Night's Watch Choke: Liberation of Yunkai Winner 1.0

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• 1.0

Round 1: Super-Bye Having won a qualifier the week before, I got to relax a bit and playtest with Lex who also earned himself a Superbye. I was consistently massacred by Kings of Summer. I knew that I had to dodge him to win the tournament but knowing my luck I was also mentally preparing myself to face him later on.

Round 2: Juancho Saldana w/ Lannister - Wolf Juancho had a horrible setup with just Ilyn Payne on board which I promptly marched to the wall. The choke locked in but his Jamie was racking up power while Tyrion helped him pushed dominance for the most part. I kept the board and his hand in check with Jon Snow. We were at a point where defending wouldn't work but attacking would (since attackers win ties). Plot 4 he successfully defended my 2 claim intrigue challenge (He was hiding a tywin and a put to the sword). Plot 5 he finally marshals a Tywin with Trading with the Pentoshi, I dropped a bunch of stuff on board including Arry. I made an ill-advised block with the unsworn brother instead of Arry and one put to the sword to my Halder later, gives me zero power icons on board. I made another mistake by swinging for intrigue giving him the money necessary to win dominance and the game. This was only my third game with the deck and I knew that I couldn't make those sort of same mistakes if I wanted to take the tournament. 1-1

Round 3: Eli Bitong w/ Greyjoy Fealty Eli had an excellent setup against the choke with Littlefinger, A Roseroad, and a chud. I had a decent setup with a White Tree and a few characters. He opened with Noble Cause and I opened with Wraiths in their Midst making him go first. I hit him with the Tree, Meager Contribution, and the Agenda Choke, he still manages to drop a Euron. I dropped a Varys without using my Kingsroad. At the end of turn, he had only 3 cards in hand and no characters on the board. The choke locked him out from anything meaningful for the next few plots. I even had a milk for the next Euron he eventually marshaled. Eli conceded to the choke after 5 plots. 2-1

Round 4: Kevin Mado w/ Stark Fealty

Kevin started strong out of the gates with Fast Eddard and a chud. He begins to race and even drops a Robb. I milked the Eddard to slow him down. I kept his hand empty and the board small. He kept winning power challenges with Arya. Lighting almost struck twice when he ripped an Arya's gift from a gates trigger to move Eddards milk to Arya bringing him to 14 power to my 1. However, I survived that turn and a marched to the wall sees his Arya and my Yoren go into their respective discard piles. I played the other Yoren I kept in my hand and took his Arya. I kept him from winning any challenges while making sure he has nothing in hand. I finally kill off Robb and had enough "FUNopposed" challenges to take the game. 3-1

Quarter-Finals: Albert Millar w/ Martell - Wolf I knew a lot about the Martell matchup because of my playtesting with Lex. I knew that the lack of fealty economy would matter. I managed to setup a white tree and locked in the choke from the get go with Wraiths. He failed to get any economy until my advantage has snow balled. I kept him from anything big and made sure his hand was always empty. The two claim plots did a lot of work in this game. I didn't know if he had Vengeance but it felt good to not have to think about it given his lack of gold and cards in hand. I eventually built up enough power to win the game at the back of the Iron Throne and a few unopposed challenges. This gave me a boost of confidence in the Martell match-up. I saw Lex was doing well. I had a tinge of fear in me because looking at the brackets we will have the face each other in the finals if we both won the next round and then I saw that my next opponent would be Dan. There's no use in worrying about the Martell match-up if I don't get past him. I set aside my concerns and mentally prepared myself to meet the lions.

Semi-Finals: Dan Cubangay w/ Lannister - Wolf Dan started with Bran, Fast Eddie, and a reducing location. I failed to find a white tree from the Mulligan. The winter choke however was enough to keep his board small and wraiths made him discard down to 3. He drops a Tyrion but I managed to keep his hand empty following a long winter. We were racing once again Eddard was building power that was safe from my 2 claim challenges but I was building a lot of power myself from all the unopposed challenges he had let in. He dropped an Ilyn Payne which wrecked my chud board but that meant he had to march someone of significance to the wall the next plot. He fails to marshal a character soon enough and allowed me to take over.

Finals: Lex Galit w/ Martell Kings of Summer

Finally... The Match that was promised.

Lex wrote my decklist down since I was busy with TO stuff before the tournament and we played a couple of games during our round 1 bye. I can't bank on surprise to help me win the game. He had a poor setup with just Tyene Sandand a Bastard Daughter. I setup White Tree and some chuds. Fatigue got the best of me as I flipped the The Long Winter while announcing Marched to the Wall (I had a Yoren in hand so I wanted to get the Bastards daughter to help with the hand lock). Lex allowed me to flip the March instead and I was able to continue with the original plan. I kept Tyene from winning the intrigue challenge in the first turn and then I milked her in the next. Nymeria Sand joins Tyene shortly after but I managed to drop a full complement of icons all over the place. The choke continued to keep him from dropping anybody of note (I think I managed to discard The Red Viper, Arianne, and Harmen Uller from claim, Waymar Royce, or his Bastard's Daughter). I kept his hand empty to keep him off any tricks. Making sure the only had 3 characters at most. Plot 8 saw me wildfire my board while he played Marched to the wall reducing us both to two characters. I had a healthy hand from Arry and the ravens so I had enough gas to rebuild. Plot 9 he concedes after he realized that he can't oppose intrigue and win power at the same time while I was at 14 power.

I couldn't believe that I beat Lex who ever since he started just a couple of months ago had been on a tear! Playtesting with him really upped my game and the lessons I learned throughout the tournament help me stave off what I believed was the deck's worst match-up.

Notes: Put to the Torch didn't do anything during the entire tournament. It was the first thing I chucked to the Old Forest Hunter or to Reserve. Might change it to nightmares. 3 Halder might be too much, 2 might be the right number but the extra strength from practice blades really helps in a small board situation. The extra reserve from Samwell Tarly and The Iron Throne are really important to the deck given the low reserve of the 2 claim plots as well as the reserve choke from the agenda.