Winner deck "Batalla por el muro 2017" Daniel Correas López 1.0

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• 1.0

Firstly, thank you Ingrid and thank you Alvaro for this wonderful weekend. It was an honor to play the last "batalla por el muro" tournament.

Hello, I'm Daniel Correas López from Zaragoza (Spain) and this is the list I used to win "Batalla por el Muro 2017" last weekend. Feel free to ask any questions about it. I'll be giving an spanish interview in the podcast "El único juego que importa" http://www.ivoox.com/unico-juego-importa-podcast-81-audios-mp3_rf_18055540_1.html and I have done a Spanish report here http://guardiadelanoche.com/t/mazo-ganador-de-batalla-por-el-muro-y-report/3982. By the way, "All men are fools" wasn't legal for this tournament.

At the moment, 4 houses are dominating the environment: Lannister (essentially Rains), Tyrell (essentially Crossing), Greyjoy and Baratheon. This deck was made to beat Valar Morghulis and these 4 archetypes. If you have the right cards, you can easily beat your opponent before turn 4. Against the rest of the archetypes, this deck doesn't need specific deck choices.

Agenda:

If you are running a deck that wants to win power quickly, you need a plan to win the power challenge easily.

Plots:

Trading with the Pentoshi - 10 gold, why not?

Clash of Kings - 9 initiative plot, power booster and finisher.

Confiscation - NW and Milk of the Poppy make this plot unfortunately mandatory in this meta. I can't play Weapons at the Door because I run too many attachments.

Winter Festival - 5 gold, 2 initiative and 2 power booster if you use it at the right moment (for example, if you're playing against Summer, that moment where you expect a Confiscation or a reset) and as an extra, winter plot against Winterfell.

Anti-Valar plots:

Varys Riddle - 5 gold, perfect initiative and situational effect. If you play against Summer and you don't have an explosive renown hand, this is the best choice to open. Also perfect if you want to wipe the entire table against Valar or if you expect summons or counting coppers.

Ghosts of Harrenhal - Perfect post-Valar plot. I prefer it over Close Call because of his 5 initiative and gold value (if you bring Loras back for example, you are essentially getting a "7 gold plot" and a free card just like Close Call does).

Filthy Accusations - This is the key card of the deck. I usually play it on the second or third plot. I love the idea that if your opponent plays a character in turn 2, you bow it in turn 3 and you win the initiative in turn 4 (with Clash of Kings, for example), that character can only attack once (25% of the game) in a 4 plot game. This deck runs, and the initiative and impact of this plot are big. Also useful against mirror rush matchups because it gives you the tempo of the game. It's a perfect plot to kneel a duped character in an upcoming Valar (especially against NW when you can bow Aemon and wipe his table).

Attachments:

When I was playing the first version of this deck I thought one of the keys in a rush deck is that, if you do your opponent use uncomfortable plots like Confiscation or Valar Morghulis, his develop will be slow. That is the reason why I run 7 attachments and I use them quickly. If my opponent doesn´t use them you will take a high advantage using the crown, heartsblade, mare in heat or Seal of the hand (excellent meta against Baratheon and high value with Renly, any other renown character or Margaery).

Locations:

The Iron Throne - One of the best locations in the game. It gives you free power every round and it's an excellent meta call against Baratheon (to block their dominance mechanic) and Night's Watch (they essentially only have 2 power sources, the Wall and dominance).

Renly's Pavillion - One of the most unbalanced locations of the game. Paying 2 gold, it provides you the option to 1) defend the challenge you want, 2) denial a whole challenge against mirror Crossing matchups if they use a chud for the first challenge and 3) it also synergizes perfectly with Loras and Randyll Tarly. In the initial build I was running 3, but then I added 2 Iron Thrones left it at 1.

Pleasure Barge - Never use it in plot 1 unless you have a horrible hand. Use it in turn 2 if you don't have enough characters, you think you can lose the intrigue challenge or you have enough economy and 2 barges in hand. Turn 3 or later... USE IT NOW YOU MORON.

Events:

Nightmares and Growing Strong - In a 3 plots game, if you use 1 event who breaks the opponent's turn, the value of that event grows. In other words, in combination with Filthy Accusations, I'm using (in my opinion besides Treachery) the most impactful and versatile events in the game.

Superior Claim: Doing math, I used to get stuck at 13 or 14 power in plot 3 when I was testing the deck and I thought "I can get to 35 strength in power challenges, why not?"

Characters:

I'm not going to talk 1 by 1 about all the characters. I think people know that Randyll Tarly is the true "Burger Flower King", so I will talk about the unbalanced icons choice.

There are the same number of intrigue and power icons and that is not a coincidence. In a mirror match against other Tyrells or Greyjoys, intrigue challenge is the key to win the game. If your opponent is doing intrigue as their first challenge, you automatically must defend it. Why? Because rush decks usually burn their hand in the Pentoshi turn and then they tend to stay with 1 or 2 characters and some events. Winning these challenges (especially in turn 1 and 2) gives you all the advantage in combination with Filthy Accusations. Against Rains of Castamere decks it isn't a bad idea to use the intrigue challenge for Crossing in to avoid a defensive Rains trigger.

Military challenge is useless unless the board is really small or in a Valar Morghulis turn, so use it for the first challenge in 70% of the games.

Power challenge likes Crossing.

Tournament report:

Round 1: Adrian Marín "Usagi" (Lannister Banner of the Sun) Spain Win

Cool old friend from L5r. He has a really bad setup (only 3 1 cost characters). After setup I play Randyll with Bodyguard and he plays Tyrion and Roseroad. He does intrigue, gains 2 gold and Tears + Treachery my Randyll and BG. Next turn I play Ghosts and take the beast back, and he plays Tywin. Plot 3 I use Filthy on the grandfather and plot 4 Penthosi to finish the game.

Round 2: Christian Tortuella (Lannister Rains) Spain Win

I don't remember the details of this match very well, only that he got Gregor, Tywin, Tyrion and Cersei (LoCR) out by turn 2. It was a 5 plot game and The Mountain killed nothing.

Round 3: Fabiano Campolucci (Baratheon Summer) Italy Win

His setup was Red keep, Painted Table, Roseroad and a pair of characters. Mine was Paxter, Kingsroad and a 2 gold character. I went Pentoshi and he went Time of Plenty. He played Stannis King and Robert quickly. The key cards of this matchup were the Mare in Heat winning power, Filthy on turn 3 on Robert (he played Melisandre that turn) and Nightmares on Robert to win power and take the game.

Round 4: Tassos Papanastasiou (Greyjoy summer) Greece Lose

I drew 8 limited locations and he used Valar and saves. I got to 12 power but he owned me using all the Greyjoy's tricks and treats. It was an unwinnable game.

Round 5: Eric Trigo "Antrim" (Night Watch Fealty) Spain Lose

He is my local meta friend. I was really proud to be fighting for a top 32 spot with him (worked out great in the end, since we both got in). I got to finish with 12 power, but he gave me a good beating. He played 3 cravens, Shadow Tower, Thoren, 2 Forests, the Wall, Castle Black... The best cards in the right order. Insane unwinnable game.

Round 6: Francesco Scurani (Greyjoy Crossing) Italy Win

Crossing games are boring. He played Valar on turn 3 and got saves, but I could control the board via Filthy and Nightmares. In the 5th plot he couldn't reach 15 and I did with my last Crossing challenge. Really close match.

Round 7: Francesco Servetti (Tyrell Crossing) Italy Win

I got Randyll, Pavilion and Loras on turn 1 and he got Randyll with Heartsbane, Loras and Brienne. I played Filthy for my second plot and went first winning the initiative. I used Nightmares on Randyll and did my own Crossing stuff. He didn't win an intrigue challenge and I won them all. That was the key to win this match.

Round 8: Martin Henmark "Alquimista" (Baratheon Summer) Spain Win

Really strange game. I setuped 2 gold characters, the Throne (the key card of the matchup) and Roseroad and he setuped characters, the Painted Table and Roseroad. First turn he played Stannis Core and then Consolidation of Power on turns 1 and 2 bowing 3 chuds both turns. I didn't expect Valar, and he used it on plot 4. Randyll was the last man standing and I played Renly. Here I could use Stannis to my advantage by his entire board being knelt (I played Filthy). Finally in plot 7 he uses a revitalizing Ghosts of Harrenhal that brings Renly back to the game and allows me to reach enough power to win the game by the next plot.

Top 32 Eric Trigo "Antrim" (Night Watch Fealty) Spain Win

My friend again, just in this case he didn't draw as a God. We both played a perfect match attacking and blocking challenges, reading the opponent's plots (I bowed his Aemon on Valar's turn and copied Counting Coppers with Varys Riddle). I finally won and let my friend out of the top 16.

Top 16 Alex Trigonakis (Lannister Rains) Greece Win

It´s always a pleasure to play against a high quality player as Trigonakis is. He setuped Tywin, chud and Roseroad. He used Rains' trigger on the first turn using Power Behind the Throne (he had no idea I was playing Filthy). He regretted using it on the first plot, when he stood Tywin and attacked military and I played Growing Strong to defend that challenge and get renown. He did't see Trial by Combat or the Harrenhal + Tower of the hand combo although he got 2 Treacheries and Hand's Judgements. In the last turn I did all my 3 challenges, got to 14 power and then won the dom with a Garden Caretaker. Really epic final.

Top 8 Even Sorgjerd (Lannister Banner of the Watch) Norway 2-1 Win

Here we start the best of three dynamic. I had 3 really fun matches with this guy, he was a really cool guy and won the first game using a moustache token which fitted perfectly on Cersei's art, EPIC. On the other hand, he only drew 1 Craven in 3 games.

Game 1 - Setup Tywin and a chud. I got a weak hand against FSoW, and he takes advantage of that. Turn 2 FSoW and turn 3 Marched wipes my board letting Randyll with a Crown as the last man standing. Ghost and Cersei combo makes it impossible to defend and I irremediably lose the game with 8 powers on Cersei.

Game 2 - Setup Tywin and a chud. On turn 1 he plays Tyrion and Cersei. On turn 2 I know he will play FSoW but this time I'm ready and go with Pentoshi to fill the board with a lot of high cost characters. He had a Craven, but only one. The rest of the game I had up to 30 strength in power challenges via Crossing, so it was easy to close.

Game 3- Setup Tywin and a chud (WTF!). Turn 1 I play Pentoshi and he goes with Cersei and Tyrion again. This time he doesn't see a Craven again and I get to 15 in 5 plots.

Top 4 Marco Guida (Tyrell Banner of the Watch) Italy 2-0 Win

We have a camera recording and a lot of people watching us, so I make a mistake in the first game by not getting my 2 power with Winter Festival. It was a terrible mistake., thankfully it didn't have that much impact in the end.

Game 1 - He didn't draw the Wall, but 3 Cravens and 2 Milks. I played the Throne in setup (key of the match) and the game was really slow. Win by dom.

Game 2 - This game he played the Wall with 1 Forest in turn 1, Cravens and Milks again, but he didn't draw the right combination of characters to stop my challenges. I drew the cards in the right order and played them well. This match had no mystery.

Final Nicola Brutti (Tyrell Crossing) Italy 2-0 Win

I went out to have something to eat and then Ingrid called me asking to come back since the Italian's plane was leaving at 6 o'clock. So I left my food and came back to the hotel to play the final. We agreed in 1h and a half to play the final because of the time.

Game 1 - He has a terrible setup and I play perfectly taking all the tempo via Filthy bowing Loras with Mare in heat. We both played well but I got a much better start.

Game 2 - We got both an incredible turn 1, he got 4 renown characters and I got 3 and Seal on Renly. I bowed Brienne (supported with Renly) in turn 3, which gave me enough time to breath and do math about how much power we both would get in this turn and the next. As his last plot he played Weapons at the Door and returned 4 attachments to my hand. He went first and did all three challenges. Doing math and knowing he could only get to 14 even with Superior Claim (which he actually played), I defended Randyll's military and used Brienne for the power challenge. He got to 14 and conceded.

My impressions: I'm really proud that my city (Zaragoza) got the highest Spanish representation in the top 32. I found foreign people very friendly and believe that Italy is by far the strongest meta in Europe right now.

That's all, thank you for reading this report, and I will see you in Stahleck.