Benjen Stark - you only live twice - 4th out of 15 players S 1.0

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• 1.0

This is a deck I've been working with for a while. It started as a joke after regionals in Autumn 2016. The original idea was to kill Benjen Stark as many times as possible including 3x Benjen Stark, 3x Quentyn Martell and 3x The Watch Has Need and two Wildfire Assaults - hence the name (and yes, I'm the one who said lots cunts name their decks).

It took a lot of refining to make it work. It ended up to be a Boneway deck. I've always liked the card but really haven't been able to make it work. And this deck used to choke in 10-13 power a lot also. But with some refining and play testing to learn to play this deck right I made it work.

Going in to Store Championships in Helsinki I was expecting a lot of Lannister and some Stark since Helsinki meta has players who play these houses regurlarly. So I added third copy of The Hand's Judgment because of Treachery and two Nightmares because of Winterfell and Catelyn Stark (Core) cutting a copy of Burning on the Sand, Milk of the Poppy and Craven. I also changed a copy of Nymeria Sand to Thoren Smallwood to get an alternative way to get power if my The Boneway got Frozen Solid.

Round 1 vs. Juan / Lannister Rains of Castamere

Juan is a newer player in Finland but has improved quickly. The game was quite even most of the way. I didn't find The Boneway early but had The Iron Throne to help me to get power. He made one bigger mistake of duping The Hound but decided to take it back to his hand anyway and discarding one copy and I was able to discard another with His Viper Eyes. Ended up winning in plot 8 something like 15-10. A win, 1-0.

Round 2 vs. Dimitris / Stark Fealty

He started out with Eddard Stark (WotN) and a chud. I think I had The Boneway and some chuds. Luckily I had Milk of the Poppy for his Eddard and he decided to Frozen Solid my Haunted Forest instead of The Boneway. Perharps he expected me to have The Wall as well and wanted to get some unopposed with his Arya Stark (Core). He had Bran Stark almost all the time, so I wasn't able to Nightmares Winterfell but at least he used Bran there and I managed to play Vengeance for Elia a couple of times. Winter Festival was a key to play past Winterfell and get extra power. And luckily he didn't have Catelyn Stark (Core) and other renown in addition to Eddard Stark (WotN). On the other hand I only saw no economy which slowed my game a lot. In the end by plot 7 I managed to lock the game with The Boneway. I attacked with chuds and he couldn't let me do unopposed challenges to get the power and if he defended I could trigger The Boneway. Winterfell worked against him in this sence since all his characters were at least 2 str. A win, 2-0

Round 3 vs. Joonas / Lannister Banner of the Kraken

I heard Joonas is a great player from the First Edition (finishing 6th in Stahleck once) but hasn't played second edition much. He seemed to be bit rusty and didn't know all the cards and timing in second edition but definately knew how to play. He set up Tywin Lannister (Core) and a reducer chud. I set up The Boneway, Maester Aemon and a chud. He managed to get a dupe for his Tywin and started strong adding Theon Greyjoy and Grand Maester Pycelle to the board. I started slow with The Long Plan but milked his Tywin. I used His Viper Eyes to look at his hand full of characters and discarded Tyrion Lannister (Core). Next turn his Confiscated the milk and i Heads on Spiked Victarion Greyjoy. With the gold from turn before I managed to bring Nymeria Sand and a Ranging Party. He played Casterly Rock and Ser Jaime Lannister (Core). I knew the biggest weakness of my deck was intrigue since Martell draw is so bad. Managed to lose only one intrigue challenge thanks to Nymeria Sand. Next turn he milked Nymeria and I played Craven on Tywin. I was planning to Valar Morghulis next turn and save a Ranging Party with Maester Aemon but that plan collapsed because he Treacheried Aemon's save on Raging Party this turn and even though I had The Hand's Judgment he had one of his own. Just couldn't deal with all the big characters, Casterly Rock and the control elements and lost clearly. He drawing the Milk of the Poppy, Treachery and The Hand's Judgment were crucial. A loss, 2-1.

Round 4 vs. Antti / Targaryen Kings of Summer

I had the best setup of the tournament with Maester Caleotte, Veteran Builder, The Boneway and Blood Orange Grove. This was the first game I saw more economy which helped a lot. Antti knew he has to startd aggressively against me with his Bloodrider deck and setup Khal Drogo, Viserys Targaryen (Core) and reducer chud. I had a Milk of the Poppy for Drogo but had to get rid of Viserys first. I started with The Long Plan and played a Bastard Daughter and nothing else. He played Ser Jorah Mormont and Jhogo. I killed Bastard Daughter for military claim and for other mil I had Burning on the Sand. I lost the power challenge, the intrigue and took a power icon from a chud to get unopposed power myself and win dominance. Next turn I played Wildfare to get rid of Viserys Targaryen (Core). He played Mirri Maz Duur and I played Nymeria Sand, Milk of the Poppy on Drogo and Condemned of Mirri. Controlled Mirri with Nymeria, and lost and won some challenges to get The Boneway trigger and some power. He was low on cards so I played Heads on Spikes and was lucky to hit Daenerys Targaryen. That kind of killed Antti's game and I had and answer for everything he had. A win, 3-1. 4/15 after swiss.

First game of the cut vs. Tupaq / Lannister Rains of Castamere

I plaeyd Tupaq in a mirror last weeks store championships with Clansmen decks and lost so I knew what to expect. He's one of the best players in Finland (he has won all Store Championships he has participated this season) and perharps in the World (top 16 in Worlds and Stahleck 2016). The game was going on evenly and I had the The Boneway but didn't find the The Iron Throne. He Treacheried my Arianne twice when I was trying to get Benjen in and ended up killing her with Put to the Sword. Unluckily I playd my Winter Festival against his only summer plot when I was expecting him to play Marched to the Wall. On plot 5 I managed to get a Boneway trigger and win dominance with A Feast for Crows and to get 12 power. I could have killed my Benjen Stark with Bastard Daughter for two claim military challenge and try to end the game with Heads on Spikes but I thought it would be to risky since I thought Tupaq might have maybe one character out of three cards and that would have left him with superior board state. Instead I decided to defend the military and Wildfire my Benjen next plot phase and make his board smaller as well. Plot 6 was my Wildfire Assault against his Counting Coppers and 14-9 power for me. I was sure of getting a victory and played sloppily. I decided to go first which was a huge mistake. The plan was to kneel his board with chud challenges and steal icon with Caleotte. I didn't see the possibility for him to get 6 power and ended up giving him easy renown with Tywin (I had Ghaston Grey so he would not dare to attack). I was trying to get unopposed military but he Harrenhalled (FFH) Ser Amory Lorch. I also made a mistake to make a power challenge with Benjen Stark which left me only intrigue icons with power 14-10 until his challenges. He ambushed Burned Men and gave them power icon with Mountains of the Moon. Then he Hear Me Roared! Tyrion Lannister (LoCR) made a power challenge with Burned men bringing Moon Brothers to the challenge and raised the claim with Tyrion getting unopposed to 13 power against my 12. Then he made unopposed military with Moon Brothers getting to 14 power and got the 6 the Boneway token and killed Benjen Stark to get to 14 power as well. He ended up winning the dominance and the game with one gold before I could trigger The Boneway. Bad play from my part and great play from his part. The Counting Coppers got him the right cards and he was able to jump four characters in the turn. But if I would have gone second I think I would have won. Tupaq won the tournament and kept his undefeated SC streak. A loss.

All and all a great tournament and a fun deck to play with. I never knew I was able to make the cut with this deck but The Boneway is much stronger than people think. Also people seem to think I would run The Wall or a lot of negative attachments and usually when they realise what's going on it's too late. I would make couple of changes. I was about to drop Knights of the Sun for Palace Spearmen to get intrigue icons. I might drop Isle of Ravens to get to 61 cards. I wanted Starfall Cavalry for the mil/int icon combo and draw but I really didn't have gold to play them. I think Littlefinger is much more useful. Thoren Smallwood didn't do anything for me but then again nothing bad happened to my The Boneway. I didn't see Sworn Brother at all and didn't miss him. I could change him to Desert Scavenger or maybe something more effective like Veteran Builder or Obara Sand. Maybe someone will have a go with this deck and tell me what they think. It's first deck I made from scratch and that went this far in a tournament so I'm really happy about it. I have to warn that it takes some practise to play and master it but once you get it, it's super fun (at least for the player playing it). You're welcome to propose some changes but I have done loads of work to balance characters, control elements and power gain. Of course some differences in meta should be considered. The deck is weak against intrigue heavy decks and can have trouble winning against Bara if they get The Iron Throne and Chamber of the Painted Table.