Nordics 2016 TOP8 and TOP4(3rd and 5th of swiss)Bara Control 1.0

• Versiones
• 1.0

Hey all !

Here is the deck I've bring to Nordics Nationals this week end and that I eventually end up giving to Pontus who did really well with it too !

After a lot of you guys asking for the list, and with lots of question I decided to post it with a card to card review (some will be kind of short :P) and on how to use it against some match-ups.

Before starting I'd like to enlight the fact that this is mostly a meta call deck. Currently Nw as seen a lot's of play and Lannisters are still trusting tournaments. I decided then to go with what would wreak both, Baratheon seems the best candidate. Baratheon is the naturel Counter to Lanni, or any deck based on big agressiv characters, once they are knelt they can't do shit, no more no less. And to me the Dominance module is one of the best and easier counter to Nw Wall decks, if they wanna stall we are gonna stall as well but we we'll do it better as well as taking power for them, and oftenly disabled their Wall throught unnoposed (helps by kneeling the right icon at the right moment) and Nightmares.

I'll also give the few tweaks that Pontus decided to go with the deck, props to Tamas as well for those, #V.C. !

So first of all, the Agenda : Kings of Summer A lot of my meta mates asked me why was I running the deck with Summer agenda instead of Fealty. I've been building this deck as well with the Fealty agenda, the only difference was the plotline, the deck was exactly the same. For several reasons I gived up on this agenda :

• Verry first concerned, it was to counter Nw KoW that can be really painfull with White Tree and A Meager Contribution.
• I also needed a high reserve as the deck can draw a lot and I want to have a big hand so I can handle resets and keep a lot's of solutions as surprises. So the reserve value matters in this as well.
• Kneeling the Faction Card is really painfull for this deck. As much as possible i wan't to trigger Shadowblack Lane whenever I can (mostly to get a Seen In Flames so I can keep controlling both board and hand, or In the Name of Your King! depending on what i'm expecting on next turn) and In the Name of Your King! too (so I can deal with aggro decks like Stark or Lanni or Greyjoy, I can even cancel a big Robert Baratheon Challenge in the mirror matchup ....)
• I'm more confortable with the Overall gold curve I get from plots with summer than with Fealty, i'm almost always sure to get at least 6 golds 4 turns over seven wich is really good without any locations.
• It also allows me to run less economy cards than usual (I'll comeback on this later).

Ok now you know for the Agenda let's go on plots :

• A Song of Summer : Really powerfull plot, it enters at last on the least I'm really happy with it, lot's of player still forget about it wich can gives big opportunities, the extra Str on the Fiery Followers is also pretty cool to ensure dom, and of course Robert Baratheon loves to get +1 str too. It's also one of the summer plot in my list that can afford to be thrown on a Winter plot, as the effect, even while it's good is not that relevant for the overall strategy.
• Calm Over Westeros : Well pretty easy to understand while it's pretty good, depending on the sitation you might open with it to soften the military aspect, or you can keep it for later to stop power claim or to comeback after Varys by protecting your board. As we are running In the Name of Your King! i've mostly used it to protect my hand from int claim, and it worked quite well, as i'm famous for getting really bad int claim (when i do so or when i take them, it's usually bad for me and not that relevant for the opponent #Stahleck2014 #Darkstar #MelisandresFavor :P).
• Close Call : Ok so here we have a really good plot, the best summer plot so far IMHO. While saving your ass from if something went wrong with one of your key characters, it also allows you to draw one more card, wich helps a lot. I usually keep it for the late game so I got a good economy later on and more draw, I can also like this wait to have someone interesting to move out even when my big guns are still on the board(like Selyse Baratheon or Maester Cressen if i got them in my hand and need those). The only downside is the low iniative. As much as possible you want the all effect to work, so try to avoid Winter plots while playing it !
• Confiscation : This one have been on discussion quite a lot as i've already have some attachment hate in the draw deck. In the end it have been verry usefull, but not in all games. But it was kind of game changer when it was usefull. Untill Nw drops once against, I think it will stay. It's also pretty usefull when Maester Cressen got milked as well !
• Filthy Accusations Well, I don't have to say much about this one right ? It push through the kneeling mechanic a bit and it's really usefull. In the end I'm wondering if it would be better to get Summons here, I was almost about to switch it the day before the tournament, but the lack of Playtest push me to stick on my first choice, wich I do not regret, except maybe for my game against Tupaq it could have gived me a Character to keep up with his board, outside of that Filthy did really well all day.
• Trading with the Pentoshi : it might sounds quite surprising here, but it was pretty good all day ! It was a meta call as well, but did really well. Right now we see more and more Varys's Riddle as an opener plot since it counters really well Summer Harvest as seting the income to 2, and as a Baratheon Kings of Summer, many many players will state I will go for it ! So if you have a lot's of expansive cards you need to play on turn 1, it's verry likely that you'll get 13 golds cause of your opponent plots, and it's always rewarding to counter plot something ^^.
• Wildfire Assault No need to make explanation here neither, it's just really strong, the massiv iniative helps a lot's as well. Note that with Shireen on the board it means a Filthy Accusations with higher Initiative and that also reduce the board to 3 characters !

So yes, no Summer Harvest Here ! I was playing to at first, but to high Variance, and no plot that ensure me I can play Robert Baratheon For sure even without gold convinced me to remove those and I Was really happy like this !

Ok then let's go for Events :

• Even-Handed Justice : This event is big, no matter how you see it. During The First Snow of Winter turns it can just wreck your opponent, the drawback of this card is mostly that you'll have to kneel a reducer to kneel an opponent big character ... Really good card here.
• Seen In Flames : well, it looks a lot like the best Baratheon event so far, and would be playable even without the obvious combo with Melisandre ! It's as well offensive and defensive and played wisely it's one of the best control tool so far !
• Nightmares : One my signature cards from 1.0 ! Vince give me this virus, i'm in love with this event, it's never ever useless, their is allways a target for it and it can save your ass from so many situations. This was the MVP of the tournament for a lot of players in the top as well (just watch the final when it'll be up and you'll see ! It's also one of the best way to counter Nw, by for instance blanking The Wall or Castle Black that can just make you win the entire challenge phase !
• In the Name of Your King! : One of my favourite card in the deck, i've been wondering to remove it to deal with Baratheon matchup, but I was more confident with those instead, in it have been gold all day long ! In 1.0 I've been playing a lot of cancelling challenges card, like lethal counter attack or The Only Game that Matters (god I miss this one, please, reprint !!), so this fits perfectly in my playstyle, and I don't care about not attacking in millitary, I've almost not make any millitary challenges during the all tournament. OP against aggro deck as Greyjoy, Lanni and Stark and game breaker against military kills.

So overall really toolboxing event line, I'm really confident with and it suits me well.

Attachements now :

• Lightbringer : Quite clear here, as it's not terminal feel free to play it on a little chump that's about to serve as claim soak to trigger Melisandre !
• Milk of the Poppy : As we are not playing any Character hate here, we must find something ! Milk makes it quite well.
• Stinking Drunk : A must ! With any kneeling effect it means that attached Character won't be able to annoy you during two turns ! Verry good and efficient cheap card !

Let's go for Characters :

• Small Chud/Claim soakers : Bastard in Hiding, Dragonstone Faithful, Ser Davos Seaworth, Shireen Baratheon, all those lads are mostly here to die, or gets sacrificied instead of Gendry for the Bastards ! Davos is verry efficient no matter, his stealth helps a lot as well !

• Toolboxing stuff/Metacalls :

Maester Cressen, Rattleshirt's Raiders Pyromancers (props to Benji and Stukov for Pyro) are all here mostly because of Nw, while giving some more versatility ! Pyromancers were gold for Pontus and I and allows us to win quite easily against classic Nw Wall decks, while allowing us to get's rid of opponents The Iron Throne to keep the dominance for ourselves ! Running both Maester Cressen and Rattleshirt's Raiders gives solution against Nw Wolf deck (as I was not that much in the game lately untill I changed my work (:D), I'm not so used to looks at ThronesDB that much and I missed the Smash'N'Grabb deck, was the only unexpected competitiv deck to me, Gratz on you for this amazing deckbuild Bambi !)

Selyse Baratheon, Ser Barristan Selmy (TS), are their to protect the big guys and #Melisandre (the center piece of the deck) while being respectivly part of the R'hllor package and a Renown. Barristan also allows you to infinite opposition if you get a Lord or Lady on board (beware of Nightmares and Treachery ofc !)

Varys entered in the build Friday night instead of Stannis Baratheon (Core), who I find really weak and that backfire to much for me, and was dedicated to Martells and Nw, while being really good against Stark wich is one of the worst match up ! The extra int Stealth is also pretty good by itself ! Seen In Flames also protect a lot Varys from Nightmares and Treachery when you really want to make it explode !

Gendry and Fiery Followers are part of the dominance package and are really strong no more no less, really worth the slots, even if the bastard gets sacrificed you still can play a second one once you get your The Iron Throne, while the Followers are also part of the R'hllor Package!

• R'hllor package : Melisandre is the key character here (as being the center piece of the deck to me, Fiery Followers, Selyse Baratheon, Lightbringer and Seen In Flames are all their to trigger her while being all potent card, from cool to verry strong !

• Big Guys : Robert Baratheon, the Boss, pretty Straightforward Gameplay, you want to protect him as much as possible for the Renown mostly and for the STRENGHT ! City Watch, so efficient character, you oftenly gets more power on your Faction Card than your opponent in the early game, so they are pretty easy to turn on, surprise 6 Str during the Challenge phase is just so good. Ser Barristan Selmy (TS), good all self standing Renown, infinite mili Opposition Machine, protector of Robert Baratheon and Melisandre, can also be verry potent with Selyse Baratheon on the board against Martell, Old man saves the lady from Venemous Blade, while she protect him from Tyene and Tears.

And last but not least, Locations :

• Economy : Here the special spot is that there is only 8 economy locations. I really think that we are in the moment were we can start playing less economy card and relly on Plots and Agenda so we can have some more spot for effectiv cards. Still not sure if i Shouldn't go for 2 The Roseroad and 2 The Kingsroad, instead of the actual package.

• Dominance package : The Iron Throne and Chamber of the Painted Table, twice each ! They're there so you can stand against Nw and Stark. I've seen a lot of Baratheon players running only 1 of each and even 0. I just don't understand how it can works in the current meta. But Tupaq beats me without the package and won the tournament. And I still don't get it and think that this package is more than worth the slot, it's necessary to perf and makes it to me in the meta.

• Draw : The Red Keep : obvious, one of the best draw in the game, while preventing Greyjoy to go for an easy Unnoposed challenge. The biggest reason to run Baratheon as main IMHO. Shadowblack Lane one of the best draw card for Baratheon, really effectiv and as we play Summer we can afford to use it, allows you to go for Seen In Flames for a R'hllor card for Mel, or for any event wich are all strong. Warning, you won't be able to trigger both In the Name of Your King! and Shadowblack Lane in the same turn, keeps that in mind !

And we're done !

I'll go for a Match up to match up review later on, at least you can have quite a good idea while most question are answered (I guess ^^).

Feel free to comment and critics, it would be more than wellcomed !!

Thanks for reading all this, it's quite long but hopefully complete :) !