Taking of the Shields 1.0

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• 1.0

Hi there, this is my latest attempt to build a mill in post-FFG era. Although banning The Dragon's Tail (R) was really painful for the whole archetype, my playtests proved, that it can still be playable. In playtests I've won more than 10 games (all by mill) and lost 3. Among the milled opponents there were ofc fundecks, but also meta staples such as Targ Fealty/KotHH (burn) and Tyrell Aloof/Xing; also 1 Martell Valyrian Steel.

As for me, the consistent mill has to do 3 things.

1. Stall the game for all costs - it shouldn't let it's opponent grab more than 1-2 power per turn
2. Force draw for both players: it shortens opponent's deck and gives us all necessary toys
3. Make a difference with a little bit of pillage and Glass Candles

In terms of these 3 assumptions, this version - Tyrell/Kraken - is quite similar to my old Lanni/Greensight; in the current meta though I thought that Lanni version is too slow and innefective. It had it's advantages: old version of The Red Keep (DotE) stopped Citadel Archivists in taxation, Pyromancer's Cache was a good solution for Meereenese Markets in pre-Shadow of the East meta and so on; however this version depended on replaying constantly The Dragon's Tail. GJ version is more straightforward, having it's own location control and Drowned God Fanatics (R) and the best pillage characters, but after several attempts of GJ Greensight it has changed to GJ Rose and finally Tyrell Kraken.

As I've written, it is the latest version and I've played with it for ~15 games without changing too much. I have definitely some conclusions (described below), but overall it performed quite well.

Asha Greyjoy (KotI) and Stony Shore Raiders are relicts from the first draft, which was more focused on Raiders theme, included Euron Crow's Eye (R) and Silence (JS). Some location control is necessary, but I guess that you may easily reduce the number of Raiders or - possibly better - exchange them for Newly-Made Lords. Black Wind's Crew is just a cheap pillage guy and I guess they may be reduced to make place for more Nighttime Marauders (R), who are really awesome in the second half of the game. Emissary of the Hightower and Maester Gormon are also relicts of GJ/Rose version, where I had to put 12 Tyrell cards and decided to skip Left/Right. That being said, replaying A Gift of Arbor Red is nice and Maester Gormon is helping in later rounds, when I'm usually topdecking. All uniques are 1x mainly because I play my own Valar Morghulis and didn't want to rely on dupes; however if any of them is worth playing in more than 1 copy, it would be definitely Ghost of High Heart , then Tris Botley and then... Hagen's Daughter (she is incredibly efficient as a chump blocker and claimsoak). I missed sometimes Baelor Blacktyde and I think that he can easily replace for example Asha.

Non-characters cards are quite obvious. You may add The Inn at the Crossroads, but it's mostly just a one-time 3 cards draw, good opponent probably won't trigger it. As for plots, Uneasy Truce is obviously the best, but also The King in the North works really well. The least useful plot is Your King Commands It, but it also had it's moments; you can exchange it though for Champion's Challenge or maybe Fortified Position/A Game of Thrones (but I guess they were way better in Lanni version and in different meta).

Enjoy!