Bow to CameronD, the King in the North! (SC Winner) 1.0

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• 1.0

First things first, major props to CameronD, who built and piloted an extremely similar pile to three (3)(III)(!!!) Store Championship victories. Your dog can eat my fingers any day.

I wanted to publish this not to share the decklist, but to write a mini- tourney report and catalog it somewhere. Plus, maybe I can contribute to the Stark Fealty conversation.

As with all of my successful decks, this started as a build for my girlfriend. She really likes to win, preferably in explosive fashion. Usually with rush decks. 15-0 or 0-15 is her mantra. I figured a super murder-y, aggressive, kill-every-character-and-cackle-at-your-crestfallen-boyfriend kind of deck would suit her well. In went 3x Winter Is Coming, 3x Put to the Sword, 3x Grey Wind, etc. It's amazing what clarity building a deck for somebody else can bring.

Now, I've been extremely busy with theater work throughout the SC season. The few games I've snuck in had been with said death deck. So, when the opportunity finally arose to play in a SC, I wanted to take something I was at least somewhat comfortable with. Given that this would be my once chance to take home a beautiful (seriously) Tyrell playmat, I hopped on thronesdb the night before the tournament for inspiration and found Cameron's list.

This led to a few key changes that I ended up being pretty happy with. Chiefly, Direwolf Pup was swapped for Hedge Knight and Like Warm Rain was replaced with Wolf Dreams. This made the deck a bit more consistent, and it took some outside-the-box thinking on Cameron's part. I also dropped a second Marched to the Wall for a Sneak Attack. In tight games, this proved to be an especially useful plot swap. The overall result was was a near-carbon copy of CameronD's deck. Not the usual stupid, janky, 20-events-why-not deck I like to mess around with, but a puppy-fueled meat grinder. Ew.

The SC was at a spiffy new spot called Tabletop Shop in Newington, CT. I caught up with fellow New Hampshire-ites Devin and Tonya, then the four rounds of Swiss got underway.

I don't remember the names of some of my opponents, so I took wild guesses and liberally applied nicknames.

Round 1 - Shawn the Iron Reaver (?!) - Greyjoy Fealty

First turn was a wash. I had everybody's favorite 15-year-old, Robb Stark, out with some chuds. Shawn had my buddy Balon out with a couple Scouting Vessels errr Raiding Longships. I managed to pull a Risen from the Sea for claim. This would be important later! I misplayed slightly and missed a Robb trigger that would have netted me dom. (I blame all early morning play mistakes on working in theater, where the day doesn't start until noon.) Shawn lamented not seeing enough economy to keep up with my military pressure. Turn 2, he used a second Risen to save Balon from mil claim and keep a big enough board for Marched protection. So, on turn 3, when Robb took his daddy's sword and swung at Balon, Shawn had no answers left. It was basically over from there. We spent the rest of the round talking about how freaking cool House Greyjoy is. I won extra cool points because I have a bunny rabbit named Asha Greyjoy. (W, 1-0)

Round 2 - Devin the Granite Statesman - Lannister Banner of the Sun

Devin lives like 15 minutes from me! AGOT is so cute, bringing people together. This game was locked up. He had Tywin and tons of chuds. My long plan was to target-kill Tywin and then Wildfire. It all came down to one crucial turn. I really wanted to Ice Tywin. I had the military presence, including Robb with Sword and Lady, but no answer for Treachery. I played Summons looking for Bran, but no dice. Grabbed Catelyn Stark instead, with a Winterfell Kennel Master in my hand. My challenges, I moved Lady to Cat, declared a military challenge, hopped Cat in, won, tried to Ice Tywin, Devin went to play Treachery, I said, "Catelyn is in the challenge," and he groaned. He realized he could have used Treachery on the Lady move had he anticipated the kill. From there, I was able to Wildfire down, maintain pressure, and seal the win despite a few late mistakes. Props to Devin for slugging it out. He's had a great SC season and has taken home like seven Tyrell mats. (W, 2-0)

Round 3 - Charlie on Fire (?!) - Targaryen Fealty

Nobody I play with likes Targ because we're a bunch of fucking hipsters and Dracarys! is too good. Thus, I often forget their tricks. For example, turn two I should have killed Viserion pre-challenges with Grey Wind to prevent a Dracarys; instead, I realized a second too late and Sansa died. Oh well. Could have been a more important character, and it was a nobler fate than what the stupid HBO show has done to her. I was busy with lots of challenge math. His board was five big characters all with military icons, and I desperately wanted to force an Ice + Winter is Coming challenge through. Turn 3, he Accused Robb of Filthy things, so Robb needed to have a lie down. Bran got mad, charged in, and was scourged to death in the Plaza of Punishment. All according to plan. This meant that Robb could wake up, win a big military challenge, Ice Khal Drogo, and kill a couple of other dudes. I was able to totally wipe the board next turn. All of the military challenge math took a while, so we were running short on time. Charlie thinks he could have managed a tie in power if he had played for it rather than a win, but I had one billion cards in my hand, five characters on the board to his none, and a 11-6 lead in power when time was called. Also, he was the T.O./judge for the event, so thanks for running things smoothly! (Mod W, 3-0)

Round 4 - Eeyore Different Shawn (?!) - Targaryen Fealty Again

I think this guy's name was Shawn too, though it seems unlikely and is probably my unfortunately-human brain farting all over the place. The first thing he said was how he was going to lose and that he always went 3-0, lost in the last game, and missed top four due to SOS. This took a lot of pressure off, because I would be very happy for him to win. Poor guy. Alas, I thoroughly dominated this game, drew everything I needed, killed like seven characters, wiped his board turn two, and won in ten minutes. Eeyore Different Shawn came in 5th based on SOS. Sad times. (W, 4-0)

So boom! SC swag. You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to win a rubberized card game play mat with a depiction of a sewing circle.

Devin came in 2nd, 3rd was a Greyjoy Fealty, and 4th was a Lanni Banner Rose.

Thoughts on the deck:

-Ice, Grey Wind, and Catelyn are all MVPs

-I think its worst matchup is a Lanni hand destruction deck with Varys

-I really underrated Syrio when he first came out. He's outstanding.

-Finding Tears answers is important, be it a dupe, Little Bird, Bran, or Catelyn. It might mean delaying Robb or Grey Wind for a turn

-Still not sure on Rodrik. He works best when you're ahead. If you're ahead, you're probably going to win with this deck.

PROPS:

-Tabletop Shop and the T.O. Clean, well-stocked, spacious, lots of natural light

-Devin and Tonya LIVE FREE OR DIE

-All of my opponents for being super nice and cool and fun and dreamy

-CameronD and his tough meat!

-My GF for being the most insightful AGOT mind in the world

SLOPS:

-Me for netdecking

-Me for not playing something sillier

-Me for play mistakes

-Me for writing toolish TRs