Bara Qohor did it again! The one true king won his 2nd crown at Polish Grand Champs https://thejoustingpavilion.com/tournaments/7066 Thanks a lot to Maciej and the rest of the Polish meta, it was a fantastic event! :)

I want to publish the deck again because the meta is totally different from German Grand Champs in August. I have changed 12 cards in the draw deck and 2 plots to adjust it to the new meta. Maybe it's interesting for some of you to read about my reasoning for these changes as a meta analysis:

Plots

• REMOVED: Vanquish the Unbelievers, Political Disaster
• ADDED: Rationing, Return to the Fields
• The meta is fewer early board presence (i.e. less ) and more Martell, shadows, aggro (NW/Targ SoB and attrition (NW Wolf, Stark/Targ Hollow Hill, so the risk reward ratio for Vanquish is considerably worse. So I don't have good targets for claim 2 or against aggro I have to play more defensively to survive the first round.
• The days of huge Iron Fleets are over, so Disaster isn't as needed as before. On the contrary, many attrition decks play it themselves now.
• So my strategy was to increase both economy and claim soak by playing 3 reducers (another reason to drop Vanquish). Playing no reset means I need to have a good board presence from the start. 9 economy (no Gate because of the 1 gold tempo hit), 3x Selyse and 3x reducers accomplish this. (And I had the amazing Dragonstone Faithful alt arts from Euros I wanted to play :P )
• With larger boards on my side (hopefully), Return to the Fields made a lot of sense. This deck wants to see its centerpieces and this plot also helps with that. If you play 5 uniques as 3x, you also need a bit more protection against Valar than only Close Call.
• Rationing is an awesome plot, it only stops Stannis's draw in this deck (he is in this deck for his voltron potential and the R'hllor and King trait anyway) because Qohor is a reaction to claim, not winning. On the other hand it stops so many effects: SoB, Drogon, Bound, Martell lose effects, character removal events, Bara power challenge effects, Rains etc. It's also another Winter plot against Winterfell and Karhold and has decent initiative for some nice intimidating :)

Characters

• REMOVED: 1x R'hllor Infiltrator, 2x Anguy, 1x Cressen, 3x Big Bob, 1x Core Davos, 1x Core Shireen
• ADDED: 3x Fast Bob, 2x Alester Florent, 3x reducers
• As mentioned above, I wanted more claim soak and economy, so 3 reducers went in. Having more guys dying to Blood of the Dragon I lowered the number of Infiltrators to 2x and removed Shireen. With Return in the plot deck and no more Vanquish, she brought less to the table anyway.
• Removing Big Bob for Fast Bob is probably the most controversial decision, I don't critize anyone who wants to keep Big Bob. I wanted to try out Fast Bob and was pretty happy with him. Against Martell and shadows you don't need Big Bob's strength, and Fast Bob's additional power puts more pressure on the opponent so they have to oppose and do other suboptimal stuff. And don't underestimate paying 1 gold less! This can be crucial for early board presence.
• I also wanted more immediate card draw, so I play all 3 Alester now instead of King's Gate. With First Snow being in the meta, he does more than 3 Anguy. I have Return and Iron Bank for additional Alester kneel and draw triggers.
• These 2 cards also replace Maester Cressen, controversial? :P I mean Azor Stannis doesn't care about negative attachments anyway.
• I play 1 event now, so Davos ended up on the chopping block as I didn't want to reduce the number of R'hllors (and Ser Imry the Allmighty is untouchable)

Attachments

• REMOVED: 1x Hunting Accident
• ADDED: 1x Seal of the Hand
• Less GJ big guys means 1 Accident is enough.
• Seal should have been in the deck from the beginning, it's good by itself, but it also enables shenanigans with Azor Ahai Reborn.
• Fellow Bara loyalist Adem brought Disputed Claim to my attention. I definitely want to include a copy now, so Alester, Mel or Selyse (or milked Bob and Beric) can perfom as Azors. Especially with Fast Bob being in the deck now it deserves a space as he helps keep it activated. This solution looks far better to deal with milked Bob than playing Cressen. It will be tough to sacrifice my beloved Light of the Lord, but so be it. :)

Locations

• REMOVED: 2x King's Gate
• ADDED: 1x The Roseroad, 1x New Throne
• I wanted faster econ, so Roseroad instead of King's Gate. Return and Alester cover the lost draw. Without Disaster, Gate loses some efficiency in this deck.
• My bad, I only played 1 New Throne. Should at least be 2, this card is nuts, especially with Red Priest!

Events

• ADDED: 1x The Iron Bank Will Have Its Due
• Will be removed for a 2nd New Throne.

Polish Grand Championship

Win vs. Crossing

He played a goodstuff Crossing with tons of cancel: Milk, Nightmares, The Faith's Decree, New Throne (which was the only time I had the throne against me). I had the Throne in setup and named Randyll Tarly, which was basically the end of this game. He only had 1x Gates of the Moon as econ all game, which made his board small and my Mel effective. He never declared 3 challenges. I only had Beric, but that was enough to push through. 15-5

Win vs. Shadows

I had a good start with Selyse and Lightbringer Stannis. He didn't Robert Strong my reducer, so couldn't march Selyse round 2. I then marshalled Azor Bob and a Red Priest to remove Varys and could already close...Kingdom of Shadows should open Valar M against rush decks, just saying ;) 15-0

Win vs. Hollow Hill

I had some chuds round 1, he returned 2 to my hand with Unexpected Delay. I had played Barring to stop his shenanigans. I didn't do a challenge, but had marshalled the New Throne again. ;D Round 2 he killed my reducer with Blood of the Dragon, I had the King plot and played Stannis and then named Consuming Flames. My Acolyte from setup with his Warhammer won and discarded a Consuming Flames, ha! Stannis then got his Bodyguard. Next round I iron thronesed Dracarys and discarded Dracarys for claim. :P Then I named Aegon Targaryen and closed the game with Voltron Stannis. 15-0

Win vs. Wars

I had Azor Bob round 2, but he got a Traitor to the Crown. I made an error marshaling both Red God's Blessing on Bob instead of one on Selyse, so he could defend my power challenge. Rationing stopped Ser Cortnay Penrose and The Starry Sept. The Throne kept his 2 Begging Brothers in his hand. :) Win or Die was enough to win it even though Bob got an milk. 15-5

Win vs. Hollow Hill

I had duped Bob in setup, but no attachment round 1 even after drawing 4 more cards with Alester and At the Gates. He opened Counting Coppers to find Giant Varys, but only had Ghaston Grey. Bob didn't attack, but the other 3 characters did, so it was already 4-0 after round 1. Then King in the North and Rationing stopped Ghaston for 2 rounds and Bob wreaked havoc 15-0.

Loss vs. Shadows

My setup was Azor Anguy and Imry. I had seen all 3 Azor and Seal of the Hand round 1. I lost the first Azor after Anguy got Catspawed, the 2nd for claim round 2 and the next one round 3. Beric Dondarrion with Seal of the Hand was supposed to be my salvation, but he suprised me with When I Woke... :O Then Beric got marched. When I had a king and Selyse round 4, I had just lost all Azors...long story short, I got beaten badly, even though he needed 6 plots, just before his Valar. 5-15

Top 8 vs. Wars

The first round was interesting, then it was a stalemate. He saved 2 gold, but my milked Bob intimated his last character. He couldn't use Castle Black effectively, but I was suspecting a trap anyway. Mel didn't attack because Dolorous Edd with Castle Black would mean he stands, attacks and fires his Bound for the Wall. My Red Priest next round confirmed, 2 Edds in hand. :D Duped Mel was dohaerised. I wanted to rush with King in the North with Stannis the Lightbringer, but only gained power slowly with Bob milked. In this situation Disputed Claim would have been amazing. Iron Throne named Bound, then the Wall, so it was difficult for him to win. He didn't dare to play Valar M, then the opportunity was missed when Selyse and Bob were duped, Stannis guarded. I didn't find Azor, though, so with Craven on Stannis couldn't do much either...I barred the Gates against Here to Serve, then he gained 2 power with Heads on Spikes. I won on time 9-4.

Top 4 vs. Fealty

He played this: https://thronesdb.com/decklist/view/13446/pillage-madness-polish-grands-top-4-1.0 He opened LSF and marshalled Asha and Baelor Blacktyde with Silence's Crew and Orkmont Reaver already on the board, I only marshalled Stannis with a Warhammer, but already had 2 chuds and a Red God's Blessing in play. But Stannis couldn't win his challenge to qohor Lightbringer. The 2nd chud could win though, so Asha got a Hunting Accident, first and only time I really used the card. He gained 2 power on Asha with King of Salt and Rock. That was good to know, otherwise I would have played the King plot. The extra 2 cards from his LSF helped me to draw into Selyse next round, which was really important, as he played First Snow. Thankfully I could stop him with Barring the Gates, then marshalled Selyse, 2 bodyguards for her and Stannis, dupe on Stannis, Azor Ahai Reborn, Lightbringer, Red God's Blessing. Yep, game over from this point on. Next round I went first and intimitade his Euron, then in standing phase triggered Imry (only time!) to have his entire board worth 22 gold knelt even before the plot phase. 15-4

Final vs. Hollow Hill

Rematch from round 5, but this time it was close. I made a huge mistake round. I could have disrupted his "The Last of the Giants" Varys combo with Red Priest, but for some reason I thought it was good to have this threat out of the way. I even marshalled Beric to provoke this play. I should have chosen either one of his Giant Varys combo and try to rush to victory. I could stop Varys round 2 and 3 with King plot and Barring and just close :/ But maybe it was for the best, because this way we had an amazing final with lots of twists. He marched my Beric round 2 who had a qohored bodyguard. I had all 3 Great Halls at some point and marshalled Bob for free. I barred the gates and rebuilt my board. I ended rounds 3-6 with 13 or 14 power on my faction card, but he always could stop the only power that matters. Over the course of the game I marshalled Bob 3 (4?) times. Round 3 I returned him to my hand with Iron Bank because I knew he could just cancel the bodyguard with He Calls It Thinking (hand knowledge courtesy of Red Priest). Then I couldn't play King plot because I needed the Great Halls to pay for him. He then could perfectly valar my unduped board of Selyse, Alester and Bob because I failed to close the turn before and had already played my Return to counter his First Snow earlier. I was, however, still in the game because he made me first player on his Win or Die turns round 6, Martell reflex I guess ;) I close called Bob, my Isle of Ravens shuffled 2 Bobs back and then round 7 King plot I drew him again and marshalled him another time because I had a Roseroad at that point (and chose it for Political Disaster the same round). Yay, 6 gold Bob ;) With king plot stopping his tricks and Bob winning the game on defense or offense with 2 power missing, he conceded to the one true king (and his older brother) 15-8

The tournament was really great, the meta is fun right now. 6 different factions in the Top 8 cut says it all. I played against 7 different factions, which was much nicer than German GC (7 GJ and 2 Targ). And I broke the curse of King of Swiss. ;) Thanks for reading and feel free to ask questions!