Lannister Rains - Runner Up, PA Regional 1.0

• Versiones

2nd place at Mr. Nice Guy's Store Championship on 6-10. As always, it was a great experience and the community continues to be awesome, even if turnouts have dropped a bit recently. Thanks to Mr. nice Guy's for running a good show and providing extra prizes in the form of store credit and a cake - I'll be it was delicious. Congrats to Brad, who piloted the DC Stark/ NW build to a well-deserved win. And thanks to James Booker, who spotted me a bottle of Aquafina to make it through the last game.

I scrapped the Night's Watch/ Rains of Castamere deck I was working on and opted for (read: chickened out with) Lannister Rains on the car ride in from Rochester. On 3 hours sleep it seemed the safer, if unexciting, play for the day.

It's Lannister/ Rains, so there's not too much to delve into strategy-wise. I opted for a little more reaction and little less aggression overall, just as a play style preference. Rattleshirts Raiders, The Hand's Judgment, The Eyrie, and Put to the Torch were concessions to the expected decks, although if I had it to do over again I would have cut one Judgement for another Put to the Torch. The lack of Nightmares never felt like a real problem, but the lack of Targaryen Fealty was probably a factor in that. The Hand's Solar has been a wonderful addition, doing extra work against other Rains decks, and adding an extra level to Gregor and the chuds.

Hindsight changes: -1 Hand's Judgment, Fever Dreams, and Ser Ilyn Payne, +1 Nightmares, Put to the Torch, and Gregor Clegane.

Quick and dirty Top 8 recap:

Top 8 vs. Baratheon/ Fealty. I had dodged friends from home all day, but hit Rochester native Tom in the first elimination game. He had a super-human Robert Baratheon but was light on control effects. Rattleshirt's Raiders helped take care of his Bodyguards and Milks and allowed me to race my renown guys against Bob. Though the power crept up for both of us at about the same rate, his lack of kneeling kept my big Lannister guys in the fight for loads of renown and unopposed power.

Top 4 vs. Martell/ Wolf. An awesome take on the Martell/ Wolf weenie build. The biggest issue here was my choice to run the smaller Cersei as a potential Ward target, and she was nabbed on turn 2. Confiscation and Ghaston Grey saw her end up back in my hand, so she was able to stick around for a while. This was a weird game (some would say unneventful), as Valar, Ghaston, Marched, and claim kept the board reasonably clear. Hitting a few double claims w/ Cersei added up. In the end, Gregor was able to take over with renown and his reaction for enough to pull through. Props to Martell for making Top 4!

Finals vs. DC Stark/ Watch. Having never played against the deck and only having seen it in action a few times, I knew it would be an uphill battle. I also kept a great hand on paper but lacking the tools to get ahead enough early. I ended up one gold shy of an early Rattleshirts after a Counting Coppers and things snowballed a bit from there, with multiple Marraige Pacts, Cravens, and Milks. Once Jon hit the table, the slow power gain I had going became hard to continue with, and though I was able to keep The Wall at bay with Treacheries, Brad kept the pressure on and deservedly won a well-played game.

Thanks to all who attended! Maybe I will see some of you folks again if I make the Massacre at Hardhome!