HoD Gates of Winterfell - 2nd Blackwater Bay '16 (87p)

Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
HoD Gates of Winterfell - 1st UK Nationals (107p) 62 47 15 2.0
Kings in the North - Cdn Nats top 16 - Stark Monsters 2 3 3 1.0

Ryan4815 1280

2nd Place at Battle for Blackwater Bay 2016, the UK's annual Road to Stahleck event. This year we had 87 fantastic players from across Europe with the 2.0 joust consisting of 7 rounds and a cut to top 16.

This regional season I have been flicking between Stark Fealty and Lanni/Dragon, making top 8 and top 4 respectively at large events. Going into Blackwater I was feeling pretty bored with the current meta, and hadn't come to a decision on what to play. At midnight before the event, I decided to throw together this slightly more unusual Stark list.

I was inspired by facing a similar deck on OCTGN (props to David Brereton) and the old House of Dreams Gates of Winterfell decks from 1st edition. For those unaware, HoD was an agenda that allowed you to start with a location in play. The old Gates of Winterfell was basically 'Kneel to reveal the top card of your deck, if its a Stark character put it into play' - this gave rise to a 59 character and 1 location deck that just kept flooding the board, able to survive multiple resets.

With 2nd ed we don't yet have said agenda, and we aren't quite at the point where we can put 59 characters in a deck either. However, especially with Stark (thanks to the deluxe box), it is possible to build a deck with 3x of a large number of 'bomb' characters.

At its heart the deck is a rush deck, with power challenges the clear focus. Whilst Fast Eddy, Robb and Blackfish are obvious inclusions, I also added poor forgotten Rodrik and King Robb's Host - both of which were fantastic all day, refilling my hand with ease, ready to flood out again and ensuring that military challenges had power claim (or two on the 3 war plots) built in.

The deck has such a high curve that it needs a plot line up focused on gold. I dropped all events and attachments entirely, meaning that much maligned core set plot, Marching Orders, was feasible. So I run two. And Trading. Gold was never an issue and the 61st card to drop would likely be one of the neutral limited cards.

First Snow barely affects the deck with its high curve and you can generally rebuild your forces quicker than your opponent after a Wildfire (Close Call also helped here). Target Kill is a bit more of an issue, bit the usual Stark denial tools of Catelyn, Winterfell and Bran have you covered.

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Round 1: Win vs Targ/Lion

Round 2: Loss vs Stark/Fealty

Round 3: Loss vs Lanni/Wolf

Round 4: Win vs Lanni/Crossing

Round 5: Win vs Stark/Fealty

Round 6: Win vs Bara/Rose

Round 7: Win vs Martell/Lion

Top 16: Win vs Martell/Lion

Top 8: Win vs Bara/Rose

Top 4: Win vs Stark/Fealty

Final: Loss vs Lanni/Kraken

15 comments

r480 158

Love the name of the deck :) Grats

kennish 206

For a while there I thought 1.0 was now on thronesdb! Congrats and nice deck!

YEEZUS 53

Congrats on your result with this innovative deck. Would you suggest any changes before playing it again?

jaquen 50

First, congratulations for a great result! Your idea is really, really extreme. Just a small comment (not referred at the player): this demonstrate that the game is in a really stale state, and that the orientation is too much in the "drop a cow" direction.

But again, well done mate!

Ryan4815 1280

Thanks all :)

@YEEZUS I'd need to get some more testing in (I only built the deck on the night of the tournament) but first impressions were that it handled every situation pretty well!

However, some more attachment control (likely a 3rd Rattleshirts) would have been useful - in the final if I had been able to remove some early Fishing Nets it would have slowed my opponent considerably (7 of their power was gained from unopposed intrigue challenges).

I'd also like to fit a winter plot into the lineup to help with the Stark mirror, but I don't think it is necessary as Winterfell becomes a lot weaker with the second cycle (once the new agendas drop, at least one copy of Winterfell will be removed).

@jaquen I totally agree. Going into the event I was pretty bored with the state of the game, and thought I'd throw together something that demonstrated (in a general sense) how all that matters in the draw deck are the 'bombs' and/or methods to kill said bombs; and all that matters in the plot deck is the gold value. Now this is not the case 100% of the time, but the majority of tournament winning decks right now could be described as such. I too long for some more interesting cards (and decks) and I hope with the growing card pool we will see a better balance between aggro and control.

taijibear 213

Thanks a mil for putting this up.

Great banter deck, was confusing as hell to play against. Remember my brain actively failing to process King Robb's Host, almost not putting them to the sword, it was so unusual.

Ryan4815 1280

Thanks @taijibear- King Robb's Host was probably the biggest surprise for most people on the day, especially when dropped on a Marching Orders turn - everyone had to read the card twice to double check what it did!

ironlix 1

Great concept! It's the kind of deck which makes and keeps this game fun to play.

CanadianMerc 1

Been trying this out on Octgn, it has been playing really well so far! Having Rodrik attack with 3 uniques then using Rob to stand everybody again for a bunch of card drawn and renown is hilariously enjoyable.

Katogamerguy 1

Do you anticipate any changes with the new chapter pack coming?

Ryan4815 1280

@CanadianMerc - Glad to hear it is performing well for you Rodrik is crucial to spamming out and refilling your hand each turn. The deck is great fun to play!

@Katogamerguy - Robb Stark is too important for the rush that he must stay over the King version. I could see a single copy of Riverrun making the deck at some point, but I think just the interaction with The Blackfish or Riverrun Minstrel (and Eddard Stark effect on Catelyn Stark or Tumblestone Knight) is not enough. I expect we will get more Tully cards this cycle and then it will be worth it.

SadYear 2

It was both a pleasure and a headache, to fight you during Round 5. The higher char. count won you the game I think (with Winterfell +1ing more people).

I'm disappointed I didn't get to see King Robb's Host during our game though. But 2x Marching Orders was surprise enough, hehe.

Do you reckon the upcoming Lannister Deluxe box will allow the same kind of tricks, but for the Lions? (granted, gold was never an issue for them in the first place anyway)

Ryan4815 1280

@SadYearThank you sir, our game was a nice warm up for the complete Stark Fealty headache I would face in the top 4!

I believe so - it looks like the Lannisters are receiving more ways of generating power through characters (Cersei and Jamie spoiled so far) so could offer a similar 'big character rush' build - however, so far all the impact cards we have seen are new version of existing characters - ideally they need some new characters with renown (akin to The Blackfish) to keep splashing down as many characters as possible. With their income, I doubt they would need to run 2xMarching Orders at least!

Eukalyptus 7

Tried this deck and it won twice on plot 3. Exchanged Syrio for Littlefinger though for another Int icon as well as draw should Gates or Rodrik be late. Figured another Mil won't make the difference.

Ryan4815 1280

@Eukalyptus Glad you are having good success with the deck! The extra two instances of Stealth provided by Syrio was more important than the extra military icon (though making Catelyn a tricon is always nice), I understand the reasoning behind adding Littlefinger though.