Lucky Sevens: 1st place Disaster at Craster's II 1.0

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Love the list man, great to hear that someone won with Faith Militant. What was the general strategy for the deck? Did you win with a more grinding style or do you feel the deck has some speed to it? Or both?

I'd love to read a writeup on the general strategy of the deck. Looking at the list I can't quite figure it out. From some angles it looks just like a goodstuff deck but from others it looks like there must be a hidden mechanism that I'm missing. While all the same time there are card choices there I would adamantly disagree with (which might be the reason why I never won any tournament :D).

Also how much would you say is the rookery an enabler for the deck and how much is it just a bonus?

Cool deck, and well played! The one card that sticks out to me is Marriage Pact. What's the story there? I'd also appreciate a general theory/strategy discussion if you have the time.

The strategy is a little complicated because the deck is very reactive. The aim is to stall and control your opponent while you steadily gain power with Fat Cat and the agenda. The "Seven" control elements combined with Stark's usual bag of tricks make the win condition very difficult to attack. Most decks I faced at the tournament couldn't find an answer.

Think about it this way: you get Fatty on the table with a dupe or a Body Guard to protect against Valar M. If your opponent does nothing to stop you, she is gaining two power per turn from her reaction, one from Faith Militant, and maybe a couple more from Edmure and Riverrun. Add regular power claim and that's 4-5 power per turn. The rest of the deck is built to support her ability to do just that.

How do you attack her? Military claim? Good luck pushing through Arya, a mountain of chuds, and endless Summer triggers. Intrigue? The deck is super redundant and half the characters are just as useful in the discard pile due to Flea Bottom and Summer. Everything I need is already on the board. Power claim? Cat gets very big very quickly, and even if you manage to win one I'm taking back two. Surely you can manage to direct-kill her somehow? Good luck, I've got Winterfell, Begging Brother, and the High Septon. But what about Milk? Have you met Brother's Robes?

In short, you have a plan to win and several extremely flexible control effects that help you not lose. The obvious follow-up question is what happens when you draw up, play Summons, and you still don't see the Fatty? I was worried about this very question leading up to the tournament, but, as it turns out, the agenda is strong enough without her. I actually didn't see her at all until the third game, and I was surprised by how well the deck performed in her absence.

That's all I've got to say at the moment; if you guys have more specific questions I can go into more details. Happy to talk about tactics too (hint: Breaking Ties is good for Stark.)

Answers to specific questions:

@AlexandertheBAMFIn practice it was more towards the grinding, although if you draw the right combination of cards it can go pretty fast.

@BlaiddDrwgI think you may be underestimating the power of the agenda. It's hard to keep up with it. Which cards would you change specifically? I'm not sure about the Rookery because this is my only tournament experience with the deck so far. I think the greater advantage I gained by playing the deck in Rookery format was that nobody knew what the hell I was doing and they couldn't tech against me as well as I could against them.

@teamjimbyMarriage Pact was money all day. I used it to neutralize their biggest threat (Renly, Balon, Viper) and oftentimes the "downside" of me sacrificing a character was actually a bonus (sending Summer to the discard pile and/or gaining power with Cat.) This deck isn't going to wipe anyone's board, so in most instances Marriage Pact was far superior to Ward.

Any thought to running Ser Dontos Hollard for more FatCat protection?

Thanks for sharing your list!

What was your general strategy for using your Rookery cards? Did you feel like you were able to successfully anticipate your opponents' decks? Are there any major adjustments you would make in retrospect?

@Gerry First of all, what I should have done before - Congratulations! :)

Thank you for the writeup, it helped me understand what's going on. I agree, that I may be undervaluing the agenda. Thinking about it makes me appreciate how niche it actually is.

I was going to say, that the deck could be the same except with Xing and you would get the bonus of Robb's and occasionally Sansa's renown. But then I realised that the extra power from Xing comes in a very different way (Faith Militant also works on defense, wut :-O ) and it would probably warp the playstyle too much.

On the card choices, I would never run Riverrun (kek) knowing that I only have 2 Winterfell. Also unique 2-of characters just seem icky. With Brann it's alright, but Hodor, Septa and most acutely The High Sparrow just make me anxious. Then again, you are the one who won a tournament, so what do I know.

Lastly, did you consider Maester Luwin (at least in rook) and would you switch Summons for Coppers, now that you know the deck can live without Cat?

What do you open with against Martell WTC since they're guaranteed to have Behest/Naval? Wolves, I guess?

Congratulations!! Good to see Stark on top and with the faith militant it's amazing! :-)

The next chapter back will bring us the seven pointest star and the great sept of baelor. Do you see space for them? The attachement could be very nice for rob and economy too. Not sure about the great sept.

I know card slots are tight and I can understand your card choices but why not the song of the seven for more passiv power? And you can steal it from your opponent.

Congrats! Great to see something different win. Can’t wait to test this out with my group. Quick question. What, if anything, would you modify after playing this at Craster’s?

@ssjmonksI tested with Dontos and he is not bad at all, but I eventually cut him because military icons aren't that important to the deck and I usually didn't need the extra saves.

@CyggieWith a few exceptions, I used the Rookery to switch back and forth between my rush module (Edmure and Riverrun) and my anti-flea bottom module (Last Hearth Scouts.) I found it was generally pretty easy to guess based on the house and agenda. High Sparrow was another easy call; he moved in out pretty frequently. I made a few mistakes with Ward, like forgetting that Tris exists and is a pain in the ass. If I could change one thing it would be adding the third Marriage Pact into the rooney. I was never sorry to draw it.

@BlaiddDrwg Riverrun was ok. It didn't rock my world, but I can think of some matches where the extra speed could be pretty important. The extra copies of Septa and the Sparrow are partially in there just to fill out the Seven trait, but they are also pretty useful--the Sparrow definitely saved the day vs Bitterbridge. I wouldn't cut the extra copy of Hodor, though: he is in there to trigger Breaking Ties. You want max triggers for that plot every time and Hodor and Sansa are your value cards there. I have nothing against Luwin, just ran out of space. I would stick with Summons; you can win without Cat but it sure is a lot easier when you see her. Plus Coppers has anti-synergy with The High Sparrow. He isn't always in play, but it would be pretty garbage if he were.

@l33tspaniard I played a game against Martell Wars and I chose to open Summons. He did, in fact, hit me with Naval but it wasn't a big deal. I had Noble Cause and Fallen from Favor coming next, and discarding to reserve doesn't hurt much with Flea Bottom and Summer. I think I managed to play a couple characters anyways, since the curve is so low.

@King Nothing I haven't checked those out yet, but more Seven support can't hurt :) I didn't test with Song, partially because it seems too conditional and partially because I'm not running any events to stick it to my opponents' Handy J. Seems like it might get stuck in your hand, but if you can get it off that's a pretty big power swing. Could be worth trying.

@AndrasThat's tough to say, because if I played the deck without a rookery I would need to make some tough choices. If I was playing in another rookery tournament, I would take out one of the plots for Filthy Accusations. New Arya is scary and I don't have an answer for her.

Thanks for posting this deck! I've been so curious about a formidable Faith Militant deck, and using it to load up Fat Cat was the first thing I thought of, yet couldn't conceive a way to make it work. So well done!

One question, since you're being so gracious in answering the plethora of inquiries, is if and when you used Beyond Reproach, and for what did you sub it out? I would imagine it replaced A Time For Wolves, and it got used if Cat wasn't well protected while generating a ton of ? Thanks again, @Gerry – you are a gentleman and a scholar!

@PatrickNo trouble at all--sharing deck ideas is my favorite part of the game. I included Beyond Reproach because the thought of Cat loaded up with two Milks and a Craven was keeping me up at night. I planned to switch it in for Nights Watch and Martell, the latter because I thought people might bring their Starfall decks. I didn't face any Nights watch, but I did switch the plot in once against Martell Wars. I removed Wildfire Assault, since I wasn't really afraid of them building up a huge board against me. I would never take out Time for Wolves: fetching Summer is far too important to keep chuds on hand to sacrifice and to set up your Breaking Ties turn.

so, how do you sacrifice/kill on demand? I count Fallen from Favor, Marriage Pact, and Wildfire Assault, but I see no Jon Snow (WotN) nor The North Remembers. Am I missing some trigger here? You were mentioned in your description you manage to trigger Cat every turn, so I'm wondering.

Thanks for sharing the deck, great archetype!

(and Breaking Ties, of course)

I just realized I was thinking of Compelled by the Faith instead of Beyond Reproach... #derp But thanks for the answer! I'm going to try this out at my Thrones night tonight!

Fantastic deck ... found the lack of card draw a bit crippling sometimes though

@King Nothing In the next chapter pack, Riverlands Army is also a compelling addition depending on how it works when not roughly translated from French. It's limited to once per phase, but you have a good chance to have characters leave play in the plot or challenge phase. We'll just need to see if the Army will be getting the power or the character who gained the other power.

Character, Stark, Army, House Tully, Non-Loyal,

Cost: 5, STR: 5

Icons: Military, Power

Bestow (3). No attachments.

Reaction: After a House Tully character under your control gains power, discard 1 gold from Riverlands Army for this character to gain 1 power point. (Limit once per phase.)

How important did Robb feel to the deck? I'm asking because in my meta, I'm seeing the plot The King in the North pretty much every game, so including a king character or attachment has become pretty important. Did you see that plot at all, and how did it impact the game? If you had to include a king card, would you go with King Robb, replacing core Robb, or just find a way to include the Wolf King attachment?

@zack Jon was in the Rookery, although I don't think I ever swapped him in. I didn't mean to say you're definitely going to trigger Cat every turn. That being said, you have those five triggers in the plot deck that are all but guaranteed.

@Mormegil No worries, Wyman is coming.

@mwoodard Robb is not as important to the strategy as he generally is in a standard build. I found him useful but I think you could survive without him. I ran into King in the North once; it was uncomfortable but it didn't lose me the game. The problem with King Robb and the Wolf King is that winning military challenges is usually not a priority. Offensively, you aren't likely to put much pressure on their board--defensively, killing one of your guys is often just doing you a favor. Personally, I'd just ignore the plot.

Excellent deck building. Congrats! I love it and just lost against it on Thrones.

@Gerry I see your point, Manderly will bring this deck to another level ... what would you cut for him though (and would you run two or three)?

Hi, deck is awsome, I'm playing it at my league and it's unstopable. It's very slow if you don't see Cat and playing against Martells who have many resets and tricks, but beat them all anyway. My question is will you update deck with new chapter when it comes with The Seven pointed stars attachment (especially good for Rob to get him that renown than and be faster to close the game) and with Great sept of Bealor? If yes, how may of both will you play and replace with what? Many thanks, best regards!

@Mormegil2x Wyman feels right, but I would have to try him out and see. I wouldn't want to mess with the curve unless I was also changing the plot deck, so the cut would have to be a 6 cost character (maybe 5, cuz great hall be great.) Definitely would cut one Robb--I'm on the fence about which other character.

@CurunirLanSeven pointed Star seems good. You can't argue with non-limited econ. Not 100% sure, but I could see taking out the Heart Tree Groves for 3 of them. Great Sept is a tougher sell because it's way more expensive and, while it does have the Seven trait, it doesn't actually interact with the other cards in any meaningful way. My first impression is no, I won't be running it.

@Gerry Hey there I tried to fit the new cards from The Shadow City and March on Winterfell into your deck, I would greatly appreciate your feedback on my changes to the list.

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