Sizzle (KOS & Runner-Up Storming of Starpike - 49 players)

Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
The Beggar Burn 0 0 0 1.0
Inspiration for
None yet.

bored2excess 452

Dragon sight is a proxy for A Dragon is No Slave (https://thronesdb.com/card/06034). Guarding the Realm was legal for the tourney, but is not active for publishing yet.

Here's the deck I piloted to an overall 8-1 record at the Storming of Starpike tourney yesterday in Philly. It was undefeated through swiss rounds for an uncontested King of Swiss title and top Targ on the day. I kept it rolling through the cut till it finally got ground down in the final by Patrick Reynolds (Congrats!). Anyone who checked out the stream on the South Jersey Thrones Youtube channel saw/can see it in action round 3, round 6 and top 4. Thanks to Roy Rogers and Redcap's Corner for all the effort and prize support!

I ended up deciding to run this deck on the drive up, I had mocked it up about a week ago but actually not played it at all until a round or two of testing the night before, and I just couldn't resist the versatility and brutality of all the recent Targ tech starting to gel. Dragon is No Slave makes Blood of the Dragon just alarmingly good, and the new economy just made me wistful for back when Beggar King first came out and leaning into it with Blood had good results for me.

Here's a brief accounting of whatever highlights I can recall, I'll toss a couple overall thoughts on the deck and the meta at the bottom.

Round 1: Tyrell Wolf (Chris Borzumato) - Win

He set up weenie lords and summoned for Tinder Marg, but elected to marshall Brienne with a Lady-In-Waiting instead. I decided not to sit around, set my board, and dropped Blood plot 2, searing the Bran and reducers left. He marshalled Arya and Pavilion, but unfortunately made a couple errors. Attacked with Arya, exploding instantly into my standing Dany, then attacked with Brienne and let my Dany deliver a Drac. Ghosts was not enough to bring him back into it.

Round 2: Martell Crossing (Kikko Arceo) - Win

This was a cautious game where I just steadily pulled away with Targ's efficiency characters, Crown on Doran, and landing the Punishment/Dragon is No Slave combo to drop his Nymeria. A couple of Burning of the Sands' had prevented me from overeroding him previous, but after that it was a cruise to the finish.

Round 3: Targ Wolf (Storm Humbert) - Win

I should have lost this game. We had similar setups, but he had two reducers so when we pinged Harvest off each other he could build more. My board slipped away, but I managed to maneuver both plazas out and a duped doreah (after claim) against his uncovered board. My valar then activated my one Port while bringing his two just shy, and wiped him away. Over the next rounds he dropped a Harrenhal that I had to burn a Dany into, but the Plaza of Pride carried the day with me having much greater efficiency for more challenges on the tiny boards.

Round 4: Martell Fealty (David W) - Win

He accumulated a duped Viper and double-duped Quentyn but I managed to whittle around them on my Blood of the Dragon round to march the Quentyn. I made a super sloppy play on his Gossip & Lies round and let him trigger a totally unnecessary Doran's game. That let him get to 13 power against my dominant board but my denial was too strong for him to close.

Round 5: Tyrell Crossing (Sandy Barnabas) - Win

Blood of the Dragon hit him hard. It seared an arbor knight, I Slaved his core Marge pre-challenge, claim took his... Knight of Flowers? and I marched his Renly. I think I hit all three of his Superior Claims in intrigue claim over the course of the game (it was... superior (badum-che)). He eventually had a Randall laden with a thousand attachments but it was far too late at that point.

Round 6: Lanni Rose (George Hong) - Win

My worst setup of the day, I had to drop a duped Dany and Plaza of Pride against a deck that definitely had Marched. He had Tyrion with a Valyrian Dagger, reducer and RR. I went balls-to-the wall and threw Blood of the Dragon. The boards were wiped, I finagled out a Drogon against his Bodyguarded Randyl. He couldn't attack for fear of Drac, and I won on offense over him to nail the guard. After that he had very little cheap stuff to toss and that small-board low-econ efficiency of Pride shone again as I ground it away.

Top 8: Greyjoy Stag (Todd Moyer) - Win

His deck was based around efficient 4-5 costers without much strength, also known as burn fodder. I didn't have a great draw so it took me a while before I could really turn on the pressure. Taking initiative over him on my Pentoshi versus his Long Winter was the big swing because I dropped a protected Drogo to erode his board badly before he could shoot with stealth for 2-claim challenges.

Top 4: Greyjoy Lion (Jeff Holder) - Win

He set up Tyrion, some manner of chump and econ. Our harvests reflected for a econ-light round; he dropped a dupe and bodyguard on Tyrion and I followed it in with a Crown, giving me instant board advantage. He fought hard but never recovered from that setback.

Final: Lanni Rains (Patrick Reynolds) - Loss

My second worst setup of the day and my redraw left me with no econ, no tech and no beefy characters. I fought as hard as I could with the efficiency middle-class but he drew 9 assorted saves over the course of the game and I could never erode his cautious play. By the time I drew strong characters their coverage was long gone and it was a gradual slaughter that ended plot 8 (first game to go over 6 plots for me on the day).

Random Musings Section:

The only immediate change I want to make to the deck is to drop the Iron Throne for the third Fire and Blood. I tossed cards to reserve a few times on the day, and its steady gain helped me Round 3, but passive was almost nonexistent and the resurrection and reset-dodging is huge in an attrition deck. A Dragon is No Slave is soooo good and I was never sad to see it (and often wished I had) but it's hard to take to 3x. I was never short Beggar King targets. Summer Harvest was everywhere in the meta, I had them bounce off each other no less than 5 times on the day, at least 4 times first round (Riddle showed once and got me, but it was midgame and I was way ahead). Rattleshirts only produced results in the final, but are hard to recommend changing with no Conf in the plotline. Illyrio did nothing all day but is a good tech character at a solid cost slot. Both Plazas are amazing but lightly situational.

I feel like Targaryen is starting to pull out of the pack, I shudder to see what damage Astapor is gonna do. Passingly, I might drop the two NM for two of it when it comes out. Will probably prove to be a techy 1x long-term like the Plazas.

Kudos to everyone out of Games and Stuff, we posted a 26-10 record in swiss, 5 of the top 14, and topped all of the 3 houses we played! A solid day for us fiercely non-competitive-minded players. Sorry I had to dropkick all ya out above the cut. Congrats to Pat for an excellent win in the final.

7 comments

MiSiO 278

I built a similar deck lately (can not publish it yet). My main change was to remove Beggar King as it is not very stable (immediate target for Confiscation) .

I think that the most leathal burn option ATM is Plaza of Punishment + A Dragon is No Slave so I took 3x Plaza.

I like that You removed Confiscationand went for two Rattleshirt's Raiders. did the same thing.

I do not like Doreah in two copies.

I also went not for Trading with the Pentoshi (hate giving gold away) but chose a 2 claim plot to maximise burn+kill pressure.

P.S. Astapor! Grey Worm! - we all can not wait,

MiSiO 278

South Jersey Thrones Youtube - where they were streaming? I can not see a stream recap on their channel. :(

bored2excess 452

@MiSiO www.youtube.com My games start 2:33:40 ish, 6:29:40 ish, and 8:47:00 ish. You too can experience the thrill of throwing Summer Harvest over and over again!

kidohearts 1269

I like a couple of Crow Killers as there are some low reserve plots and thats nice work with Khal

bored2excess 452

@kidohearts They can't hold Beggar King, don't take Targ reducers and are under the First Snow threshold. I can't think of any character under 4 I'd remove for them, especially since 5 reserve is hardly uncommon in the meta currently.

MiSiO 278

@bored2excess Thanks. Found it and watched them all. I also use 2x Summer Harvest - works well. And low economy games are good for Targ if You hit another Harvest too.

kidohearts 1269

@bored2excessI would drop some combo of 1x doreah, 1x jorah, 1x quaithe for just 2 of them. but i can see your argument for the opponents reserve. i feel like most of the time your going to see 6 or more reserve plots. either way, i really like the deck. scary how close it is to one i built. again great job and congratulations