Krak the Night (Top 4 - Thrones WAR)

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Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
None yet.

justchillinOC 123

This is the deck I (Justin Smith) took to the Top 4 at Thrones WAR 2017 for Team Night's Watch. The idea for the deck began shortly after I was drafted to Team Night's Watch by the great Alejandro Pantoja as I had no desire to play a Wall deck for an entire weekend (and the rules of Thrones War limit each team to a max of three of the same agenda so we were limited on Fealty decks anyway).

Throughout the weekend, people kept asking me what type of deck it is and the best way to describe it is that it is a Plot-focused deck, which sounds silly as all decks are, but this deck is a bit of a throw back as it eschews pure economy plots in favor of plots that do things.

The first aspect is Valar. The deck is really built around Valar. Nearly every game I've played ends up with a large power deficit Turn 2 or 3 (and the ones that don't are easy wins) while I build up Iron Mines, Aemon and Dupes while doing everything possible to take out their Iron Mines (Newly Made Lord; also, Sea Bitch on an Iron Mines mid-defense military challenge is game swinging) and Bodyguards (Rattleshirt's Raiders). After the post-Valar board leaves an Aemon and a Ranging Party/Asha/Vic/Qhorin (and sometimes Craster as I only trigger him on an opponent's Valar), Marched/Oxcross/Clash finish things off.

As for the other three plots, I usually start Heads on Spikes. It is great to get a character (even better when it is someone good) and power, but I just as happy to take an Iron Throne or Nightmares as again, what my opponent had in his hand when he played his opening plot he now doesn't have, thus disrupting his plan. Vary's Riddle and Time of Plenty are flex plots, with Time being used if I really need cards/gold or expect a Winter Festival and Riddle instead of Marched post-Valar as that is usually when opponents play some sort of When Revealed plot (hit multiple Counting Coppers throughout the day as opponents search for comeback cards).

However, it isn't just about making my plots matter, it is also about making opponents' plot phase plans blow up. The aforementioned Heads is obvious, but the choke provided by Meager, White Tree and Shipwright (and Nightmares against the Arbor or a desperate Kingsroad) makes it incredibly difficult for opponents to actual have a coherent economic plan when they pick their plots. There is nothing better than someone flipping Noble Cause and then suddenly having too few gold to play their 7 drop (and heaven help them if they don't have a backup lord or lady) or fodder to support him. While this isn't a full choke like a NW Winter deck, the subtle choke often gets you much of the same benefit as a supplemental strategy rather than an all-in strategy like the NW Winter (which struggles to be consistent because of such sole focus). While there aren't jumpers or even a ton of events to use coin on if I'm first player, sometimes that coin gets me dominance or makes any costly events very difficult for opponents to play.

The draw deck isn't that interesting, just efficient cards that (1) it isn't the end of the world if they die pre-Valar or in Valar and (2) can control the board post-Valar. Having White Tree at setup is the goal.

Here is a quick Tournament Report. As background, at Thrones War there are 8 houses/teams of 8 players with each team playing the other houses once and the matchups within those based on rank on the team (i.e., the highest record on Team 1 plays the highest record on Team 2, second vs. second, third vs. third). After the first round, I was the high record for Night's Watch the rest of the day so was playing the top person from each other house in each matchup.

Round 1: Nich Prax's Targ-Lion - I had just played Nich in the Top 4 of the Dice House Store Championship the previous week with the initial variant of this deck, so he knew most of its tricks. His deck was basically a Lani deck with Drogo, Jorah and Viserys. I don't remember who, but I think I got a pretty good Heads on Spikes pull. He had a good opening board, but Valor did its thing. 1-0

Round 2: Steve Simoni's Lani-Rains - It was nice meeting Steve as he is a really good guy. His early Harrenhal/Tower of the Hand/Casterly Rock with Tywin (who got Valared at least) then Queen Cersei (one weakness of the deck is big intrigue) and then Kevan to bounce my board was unstoppable. 1-1

Round 3: Roy Roger's Stark-Fealty - The key to this game was sadly a misplay by Roy. Roy made me first player when I Valared (which got his Arya, Bran and Cat), normally a good play since I have no claim. However, I had a Raiding Longship out. I wasn't able to play anything, but when he only played Robb, my sole Ranging Party + Raiding Longship was able to put Robb to the sword. It was just cleanup after that. 2-1

Round 4: Jason Wentworth's Greyjoy Fealty - This was a fun game without any "big" plays that spring to mind. I was able to get board position to close it out, I think with Oxcross. 3-1

Round 5: Kevin Shannon's Bara-Kraken - Kevin was the Bara King and the defending Thrones War champion. Put simply, Kevin does not make play mistakes, like ever. Combining him with Bara is a miserable experience, especially when Bara is by far this deck's weakest matchup. He got the Chamber+Throne combo out early and made quick work of me. 3-2

Round 6: Chris Thompson's Martell-Stag - I wasn't feeling great coming off of a disheartening loss and having to play on the Twitch stream against Chris, who was second overall at the time, and knowing I had to likely win out to make the top 16 cut. I was thinking Chris was running a Wildfire focused deck, but instead he dropped a Varys on me after i had overextended (losing both Shipwrights, which are huge in this matchup to keep his locations down). Thankfully, I was able to fill the board with enough bodies and he wasn't I also had a terrible misplay when I failed to use Sea Bitch on his Boneway as I thought it only had 5 tokens. Chris later told me that he had a Nightmares if I had done it, which made me feel less bad. 4-2

Round 7: David Keller's Tyrell-Watch - David was undefeated and the #1 overall. His deck was basically a Wall deck with the Arbor. Well, at least that is what it was supposed to be. David searched and drew but never found the Wall. He did get the Arbor on his first Building Orders, but my choke left him with insufficient coin to play it that turn, a major tempo hit. My only Yoren of the day got me a Margaery, so he earned his keep. 5-2

Top 16: Eric Fletcher's Targ-Crossing - I got way behind in this one, I think 11-2 after Turn 2. There were a few key moves in this game. When I Valared, he played Famine. I had to Kingsroad a Wendamyr and pay two for a Raven to keep my Aemon and Ranging Party alive to his military claim. My plot picks were also quite spot on. I Riddled his Summer Harvest and also flipped Time of Plenty (summer) against his Winter Festival. He also hadn't expected my Valar. Of course, after good plot picking, I blew it on Turn 6 choosing Oxcross instead of Clash thinking he wouldn't have a 7 initiative plot, which of course he Wildfired to. It turned out not mattering but lesson learned.

Top 8: Shawun McCallum's Martell Wolf - Shaun is a really good player, as was the rest of Johnny Wright's Team Martell, which took down the Thrones War Team championship. Key early play was Nightmaresing his Ghaston to allow my Rattleshirt's Raiders to remove a Frozen Solid from my Sea Bitch. The key key play though was Riddling when he Heads on Spikes, which luckily pulled his Arianne who had been doing work from the start for him. I finished this one off with Clash instead of Oxcross.

Top 4: Rematch against Kevin Shannon's Bara-Kraken - I kept my setup hand as it had my Newly Made Lord and a Shipwright as I was concerned about his locations from the pain of the last game. I Heads an Iron Throne and Newly Made Lorded his Red Keep, so mission accomplished there. Unfortunately, challenges were less successful and I never saw Meager or White Tree and both Qhorin and Victarion were Seen in Flames. When I finally was able to late March an Asha (down 11-1 I think) leaving a duped Bob, he was able to drop a Victarion at which point it was GG. Kevin went on to win the Thrones WAR Joust Championship against Tom Melucci's Targ-Kraken. Turns out, Banner of the Kraken is quite good, who knew?!?!

So that is the deck I'm calling Krak the Night. Hopefully others will have success with it as I need to shelf it for awhile as 10 competitive games in two days is far too much. The Wall isn't the only way to play NW anymore people!

3 comments

imabunneh 361

Looks awfully familiar thronesdb.com

justchillinOC 123

There is definitely overlap between the good NW and Kraken cards, but if I understand from Dan's description right, I think we are approaching the concept differently.

First on plots, Trading is probably the worst plot for my deck (and it sucks when my opponent plays it as well) as I want to limit their options and make their plots not do what they wanted. Giving them 3 extra gold has the opposite effect. Blackwater is an interesting concept, but (1) it would delay my offensive Valar an extra turn (letting them get further ahead) and telegraph it (letting them pick a better response plot) and (2) my duped Aemon and to a lesser extent Qhorin and Victarion is often what makes Valar so punishing. Clash and Riddle just give me much more of an impact and flexibility, especially since I'm running Raiding Longship (which I wish I had space to 2x).

Second, our events are quite different. I wish I could go to 4x or 5x Meager as I always want to make sure I have it. The one coin surprise swing is that huge. Nightmares is 3x in every deck. I actually am thinking of cutting Put to the Sword as there are many times I wish it was something else (Put to the Torch to deal with passive power, surprise Tears). I toyed with Relentless Assault in testing but it was incredibly rare that I was able to both trigger it and be in a position to win a second challenge, and in those instance the card fell into the "win more" category. It seems to be working well for Dan though so maybe I'm doing something wrong. Hands are nice, but this isn't really a reactionary deck and I don't have the space.

As for the rest, Ocean Road and Sworn Brother are key economy given my lack of economy plots and much better than Old Forest Hunter who is a necessary evil. Fishmonger, like Sworn Brother, provides a power icon which is also much more useful than the Hunter's military icon or even the Steward's intrigue. I'm of the 2x Asha / 1x Esgred camp as Esgred is so easily killed and controlled, but having both is great since if one dies early it isn't the end of the world. Silent Sisters is worth a look but she would be in place of Yoren and his ability to expand the board is hard to beat. Finally, Newly Made Lord is so key in the current meta and especially for this deck as location heavy passive power decks don't care as much about my Valar. He also has can win or at least defend a power challenge or two before being killed.

Bronson 117

Thanks for expanding on the card choices... and congrats on T4 in a tough field!