Vengeance for....ME!!! w/Deck Explanation & Report (2x GNK W 1.0

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After winning the Rugby GNK 4-0 (http://thronesdb.com/deck/view/156760), instead of dismantling the deck as I usually do, I thought I'd try and improve it. There seems to be a demand for sharing decklists and a thirst for knowledge so I thought I'd just post my thoughts and why I made the changes I made. The changes were;

-1 Sneak Attack +1 Varys's Riddle -1 Edric Dayne +1 Quentyn Martell -1 Harmen Uller +1 Pyromancers -1 Knights of the Sun +1 The Red Viper -1 Syrio Forel +1 The Red Viper -1 Venomous Blade +1 Doran's Game

Varys's Riddle - I put this in over Sneak Attack as I felt it still gave me enough gold and initiative control, but also gave me adequate protection from Marched to the Wall seeing as I have only 14 cards that are 3 cost or under for setup. As it happened, I never had to use Varys's Riddle for that reason, and so it became just another plot to control initiative and cement myself as 2nd player.

Quentyn Martell - I added another Quentyn to the deck as his ability to give you a 3 vs 2 advantage post Wildfire is excellent. Failing that, the 5 STR and stealth is pretty good too,

Pyromancers - In testing, the biggest problems for the deck were those that didn't attack you much. This generally means dominance tech, or The Wall. Adding Pyromancers is a silver bullet really just in case you come up against those decks. In practice, I did come up against a Wall deck, had Pyromancers discarded for intrigue claim, and won the game anyhow with resets and attachment control.

The Red Viper - I said before that The Red Viper was not a key card in the deck. Yet I felt I was lacking some fast power gain once board supremacy was ensured. The Viper's super renown can help to speed that up.

Doran's Game - Same with the Viper above. A 1x card to help power gain, as games can go to 6/7 plots. It is generally easy to trigger out of Martell, except perhaps against Lannister. Not essential, but was very helpful when I drew it.

GNK Scores were;

4-0 Rugby GNK (Winner - 16 players)

3-1 Stevenage GNK (5th - 14 players)

5-1 Northampton GNK (Winner after 3-1 swiss, cut to Top 4 - 16 players)

Round 1 - Adam East, Martell banner of the Watch - WIN

Adam was playing his disgusting troll deck where he sits back and does nothing whilst accruing power with The Wall whilst stripping icons with Nymeria Sand and the Martell attachments. Unfortunately for him, Benjen Stark ate Tears early on and once his big character had gone, The First Snow of Winter meant he couldn't defend the Wall after his board was wiped.

Round 2 - Chris Booch, Stark Fealty - WIN

I was fairly nervous about this game, as I'd never played him but knew he is highly regarded by his own meta-mates from Stoke. I had drawn my Imprisoned and Nymeria Sand to neuter The Blackfish, but there was the problem of Catelyn Stark (WotN) still on the board. After a Ghaston Grey into a Vengeance for Elia, I managed to get her alone, with the intention to play Marched to the Wall. Booch however sacrificed Winterfell Heart Tree to protect her from it. Instead I played The First Snow of Winter into A Time For Wolves and he was unable to fill the board before the inevitable Marched in the following round.

Round 3 - Callum Gillespie, Baratheon Fealty - WIN

Callum had won the Stevenage GNK the day before with Lanni Kraken, so I knew he would be a tough opponent. Unfortunately for him, Robert Baratheon took Tears of Lys in the opening round and he ultimately didn't recover from the tempo hit, despite managing to prolong the game for quite a few rounds. Not being able to find Stannis Baratheon (Core) with Summons left him with too much to do, and I eventually took the game after clearing the board.

Round 4 - Rob Seymour, Tyrell Summer - LOSS

Rob is another good player from Stoke (do they have bad players?) playing Tyrell Summer with lots of Knights. I felt calm and comfortable with the board state, managing to get Tears through on The Knight of Flowers to leave him with a board of chuds compared to my 3 4/5 costers. Naturally, I played The First Snow of Winter, which Rob excellently countered with Forgotten Plans. He later managed to play Close Call and bring back The Knight of Flowers, but Nymeria Sand and Imprisoned were doing serious work. A few rounds and two A Tourney for the King later, Rob took the game with an all-in military with his army of Knights. Sad times.

2nd in Swiss - Cut to Top 4

Top 4 - Dave Bamford, Targaryen Lord of the Crossing - WIN

I don't remember too much about this game. I do recall he had Khal Drogo Aggo Jhogo and Rhaegal out early compared to my lacklustre board. Dave was reluctant to run Khal Drogo into my Ghaston Grey so instead I Ghaston'd Aggo and he killed Rhaegal for military claim. I decided that I did not want to put up with Bloodrider shenanigans so I played Marched to the Wall so that he would lose Jhogo, even though I had to lose a Palace Spearman. Dave replayed Aggo and was quickly Imprisoned and Attainted and I managed to replay another Ghaston Grey. A couple of Fire and Blood and Dracarys! later meant that Nymeria Sand and one of my 4 costers were toast quickly after hitting the board.

Entering the 6th round, Dave is still comfortably ahead in the power stakes about 12-5. I do however have a duped The Red Viper with Knights of the Sun and other nameless characters. Dave has imprisoned Rakharo, Khal Drogo, iconless Aggo (lol), and Rhaegal (Fire and Blooded for the second time!). I had been holding on to my 1x Doran's Game since setup and managed to win my intrigue challenge with The Red Viper and Greenblood Trader against his Rhaegal by 5 STR. This allowed me to finally Tears Khal Drogo and play Doran's Game for some beautiful power, which clawed my way back into the game. After the death of Khal Drogo, I managed to pull of a huge military challenge in the following round with Viper and friends to seal the win.

Final - Chris Booch, Stark Fealty - WIN

Sadly for Chris, the final went the same way as our Swiss game. Ghaston Grey and Nymeria Sand and Imprisoned were controlling his movements, and the end of round 2 left him with just The Blackfish against Quentyn Martell, Nymeria Sand, and a Palace Spearman. I played Wildfire, thinking I could win initiative and go second, thus using Quentyn to kill the Blackfish and clear his board. Chris played Summons. So I had a Catch 22 situation where if I went first, Quentyn Martell cannot kill The Blackfish, but if I go second, Chris may find a duplicate and foil my plan. I chose to go second, and Chris of course opted to Summon first and found his Blackfish dupe! Needless to say, Quentyn did not die in Wildfire this game. Chris managed to come back a little with Eddard Stark (WotN) and Arya Stark (Core) but the icon control proved to restrictive, and I took home the win.

So, would I still change anything about the deck? Yes... I'm not so happy about the location control. 1x Pyromancers is not enough, especially without the ability to tutor for it. Out of the two losses, one came from being outplayed by Rob with Forgotten Plans, and the other was against Baratheon banner of the Watch piloted by Bek at Stevenage, which outraced me with The Iron Throne, Chamber of the Painted Table and The Wall.