Please help with new beginner-built deck: House Martell, Fea

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jpurquico 1

I was hoping to gain some feedback for this Martell, Fealty deck I built. I haven't played GoT card game very long so I would really appreciate it if you shared some strategies when it comes to playing House Martell. Tell me which cards to add, remove, which cards go well with other cards, etc. Also, I don't have Taking the Black and Calm Over Westeros.

I chose a Martell, Fealty deck because I really like the Martells' "disabling" effects (i.e. removing icons, preventing challenges, etc.) and also their late game potential (with Doran's Game, Dawn, and Doran Martell). Also, as a beginner, I don't really feel comfortable with mixing houses until I master one house, but I am eyeing a Martell/Night's Watch deck.

Thanks guys!

Anyway, here's the reasoning for my chosen cards:

I put 3x Arianne Martell because she can ideally switch with Areo Hotah, Nymeria Sand, or Palace Spearman during the Challenges Phase. If the opponent is the first player, this would really put me in a good situation as I can do an "ambush"-like marshaling with Arianne's card effect.

For Harmen Uller, I put 3 of him for likelihood of draw because of his card effect which would make the Sand Snakes cheaper to marshal with ambush.

The 2 main of my deck are Nymeria Sand and Tyene Sand as their combo is pretty good so I put 3 of them each. I also put 3x Attainted and 2x Confinement to complement Tyene Sand.

I put 2x Obara Sand because she's pretty cheap to marshal and she gains a icon when defending.

For The Red Viper I put 3x of him because it's a pretty good value considering most 7-cost cards have STR less than cost.

I put only 2x Doran Martell because I consider him more of a late game so putting 2x instead of 3x will decrease the likelihood of getting him early game. Same reasoning goes for Doran's Game, In Doran's Name, and Dawn.

I put 1x Maester Caleotte because of his card effect, and 1x Quentyn Martell because I thought he costs too much for low STR (but I am considering adding a duplicate in place of another).

3x Desert Scavenger, 3x House Dayne Knight, and 3x Palace Spearman are my go-to non- low-cost character cards.

For the , I put Littlefinger for the gold, Varys as a trump card, and Wildling Horde for its good value. I put 2x Milk of the Poppy to remove effects of characters like Sansa Stark (Core), Stannis Baratheon (Core), or Tywin Lannister (Core).

For , I put as much cost-reducers and gold modifiers as I can since Martell cost a lot to marshal. 1x Sunspear and 1x Ghaston Grey are situational cards that need me to lose challenges so I'm not really keen on increasing the likelihood of drawing these two, but they are still pretty good.

I put 2x Tears of Lys just in case Tyene Sand gets killed and 2x Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken for when I'm in a pinch.

For my , as I mentioned, a lot of the Martell cost 5 and above gold so I put Trading with the Pentoshi and 2x Summer Harvest. I put Winter Festival for that early game power gain (but still thinking if it's a good idea, otherwise I might put another A Noble Cause or Confiscationation). Then A Noble Cause to reduce the cost of The Red Keep, Doran Martell, Arianne Martell, or Quentyn Martell. Confiscation to get rid of and Rebuilding to reuse discarded or save other discarded cards.

6 comments

Greak 1

i would take out Dawn Doran's Game In Doran's Name Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken Obara Sand Rebuilding i have my doubts for this card Ghaston Grey is 3 cards always this card is a killer you either go full Varys or none His Viper Eyes is an amazing event to punish Vengeance for Elia is always brutal

jpurquico 1

@Greak thanks for your feedback! I'd like to know more about the reason for taking out the cards you mentioned. Also, if I sacrifice Ghaston Grey, will I still be able to use its copies (same for Varys)? Unfortunately, I don't have Vengeance for Elia because I don't have Calm Over Westeros but if I did I'd put it in my deck for sure.

ashleym 1

@jpurquico AFAIK, for cards as long as they're not "dead" you can keep playing them. The only difference between non- and cards is whether they stack or not. Since , , and never "die," there is a point in having x3.

Are 2x Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken a decent trade-off considering the (un)likelihood of encountering "may initiate one additional [type] challenge" more than once?

If you like going second and stealing icons, maybe add more Maester Caleotte. You can deliberately lose a challenge, kneel Sunspear and maybe even play His Viper Eyes to prevent an Ambush or , and win the same challenge as attacker to gain 2 Power + possible Renown or unopposed bonuses. Net power gain is always > 1. More useful in a pinch than Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken, IMO. Plus you can do it more than once.

Greak 1

Ghaston Grey if you have 3 in hand play 1 sacrifice it then you can use another one. duping it means you'll lose the card and the dupes.

NikolaP 61

Lets see characters first. If you wanna go with Doran Martell, then you could go with 2x Arianne Martell, 1x Quentyn Martell, 1x Harmen Uller is enough, 2 or 3 The Red Viper, even 1x Edric Dayne. 3 cost characters are not that hot right now, because of The First Snow of Winter, but Maester Caleotte and Obara Sand are good at 1x. Tyene Sand is good at 2x, since you already have a lot of 6 costers. Take Varys and Wildling Horde out for the same reason. Have in mind that you should have around 50% of your chars cost 3 or lower.

Locations: Ghaston Grey is definitely 3x. That's the best Martell card IMO. Sunspear is ok if you know you will be the first player, but we'll go over that when we get to plots. :) The Iron Throne is not needed.

You should get Taking the Black and Calm over Westeros since every Martell card from those two is good, especially Vengeance for Elia.

Events: Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken is weakest here. Try 2x The Hand's Judgment, 1 or 2 Nightmares. In Doran's Name is probably fine at 1, but should be taken out if you don't have room. Doran's Game is good when you play Doran, so leave 1, maybe even try second copy. As someone mentioned above, His Viper Eyes is also good, but deck space is limited.

Attachments: Milks are very good right now, Dawn is ok at 1 copy, but could be taken out, try icon removing attachments if you find room. Always try not to have more than 15-ish non-setup cards (negative attachments and events).

Now, plots are very important, especially for Martell, since we usually like to go second, so high initiative is important. If you get Taking the Black, The Long Plan is generally good opener, or in this deck A Noble Cause. I haven't played Summer Harvest yet, but it could probably replace Noble cause (higher initiative). Other important plots are Confiscation, Wildfire Assault, The First Snow of Winter with followup Marched to the Wall, Calling the Banners, Counting Coppers if you feel you need more draw. Some good plot combos are The Long Plan into Counting Coppers or The First Snow of Winter, the one that's really devastating is The First Snow of Winter+Ghaston Grey+Vengeance for Elia on a military challenge, then Marched to the Wall next turn.

CMonster907 21

I would say you might need a couple more cheap characters and a couple less expensive ones. I would suggest doing some test draws to figure out what kind of setups you'll be getting. With 24 characters that cost 4+ it'll be tough to consistently get the types of setups you want. I always shoot for consistently gettig at least 2 characters and hopefully a location out. Marched to the Wall is a pretty common plot and starting with a draw of all expensive characters means who ever you put out has a high chance of being shipped off immediately.

I really dig both Greenblood Trader and Bastard Daughter for some other cheap Martell cards. The Trader lets you pretty effectively dig for the important cards you need (especially when they get sent back to hand with how many people play First Snow of Winter). Bastard Daughter is great as mil claim soak. If they have an important card in hand it might even be enough to spare the mil challenge entirely.

Also ditto on what other people are saying about Ghaston Grey. As much as the effect is great, the deterrent factor can keep you in games. Houses like Greyjoy are often cutting it close on their gold so sending an Asha or Balon back to hand can be pretty crushing (especially if you do it more than once). This also means having a second Ghaston in hand for after you use the first one can be big. You currently have 6 econ plots. Switching 1 out for a Building Orders or Summons could be very helpful for finding your decks best pieces. Adding a couple utility plots can have some big impacts.

Also, its important to decide on how to close a game and what plots/cards are really good for that. Often times you'll find by turns 5, 6, or 7 you'll start getting low on cards in hand and have the econ locations out so you don't need a 5 gold plot. A 2 claim plot, A Clash of Kings, Heads on Spikes (to work with a late game Ghaston Grey) are all decent ways of late game power gain to push you over the top. The Red Viper and Doran's Game are also good for this. So Summons to get the Viper or more copies of Doran's Game in over In Doran's Name or Unbent Unbowed Unbroken could help you get those in hand or on the table when you need them.