Kublacon 2019 Champion - Greyjoy Sea of Blood

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Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
None yet.

siroma 389

First, a big thanks to everyone who attended and played at Kublacon! It was a long day of Greyjoy and Stark, which combined made up nearly 2/3 (22/36) of all the lists present (as seen in the matchups below). The deck came 2nd at the end of swiss (5/1), and ended up winning the overall tournament.

Deck Review:

Card Name/Usefulness Rating/Description

Ratings Guide -
5 - Constantly played whenever possible, instrumental to winning the game

4 - Good cards that consistently performed well and provided an advantage

3 - Decent cards that were bought with excess gold

2 - Niche uses, sat in hand most of the time but were ok to have as a backup option

1 - Drop this from the deck

Card Choices

Agenda: Sea of Blood 5/5 - Fantastic agenda that provides a massive amount of tempo. The ability to tutor out efficient removal for both characters and locations on demand is just incredibly powerful, and allows Greyjoy to quickly set up nigh unbreakable boards due to their abundance of impactful high cost characters and saves. Powerful characters backed by stealth, extra draw and stand means that the core of the deck is strong enough to win without even triggering Sea of Blood at all, and just makes getting those triggers that much easier.

Characters:

Asha Greyjoy (Km) 5/5 - Quite possibly the best character in the deck, the stealth and ability to replenish your hand with cards you want is huge.

Victarion Greyjoy (MoD) 5/5 - Debatable vs intimidate renown Victarion, both are good cards, but the MoD version can single-handedly win you certain matchups with his huge body and the ability to kneel down critical locations like Winterfell, The Wall, Astapor, etc.

Euron Crow's Eye (Kotl) 4/5 - On its own, probably weaker than core Euron, but silence synergizes well with Victarion (MoD), and the extra initiative from silence and the refurbished hulks constantly provided value, winning ties on Forced March and We take Westeros in the mirrors.

Drowned God Fanatic 5/5 - Free cancel, that also turns your chuds on board into intrigue/mil bicons. Does great work vs pretty much all matchups.

Iron Islands Fishmonger 5/5 - Chuds that smooth out the setup and allow you to actually afford the array of top-end characters in the deck.

Eager Deckhand 3/5 - The deck has a fair number of warships, but not enough to actually reliably get these out for free, and if you're not getting them for free, like during setup or when you lack warships, a 2 gold 2 str monocon is really bad. Even when they're free, they're only ok. 2 felt fine in the deck.

Silence's Crew 3/5 - Good for dumping extra gold on, he's quite flexible. Bought him a couple times, though generally in later turns (4-5). Pillage is a very slight bonus.

Alannys Greyjoy 3/5 - Often draws you 2-3 cards when she hits the board, between We Take Westeros, Silence, and just marshaling locations.

Baelor Blacktyde - 2/5 - His ability was never really relevant over the course of the day. He felt like a silence's crew that couldn't be bestowed, that maybe stopped 1 event over the course of the entire day.

Hagen's Daughter 3/5 - Nice that you can recur it a bit over the course of several turns, but really never happens more than once. She's not terribly cheap and her cost to stats ratio isn't great, but she wasn't that bad either.

Old Bill Bone 4/5 - One of the better chud characters in the deck, he can shut down agendas like Sea of Blood for a turn, and against other decks, a 2 gold bicon with intrigue on it is actually not half bad.

Qarl the Maid 3/5 - Really good when you have Asha out, mediocre otherwise. Great vs forced march or other kneel effects, did see some play and usage.

The Knight 3/5 - He's a pretty big body, and usually best after a big reset where his stealth might actually get you that win by 5. Kind of pricy though, and you wouldn't really play him over the other big characters.

The Reader 2/5 - Saw him once across 9 rounds, where he drew one card. He's still not bad to have - the intrigue icon is still valuable, but he didn't really get a chance to shine.

Theon Greyjoy (TFoA) 1/5 - he was effectively a blank 3 gold 2 str bicon for me, will be dropping him for core Theon as that extra stealth is quite valuable. There are certain cases where he can be good, but he really never helps actually trigger your agenda.

Wex Pyke 3/5 - More bicon setup fodder, Mil/Int is just a good combination for the deck.

Attachments:

Corsair's Dirk 2/5 - In a field where Targaryen/Martell actually exists, this card might be better. Otherwise, it mostly sat in my hand unless I had the extra gold lying about. Does great work on Balon, but I would say it underperformed for these games.

Locations:

Iron Fleet Scout 4/5 - Great for setup, fuels Victarion, stands Euron with Silence, just a good card overall. Not great to topdeck in the midgame, but always happy to see it in the early turns.

Iron Mines 4/5 - Running a lot of big characters, so better make sure to protect them. Other decks were running the pinch of powder combo as an alternative, but Iron mines just provided a solid consistency boost, is good on setup, and makes your Valar stronger.

Sea Tower 5/5 - cheap, effective econ. Don't leave home without it

The Roseroad 4/5 - slightly slower than Sea Tower, but still good to have on setup

Refurbished Hulk 4/5 - Great value with Silence, and not terrible on setup. Synergizes with Victarion and Euron, and the small initiative boost can be quite impactful

Isle of Ravens 4/5 - Great for extending the uses of put to the sword/torch, as well as countering flea bottom, a dragon is no slave, Baelor Blacktyde, etc. Usually not a hugely impactful card until turn 3-4, but was usually good to have.

Grey Ghost 3/5 - Really allows you to push through unopposed challenges, good utility overall

Maiden's Bane 3/5 - When you have Asha out, Maiden's Bane can actually outright win you the game due to the huge value you accumulate. Usually got it off of Asha/Silence.

Great Kraken 3/5 - Synergizes well with other warship support, really helps close out games with the extra power.

Silence 4/5 - Just solid, actually provides insane value if you have 1-2 warships in hand, as the stand onto Euron is just super valuable, plus you get to save a couple of gold on your ships.

Events:

Risen from the Sea 5/5 - free saves, free advantage. Never sad to see.

Put to the Sword 5/5 - This is why you're playing Sea of Blood

Put to the Torch 5/5 - This is why you're playing Sea of Blood

Plots: Late Summer Feast 5/5 - I opened this every single game, meaning I usually started the game off with 10-11 gold and start being aggressive immediately. Often gave out 2-3 cards a game, but it doesn't matter if your opponent doesn't have time to make use of those cards, or are forced to discard them to reserve.

We Take Westeros! 5/5 - Disgusting versus Night's watch, and really shuts down decks that run multiple copies of powerful locations like Winterfell, Skagos, etc. With the abundance of At the Gates, great halls are also just great generic pickups.

Barring the Gates 5/5 - Winter? Check. Stops shadows, flea bottom, ambush, desert raider, drowned god fanatic, heir to the iron throne, Skagos, etc? Check. 5 gold, so you can buy all your characters with just a +2 income? Check. Great plot overall that is greatly overlooked.

Forced March 4/5 - Didn't need this plot in every game, but it's powerful in the mirror and really allows you to push challenges through. 4 gold can actually be a bit difficult if you don't have the money set up, but never really sad to play it. With all the bonus initiative, you also win a lot of forced march ties and can really capitalize on its effects.

Valar Morghulis 4/5 - It's a reset that this deck can use aggressively due to the abundance of dupes/saves. Didn't flip it too often, but was good when it came out.

You Win Or You Die 4/5 - Good closer, and decent card to refuel a bit for the final push. Played it 2-3 times over the course of the day.

Nothing Burns Like The Cold 3/5 - never played it. It does help deal with problem negative attachments and locations, and importantly, is winter to help get rid of Winterfell. A great situational plot, that just didn't really come up.

Top 5 MVP Cards (excluding events/econ locations):

  1. Asha Greyjoy (Km)
  2. Drowned God Fanatic
  3. Barring the Gates
  4. Victarion Greyjoy (MoD)
  5. We Take Westeros!

Most Disappointing Cards

  1. Theon Greyjoy
  2. Corsair's Dirk
  3. Baelor Blacktyde
  4. The Reader
  5. Hagen's Daughter

Alternatives -

Run Core Theon Greyjoy if you're playing sea of blood, it's just better.

A Pinch of Powder/Raider from Pyke is a viable alternative to Iron Mines, though then The Lord of the Crossing may be a better agenda to take advantage of that combo.

You can replace copies in the deck with Core Euron Crow's Eye, LOCR Victarion Greyjoy, and drop silence, refurbished hulks, etc for Great Halls instead to balance out the economy.

Corsair's dirk can be kept/dropped based on personal preference.

1 copy of Nightmares/The Hand's Judgment can be useful to tutor out with Sea of Blood

Varamyr Sixskins might be an interesting inclusion

Drowned Men can be an alternative to Silence's crew, being equal str at 1 warship, but the Crew is easier to make really big, which can be important vs Tyrell/Targaryen.

Maester Murenmare can be useful if your meta is heavy on location triggers, though between Victarion and Put to the Torch, generally not always needed.

Great Halls are a viable alternative to roseroads, worse on setup but better on the draw.

Haven't tested with Golden Storm, seems like overkill, but not completely sure, feedback on this card would be welcome.

Matchups: Round 1 vs John Kraus (Greyjoy Banner of the Rose) - (Win) Outpressured with Asha/Victarion, just had far more military strength out on the board, and wasn't really threatened by any incoming challenges.

Round 2 vs Austin Restaino (Greyjoy Lords of the Crossing) - (Win) Flopped triple Victarion, fishmonger, and iron fleet scout. Added on Euron and Asha alongside Maiden's bane and blew past his limited supply of saves.

Round 3 vs John Wright (Stark Fealty) - (Win) Drowned god fanatics pulled weight canceling Rickons and Brans. Sacrificed my board on turn 2 to Varys Riddle by Valaring away Wyman and Robb, he couldn't recover without the two core pieces of the deck.

Round 4 vs Eric Green (Stark Fealty) - (Win) No Surprises led to me discarding a bunch of extra cards to reserve, but Barring the Gates' winter trait allowed me to torch and take away Winterfell. Drowned God Fanatics and Asha came in clutch to search for a put to the sword to kill Arya Stark (TFM) before he could Valar

Round 5 vs Alejandro Pantoja (Stark Fealty) - (Win) Once again slowed down by no surprises on turn 1. Barring the gates kept Meera in shadows long enough to discard Skagos and kill Robb, and afterward, the pressure was too much.

Round 6 - vs Andras Fulop (Greyjoy Lord of the Crossing) - (Loss) equal setups, but got dismantled by pinch of powder as I couldn't stop his Asha's intrigue or his Balon's power challenges.

Round 7 (Bye)

Top 8 vs Stephen Ebrev (Stark Knights of the Hollow Hill) - (Win) Brought out Asha early and applied early pressure with just 3-4 characters. Valar with Cannot-be-saved Arya forced out on turn 3, thereafter Balon and Victarion cleaned up house.

Top 4 vs Alejandro Pantoja (Stark Fealty) - (Win) Events got stopped on turn 1 by No Surprises, but quickly started to fall apart on turn 2, as his board got almost completely dismantled.

Finals vs Chris Thompson (Greyjoy Sea of Blood) - (Win) C.T. struggled with gold/econ the whole game, I just dumped more cards onto the field and whittled away at his saves, eventually just winning through power. Game lasted 5 rounds I believe.

Once again, a big thanks to everyone who attended Kublacon! Questions, Comments, Feedback and Suggestions welcome!

2 comments

r480 158

Grats. However, I don't get your ratings tbh xD 5 - Constantly played whenever possible, was always good to have So many 4s that are more than a 5 XDD

scantrell24 3334

Congrats Tim!