Vanilla Tyrell (2nd at Sydney Regional) 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Another run-of-the-mill Tyrell goodstuff deck. This one was heavily influenced by James Waumsley's "Green Bean Machine" which won the 2018 FFG European Championship. In fact, the deck is almost identical with the following key changes:

3x Scheming Septon was brought in because it's a bloody good card and I imagine that the only reason Wamma wasn't running it at Euros was because the pack it comes in wasn't out yet. I also played 3x Milk of the Poppy instead of Nightmares to deal with Mace, primarily, but also other annoying characters like Euron, Fat Cat and 7-cost Arianne. I also added in a cheeky copy of Oldtown because it synergises well with the Scheming Septons. To make way for these cards, 3x Nightmares, 1x Butterbumps, 1x Garden Caretaker, and 2x Growing Strong were removed. I also don't normally play Hand's Judgment and was close to removing it, but slotted it back in an hour before the tournament out of fear of Doran's Game. I also swapped new Knight of Flowers for the Core one as I was wary of Ward.

Round 1: WIN vs Bye (1-0) This was a Bye from the Store Championships.

Round 2: LOSS vs Greyjoy Wars (1-1) A terrible start saw him get an unopposed challenge on the first round to hit my Arbor with We Do Not Sow, then he stole it with Euron. I did not draw into any of my answers (Milk and Hand's Judgment) to stop that from happening. I also didn't draw into any characters with strength low enough to stop the unopposed from 3-cost Theon. It was all down hill from there.

Round 3: WIN vs Targaryen Wars (2-1) This game was fairly comfortable for me as it took my opponent a long time to actually get "set up" as she spent the first few turns playing Counting Coppers, Exchange of Information, and Counting Coppers but had very little board presence. By the time she got Daenerys out with some other characters, but my board was already quite sizeable (and included Mace). On the turn I won the game, she played a 6-gold Astapor with Favours from the Crown (with Daenerys out and a known Consuming Flames in hand) so I just passed challenges and won the game with Mace by using him in Dominance, Standing, and Taxation.

Round 4: WIN vs Greyjoy Stag (3-1) This was a surprisingly close game against a deck I knew very little about. It was a hand destruction deck that sought to utilise Seen in Flames and Queen's Men with Nighttime Marauders. Board presence wise I was always wary of a Valar D or Valar M, so I didn't vomit out too many renown characters. Eventually I got comfortable and figured he wasn't running any resets and that came back to bite me in the ass. The subsequent Valar M caused me to lose a bunch of power and the game went to time, but he graciously handed me the full win.

Top 8: WIN vs Martell Wars (4-1) I believe this game also went to time with my power ahead of his, which got me the win. He was unlucky with his lack of econ, but what really hurt him was his lack of power icons. I was able to win power challenges with impunity until Core Doran and 7-cost Arianne arrived. A timely Milk on Arianne and an even more timely Hand's Judgment on his Doran's Game got me there in the end.

Top 4: WIN vs Martell Wars (5-1) Despite playing against a very similar deck to the previous game, this game panned out differently with a 9-billion strength Quentyn Martell (thanks to Core Doran and Prince's Plan) with Seal of the Hand attached doing quite a bit of work for him throughout the game. Renown and Mace Tyrell eventually got me there.

Final: LOSS vs Tyrell Wars (5-2) This loss will probably haunt me for the rest of my Thrones "career." The mirror match was true to its name: he played the Arbor, I played the Arbor. I played the Hightower, he played the Hightower. I played Mace, he played Mace. He played Randyll, I played Randyll. I went ahead late in the contest thanks to a Milk on his Mace while my Mace was triggering just about every phase. On the final turn, he made me first player, Confiscated the Milk and played Horn Hill with 3 gold on it which sent challenges math through the roof. Power was 12-10 my way. After like 15 minutes of maths I worked out that there was no way I could win an attacking power challenge as with Horn Hill he would win 38 STR to 34 STR. This was UNLESS I used Leyton Hightower to bring in the Hightower Spy and revealed a 4-cost or higher card to push through the challenge. I did that and it was only 2 cost. So I passed challenges. He did his power challenge and got to 14. Dom was mine and he could make no further challenges without giving me renown to win the game. It was at that point that I realised that if I had not used Leyton and saved him for the Dominance phase, I would win the game in the Taxation phase thanks to Mace's triggers. So he ended up winning 15-14 and it was all because I triggered Leyton Hightower a phase too early. Excruciatingly close!

Anyway, Regional season is over so I probably won't touch Tyrell Wars again (unless it's FFG hasn't banned Mace by the time Nationals season rolls around). Enjoy.