Holding the Wall 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

I'm new to the game - only played a handful of games prior to the OG Games Store Championship on the 24th. I'd built two decks: this and a Tyrell knights one. As I couldn't decide a coin toss meant I ended up playing this. It's not the most consistent deck, but I like the theme. Ideally you get The Wall out early then keep throwing bodies in the way to defend it. It doesn't matter if you win challenges so much as long as you can keep defending and gaining power. Benjen Stark, Street of the Sisters and Old Bear Mormont wielding Longclaw are other good ways of building power.

The plots are geared towards stalling your opponent's attacks. Filthy Accusations in particular is useful for stopping annoying characters and ones with stealth. Supporting the Faith is there because I was expecting some Lannister decks, and there ended up being four of them! It can also allow a sneaky Watcher on the Walls as with Fealty you can play it for free!

There were eight players total. First round was againstTargaryen/Banner of the Sun. I had a rubbish setup hand, mulliganed and didn't get anything better. My opponent got Daenerys out early and kept a strong position while my deck didn't get moving fast enough. He didn't see any of his 'kill events' but didn't need them as I was always behind him on the characters front, and he soon got enough power to win.

Second round against Lannister/Banner of the Rose. I got The Wall and Old Bear out early on in this game, along with a bunch of ranger characters. This was handy, because I got two copies of The Watcher on the Walls in my hand early on. The event got rid of several knights the first time it was used, and then a couple of turns later Jaime Lannister and Ser Gregor Clegane fell to it. With my opponent's high strength characters dead, I was easily able to amass power for the win.

Third round was against Lannister/Fealty. Neither of us had a great start but I did get The Wall during setup. I had all three The Watch Has Need first turn and I was able to use them to find some defenders. My oponent was playing passively, stalling my attacks but not attacking much himself and hadn't realised how quickly I was building power. I got to fourteen, and at that point he pulled out all the stops and managed to stop me from getting any more for four more turns. Yoren was a massive help for me towards the end here, getting a Red Cloaks to help me defend against all the stealth intrigue challenges going on. When I drew Longclaw and gave it to the Old Bear that sealed the game as while my opponent could win challenges by attacking he wouldn't have enough strength to defend afterwards and stop the renown from firing.

I ended up placing in third, and the deck worked far better than I thought it would, so I'm very happy with how things went. Supporting the Faith wasn't as useful as I'd hoped for shutting down Lannister shenanigans as I didn't need it in the second game and Tyrion hit play early in the third, but having six gold was great! I'd probably swap it out for a different plot in future games though.