Targ Fealty - Blood and Gold (Bristol SC Winning Deck) 1.0

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Winning deck at Bristol Store Championship 20/02/16 (20 players)

The Deck

Tested this deck for a few weeks leading up to the tournament and found it to be very reliable. With an aggressive start I was able to easily beat the popular decks of Greyjoy Fealty and Lannister/Anything. Some of the key elements to the deck are:

• Double Summons AND Counting Coppers: Targ lack a good form of card advantage, but with these three plots and Shadowblack Lane I was able to keep up with and even exceed some of the card draw of other factions I played against. The double Summons offers a lot of flexibility, with you able to assemble the Dany/Dragon Voltron quickly or toolbox for stand (Handmaiden, Magister Illyrio), draw/econ (Littlefinger) or attachment control (Viserys Targaryen/Rattleshirt's Raiders). The 9 limited cards and Fealty offset the low gold provided by Counting Coppers.

• No Confiscation: this plot is currently in 90% of decks, generally because people don't like the taste of milk. Daenerys Targaryen doesn't actually mind that beverage, as she still gains the Renown, Stealth and most importantly Stand from her babies. Khal Drogo is really the only good milk target, and if I'm able to do two challenges successfully, I'm probably already winning. Viserys Targaryen and the Rattleshirt's Raiders are there to deal with Seal of the Hand, Lightbringer and Heartsbane.

• Only one attachment: as said above, everyone is running Confiscation. Always great to make one of your opponents plots blank (or a negative effect if they are forced to discard their own attachment!).

• A fair few events: tempo is key and winning those important challenges each round is crucial; Dracarys!, Waking the Dragon and Fire and Blood all help in this regard. Tears of Lys kept up the pressure combined with Drogo, and Marched to the Wall. The Hand's Judgment was mainly used to cancel Risen from the Sea and opponents Judgements, though did also stop a few opposing Waking The Dragon's at key moments.

Tournament Report

Round 1: Win v GJ/Sun (Tony P) 1-0

This was a fairly brutal game, where my opponent's mulligan resulted in a Asha Greyjoy, The Kingsroad and The Seastone Chair setup compared to my The Roseroad, Drogon, Rhaegal and Handmaiden. A Marched and a Drogo swiftly followed which meant his one character he drew each round would be immediately slaughtered. Three unopposed challenges each round (due to the two challenges) and the game was quickly over.

Round 2: Win v Stark Fealty (Sam B) 2-0

This was a closer game, that was decided by a battle of brute force. Sam setup duped Sansa Stark, Syrio Forel and a Roseroad. My setup wasn't the best, a couple of Handmaidens, Drogon and a Roseroad also. I again opened with March here, as it gave Sam a tough choice. He chose to discard Syrio, which I believe was a mistake on his part. His Sneak Attack let him go first and he proceeded to play Robb Stark and Grey Wind. Excellent. I was able to play Drogo, Kingsroad and Viserion, and the threat of two challenges stopped him attacking. He did eat Viserion though (who came back shortly with Fire and Blood) and I was able to win one challenge, killing a Sansa dupe. Next turn I marshalled Plaza and Syrio and from there on out I was able to wittle away his board and claim the win.

Round 3: Loss v Tyrell/Lion (John H) 2-1

This game started off very similar to the previous two, with a very aggressive start putting John on the back foot (I had noted at this point how the real star had been Drogo and Dany had not been around). Eventually Drogo was milked and with not a Viserys in sight, I had to do a lowly one challenge each round. This allowed his Randyll Tarly w/Heartsbane to stick around and slowly accrue power. I managed 13 at one point, with John on 3/4 and then my draw dried up. Drawing both Fire and Blood in one Draw phase was a particular highlight, with no dead Hatchlings. Randyll alone slowly accumulated enough power for John to narrowly get a full win just as time was called.

Round 4: Win v GJ/Watch (Alastair B) 3-1

This was very similar to the first three games where a few brutal first rounds gave me too much of a lead on Alastair. He had Theon Greyjoy, Asha Greyjoy and some chud on turn one. Theon was dealt a Crown of Gold (rather than Asha encase he was holding Risen from the Sea). A challenge took care of the Iron Islands Fishmonger and then another Asha was Marched to the Wall.

4th and 5th places were determined by the final action of the last table playing in round 4. Time was called, with both players sitting at 14 and nobody winning dominance. However, The Tickler remained and pulled a Randyll Tarly from the opposing players deck, discarding his in-play copy sitting on 6 power. Mod Win and Mod Loss for the respective players swapped the 4th and 5th place SoS around (sorry Ryan K!). Squeaked into the top 4 cut in 4th place. Thank you Mr Tickle!

Top 4: Win v Lanni/Rose (Hugo H) 4-1

Hugo was king of the swiss, and I was slightly worried about this match up as I knew the pace and strength boost offered by the Rose package would make it a hard fight. I setup a couple of Handmaidens, some Loyalists and Ser Jorah Mormont. Not ideal. His setup included The Hound and Lannisport as well as some Lannisport Merchants. He opened with Calling the Banners, grabbing a nice amount of money and I opened with Summons, grabbing Khal Drogo. Looking at the board and sensing a possible Varys, I chose to only play a Plaza and a Braided Warrior, not Drogo. Varys did indeed arrive, and I believe was the only card Hugo played. I used Waking the Dragon on Ser Jorah to surprise defend Hugo's challenge, keeping Drogo secure in my hand and returning a cheap good character before the Varys, ready for the next round. Varys was triggered and with no economy on Hugo's side (Varys discarded all his Lannisport Merchants too) I was able to play Drogo round two and apply the pressure with him and Plaza, before Dany and the Dragons arrived to seal the deal.

Final: Win v Targ Fealty (Match W) 5-1

A mirror match final. We were both pretty sure this was going to come down to whoever got the Dany package or Drogo out first. I only had some of the cheap characters, Plaza, Unsullied and a Rhaegal by end of first turn marshalling. He also had some cheap guys, Viserion and Drogo. Gulp, it seemed he was off to the quicker start. Match played first, and left Drogo standing hoping to win a challenge on defence and stop Plaza of Punishment. Unsullied + Dracarys! however and Khal Drogo was gone. Plaza then took care of Viserion. This was starting to look up! I proceeded to play the next few rounds as defensively as possible, waiting for some of my big guys to arrive and holding onto a Dracarys! Match was about 6 power ahead of me when we both managed to play Daenarys on the same turn. He was first player and attacked with Daenerys Targaryen, as I had no dragons alive at this point and if I knelt Dany for Dracarys her -1 would stop and his Dany would survive. I did however have Fire and Blood, allowing me to get a Rhaegal back and kill his Dany. Both Drogo and Dany were killed in their first challenge! From there on I was able to ramp up the speed and accelerate on towards 15, playing my own Khal and Syrio Forel to wipe out any more characters he played. A few rounds later victory was mine!

Thanks to Excelsior Games for holding the event and the smooth running by TO Liam H who was brave and tested the new Jousting Pavilion site in tandem with AGoTTournament. Also a big thanks to each of my opponents on the day, you were all a pleasure to play against and I hope to see you at another event soon.