[Prepared in Stahleck 2016 Metagame] Flowering Strong 1.0

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Note : Varys x1 is missing in the decklist.

This deck is based on a deckbuild i developed on the previous work of Meilhem (French Champion 2016) and the exchange we had on the deck. It was basically digging inside House Tyrell, since the release of Renly finally made them a complete faction.

The deck was developed on the Stahleck metagame and was playtested with the Dutch community, and could have been played by Onno (Netherlands) for Stahleck 2016, but he considered the weaknesses of the deck and finally did not pick it. I did not defend the deck on the field because of my finance aimed at graduation ceremony in France. I still publish the deck with long explanations, because I believe there are very interesting points that could be useful for other players.

I would especially thanks Meilhem for the exchange we had on the deck, Donovan for the extremely accurate comment he had on the deck, other players such as Stukov,Rabs and Mog for the addition of their advice, and the Dutch playtesting group as a hole, for all the comment they provide me.

All cards are highlighted in blue where they are explained.

To analyse the decklist, i will start with the cards that i consider as auto-include in your Tyrell build because defining the essence of your strategy :

3x Renly Baratheon (FFH) 3x Randyll Tarly 2x The Knight of Flowers 3x Margaery Tyrell 3x The Arbor

The game playing around faction leaders, desing of Tyrell faction is oriented toward powerrush, but this is not a short-term powerrush : As this essential cards already shown, it's rather a progressive powerrush directly supported by STR boost, and indirectly through draw and economy, which fuel the engine by generating the card advantage and the possibility to transfer this card advantage to the table.

Renly Baratheon (FFH) was the leader Tyrell needs. They lack of an impactant faction leader. They lack of an additional natural renown. They lack of an additional draw. They lack of a considerable intrigue icon. They lack of a big character with high STR. Renly provides everything of that. He embodies the motto of Tyrell : polyvalence. He was the needed card to makes Tyrell competitive.

Loras is in x2 to free slots for other cards, since he lacks of impact at the table for a character of his cost. Still, he remains the third renown of the deck, with several interractions, and makes the Night's Watch matchup with Mare in Heat and Margaery Tyrell, Marge giving his STR boost to the only defending character.

I considered cutting Margaery to x2 because of Ilyn Payne and the Lannister predominance in the metagame, as well as the Stark presence at Worlds (18%), pulling the threat of Ward. But she his ways too important for the deck mechanics, so you have to run the deck assuming these weaknesses.

Then comes the mandatory economic cards for behavorial stability :

3x Garden Caretaker 3x Rose Garden 3x The Kingsroad

Then comes the card that i consider as stable support of the faction mechanics :

1x Ser Hobber Redwyne 2x Paxter Redwyne 1x Alerie Tyrell 1x Ser Colen of Greenpools 3x Arbor Knight

1x Heartsbane 1x Crown of Golden Roses

2x Pleasure Barge

Alerie Tyrell change things, relatively to Ser Horas Redwyne and Ser Hobber Redwyne. Previously, Marge was the only strong Lady of the faction, The Queen of Thorns being too "slow", conditional, cancelable (Poppy, Treachery, Stark cancel, Martell removal, which could become a drama if you relied on that), not enough consistant at table, not having any keywords... The only good thing with her was her good STR in intrigue and - sometimes- allowing strong combo. I am not against running her in x1 still, and will consider it in a nearby future.

Then Alerie Tyrell appears, providing more support to Tyrell polyvalence : excellent cost, an additional intrigue icon with a power icon ( excellent in house mechanics), and an ability providing card advantage and stabilising inside combo of the house. Stapple x1.

Her existence improve Ser Horas Redwyne, which is not condemned to search a duplicate of Margaery if she is not in plays, and rather allows to play around a Wildfire Assault by searching a card fueling table presence. Additionaly, Ser Hobber Redwyne can now makes the cut, since before he was condemned to conditionality of Marge presence, which was hardening my judgment on him. But Onno was rather to play LotC and immediately understood that Syrio Forel was superior in this archetype.

2x Paxter Redwyne could question at first sight. The reason of this choice is the desirability of 4-gold cost character in the deck because of The Arbor setup. Playing characters with lower cost would expose you to The First Snow of Winter, and if Marched to the Wall happens it's a least evil. If it not the case, he is a +1 gold character with an additional +1 gold for event, which helps you making an awesome start, litterally playing your hand. Remember that canceling a cost 0 event with HJ is considered as triggering his ability.

Arbor Knight and Ser Colen of Greenpools are efficient cheap cost character. They both have the desirable military icon their cost requires, and the first provides intrigue icon in a cheap non-unique character, the second excellent support to power challenge. Their Knight trait and 1 STR is of importance in some lines.

Heartsbane was a stapple in x2 for Randyll, but it has drawbacks : the character must be inside the challenge, which could be problematic against kneel, Dracarys, or even Stark cancel. Crown of Golden Roses allows you the timing flexibility that was lacking for Randyll, since Marge was the only real solution for that, Growing Strong lacking of something in my view ( I still consider it powerful and complain not playing it, perhaps more STR in faction intrigue would convince me).

I run both one of them because Heartsbane is self-sufficient, while Crown could suffer from the necessity to discard a card. Note that both of them are excellent with Renly, which increase the stability of their efficiency.

Pleasure Barge is not so great that it could look : you can't setup it, the -1 gold penalty is considerable, and very damaging if you played two of them. Also, it has timing problems : at the start of your marshalling, you have an idea of what you are gonna play, and you would not want to draw 3 hypothetically more useful cards if it gives you a -1 gold penalty next turn. Rather, you will wait to have nothing particularly useful to play or being in an emergency situation where you know you need a particular card. Thus, x2 is what is needed, in order to have a mid-game Counting Coppers. The deck does not have a strong draw : Renly exists and well does the job, but there is not enough loyal cards to make him a monster. Counting Coppers, The Manderand Butterbumps exists, too, but they face issue that will later be explained.

Once that has been said, it times to reflex on what is the Agenda the deck will play. Fealty is obviously not worthing it with too few loyals, "The Rains of Castamere" is not worthing it either, remains The Lord of the Crossing which fits perfectly the idea of a progressive powergrab behind the faction mechanics, and unlock the use of Put to the Sword and Support of the People, which are essential for the competitiveness of the faction and becomes very easy to trigger. Stukov describes the game as a "Clash of trains" : two decks colliding on their faction leaders, with an agressive predominance. Since all the Tyrell mechanics are "passive" (renom, economy, draw) they do not shine at generating victory by oppresing opponent (note that intrigue is a bit weak to reliably aggress opponent's hand). That's you need both event : the first to have a direct and definitive faction leader removal, the second to indirectly have a huge influence on board state, by tutoring most of the time Highgarden.

Once these has been said, the next consideration is to complete the deck by making choices on the mechanics. Which leads us to the Knight sub-module :

2x Mare in Heat 3x Hedge Knight

Mare in Heat is a very strong card in my opinion, the ability providing a powerful tool to control the table in challenge (especially if Highgarden is out). This control ability adds to the other tool available to stop Mirri Maz Duur and Tyene Sand from leading you to defeat, can break the Night's Watch matchup (cf. knight of Flower), but only if you're -very- lucky that they do not see Craven or Poppy. It can block other faction leaders in their move, and more basically provides unoposed. But the card is expensive, conditional, and in practice turns out to face limitations, one of them being the anti-synergy with Loras 5 STR. This is typically a better card on paper than in reality, thus the x2 as an additional tool to control table.

The necessity to have Knight character to stabilize his efficiency leads to playing Hedge Knight in x3. He perfectly integrates the deck mechanics, having the minimum required for such a character : 2 gold, military icon. His bonuses is almost always triggered with 9 knight in total in the deck, completely making the difference with the instable Left and Right ( i like them a lot, but they are too hard to trigger, you need strong draw and tutor to play them).

The next sub-module is the one of locations. In the current metagame, locations are probably the less considered card type. Thus, they are less likely to be metagamed, and it always worth it when you consider a house to ask yourself this question : Are their locations strong ? Could I exploit them with a big impact ? Something not metagamed is something likely to make the differences. And Tyrell has incredible locations :

Highgarden is by far my favorite Tyrell card : the control provided by the effect is extremely efficient, providing the perfect counter to threats in intrigue challenge, such as Mirri and Tyene, that could immediately leads you to defeat. As bonuses, the psychological effect is huge on your opponent, exhausting him, and the ability to remove one of your own attacking characters, while rarely used, is still to consider as a trick against your opponent.

The Mander always impressed me. As soon as she is in play and you can manage to trigger it, you will have all the draw you need. Because Tyrell are the best aimed at winning with a 5 STR difference, she is reliable, and otherwise force your opponent to play around.

The problem of both of these locations is obviously their cost. They are expensive to marshall, and since they need additional investment (direct gold or characters) to be useful, It is way better to tutor them with Support of the People, which perfectly fits the deck mechanics.

Experience reveals me the influence The Iron Throne could have on a game. Paying 2 gold for a card that will systematically claim dominance is impressive. It pass the cut because of the Baratheon metagame, being the perfect counter to the location combo with Chamber of the Painted Table. The big threat of the matchup vanished. And in normal situations, she is always a good card, since you're not on a rush to reach 15 power.

Not that the essential is said, it is time to consider the plotline. Confiscation and Summons are mandatory, you rely on few characters.

I choose to run for Summer Harvest as the opening plot : It is not written on the agenda " My economic plot is Summer Harvest" like a King of Summer. It is rather far less expectable for a Varys's Riddle, and whatever the deck they play, i have always seen opponent start with an economic plot, frequently giving me 7 gold and the jackpot on Trading. The only fail possibly being your opponent having the same reasonning than you. That's where the Arbor can helps (as well as with Vary's Riddle), and that's why a second exemplary is runned : People will never expects you to run x2 the plot : this is so unreliable ! so risky ! any rational player will not do that ! And this is perfectly true, except that since nobody expects you to do it and will take their decisions accordingly, as rational players, calculated irrationality becomes rationality ! And now that the information belongs to public knowledge, run the deck with normal economic plots :)

The big advantage of taking this risks is that you will have initiative on first turn, on contrary to A Noble Cause. And this is terrible to start on T1, especially with LotC. You rather prefer being second to know where to play your Poppy, and how to plan you events with the +2STR bonuses. Or even win this intrigue challenge at -1STR you have to do.

The real weak point of this choice is that it could be terrible against Winter deck, NW plotline with CCx2 and HtS, and not great versus Targaryen Beggar. I assume bad matchup exists, and assume thqat nevertheless players tend to play strong economic plot T1. That's also why you also run x3 The Arbor with Building Orders and Wildfire Assault.

Close Call has long been playtested in expectation of the Valar Morghulis metagame where she will take a slot due to the dependency on high cost characters. In an aggro metagame, the option is also considerable, but after playtest it turns out that it was a marginal case to resuscitate a faction leader, replay it and go toward victory. And i was heavily facing the drawback of the plot : impossibility to play it because no dead character while it takes the slot of the polyvalent plot corresponding to a neutral game state for you, low initiative in an already low initiative plotline, moderate card advantage that is not decisive. Thus, i go on Calm Over Westeros, which takes the same polyvalent slot in the plotline, has also 5 gold and Summer traits (Winter metagame), has a better initiative and also generate card advantage, indirectly but reliabily. Since the deck is polyvalent in his behavior, in many game states you will find a different utility to the claim reduction.

Building Orders is an excellent emergency plot if you're pressured by one particular character by tutoring Highgarden, Mare in Heat or Poppy. It is also extremely good at coming back from a bit unfavorable situation by tutoring Arbor, install it, then go on Wildfire Assault. Otherwise, it can just increase a favorable situation with Mander or IT.

Wildfire Assault could seems very surprising. Tyrell have a strong board ! Well, this is not that true. Tyrell does not have a higher basic STR than all other factions, they are part of the highest (and they lack of something at intrigue). Tyrell are not dependent of characters' textbox, at the exception of their main leaders, thus it is not a drama if you lose your secondary characters. And Tyrell have many non-unique or x1 unique characters, not creating dead cards. So the drawback of losing characters exists but is not a big concern. Finally, you could wipe out your own board in a favorable situations. First, you rush really fast when installed, thus you will probably finish before T7 or keep the essential to continue afterwards. If you know your opponent also plays Wildfire, this is when skill matters to force his own Wildfire and play your own on it (With the experience of Valar in V1 it is feasible). This is important in the Baratheon match-up. The benefits rely first on the Arbor. This is very slow to install it on T1 or T2, Wildfire allows you to catch back on the board and restart better. The second benefits rely on the presence of draw and intrigue in Tyrell, which allows to planificate a reset. But you have to well manage it in advance, and be able to realize it. Indirectly, this point has another advantage : hand size tend to be reduced, thus having a bit of draw allows you to do an offensive reset, which is further fed by the probable complete unexpectation of your opponent to run this plot in this faction. The third benefit is having a high initiative plot to finish before your opponent on a side by side game. The fourth is metagame consideration : Stark are a big threat for the deck, and heavily suffer from Wildfire. As you will see latter, there is also the second most important concern for them in the deck : Milk of Poppy, supported by Hand's Judgment to cancel Arya's Gift. In term of match-up,it could be great against Targaryen as well, but this is very dependent on the game state, because of Khal Drogo, the draw of Daenerys Targaryen, the likeliness of Fire and Blood.

Then comes the choice on who has the priority between Milk of the Poppy and Nightmares.

Despite being a big fan of Nightmares since surprise is crucial to make the difference, i dislike playing it because : 1°) You gain one turn and don't solve your problem 2°) You lose one card in the process, it is not free 3°) Due to "groupthinking" effect any good player currently expects it, leaving only uncertainty.

Soberly speaking, I like the way Milk of the Poppy can simply offer you one game when you draw two of them. In Tyrell, since you're playing other attachments, the mandatory Confiscation played in all plotlines becomes an harder decision, especially with such good other attachments. And you can tutor it with Building Orders. It is a choice i already did on my 12V-1D French Championship winning deck, thus it is proof checked. The huge benefits of this choice is that it crushes heavily the main threat of the faction : Stark. In the current metagame, they have to run Arya's Gift, but this is also countered by the fact that you run...

The Hand's Judgment. This is a very controversial choice. I could have go on Left x1, Right x1, Olenna x1 to have consistent character presence at the board. I consider this is a metagame choice : players played it at first in all their decks, then removed it when other events were released, attracted by other promises. But HJ did not decrease. The fact that it leaves the metagame makes him even more surprising than Nightmares, especially when the Arbor or Paxter is out and makes him less predictable. And what is excellent is that currently, you will not face the risk of seeing your own HJ canceled by the 0-gold HJ of your opponent. It is a counter of Dracarys!, Treachery, Put to the Sword, Seen In Flames, In the Name of Your King!, Nightmares Support of the People, Fire and Blood, Arya's Gift, We Do Not Sow, His Viper Eyes... A very long list, isn't it ?

Then the last cards. I long playtested Knight of Summer by all means, since they have the right goold cost, and that the promise of an additional high STR character with renown seemed great. But in the end, they did not make much difference and are mediocre when not boosted, without providing a great target for Mare in Heat and are not necessary for Hedge Knight. And they are horrific against Stark and their Ward, expecially if Edmure sucks the other renown. Thus, I removed then and goes on Wardens of the Reach. They have the good cost for the Arbor setup and FSoW, the good icons for the focus of the deck. Their STR bonus is constant, and will at least be at +1, frequently +2, allowing you to run a reliable board contester at a moderate price. Experience of Drowned Men told me how this kind of 4 gold cost, non-unique, STR gold could be influent in game. And they are, if you are lucky enough to draw 2 Rose Garden and activate Support. The crucial point is that they have No Attachment for Ward.

Littlefinger turns out to fit very well in the deck, when he was almost done : draw is not that great despite being Tyrell, you are willing to have gold bonuses to play your cards or bypass the drawback of Pleasure Barge, and you appreciate an additional intrigue icon with good STR along with a power icon.

Olenna's Informant are probably surprising. Basically, they provide icone intrigue along to power one at an affordable price, and force opponent at a choice on the first challenge (intrigue) you initiate. They are aimed as a finisher. Randyll will stand from LotC on thid challenge, but you will have no way to exploit it. Here they come, second power challenge in a kneeled board. Since they are out of the metagame, they are less likely to be expected, and since you could have lot of gold in midgame with The Arbor, it increases their discretion. They also have a funny but very unlikely synergy with opponent FSoW (you ambush them in anticipation of it). Overall, i would like to have another card than them. They are like this girl you have a crush with, but live at 10 hours from your current geographical location : You can only figured out occasional friendness with benefits. But the benefits are so good.

The deck is now complete with 60 cards, but since it is not enough to be complete on the metagame, i add these two neutral metagame cards as 61 and 62 cards. I dislike going above 60 cards, because it only reveals insufficiency in the deck, but in some cases you simply do not have the choice : your deck does not make enough by himself.

Varys enters the deck as the 62 cards just to offer a chance against the NW matchup, otherwise you basically have to assume that you will be lucky enough to don't face this 10% chance matchup. I assume NW will not be that much present at high level, with a predominance of Lannister and Targaryen (they were 90% of the field in Sweden one week before Stahleck), but simply because the 10% matchup exists you have to run Varys in x1. By himself, he provides Stealth on Intrigue, the weak icon, can be efficient against many houses, synerge with The Arbor, and indirectly put pressure on the opponent who must construct a board to face Tyrell one, but cannot also empty his hand too much.

Rattleshirt's Raiders is necessary just in case of a second poppy, and offering a chance versus the Craven of the NW. Since winning the challenge is less a consideration in Tyrell, and that he provides an addtional 4-gold character for setup, he fits well in the deck mechanics, while still being regularly unuseful. But, I mean, there is military, intrigue claim and Crown to fed.

Finally, a word on Butterbumps. Yes, he has insight. But what will often happens is that you can't use it in a challenge that you aim to lose, which is basically the case of intrigue challenge in this deck. This is especially true since it is where you suffer the -1 of the agenda and force your opponent to a kneel. So he stands for nothing waiting for military claim.

Hope you enjoy the explanations and the 1h30min necessary to read them !