Fealty to Pyke

Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
GreyJoy Fealty 0 0 0 1.0
Fealty to Pyke [2.0] 2 0 0 2.0

Darxsen 11

First, Fealty vs Banner.

It's a heated debate over at the cardgamesdb forum with people on both sides feeling very strongly either which way, I still have to get more games in either way but the arguments for fealty seem more and more compelling. Essentially it boils down to the fact that even the strongest Banner cards dilute the inherent Greyjoy synergies, as you need as many Ironborn for Aeron and Throwing Axe and some of your strongest cards such as Risen and Iron Fleet only work on Greyjoy characters anyway.

Now I don't necessarily buy this argument as banner cards can be very strong. It's worth skimping on some Ironborn for powerful cards such as Tyrion out of the Lion, or Melisandre out of the Stag.

Buut Fealty does let you do some pretty cool things just by itself getting reductions on Balon and Euron is huuge. It essentially let's you free up space in your plot deck by not having to play A Noble Cause since you can just play Balon off of any 5 gold plot (which I run 3) without any other reducer or income! Free We Do Not Sow to kill draw locations or get rid of Milk of the Poppy is very nice as well.

Now the argument against Fealty is that since you only really get reductions on these cards and Great Kraken it's not worth running. (Greyjoy is actually on the lower side of loyal cards with 5, and one of them is already 0 cost!) but I think the benefits of not having to run More Economic Plots and the reductions on these key players is enough to make it worth over Banner.

I might want to run Bodyguard to protect Balon and Asha Greyjoy from Tears of Lys if I don't have Little Bird already, but Risen from the Sea should be enough, plus Aeron Damphair should help me out with my dead Ironborns.

The singleton The Kraken's Grasp might not pull it's weight so I'll keep an eye on it. And last Rattleshirt's Raiders is there to deal with Milk of the Poppy on my stealthers that way I can lean on them + We Do Not Sow instead of having to run Confiscation.

Have fun paying the Iron Price!

4 comments

oggeymoggel 21

Hello, fellow greyjoy player here. I like your build and your break down. I also really like reading your perspective on fealty vs banner. I go no agenda because I'm running more neutrals than you are. Getting euron or balon at one less is pretty solid, but I just like my milk and birds and littlefinger so much. Then you have the roads, and you're over limit. Do you find yourself hurting for monies?

DOAisBetter 1

How do you feel about not running milk of the poppy. Honestly feels like you should start every deck off with 3 and then decide on what deck you are playing.

Darxsen 11

@oggeymoggelFair enough. I think if you can make the hard cuts, Greyjoy is one of the houses that can get by without running too many neutrals. Even your mediocre cards are just fine. Getting Balon out without any other money is soo good. Also not having to save a gold for We do Not Sow can catch opponents completely unaware, that might be the biggest draw to cut some neutrals and run Fealty. While the cost reduction in Balon or Great Kraken is 16% or 33%, We Do Not Sow goes down a full 100%! Also worth noting is that having a Fealty build is somewhat futute proofing your deck for any other neat loyal cards that will be released. Give it a shot, free resources are hard to say no to.

Darxsen 11

@DOAisBetter Good Question. I started without it because ideally you just Stealth + Sneak Attack, followed up by Marched to the Wall and Put to the Sword to just kill everything, especially since there aren't other big Military Stealthers (besides Ghost) in the other factions. After getting some more games Milk might make its way in again , especially for Tyrion. Maan that guy stops you in your tracks and lets them do crazy stuff back. So maybe not 3 but I definitely want some back in. So yeah going forward We'll milk the big guys while your military claim slowly adds up just like an Aggro deck should!