Raining Claims (#4 of swiss in Dockside Brothel Days) 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Hi everybody,

This is the list I played yesterday during the Dockside Brothel Days and took to #4 in Swiss during 7 rounds, going 5-2(Losing only to the #1 and #2 in Swiss). I lost in the top 16 to Petar, who brought Stark Fealty.

The main focus on this deck is to control your opponent's board. This is done via sending people back to hand with the Harrenhal (FFH) and Tower of the Hand combo, more claim with Tyrion Lannister (LoCR), Valar Morghulis, The First Snow of Winter and Marched to the Wall, among the usual rains stuff. The fun thing about this deck is that there is no plot that you can not open with, except maybe Ghosts of Harrenhal or Counting Coppers. During the tournament I openened the game with Valar Morghulis three times, of which onnly one time it came to bite me in the ass. Well, onto the games.

Game #1 vs. Greyjoy Stag (Win) I got Harrenhall and the Tower on turn one, bounced back his big dudes and won in a couple of rounds.

1-0

Game #2 vs. Stark Fealty (Win) I played against Petar whom I later lost to in the top 16. He had the better start with Winterfell stopping my intrigue schemes. On plot two he marshalled a Harrenhal (GoH), after which I used my own Harrenhal (FFH) to jump in my Tywin Lannister (Core). He quickly used his own version after which I flipped Ghosts of Harrenhal to get Tywin Lannister (Core) back on the board. After drawing a dupe for him I Valared to leave his board completely cleared and cruised to the victory.

2-0

Game #3 vs. Stark Fealty (Loss) I played Rebecca, who made it to the top 4 of the tournament, and unfortunately lost. With both The Blackfish and Robb Stark (Core) out, she racked up the power quicker than I could kill/march them all. This is the match that made me regret swapping out my Nightmares for The Hand's Judgment. Between Catelyn Stark (Core) and most of all Winterfell I could not get the combo's working the way I wanted them to. All the bodyguards and dupes on the other side of the table certainly did not help either, as did not seeing Harrenhal (FFH).

2-1

Game #4 vs Tyrell-Rains (Win)

I managed to setup Harrenhal (FFH), Tower of the Hand and a Mountains of the Moon. Sebastiaan had a setup of 3 non-duped characters. I flipped Valar Morghulis into his A Noble Cause/ He won initiative, letting me go first. I kept my 2 gold, doing nothing. He chose to setup Randyll Tarly and a chud. I Harrenhalled Tywin in for the intrigue, changed my plot to get claim and used Tower of the Hand to send back his Randyll. I then ambushed in a Burned Men to finish his chud. After this he was left with an empty board and me having my building combo ready. He could not come back from it.

3-1

Game #5 vs Targ-Fealty (Win)

This game was tough. We kept killing each other's stuff. The only reason I won this game was because I had a Treachery for his House of the Undying and him not havig a The Hand's Judgment. After this, he did not draw into any good characters anymore. I however still had The Hound, which I kept bouncing in with Harrenhal (FFH). Slow game at the end, but won.

4-1

Game #6 vs Greyjoy-Rose (Win)

I managed to setup the famous Harrenhal (FFH) Tower of the Hand combo. This time with a The Roseroad. He setup a The Roseroad, Euron Crow's Eye and a chud. I again flipped Valar Morghulis first turn and kept bouncing his good characters with my Tywin Lannister (Core). Meanwhile I slowly racked up the power with the characters I managed to put on the board. The game still took a fair few rounds, since I could not take any power off his house card.

5-1

Game #7 vs Night's Watch-Fealty (Loss)

This game was vs. Tamás. Yeah, that guy. He went 6-0 up till then and went on to become the champion with only one loss in the entire tournament(He went 2-1 in the best of three of the 1/2 Finals). The first four rounds I managed to get rid off his Maester Aemon (Core), Halder and Samwell Tarly (Core) with the help of extra claim from Tyrion Lannister (LoCR), Trial by Combat and of course Valar Morghulis. My own Tywin, that had survived two Valar's up till then, had racked up 5 power with renown. At this point I managed to get 10 power versus his 8(Benjen Stark is still pretty powerfull). This is where the tides turned. I had to choose between Marching my own Timett Son of Timett with him having an empty board or using Ghosts of Harrenhal to get back my Chella Daughter of Cheyk and his Halder. I chose the latter, which could have been a mistake. He finally got his hands on a Craven for my Tywin and managed to setup a Shadow Tower Mason and some Dragonglass Dagger's on him, making him a tricon with about 10 strength, counting Halder, The Wall, Castle Black and a The Haunted Forest. I could not get past this guy anymore and lost 2 rounds after that. My main mistake was playing The First Snow of Winter too early. I should have kept it for when he had a lot of chuds. But alas, it did not. This was the second game I regretted not having nightmares, but The Hand's Judgment's in my deck. Since plot 4 I was sitting with 3 copies of them in my hand, and a nightmares on The Wall or his Shadow Tower Mason would have helped a lot here. Great game though.

5-2.

Round of 16 vs. Stark - Fealty (Loss)

I beat Petar in the swiss, but I knew that Stark was a bad matchup for me. I was not too sure about this game. I did not see Harrenhal (FFH) this game despite the Counting Coppers or the Building Orders. Petar's Stark deck was too strong this time. I could not get past all his military icons this game. Again, I would have killed for some Nightmares here. Petar played this game really well and I made a couple of small mistakes(forgetting renown on Ser Jaime Lannister (Core)) for example. He even sacrificed his Roose Bolton to make sure his Last Hearth Scouts stayed on the board, which did not help me getting my clansmen on board. He managed to sneak/stealth past my guys with Jojen Reed and Arya Stark (Core) to get the last few power. Hats off to you, Petar.

After playing this tourney there are a couple of changes I would make. I would of course swap out The Hand's Judgment for some Nightmares and the Trial by Combat for some Put to the Sword's.