House Greyjoy/Winter - 12 player GNK Winner (4-0). 1.0

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• 1.0

GNK at Wayland’s Forge, Birmingham, UK. 12 player field.

Round 1 vs. Paul (Stark Fealty) (WIN) I’d played Paul the week before at another event and got soundly beaten, so I was looking for some revenge. His deck was largely unchanged so I knew what to expect on the most part, whereas I was playing a new deck, so there’d be plenty of surprises for him. Paul saw nothing in the way of economy meaning KoW hurt him even more. Core Catelyn shuts Euron’s pillage mechanic off for a little until I mange to get her and Robb stuck in nets. FSoW takes his Arya (having lost her dupe to claim previously) and I’m able to finish comfortably with Balon and Asha. 1-1 in the mini Alec vs Paul series.

Round 2 vs. Matt (Greyjoy Fealty) (WIN) I loath mirror matches as Greyjoy - you can’t stealth stealth, meaning Asha, Theon and friends have to work that little bit harder. We both set up Fishwhiskers meaning that we’re both going to be getting unopposed challenges thanks to all my Winter plots. However, Matt sees his Seastone Chair so he’s in the stronger position with his unopposed. He had Aeron out, but didn’t really see that many Ironborn. I manage to save Asha with an Iron Mine and Alannys does a lot of work winning intrigue challenges. Matt choses to kill my Aeron over Asha (she would have come back anyway I guess) instead of letting a 2 claim plot go off. I hit back with a FSoW round to virtually empty his board whilst keeping Asha, Alannys and Fishwhiskers and then into Famine keeping his board empty. Flip RotK to secure the game.

Round 3 vs. John (Lanni/Sun) (WIN) I’d seen John’s deck during the tournament already - his first game virtually went to time and his 2nd was against my friend Ben, so had a good insight into all the death and hand destruction coming my way. Ilyn Payne keeps my board clear of low cost while Jamie makes military difficult. KoW really paid off in this game, choking him down in reserve to 3 cards on 2nd turn with Wraiths in their Midst. The economy choke helped too as John discarded Gregor, frustrated that he wouldn’t be able to afford him. Cersei pops out and suddenly my hand pretty much drops. John chooses not to Treachery an Iron Mine saving me from a board wipe. Asha gets marched leaving Fishwhiskers to push trough a power challenge before he dies. Theon comes in and pushes through an unopposed military challenge on a RotK turn and his reaction renown gets me to 15. An incredibly tough game.

Round 4 vs. Donald (Martell/Rose) (WIN) Donald sets up Randy (who gets put in a net) with a few other pieces, whilst I have Euron, Asha with an Axe, Alannys and 2 Fishmongers. Decent early trading with Fishwhiskers getting unopposed challenges and Euron protecting my hand pretty well. Donald flips Long Plan and ends marshalling with 1 gold left whilst I have Famine out. I walk right into a Vengeance and have to kill Balon - Asha, Euron and Fishwhiskers were just doing more work. Euron ends up going so Aeron comes out in the hope I can bring him back - I can’t as he ends up as claim later. Asha gets marched again and I’m left with Fishwhiskers on my last Winter Festival turn. I’m on 13 power going in to the round, Donald is on 7/8. Donald elects me to go first, I managed to martial a Priest and not much else. Nymeria takes my only military icon leaving Fishwhiskers with his power icon, giving him an unopposed power challenge for the victory. We math out what happens if he takes the power icon instead - 1 power from unopposed military challenge and hold on for Winter Festival was my plan, which still got me the game.

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All in all I feel the deck works well and sets out what it is designed to do. There’s room for tweaks I’m sure - there’s an argument for switching a copy of Balon for Fishwhiskers. Plots aren’t the highest initiative either, which as Greyjoy isn’’t the easiest. Originally had the deck built with Wildfire, but First Snow worked much better. Comments, tweak ideas, criticism all welcome.