Bridge of Spies - Winner Champions of Westeros (10-2)

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

Diomedes 3294

I was playing Bitterbridge long before it became good. :-D I even took this Watch (https://thronesdb.com/decklist/view/9426/the-q-team-1.0) to last year's nationals (and went 3-3).

It's a very strong and resilient deck now, so there are many versions around. I still try to surprise by playing both (!) Valars plus Varys. 3x Garlan and 3x Garth are good small characters to keep with Dohaeris. I also heavily focus on maximizing Hightower triggers with 7 ambush guys and 2x Flea Bottom.

I took this to a SC and finished 4/20 losing in the semifinals against Big Cersei Crossing. To be honest, winning with Mace Tyrell + The Hightower just feels cheap. Throw in Oldtown and the passive power gain gets even more ridiculous (see the TOP64, TOP8, and TOP2 games in which I got 10 passive power with just one challenge phase). I don't think I'm gonna play this deck in real life again. I successfully kept playing this deck during the recent online league, though. :-P

Champions of Westeros Report

Round 1: Loss vs. Crossing

I had a great setup with The Hightower and Rose Garden, but his was strong too with 4 weenies and econ. After marshalling turn 1, he had duped Core Loras and guarded Hot Garlan, I marshaled Varys to get rid of his board. Claim 4 (Olenna's Informant and 2x Garlan's ability) cleared my board, though. I had Renly, but his Garlan had a Tourney Lance and Loras the crossing bonus. I played Valar D, then Valar M, but to no avail. He was too fast with Name Day Tourney and the crossing power. Margaery arrived in round 3, who would have helped a lot during the first turn.

Round 2: Win vs. Fealty

Mace was put into play in round 1, I won with 9 power on him, the end. He played a low curve deck plus Craster to take advantage of both Valar I assume. The problem is that even Valar Dohaeris is just a temporary setback for a Bitterbridge deck.

Round 3: Win vs. Summer

He was quickly collecting power in the beginning with Gendry, A Feast for Crows, even Storm's End and White Raven! Big Melisandre and King Stannis got bitterbridged in, The Red Keep let him draw cards, Mace Tyrell got sniped. Valar Dohaeris on round 3 and Ser Loras supported by Renly's Pavilion turned the tide. I could win challenges now stealing his Fickle Bannerman and had Jaqen H'ghar to get rid of his duped 6-power Gendry.

Round 4: Win vs. Rains

This game went to plot 7 because Bitterbridge froze solid on turn 1. But I had The Hightower in setup, so I could slowly build my economy base triggering it twice per round with my ambush guys, later with Flea Bottom. I drew so many cards that only thanks to 2 Valar Dohaeris I didn't deck myself. :-D Valar Morghulis and playing my 2 Informants three times kept me in the game. Nice to know you can win such games without Bitterbridge and Mace Tyrell (1 copy got discarded and the other 2 hid in my bottom 10 cards).

Round 5: Win vs. Rains

Because of this matchup I'm happy to have Valar Dohaeris in my plot deck. I actually didn't need it this time, though. I set up The Hightower, he had econ, Iron Mines and 3 chuds including Little Theon. He opened Late Summer Feast vs. my Time of Plenty spamming the board with Big Asha for free, Big Aeron and annoying Tris Botley. I had duped Renly, a Garden Caretaker, and Ser Garlan with 2 gold plus Flea Bottom. Ambushing Oldtown Informer plus STR boost from Garlan prevented the Rains trigger. Theon's unopposed challenge saw Flea Bottom getting discarded instead of the Hightower, so I could expect Nothing Burns Like The Cold next round. I answered with Trade Routes because I wanted to play Varys. I had just discarded Nightmares for claim the round before, so this seemed to be a good play. He had a huge unduped board, my bitterbridged Mace Tyrell and Renly's Pavilion even let me defend Asha's challenge successfully. I was about to lose Mace to Varys, but defending this challenge was important and his ability is nice to save another character from my own Varys, so this was probably a good play because it also lured him into playing out his hand. The next round (Close Call vs. Counting Coppers with no Bitterbridge trigger) saw me getting ahead in power. He only had The Reader, I made 4 unopposed challenges (Flea Bottom + Olenna's Informant) and The Reader died after the 2nd challenge. I countered his Valar Morghulis with my Valar Dohaeris to "save" Renly and Garth. I had no icon, but a super-duped Margaery. Flea Bottom got discarded again. On his following Trade Routes turn he replayed Big Asha and Tris Botley plus Wildling Scout leaving him with 9 gold. I was looking for some more high-cost characters for Bitterbridge with the 2nd Close Call but without success, so I put Alerie Tyrell into play. I could marshall another Hightower which got discarded again this round and Garth who I had found with Alerie. These two supported by Renly's Pavilion could defend Asha's challenge again. I also marshalled Oldtown which got 2 power this turn. I was at 13 power, so I valared. His last card in hand was Risen from the Sea saving Asha for his Rise of the Kraken turn, but that didn't matter: I exchanged Garth for Mace Tyrell, marshalled(!) a Lady-in-Waiting and removed her from the game to get the 2 remaining power. I was lucky he drew so many events and few big guys, but in that case I would have had Valar Dohaeris.

Round 6: Loss vs. Red Door

Mirrormatch, both with Hightower setup, but he had the far better draw (all 3 Pleasure Barges in the first 3 rounds). I had no big guy in hand in the beginning and that with 2 possible Bitterbridge triggers! He had duped Mace and double-duped Randyll, so even with Varys and Valar Moghulis I couldn't clear the board, just get rid of one with Dohaeris. He kept Mace Tyrell and piled the power up on him.

TOP 64: Win vs. Red Door

Mirrormatch again! After he saw my Bitterbridge he set up Oldtown, clever move! I had a 4 card setup (Reducer, Rose Garden, Flea Bottom, Oldtown) while he had The Arbor. My best character in hand was a Knight of Summer, but I decided to use Bitterbridge anyway thinking of my 2 Valar. Well, he put Mace into play and duped him. :/ If he has the Hightower, I lose. Luckily he doesn't while I exactly get to mine after drawing 7 cards (2 Times of Plenty + 1 Pleasure Barge). He's well ahead with Mace power, but I can dominate next challenge phase with Wardens of the South bridging Randyll Tarly in and standing the Knight of Summer while I also marshal my own Mace Tyrell. My Mace closes the game in the draw phase... I just needed 1 challenge phase to collect 15 power even without claim: 2 Oldtown, 2 Ser Robar Royce, 2 Randyll Tarly, 2 Knight of Summer, 1 unopposed, 6 Mace Tyrell!

TOP 32: Win vs. Red Door

What!? 3rd mirrormatch in a row!!! I had to choose my Red Door location first again, he chose Highgarden. This time the Hightowers only turned up in round 5. Key play was my Valar Morghulis in turn 3 killing Mace Tyrell and Margaery. I had played Valar Dohaeris the turn before to get rid of his King Renly's Host losing a milked Renly Baratheon (FFH). He didn't expect my other Valar, so he played an unduped Margaery. I had put my Mace into play with Bitterbridge, but due to Milk of the Poppy (he played a Milk in each of the first 3 rounds) I kept the 2 dupes in hand. Round 4 I played Close Call and round 5 Trade Routes to close the game.

TOP16: Win vs. Red Door Brandon's Gift

Really tough match against the 3-times and reigning champion. He saw The Wall pretty late, while I had my Hightower in setup. He had few economy in the beginning but a Castle Black Mason, so he could stop my power gain with negative attachments (he played 5 Milk of the Poppy over the course of the game, twice on Mace Tyrell!). I think he made his first power in round 4, I had like 10 power mostly thanks to Oldtown.... but then builders can become impregnable. He drew 6 builders on his Counting Coppers turn with The Watch Has Need followed by 2 Trade Routes, so he was pretty much settled. Contrary to many Bitterbridge decks I run Valar Morghulis, so my plan was to stall the game and play it on turn 6 and 8. I had Varys as another option, but sadly I was 1st player, so he could use Isle of Ravens to shuffle Milk back into his deck and find it with Castle Black Mason. I even lost a challenge on defense due to more than 10 targets for Halder on the board. Showdown on plot 9: I won 15-14, I had 2 cards left in my deck, he had a single card left! Close Call revived Mace Tyrell, after being milked twice he still won me the game claiming the 3 power I was missing. This was tense!

I made several changes mostly due to Hightower Spy, a perfect card for this deck: and ability for Oldtown, check. , cheap ambush, Flea Bottom compatible for Hightower, check. STR boost synergies in a deck with lots of high-cost cards, check. Enter play ability to reuse with Mace Tyrell, check.

Top 8: Win vs Red Door White Tree

White Tree, interesting! After setup and a duped Brandon's Gift...yay, another builder deck! It seems everybody only dares to play NPE decks online, myself included. :P The last 5 games were only Bitterbridge and builder decks - on both sides!!! I started with The Hightower in setup. I had literally everything I needed in my start hand: Flea Bottom, Oldtown, ambush guys and Mace Tyrell. He only found a milk on dominance turn 2, but Mace already had 9 power by the end of my marshalling phase round 3. When I won that round, I had drawn more than half of my deck. Duel on the last round killed my Renly with 2 power, but by using Bitterbridge I put Ser Robar Royce into play immediately triggering his reaction. With Hightower Spy in my discard pile I was sure to guess right with Oldtown to get my last power, so he conceded. Yep, who needs to win challenges with these three cards...

Top 4: Win vs. Rains

Buzz Aldrin streamed the Top 4 matches, you can watch them here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/241608688. Due to other big guys decks like Tyrell Rains I play Valar Dohaeris and this game it was key. My set up Hightower got blown up, but I already had drawn another, lucky me. Varys got bitterbridged in and prevented my opponent from flooding the board. He nightmaresed him in round 1 with a duped Margaery on the board, in round 2 he wildfired with Rains to get a Renly dupe. Well, then I don't use Varys, but play Valar D and keep 3-gold Garlan and King Renly's Host. Tyrell can be a nice matchup because even on my reset turns they provide the summer plot to trigger Bitterbridge (and activate the host). Father and daughter hit the board both with dupes. The Bitterbridge/Hightower/Mace engine was set up drawing 4 cards and gaining 4 power per round, so he conceded.

Final: Win vs. Rains

You can find the recorded game here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/244571969 I played as usual: stalling in the beginning, playing Valar Dohaeris to set him back and then amassing passive power on my closing turn: 1 Robar, 1 dominance, 2 Oldtown, 4 Mace.

2 comments

AlexandertheBAMF 195

Very cool deck. Would you slot any of the new cards from Sands of Dorne in here? The new Hightower Lord perhaps?

Diomedes 3294

Thanks! Leyton Hightower works pretty well with Mace and the Hightower, making it possible to trigger them 7 times per round, every single phase! He's definitely worth a look as a 1x.