Greyjoy Wedding Reception - Battle of the Trident Winner 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

So this is a deck that I've done quite well with for quite a while with iterations for new packs being released. I've recently won a small (8-person) Battle of the Trident tournament at Warp 2 in Edmonton with this deck and I haven't seen any similar decks so I thought I post it up. Thanks to Warp 2 for hosting a great event.

So this deck tries to choke the opponent early and win out before they can recover. I think it is quite effective against quite a few of more popular decks, such as Lannister and Stark, that start with a handful of big, expensive characters that they roll out in successive turns to dominate the board.

The plots and the first turn are critical to the success of the deck and you want to achieve and maintain card advantage from set up on out.

This deck has loads of 0, 1 and 2 drops to ensure a strong set up and to be able to meet reserve requirements for the first plot.

First turn, you want to play Wraiths in Their Midst, ideally with Alannys Greyjoy and a Lordsport Shipwright. They have to go from 9 cards to 2-3 cards (assuming a typical reserve of 6-7) on turn 1. They also typically have 1 less gold to play those 7 cards thanks to Kings of Winter. The Lordsport Shipwright turns off The Kingsroad or reducer locations. This usually results in your opponent discarding 3 or 4 cards at the end of the first turn to meet reserve so you have a 2 card advantage at this point, not counting the advantage of the higher than average number of cards you got in setup. Beyond card advantage, you've drained your opponents of their tricks and most likely, their powerful locations as people prefer to get their characters out rather than spend their first turn playing a location.

Turn 2 you typically want to Heads on Spikes and knock out a really good character or attachment they were saving. Ideally, it was a character they wanted to play with dupes (since everyone is assuming Valar Morghulis) and now they have a dead character in their hand as well.

From then on, you play the plots as you see fit, leaning towards aggression. unopposed challenges are ok against you, it just gives your opponent more power to steal later and you have the saves to mitigate nasty surprises like Tears of Lys or Put to the Sword.

Early Frost - Great if you are ahead and want to press your advantage. The low reserve needs to be considered though.

Rise of the Kraken - This plot wins games! It is two claim and high initiative so even if you can't get get the bonus power for unopposed challenges, this plot does work.

Snowed Under - Money plot and the plot to use to guarantee first player. With Salty Navigator, Drowned God's Blessing and The Kingsroad, you should be able to claim initiative.

Wildfire Assault - I prefer Wildfire Assault to Valar Morghulis as it preserves claim to keep the pressure up and gives me more money in a relatively poor deck. The negation of saves is also good when people are teched up for Valar Morghulis.

I have a pretty simple heuristic for the number of copies I use. 3 copies if I want to see it in my opening hand, 2 copies if I want to see it in the game, 1 copy if it is a nice to have. The 64 card count is probably bothering some or most of you so here is what I would take out to get down to 60.

• The Reader
• Old Wyk
• Pyke
• 3rd Salty Navigator

Characters - The deck is focused on low cost, high value characters. Euron is out because he is too expensive, despite being a powerhouse.

Aeron Damphair (Core) - My get out of jail free card. I also often use him to remove terminal attachments like Milk of the Poppy or Craven. Just claim the drug addict/coward and revive them in the Dominance phase, stronger, better than before.

Alannys Greyjoy - Potent in Kings of Winter. Knocking 2 off all plot's reserve value shouldn't be underestimated as it can severely affect ambush and event heavy decks. She also has an intrigue icon to throw at your opponent and prevent them from raiding your hand or you'll get easy claim due to the challenge math headaches this deck produces.

Asha Greyjoy - Amazing and wins games.

Balon Greyjoy (Core) - Secures unopposed challenges and is a magnet for Milk of the Poppy, which I don't mind, because he will still often have stealth thanks to the Great Kraken.

Drowned Men - Often strength 7-8 (maximum possible is 12) and cost 4, which is amazing value. No attachments help too. On Wildfire Assault turns I'll often keep these over weaker Greyjoys with drug habits.

Fishwhiskers - Guarantees unopposed challenges, which is a good thing.

Iron Islands Fishmonger - Great for set up and economy

Lordsport Shipwright - Can play a critical role on the first turn and interfere with your opponent's plan after that. Intrigue icon fills a gap as well. Can often win challenges or occupy intrigue characters due to the challenge math problems this deck presents

Priest of the Drowned God - Intrigue icon, pumps up Drowned Men and who ever has the Drowned God's Blessing. 3 for a 3-5 strength bi-con is good value.

Salty Navigator - Fodder that also helps guarantee first player, especially on Snowed Under turns. Third copy is the 61st card.

The Reader - Cut from next iteration. Card draw and an intrigue icon is good, but often too expensive to get out smoothly.

Victarion Greyjoy - Great but you aren't that keen to see him early as he doesn't secure unopposed challenges on his own. He also has a built in save so an additional dupe isn't needed as badly.

Attachments

Drowned God's Blessing - Totally underrated. Turns off Nightmares, Put to the Sword, Dracarys!, etc. Adds an initiative for Snowed Under. and provides a conditional 1-3 strength boost. Should probably be a 3x.

Fishing Net - Also underrated. Only answer to Old Bear Mormont with Old Bear's Raven. Helps with attachment heavy decks to keep Raiding Longship online. Should probably be a 2x.

Locations - Political Disaster would probably wreck this deck, but no one plays it right now. That may change with Night's Watch growing in power and/or this deck becoming popular.

Great Kraken - Powerhouse card that gives card advantage and rush power, as needed.

Iron Fleet Scout - Boost strength (via ability and trait), mess up challenge math and cost zero? Yes please.

Iron Mines - Obvious. Next!

King Balon's Solar - Non-limited economy is good. Replaced the third copy of The Roseroad.

Old Wyk - Added this to see how it played with all the Drowned God characters. Never saw it, never missed it. I don't think it is quite ready for primetime.

Pyke - Is a good card, but not critical for this deck. Probably the 62nd card.

Raiding Longship - Extremely powerful but requires you to build your deck around them. In other decks, Pyke is probably better. Another candidate for a 3x since the ability stacks with more longships and the trait helps Drowned Men.

Sea Tower - Economy

The Kingsroad - Economy and initiative

The Roseroad - Economy. Only 2x since they don't help the turn they hit the table. Fewer limited cards reduce the chance I get a clogged hand on turn 1.

The Seastone Chair - Repeatable targeted kill that costs 1 (once). One of many reasons I love Greyjoy.

Events - This deck runs few events since I want to have a great set-up and I need to get down to 4 cards on the first turn.

Risen from the Sea - Another reason I play Greyjoy.

We Do Not Sow - Obviously a great card. Worth mentioning that it triggers the same time as Asha's ability and before keywords trigger so it can turn abilities on by removing Milk of the Poppy so you can untap Asha Greyjoy or intimidate with Victarion Greyjoy.

Tournament Report - My brain was mush after the drive and the tournament so I apologize if I get names/details wrong.

Brad - Night's Watch Fealty - Win -15-3ish

I heard Brad won the previous tournament (which I missed) with a Clansmen deck. Today he decided to change it up to Night's Watch. My deck usually has great starts, but this game was the best I've ever had. Turn 1 saw both Alannys Greyjoy and Lordsport Shipwright put a full lock on his hand (kneeling The Kingsroad) and I was able to We Do Not Sow The Wall. Turn 2 saw me kill Maester Aemon with Heads on Spikes before his plot of Here to Serve could fire. He played really well and caught me on some misplays to drag the game out to the final turn when I finally won with an unopposed power challenge from Balon Greyjoy (Core). On a related note The Haunted Forest can cause problems for Greyjoy, but I think the answer (for this deck at least) is to just win a power challenge first with Drowned Men or some other biggie and then go after the unopposed military. Lordsport Shipwright can help as well.

Jared - Targaryen Fealty - Win 15-10

Jared has beat me in tournaments before so I knew this would be tough when he set up two dragons, one with a dupe, a reducer and a kingsroad. I couldn't find Alannys Greyjoy first turn and could only get him down to three cards at the end of the turn. Fortunately I punted a Milk of the Poppy out of his hand with Heads on Spikes which made Asha Greyjoy very happy. He marshalled Viserys Targaryen (AtSK) and was happily accumulating power as I was trying to grind down his board with Asha Greyjoy and a Raiding Longship. I was eventually able to knock down his board which I don't think he was contesting too much to set up an upcoming Valar Morghulis. He was drawing quite a few cards with Daenerys Targaryen and was going for the reset when he played Valar Morghulis. I played Rise of the Kraken, saved Asha Greyjoy and got a Lordsport Shipwright in play. He was only able to marshall a reducer on his phase. Since I was down 8-12 in power, I gained 8 power from 3 unopposed challenges and won the game. Rise of the Kraken wins games. Play it. I was fortunate that Jared didn't draw a single Dracarys! all game.

Tim - Stark Fealty - 13-13 - won on tiebreakers.

I play Tim a lot and we drove together to the tournament. His Stark deck is great and has won on turn 2 before. He definitely knew about my first turn gambit and we talked about how he would deal with it. This particular game, he opened with Trading with the Pentoshi while I went with Heads on Spikes to kill one of his heavy hitters (I missed, the whole idea was probably a mistake). I went first and was able to use the free money to get Balon Greyjoy (Core) and Great Kraken out along with The Seastone Chair . He was able to empty his hand to 2 cards anyways by flooding the board with weenies, giving Balon Greyjoy (Core) Milk of the Poppy and making the Great Kraken Frozen Solid. I thought I was heading for a loss when he was able to find his one copy of Frozen Solid on turn 1. The rest of this game is a bit of a blur, I played Wildfire Assault early to counter his horde but I couldn't break through to get unopposed challenges due to the swarm of weenies and strong use of Winterfell. I played Fishwhiskers but he played another Milk of the Poppy on him. I had Victarion Greyjoy out as well and using the threat of intimidate to force him to gang block my military challenges. I was bleeding cards from intrigue and unable to win military challenges but he wasn't drawing any renown characters either. I finally saw Asha Greyjoy and on a Rise of the Kraken turn, I was able to sneak in an unopposed power challenge to gain 4 power. Time was then called to the surprise of both of us and he had gained 2 power from Winter Festival to bring us both to 13-13. No one won dominance. I had drawn fewer cards so I won on the tiebreaker. We both thought we had the game on the next round. I feel really fortunate that Tim did not draw more of his renown characters early to grab the win before I could stabilize.

Thanks for reading this novella about my deck. Try it out!