The Lady and the Lords of Lannister (Rochester Regional) 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Pre-Tournament Thoughts:

The process of building and testing this deck actually started a few weeks ago. The first version of this was with Banner of the Lion using "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" with The Tickler and Ser Gregor Clegane.

However, while sometimes fun, the deck was a bit clunky and too situational for my liking. So, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Moved to with Banner of the Rose and still trying to Tickle and Mountain with TBATMF. Even with the added benefits of loyal Lanni cards, the deck floundered without Olenna's Cunning and Shadowblack Lane to search.

Dropped the Rose and went with TLOTC. The first few plays had no attachments and still included both The Tickler x3 and Ser Gregor Clegane x2. Dropped both Mountains and one Tickler for three Gold Cloaks and the other Tickler was replaced with The Queen's Assassin.

Casterly Rock Rock and Lannisport I found to often just ended up sitting in my hand. So, after taking three copies of each out, to help with some control, I added back in Shadowblack Lane to mine for Treachery and Trial by Combat.

To help against potential trouble, especially Baratheon, I broke down and added Seal of the Hand and Milk of the Poppy.

This did effect the Plot Deck, as the Attachmentless deck had Weapons at the Door and no Confiscation, instead, hoping an opponent's Confiscation would hurt them more than impact me/making it a dead card.

Finally, to hopefully offset any potential fist turn Naval Superiority plots, I've been running Calm Over Westeros as my first plot choice. We'll see how that plays out.

Since this will be my first tournament for Thrones, and coming from a smaller meta, I have no real expectation of doing well, but hope to at least stay competitive in some games (hence playing Lannister), see/learn what others are doing, and have some fun.

Post-Tournament Thoughts:

First and foremost; awesome store and awesome tournament. If you're ever in Rochester I highly recommend stopping by Millennium Games. Big thanks to Travis and Jim for hosting/running.

The tournament had 44 players for six rounds before the cut.

Round 1: Actually paired with someone I knew back in college who I hadn't seen in seven or eight years. He was playing Lanni/Sun and within the first turn had out Tywin Lannister, but I jumped out to an early lead (10-2), however, a couple of misplays on my part, he came roaring (pun intended) back. The shot that sunk my battleship was his Nymeria Sand blanking Tyrion Lannister's and then getting hit with Tears of Lys. Unable to get my own Tywin out, the game ended up 15 to 10 (I think) . Result: 0-1

Round 2: This was /Banner of the Lion and he had out Khal Drogo and Ser Jaime Lannister to my Tywin Lannister, Ser Jaime Lannister, and The Hound. Game was back and forth, but I got Seal of the Hand on Tywin Lannister for a turn or two before he hit Confiscation, so Tywin did Tywin renown things and got the win before he could get Mirri Maz Duur to hit. Result: 1-1.

Round 3: This was a straight mirror match. /Fealty vs. /The Lord of the Crossing. He was able to get Tywin out turn one with Cersei Lannister while I had to settle for Cersei Lannister and Tyrion Lannister. As is often the case in Lanni mirror, when you get Ty out first, you win. He rolled easily to a 15 - 1 victory. I had some fatigue set in starting this match and twice tried to play two Limited cards. That was only slightly embarrassing. Result: 1-2

Round 4: This was the /Banner of the Kraken. I set up Tywin Lannister, Lannisport Merchant, and The Roseroad. He mulliganed into no characters and was able to get Tyrion Lannister out, but only Tyrion Lannister at the end of the first turn, and later Cersei Lannister, but I got Ser Jaime Lannister and either Cersei Lannister or Tyrion Lannister. I cruised to victory, but fully admit it was just an absolute high variance game/outlier of a game. It very easily could've gone the other way. Result 2-2.

With four games down and no legitimate outside shot of making the cut, decided to drop and start making the three hour trek home a little early.

My Take-Aways:

While I anticipated a high number of decks, I didn't think I'd play against the Lion in every game. It actually made the tournament a little redundant, playing them my own self as well.

Having Brothel Madame played against me so often made me wish I had left her in instead of putting in Crossroads Sellsword, which I used only once. She definitely ruined the math of some of my events as I needed to hit all three challenges for Crossing.

Tears of Lys is a dead card for Lanni when playing Lanni, I don't think I used it once.

I don't think I have a need to play at this high of a level with this game, at least in its early stages, as it has the ability to swing a lot. However, if I do go to a Regional again, I would like to play-test more than I did. I think that's absolutely key and one of the big things I didn't get enough of, at least enough variety.

Definitely ready to try out some non- decks too, but overall a really great experience.