The Great Builders

Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Night's Watch, Kneel before the Wall 4 2 2 1.0
Shot at the Wall 0 0 0 1.0
The Great Builders 2.0 20 19 4 1.0
Bara/NW (4/16 Winter Kit - Portsmouth, UK) 0 0 3 1.0
Stag'n'Stark 0 0 0 1.0
Baratheon Kneel/Dominance Deck 0 0 0 1.0
TGB 3.0 - Welcome Back to Tier 1 26 18 17 1.0
Baratheon/Watch - 3 Core Set Melee Deck 0 1 0 1.0

Dydra 1494

This deck has been doing amazingly for me. You win through buildings. It's pretty OP because no1 plays Put to the Torch, or more than one. With the rest of your cards you Kneel and Stall the game. It's crazy fun and good at the same time. Definitely a bit different type of deck to play.

37 comments

king_mob 1

I actually think this is going to be a strong archetype, although i agree with your point that it is unsual, the wall is a great card if it has the right support.

Dydra 1494

What I love about the deck is that it compliments some really outside-of-the-box thinking. For example, I could make arguments that some plots like Fortified Position and A Feast for Crows are better than Heads on Spikes in this deck. Even Supporting the Faith could be amazing, because if you have The Iron Throne and your opponent doesn't, this makes it rather impossible for him to compete with you for dominance.

Btw this is the only deck that I play A Feast for Crows in it and it does a lot of work - a fact. :)

Malvolio 2

This is indeed a strong deck. However, I don't find it different or interesting. It's just about sitting back and raking in power out of nowhere, which feels non-interactive and boring. I'm relatively new to this game, and I hope this isn't the archetype that will be running the metagame about. Challenges seem to not matter enough. Imagine Netrunner where running wouldn't be worth it :/

I respect the author of the deck for recognizing powerful cards, don't get me wrong, this is mostly aimed at the design. As if Baratheon Fealty wasn't boring enough to play against.

Dydra 1494

@Malvolio You play Netrunner, 'ay? This is nothing different from Noise decks ;) Would you say that Noise is not fun?

On the topic of boring without challenges, last night I was playing my Martell/Lani deck against a NW Fealty. I was playing "better" plots and was winning initiative so I always chose him to go first(smt that you would want as Martell anyway). I think for 5 out of 6 rounds he iniated no challenges and simply was standing there with his swarm of dudes.

He was like " I'm defending The Wall. No challenges".

Which to me is fucking awesome, because in its own way it's so thematically related to the faction and the books.

We end up on turn 6 with basically 12-to-12 and both of us being able to win. I Could bash with my Viper + Doran + Arianne for gazillion STR against his only INT defender - Jon Snow, but he drew his 3rd Milk and put it on Doran and there was no way for me to amass enough STR to pull Viper and no way to make an unopposed so he kneels The Wall. So in the end he knelt the wall, won domi +3 and won the game.

One of the best games I had so far.

Malvolio 2

I don't see how standing for 5 rounds without challenges is awesome or fun, or how that earns "Power" to anyone in a thematic sense, but to each his own I guess.

BTrain 125

@Malvolio It's thematic in that Baratheon already holds the Iron Throne, and keeping what's theirs is the name of their game. @Dydra, digging the deck my friend - but damn you for bringing Noise into Thrones... ;)

Dydra 1494

Hey, I'm just saying that if we want to make Netrunner comparisons I'm more than happy to ;)

Btw, last night I got Fortified Position played against me by the NW dude and I'd definitely consider the slot in this deck. Blanking out their bombs, while your structures keep bringing up the heat is very viable.

Barnie25 227

I will try to run the deck. It most definitely seems good. But don't you want the Red Keep and The Wall to change numbers for 3 over 2 instead of the opposite, draw is really important and it makes the Wall a strong secondary plan instead of a main one.

Dydra 1494

You can try that out, but just imagine in what situation the deck puts you with Table, Throne and The Wall out.

You either have to make challenges so you kneel The Wall, or I get 2 power. If you kneel your guys to make an unopposed challenge, I get 2 power from Domi and Table.

Pretty fun :D

Gunit 3

I really dig this deck. The combination of Chamber of the Painted Table and The Wall is straight-up filthy. And even if that doesn't work, you still have a strong Baratheon core. I would definitely try to squeeze Longclaw into here somewhere, just to put even more power pressure on your opponent.

Weeks 3

Played with this deck just now. I really like it. All hail Robert!

ingsve 41

Why not run Ours is the Fury? It seems like that would be invalueable in a deck like this to use an already kneeled character to block another challenge or to even win on defence and mess with their math.

Dydra 1494

Ours is the Fury seems like a good idea. Not sure about the availability of the 2 gold during challenge. 1 gold so you kneel an opponent with Seen In Flames is easier to land.

FlabberMcFizzleJerky 27

Could you explain how to pilot this deck? I've tried a couple of times now, and I'm just getting mauled every game. How do you deal with aggressive military decks like Stark or Greyjoy? How do you decide between playing characters you need, and expensive locations you want? Is it okay in your mind to let the opponent get a round or more of unopposed victories as you set up locations? Does Robert stick in your hand for most of the game until/unless you find a kingsroad?

Dydra 1494

Well, have you played a NW deck before? It's very similar ... in fact I created this deck after playing about 10 games of NW/Bara

You play depending on what you draw, but generally you are looking either for a Melli in your opening hand or 2-3 buildings ( Wall, Throne, Painted table , Roseroad w/e ). The point is not to spit out everything on setup and have 0 dudes, just deploy depending on your opponent.

If you get a decent setup don't be afraid to drop turn 1 Building Orders so you fetch your Wall/Keep/Throne , whatever you are missing or Milk of the Poppy so you Milk their early Bomb.

Robert is working fine for me. Between Littlefinger , The Roseroad , The Kingsroad and 3x 4+ gold plots he sees some play. A bit difficult to drop early on, if you are still setuping your buildings, but usually once he comes into play it's game over. They just can't handle all the challenges Math + domi/wall math :)

Maybe I'll record a game or two and post it.

ycombinator 243

@Malvolio: I understand your perspective on this. Many people would not find this style "fun". However, comparably, many people hate playing blue control in MTG, yet many others find it fun. Even though you're "doing nothing". A game is good when it supports many different ways to play, but none of them are completely dominant. If you don't find a style to be fun, you can run the other direction.

@Dydra: No. Noise is not fun. ;-)

Malvolio 2

`@ycombinator I haven't played Magic at competitive level so I can't speak for Blue control. I played a lot of competitive Netrunner however, so I can safely say that Noise offers a different experience (although he is also an excursion into interaction-reducing design area of it's own sort), and before everything, for a significant of their career and certainly out of the core set - for their occasional sillines - Noise decks weren't tier 1, not anywhere close to the power level of Baratheons here, which are straight up the strongest core set faction here. Netrunner also had a blatantly strongest faction (Criminals) out of the core set, but it was the most aggressive one which ran the most and generated the most gameplay. I understand this style of play Apology to Dydra for derailing this discussion into offtopicness but a lot of people have mentioned Noise at this point and I have to point out that it connects with the subject but is nowhere near the same.

Dydra 1494

An Updated list coming soon... :)

Horse625 1

Feast seems like a win-more card. Like if you're doing well enough that you can afford to play a plot that doesn't do anything until dom, then you're already winning. I would think you'd want Summons and Coppers to find Mel early, and Confiscation to answer Milks right away.

Dydra 1494

That's definitely not accurate. Feast is a card that utilizes further on your dominance strategy. Usually you play it the moment you have your Throne out and your opponent doesn't. It's almost guarantee 3 power turn ( 4 if you have painted table) + whatever you can claim during challenges. In the meantime it has 2 gold more than the average for plots which makes it a great early game card by allowing you to setup more and expensive chars.

The bottom line is, you don't need to be winning to have a 3 (4) point turn. You simply need a Throne out.

Old Gods & The New 627

6 gold to play cards doesn't seem like 'doing nothing until Dom'.

I like Feast for Crows, it's an underused plot - you just need other econ options because it's a lousy turn 1 play at 4 reserve.

Dydra 1494

It is basically at 5, because of The Iron Throne and generally speaking you shouldn't play Feast without Throne. :)

LaurenF 29

How do you run Sneak Attack in this deck? A final power challenge to push for the win?

Dydra 1494

@LaurenF not all the time :) Although Sneak Attack is great finisher, it is also incredibly good in decks that want to go second - like NW and Martell. Personally, I like to run 2 of it in almost all of my Martell decks.

To the point of this deck, it's good because generally when you have The Wall you want to be second. It is also one of the few 5 gold plots, so you will have to use it as enabler to marshal Robert, or Stannis etc. etc.

You make the opponent go first, while you have all your chars to oppose and then u slam him for 2 claim, wherever he is open. Pretty solid.

LaurenF 29

Thanks @Dydra! Can't wait to try this deck out!

Dydra 1494

@LaurenF add a Fortified Position as a side deck plot and try it out on place of .... Calm Over Westeros for example or Wildfire Assault ... It's great in this deck.

zarius 163

Strong, it’ll force to include more copies of Put to the Torch in order to win this kind of decks.

afriberg 1

Thanks for sharing. My version runs Here to Serve for the opener. I find really useful to get aemon out to give some breathing room in the early game while I get my locations set up.

Dydra 1494

@afriberg you already have TtB? :) Still some time until I get my hands on it :)

thekingsfury 1

What would you change in this for any cards from TtB?

SoulTsunami 1

” I’m defending The Wall. No challenges”.

Reading this 3 months later. Hilarious.

slevin38 1

Can you sac Veteran Builder to The Red Keep then stand it and do it again for 4 cards? Sorry I’m a bit new to aGoT

Dydra 1494

@thekingsfury there is a 2.0 version, although I’m still yet to get TtB at my local FGS

@SoulTsunami ? :)

@slevin38 No :) The Interrupt comes at the exact time the challenge phase ends.

There is no Action time window ( which you need to use Veteran Builder ) as this happens. Using an action window prior or after challenge phase ends doesn’t matter, either because you would already meet the conditions for the trigger (Keep is standing) or you would have passed the trigger ( dominance action window is next I believe).

I hope this helps

Bestialterata 137

Gonna play Noise banner of the Beanstalk, seems beautiful

Tavoittamaton 19

Why 3x veteran builders? Stand the Wall in case you lose an unopposed challenge? Only other use I see is doubling Dragonstone Port for a turn or countering Lordsport Shipwright

dfaust 60

@Dydra I also put together a bar/night watch deck together. I love the kneeling theme along with winning dominance. the only thing different that i noticed in yours is that i added gendry to my character list. getting up to 5 power a turn without winning any challenges is insane.

Dydra 1494

@dfaust yeah, I've been thinking of making a Bara/ NW deck recently (TGB), but was busy running other crazy stuff. :) Gendry definitely helps a lot and if u put Tobho Mott's Armory it will be even better!