Wallgreens: Baltimore SC winner

Card draw simulator
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Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
None yet.

taijibear 213

This is the deck I won the Baltimore store championship with.

Idea of the deck got sparked off Chris Schoenthal journeying to the land of Facespace from the wonders of Thrones WAR and explaining to the eager masses that Arbor + NW cards = you will get tired of winning (not sure if I remember the quote right).

Brainstormed on the deck with one of my testing buddies back home, and when it seemed functional, submitted it to the mighty Wamma for inspection. He had the great idea of adding Renly's Pavilion, which was a great move, even if I am not certain that the Milk was the right thing to take out for it.

Tournament was 4 rounds, cut to Top 4. Was lucky to get a lift out, and we made it just in time for the event. On arrival was immediately greeted by the sight of Seth and Patrick: two DC area behemoths, both of whom had already beaten me in finals of two prior local SCs, so... would be an uphill battle. Field was heavy on Lannister, which I am somewhat ok with thanks to having learned from the mighty Tamás Albeck, but the big boys switched to running Rains, which I was less enthused to face.

Round 1 was against Stark Fealty.

We both had decent openings. I made a small mistake with neglecting to account for Arya's Gift, which got The Blacks]fish to 2 power quickly with the Riverrun boost. My Valar window closed quickly as Jory and some dupes came down, and I got pushed way back by an unexpected First Snow (Stark run this now?). My location base kept escalating nicely, and I even managed to survive Wardens of the North with Stark on 12 power, but then Luke threw out a Wildfire and cashed in all the Stark children to gain Big Momma Stark the 3 power to finish it out. 0-1

Round 2 was against Stark Lord of the Crossing.

My opponent got a less explosive start, with opening Summons fetching 4-drop Cat, but him now seeing any of the 6+ lads. Crossing agenda was not at all helpful as Haunted Forest and Renly's Pavilion came down to essentially let me work on just defending 2 challenges, and without pressure from Renown characters the game got closed out quickly. 1-1

Round 3 against Lannister banner of the Kraken.

Tywin and Tyrion were down early against the Arbor on the other side, so money for days for everybody. I jumped out ahead quickly with the Wall pulling in some big-boy power, but the pieces on my opponent's side were coming together, with a duped Tyrion, two Roseroads, Iron Mines, Tywin, duped Tyrion, and Cravened Asha against Qorin, Renly with 2 power, Marge, and a bunch of locations, sitting on 9-10 power total, but with few cards in hand. This brought me to a really tough decision. Getting Valared here would put me in a really bad spot, a treachery or so away from being shut down. However he couldn't afford to give me a turn with the board as is, as with two Renown characters and Winter Festival yet to be played, I could just close it out. So, with a heavy heart I committed to a Valar of my own to at least avoid being battered by Tywin. Turned out my opponent wasn't running Valar, but... he flipped Riddle for the same net result. A misplay against Highgarden, letting me still get the Wall trigger while I rebuilt let me out. 2-1

Round 4 against Lannister Rains

So this is kind of a funny matchup. Got to have my win-and-in match against Patrick, who is a great local player and had just beaten me in a tight timed win at the DC store champs the week prior, him playing Lannister Kraken against Lannister Rains, and we were discussing how Rains is likely a stronger match against Night's Watch. Pat's deck was quite different though with the ever-terrifying Mountain. Duped Tyrion got Milked turn 1, but Tywin, got the board set up nicely as the Turn 1 play. I had both Arbor and Wall on setup after a mulligan, and had to give some serious thought to a turn 2 Valar after a massive military challenge took out Aemon and the Wall with a Put to the Sword -> Treachery -> Put to the Torch flurry. Eventually chickened out of it, only to see Pat flip Counting Coppers, and get set up. This followed up with a dupe on Tywin to close my Valar window, and a Harrenhal ->Mountain -> Ghosts sequence. Much Mountain and Jaime shenanigans however left a bit of a power hole that Stark exploited so heavily during last year's Regionals season. His board built up towards a seeming inevitability, but I could grab power much faster. Time got called on my Winter Festival turn, and while Pat managed to get keep me off the 15, I still took the timed win. 3-1

Top 4 was neat with having 4 different factions represent with "Tyrell", Baratheon, Greyjoy, and Lannister all making the cut.

I got to face Baratheon Fealty, which felt like a seriously up-hill matchup.

He got hit by a dodgy mulligan, which forced Cressen to come down in setup. That got him Milked in short order, and allowed me to Craven the Lightbringer-wielding, Bodyguarded Mega-Stannis. This possibly frustrated my opponent, as he Valared to clear my board, while keeping his Stannis, and tried to go heavy on dominance with Table & Chair, but Qorin came out of Renly's Pavilion to murder Stannis in military claim, leaving him with an empty board and the game was pretty much over there, as the Bridge of Skulls was ripping his hand apart.

Final vs Greyjoy Stag

My all-location setup resulted in a Fallen From Favour turn 1, which my opponent Riddled to lose his Wendamyr. With no Iron Mines on setup, I gambled on an early Valar, which got Victarion and a Shipwright. Euron eventually built up to a Seal of the Hand, but I mostly got my unique locations down before he could pillage them (though he did vex me with a pilfered Renly's Pavilion). Haunted Forest and Highgarden created the impossible combat maths that the deck is so good at, keeping me steadily in front. Unfortunately for my opponent his saves didn't show up until after he had to play his Valar on Turn 7, which took Asha and Euron to Victarion's watery grave, closing out the game.


Overall, I am not sold on Fallen as the 7th plot. I've brainstormed using Forgotten Plans or even Game of Thrones in there, but a money plot is certainly useful, and the cost is not unbearable, especially if it's played Turn 1 with an all-location setup. Renly is hard to afford, but so so nice to have. So not sure he is right, but I'll personally keep him for now. Varys is a great fit for a deck like this, but there is far too much Treachery and Nightmares at the moment, so did not try to get a space for him. Some may get put off by feeling that the deck has no tricks, but you'd be amazed at the mileage you can get from Training Blade, Edd, Thorne, and simply the many options for the order in which you can choose to activate your plethora of locations. Bridge of Skulls totally can, and probably should be Shadow Tower, but I wanted to see how well it can trap people into having to throw challenges they may not be ready for.

Fun deck, which I got to play in the great setting of Games and Stuff in Baltimore, so I am very thankful for everyone who ran the tournament and people who contributed to making the deck (including unwittingly in mentioning a deck not entirely unlike this one). And, I guess if you actually read this far somehow, I am thankful for your interest, and hope you have fun if you choose to try a deck like this.

3 comments

SonOfBattles1 436

Dodgy Mulligan indeed. Next time some Confiscation will be coming your way :) Congrats on the Win and feedback sir!

zack 126

Thanks for sharing the decklist, I'm loving it!

As I agree that a Varys would be helpful (and as in my meta there aren't that many Treachery around (Nightmares yes, of course, but they're less of a reason to leave Varys out, in my opinion), I'm trying to fit him in.

What would you remove for it? Maybe going down from 3x Qhorin Halfhand to 2x?

taijibear 213

Thanks, guys!

If I were trying to squeeze in Varys, I'd probably try dropping Thoren and Renly for 2 copies.