Stahleck Top 16 Martell MFG Sand Snakes 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This is the deck that won me a place in Top 16 joust and Overall World Champion in Stahleck.

How the deck works:

• Sand Snake theme with Dorea Sand Madness, Nymeria Sand (SoD) as a second intrigue claim in dominance phase and Elia Sand (JS) to pressure opponents with military claims.

• Venomous Blade and Dorea Sand to get rid of low cost characters and opening the way to claim the big ones.

• I was playing You Win Or You Die as restricted, but The Father was a must with Dorea Sand

• Brimstone + At the Palace of Sorrows (R) to counter burn, especially when Daenerys Targaryen (TFM) is in play.

• The Many-Faced God gives mainly the sand snake trait or military icons. Thenns are added instead of Poor Fellows as they won't get burned with Blood of the Dragon and 3 keywords ( Assault - Pillage - No attachent except Weapons)

Games:

• Round 1 - Bye

• Round 2 Win vs Dagga Stark Fealty. I remember that Dagga played an interesting deck with mainly Stark Ladies and Sansa's Maid. Starfall and military claims slowed her down enough for me to get the upper hand and win the game.

• Round 3 Win vs Reinhard Targ Brotherhood. His deck was simply amazing with a lot of intimidate and insight. No matter how many cards I discarded with intrigue and Nymeria Sand (SoD), he always had a lot of cards in hand. I remember a crucial moment in last round, when he gave intimidate instead of renown with his agenda. He made a military challenge with 6. I had Brimstone in play and I could oppose only with Balerion 1str and Obara Sand (SoD) 5str. MFG made Balerion a sand snake and he opposed with 2str, saving Obara Sand (SoD) from kneeling. Reinhard reached 14 power that round (therefore the mistake giving intimidate instead of renown and him winning the game). I reached 14 power in my turn and we were tying with 1 gold in dominance. Brimstone returned a sand snake to my hand and I won with 2-1 gold in dominance. Crazy game!!

• Round 4 Win vs WQB Stark Fealty. I had first round Elia Sand (JS) in play and I started pressuring him with military claims. 2nd Plot, he had way more military str than me. My memory is a little foggy here. I believe that I returned 2 characters with The Father and Ghaston Grey. Next plot At the Palace of Sorrows (R), so I could start the military pressure again, which won me the game.

• Round 5 Loss vs Lennart Martell Rains. His deck was faster than mine and he had many ways to find Secret Schemes and Doran's Game (R). His Ser Cletus Yronwood made sure, I went first all the time. War Scorpion kept in check my Elia Sand (JS), so it was over.

• Round 6 Win vs Xelcor Tyrell White Book. I knew that if I let Kingsguard build their board, it was over. Therefore, I started the military pressure early. Thankfully, I avoided a House Florent Knight from discarding my The Red Viper (SoD) in At the Palace of Sorrows (R) turn. I kept the bigger board after 2 The White Swords and surviving The First Snow of Winter. He played no other reset, so I won the game.

• Round 7 Loss vs Peter Shuck Targ Prince. His dothraki deck was unique and not highly dependent on military claims. He made sure to avoid military claims as much as possibly and making Vengeance for Elia kind of useless. His The First Snow of Winter destroyed my setup and I had only 3 or lower cost characters in my hand. I never managed to come back, so it was game over for me.

• Round 8 Win vs Dominik Haas Stark Brotherhood. I managed to pressure him with attrition through military claims, Ghaston Grey, Starfall, The Father and Dorea Sand. After his hand was empty, he was relying on Top Deck draw. I got my sixth win and a place in Top 32.

• Top 32 Win vs James Waumsley Baratheon Fealty. I had a great setup with The Red Viper (SoD) and The Kingsroad. James had first round Shireen Baratheon (Core), Poor Fellows and Robert Baratheon (FotS), which terrified me, since he can destroy my deck. I had The Red Viper (SoD), Obara Sand (SoD) and 1-2 low cost characters. James passed challenges. I made a military with Obara Sand (SoD) thinking that he might want a power on Robert Baratheon (FotS). Fat Bob was the only defender and Elia's Lance came in rescue, returning Fat Bob back to his hand. Then, I made power with every other character. James defended with only one character thankfully. I didn't use intimidate from The Red Viper (SoD) and therefore I was losing dominance with 1 str. Obara Sand (SoD) brought in play Nymeria Sand (SoD) and I made intrigue challenge to discard target Fat Bob, but I discarded a location. I lost dominance and I had a second chance with Nymeria and Bingo. Fat Bob was discarded. Next plot, I opened The Father and a second copy of Fat Bob came in play but no duped, so The Father returned him back again and I survived another round. In this round His Viper Eyes discarded his only character in hand Ser Imry Florent. Afterwards, he drew only locations. His Wildfire Assault killed my Thenns and The Red Viper (SoD) had each round through MFG Assault, Pillage and No attachment except Weapons. Assault's target was always Storm's End (BtB) and I could apply always military pressure. As a result I won the game. I have to point out that James was exhausted from climbing the stairs in a hurry and not having eaten yet, which might made him do a few mistakes.

• Top 16 Loss vs Lennart Martell Rains. Lennart again. I knew that the main strategy of my deck couldn't win against his deck, so I had to improvise. I opened with Marched to the Wall to discard his Desert Raider (R) and him going first. Ghaston Grey on Arianne Martell (PoS) and Nightmares on Meadowlark. Then, military attack with my Desert Raider (R) with Choosing the Spear to kill Ricasso and discard a dupe from Mellario of Norvos. His The Water Gardens + The Prince's Plan gave military icon on Mellario, which made me lost the double military claim. Afterwards, it was over, since I couldn't catch up. Congrats to lennart for becoming Joust World Champion 2023!

I was my pleasure fighting in Stahleck, meeting old friends and getting to know new ones. I am looking forwards to the next Stahleck in 2024 and getting to see everyone in person again!