[Joust] Daenerys visiting Essos markets - Stahleck 2022 (5-3

Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
[2nd at French Nat]Daenerys and her Queensguard 28 16 9 1.0
Inspiration for
None yet.

Comm 48

Hi everyone !

This is the deck I brought to Stahleck 2022. I've ended with 5 wins for 3 losses.
It is surely not the best possible Targ deck, but it was very pleasant to play and I enjoyed each game until the end. Qohor offers a great flexibility and provides many options. The trick is to choose the one corresponding the best to your situation.

In this area, I was not well prepared because I did almost not practice the deck before the event (only 2 games) and I don't play much overall (I don't fancy online games), so I have a poor idea of the meta (I just expected that there would be many "big guys" decks). This made me discover some decks just as I was facing them, and led me to big (or bigger) mistakes, as you will see in my report.

I want to greatly thank my friends who helped me building and tweaking the deck:

Also, many thanks to the French mate who made the travel with me. It was great to play Melee in the train and it was comforting to have you around when we had so much trouble with German trains between Frankfurt and Bacharach.

Finally, my heartful thanks to all Stahleck organizers: it is amazing what you have accomplished to make us feel The Only Game That Matters is still alive and can still go live, even after FFG is gone, even after the pandemic! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

The Travel Plan (The Deck)

The main character is of course The True Queen. With all small dragons, being their Mother, wearing a nice silk attire and a shiny pin and leading her people away from their chains, she becomes scary! Even more when she's followed by some muscles in armor.

If Her Majesty finds Stahleck's weather too cold and rainy to show up (which is quite understandable), you can rely on a fearless warrior to lead you to victory. If he's facing the fate of all men, your last hope will be in loyal and seasoned hands.

Anyway, you must never forget to wander in the market of Meereen before you begin any trade with Qohor. You may find some protection or some tranquilizer for your opponent's pal or even a living treasure. Anything that will make a decent gift for your Queen. Even an incantation may be worth for Qohor's merchants. If you have any doubt, feel free to ask the fat man as he knows money can open almost any gate. And if you can't find any bargain, let them all go to hell.

After you have visited the richest city of the South, you can end your journey in Essos by taking a ship from the closest Free City. The captain will never leave without you and your ragged sibling.

The Journey (The Tournament Report)

No real problem in this game. I had a good start and was far ahead when time was called.
I thought I could reach 15 before the end, but revealing The Mad King's Command against The Black Cells was in fact not a good idea.

WIN 1-0

I've heard about this deck and knew it would be very difficult for me. But I screwed all my chances by myself with the biggest mistake I could make: attacking and winning a challenge while Werner had an Army with No Attachment on board!
For the rest of the game, my characters periodically gained the No Attachment keyword and lost any attachments they had.

LOSS 1-1

I reached about 8 without issue, while Ermengol was at 1 or 2. But then I made a big mistake: I thought I could have an easy challenge win by attacking in . But a The Prince's Plan and a Doran's Game (R) later, Ermengol gained 3 powers and I looked like an idiot.
On last round, We Guard the Way gave him lots of Renown but I made him first player so he didn't have much icons and I had good strength and Renown in and , thanks to Khal Drogo (Core) and Ser Barristan Selmy (FtR).
We were tied in at the end, but I had more cards in deck.

WIN 2-1

  • Round 4 - TeoOo (Italian) - Aloof And Apart

I anticipated a tough game. Soon I saw stealing Euron and then stealing Balon. But a Meereenese Market allowed to put valuable targets out of their reach.
In the meantime, Daenerys Targaryen (Core) collected attachments, with the help of her three sweet babies. I saw the power of Mother of Dragons at this time!
I also had small chumps to oppose each challenge, to prevent We Do Not Sow.
I won the game about 5 minutes before the time, before witnesses, which is quite an accomplishment for me :)

WIN 3-1

  • Round 5 - Ivan Ivanov (Bulgarian) - Banner of the Sun

I didn't know what to expect until I saw The Big Wall. From there, I was very worried and cautious because I had no idea of what card he could play or bring out of shadow (he had 4 of them).
Hopefully, I had 2 Meereenese Market so I could remove any character entering the discard pile before he used The Wall.
Ivan didn't have any character on the board but I didn't have many on my side so I was still getting power slowly.
On the turn I thought I would close the game (I had 11 powers, against 0 ), I made a big mistake (yes, another one).
He revealed Valar Dohaeris and I had Dany and Khal Drogo in play, both with dupes. My mistake was to make him first player. I chose Dany, so one copy of Khal was placed on the bottom of my deck and the other... in my discard pile. As Ivan was first player, he triggered The Wall before I could trigger Meereenese Market! How stupid I was!
I didn't draw many characters after that, and Ivan started to play some and to get some out of shadows. He even triggered his Breaking Ties (R) with my Khal Drogo...
I was still leading in power, though, so I won the game when the time was called.

WIN 4-1

Given my poor preparation and my current level of play, I hoped to make 4 wins. There I was. So from now on, each win would be a bonus and I was very relaxed.

Very pleasant game as Victor is a very nice guy.
On the board side, it was less pleasant for me as I didn't get any attachment on the 3 first rounds. In the meantime, Victor built a tower on... Alester Florent because he had no big guy :) But Azor Ahai Reborn and Renown from Disputed Claim made him big enough.
It was a no match for me.
Anyway, I'm glad that Victor reached Top 16. Fun fact: Victor has faced 5 French players in 10 games and his only 3 losses were again Frenchies :)

LOSS 4-2

  • Round 7 - chrisssie (Netherlander) - Fealty

The best game of the day !
Firstly because I was very pleased to meet Chris again. We were at the same Melee table the day before and he and his mate Max made it such a fun! Chris is really cool and friendly.
Secondly because I managed to return the game to win it.
The start was quite hard for me. I had Daenerys Targaryen (Core), Drogon (Core) and Rhaegal (Core) and other chumps.
But Winterfell and Catelyn Stark (Core) was blocking my Qohor in 2 challenges, Catelyn Stark (Core) and Grey Wind (FtR) prevented me to trigger Rhaegal (Core) and Bran Stark (Core) cancelled my first Gifts for the Widow (R). Also Grey Wind (FtR) and Arya Stark (Core) gave him too many Stealth to allow me to defend properly and didn't see Viserion (Core).
When Eddard Stark (WotN) arrived, I thought it would be my end. Chris reached 11 powers.
But I removed Eddard with 2 powers thanks to The Father. On the following (and last) round, I played The Mad King's Command which made Chris loose 3 more powers that on characters he didn't keep.
At the beginning of the challenge phase, he had Eddard Stark (WotN), Catelyn Stark (Core) and Arya Stark (Core) and I had Drogon (Core), Rhaegal (Core) and Daenerys Targaryen (Core), and "a few" attachments on her, including Mother of Dragons. I won 3 challenges with Dany, so this was 3 Renown and the claim and I also managed to trigger (at last) Qohor and put a Milk on Arya. With all of this, I was ahead in powers and Chris couldn't recover.
I really didn't expect this win but I was very happy to get through it.

WIN 5-2

Even if the last game would allow me to make the cut, I didn't feel any pressure. I would be proud to make it, of course. But I had already enjoyed my day, so whatever the result I would be happy.

I guess her Jousting page is rather Melle Gruber.
This was also a very pleasant game, as Melanie was very nice and friendly.
I thought I had a chance because I had a Dragon and 2 Dracarys! is hand. But the first one was cancelled by Someone Always Tells.
The second one dealt with Patchface but Ricasso was there with 4 or 5 gold tokens. This gave Melanie too much strength with The Prince's Plan, too much power grab with Doran's Game (R) and too much gold with In Doran's Name.
The only weak icon was and I had Khal Drogo, but I didn't want to attack and win this challenge because she had a Desert Raider (R) who would become a nightmare for me and she could also kill Jinglebell to get Shagwell, which would make my situation even worse.
In one round, I managed to trigger Qohor to put a Milk on Ricasso, but it was too late. Melanie was way ahead in power. She had a clean victory.
By the way, she reached Top 16 and I'm happy for her.

LOSS 5-3

Afterthoughts (The Changes)

As I said, I've been really happy to play this deck. The addition of Dracarys! (Alex's idea) was brilliant.

Maybe I'm a bit missing attachments, although Gifts for the Widow (R) may bring one and Blood Magic Ritual becomes one.
I definitely should add a copy of Seized by the Guard as it would have relived me from The Black Cells, Ghaston Grey, The Big Wall, Winterfell and other locations.

I've never used Close Call the whole day. It is a safety measure in case of an unexpected Valar Morghulis, but maybe I could replace it with a 2nd copy of The Father. This plot did great in each game. The better is when I use it on Viserys Targaryen (Core). So maybe, in this case, a 2nd copy of Viserys Targaryen (Core) would be good.

I'm not sure about Syrio's Training, Warrior's Braid and Khaleesi.

So there is a bit room for some changes.

If you have any thoughts, please share them in the comments.

And see you in Stahleck 2023 !!!

3 comments

Reader 292

Great report Comm, awesome detail. Some wonderful opponents.

argento 649

Congrats Comm, the Immortal !

Comm 48

Thank you guys :D

@Reader I wanted to talk to you during the week-end, but I missed you. I wanted to thank you for your Targ Mummers deck because this is the deck I've used in Melee, with some small variations. It was really fun to play, although I should have anticipated Karhold and added 1 or 2 Winter plots (I faced 2 HoD Karhold on Friday).