We defend the Wall alone SC Winner (5-1)

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Joe From Cincinnati 1672

I won the Arkham House Games Store Championship of 14 players with this deck, with one single small change: I had run a Tears of Lys in place of the third Nightmares. My thinking was I could use it to remove dupes from high priority targets prior to using Valar Morghulis.

I used it one time. Then I did a military challenge for the unopposed and he killed the character anyway so...I would have been so many happier if it was a Nightmares. So I changed it for this list.

Here is the Jousting Pavilion entry for the tournament: http://thejoustingpavilion.com/tournaments/2761

I went 3-1 in the Swiss.

Round 1: Win vs Tyrell Kings of Summer

This game was against the owner of Arkham House Games, James Williams. It started off well. I got the Wall out on set up. I was also able to Hand's Judgment both a Lady Sansa's Rose and a Superior Claim in the first two turns. James knew, from testing against me previously, that I ran Valar Morghulis, so he never played a high priority character until he had a dupe, bodyguard or Lady in Waiting to play on the character immediately. This made the game go slow enough that I could win 15-13, but it also made my Valar Morghulis extremely ineffective (and I therefore didn't use it in this game). He was running a really fast knights deck that focused on getting out renown characters and jamming renown down your throat in order to win. But because Valar forced him to pace himself, I was able to pull out the narrow win.

Round 2: Win vs Tyrell Banner of the Watch

This game was against Matt Osborn who had come in from out of town to play. His deck was, essentially, a Wall deck with the Arbor and the Pleasure Barge haha. It was actually extraordinarily effective. I set up the Wall and a few chud, he set up the Wall and the Arbor (probably the best set up in the game haha). Neither of us were able (or willing) to get an unopposed challenge through to kneel either Wall, so it was a very quick game. The clincher in this game was the 2 Nightmares. Turning off his Wall twice allowed me to successfully defend some key challenges and end up winning in an extremely close game. It ended 15-13, but I was first player in the final round, so I triggered my Wall before he could trigger his Winter Festival and Wall, resulting in my victory.

Round 3: Loss vs Lannister Rains of Castamere

This game was against Nate Tarantelli, the reigning US National champion. He also came from out of town to play in the tournament. He got Cersei, Tyrion and Tywin out relatively early, as well as Syrio. Tyrion and Syrio allowed him to kneel the Wall in the first few turns. We were about even, power wise, through 3 turns. The key to the game was when he was able to pull off the dreaded Wildfire out of Rains trigger move in the middle of the challenges phase. I had a Craster, and used him to recover the 4 characters I'd lost, but he had a Treachery to stop it, resulting in 5 characters leaving my board. That, along with 4 characters of his own dying, made Chella Daughter of Cheyk about 11 strength with intimidate and renown...And that's how things go sometimes haha. Combined with Wardens of the West and intrigue claim throughout the game, that left me with no characters, no hand, no answers and ultimately, a pretty uneven loss. Something to the effect of 15-4.

Round 4: Win vs Greyjoy Banner of the Stag

This game was against Marc Cramer, who came from out of town to play, but I had played him both at the Indy Regional last year and at Gencon (and lost both times) so I was very weary coming into this game. He was running Greyjoy Banner of the Stag with the Chamber of the Painted table, Cressen, Melisandre and all of her minions. I was able to get a Craven on Asha and a Craven on Davos on the first two turns then, when he used Here to Serve to get Cressen, he had me go first (as people are prone to do against the Night's Watch) and my first action was to milk Cressen. That probably won me the game because I had very few answers for the stealth he had on the board at that time otherwise. He was able to assemble the Chamber + Throne combo but, by the time he did, I was already far enough ahead that Winter Festival, the Wall and unopposed challenges when going second were able to close out the game before my power leaked away. Something like 15-9.

I ended the cut at 3-1. With my only loss against the undefeated King of Swiss, Nate, I was able to sneak into the top 4 at #4.

Top 4: Win vs Lannister Rains of Castamere

Rematch vs Nate. Coming into this game, I expected to lose. Lannister being able to trigger Rains can just devastate any deck so easily. So, out of set up, I prioritized intrigue icons. I was able to get the Wall out early and Nate didn't see Tywin or Tyrion until the game was all but over. He did use the new Joffrey and then a treachery to kill Craster and cancel Aemon's save (if you couldn't tell, he was NOT a fan of Craster haha). The reason he did that was, with Aemon, Sam, a steward and a Craster with a Practice Blade, I had 13 intrigue strength on turn 3, which was more than he could get over for his Rains triggers, having not seen Tyrion and having his Cersei Craven'd. At the end of the day, he didn't see his power cards soon enough and, without the economy they provided to him, he wasn't able to keep up with the Wall. I won 15-4.

Final: Win Vs Greyjoy Rains of Castamere

To my extreme relief and jubilation, Mickey DeSilva, my podcast mate from Wardens of the Midwest, was able to knock out Jon Herr and his Baratheon deck in the top 4 (Because I was not going to win against that deck haha). However, I knew Greyjoy Rains had won several tournaments recently and, it was the finals, so I knew it was a major threat as well. His set up was Balon and a Lordsport Shipwright. He had 2 of those little guys out by the end of turn 1, which was rather annoying for my Kingsroads, Castle Black and Haunted Forests. My set up was decent, a Ranging Party, Messenger Raven, Kingsroad and Haunted Forest, but I didn't see the Wall for a few turns. So my main priority was to stop the intrigue challenge early on, to avoid an unnecessary Rains Trigger. Having Dolorous Edd in my starting hand certainly helped in that regard but then it got really rough when he put an Appointed on Balon Greyjoy (Core). With no big intrigue icons on the board, I was forced to kneel the Wall a few times. However, since Greyjoy loves going first, I was able to get some unopposed challenges on the back end, which helped supplement my power gain until I was finally able to lock it down with a Nightmares on Balon, Winter Festival and the Iron Throne to gain 5 power to close it out 15 to about 9.

A quick discussion of the major changes since the last decklist:

I added the Ghost for the mirror matches and for possibly forcing through a Tears of Lys (by stealthing their big intrigue icons before doing my intrigue challenge). Ultimately...didn't matter that much. Didn't see him when he would have been helpful and didn't need him when I saw him. He'll be replaced by Qhorin in a few weeks, I think.

I went back to 2 Iron Thrones for the Baratheon match up. It helped against Greyjoy Stag, as I got my throne out before he did.

I removed Watcher on the Walls because keeping my attachments on the board isn't nearly as critical anymore. People have stopped running Rattleshirt's Raiders and that really freed up some space to bring in all 3 Nightmares, which are unbelievable. Seriously, that card wins so many games. It's unreal.

I added 2 Crasters in place of Littlefinger and Sweet Donnel Hill. With Valar, Littlefinger is never going to survive, so I figured I'd just replace him. Sometimes I miss him, but not too often. Besides, Craster is worth it. If Nate didn’t have that treachery (or if I had a Hand’s Judgment), Craster would have kept me in that game and may have even allowed me to win it.

I also put Building Orders in for the 2nd Counting Coppers because, with the Night's Watch being more prevalent, I needed to get my Wall out as fast as possible in mirror matches.

Valar Morghulis was added because, with a duped Aemon, which is easy to get with Here to Serve, you are almost always coming out ahead. And even if you don't, you have enough small characters that you can repopulate and defend the Wall more often than not. First Snow is not commonly run anymore, so a smaller curve isn't the worst thing in the world. I like to wait until 2 to 3 juicy targets are out and unprotected (a Mel and a Bob, for example), but if the time never comes, I can just save it for killing Benjen to get 2 power.

P.S. The Haunted Forest is the second best card in this entire deck. It is crazy stupid good in Wall decks.

Let me know if you have any questions and I hope you enjoyed this tournament report!

44 comments

Antrim 213

Awesome performance, congrats bro! A few questions:

  • How much did it hurt leaving Thoren Smallwood out? I can't imagine playing without him, he's won me so many games. I like the gutsy, meta call of adding Ghost but damn, not even x1? Haha.

  • Have you noticed a big difference going down to only x2 Milk of the Poppy? It's something that I've been thinking of doing but haven't pulled the trigger yet, if it's been working well for you I'll have to test it.

  • What are your thoughts regarding Qhorin Halfhand? I have a hard time finding him a spot at that cost between Benjen Stark, Craster, Thoren Smallwood, the ranging parties...

Joe From Cincinnati 1672

@AntrimThank you :D

It definitely was taking a chance going in without Thoren. But, in testing, I found that too often people played around him. Not a bad effect in itself, because it reduced the number of challenges coming at me in a game. But I was confident that my deck could win without it and decided to instead bring in the counter for the mirror that I knew I'd probably have to deal with.

Going with 2 milks didn't really bother me all that much. I value Cravens much more and, since I needed to make room for two thrones, something needed to be cut. Plus, the one negative match up I had, Baratheon, it typically doesn't help at all. Unless they Here to Serve Cressen in and then give you first action ;). When it comes to Nightmares vs Milk, I prefer Nightmares. Sure, it's only 1 turn, but the surprise factor it gives can really ruin your opponent's entire turn. Plus, the ability to Nightmares locations is clutch too. I think the neutrals are right at this point. If I could include a 16th, I'd consider a 3rd milk, but I don't even know what I'd take out for it. The deck is just that tight in my eyes.

As for Qhorin, he's a very good character. He is expensive, but I don't think there's any question that he's worth it. I'm going to find a way to jam at least 2 copies into my deck. I definitely want 3. I think Ghost, a Halder and a Waymar are the likely cuts for this deck. I would love to pair Qhorin and Thoren together, but unless I'm also willing to shoehorn Bridge of Skulls in there, which I don't think I can, likely no one will ever do a military attack once Qhorin hits the board anyway.

It will raise the curve a little bit, but the curve is already so low that it can probably handle it. It'll require testing, of course, but I'm really excited for our faction's first printed renown :).

In order to accommodate the increased curve, I may replace Time of Plenty with Trading with the Pentoshi :D.

Krey 1

Congrats on the win!

Didnt matter who went first the turn I Here to Served for Cressen. Even if I had gone first I would have waited to see if you had a milk. Cressen kept Mel from being milked either way unless you had two. At that point of the game I was looking to keep Mel going to kneel for painted table because Benjen had my stealth locked out anyway. Was a great game though that I had little chance of winning. Maybe I'll go back to Naval for next time!

ironlix 1

Congrats!

How did you find the performance of The Iron Throne in the tournament? I find The Iron Throne kind of contradicts with Craven. When you play Craven on your opponent's key/big characters, you are going to win fewer dominance in theory.

Joe From Cincinnati 1672

@ironlix Thanks! I loved the Iron Throne! While it kind of conflicts with Craven in a way, I don't always have Craven on the board. And being able to practically guarantee dominance for 2 gold is just an outstanding deal. Plus, it slows down the Baratheon dominance train, which is a really big problem for this deck (In my opinion, it's the deck's only real weakness). And even in the Greyjoy Stag game I mentioned in my report, the two characters I Cravened added up to 7 strength, so Iron Throne still had them beat out :D.

@Krey Hey Marc! Thank you :)

Did I have Benjen by then? I just remember thinking as soon as you flipped Here to Serve "I really don't want him to get those Cravens off his stealth characters" haha.

Please no more Naval Superiorities haha. When Jon said you were coming to this tournament, I actually took Trading with the Pentoshi out of my deck and put in Time of Plenty before writing my deck list haha. That's how scarred your Naval Superiorities left me :P.

coltsfan70921 7

What do you think about replacing Time of Plenty with A Feast For Crows? I also run two Iron Thrones in my Night's Watch Fealty deck, and I have had great success with A Feast For Crows. In a game where you have The Wall in setup, using Building Orders to grab the Iron Throne and following it up with A Feast For Crows the next round is usually devastating to your opponent.

Kakita_Shiro 984

Feast For Crows is rough because of the 4 reserve.

coltsfan70921 7

Not in this case. The reserve would be 5 immediately because of the Iron Throne. Getting 6 base gold should easier bring your reserve down to 5 anyway, and if played as a closer, you should win the game in the dominance phase anyway. 2 power from The Wall at the end of challenges, 1 for dominance, and 2 from A Feast For Crows' interrupt. That's one third of your power there.

Joe From Cincinnati 1672

@coltsfan70921I've played Feast for Crows in the past and it is very good at closing out a game. My only problem with it was, on occasion, I want to use my big gold plot early on in the game. Feast for Crows makes that very very difficult. Not just the reserve but also the fact that you are potentially not getting its benefit unless you have the Iron Throne out. In combination with Cravens leaving their bigger characters standing, even then it isn't guaranteed, as @ironlix was talking about. So staking 2 power on having to win dominance, especially in a scenario where your opponent knows you really want to win dominance, is kind of sketchy.

That's why I prefer Winter Festival. Against most decks it is much more reliable than Feast for Crows and doesn't require that you defend or attack a certain way to ensure it.

Plus, the card draw combined with the high gold on Time of Plenty just makes it an easy play on any turn. Even if you don't need the gold. And being a summer plot and not an edict also means you know you're getting that gold. It's not nearly as common, but Naval Superiority is still a card that exists and can totally ruin a game haha.

jokerkd 2

Congrats Joe!

I wish I had a similar success story to tell. At my SC, i was 3-0 with my variant of this deck. Round 4 I went through 6 turns, a building orders, (I see you've swapped that in too) counting coppers, and a time of plenty....... no wall!

Missed top 4 because of a mod win in round 1

Tragic :(

Kakita_Shiro 984

I was talked into taking Valar out of my deck. Worst decision I made before my SC.

jokerkd 2

@Kakita_Shiro I almost made the same mistake, but I would have lost to renown spam more than once without it

Joe From Cincinnati 1672

@jokerkdThank you! Man, that is rough! I definitely know how stressful that last round can be. I went into round 4 at 2-1 and I saw that my opponent was running a Banner of the Stag deck. I thought my tournament was over!

My only question is, why did the guy in the first round not concede at time? Did he not like you as a person? Because, the truth is, mod wins should NEVER happen in this game anymore. The loser no longer gets 1 point for a mod loss, so by making you take the mod win, the only thing he accomplished was to lower his own strength of schedule (and screw you over, obviously). There's no benefit at all other than spite haha.

I hate those long drawn out games where the Wall doesn't show up. That's why I vigilantly mulligan for it (unless I get a set up that is just perfect, like a Ranging Party, Rose Road, Steward, Castle Black and a Raven with Maester Aemon and Dolorous Edd in hand). It's why I put Building Orders back in the deck. I'm sorry to hear bad luck was the killer of your tournament :(.

@Kakita_ShiroValar is an interesting plot because I find myself completely disinterested in playing it in about half of my games. My board is set, Aemon isn't duped and I'm comfortably winning. But the other half, it literally wins the game by itself. Being able to wipe clean the renown on the board is just...incredible. It would take a lot of changes to the game in order for me to ever remove it from my plot deck.

Tanatos 1

joe what about dragonglass dagger instead of practice blade? seems so good to stop mountain triggers, balon triggers etc....

Joe From Cincinnati 1672

@TanatosIt has a few applications, such as the ones you have there, but I just found the military icon to be invaluable from the Practice Blade. I'm running 14 characters that have one icon and no military icon (and can carry weapons. The Practice Blade is great on all of them. I tested the daggers for a few weeks but found that they came in handy once every 5 or 6 games at most. Whereas the military icon and additional strength for dominance and stopping effects like Asshai Priestess was consistently valuable in every game.

I think it will come down to the player's preference. I prefer the practice blades but I definitely understand that people may really like the potential of the dagger. In the future, if more character abilities enter the game, they may become exponentially more valuable. Time will tell :D.

Antrim 213

@Tanatos Those guys you can already stop pretty well with Craven. In the other hand, Practice Blade gives you an extra icon (always useful to defend The Wall) and you can ambush it. To me, there's no question at this point.

Kakita_Shiro 984

I'm finding that The Shadow Tower is less and less useful. Unless you have a Practice Blade in-hand, your opponent knows how much you can defend for and therefore how much he needs to attack with. It only seems to be of value post-Valar but at 1x, you don't always see it in a game.

banalitybob 16

Generally The Shadow Tower is there to make count for Shadow Tower Masons and it makes people play around it. I know I was testing a The Lord of the Crossing deck against NW last night, and Shadow Tower made it really hard to get all 3 challenges in, because I had to focus on not only making them but also not losing them. Plus, worst case scenario, it's another thing for Halder to kneel to ruin someone's day.

jokerkd 2

`@Joe From Cincinnati It was actually a fair call. I was only 1 power ahead going into the last turn, with only a couple of minutes on the clock, and he had 3 renown characters on the board. It would have been close if not for my valar and his riddle both being played on that turn. It wiped 6-7 renown power from his side that he just couldn't make up in one turn.

Joe From Cincinnati 1672

@Kakita_ShiroYou could make an argument for replacing it with Bridge of Skulls now that Qhorin Halfhand is coming out. Make them do a military challenge that you could win on defense and trigger his kill and Thoren's power gain.

But I like Shadow Tower just because it is easy on set up, good for the Mason, as @banalitybobsaid and is a passive threat that your opponent has to account for (and forget about). And it's only 1 gold, so if you never trigger it because your opponent is playing around it that's not a bad trade. I don't mind it at all :).

Also don't forget that you do have Edd and Arry that can surprise your opponents too. And Halder's threat of activation can make a lot challenges winnable on defense in the right circumstance.

@jokerkdI dunno haha. When time was called and you had more power, he still could have said "You got it man" and shook your hand. He decided to not concede, hurting you and himself. That just seems weird to me haha.

jokerkd 2

Yeah, I suppose lol

The shadow tower is also great on For the Watch turns. Your opponent can either go in big on a challenge that he cant win, or make a chump challenge, letting you trigger the tower. The only reason I dropped to 1x is because FFG have been making it rain with incredible cards this cycle. I mean just there is my claim alone made me have to drop 6 cards in one hit!

SkippyG 26

Now that Nights Watch is dominating the meta, are going to pick a new house to wave the banner for?

If I recall correctly, you started on NW because it was the underdog.

Joe From Cincinnati 1672

@SkippyGI started NW for a number of reasons. The first one being that I did enjoy how much work it was winning (I.E. them being an underdog). But I also loved the defensive theme. My main competitive gaming experience comes from the game L5R. In that game I loved playing two clans, Crane and Lion, and they both had themes that consisted of defending to gain honor and winning that way rather than destroying the enemy army.

I am pretty open to trying different factions though I don't think I will ever stop playing the Night's Watch in official tournaments. They are, by far, the most enjoyable faction for me and now that they're strong I'm enjoying both the gameplay and the winning :D.

Besides, nowadays there really isn't a faction that is as trash tier as the Night's Watch was in Core Set. You could make an argument for Martell being really bad, but they are still capable of winning. Just not as often :P.

SonOfBattles1 436

Congrats Joe! Did you ever find yourself facing an opponent's Valar Morghulis? How did you deck work out for that? I like to run Baratheon Dom and I actually practice against someone who uses your decklist, I find it one of the tougher matchups for me. What is it that makes Bara difficult for you?

Joe From Cincinnati 1672

@SonOfBattles1Thanks! In testing, I've faced a lot of Valars. And the deck does just fine. It's all about not overextending yourself. Your opponents are going to have just as much trouble getting through 2 Valars as well. So having plenty of smaller characters, as well as Edd and Arry bouncing at will, makes defending the Wall very manageable. And then, you also have Craster if you're not ready for the second Valar.

The thing I struggle with against Bara is, between the ample kneel, Robert being worth 8 or 9 strength for dominance, Stannis keeping my characters knelt and Edric basically guaranteeing dominance makes it so that each turn I'm only gaining 1 power from the Wall and then he gets 2 power for dominance. That means that my opponent is gaining power faster than me and also has really oppressive characters like Mel and Robert to make winning challenges very easy as well.

jokerkd 2

I think if I do go for Qhorin in the defensive deck, he'll be a straight swap for Craster. He has literally never used his ability......ever. at least Qhorin will be more helpful against all the Put to the torch that everyone has started playing thanks to the success of this deck type. What are your thoughts on Northern Refugee? I mean it's perfect for what we do, but is it worth dropping anything we already have. Samwell maybe, considering most of my opponents rage milk him all the time because they have no other targets lol

Guardian 14

@Joe From CincinnatiCongrats for the win! Its always good to see fellow crows doing well in tournaments.

How was Craster's overall performance?

On a sidenote i am still not convinced that Valar Morghulis is better than Wildfire Assault. Gold Initiative and claim aside with Craven shutting down your opponents best characters when you wildfire the have the ugly choice of either keeping their "useless" best characters in the hope of drawing their attachment removal or killing them off and i have seen that many times they choose to keep them weaking their overall boardstate. Also everybody either comes prepared for Valar Morghulis or runs it or both. :)

Joe From Cincinnati 1672

@jokerkdThat is one way of doing it. I personally love Craster. I've had a few games where I was building a rather wide board and was able to play Craster prior to my opponent's Wildfire/Valar. Basically guaranteed the win. And even if you don't trigger him, which I commonly don't on my Valar turn, he is a body that doesn't need saving. If you have a duped Aemon, a Craster and a Ranging Party, you have a board state that won't change from Valar. I bet your opponent doesn't haha.

In terms of the Northern Refugee, I'd sooner run House Maesters. Being a maester is better than sometimes costing 1 gold less. But I don't run them either because the NW characters are just too good. I'd take Sam over them any day.

@GuardianThank you! Craster was very strong. In one game against Lanni Rains he would have probably won me the game if not for Treachery. And in the second Lanni game, he was Joffrey'd instead of Aemon because he was that much of a threat. And then, in one more match (I forget which) he negated a Wildfire Assault that would have made the game difficult.

At this point, for Valar, I'd recommend just testing Valar. If you don't like it, don't run it. I've been able to work it into my strategy such that it is significantly more impactful than Wildfire. But it does take a certain play style that some players may not like.

Richard Auron 1

Nice deck. I was 6th in Prague Store Championship thejoustingpavilion.com Because I did not have the Wall in Quarterfinale :-)

colonialbob 112

I've been playing this deck on Throneteki, and I've been enjoying it. Valar has been a workhorse - one guy conceded after a turn 2 Valar wiped his King Stannis and Fat Bob + chuds while I kept Halder, Aemon, and a Hunter. Perhaps the fastest NW victory ever??

As far as the mod win thing - I was in an SC in December where I missed out on the cut from a mod win, and I can't blame the guy for not conceding at all. I was ahead 1 power and we had just started the round (I could've slow-played to secure the win but... ain't about that life). It ended up really close, with (IIRC) my 2 claim from Famine providing the swing I needed to finish on top by 1-2 power. In a situation where the winner is still unclear, I definitely get the mod win. But if it's something like 'hey you're winning 11-3' then I agree you just concede.

dagodav 112

Hi, Congrats for the win :)

may I ask you why did you chose to play Ghost? To have more opportunities of winning some challenges as an attacker if you go as second player?

I'm thinking that Qhorin will be a turning point for this deck too. But I am not sure that Pentoshi will be the best choice, honestly I don't like that plot very much...probably I'm wrong XD

Finally I've tried to introduce in my NW the pyromancers, in order to have controll on my opponent's location (and I think they are really useful in the mirrors) but probably I'll remove them because they are too expensive. However I'm running two winter festival to accelerate the power grab, and I found it a nice choice (these two plots are also my economy plots), what do you think about it? :)

Joe From Cincinnati 1672

@Richard AuronCongrats on getting that far! 26 people is a large tournament for my area, so getting to 6th in that field is an accomlishment for sure :D. Those no Wall games definitely seem to be the Achilles' Heel of the deck, unfortunately.

And the worst part is it isn't common enough to make running 2x BO worth it, but it can just be devastating when you're in the top 8 or top 4 after a long day of the deck working the way its supposed to haha.

@colonialbobIsn't Valar just the best with this deck? It can really ruin your opponent's turn but, when all's said and done, it doesn't hurt your deck all that much :).

As for the mod win thing, I still don't know. Once a winner is determined, the loser doesn't lose anything by giving the person a full win in most scenarios. Although, I did see a tournament over the weekend where the tournament didn't have a top cut, so the final match of the Swiss determined the winner. Two undefeated players and the one player who had a mod win lost, and the guy who beat him (who otherwise went undefeated) jumped above him because he had 15 points and the guy with the mod win had 13 or 14 points.

So...I dunno. I guess there's an exception to anything haha.

@dagodavThank you! I chose to play Ghost because of the mirror match. If I were able to get an unopposed challenge through because I stealthed, say, their only power icon on the board, then that'll give me the edge I need to win.

I do really like Qhorin as well. The only question becomes how many do you run and what do you take out? As a wall defense deck, you don't want your curve climbing too high. So it's a matter of balancing the low cost characters with the high cost. And with Craster and Qhorin coming out in consecutive packs, that's a lot of new high cost characters being infused into the deck. It'll require testing to see how much of an impact he has. Because of this increasing curve size, I think Trading is a good option, but I understand that some people aren't fans of giving away gold, so it's a matter of preference :).

Yea, I considered running Pyromancers in my deck as well, and it just didn't work at all. The match up against Baratheon doesn't work because Bara can easily just kneel them at will. The match up against NW could work, but there are more effective ways of getting through it (such as Ghost). And the other factions don't pose enough of a problem such that pyromancers would be worth running.

I do really like Winter Festival. The reason I run 1 and not 2 is because it is a plot that you really have to pick your spot with. It's not a great opening plot, since there are so many good opening summer plots (Calm Over Westeros, Time of Plenty, Summer Harvest, Song of Summer), but it's not a guaranteed power gain in the middle of the game either because of those same plots, which hold value throughout the game, in addition to Close Call, which many decks are running because of Valar.

I try to time my Winter Festival for a scenario that is predictable. If their hand is small, I play it hoping to see their Counting Coppers. If I just Craven'd or milked a big character, I play it hoping to see their confiscation. If I am a bit overextended, I play it hoping to see Wildfire Assault, etc. I've lost the 2 power on Winter Festival too many times to random Summer plots flipping to try and play it when I just need the gold haha.

But it's definitely an excellent plot.

dagodav 112

@Joe From Cincinnatithank you for the answers ;)

Richard Auron 1

Super deck. I was second on Store Champion Ship České Budějovice thejoustingpavilion.com

Joe From Cincinnati 1672

@Richard Auron Im glad to hear it! Damn Targaryens :P.

Joe From Cincinnati 1672

@Richard Auron You won back to back games against that Bara Rose deck! That's impressive :D

Letodan 13

I'm kind of new to the game. I love the Night's Watch. I'm still trying to figure out how to use this kind of deck. I was contemplating bringing Craster with Valar Morghulis but, I'm not sure I understand exactly how they work together. I mean, I can understand the use of killing everybody on the table when things aren't going well for me but, why would I use Craster to bring everybody back when it also brings back my opponents dead characters? It seems to be a reset that brings nothing new to the game? Or maybe there's something that I just can't grasp in that strategy?!

Richard Auron 1

Strategy of Night's Watch is defend the wall. If you have a lot of characters on table, it is better. Count of opponent's characters is not so important. But I removed Craster and one Maester Aemon. I play with two Qhorin Halfhand and one Fist of the First Men (this card saved me on tournament )

Antrim 213

@Letodan You'd only use Craster action if it was advantageous for you, obviously. His action deters opponents from playing Valar Morghulis, since they're never going to want to play it with him unmilked. He can also save you from a bad Wildfire Assault, as Joe has mentioned before.

Joe From Cincinnati 1672

@Letodan As the others have said, you have the option to use him if it is advantageous to you. So, for example, a good board state for my own Valar is having a duped Maester Aemon (made reasonably easy with Here to Serve to go get Aemon once I draw a copy of him, then dupe him for free), a duped character such as Halder or Qhorin, an unduped character that is relatively valuable, like a Ranging Party and a Craster.

That way, after I use Valar, I will have an unduped, knelt Aemon, an unduped Halder/Qhorin, a Ranging Party (Saved by Aemon) and Craster (as he is immune to omens).

In that case, I will not use his ability. I will just have him as an extra body that did not require a dupe or save in order to survive Valar.

Alternatively, if I have a rather large board state including Craster and my opponent uses Wildfire Assault, which forces me to kill some valuable targets, such as Ranging Parties, Halder or Arry, I can sacrifice Craster to undo the Wildfire Assault.

He gives the deck flexibility and resiliency while also providing a character that just naturally lives through both your or your opponent's Valar Morghulis.

Letodan 13

@Antrim, @Joe From Cincinnati, @Richard Auron Wow! Thanks a lot guys for taking the time to answer and help me, it will certainly be useful. I understand now also that Valar Morghulis can also help me just get rid of some renown power points on characters which can switch the tide in a game. Thank you!

Letodan 13

Well, I tried the last version of your deck and so far, I haven't been very successful with it. Maybe I play it wrong, I dunno. I must say that I'm playing mostly against Greyjoy, The Lord of the Crossing, which has been boosted in intrigue and, it's tough. I think I was more successful with the two Counting Coppers instead of the Building Orders. I miss the time my hands were full of cards. I also think about bringing back The Watch Has Need. That card was always helpful when somehow, my cards wouldn't come out of the deck. I also would like to add Qhorin Halfhand and Thoren Smallwood but, I will have to analyze all that to see how to fit them. Now, Valar Morghulis has helped me win against some but, I've been very unlucky, my dupes don't come out when I need them. Anyway, continue your good work, I just love to read you and see what you will come up with next!

Joe From Cincinnati 1672

@Letodan I'm sorry to hear you're struggling with it. to be fair, Greyjoy is a tricky match up now that sea bitch is out.

I love Qhorin. I think he's a star character and I made room for 3 of him by cutting down Halder to 1 and removing waymar. it increased the curve but it is worth it in a lot of cases.

As for the watch has need, it is a great card but space is the key problem there.

Either way, I'm glad you enjoy the writing. Hopefully, you have more luck going forward

Letodan 13

Do you think that keeping only one Halder will reduce the use of having so many locations in hand? My adversary had Dagmer Cleftjaw in play. He was really annoying because, he either can take one of your location every turn, or I need to Milk him or Nightmare him. Which make things more difficult when he also has Balon Greyjoy (Core) in play.