No Bigs for You, 5-1 SC Winner 2/4 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

No Bigs for You 5-1 SC Winner 2/4

The Beginning:

Sitting in my laboratory one fine day, and by laboratory, I mean laying on my floor in front of my game closet in my son’s (use to be dads) game room. I thought to myself, “what are people not ready for”, “how can I utilize Valar”, and “how can I win with no characters”. My first thought was throne and table, but I needed a way to keep their characters off the board too. Then I thought about Burning, Ghaston, Vengeance, Varys and I had already been trying to conceive 2x Delay for a long time.

Here is another one of those decks I consider creative and unusual that people would not be ready for. It follows in footsteps of my NW-Kraken and Lanni Crossing with Mance and the Wildlings. I try to strive for decks that people won’t see coming and may not be ready for. You look at the faction and agenda and prepare for one thing and something else hits you. Like with the Crossing, nobody was ready for 3x Nightmares and 3x Milk with First Snow followed by Famine.

The deck did exactly what I wanted it to do, thought it would do, and more. I wanted to keep their bigs off the board for 3 or so rounds. That would fluster and baffle them, leading to mistakes. But I found I could keep the board almost entirely clear turn after turn. I guess those are my best decks, keep the board clean for the first 3 or so plots and then my opponent must figure out what to do from there. You must have the right mind set to play this deck. As in, you don’t need and often have few characters on the table. I believe the most I had at any one time was 3, and that wasn’t very often. Keep playing the come in to effect characters and then get them back. Save Mel until the finishing round to close, time up the Sands and Vengeance.

Know the house you are playing and think about what they can do to mess with your plan. Those are the cards you take out with Eyes and Flames. If it’s GJ then get their location tech, Lanni loses their Treachery, etc….

The worst matchup by far is NW Fealty, and if they get a Throne, then it will be a real battle with very wise and smart plot gaming. I feel like the matchup with any other house is fine as you can get in their hand and take out what hurts you, before it’s too late. Also, if you get a terrible start, bad setup, draw back, etc… you’re in trouble.

I only played the deck twice before the tournament, so I learned much after. I took out Littlefinger (too expensive for what I was doing) and replaced him with Pyromancers. Added a Cressen for the Stark matchup and a 2nd Vengeance as that was money every time I saw it. I know it’s considered a stall deck, but it stalls pretty fast as none of my games went close to time.

The Middle

Rd 1 W vs Targ-Watch, Dusty He didn’t get any power icons, I just kept his dudes away. He got out a bit early, but ran out of characters and that was that.

Rd 2 W vs Bara Summer, Erickson He wasn’t ready for 2 delay, Valar, and Marched. Couldn’t figure out what to do until it was too late. He held in there for many plots, but in the end the 3 location combo just did what it comes to do.

Rd 3 W vs GJ Crossing, Jack This game didn’t go his way as by turn 2 I had the big 3 and even with getting the Boneway blown up b/c I’m stupid and didn’t take the NML out of his hand the previous turn, he just couldn’t keep his dudes down and then ran out of economy.

Rd 4 L vs NW Fealty, Cory The matchup I knew would be a problem and it was. I looked good early and made him swear at me, lol, but he got the Throne too, and with that and the Wall I couldn’t come back and it wasn’t even close.

Off to the cut. I was 2nd in Swiss and was going to drop. I guess that’s what I do, lol. But the great Qhorin Halfhand talked me into playing and even though there were 2 NW Fealty, I played.

Top 4 W vs NW Fealty, Matt I got off to a fast start, having him confused and not sure what to do. I was so surprised that I got a bit non-cholent and almost choked the game away. All there was to do by the end was hope that the GJ Crossing beat the NW Fealty…………………………..and It did

Finals W vs GJ Crossing, Jack This went way different than the Swiss game. I had the worse start of the tournament with a garbage setup and finding one of the big 3 with my Building turn 1. Then b/c it’s GJ I had to decide when and what to play as I didn’t want it blown up or taken by Dagmar. There many people around us staring down at my failure and then my almost 2-year-old son showed up and had to sit with me. It became a bit distracting for me to say the least, lol. I had pretty much conceded in my head as I got down like 12-2 and then somehow, someway, it all turned. My lovely wife took my boy over to the snack bar to get ice cream and I could look at the board, lol. I can’t remember the turning point (probably was the Varys turn), but it was probably the constant: sending his guys back, Valar and then the biggest turn might have been his Kraken turn. I used Sand on his power challenge and Vengeance on his M challenge, leaving just Asha to March. I then went 3 turns without playing a character and began pulling away (I know right, lol). No characters and then I was just getting Throne and Table as he also couldn’t play anything out. The game had slid way out of his control and I believe he got flustered, which is what the deck is supposed to do. I had been questioning whether I needed Mel as I hadn’t played her all day, until…………………. the last turn of the tournament. He was first and had enough money for Balon, I played Mel, knelt him and that was that. It was one of the best games I’ve played, but so strange as it was a blowout for him early and then I just ran away with it late. Sorry the round by round was so lack luster. The tournament was 2 weeks ago (I was holding deck for Thrones War) and I’m old and forgot the many details and foolish enough to not write it up shortly after, lol.

The End:

I had so much fun playing the deck and it took a lot of theory crafting to bring it together. I locked myself in my creative laboratory and worked and worked it. I will say though, I need to do more actual game testing with my decks as I believe I would have seen Pyromancers before the tournament, lol. I played the NW Kraken like 40 times before running it out, but since then I think the most I’ve played a tournament deck is twice. That is not a good idea for all you new/newer players. You discover a lot about your deck by play testing, not just theory crafting. Always play a deck that you will have fun with win or lose. You don’t want to get to the end of tournament and think, “I wish I had played my other deck”.

Here is how I would run the deck now after getting about 10 games in:

http://thronesdb.com/deck/view/248411

My Goal:

I am setting a goal for myself to win with each house. I have 4 more to go, but I’m not sure if I’m giving myself a timeline. Let’s go Targ, Tyrell, GJ, and Bara.

“I know Nothing”