Valar Proof - European Championship Birmingham Top 8 1.0

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This is the decklist i took to Birmingham and to my own surprise i finished 4th after the swiss with 7 full wins, one modified win and a loss. I won my top 16 match and lost in the top 8.

The basic and simple idea of the deck is to get away from valar better than the opponent. There are 8 cards, that have a save ability (Iron Mines, Risen and Victarion, who is great with plaza of pride, because you can turn him on in one turn) and three cards, that are able to resurrect characters.

After the valar there are many cards that profit from a small board or dead characters in the opponents dead pile, like asha, plaza of pride, the port, magister illyrio, etc.

The plots:

Time of Plenty -Good gold and nothing to worry apart from giving the opponent a card. Counting Coppers - Hand refill to find the economy and the cards for the plaza. Sometimes used it, when i expected valar to find a risen. Barring the Gates - a little tricky, as it turns of the fire and blood for your own dragons, but here to counter Lanni Rains, ghosts of harrenhall, and here to serve. In two games it would have been money but i missed badly (i think these games are on camera). In other games i am not sure whether it made an impact. Also a Winter Plot as i expected a lot of Stark, but i did not see any. Battle of Blackwater - here to get rid of the dupes. Confiscation - Actually here to get rid of bodyguards. Won me a game by discarding a bodyguard of Randyl on the opponents Valar. In some cases you can use it to discard negative attachments on your own characters or a beggar king. Summer-Harvest: Economy plot. A bit tricky as you have to dodge Varys Riddle. Prefer it to Trading as i do not want to give gold to the opponent and a summer plot to counter Winter Festival. Valar-Morghulis- Here to kill the opponents character after you got rid of the dupes and the bodyguards.

Characters:

I think most of the characters are self explaining, so i will only say something about the ones you could argue, why they are here and about some that are not here.

Doreah- i like her, she is cheap, good for setup and can net you a card sometimes and has two icons. She also does not die during the blood of the dragon turn.

Lordsport Shipwright- cheap, good setup, intrigue and can harm some good locations. Can be saved with risen.

Maester Wendamyr- stealth is alwasy nice on power, especially with victarion. Can be saved with risen and is unique for the hall.

Ser Jorah Mormont: really good character, only one because i do not have more room.

Theon Greyjoy: here because of stealth, his ability on a small board could give you five power in a turn with plaza. And he ca be discarded to stand daenerys. do not play him against stark, though.

Locations:

Basically no surprises here i think.

Sea Bitch - can give you a big advantage in some matchups but can be useless in others. So a one off.

Events-

Dracarys needs no explanation.

Fire and Blood and risen play to the theme of the deck.

The Hands Judgement - Here to counter dracarys and force through your own dracarys. Apart from that it should counter Nightmares, or other nasty events from opponents, especially against rush decks.

No Nightmares - hard to play without, but something had to be cut and the idea was to kill the opponents characters with valar. Would be especcially good against rush decks to turn off some of the main characters if they are too fast.

No A Dragon is no slave - works good with dracarys and the plaza of pride and worked very well in some tests but i choose The Hands Judgement instead, because you need a lot of money to make it work.

Attachments:

Crown of Gold- Sometimes wins games by itself. I once crowned an opponents Daenerys on his own blood of the dragon turn, which is nice. Sometimes i just discarded it to stand daenerys.

no Milk as i want the opponents characters to die.

Matchups:

Stark: I think it is a good matchup against stark fealty as they do not have a lot of saves apart from bodyguards and jory cassel. You only have to take care that they do not win before. I also had the Hands Judgement for a healing expertise. But ultimately i cannot say for sure, as i did not play any Starks, although i expected them a lot.

Tyrell: should be problematic if they are very fast and you cannot kill their characters before they win. Another reason for hands judgement to counter their speed cards. Same with tinder marge.

Targaryen: After the tournament i would say i have the edge against fealty as i played them four times and won all, but it was almost always very tense and tight. So perhaps it was only luck. Targ Crossing of course is an auto loss if piloted by the European Champion, otherwise i have a small chance.

Lannister: Rains could be a problem if i do not get enough intrigue icons, to avoid the trigger. But very often a standing dragon and one gold is enough to avoid an intrigue attack with vulnerable characters. Other Lannisters are manageable i think. If they set up an unduped Tywin you should tink about valar.

Greyjoy: I think they are manageable, because they are mostly in Dracarys Range, but i did not meet any.

Baratheon: I think they are also manageable as they do not have a lot of saves. Their locations are worrisome but i did not meet any.

Martell: I did not expect them and think i could handle them as they are burnable and have very few saves. Additionally they are also quite slow. But i am not so sure.

Nights Watch: A bad matchup for me as i am not fast enough and cannot burn them so easily. Also i do not have too much attachment control. The sea bitch helps a lot, of course. All my losses were against Nights Watch.

Tourney Report:

I do not remember a lot so i will only write a few words, but most games are on camera:

Rd 1: James Harrison, Tyrell Crossing:

He played a rush deck with knights and summer plots. I think Round three he could have won the game but used core margery to save his knight of the flowers after i stood my daenerys with plaza to bring him in dracarys range. After that he could not force through a power challenge with enough strength to win it with renown, agenda and superior claim. So he passed and i could win it this round with renown on daenerys and khal drogo.

Rd 2: Michael Bone Lanni Dragon:

He had Gregor Clegane, who pillaged a lot but did not hit anything apart from Rhaegal with no other three coster in play. He also had a very nice play putting my daenerys to the sword and playing treachery on my iron mines, killing her. But he had almost no power icons so i could get ahead in power decisively and finish the game. I think i even returned Rhaegal with fire and blood for the win.

Rd 3: Adrian Barnes NW Fealty:

Actually a matchup i feared a lot, but he just could not get a lot of characters out (if i remember correctly) and i could lend me his wall for a turn so i could win before the lockdown was there.

Rd 4: Alasdair Mc Tavish, Targ Fealty:

Tight game, went to time and i probably made a mistake as i thought i lost a power challenge although i won it (because of a standig daenerys) and borrowed his plaza of punishment to protect my doreah but could have killed his viserion instead. i think it is on camera so i can check again. Really tight game.

Rd 5: Kathryn Marshall, Targ Fealty:

Was a very tight game. Kathryn all out attacked with Khal Drogo and double claim early and i was holding on to dear life, forcing me to valar early, but she had a better board state throughout. I managed to kill her daenerys with fire and blood and dracarys in her blood of my dragon turn. but she came right back with ghosts as i did not read it right and did not play barring the gates. She went for the win in round 6 but i could stop her at 14 power with another dracarys on daenerys. Round 7 she had to valar which left me with daenerys and victarion and her with no one left. Additionally her daenerys was not on the top of her dead pile and i could turn it around. I hope this is on camera, as it was a good game if i remember correctly.

Rd 6: Gihan Bandaranaike, Tyrell Fealty:

I do not remember a lot of this game, only that he used his summer harvest on my counting coppers turn which was annoying for him. I also remember that he drew a ton of cards, but did not find the answers he wanted and he gave up, when i was on 14 power, although his board state was quite good.

Rd 7: Libor Schwarz, Tyrell Wolf:

He had a bad setup with alerie and someone else. I could attack with asha and Khal Drogo if i remember correctly. I think in turn three he used valar, when he had a randyl with bodyguard, but i used confiscation to discard the bodyguard and Randly died. So that was it, basically.

Rd 8: Even Sorgjerd, Targ Fealty:

Do not remember much apart from the fact, that it was super tight, modified win.

Rd 9: Gabriel Ranner, NW Crossing:

Was a non Contest. Was over after about 15 mins and i had no chance. At least we had a longer lunch break and a fellow Austrian was king of Swiss.

Top 16: Even Sorgjerd, Targ Fealty, Rematch:

Was not so tight this time as i think Even had not shuffled his deck enough after the deck check and therefore had only a few characters. I think he played Blood of the Dragon Turn 3 and played Daenerys. I crowned her and that was the game basically.

Top 8: Jakob Bentsen, NW Fealty:

He set up no characters but the wall, Castle Black and abandoned stronghold. I had Victarion, reducer, plaza and Roseroad i think. I could attack twice with victarion to save him next turn of the valar. I also was able to get some power but had no intrigue icon until round 6, which hurt a lot as i used a dracarys to burn one of his reducers (which was debatable). I made a few mistakes and think i could have won if i had played better but in the end he was able to overtake me after time was called.

I want to thank all my opponents, all of you were lovely and it was a pleasure to play with you. Of course i also want to thank the organisation and the judges who were fantastic. I plan to come again next year.

At last i want to congratulate the new European Champion, who absolutely deserved to win and showed no nerves after playing with his back to the wall after round 5 and went on a tear to win all the remaining games. Others would have dropped or crumbled. I also want to congratulate the King of Swiss and fellow Austrian Gabi, for his fantastic showing.