Targ Smolder - 1st Place Dallas Regionals 1.0

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• 1.0

The deck is called Targ Smolder because burning isn't the primary thing on the agenda. What this deck really wants to do is stall until Valar (using burn to clear dupes) and then come in with Counting Coppers and Slaver's Bay Port for massive draw and econ. I didn't really have much time to playtest prior to the tournament, but I was pretty sure this would be better against Stark and Lanni than most Targ decks, but maybe struggle more versus Greyjoy. I didn't think I'd see too much Greyjoy, but there was a lot of banner Kraken, which was a misread of the meta on my part. Against Iron Mines you have to play a lot more aggressive earlier on than you otherwise would. After having played the tournament, I'd probably take out Second Sons and swap in Wildling Scout for more early aggression/weenies who can't end up in the dead pile.

Round 1 vs Tyrell LOTC (Matt Phillips).

Matt crushed me at last year's regionals, so I was nervous about the match up, but Tyrell has been my main house for the past year so I felt like I knew how to beat it. The first three rounds were me stalling and trying to clear dupes and bodyguards, while Matt used two pleasure barges in round 1 and 2 to try to find more dupes and bodyguards. Round 3 I played Battle of the Blackwater, which cleared dupes from Randyll and Brienne, then Dracarys's my own Viserys to get a bodyguard off the Knight of Flowers. He got up to eleven power but had no dupes (and 6 of it was on characters). My valar cleaned everything up and with way more cards and money I won pretty handily after that. 1-0

Round 2 vs Stark Kraken (Dustan Archer).

Dustan has a really detailed write up for his deck up on thronesdb, but it's designed to murder Targ. I got the worst set up I'd ever seen (3 Drac, 2 Second Sons, 1 Jorah, 1 Astapor) and didn't see a dragon until turn 3, at which point he had both Bran and Winterfell and had gotten two Dracarys's for intrigure claim. Wouldn't have mattered anyways, I got smashed. 1-1

Round 3 vs Martell Fealty (Todd from Austin)

I love the Martell Targ match up these days--Martell has a lot of fun options and both sides have great econ and can run Valar, so you get long, brutal, slugfests. I don't remember a whole lot about this one except eventually Plaza of Pride and dragons popping back from the dead pile eventually won out. I had my draw in my plot deck, Todd had it in his play deck and didn't see too much, which helped a lot. 2-1

Round 4 vs Stark Watch (Sam Jones)

Sam set up a Ranging Party, Wall, and Roseroad, and I started out with Drogo, Jorah, and Illyrio's estate. I Marched into Early Summer Feast and went first, popping out a couple of Dragons and Plaza of Pride. Sam played a Marriage Pact on Drogo and Qhorin Halfhand, forgetting that Marriage Pact wouldn't stop me from doing two mil challenges. Qhorin died and I ran away with the game. 3-1

Top 8 vs Baratheon Kraken (Adam Paulson)

Adam set up Davos, the Red Keep, and Iron Mines, to my Drogo + weenies + plaza. My opening Heads on Spikes hit a Milk, and then he played a triple dupes King Stannis. Gotta work on my Spikesing I guess. I managed to knock off a dupe and the iron mines and in round 2 he Valar'd and I played Battle of Blackwater. I had a bunch of weenies in hand and a Fire and Blood so I ran away with it after the wipe.

Top 4 vs Targaryen Kraken (Chris Pottrof)

I had more money, he had more Greyjoy tricks. The first couple rounds went pretty heavily Chris' way: he saw all three Dracarys' and knocked out my own with a Newly Made Lord. I stalled with Valar and Fire and Blood. The major turning point came on plot seven, when I played Annals of Castle Black. This looked like a disaster because he discard pile was 3 Dracarys' and a Fire and Blood and I had 2 Fire and Blood and a Nightmares., but I had two hand's judgments in hand He went to the challenges with 2 gold, I went with 4. I brought two dragons back and cancelled his Fire and Blood and Dracarys. After that the game swung pretty heavily in my favor.

Finals vs Stark Kraken (Dustan Archer)

I got a way better setup this time around, with duped Drogon and Viserys. He didn't see too many characters early, but did see Winterfell and 3 iron mines by turn 2. It became clear pretty quickly I didn't need to play for the Valar and wouldn't be hurt by his, so I went really ham and drew a lot of cards and he couldn't keep up. In particular I was able to Marched his one intrigue icon and discard a few more from his hand while he was playing mil characters to defend vs. Drogo, so tempo and options were always on my side.