Tyrion. I remove Tyrion's intrigue icon with Attainted and Tears him. Mark follows up with Nymeria on his Wardens of the West turn. I attaint her too. Mountain's military icon is gone for essentially the rest of the game and I never pop Varys. Turn 5, Mark is at 11 power due to the power of chuds and dominance, and I am at 8. Mark drops in Tywin and chooses to go first. He swings for power and I Ghaston him away. I proceed to pop In Doran's Name for 4 gold, pop a Doran's Game on the intrigue, win a power with the noble cause'ed Nymeria and get my extra power from the Lord of the Crossing on the military challenge. I then win dominance when Gregor has to suffer the claim.

Overall the deck was a LOT of fun to play and had a toolbox that just kept spitting out answers. I think my only change would be to somehow either fit in another Dawn or another Boneway, particularly Boneway, as I felt its psychological power was extremely strong.