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| None. Self-made deck here. |
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| None yet. |
ChannelDelibird 1068
Been working on this one for a long time. Went 3-3 at UK Nationals (more on that later), won a GNK then part of the Golden Company team who were Kings of Swiss at the UK Team Championships before finishing third overall. It's the most fun that I've had playing Thrones so far.
The aim: play White Tree, play Varys, wipe the board, choke 'em out to set up and maintain a bigger board than they have.
If you do not see White Tree in your opening hand and what you have instead isn't amazing, mulligan. It's so oppressive and allows you the freedom to play Varys even without any Roseroads or held-over Kingsroads to provide support for repopulating the board.
For this reason, the only plot that I would consider adding to the deck is Building Orders, and yet there really isn't room for it. The plot line-up is dynamic and adaptable, providing great initiative control when you want it and covering all of your bases. 99% of the time, you're opening The Winds of Winter or Calling the Banners depending on what your hand suggests, leaning towards Winds if you can get the ideal setup of White Tree, Ghost, reducer and Roseroad.
Whatever you do, don't take out Close Call. I omitted it for UK Nationals and saw Gregor pillage my Varys on a one-in-12 chance in the first round of Swiss. Backup plans are necessary.
Notes on specific cards:
Bronn is hilarious in this deck. If you save him for when you need him, he's massive. I have played this deck a LOT and I have never once seen my opponent buy him from me. Then, by the end of the start of the next marshaling phase, you've either claimed, Marched or Varysed him. He's one of the most powerful 1-cost events in the game.
Samwell Tarly is a rock star, making a huge difference both before and after board-wipes. You'll be Summoning for him a lot. He loves Syrio Forel, he loves Widow's Wail and he also loves...
Noble Lineage. That card you forgot? It's a real secret ingredient here. The deck is low on power icons but high on characters who are made exponentially more useful by its addition: Sam, Jaime, Syrio, Varys, Yoren, Brothel Madame. It comes in really handy against Greyjoy to stop Varys getting Seastoned and it can be a big asset against power-heavy Stark as well. Don't leave home without it.
The Hand's Judgment is a dead card in more matchups than I would like, and I can't remember the last time that I had to cancel a Treachery on Varys, but you really don't want to not have one when that happens. Hand-scouting events like Seen In Flames and His Viper Eyes are also great to cancel.
Take the Black was a late addition for UKTC after Bambi so brilliantly brought it back in his NW/Wolf, and I can't believe that I didn't do it sooner. Thanks to Tyrion, you often have plenty of gold held back after challenges, and it's such an effective way of maintaining board superiority. I'd probably lose at least one Tears of Lys for a second copy, as I find myself interested in killing fewer and fewer characters when I could just discard them instead.
Notable omissions: Milk of the Poppy and Craven. I already have a solution for problem characters, and that is to make them not be in play any more. Terminal attachments are for suckers. (For goodness's sake, make sure that you're going second when you play Varys.)
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I did consider Ilyn for a while, but the deck really isn't looking to kill characters, especially not at that cost point. I want to Yoren those characters instead, and it's not worth my time if I'm kneeling out one of my guys to remove one of theirs - no net board-state gain, especially if I'm spending 6 to do it. He's great in other decks, but this is not that deck. Similarly, PTTS is kinda meh to me. The way I see it, it's a little easier to trigger Take the Black and I'm getting a swing of two characters rather than just one (plus potential to pick up some extra renown). Tears is also an easier trigger than Put, and my Ranging Parties are likelier to do power challenges than military. Plus, people are more likely to play around PTTS than they are TTB. Shae and the Gold Cloaks are perfectly reasonable shouts. Finding room is tough - I really like the 1-costers for setups and as ideal marching targets, but I could probably lose at least one. I'd start with a Gold Cloaks - it's more synergy with the ambush stuff - but would be happy to throw in one of each over a reducer or two and see if the hit to setup is noticeable. 2 Burned Men feels like the right number, though (unlike the Gold Cloaks, you can ambush them just to march them). Benjen is, indeed, not bad. But without a Wildfire in the plot deck he feels like a luxury, when I could just play a Ranging Party instead with better cost-efficiency. I like him, but I've never felt like I badly needed the power gain or the extra protection from stealth in this deck. |
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Yep, they are indeed different. (https://thronesdb.com/deck/view/178008) I have no Varys in mine. As far as the other points go: a) Ilyn Payne is there to get rid of low costers that drain soak, but you obviously can see that. b) Take the Black won't deal with the really problematic characters. Neither will Tear of Lys most of the times. PttS, is effective when running Hound,Ranging party, Ghost and Syrio. Personally I'd run with 2 Tears, 2 PttS (on top of an Ilyn Payne) |
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Very interesting! Anything running Muster the Realm has my attention. Looks like we're getting towards very similar ends, obviously, but the Varys/Yoren stuff is a little more exciting to me than going higher on aggro and attrition. I feel like more decks are geared towards defending from beefy military and kill thanks to Lannister's prevalence than they are towards being resilient to full board resets. Different strokes, though! |
Very nice. Since I am running something similar here are some questions concerning cards that I use and don't see here: a) Ser Ilyn Payne. I would suggest that you give him a shot. Imho, even worths one Varys slot. b) Put to the sword? Running Ghost/Syrio and generally military happy characters makes it much more potent than Tears, and definitely better than Take the black. c) I'd give a shot at Shae. Really good to get two defenses or a sneak int/power. d) No Gold Cloaks? You even mention the lack of power icons, so I'd consider them over 1 Merchant and 1 steward and probably over 1 Burned Man. e) You could dedicate one slot to Benjen. He is not bad.