Indy Regional Top 8

Card draw simulator
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chumbert 358

I took this to the Indianapolis regional on 7/15. Been working on it for a while, and with the recent influx of (finally) great Martell cards, I feel they're in a great spot. The focus is on board control. Ideally, you set up/play out a couple/few 4 cost characters early and flip The First Snow of Winter, then control the board from there with various tricks. You also like to re-play a lot of your under-4 cost characters, so it's a win-win.

But if they are ready for that, you still have Ghaston Grey, Tears of Lys, and Vengeance for Elia. Not to mention my favorite underrated card, Southron Messenger.

Foggy tournament report to follow, but first a few thoughts on specific cards:

Secret Schemes:

Probably would add a second one. I was never sad to see it, even on turn 2 or 3. Newsflash: draw is good.

Orphan of the Greenblood:

The utility here is nigh endless. Plop her on the board when you already have Areo Hotah or Southron Messenger in play with Arianne Martell and your opponent can be paralyzed. Attchment control for those filthy milks on Nymeria in a pinch. Saving from Valar or Varys. Also, re-using Greenblood Trader is fun. Again, draw is good.

Rattleshirt's Raiders:

No Confiscation means I like these guys. Plus, they cost 4, and Bodyguard is everywhere, making a lot of these challenges basically 2 claim.

Venomous Blade:

My other favorite card. Chud clear is great, and putting Arianne/Nym/Knights of the Sun at 5 strength puts them out of auto-burn range. Put it on a chud, March, rinse and repeat.

Political Disaster:

Amazing late game against NW or Greyjoy. Also great for wiping out econ - if you have 2 Dornish Fiefdoms you're set. It makes your opponent choose between stuff like plaza of pride and econ while you aren't keeping Ghaston on the board anyway.

Tears of Lys

It's a pretty good event card that kills lots of characters in this game.

Icon Attachments:

Martell doesn't win by attacking for 10 strength. We prefer to poke though with 2 or 3. This helps that, gives me fewer challenges to defend, and enables big, swingy Southron Messenger plays.

Tournament Report

Round 1: Matt, Tyrell banner of the Lion

He got out Randy and Brienne, both bodyguarded. I had Ghaston on setup, so I was immediately putting the breaks on any rush. I'm foggy on the details now, but he made a couple mistakes and I was able to Tears and Rattleshirts away the bodyguards for a solid Valar. Renly made it on the board at some point, but I was controlling it by turn 3 and after he forgot my first snow was flipped and marshalled the hound he scooped.

Round 2: Marc, Lannister Rains of Castamere

I've played Marc several times, and it's always a grind. This was no different. He had a really rough mulligan, setting up only Great Hall. I set up double Palace Spearman and roseroad. I figured he'd flip Summer Harvest, so I tried to go for the choke and opened with Varys's Riddle. He Marched instead, so we were back to even. That's what you get for throwing a haymaker against a good player, I guess. Lots of back and forth with a great "The Last of the Giants" into Jaqen for a Castamere trigger, then using Ghosts of Harrenhal to get him back to just my Arys on turn 4 or 5. We went 13 plots, and on plot 13 I flipped Time of Plenty. The 3rd card I drew was Secret Schemes, which allowed me to draw 5 more cards, including a key Attainted for his Tywin and a Knights of the Sun to shore up the game with renown. Ended 15-13, and the most fun game I've played in a while.

Round 3: Sean, Targaryen Fealty

I was nervous about this matchup, since Targ is always a weak point for Martell (who wants characters over 4 strength, anyway?). He set up Drogo, econ and a reducer, I think. I set up some econ, Ghaston and a couple characters. Immediate Imprisoned on Drogo slowed the military onslaught a bit. He burned Caleotte turn 1 to avoid me playing Tears on Drogo, then threw out Belwas with 2 gold on him turn 2 to stop any other tricks. HIs power was creeping up, about 7 to nothing. I Condemned Drogo as well, then I sent an attacking duped Drogon back into his hand with Ghaston on a turn when he had 2 2 claim military challenges. I flipped First Snow to clear his army of chuds but still didn't get through to Drogo. He had no dupes end of turn 4 so I valared turn 5, then flipped Retaliation to close. Most of his characters were dead, and he drew into Astapor but it was too late. Ended something like 15-8.

Round 4: Matt, Baratheon banner of the Kraken

Matt had a pretty good setup but I had a rough one with no econ. That would haunt me all game (no econ seen until plot 5). I played Venomous Blade on a Shipwright. He had Appointed on Asha, so I Attained her and was able to drop Tears turn 2 to put me in control, but I couldn't seem to draw any cheap characters, so my board was still very small. He reset the board and turned the game after playing iron throne and Aeron Damphair (Core) to get Asha back, then going ham with unopposed and appointed. Solid comeback. Loss, something like 15-6.

Round 5: Pete, Greyjoy Lord of the Crossing

Greyjoy LOTC is a great matchup for me and this proved no different. Some key icon removal on King Balon made Pete rightfully scared of the Southron Messenger I was holding all game. I was able to cancel a Risen from the Sea on a Retaliation turn, which let me march of the king. Key point in the game - he had a decent board, and I had 3 military icons to his Esgred and Vic with Seastone Chair. I marshal Varys, and he makes a play I didn't see - a 4 strength power challenge with Vic, meaning I either defend with my only power icon Palace Spearman and give up an unopposed military challenge or I don't defend and he intimidates to get Seastone off anyway. Luckily, I had Vengeance for Elia since turn 1 so I was able to avoid that and pop Varys to control the rest of the game. Win, something like 15-7.

I made it to the cut at 8, and wouldn't you know it, the only other Martell in the cut was king of swiss. I was sad we would have to play round 1, but happy someone would be popping Blades in the semis.

Top 8: A.J., Martel Fealty

He set up roseroad, iron throne, palace spearmen and Greenblood Trader. My first hand was 4 limiteds, 2 econ chuds and a Hand's Judgment. Mulligan led to Roseroad, Ghaston and Desert Scavenger setup. Sigh. It was an uphill battle, but he played a great game and kept pulling characters from my hand, resetting, and winning dominance. It ended on plot 9, something like 15-7.

All in all I was happy with how the deck ran, and I suppose I was due for a bad setup. Happy to see Martell take the whole thing home, and congrats to A.J. on a great run, going undefeated on the weekend.

4 comments

gr1mvengeance 99

Really interesting to see no His Vipers Eyes! That card has been invaluable to me in so many cases. How did you find not running it and favouring Vengeance etc

Amoon 1

I would think playing HJ means he doen't need HVE as badly. Well done piloting Martell to top 8, @chumbert!

chumbert 358

@gr1mvengeance, I love that card too, but I found it to be a dead card against NW, which was already a tough matchup for me. My mentality here is to spend my card slots to address the problems as they hit the board rather than stop them from getting there. Which means Vengeance/tears instead of HVE.

@AmoonThanks! And you are correct. HJ is mainly for drac and nightmares that i would have otherwise stripped with HVE. Also useful against pesky Risens now that GJ is everywhere.

gr1mvengeance 99

@AmoonExcellent point. I guess due to myself not going up against NW that often (I'm a fairly tournament 'lite' player, tending to play within my meta and only done a couple of SC and Regionals) I've always enjoyed HVE but HJ does make sense. I did put HJ when I went in to the last Regional and it was excellent vs Targ etc.