Traitors Locked Up In Cells (2nd at Thronestoberfest 19) (cl 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

I managed to make it all the way to the finals of Thronestoberfest with this deck that I have been working on for 5 months or so. I have always thought this concept was workable to be very good and this was the payoff of grinding and tweaking.

The deck is based around controlling your opponent's board with multiple effects and gaining power in a few different ways. I liked this deck a lot because it was favorable in a lot of different types of match ups. It is especially good against decks that run a lot of big characters, decks that voltron up a single character, and agendas that focus on one challenge type (especially Prince).

The deck uses a tool box of different locations that can help to give advantages based on different match ups. Passive power from Table/Chair, Starry Sept for spot control and passive power, Blackwater Rush for passive power (this was an instrumental card in giving me the edge in power a lot of games), and most importantly Black Cells (the card that this deck was built around).Support of the People and Devan Seaworth were important to get the locations most necessary in each individual game.

The control aspect of the deck really focused on getting Black Cells triggered every turn. Shadow Priestess' were really good to get 2 characters locked down. Being able to surprise people with a traitor during challenges is amazing and helps to make sure the deck is usually getting the best end of challenges, while also helping to win dominance. Bob does great work to keep the opponents options limited and try to make sure that I control the board state. Red Priests can really help to get good ideas about your opponent's plans and keep their strongest cards off the board. The kneel from Melisandre is icing on the cake that proved to be pivotal in a few matches.

Power challenges are also a specific strength of this deck. Stannis, Cortnay, Shireen, Pinch, Traitor, Red Keep, Starry Sept, and Support all either help to win power challenges or have positive effects to winning them. When you are constantly winning power challenges every turn (or at least not losing them), it really helps the deck run smoothly with draw and after winning triggers.

Now on to how everything played out.

Match ups ( Going based off of memory, so this will be the clif notes):

Rd 1 - Bryn Alcorn/ Dragon

We actually drove to this tournament together and had some idea of what each other were trying to do, without knowing the full extent. Got Black Cells out early and I was able to mostly contain his Renly and Randyll. Grindy game of trying to stop lots of bigs from causing too much damage, while gaining passive power. Ended up getting pinch off in the last round to bounce his Randyll with all his power and take it on time (I think it was 9-1 or so at time). Win.

1-0

Rd 2 - Aaron Glazer - Fealty

This round went fairly smoothly as Aaron was not able to get any econ (2 reducers total when game ended turn 5) and Bob locked down the characters he could afford to get on the board. I also found Shadow of the Throne early and controlled his flea bottom and reducers. Black Cells made an appearance and pinch kept Khal Drogo from staying on the board. Win.

2-0

Rd 3 - Dan Meilleur - Rains

Setup Black Cells and had it duped turn 1 to make sure it stayed on the board. Stole his Balon Greyjoy (Core) first turn with my Red Priest. Controlled his characters with intrigue to make sure that Rains never triggered. Shadow Priestess' helped to make sure Maester Murenmure wasn't able to stop my locations. Passive power helped to make sure I kept in front. Then King Plot sealed the deal.Win.

3-0

Rd 4 - Chris Wong - Sea of Blood

Black Cells early for bigs, followed by Bob controlling <4 costers. Took a decent lead early. Supporting the Faith really helped him to stall me out as I saw it on four occasions in 9 turns. Luckily, I was able to get some 0 costers out of shadows to keep the Cells triggers coming. He played a good VM and managed to clear my board. I fell back to close to even. But, my own VM followed by Stannis and passive power pushed me to the win. Win.

4-0

Rd 5 - Matthew Gehman Kingdom of Shadows

Going into the event, I knew that this was the one match up that I felt would be the worst for my deck. It's harder to control an opponents board when they don't often have anything on the table. He did have duped Tyrion Lannister (TB) which helped recur Ser Mandon Moore and Sparrows multiple times in multiple rounds. His locations outworked mine and I was unable to keep anything on the board. Pretty decisive loss. Loss.

4-1

Rd 6 - Alex Buganski Alliance Qohor Rose

Alex had a really nice deck that ended up placing top 5 in the tournament. I was able to control his Randyll Tarly somewhat until his attachment package got a little overwhelming. I wasn't able to really take control of the game or get anything going from what I can remember. His resets hit me really hard as he Dohaeris'd and left me with a character disadvatage, followed by a Political Disaster that left me struggling. He ended up taking it down after getting Jon Snow (MoD) in with an army of smaller characters around him. Loss.

4-2

Rd 7 - Alejandro Pantoja Sea of Blood

This was my closest match of the first day of games. I had Black Cells from the start and new that I needed to not let him get any SoB triggers off to make sure it stayed on the board. Pinch was the MVP of this game. I believe that I was able to bounce his Robb Stark (AtSK) 4 or 5 times in the game. It all ended up coming down to the last turn as we were tied after challenges and I won dominance by 1 Strength to take the match 11-10. Win.

5-2 (Made the Cut)

Rd of 32 - Austin Restaino Prince

Prince is probably the best match up for my deck to face. If I find Black Cells, there isn't much that could be done. Well, I set up Black Cells, Red Keep, and Fickle Bannerman. He did not see Robert Baratheon (Core) at all and I didn't allow any Prince triggers. I was able to use the Cells to really dictate where the game went. Win.

Rd of 16 - Winston Wan Valyrian Steel

He set up The Wall (Core) and some other locations. I believe I started with Black Cells again. Blackwater Rush and Chamber of the Painted Table helped me to keep up with his passive power gains throughout the game. Davos' stealth along with Black Cells helped me to make sure he didn't get to trigger his Wall every turn. The game went to time as I was on my Trade Routes turn and he was ahead roughly 12-11. I flooded the board with 2 Fickle Bannerman and Robert. He passes challenges and Nightmares my Davos. I brought a card out of shadows to trigger the Blackwater Rush and then passed to dominance. After winning Dominance and triggering the Chamber, I used my last gold to trigger BW Rush one more time in the standing phase to win 14-13. Win.

Quarter-finals - Andy Boyd Valyrian Steel

This was a very closely contested match with another one of my teammates on Baratheon. We were both able to get out Robert Baratheon (FotS), but he had a milk to shut mine down. I found all of the locations that I needed except Black Cells and Starry Sept, but he kept them knelt every turn to make sure that they weren't helping me too much. It was a grinding game and we were close in power until the very end. On the last plot he was forced to reset with Wildfire and we were both left with Bob, Stannis, and another character. I finally found Black Cells at the very end and kept his Bob from participating in any challenges. Ended up winning by a couple power after time was called thanks to my Starry Sept hitting the board for the last 2 rounds. Win.

Semi-Finals - Aneil Seetharam Lion

I knew that this was the deck that ended up finishing king of swiss, but it seemed like a favorable matchup as his deck was full of big bodies. I set up Melisandre, Begging Bros, and a Roseroad against his Ser Gregor Clegane (TKP), Great Hall, and 2 Scouting Vessels. I knew that if those Scouting Vessels hit on a Gregor Trigger, I was in trouble. Luckily, I had Black Cells, a Rhollor chud, and Pinch in hand to start the game. A combination of kneel, Black Cells, and pinches allowed him to not make any meaningful challenges during the game. Ended up taking it down after flipping my King plot so he couldn't kneel my Black Cells with his Lordsport Shipwright during his YWoYD turn. Win.

Finals - Andras Fulop Qohor

This game was on stream, so you may be able to find it posted somewhere online. Another Baratheon on Baratheon match up (who wouldv'e thought I would have more games against Baratheon players than any other house in a WAR format). He set up Robert Baratheon (LMHR) and a rhollor chud, while I started a little slower. After a turn or two, he had Beric Dondarrion and a couple other characters surrounding his double duped Bob. My board consisted of Black Cells, multiple other locations, Robert Baratheon (FotS), and a couple Red Priests (stealing Melisandre and Azor Ahai Reborn). This is when I believe things took a turn for the worse. He was able to get 2 Qohor triggers off and Seized by the Guard my Black Cells with 4 bestow and milk my Bob. I was able to stall a bit with passive power from BW Rush and Chamber, but did not find Cressen quickly enough. Eventually, both our boards kept growing and he pushed through a big challenge to qohor for Azor Ahai and take the game. Loss.

Hope you enjoyed the read. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions or comments.