Hi all,

I decided to share my deck I played this weekend on Czech Nats as many people liked it, asked me for the list and were happy that I could do TOP with the Pillage deck.

Deckbuilding

I wanted to play Greyjoy on Nats for the long time as they were meta and I really like the House. I previously had The Rains of Castamere prepared, but after the new RL the deck was ruined totally from my perspective. So I decided to return to pillage strategy as nothing important for this deck did not appear on the new RL and Balon Greyjoy can be really annoying with well feeded discard pile. Also the replacement of Euron Crow's Eye on RL with Euron Crow's Eye makes the most sense in a pillage deck. Why Banner of the Lion ? I was thinking about Fealty or Greensight first, but both agendas are kneeling faction card as a cost and I really want to have my Balon Greyjoy ready to use at any time. I also wanted to play more tech pillage than 100% mill focused deck so do not need an extra card discarded for Greensight so much. I decided for the Banner of the Lion as I love Ser Gregor Clegane and I know how much damage he can deal with Scouting Vessel. The question was, what to add to have 12 Lannister cards while every single card will be 100% usefull. As I wanted to play big guys, Great Hall was my number one favorite for the restricted card. But why shouldn't I boost the tempo even more with Heir to the Iron Throne and add low cost Lannister lords. All those small lords are usefull even without the plot trigger and the plot is also usefull without them as I can also remove terminal attachment from my big guys, find the one I need more in the current situation or try to find the dupe when expecting Valar Morghulis. The last spots in the deck filled with Treachery to have at least something to replace Drowned God Fanatic valuable ability cancel.

Deck strategy

Nothing hard to need a long explanation. Have a good tempo with At the Gates + Great Hall and Heir to the Iron Throne. Looking for a good triggers of Scouting Vessel mainly with Ser Gregor Clegane , Asha Greyjoy , Euron Crow's Eye. Filling the discard pile for Balon Greyjoy. Grabbing powers with Renowns, King of Salt and Rock and Corpse Lake. 3 times Tommen Baratheon and 2 times King of Salt and Rock enables to play effective The King in the North. The right combination of The First Snow of Winter or Weapons at the Door with Nighttime Marauders also wins games.

Tournament Report

Libor P (Greyjoy Greensight) 1-0

I knew this matchup will be really hard as the random factor for the pillages will be doubled while we are both playing pillage decks. And it proved while I Discarded his Gorold Goodbrother with The Tickler while the second one was on board. That was not only the loss of big character for Libor, but also 2 great cards for my Balon Greyjoy who was on board from the first plot (that was also really important). However he was grabbing a lot of powers on his Corpse Lake while having Euron Crow's Eye and Asha Greyjoy both with renowns and some powers thanks to Black Wind so I started to being afraid. We both triggered Scouting Vessel with Asha Greyjoy to find the important cards. Fortunately I did not have any locations in the discard pile for his Euron Crow's Eye. I was not able to use my Balon Greyjoy for 2 plots as he used Barring the Gates and The King in the North, because I did not find any Tommen Baratheon or King of Salt and Rock in 3 Asha triggers and You Win Or You Die. But I found Raiding the Bay of Ice to deal with his Corpse Lake with 7 power tokens so I was still in the game. Fully working Balon again and great trigger of Andrik the Unsmiling with Scouting Vessel (discarded 3 locations from board) following with Valar Morghulis (as he played his You Win Or You Die so no saves in hand and only Asha Greyjoy was duped) won me the game.

Raius (Lannister Kingdom of shadows) 1-1

I was expecting this won't be a good matchup for me, but really did not expect it will be decided so fast. Raius started with great economy and I had only Asha Greyjoy with Great Hall. Raius was the first player while played Trading with the Pentoshi and kneeled my Asha Greyjoy with Shadow Priestess, which was really important, because I was not able to play my Treachery at that time. I found another Great Hall with At the Gates and added Ser Gregor Clegane with Bodyguard and Ser Lancel Lannister. I brainlessly played my Treachery on Cersei Lannister coming from the shadows as I was afraid it will be discarded by her. As I had no standing power icon, it was easy 5str ua power with A Pinch of Powder on Ser Gregor Clegane (there was the the right time for Treachery) and Poisoned Coin on Asha Greyjoy, while Lancel became completely useless without his big mate. As Cersei Lannister discarded the most of my hand and I had no board while Raius had good economy and lot of cards in hand and shadows I knew it was game over as even reset wouldn't help.

Ultrahustodemon (Grejoy Trading with Qohor) 2-1

Another Grejoy pillage deck. I do not remember this game well, but the most important was that my opponent did not see any attachment almost for the whole game. Also played Gates of the Moon instead of Great Hall as he had probably another restricted (not sure what it was now). That was 2 gold advantage for me, which was game deciding.

Hanno Lunser (Tyrell Kings of Summer) 3-1

I was really afraid of this matchup to be honest as I really did not know what to expect from this deck and also knew I am standing against a really good player. I think I was a bit lucky as it seemed Hanno did not get a lot of characters for the whole game. He started with Ser Mark Mullendore and Sparrows as he needed some seven card to be able to use The Faith's Decree on my Great Halls. I had two 2 costers so I was able to fill the board anyway. My first pillage was Randyll Tarly and I played Balon Greyjoy during the second marshaling so everything spoke in my favor. Hanno still without any bigger character presence so he was more defending and triggering his draws with Oldtown Undercity thanks to Unexpected Guile. I was able to add Ser Gregor Clegane and was not limited with Oldtown Undercity topdeck filter as I had Scouting Vessel and pillaged Sparrows while killed another copy on the board. Hanno played well timed Valar Dohaeris, but I responded with The First Snow of Winter and kept my boy Balon Greyjoy with 2 dupes, that was also really important. Hanno played only duplicated Randyll Tarly and I removed one dupe with my military challange while keeping Balons dupes safe as he brought a character from Hannos discard. I followed with Valar Morghulis and Hanno lost Randyl, that was really important as I knew he is struggling with characters. I lost one dupe from Balon and I lost the second one thanks to Varys. As I already had a lot of powers on Balon and added 2 more characters, while standing only against Varys, I was able to finish the game.

Vojta Kubicina (Martell The Lord of the Crossing) 3-2

I do not remember the game so well, but I was struggling with the economy. I had really good start with Balon Greyjoy and I was pillaging great cards like Doran Martell. Vojta had 2 House Yronwood Knight so he was damaging my hand significantly and was only defending, which was quite unexpectable for me as he had crossing, but it was really well played. With more plots Vojta was getting more and more economy while I was still sitting on 1 Great Hall from At the Gates. His board was growing fast and he added strong Martell armies with Manning the City Walls. I was not able to survive the pressure, used Valar Morghulis, but He Calls It Thinking canceled one of my saves and with an economy advantage Vojta was able to keep pushing for the win.

Mortino (Night's Watch Sea of Blood) 4-2

Mortino began with an enormous board having 19 str for military after the first marshaling. I had Ser Gregor Clegane on hand, but only The Tickler and Myrcella Baratheon with Bodyguard on board so I would't be able to stop Sea of Blood anyway. I decided to go for duplicated Euron Crow's Eye instead while having Risen from the Sea on hand. He started with claim 2 and I killed The Tickler and saved Euron Crow's Eye with Risen from the Sea. I was decided play Valar Morghulis next round, which was confirmed after Mortino stole my Balon Greyjoy with Bound for the Wall. As Mortino did not have any dupes and both of my characters remained in play, I took an advantage on my side. The last confirmation of the win was my The First Snow of Winter with Nighttime Marauders , while Mortino had only 3 cost characters.

Gabriel Ranner (Martell Fealty) TOP 16

Gabriel started with his most important locations from the setup - Flea Bottom and Dorne followed with an economy Dornish Fiefdom. I do not remember my setup, but after the first marshaling I had duplicated Asha Greyjoy and 3 or 4 small characters including Myrcella Baratheon. Gabriel played only Varys and Greenblood Trader for claim. I couldn't wait to play Treachery on Varys in dominance phase, was really happy I kept 1 gold for it and I will surprise my opponent. Unfortunately I saw He Calls It Thinking on the other side of the table and my smile was gone. Next plot was obviously Marched to the Wall to discard Asha Greyjoy. Following with another Marched to the Wall , Valar Morghulis and constantly bouncing Venomous Blade I was not able to get back on board even I had all 3 Great Hall. The advantage of characters coming through Flea Bottom and 2 copies of Areo Hotah drawn slowly, but with no big issues decided the game.

I would like to thank the organizers for the brilliant Czech Nationals tournament as always. Also to all of my opponents for nice games and to all players for friendly atmosphere.