"Sweeney's Deck", Regional Winner, Stanton, UK 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

My Own Original Exact Copy of Sweeney's Deck

Well okay, it's not an exact copy of Sweeney's deck. So I'd been playing a lot of Stark lately and I saw Sweeney playing Doggy Rains at Dockside. The man did well and 4-2, just missing out on the cut. The man and I had a bit of a chat, exchanged some words, and we got our decks out and compared them. I recall his was somewhat more impressive than mine, so I decided to make some small modifications that would improve the deck and my subsequent performance.

What does the deck do?

I guess it wins challenges. This is not a Mace deck, you're going to have to get stuck in and do some challenges if you want to win the game. Sorry about that. It does a lot of different things very well but does have some weaknesses. You can go first and control the board with intimidates from Nymeria (FotOG), Grey Wind, and Roaming Wolfpack, you can keep the opponents board small with Bolton Flayer, Arya Stark (TFM), Grey Wind, and you can try to ride your action advantage to victory with Robb Stark (Core) and Northern Armory. We all know that Robb Stark (Core) can provide excellent advantages from his trigger, and there are many ways to trigger it here. They key components here are Rickon Stark, Grey Wind, The North Remembers, and even Bolton Flayer. Flaying your own Winterfell Steward during the The Withering Cold to trigger Robb gets your board stood if you've not found Grey Wind or the North Remembers yet.

Rains

Why Rains? Rains enables a lot of plot trickery that Stark can take advantage of. Whilst Wars to Come is dully efficient and allows for more flexibility, it's not as impactful or explosive as Rains. Stark also have some great tricks to gain the Rains trigger from nowhere. Cards like Nymeria (FotOG), Last Hearth, Lady, Bolton Flayer, and Bran Stark (OR) can create extra opportunities for making it Rain.

Wheels Within Wheels is fantastic here, especially if you manage to trigger Rains with a participating Direwolf on attack. The ability to tutor Taste For Flesh and then trigger it instantly and kill a defending character is great. If the opponent is too scared of the event to declare a defender... that's also great.

Breaking Ties is also useful to put pressure on the opponent, and Varys's Riddle is great to take advantage of any opportunity to snare more cards. Filthy Accusations and Wildfire Assault never got used once in the tournament, although I think Wildfire can be a useful plot if you can trigger it, Robb Stark (Core) and Taste For Flesh, and then lead on to a military challenge. Filthy Accusations shouldn't even be here, it was supposed to be Power Behind the Throne but for some reason I forgot to make that change.

Plots

The plots pick themselves really. A Time For Wolves is great to go fetch Summer (Core) to rebuild your board after a reset, or to get Bran Stark (OR) or Arya Stark (TFM) back if discarded. Alternatively, if you've played The Withering Cold with Robb Stark but have no way of standing your board; go and find Grey Wind and let him eat someone. CHOMP.

Late Summer Feast is not ideal really. Giving your opponent cards with no downside is bad. However, giving them one card in return for a 9 gold plot I can potentially flip out of is a bit nicer, Often an opener, but not always, it gives you the gold you need to get set for the game.

The Withering Cold is fantastic in Stark. With the abundance of standing tech available in the deck with Robb Stark (Core), Northern Armory and Bran Stark (OR), combined with plenty of intimidate opportunities with the wolves, this can help you to really put the pressure on the opponent.

Wardens of the North is great for triggering "The Rains of Castamere" or getting off that crucial intimidate, and Close Call is vital for reviving a key character who has died in addition to giving an extra card and decent gold.

Marched to the Wall is amazing in this deck, with Bolton Flayer and Grey Wind active. Even using it to March a Warded character is fine, and the pressure this keeps on is important.

Finally, we have Political Disaster. DO NOT REMOVE THIS PLOT. This is crucial almost every time I play this deck. IT's one thing to constantly attrition the opponents board, but if they're just playing out The Hightower and The Arbor and Redwyne Straits and Great Hall and Flea Bottom etc etc then they will simply just play a draw plot and carry on putting characters down. You absolutely need to crush that location base as much as possible, to impact their ability to play characters to the board. Of course, if you've managed to control the board, and hit them with Political Disaster, then The North Remembers becomes an amazing card. The extra removal of another resource is always hurtful to the opponent (whether they admit it or not), and if you have Robb on hand then you can time it to stand your board and attack some more.

Draw Deck

The characters already mentioned explain their inclusion really. Arya Stark (TFM) was included to punish duplicates but was not impactful at all on the day. Catelyn Stark (Core) bolstered the intrigue presence and helps prevent best win spel in gaem. Donella Hornwood also helps intrigue presence and boosts economy, and Sansa Stark (WotN) is a great intrigue icon in the early game, and is extra stand if you get Lady on the board too.

Maester Luwin was included instead of the 3rd Donella, primarily because the deck can struggle for draw, and insight for Robb can occasionally be important, as well as the plot immunity for Bran. He did nothing on the day in this regard, but was a useful Summer (Core) target to keep repopulating the board. Winterfell Kennel Master is a fun 1x power icon and his ability was relevant on the day, jumping in a surprise wolf to win a challenge and trigger Rains. Wolves of the North and Roaming Wolfpack are tutorable with the wolf plot and Wolf Dreams, with the former being useful if Grey Wind is on the board, and the latter is useful especially if going first and you have Bran out.

Rickon Stark is a great cheap chud to bite with Grey Wind and recur, and his ability is very important with Aegon Targaryen released to the world. And finally, Ramsay Snow as a 1x is a fun way to stand your board after the Withering Cold w/Robb or simply just as further pressure on the opponent.

The locations are self explanatory, with Gates of the Moon preferred over Heart Tree Grove due to the prevalence of DAKINGINDANORF! and the fact you can duplicate it to protect from Political Disaster.

The events are probably fine to be adjusted to personal taste. The North Remembers is probably one copy too many, especially when Wyman Manderly arrives.

The Tournament

Round 1 - Rowan Gavin - Targaryen WtC - L

Well this is a good start. I know that Burn is a weakness of this deck, which was a primary factor why I didn't play this at Euros! And despite Rowan being one of those filthy first ed players, he happens to be a damn great player too. I had heard whispers that Rowan was playing Bloodriders, but I wasn't prepared to see Dragons along with those Consuming Flames. Suffice to say, an early burn ate my momentum and my attempt at early pressure disintegrated. Rowan then proceeded to win the game as I got #rekt.

Round 2 - David 'Daisy' Guest - Targaryen LotC - W

Daisy is a meta-mate and he was playing my own Bloodrider list, so I knew what to expect and how fast it could go. He's a super nice guy who probably hates playing me in tournaments because I almost always beat him, despite the fact he often thrashes me in casual games. I don't remember much of this game though, but I recall managing to kill off some low cost characters and Marching someone big (maybe Drogo?). I think his lack of economy hurt too much in the end as I eventually won the game.

Round 3 - Sam Woolley - Martell HrD Starfall - W

This game was a bit of a write off for poor old Woolley. Whilst he opened Calm Over Westeros, I had Grey Wind to kill off his Shadow City Bastards, and Bolton Flayer to kill any other chuds he marshalled. With a sole The Red Viper (SoD) on the board, he was swiftly dispatched as my board grew and his shrank. Sam decided to cut his losses and concede, preferring to go outside and work on his amazing tan. Lad.

Round 4 - Dan Mulchrone - Martell WtC - W

Another meta mate and a horrible grindy match which ended in concession. Dan was in two minds whether to play Tyrell Wars or Martell Wars coming into this tournament, so I flipped a coin for him to decide. What he doesn't know is that I manipulated the coin toss to get Martell, so I'd get valuable testing data from the interesting 'go first' version with 3x Ellaria and the intimidate guys. Sorry about that Dan.

Anyway, we went to about 7/8 plots with me going first most of the time, and I was about 9-4 ahead in the power stakes. When time was called, he had Dorne and some considerable intrigue presence, but no Doran's Game. With Catelyn Stark on the board, he had no way to get the big jump in power to win and conceded.

End of Swiss

So after the Swiss was completed, I'd lost my first game, beat meta mates playing decks I'd engineered them to play, and accidentally crushed Sam whose deck only gave him characters I could kill. Superb work. Despite trying to drop so Daisy could play (finishing 9th), Rebecca informed me that I must play otherwise she would be somewhat displeased. So I played on.

Top 8 - Ben Allen - Tyrell LotC - W

Ahh the infamous Song deck that kicked me out of the Euro's top 32. Ben is a nice friendly fellow from the East Anglia, even if it transpired after the event that he ran the Song decklist which is now illegal because RL changes yo. I forgive him though, it's fine.

I declined the opportunity to mulligan after finding a decent opening hand with Ward in it. Knowing how important Tom of Sevenstreams can be, I thought it prudent to keep it. Imagine my delight to see a setup of Tom O'Sevens duped and some other inconsequential chud.

End of turn 1 marshalling saw me going first with 6 characters to his 2, with my board including Roaming Wolfpack and Bran. Round 2, my Marched beat the initiative of Nothing Burns like the Cold to get rid of Tom, and I did Roaming Wolfpack + Bran for 4 rounds in a row to win what was ultimately a simple game. I've never seen a fully grown human being look so sad after his deck let him down a bit too. Hopefully he will come back from this and do well at his next event!

Top 4 - Dan Mulchrone - Martell WtC - W

Much like the first game, this was a long, drawn out, grindy match. This was another game where Dan just couldn't get a stable board under constant pressure from both the Bolton Flayer and Grey Wind killing off the chuds. He did manage to cancel the Political Disaster when he had 8 locations on the board, which certainly helped keep him in the game, as otherwise he cannot afford to play out more characters. Sadly for him, he couldn't muster the intrigue presence to push through Doran's Game, and I won soon after.

Next time Dan, play Tyrell Wars ok m8?

Final - Rowan Gavin - Targaryen WtC - W

I certainly wasn't looking forward to the rematch having lost to the deck in the first round, but this game was a really good match this time around. From the beginning I managed to pull ahead, and the game was all about Rowan threatening to break my board and swing the momentum. Fortunately for me, I managed to pull off some fantastic plays in this game, and I came away with the win. The game was recorded for The White Walkers YouTube channel, and will be available there to watch in the next few weeks.

Props

-The Chris's Sweeney and Meeuwsen for deck advice

-Rebecca for making me play in the cut

-Alpha Games for making me a nice hotdog

-Dan for not playing Tyrell Wars

-Callum for missing me in the cut so he couldn't knock me out of it

-All my opponents for being courteous and polite and generally nice people. You guys are the best! :)

Slops

-Gabbi for finally triggering Bridge of Dream when I wasn't watching

-Me for forgetting to put Power Behind the Throne into the deck. What a scrub.