Kissed By Fire 1.0

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• 1.0

"You call us thieves, but at least a thief has t' be brave and clever and quick. A kneeler only has t' kneel.”

This is my attempt at a rather unorthodox form of Baratheon. This deck trades the economy of Fealty or Kings of Summer for the toolbox of Scheme plots provided by Rains of Castamere.

The idea spawned when I began to run into location-heavy "Empty Throne" decks which would utilize multiple board resets to keep an eternally-small play area, relying on locations to win the game. In those matches, I found that my own Wildfire Assaults would become a liability, since my opponent didn't care about keeping characters on the board. Rains of Castamere solves that problem, by letting you access your Wildfire when (or if) you want it. The ability to bring in the When Revealed effects of Filthy Accusations and Power Behind The Throne is also very strong, and the ability to copy an opponent's already-revealed plot with Varys's Riddle and the ability to blank an opponent's Winter Festival or A Feast For Crows with Forgotten Plans rounds out the toolbox of schemes.

But to make use of the toolbox, we have to be able to win intrigue challenges. Enter Ygritte. There are very few characters with both an intrigue icon and stealth, meaning that Ygritte can be a monster for getting Rains of Castamere triggers. Wildling Bandits also synergize well with Baratheon's gold-thirsty style of play. The kneel effect of Melisandre helps carve the way for your intrigue challenges, and Robert Baratheon serves as your heavy renown hitter with Intimidate.

I should take a moment to mention Ser Davos Seaworth. As you'll notice, I have an unorthodox inclusion of 2x Lord Davos from Ghosts of Harrenhal along with 1x Ser Davos from the Core Set. The reasoning here is that I prefer Ser Davos to the usual City Watch that mono-Baratheon decks tend to use. Lord Davos's card draw is also useful. Note that Core Davos can be used as a duplicate for Lord Davos, and that Lord Davos can receive a Bodyguard or Appointed attachment.

The lone Red God's Blessing is an experimental card, meant to push Ygritte or Ser Davos over to 5+ Strength. One of the issues I have found in my games with this deck is that you most often need multiple characters with Intrigue icons to be able to win Intrigue challenges by 5 or more, even when your opponent has very little Intrigue on the board. The Blessing helps with that.

In the plot deck, I have been really enjoying Late Summer Feast as an alternative to Trading With the Pentoshi. It is great for shutting down an opponent's Winter Festival, and its downside can also be somewhat mitigated by a successful Rains of Castamere trigger. Battle of Oxcross is in there because of its high initiative and its ability to help force through a Rains trigger. I found that against intrigue-heavy decks, I would desperately want to use Wildfire Assault, but the sheer multitude of characters controlled by my opponent would prevent me from cutting through. Battle of Oxcross helps there.

So, if you are looking for a different way to play Baratheon, check out Ygritte and the Rains of Castamere agenda!