The Sun in Their Eyes (1st place 5-0 at Game Cafe SC 10 Play 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Congratulations! All the Glory for House Martell! :)

Questions: Have you tried this deck against tik'tak decks like Bara Dominance with trone and painted table of pure defensive NW-Wall? I'm thinking of putting in deck my own Iron Throne (maybe with support of the people) just to make Dominance difficult to win for my opponent.

Did you considered some more "win by 5" events in deck like PttSword, PttTourch or Support of the People?

Have you tried in plots Here to serve? Maester Caleotte from the beginning is so good in crossing IMO.... Any changes after Tyrion's chain?

I think it's nearly impossible to run a Martell deck without First Snow of Winter. Everytime I take it out any Martell deck I run, I crash and burn to character spam. It's still such a good plot and it clears away some very irritating characters to allow their big guys to die quicker!

Knights of the Sun on a FSOW turn can be lethal, especially if Renown has been triggered!

Great to see you doing well! I've got two store champs coming up in the next two weeks and I'm taking my ultra Reset Martell deck which has done well already but I really like this too!

@Krisso Thank you so much! I have tried this against Bara dominance and the two matches I had against it, I crushed it. One of them, they did get to somewhere around 9 or 10 power, but I was able to keep enough board control and enough strength to really push that third challenge past them. NW Wall, I have not had a chance to really mess with, but I believe that Doran Martell and The Boneway will be key players to keep them in check. I think throwing in even just the copy of The Iron Throne would help to push against those dominance decks, if there are a lot in your meta. Support of the People may be an option, but I wouldn't run is specifically just for the Throne, but if you have other locations you can grab that could be clutch cards, it would be worth a shot, for sure.

I really haven't felt the need for targeted kill or location control yet. I would say that Put to the Torch would be a bigger clutch card than Put to the Sword in this deck at least. Solely because you have enough board control and big characters to not worry as much, that being said, the real star is pushing out that The First Snow of Winter and leaving their bigger characters completely open while you initiate the snowball. If you are having trouble with a lot of big characters, a lot of renown, etc. a Put to the Sword may be worthwhile.

While Maester Caleotte is a wonderful card, and getting that extra character can help, the tech that these plots give me haven't made me feel the need for it. As much as I love the Relentless Assault, there wasn't really anything good for Martell out of Tyrion's Chain. Go figure, right?

Thank you again for the kind words and questions. And good luck with your deck! I look forward to hearing about the tweaks that you make, and how it works. =)

Well done. Glad to see this deck shape having success.

@gr1mvengeanceI'm starting to see that myself. No one has really ran The First Snow of Winter in our meta or even regional events for so long, that it just kind of fell out of existence for a while. But it really does seem like a reset that was meant for Martell. We have solid 4 drops, and our 3 and unders usually have an effect that we would like to re-use. There hasn't been an instance yet where I felt that I came away worse off than my opponent after FSoW, and after hitting it, the came generally snowballs in my favor. And I always felt Knights of the Sun were terrible, until playing this deck. They aren't the end all, but they are really efficient. And with the renown from Myrcella Baratheon and KotS, as well as the occasional Viper, it gets a nice chunk of power in a small package.

Thanks so much! I'm glad to finally be able to play my favorite house and for them to actually be viable for once. XD Awesome! I have one more to go, this coming Saturday, and I'm definitely taking this deck. I'm glad to see more Martells running around, and hopefully we will see them make a comeback. Good luck in your tournaments!

@Panda with issues... Thank you! And thank you for the inspiration. I'm happy to see my favorite house being viable. Hopefully we will see them put back on the map with lists like these.

@kaleenders

Myrcella made a huge impact straight away in my Reset deck. She can withstand a First Snow and provides great power defence and the renown is just a lovely bonus.

I've found I've had to include Pyromancers recently but I don't think they'd work in your deck. They are fun when you can discard something powerful like the Arbor or Red Keep though. Finding their cost hurting me though and I think I'd be tempted to swap them for 2 x Knights of the Sun. Even in my hard reset deck they could provide good efficiency like you say and again, withstand First Snow. Will try it out!

In Tyrion's Chain Ser Arys seems to fit nicely in this type of deck - He is also immune to first snow and can be quite a suprise when put into play with Arianne.

Did you always go: Long plan -> First Snow? And what was usually your opening plot?

I was thinking also about putting Varys Riddle just in case for situation when opponent will play agressive valar when I have no dups.

@kaleendersArys is a 1x in my deck but in my handful of games with him, I've not managed to trigger him :( however in the right situation it could be game changing (coming in and discarding a chud reducer to open up their big characters etc).

Plot order so far: Long Plan in to Valar (depending on what I get set up) then Varys Riddle in to First Snow. This is with my Reset deck though. Probably wouldn't use Valar in this style of deck though!

@gr1mvengeance Agreed, she is a powerhouse. I would say that if you are struggling with getting the Pyromancers out, it may be worthwhile to try Put to the Torch and see if it works more efficiently. Knights of the Sun is really just a solid card that can get you where you need to go. Especially if you are running FSoW.

@Krisso Ser Arys Oakheart is an okay card. Unfortunately, he is a direct downgrade from his 1.0 counterpart. For the cost, which is basically 6, he doesn't feel efficient. And as a 4 drop without triggering his ability, he doesn't compare to Knights of the Sun, Myrcella Baratheon, or Trystane Martell when it comes to cost to stat efficiency, or the usefulness of their abilities. He's not a terrible card, but specifically him losing renown during his transition from 1.0 to 2.0 really hurt the card on top of his ability now having a gold cost. He CAN be useful, but his biggest targets are Jaqen H'ghar, Theon Greyjoy, and Littlefinger. While those do get played, I feel like 2 gold for a Put to the Sword after dropping a KotS or other quality 4 drop would be considerably more effective. Putting him into play with Arianne Martell can be a solid surprise, but at that point he technically costs 7 to trigger altogether.

Plot order really depended on the situation and what I drew back into. If I had a good setup and they didn't, Marched to the Wall. If I drew into The Red Viper or Doran Martell and had the setup to use them, I would flip A Noble Cause. On rare occasions I would flip The First Snow of Winter out the gate if they had all low drops and I was able to setup two 4 drops and an econ card. The Long Plan was also a solid option as an opener if I just had no idea what to do or expect, as it sets me up for a really good second turn to start the snowball. Winter Festival was seldom played early, usually it was turn 3+ and used to just accelerate the endgame. Close Call was only used after something I cared about died, or if I was absolutely desperate for an extra card. I don't believe I played it a single time, but I'm glad I had it. Same with Confiscation.

The key to the plots for this deck is not necessarily that they go in a certain order, but more so that they are so interchangeable that you can use any of them at nearly any time based on what you feel you need, and they have enough gold on them to keep the machine moving. Long Plan into First Snow was definitely a play I made several times though, mostly because it was just plain effective, and the situations allowed me to lose a few challenges to get 7+ gold on a First Snow turn.

Varys's Riddle is sooooo dicey, but it's hilarious when it hits someone for a double Marched or double Valar. If you can anticipate when someone is going to pop Valar, perhaps Battle of the Blackwater would serve you well? You have the initiative on them, and can strip them of all of their dupes prior to having Valar trigger. Or use it aggressively to strip the saves and just push. Definitely experiment and play test and see which things are functioning best for you. Everyone's meta is different, and one thing that I've learned from this deck is that things that are seldom used can truly be a dark horse, and you can't put a price on the element of surprise.

@gr1mvengeanceThat is my biggest fear with Arys, that while he CAN be effective, I feel that I will either be forced to throw him out without his ability, or I'll just have him in hand and push out a more effective 4-6 drop instead. I wouldn't mind experimenting with him after SC season though, because, as you two both pointed out, he can hit some good characters (if they are played) or open bigger characters up for Mil claim by pitching a chud. I actually wish that he did cost 3 instead, as it would have made him more cost-effective, but also I would actually LIKE him to bounce back to hand with First Snow so I can re-use him.

That's really solid. I like the idea of a full fledged reset deck. And perhaps Battle of the Blackwater may help you in that deck as well. Yeah, definitely won't be running Valar in this one. My stuff is expendable, but not THAT expendable. XD

Have you played against stark winterfell/cate and how do you handle that? If you try to push a viper win, those could be a problem as well as bara kneel in that manner. Have you considered some standing effects to handle those 2 situations?

@exoterHe has two Winter plots which can shut Winterfell down enough IMO. You only need a turn or two to get through from past experience. Normally enough to hurt their board state anyway.

Bara Kneel is much tougher to go against when relying on a couple of big combos like Viper HOWEVER I'm guessing that is what Milk is for. They are the faction I've struggled against the most in the past and my wins have always been using Reset decks - Varys/Valar etc.

I can actively say, playing against your deck many times, your deck is broken!

@exoter I have not. Although they would give me a run, I don't think that Winterfell or Cate would give me a particular problem. I believe I only used the Viper twice in the tournament, and maybe once during play testing. He is okay, and he poses a threat if left unchecked, but the deck does perfectly fine without even seeing him.

And as @gr1mvengeancesaid, I do have two winter plots, and milks to deal with both match ups. That being said, this deck can definitely run into some problems with bad draws/bad setups, even if they are rare.

Bara-Kneel is rather annoying, but generally I can outrace them. If they spend a lot of cards/gold on kneeling characters down, and I'm playing 1-2 characters a turn, they aren't dropping enough on the board in terms of characters to match it. It's still extremely annoying, and well timed kneel, like Even-Handed Justice on my third challenge is beyond irritating. Or them going second and popping several characters with Consolidation of Power. The nice thing about Bara is that they spend a lot on dropping low cost characters, so when they drop small things and do some kneeling, I flip First Snow and usually all they have is one or two characters, while I have 3+.

@korlashLol it's definitely a sight to see, but I think after people see it a few times, they are going to be able to deal with it. One of the big reasons that it's crazy right now is because too few people know what the Martell stuff does, and haven't played against it enough to have a strategy. That will change though, hopefully after Martell becomes a thing again. ;)

And thanks, all for commenting! =)

Firstly, congratulations on the impressive finish.

I've been looking for a decent aggressive Martell deck to showcase as a counterpoint to their usual boring control style.

I especially like the interaction between The Boneway and The Lord of the Crossing, however, going forward isn't this combination just begging to get stolen by Sea Bitch? I mean the card is already good against Ghaston Grey so I'm concerned that your Greyjoy matchup gets much worse post Tyrion's Chain.

@The_Wall In the case of The Boneway, it's a dominance action, so in order to trigger it you'd "only" have to make sure you go first.

@The_WallA valid point but I believe most Factions will hurt at some point to Sea Bitch. It is what it is at the end of the day and I guess the main thing is knowing when to trigger it and if you can get 1st Player to do so. In this deck there isn't a great deal of high initiative and generally a Greyjoy player will want to go first so it could be a struggle. However against Greyjoy you could be inclined to not play it - or if you have Ghaston and it out, make it a tougher decision for the GJ player.

My best plays vs GJ is when you can control their character state enough that their locations can't hurt you. If you let them get too much on the board it's a struggle to comeback from due to all the unopposed etc.

@The_WallThanks! What I really enjoyed about this deck is that it strikes a nice balance between aggro and control. Most instances, it still felt very much like a control deck, despite running Crossing.

While Sea Bitch is a nice card, I don't think it's going to see as much play as it should. Especially when a good chunk of the better locations it can hit aren't in factions that are being highly represented right now. As far as it goes specifically against The Boneway, it's easy to play against. As @Antrimand @gr1mvengeancestated, They have to go first to be able to steal it. I also don't HAVE to trigger the reaction to put a token on it. So I can let it sit at 5 tokens until I am first player, or until they steal something else. And if it already had 6 tokens on it, I would have already used it in the last dominance phase. Ghaston Grey is definitely a more dangerous target. It either freezes me for a phase, or I bait it out of them. Generally I don't care if they bounce one of my characters in this deck though, even if it's something larger like Doran Martell or The Red Viper.

It can still give me some trouble, but I think that if it sees a lot of play, it's going to hurt a lot of people anyway. Like stealing a Small Council Chamber with 4+ power on it for the win.

Been playing the deck a bit, I really enjoy it. My only issue is economy. With so many expensive chars, I'm having trouble putting the big names out there. I don't think I've been able to play Doran Martell yet, and playing The Red Viper usually means nothing else that turn. What do you think about adding a Trading with the Pentoshi? Probably for Close Call, Confiscation or Winter Festival, not sure which.

This deck needs 2x In Doran's Name for extra economy and 2x Seal of the Hand for the Bara matchup, or just extra power gain in other matchups. You're all welcome.

@Loras Tyrell and what would you cut for those :D

@exotertough one, I can only say my opninion that might be different from the author's! Anyway, I'd go only 1x bodyguard, either 1 between nightmare and milk (i prefer nightmares at the moment), 1 boneway (I hate it, personally I would run 0 but don't want to distance too much from the author's list) and 1 at your choice between Elia, Caleotte or Bastard Daughters (not a fan of 3 costers and monocons). This way you should keep the same mix of non setup cards

Edit: Not really the same, but doen's change too much

@AntrimSo far I haven't had a single problem with economy. That being said, I think the main takeaway is that the big characters like Doran Martell and The Red Viper are added help, not the main focus. As I have said, I think I played the Viper twice in the tournament, and maybe once in the 8 games prior. He is there if I need him, but he isn't necessary to win. Same with Doran, he is fantastic, especially with the other lords and ladies, but he isn't necessary to win. When it comes down to it, I would say getting Doran out helps you more than Viper, since Doran gives you card draw, which can help you dig for The Kingsroad or whatever else you need, while also buffing a good portion of your character base. I honestly couldn't cut any of those for a Trading. Close Call is necessary in this style of deck with so many uniques and with Valar Morghulis running rampant. You could probably drop Winter Festival if you had to, or Marched to the Wall although they work wonderfully in the deck and provide extra board control and accelerate your win. Also, you want to save your A Noble Cause for when you need to play Doran or Viper, I wouldn't waste it on the other characters, because you should have plenty of resources to get them out. This deck also doesn't flood. It tries to sit at 4-5 characters and put pressure for them to either do a reset, or for you to push for the win on that final turn.

@Loras Tyrell So basically gut the premise of the deck and put dead cards in. Makes sense. Seal of the Hand can be a nice card, but it costs 3 and can easily be taken care of. That gold could also be used to play another character to get better board presence instead of banking on one single character. And if someone is so desperate that they play In Doran's Name, they might as well just mess with the plots, rather than put in a card that would have been better used for nearly anything else, specifically another character.

Out of the 13+ games that I've played with this deck, I have yet to run into any economy issues. Cutting Bodyguard in a Valar meta seems extremely smart and won't backfire at all. Cutting tech cards like Elia Sand that helps push challenges through, or Maester Caleotte who does the same, or can hinder their characters also seems like a wonderful idea. Taking out The Boneway basically makes you have nothing to fall back on, specifically something that punishes them for doing well. And Bastard Daughter is not always a monocon, but I'm assuming you would like you remove Nymeria Sand as well, since she actually has no icons.

But, I tell you what, I'm intrigued. If you get a chance to go and build your version of this deck and play it in a tournament, I would honestly love to see how well it turns out.

@Kale Enderswow you really took it personally. I was giving my 2 cents, otherwise congrats on your outstanding 10 players SC win, keep on rocking :D

@Loras TyrellI would say giving bad strategy tips and telling people the smart move is to gut key cards and neuter the deck for things that you'll never even get to play while saying, "You're all welcome" was what got me.

Either way, I was serious, I would genuinely like to hear how well your variant does. And it would offer a lot of insight into the differences between our metas. Good luck, and thanks for commenting.

@Kale Enders``@Loras Tyrell

Now now gents! Let's keep it civil

@Kale Enderssorry about that, I just wanted to be fun while also talking strategy, I apoligize if that offended you, it wasn't my intention. Anyway, I seriously believe in those two cards. But my comment wasn't improvised, it comes from a number of games I have played, then of course evrybody has got his saying in what he prefers. If it's any interest I can detail more so to bring back th discussion on strategy:

• I have never been a fan of the Boneway because I get the sense that it can be game changing if I draw into it in setup or T1, but would rather draw something else (e.g. a 2 or 4 cost body) in later turns. Glad that it's been working out on many people, it has always intrigued me
• Personally, I believe that Bara is the worst matchup for Martell and I like to tech against it when I play at tournaments. Seal of the hand is a bad card, period. But, it grantes you a tremendous tempo gain if you manage to stand a knelt viper (with 3 gold you stand an otherwise useless 7 coster). Granted that I believe it is a good card in this specific deck if you expect heavy kneel (but also good to speed up in other matchups), the question is, what would I give up for that? It's a tough one, my go is that if you really want Seal of the hand (I do), you would cut a 3 coster which is not vital to your strategy
• In Doran's Name, provided that you have room for it, is a great card in the current meta, especially if some decks can outrush you (it's full of Lanni Crossing out there for example) and might want to run Valar yourself and recover immediately. I see it more as an extra economy, also because probably purely economy plots are not the best choice for Martell, since most times you want a plot that actually does something
• Bodyguard is great, but with all the copies of the key pieces I found myself ok with just 1

Then againt... it's just strategy, and your deck is great

@Loras Tyrell It's fine. I appreciate the input and you provide good counter-points. I think the point on both sides is the difference in play styles, as well as the difference in meta. And again, I would actually like to hear how your version does. Thank you again for showing interest and commenting. =)

Well I've been playing Martell in 1st ed and I am playing it now no matter in how bad spot they are. Loyal to the house... I liked the deck and playtested it a lot last days. Imo Martell tempo (Crossing) is good (no matter if it is with big chars (viper, doran) or with chuds). However Stark tempo, GJ tempo etc. are better and faster - have more control and gain power faster. Martell Fealty/Banner control is good but Bara control, NW control are better and have more control. So from the start of the game Martel are in a really bad spot, there was a light in the dark at one moment but then valar came. And I'm really sad about that fact. Whatever idea you have - for control, kill, tempo, rush... there is other house that can do it better than Martel. Sad. Bad Nate French. I don't believe Ricasso will change much. Depending on one card is never great idea.

However I am happy to see decks like this one making some wins but imo I think those are based on the local meta and some luck and with that I don't want to offend the author of the deck nor his skills. I really love reading reports and analysis like this one and the deck it is derived from so kudos to that.

@exoterdisagree with you there, to an extent. I play a Martell reset deck with Valar, FSoW etc. It can utterly destroy control decks. As I did last night. It suffers from a bad set up or if your opponent manages to super dupe everything (rare on turn 2). We have one of the best plots to lead in to a Valar too and plenty of chud that hurts when they die.

We are a mix of control and hitting back. We aren't all about losing challenges in this new meta. Sure kneel hurts but it hurts everyone. Same with passive power NW / Bara. It isn't just Martell it hurts BUT we have some of the best tools to get around it - icon removal for St5 Mil attacks etc. Not easy but PttT is a making a big comeback.

The trouble is that any Martell deck is hard to pilot. The hardest IMO as you've got to be patient, know when to lose and when to strike. Most fun when it works!

@gr1mvengeance I can agree with some parts of your comment. Sure reset Martell currently for me is the most consistent as performance. And yes it is really hard to pilot.

And yet vs painted-throne the resent does not really matter unless you've got throne for your own. Standard gj with all the saves and big bombs imo is really hard matchup as well.

Hope you don't get this as an attack. I really love having those discussions :) I would love to check your deck if it is available of course :)

@exoterMy humblest apologies! Didn't mean to come across like that. We all fight under the Sun after all!

Painted Table combo is unreal hard to play against. Especially with the throne out. I did 4 games last night vs Tyrrell / Stag dom package and every game it was out and hurting. The only way I won 2 games was to just push power through and accept the Table loss in dom. He kept putting my own throne and PttT to the bottom of my deck with BAMF which was incredibly annoying. In the end the cards that won me the game were Varys reset and Valar and then pushing through as much as possible with Myrcella (she's my MVP lately). It's a massive struggle but we fight on!

@exoterI also played Martell in 1st edition, and I greatly miss what they used to be. I also agree that Nate French has no idea what he's doing, and that Martell is easily the weakest faction in the game. That being said, I think we still have something that the others don't have. The ability to punish people for doing well. Things like The Boneway, Ghaston Grey, Elia Sand, etc. With all that aside, I think Martell is finally starting to gain some ground with decent cards, although we do still have the weakest 7 drop in the game. Once we get a new Viper, I think we will have a better place.

Yes, other factions do everything else better than us, but I think what specifically has helped me is that since no one plays Martell in my meta, or any of the surrounding metas, that people don't have experience playing against them, and don't know what their cards do, so they are unable to develop a proper strategy, especially since Martell plays so drastically different than the other houses. Right now it's about the element of surprise, and it's working. It may not last long, but we have to take what we can get. XD

I do agree that Bara-Dom is annoying, and same with GJ-anything. I personally have been able to take down both without too much issue, but it may have been that I knew exactly what to do and when, and I was able to bait the players into doing what I needed them to do. And as @gr1mvengeancesaid, Myrcella Baratheon really is the MVP anymore.

@Kale EndersTell me about how annoying GJ are...I lost in a SC to my friends GJ deck. The amount of location hate and amazing locations they have really turned the tables - him getting 2 Raiding Longships out was just the nail in the coffin. Strangely enough, a card that hasn't been in favour for a while Vengeance for Elia is absolutely devastating against GJ but unfortunately I had taken it out cries

Elia Sand is fantastic against them though, we did some more games after and I managed to get her out early and PttT his locations. It was fairly easy sailing (HA!) after that.

GJ/Bara are definitely are hardest match ups at the moment. Political Disaster may see some play this weekend for our next SC LOL!!!

@gr1mvengeanceFunny enough I have ate most Greyjoy decks for breakfast, but unfortunately, in our local SC I lost my ass to one who aggressively Valared turn 2, and flipped Rise of the Kraken turn 3 for game. I just couldn't rebuild fast enough to stop or slow it down. Their location hate can definitely hurt, but I think you can play around it if you get rolling fast enough. Raiding Longship can be devastating, especially when it's something you really have to defend. It'll take your entire board to stop one challenge, leaving you unable to make your challenges back and trigger Crossing. Elia is amazing, and can be downright game changing. Yeah, GJ/Stag is absolute nonsense. I think those two are just going to be bad matchups for Martell for a while. Heavy kneel and heavy aggro are enough to give anyone trouble, but with Martell being a slower faction, it takes a lot to keep up. Things like Put to the Torch and Nightmares can really turn the tide though.

@Kale EndersDo you think there's wiggle room for Dawn or You Murdered Her Children? Both obviously applicable to the viper, but they still can help you through that last challenge FTW for a non Viper in the case Oberyn is say knelt or milked.

@SonOfBattles1I have been wanting to mess with them a bit, specifically You Murdered Her Children. Because it can also work to trigger Quentyn Martell for a sizable targeted kill. Personally, Dawn doesn't feel like a great card in this specific deck, since Doran Martell does relatively the same thing for most of your characters, but also affects multiple characters while being a body with insight. YMHC on the other hand I think can have a place. It's definitely dicey though because after you play it, they can Nightmares or Treachery your Viper, and then you just killed him. Obviously you are safer with a dupe or Bodyguard, but yeah. I think that now that SC season is basically over, there is a lot of room to tweak and mess with this deck. As long as you keep the kind of core stuff together, a lot of the other cards can be fiddled with to gear against your specific meta, or to help accent your own play style.

@Kale EndersI don't think we've seen the best of YMHC just yet and I've been thinking of chucking it in my deck. I'm doing my second SC tomorrow and using a deck nearly identical to yours and with bodyguard and dupes I think Viper has room to shine now.

I think we'll see maybe more characters or something that triggers when dying to really gel. We desperately need more eco for the events though, we have brilliant events but damn they are pricey (excluding our awesome 0g events of course hehe)

@gr1mvengeance I think there is definitely room to experiment with it. If you think you can get it off, throw it in. Just make sure you never, ever use it against a Lannister player or banner to the lion player if they have 1 gold. Otherwise you are in for a nasty surprise.

I think it would be interesting to see. Although, I imagine we will see more of that coming out of Stark, since that is their theme. I completely agree, Martell needs a new economy card to fuel those expensive events. Maybe a Tourney Grounds could be functional?

@Kale EndersOh crikey yeah that would suck most definitely!

I went to another SC today and used a slightly tweaked version of this deck - I ran 1 x The Hand's Judgment instead of Nightmares and I used Naval Superiority instead of Confiscation

First Game vs Greyjoy/Stag - I got to 14 power incredibly fast between Nym/Viper/Doran just pushing through the Crossing bonus. Then a mistake I will remember for a long time - he played Rise of the Kraken, I played Winter Festival...He went first and needed at least 4 or 5 power, I didn't oppose then quickly realised my mistake and then said actually I'll oppose but felt like I had cheated him so I allowed it through and he won the game, he even said he felt like he shouldn't have won :( so gutting.

Game 2 - Bye. So insta-draw, which hurt me loads.

Game 3 - Targ/Crossing - Managed to get Doran out early with Nym/Myrcella then eventually Viper. Managed to swing on plot 6 for power of 34 and he couldn't do anything so I won.

Game 4 - Tyrell/Summer - Kept his board controlled and then eventually got the Viper out who just kept pushing unopposed challenges to power rush.

Missed the cut by one place but overall this deck feels incredibly good fun, people just didn't really know how to play against it and the challenge math threw them off many times and not knowing whether to attack or not when Ghaston was out.

Naval was a punt and just because I thought I might get lucky on a plot, only managed to hit once vs the Greyjoy player Turn 1 which really hurt him. Funny as hell though.

Really great SC though and learnt a hell of a lot.

@gr1mvengeance Was a great SC and have to admit that your deck has improved and come a long way.

Great day. Great deck. Great player :)

@gr1mvengeanceLol at Naval Superiority. It's such a hilarious card. Really good in Tyrell or Lannister though, otherwise it's just really hard to pull off. Sounds like quite a SC, and it sounds like that bye screwed you, that sucks. I'm glad the deck still managed to perform well, though. I can understand how you felt during that first match, but I would say that as long as you haven't moved from the declare defenders window, you could still declare defenders once you caught that. Nice work regardless!!

@Kale Enders Kind of new to the game, but it seems Tyene Sand should be in any Martell deck. What made you leave her out?

@blpOn paper, she seems fantastic. Unfortunately, in practice she isn't. She has extremely high cost with a low stat line, and while her ability is great, 90% of the time you will have to commit 2+ characters to get her to trigger. In theory, she would be more effective with Crossing, but the reality is that for her cost, she isn't effective. She can be used to bait people into defending the intrigue challenge over others, but with her low strength, she is just too easy to deal with, and you want to win that third challenge. Eventually I will mess with her again, but for this deck specifically, you just want a better stat line, and cost effectiveness.

@Kale Enders Regarding the You Murdered Her Children talk, you cannot use the buff with Quentyn Martell.

As I mentioned earlier, I really love playing the deck and I kind of solved my economy issues by using Time of Plenty x2 instead of Winter Festival and Close Call. Now I frequently have too much gold I can't spend... obviously more than a deck thing, I need to learn to play Martell better :) I think Close Call needs to go back in not only for the occasional unexpected death but also for the draw, which is another issue I frequently have (probably also related to my lack of skill).

I think I'm going to try adding a copy of You Murdered Her Children just because I really, really want to win a game with it. And what do you think of Gossip and Lies as a closer? I think it has its place, maybe instead of Confiscation.