Defending (Slightly) Differently to Joe - 3-1 Trident 2.0

• Versiones
• 4.0
• 2.0
• 1.0

Hey guys,

Slight update to the deck that I originally derived from Joe's "We Defend the Wall Alone" deck. This time with a few tweaks that I believe help in my local meta.

Plots:

-1 Calling the Banners

It was good, but with so much card draw and Old Forest Hunter I really didn't feel like I needed a stack of extra economy. Also, as a newer player, if I have gold I seem to often try to make the most of it. I'll use a quote from Daye here that I saw on a battle report - "It's better to spread tall than to spread wide" which I think is great advice. I usually try and keep my board really small with this deck, limiting my opponent's resets and forcing them to commit to one challenge rather than smashing them all out. When I have gold I just seem to deploy too much. I know that sounds weird, but I haven't missed it and the analogy makes sense in my head haha.

+1 Building Orders

Follows a game where I drew 44 cards and didn't see the wall. It always fetches something, has a decent gold and a nice reserve value. Really like it now that I've tried it. Cheers for the few that really pushed me to put it into my deck.

-1 Winter Festival

I decided to take this out to make room for...

+1 Fortified Position

A not very frequently used card in my local meta, and one that can really improve your Baratheon matchup and put a halt on renown rush decks. It's often used as an emergency button but can also just be a very decent card in itself, halting economy via blanking out Chud Reducers. In the end, though, it's meant to the Bare matchup.

Characters:

-1 Benjen Stark

Really love this card but I feel like with his ability and his tendency to get Milked I didn't really want to see him in my opening hand. I don't really ever set him up, and really only marshal him if I'm seeing a lot of stealth characters and know that without him I'll start losing challenges unopposed. For that reason, I decided to drop him to a 2x. I felt more comfortable with doing so after I saw the UK national champion's deck list, which also includes Benjen at a 2x.

+1 Ghost

This was a tweak that was made to assist me in my local meta, so take it or leave it as you will. I find that whenever I see Ghost, he does so so much work. He's basically there to make the wall kneel in mirror matches and in games against all factions, usually he makes way to the top of your opponents priority list. I know it's a bit strange seeing an offensive card in a defence deck, but if you go 2nd he's just so incredible. In the mirror Nightmares is either there for Benjen or the Wall, so Ghost is always doing some good stuff.

-1 Littlefinger

While I really like Littlefinger, I needed to drop some neutral characters to fit in more neutral events and locations. Unfortunately Littlefinger was the first to go. I was a little dubious about this due to making the deck more vulnerable to First Snow of Winter, but changed the character line up a touch to try and improve this.

+1 Maester Aemon

Nothing bad to say here. The plot deck lends itself to seeing a copy of Aemon in your opening hand, so I decided to maximise this chance.

-1 Samwell Tarly

Love Sam, but I wanted to make more room for some 4+ cost characters and Sweet Donnell Hill.

+1 Sweet Donnell Hill

This guy is NUTS! He's actually such a super solid character, especially with a practice blade. He basically forces big renown characters to push for power challenges which usually have to be overcommitted due to Halder and Castle Black. Just such a presence on the board and I love him.

+1 Veteran Builder

While waiting for Shadow Tower Mason I'm using these guys but their ability is really handy too. They're a solid body for defending those power challenges that my opponent often has to commit to due to Sweet Donnell Hill.

-2 Yoren

Never really liked seeing him and he was only in there to make up for a relatively low intrigue level.

+1 Will

A very contentious choice I've found, but again, he's there for his stealth, his icon and his ability to get past my opponents defences and kneel out Walls in combo with Ghost. He also forces you to play a little bit on the edge of your seat, so I really like him. Though remember, local meta choice, so give or take as you will! I've found him really decent, though.

I took this deck to one of Sydney's three "Battle of the Trident" events today and managed to go 3-1. Thanks to Joe, Daye and a bunch of other people for occasionally commenting or testing with me!

Attachments:

-1 Longclaw

Needed to go to fit in the Iron Throne!

Locations:

+2 Iron Thrones

I finally got my hands on an additional copy of Iron Throne, so put two of them in my deck. They're really good for Nights Watch and offer even more passive power gain. They also help against the dreaded Baratheon Matchup.

Events:

+2 Nightmares

So I basically went up to 62 cards because of the inclusion of Nightmares. It helps against everything, be it opponents walls or Mirri etc. Just a very good card.

-1 The Watch Has Need

Never really felt I needed it with so much card draw and a relatively reasonable icon spread throughout the deck.

So that puts the deck at 62 cards.

If you read through all that and want to find out how it went at today's Trident event, then keep reading!

1st Round - Targaryen/Summer (Win 15-4)

I feel like this game was really a testament to how good Ghost is. He really became a thorn in my opponents side and due to getting the wall out early my opponent was unable to make the most of plaza of punishment and never managed to kneel the wall. Ghost ended up getting dracarys played against him, but still used his stealth keyword beforehand which enabled me to close out the game.

2nd Round - Lannister/Banner of the Sun (Win 15-5)

This was against the Australian National Champion, so was a very exciting game. I was able to prevent my opponent make the most Tywin via Milk or Craven, and the Banner of the Sun component of his deck was almost useless due to me using Nights Watch. The passive power gain due to the wall was instrumental, and I was able to (between Halder and Castle Black) prevent any Put to the Swords from being played.

3rd Round - Baratheon/Watch (Loss 0-15)

Baratheon is my worst nightmare. Mel, Cressen, Red Keep... Everything bad, not to mention the pilot of the deck being a very good player himself! My opponent managed Mel, the Red Keep and Chamber of the Painted table by 3rd plot and unfortunately I just couldn't handle the pace. Was a very good learning curve though! Cheers to this opponent (Adem) for his constant help in play testing and deck building.

4th Round - Tyrell/Summer (Win 15-6)

This game Sweet Donnell Hill did stacks of work with a Practice Blade on him. I got a really good setup with the Wall out early and, due to my opponent being unable to get past my wall defences, managed to close out the game with passive power gain and the occasional power challenge.

All in all the day was amazing fun, and thanks to all my opponents for a great time!

Let me know what you guys think of the deck and if you would make any changes - I'd be keen to hear them!

For the following chapter pack I'll be cutting out Veteran Builders for Shadow Tower Masons, and -1 Arry for +1 Haunted Forest :)