Kneel, dear brother (Top 32 at Worlds, 3rd best Tyrell)

Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
None yet.

tonythetiger891 55

This deck worked really well for me at World's until I met my brother when we were both 4-2 (Need 6-2 to make top 16). As Tyrell, I noticed quite a while ago that I am usually made to go first as my opponent it is usually a disadvantage (unless they are greyjoy). I came up with an Intimidate centered deck that got around this. I also almost got to the final table in Melee with only 4 edits, ended up getting best in faction there before the cut.

The main things that make this work: King Renly's Host - this was a meta call that there would be a lack of winter and abundance of summer. My only regret is not running 3x. These guys wrecked all day when they were on the board.

Lord Renly's Ride - Great with Randyll. Great after a Valar. Great if I go first in general as I will usually get a big unopposed in a challenge in the first round like power, as they don't have any. Stand the person back up and double intimidate.

Support of the People - the "61st" card of the deck. However, it is so flexible in this deck that running it as the 61st card allowed me to grab the Pavillion or Honeywine (with an instant trigger woohoo)on demand. The draw was good so I was never sad to see it.

Flea Bottom + Olenna's Informant + Second Sons + Crown + Plaza of Pride - Discarding an Olenna's informant to stand randyll or Renly's host and then jumping in an informant opened up a ton of possibilities for rushing for power. Most of my games went to time mainly because my opponent had no power on their faction to take.

Plaza - Just so good with all the Tyrell card draw.

Strategy: Let them make you go first and kneel out their key characters. If you go second, don't worry, unopposed power is good, honeywine is easier to trigger as is support, also, plaza olenna's informant's to stand characters that have knelt to defend and flea bottom the informant's in. You want to tempt a valar early so you can rebuild with Renly and/or Randyll unless you have dupes and bodyguards. Mirri helps to trigger that Valar, and in fear they will valar KRH because of how big he is. I run 1x of KoF, Brienne, Garlan, and Illyrio in order to make tempting targets.

Tournament report:

Game 1: Nate, Targ Fealty (W 1-0)

Standard burn you to death deck with Astapor. I managed to kneel him out with all 3 of my renly's rides. It went to time but I was 14-0 at the end for him to concede. It was hard for him as I saw my HJ's also. Nice guy but just the perfect draw for me.

Game 2: Nicolo, Lannister Crossing (L 1-1)

I knew Nicolo was the Italian champ going into this. I open Varys's Riddle. He opens trading. Ugh. He sets up Duped Tywin and duped Tyrion and another chud to have about 6 characters out turn 1. It's pretty much game right then and there. I make a mistake and basically throw away a Renly's Ride as I only win by one with nobody in the dead pile. Not the game you want to make a mistake like that. He hits double superior claim on me and rushes to victory before I can even have a chance to set up. I also drew a hand's judgement on insight immediately after a superior claim to put some salt on the wound. I managed to drag this out to 3 or 4 rounds somehow. Nicolo is a nice guy. We both made mistakes we forgave each other with quick rewinds. Happy to see him do well, disappointed he didn't take it all.

Game 3: Jason, Night's Watch Wolf (L 1-2)

Standard blow up your board, steal your gold, steal your stuff deck. I managed to hang in there for quite a while before a Mutiny cleared my board for about the third time. He saw everything he needed to see. Going in I knew this archetype was a weakness to my deck but I'm happy with how well I played. To go through though, I knew I needed to win out.

Game 4: Amber, Targaryen Watch (W 2-2)

She didn't have any gold or fealty for the first two rounds so I attacked Amber's hand to keep her hand size down in a purposeful effort to limit the Drac possibilities and potential cravens. I'm assuming she was running catapult but never saw it. She got a crown of gold out on my Randyll but I won it before it went to the next round before she could play blood of the dragon. Intimidate worked well to kneel out her dragons also.

Game 5: Brian, Night's Watch Summer (W3-2)

I saw the summer agenda and my King Renly's Host jumped for joy. Brian was playing a builders deck which I've had practice against in the past... sometimes failed practice. His search functions were insane and he must have searched the top 10 cards about 5 or 6 times. He got the wall out a little later than he liked and with intimidate I was able to kneel out some key defenders to sneak an unopposed through. Boards got really wide but I was able to protect myself well with dupes. Brian played well and didn't make any mistakes but it just wasn't in the cards for him.

Game 6: Leem, Greyjoy Rains (W 4-2)

Finally I go up against one of this tournaments trademark decks. Greyjoy Rains, Wonder Woman, and Hyper Viper were everywhere. Leem came all the way from South Korea and was a super cool dude. I've played a lot of Greyjoy and had a feeling about this matchup so I opened Varys's Riddle to his Summer Harvest. Apparently my girlfriend played Leem and did the same thing (no scouting, I swear!). I had out a duped Mirri and duped King Renly's host round 1. He had Asha out with a little bird and dupes and some other small characters. I knelt Asha and ended up killing a Fishmonger with Mirri... I know, awful, but he had no power to take and I had a feeling that he had a save in hand and I didn't want to make Asha stronger to get that 5 strength intrigue with the +1 from risen. And he ws hurting for econ already. He ended up getting Vic out and I tried killing him about 3 times to no avail (he did have that save + an iron mines). I kept pressure up and forced his characters to kneel until he conceded. It was tough after the opening plots and draw I had. It was my favorite match of the day though and it made me get into the cut at 4-2.

THE CUT: Shane, my brother, and I had stayed up talking strategy about dealing with hyper viper's, Braatz's direwolf deck, and Nicolo's rush deck. What we didn't count on? Each other.

Game 7: Shane, Greyjoy Rain's (L 4-3)

We were both pissed at the matchup. FFG should wait til knockout rounds to match up locals, not swiss. Chris and Alejandro (SoCal players) ended up playing each other also. I joked with the judge that we should switch except I wasn't really joking. This game was over from the start. He set up a duped King Balon and Great Hall because he knew I wasn't running marched. I had a poor draw and only found paxter and marg with bodyguards. I Varys's Riddle to nothing. He gets out Euron and Victarion and Iron Mines. Beats the hell out of me. I got rid of the iron mines and saw the opportunity to valar a Euron and potentially Victarion. He flips confiscation and takes the bodyguard off Marg. Rookie mistake on my part. We played it out but it was over from there. I'm happy he blew me out of it rather than it being close though. I told him that he better win the next game or I'd kill him. Brotherly love. (We rematched when we got back to Vegas and I won... it was bittersweet)

Game 8: Pablo, Martell Rose (W 5-3) I thought this was Hyper Viper but I was wrong. It was event heavy with lots of passive power gain. Even had the High Septon and the Varys/Giants combo. I ended up getting all the stand tech out with a duped randyll. I was able to rush to victory with the Honeywine, renown, and unopposed challenges. Interesting deck build from Pablo though.

And with that, I saw my brother go to top 8. Happy for him and to have Vegas represent. Changes... +1 King Renly's Host Did work all day. Best meta call I made.

+1 Mirri Changes the way opponents play. Good spot kill. Forces them to kneel out and with Renly's Ride, Marg, Pavillion, Qiya, she just works well with the kneel them out philosophy of the deck.

-1 Begging Brother Didn't have the gold when I had him and when I did I didn't need him. Good for hyper viper, that's about it on the day.

-1 Illyrio Fodder for the Plaza mostly. Just had better options every time I had him in hand.

MVPs: King Renly's Host, Randyll, Renly, Plaza, Arbor, Flea Bottom, Olenna's Informant, Support of the people

Great experience overall at World's and I hope to see everyone again next year!

2 comments

nodtrio16 1

Lol I am Leem! That Riddle still haunting me!! It was nice to play with you!

tonythetiger891 55

@nodtrio16it was good to play with you too! Hope to see you again at another tournament in the future!