See the Light of the Lord - Winner Brawl 2018 (46p)

Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
See the Light of the Lord - Winner Brawl 2018 (46p) updated 1 0 0 1.0
The House of Kneel 14 8 5 1.0
Selyse them all! 22 18 10 2.0
Melee at Storm's End (6th place at Worlds 2022) 11 11 4 1.0

Diomedes 3294

First things first, this deck won't make Baratheon great again. But I won the Brawl at the Crossroads Inn 2018 in Munich with it, the largest tournament won by since February 2017 according to annalscastleblack.com, so I think I should publish this deck anyway. :)

The Brawl is an amazing tournament! Helmut is a great TO, and Philine and Schwaig are lovely hosts. Thank you so much for your amazing hospitality! :)

See the Light of the Lord

Light of the Lord seems to be the standout card for the people who have seen the decklist, so I think I should name the deck after it. :D The main idea behind the deck, however, were the 2 recent Summer plots: Grand Melee and Exchange of Information.

  • has no reliable card draw, the The Red Keep is sadly not as good as it used to be. 2x Exchange helps with that. In testing I got 4 cards pretty often, during the tournament I hit only 2 cards twice, though (during the 2 games I lost).
  • I'm inclined to play 2x Grand Melee instead and 3x Red Keep for draw, because this plot was amazing! Kneeling chuds with Asshai Priestess and Saving the Kingdom (one of the MVP besides Light of the Lord ofc) suddenly matters if you only have 1 or 2 big guys on the board. The initiative is decent and the synergy with The Red Keep is pretty nice.
  • The plan is to delay your Valar Dohaeris as much as possible. Grand Melee can lure an opponent into overextending their board, but is equally good after Dohaeris.

  • In hindsight Selyse Baratheon should be a 2x or 3x. She won me games single-handedly, especially the last 2 games (on video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8R4tKd7hNA starting at 2h55) I was lucky to draw the one copy pretty much every time in the cut.
  • Besides Selyse, the character base is not that interesting I guess. Shadow Priestess is just a 1x, because you can't trigger Mel out of shadows, and with Qohor around and 5 negative attachments in this deck, she's not that effective.

  • Light of the Lord, hands down my favourite card! It triggers Mel, helps win dom, and gets me the gold to buy Saving the Kingdom back every round. Edge case, nice counter to The Withering Cold (which was played three times against me by Bara Rose Qohor, Stark Qohor, and my very own Song deck) And last but not least, many opponents are not familiar with it and miscount my dominance strength. That's the benefit of playing cards nobody else does. ;) It used to be the same with my Song deck, nowadays the people know better and burn or milk poor Tom.

The Brawl at the Crossroads Inn 2018

Round 1 Loss vs. Faith

Jannis is a dreaded Martell Reset player. I couldn't cancel "The Last of the Giants" because I was 1 gold short (I needed the 2nd Light of the Lord out :D ), and had bad luck with Exchange of Information (only 2 and 3 cards), so I ran out of characters.

Round 2 Win vs. Qohor Kraken

I had the Chamber of the Painted Table out from the start, so this game went my way from the start. Cersei and her daughter were in play from round 1, but I could milk Cersei round 2, seize Casterly Rock, and deny Myrcella's ability thanks to 8 cards from Exchange and later Traitor to the Crown. When Seized ran out, I played Grand Melee, so Myrcella couldn't do her thing. Fun fact: I remembered him to trigger Cersei round 1, and 2 rounds later I could use Stormlands Fiefdom on her when he had no more power I could steal. :P

Round 3 Win vs. Dragon

Oh boy, I only won because my opponent made too many mistakes. His deck was far superior to mine. Aegon Targaryen bringing out characters three times is pretty good. Dorne, Flea Bottom, Second Sons, Missandei, Plaza of Pride, his cards felt so much more effective than mine, it was a bit sad. I had no right winning this game...

Round 4 Loss vs. The Wars To Come

A dominance deck should stand a chance against builders, but I didn't see enough dom cards. He discarded The Iron Throne for claim round 1, then used Confiscation on my Light of the Lord (which was already buying back 1 Saving the Kingdom), then marshaled the Wall as 2nd player and discarded Seized by the Guard for claim. Exchange of Information only got me 2 and 3 cards, so he was gaining Wall and dom power.

Round 5 Win vs. Dragon

She had a good board, but Melisandre, Table+Storm's End, Isle of Ravens, Milk of the Poppy+Traitor to the Crown on Robb, and Grand Melee had it all under control. Pretty one-sided game. Fun fact, I won 2 challenges and picked Missandei twice. Stupid card! :P

Round 6 Win vs. Qohor Rose

This was a close and interesting game. He was top-decking after round 2, but drew into good cards. Bob was out with duped Ser Justin Massey and 2 Highgarden Courtiers. Then the third Ser Justin Massey turned up after my Valar Dohaeris. Traitor to the Crown on Bob was not as good as Milk of the Poppy, but enough to edge out a 15-13 win. Fun fact: Glorious Light of the Lord countered his Withering Cold and Stannis. :D

Top 16 Win vs. Crossing

I'm always happy to see people play my Song deck. :D Round 1, a Giant Jaqen supported by Margaery threatened to kill my board of Melisandre, Gendry, Penrose. In the Name of Your King! was canceled, but at least I could Nightmares Jaqen. From round 2 on I had the right cards to slow him down, Melisandre (Core), Grand Melee and 2 Saving the Kingdom (the song deck plays a lot of STR 3 characters :D). I won at time with a 10-4 lead.

Top 8 Win vs. Wars

Rematch against the Builders deck from round 4. This time I had my dom tech, plus Seized by the Guard. He threw various Craven and Milks at me, but as usual Saving the Kingdom was doing the heavy lifting kneeling his non- icons. Selyse also really liked the rule that women aren't allowed in the Watch. I won at time with a 10-2 lead.

My final 2 games were recorded here starting at 2h55: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8R4tKd7hNA

Top 4 Win vs. Qohor

I could milk his Greatjon Umber turn 1 which was important. Catelyn Stark with Brother's Robes on round 2 was annoying as she could blank the milk. I had no Table, but Storm's End and fiefdoms. Storm's End has one advantage over the table, it's loyal which did matter as my opponent wanted to bounce it with (stupid) Breaking Ties. :D Saving the Kingdom was good again kneeling Arya Stark and other characters. I had one Light of the Lord to buy it back and counter his Withering Cold, again! Selyse Baratheon (FotOG) also came down on his Withering Cold. 2 Saving the Kingdom sealed the deal after his Wildfire Assault, I had 4 characters standing to his one. :)

Top 2 Win vs. Wars

I traveled to Munich with Fabian, even played my deck against him on the train ride. But I also knew large parts of his deck, so we were on even ground. 2 Saving the Kingdom round 1, yeah! Sadly the lid to its pot, the wonderful Light of the Lord, got pulled round 1 for , so I had to save 2 gold to buy them back round 2. I was controlling and dominance gaining power that way. I had Gendry as my dom accelerator, but he got bounced by Arianne. Next round Fabian had to bounce milked Melisandre to trigger his Doran's Game. Last round he wanted to close, but Grand Melee won me initiative. Instead of going for my last 2 power (actually just one because I forgot to claim 1 dom power between 2 Saving the Kingdom purchases and 1 Nymeria trigger) I made him go first because I had 2 milks, 1 Seized by the Guard and most importantly Selyse in hand. He played Oberyn instead of his lady-traited Arianne, so I didn't even need to play a milk on her. He kept 8 gold for ambush, but I could seize his water gardens and milk Ricasso, so no win with a 2nd Doran's Game possible. I had 1 Saving the Kingdom anyway to kneel 1 Dornish Spy. Selyse attacked , he thought the challenge would fizzle, but my Red Keep contributed STR 2 to win the game. :)

These are some changes I will try because Grand Melee worked great to control the challenge:

−1 Exchange of Information +1 Grand Melee

−1 Beric Dondarrion +1 Selyse Baratheon (FotOG)

−1 Littlefinger +1 Moon Boy

−1 The Bastard of Nightsong +1 Edric Storm

−1 Traitor to the Crown

−1 Stormlands Fiefdom +2 Northern Encampment

−1 The Iron Throne +2 The Red Keep

−1 The Roseroad +1 Chamber of the Painted Table

−1 The Hand's Judgment

Thanks for reading! :)

17 comments

jeermaster 824

Congratulations again! It's lovely to see Baratheon receive some attention.

taijibear 213

But do you really feel like a winner claiming a title with Baratheon without Stannis in your deck? :-P

Deilan 1

Long time i didn't see you on the iron throne, and now i see you spoil my deck before french national. Not fair ! :p You still miss some white raven for the swag.

Anyway, gg man, well done again ! ;)

Diomedes 3294

Thanks guys! :)

@taijibear That's a legitimate question. :P I would love to build a deck around Stannis... I hope they think of something clever for the Bara box.

@Deilan Sorry about that. :D You mean this White Raven? :O

Palpa 122

So, the Magician striked again, winning such a big tourney with such a seemingly mediocre deck and Agenda, Glückwunsch ;) ... And see, your Song Deck can be beaten, if it's not piloted by yourself :D

Deilan 1

This Raven, exactly. The only Raven that matters !

Pat 28

How can you against political disaster?

Ratatoskr 62

Thank you for this awesome writeup. And congrats again on winning the best midlevel tournament in the world ;)

Diomedes 3294

Political Disaster definitely hurts, but it's not the end of the world. You notice pretty early if a deck runs Disaster and can adapt.

The Song deck I was up against in Top 16 runs both Political Disaster and Nothing Burns Like The Cold, but I only marshaled 4 econ locations that game. I didn't gain power as quick, but was still able to control the game.

Diomedes 3294

@Ratatoskr Thanks for making this tournament possible, Helmut! :)

Beciaku 1

this deck have many kneeling efects u dont want to play Stanis with The Withering Cold?

Diomedes 3294

I had a single copy of Stannis in this deck at some point, but he's just bad for a 6-cost character. Both Stannis and The Withering Cold (which is a Winter plot anyway) don't work well with Saving the Kingdom, which is one of the key cards of this deck. They stay knelt while your characters stand.

Kingnothing 1

Congratulations! Have you tried March on Winterfell? A second power challenge couldn't be that bad. But you are tight with card slots so I can understand why you prefer the other events.

Palpa 122

You didnt face Targ at the Brawl. Whats your experience in other games? The Characters look quite vulnerabel (?)

Diomedes 3294

@King Nothing March on Winterfell is pretty expensive, especially in a deck that doesn't rely on declaring challenges.

@Palpa I think the Targ matchup isn't that bad. The challenge control with all the kneel, Grand Melee, and In the Name of Your King! is pretty good. And Seen In Flames always helps against . And when you have your dominance engine running, you don't need to make any challenges.

Gaurwaith 2

Would you include the new Balckwater Bay instead of the Red Keep for draw?

Diomedes 3294

My current build has 2x Grand Melee and 3x The Red Keep. But this new draw location is really good. The deck would need several changes to get the most out of it, but seems worth it.