Bloodriders, Dragons, and Beggar Kings, oh my! 1.0

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• 1.0

This is the deck I took 5th out of 19 players with at the Beyond the Board SC on 02/18/17. I went 5-1 (with a bye), so it's not a super impressive record overall, but the deck has done quite well for me in testing, so I'm submitting it to the hive mind.

Over all, this is a pretty standard Targ Crossing build with a few small tweaks. The Bloodrider package with Aggo, Jhogo, and Devoted Bloodriders serves as a nice base for power, and Aggo and Jhogo are awesome characters in their own rights. I didn't add Rakharo, because he costs too much, is thoroughly underwhelming, and always seemed to thoroughly underperform. He's the kind of character you want as a 3x so you can dupe your investment and protect the power he gets, but he's not good enough to play as a 3x.

There are several Targ characters that fall into the same straits in this build. Magister Illyrio is awesome in a few matchups (Baratheon easily comes to mind), but he's rather useless a lot of the time, and I don't want to draw dupes after a Valar Morghulis takes him. Mirri Maz Duur is awesome, but expensive, and there are times (like when playing against Lannister) that she's pretty useless. Again, moved her to 1x. Pyat Pree and Ser Barristan Selmy (LoCR) are both not key enough to warrant more than 1x slots. They're nice, but not needed at all. Quaithe of the Shadow has been overwhelmingly awesome. Ambush makes her essentially a Burned Men with 2 icons, and that's enough to make her good. She's saved me on quite a few The First Snow of Winter turns. Honestly, I've only used her other ability a handful of times, but her being an awesome bicon chud with ambush makes her worth more than just her slot. I'm sad she's unique or she'd be a 3x.

The 1x Isle of Ravens is simultaneously awesome and annoying as hell. I hate cards that do something and I have to hope to draw the result, but the number of games I've played 4x Dracarys! or 5x Fire and Blood are high enough that I know its worth. Fire and Blood is one of the best cards in the deck, because it lets you play defense, offense, and keep board position after resets. The 1x Waking the Dragon is a cute trick to reset Ser Jorah Mormont, pop back characters on the turn before a Valar, or trick Viserys Targaryen (Core) out of play to take a Milk of the Poppy or Craven off of a key character. The 3x Nightmares are so flexible and necessary to avoid nasty effects that I can't possibly list the uses. I have a hard time playing any deck without a full playset these days.

The plots are pretty standard, save one. Beggar King necessitates a pretty low gold curve on plots, but I've played quite a few games where Beggar King never shows up, and I lose due to crap economy. I've seen a lot of lists use Building Orders, but when I did, it was thoroughly underwhelming. I decided to add Time of Plenty as an additional economy/draw plot in a slot where most people would run Building Orders or a second Summer Harvest. The Calling the Banners is also over the second Summer Harvest so that I can at least get some gold if they reveal something with crappy gold like Here to Serve. Marched to the Wall seems a little out of place without a 2 claim plot like Famine, but it's performed literally in every game I've played. Khal Drogo allowing two Military challenges per turn keeps boards under control pretty well.

Small tournament report:

Round 1: Lannister/Rains (Loss) I got thoroughly trashed. I opened Rhaegal, Ser Barristan Selmy (LoCR), and a The Roseroad, which is a respectable start, but he opened Tywin Lannister (Core), Lannisport Merchant, Western Fiefdom. We then also both opened Summer Harvest, and I ended up having to go first, so I got gold screwed. He proceeded to absolutely maim me with double Marched to the Wall, Relentless Assault, and constant military pressure. I was never actually a thread. I maybe made 3 challenges the whole game, the rest was helplessly trying to defend.

Round 2: Bye ("win")

Round 3: Martell/ Crossing (Win) This was against one of my friends, Cora. She doesn't get to play that much, so there were a few play mistakes on her side, and I got literally everything I needed the whole game. It was a route on my part. She did manage to The Boneway and Winter Festival herself up to 11 power between her house card and The Red Viper, but I had the game firmly in hand the whole time.

Round 4: Lannister/Crossing (Win) Again, I played against someone from my usual play group. I had built this deck the night before for my buddy Austin, and it definitely needed a Wildfire Assault or Valar Morghulis or even a The First Snow of Winter all day. Since I'd built the deck, I was able to easily trounce it, and a solid opening, early Daenerys Targaryen, and a pair of Dracarys! (after Khal Drogo whittled down the board) sealed the deal as I managed to boardwipe him plot 4.

Round 5: Lannister/ Banner of the Kraken (Win) This was a super neat pillage build with Tywin Lannister (LoCR). He got all the trappings with Tywin, Ser Gregor's Marauders, Ser Gregor's Marauders, and Asha Greyjoy early on, but I got some good offense going and managed to make him choose between Asha or Tywin to get Marched to the Wall turn 2. He chose Asha, and Tywin was a thorn in my side for the rest of the game, but I kept millitary pressure on and Crown of Golded Tyrion Lannister (Core) made sure his board was small, mine stayed large, and I was able to do all three challenges every turn. That being said, by the end of the game, half my deck was pillaged away, and he had used Gregor to kill: Pyat Pree, Khal Drogo, Mirri Maz Duur, Ser Barristan Selmy (LoCR), Viserys Targaryen (Core), 2 Devoted Bloodriders, and Rhaegal. Only a Devoted Bloodrider died to actual military claim, because I drew a steady stream of dupes. It was impressive.

I missed the cut to top 4 due to strength of schedule, but it was a good day.