Doran's Mind Games - the long awaited revenge of Martell 1.0

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It should read "Summons" instead of "Summoned by the Conclave" obviously.

Awesome write up, gotta try this one! Martell Fealty is my favorite deck type and this looks nice.

I just played against this deck and can confirm with two Tourney Grounds on the board the recycling and re-use of The Prince's Plan was constant. Squaring off against a 10+ strength Nymeria with 2 icons isn't much fun either.

Even if you don't need The Prince's Plan at a moment, but you got spare gold - just get it back to your hand after a lost Int challange. Then there is a good chance, the claim just hits that - but you don't care at all, cause it'll come back anyway. Also that 4 reserve on Retaliation doesn't matter, just discard The Prince's Plan.

Why no Viper?

@siegeszugWhy so many Bodyguard with so little Lords and Ladies worth saving ?

@siegeszugand one more question. How do you find Trystane Martell ? I mean he's good body to be one of, but I cannot find much use of his ability.

@Lohn: Viper is clunky in setup, raw stats are good obviously, but I got Doran and The Princes Plan for STR. Viper's effect is rather meh and most importantly -on attack only-. So he has got his slot in Crossing decks, but not in this. If you want more power gain, then Knights of the Sun are more appealing to me.

@Robs: What do you mean "so little Lords and Ladies worth saving"? This deck is ABOUT them and Dorans effect. I don't think i hate many things more, than the times when my board looks super inviting to my opponents Valar. If you insist you can play only 2x of them and be down to 60 cards, please do that, if you feel it's right, but I like to play this way.

Trystane Martell is arguably the least good / efficient among the Lords and Ladies in this deck. His effect will be helpful only very occasionally, but still he's a 4 for 4 body. So of course card VS card Cersei Lannister (Core) is better most times. But she doesn't have the environment that Trystane Martell comes with: Doran and Arianne, I look at you.

In this deck a 4 for 4 Lord is just what I need and I will much more happily play him, than the crap card that is Harmen Uller and the rather underwhelming Quentyn Martell. Only when the New Viper joins us, I will consider lowering the number of Trystane copies in this deck.

@siegeszugwhat I meant was that none of the Lords or Ladies in this deck apart from Arianne Martell are game changing. And she is not there to stay on the board obviously so no need for Bodyguard here. Myrcella Baratheon is great but her ability is conditional, even though is really strong. Trystane Martell is just a blank 4 for 4 body to me. Decent but just a body. Edric Dayne is really cool but you have to spend additional gold to make him work every single round, and the gold come in really hard at the moment. But hey, Great Hall and Dornish Fiefdoms are just around the corner, so that might change soon.

Before writing this I did take this deck for a spin several times, and it is definitely fun to play but very slow. Even though overpriced by 1 gold, Harmen Uller would give you additional speed with his Renown as well as possibility of chucking those pesky Bastard Daughters into play from time to time. What is good though, thanks to this deck I am finally in love with The Prince's Plan. I was able to make good use of it every single game, and made couple of wins thanks to this event solely. It's bonkers good even though a bit pricey. But those Tourney Grounds came in handy every single time.

The new The Red Viper (OR) will bring some serious firepower to this deck, that's for sure.

Quentyn Martell just doesn't fit the deck, enough said.

@Robsi agree this deck is slow - with the effects being based on number of used plots, that is probably the Martell thing. So a better solution instead of speeding your game up is probably slowing the opponent down. How exactly that is to be done is up for discussion.

@siegeszugyea, you are probably right, it might be better to tailor the deck to slow the opponent down even more and stall the game a bit longer, and wait for good opportunity to make some burst power gains from time to time. The only problem is that once you turn face up that seventh plot you lost all the 'used plots' buffs despite the Ricasso's if he is in play.

But let's try and think what is good to slow the opponents - did you try Maester of Starfall ? He might be good for this purpose. Maester Caleotte is just perfect for this task. The Boneway is always good to make people double consider going all in or defending your challenges. And what about Fortified Position ? Seems like a perfect counter to Renowns on the other side of the table and abilities that give power one way or the other. Too bad it's only one per deck.

@Robs i will try some builds with Caleotte, because he pairs well with the new Viper too. Boneway might find its way into the deck, but not sure yet. I have not thought of Fortified Position yet. It'd be helpful later in the game, when your opponent got more Renown characters on his side, but at that point it also hits you more, provided you saw Doran Martell. Rather than the Starfall-Maester I'd more likely include some Milk of the Poppy, Nightmares or even Quentyn Martell (can also be buffed via Doran or Prince's Plan and then kill just about anyone)

Or instead of all of that why not some Tears of Lys and therefore exclude a Bodyguard and/or one of the neutral locations, because we are limited to 15 neutrals. Bonus: benefits greatly from Maester Caleotte and Nymeria Sand

I think Fortified Position is to be played as 2nd or 3rd plot max. Rush decks are able to win even in 2nd round if the stars alligned properly for them. It is also is not bad of an econ on top of it. Even though you have Doran Martell by that time you are not getting that significant buff and blank chars definitely may hurt your opponent more.

I've played this deck a bit, I've totally missed Milk of the Poppy. If the opponent gets out some big guys with a bodyguard or a save there is no way of dealing with them. (e.g. buffed Balon-core with some +STR or Great Kraken/Raiding longship; same goes for Bara-kneel combo). Another thing I missed utterly is some way to deal with attachments. I got Milk on Doran almost every game as soon as he got out and did not find Rattleshirts raiders with Summons neither. Last but not least, I've missed Close call in every single game in which I lost Doran. If the enemy gets to kill him, there is no way to pull this deck off afterwards. Still I love Martell and I am trying to make this "plot based" Martell work. Still Prince's plan, Vengeance + Tourney grounds is amazing :)

True, I have also made some big changes. 2 MIlks are included now, 2 Nightmares and 3 HJ. Retaliations, Long Plan, Wildfire and Rattleshirts Raiders are out, Close Call and Confiscation are in ... amongst other things

Ive changed it a bit as well to get rid of the dependency on Doran. Added 1x Dawn it gives you the same result as if you had Doran + Lord/Lady. in this case you can get rid of Trystane Martell and get in 2x Tyene Sand and 1x Knight of the Sun for the renown. Ive replaced bodyguards with 2x Attainted (Tyene/Nymeria).You can include 2x Tears of Lys (got rid of some small characters) if Tyene does not show up. So far I achieved board control with Tyene/Nymeria/Attainted almost every game. Ricasso + Dawn + Prince's plan for wins. Doran came in hand only in a single game, where I got him in the 5th round after Valar cleared Tyene/Nymeria. So far very good results and great fun to play. I am really thankful for the inspiration to base the deck around Prince's plan with Tourney grounds! Good luck! :)

"I am really thankful for the inspiration to base the deck around Prince's plan with Tourney grounds! Good luck! :)"

This is exactly what I aimed for, so I am happy about that.