2016 Canadian Nationals Top 16 - Rush & Control

Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
House Martell, Banner of the Wolf: Attempted Recreation of G 6 6 0 1.0
Inspiration for
None yet.

cadupa96 82

Heavily inspired by the deck played by the DC Meta at GenCon, I piloted this deck during the 2016 Canadian Nationals, managing to make the top 16 (top Martell deck of the event). Basic of the deck is pretty simple: control the board with your attachments and win power challenges. The deck felt very strong overall, but this particular build possess a serious weakness against Baratheon, which is a deck I did not expect to be this popular, and is the only deck I lost to during the event (two games in the Swiss and my top 16 match).

For a detailed tournament report, I was a guest in the 2nd episode of the Kings in the North podcast, so if you're interested you can listen to it at www.kingsinthenorth.com. https://soundcloud.com/user-302837482?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=facebook

Round 1: Lannister/Dragon (W) 1-0

Round 2: Baratheon/Fealty (L) 1-1

Round 3: Baratheon/Fealty (L) 1-2

Round 4: Greyjoy/Fealty (W) 2-2

Round 5: Lannister/Kraken (W) 3-2

Round 6: Greyjoy/Fealty (W) 4-2

Top 16: Baratheon/Fealty (L)

Feel free if you have any questions.

11 comments

Loras Tyrell 316

Love it! I would like to ask you a couple of questions: why not ward? Seems awesome and one of the main reasons why I am looking at Martell banner Wolf. Secondly, what did Boneway do for you? I have tried it a bit, but it almost always feels like I would rather draw into something else... maybe it is a better fit in this deck? Finally, I see you didn't face any Targ, do you think it would be as horrible a matchup as I think? :D

cadupa96 82

@Loras TyrellWhen I playtested I was always stuck with Ward in my hand, wanting to play other things instead (4 gold is a lot if you're not running Trading, which I replaced by Summer Harvest). Also, against Lanni I find it so-so, if they don't screw up by marshalling The Hound the only other good targets are their 1x Pycelle and 1x Cersei. In hindsight though, I think removing it was a mistake. It would have countered Bara by stealing their Cressen and can be useful overall.

Boneway was a card that was always useful for me. When you draw it early it's impressing how quick you accumulate Vengeance Tokens, and is very in the optic of the deck, which is to gain power as quick as possible.

Finally for Targ, you are absolutely right it is a really bad match-up, but it's not a well represented house in Canada, so that's one of the reason I chose this deck for the Nationals. At one point I was running A Song of Summer to help me against that faction, but decided to remove it in the end.

TheBrianFactor 7

When accounting for which Martell attachments to use, why have you chosen to use Condemned? Your Power icon presence is already monumental and I'd think that you would include Attainted instead of Condemned to help your own icon distribution to not cripple you from having a low Intrigue presence...

cadupa96 82

@TheBrianFactor Reason #1: I do not play Tyene and Tears.

Reason #2: In a lot of match-ups Attained is less valuable than Condemned (i.e. Baratheon, Stark, Greyjoy). Also, my power presence may be high, but those 3 factions can overwhelm me in power.

In a more simple way, Imprisonned helps you against target kills and to keep your board early game, and Condemned helps you win games. Attained does less imo.

Banjo 97

Sorry you had to play me in the Top Cut I was really hoping you'd clean out some of those pesky Lanni Dragons for me = P. It was a pleasure playing you and I've been trying to re create your deck for summer kits, so thanks for the post = ). Our game in the top cut was much closer than in swiss and those negative attachments and constant control over cressen really had me worried. It felt like it took us 30 minutes to pick our first plot that game because of what happened in swiss. I'm looking forward to our next encounter.

cadupa96 82

@Banjo Ahah would have liked that too ;) Yeah that game in the top cut was much closer, it was a very good game. Was a pleasure playing against you, hopefully we'll play against each other soon!

Gabegabe 234

Hey man really trying to use this deck for a store championship Sunday. What would you change with all these new cards out? And as for bara what would u do to tech against them? Considering that there is no targeted kill

cadupa96 82

@Gbaeby Very sorry, just saw your post. Hope my thoughts will still be useful to you.

With all the new cards I honestly would not change a lot of things with this deck, maybe adding 1x Trystane.

For Baratheon I would consider adding 2-3 Tears of Lys (by removing Nightmares) and adding 1-2 Ward (maybe remove 1 Condemned and 1x Imprisoned). You can also try to fit 1x A Song of Summer to give you a change against Targ if you plan to face them.

That's pretty much it. WIsh you success with the deck if you play it, it's very tricky to play Martell currently in the meta. It's very strong against Lannister in general, but Targ crushes it, and Baratheon you need to deal with Cressen by all means.

Gabegabe 234

Yea most definitely agree with tears and ward. Probably only One ward and you have building orders which is good.another question, you think this would do well against valar? Would probably have to drop supes on characters like nymeria, and add bastard daughters or quentyn, just wanted to here your thoughts again, thank you for responding!

cadupa96 82

Hmm that is a good question. I do not think removing dupes on key characters like Nymeria is a good idea, even in a Valar meta. I have the impression that plot will be way less impactful on the meta that people thinks (2 gold and 0 claim really hurts the player). To counter that plot I think adding a Close Call and playing carefully (meaning not going all out with your 1x Uniques on the board) would be the best way to play around it.

Gabegabe 234

Well said. As a person who has dabbled in bara, tears is sadly not enough to deal with them. To deal with them you need, seal, vengeance, ghaston, or first snow.

But yea valar will hurt this deck due to the power needed on non uniques, so I'm not sure how that will play out. Thank you for responses!