NoEcons4U v2 - King of Swiss - 39 Player Singapore Open 1.0

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First & foremost, a big thank you to @jcwamma for creating the original NoEcons4U; thank you for sharing with me your deck ideas & advice. I have been a big fan and user of Greyjoy Winter Choke archetype since v1, so when I saw James's choke build, I knew I had to play it!

Next, a big thank you to my friend Chewy & his team of Le Serious Council for organising the Singapore Open - The Sack of Astapor.

Lastly, a big shoutout to my friends from the Silent Sisters meta in Singapore, that I have regular practice sessions with. Also, thank you to all my other friends that practiced with me to get back into the game, as I had taken a 6 month break from thrones and this was my official comeback tournament.

Scroll down for the short version. Otherwise, here's the full tourney report of my 2 days (29 & 30 April) at the 39-player event. I can't really remember the full details, but I will share the highlights that I can remember. All packs up to Watchers on the Wall and before Guarding the Realm were legal at this tourney.

Round One Vs Edison's Martell Kraken. It's funny how I paired with Edi, as he is one of the first friends I made through thrones after v2 came out. Also, Edi is one of the first few I contacted to have practice sessions with after my long break. So really thank you for the practice games we had. We opened plots with my Noble Cause to his The Long Plan, I was FP. He had Nymeria Sand, a weenie, Iron Mines and Roseroad out early, I had a bunch of reducers, and I was able to put out a Euron followed by Newly-Made Lord discarding his Iron Mines which I took with Euron eventually, also I was able to get through a We Do Not Sow on his roseroad, affecting his income in subsequent turns.

Round Two Vs Kelly's Tyrell Watch. Prior to this game, I had only had one or two games against the new Jon Snow (WotW) and made a few challenges error allowing him to win and stand. But I adapted to his effect after awhile. I made a crucial play of The First Snow of Winter mid-game and got a few UOs through. Our last plot was also when time was called, I opened The Winds of Winter, chose myself as FP. I remember being at 11 power & I knew I had to close the game that round, but it felt really difficult as after calculating all my challenges and available renown, I was only at 14 power. Moreover, he still had 2 power icon characters remaining to block my power and I was missing stealth, my Euron had a Craven. It was then I realised my Victarion Greyjoy had intimidate, I knelt him in to attack, he blocked with one of his power icons but used Renly's Pavilion, thinking that the str was equalised, but he did not account for the Iron Fleet Scout and FP gave me 2str pump. Claim 2 + renown. 1 more power. I knelt his remaining power with intimidate, thus no power claim for him. He used Jon Snow for I believe was military or intri, but it still did not prevent me from winning dom, my standing euron with 6 str & 3 gold left to his standing 6 str with 2 gold left. I won dom by 1 gold difference! Full win at dominance.

Next, was Round Three against Yuqin's Tyrell Kraken. Yuqin's deck mainly revolved around Tinder Margaery Tyrell (AMAF), which I did not give him an easy time against due to my 2 copies of Barring the Gates. Even his Aeron Damphair (Core) could not trigger with Iron Throne out. I was able to raze one location after another and even took his Iron mines with Euron. It was the smoothest game I had out of all the swiss rounds due to systematic sacking of locations and consistent draw into my renown characters. By 4th plot I had Euron, Asha, King Balon and Theon out. Sitting on 11 power, I opened The Winds of Winter & swung in with a full power challenge which and won the game.

Round Four, my opponent was Kim Tian, probably my most challenging game in swiss. We were both at 3 full wins, and by this round I was playing at the top table, and it was directly under the air conditioner so it was literally 'winter' for my opponents and me! Kim Tian had Jon Snow (WotW) out early and Jon provided to be an annoying character, with stealth, standing on both defense and attack, combo with Renly's Pavilion, A Game of Thrones, making my intrigue challenges against him almost impossible, coupled with Aemon to save for claims. The only loophole to the Jon Snow was the lack of power icons, which gave me power uo a few times & claim 2 plots, pushing my power curve higher than him. The highlight of the game was Kim Tian's Valar that wiped my field of King Balon, Victarion & Asha, I had not draw into any saves for 5 plots straight except for a Risen which was discarded at the start. By plot 6 with my field cleaned, I was hanging on whatever characters that I topdecked. Fortunately I saw Euron, which helped me grab 2 more power on my claim 2 before getting killed by my own Valar. Euron also helped me steal a The Haunted Forest from his discard pile, I chose this over a good many locations to slow down his uo challenges. At the last plot, time was called and I ended up with 12 power to Kim Tian's 9 power, leading me to a modified win.

At Round Five, my opponent was Martin, playing a Greyjoy Fealty build that had various ways to gain power fast. Through x2 Winter Festival, Drowned Disciple, Superior Claim, and 1 Heads On Spike, on top of the usual GJ Fealty rush build. An unconventional GJ Fealty Rush. I quite like the deck idea. He and 2 other players were playing the same deck in this tourney, and both Martin and my fellow #V1Vets friend, Joey made it to top 8, with Joey eventually winning it all! I remember both Martin and I had good setups, and he had Euron, Aeron and a few Drowned Gods out early. I also drew into a NML on plot 1 and discarded his Iron Fleet Scout which I took control with my Euron which I marshalled that round. Our Eurons played table tennis with each other, taking each other's locations from our discard pile. I made a crucial decision to play Relentless Assault early on a claim 1 plot as I knew his was a rush deck and I needed to adapt to 'rush' as well. Waiting for a claim 2 plot won't guarantee that the card would still stay on my already small hand. It was a right choice that benefited the remainder of the game. The turning point of the game was during mid-game when I noticed Martin's field was flooded with 2 & 3 costers and only 1 Euron, so I opened First Snow, with it being winter, it gravely affected his play and I still had 4 high costers remaining. It eventually affected his reserve as well. It was at this point that I nightmared his Euron stopping the table tennis for 1 round, my Euron took his Iron Throne from discard pile as well sealing my dom power. I opened Famine the next round, causing the weenies on his hand to now cost more each on top of winter. I believe it was at the next plot, The Winds of Winter, which I was FP, that I closed with a claim 2 power challenge with 2 renowns. GG.

On Day 2's Top 8, my opponent was Jason with Lanni Rains. I underestimated the Lanni Rains deck Jason played, as I had only experienced the "Jumping" Lanni Rains deck archetype. His was different, it was a heavy intrigue version with not only Queen Cersei, but an opening scheme of Wardens of the West, which rendered my hand to 1 card after claim, also he had Casterly Rock out. It was a snowball and massacre. Momentum built up for him and he discarded my 2 Risen from the Sea from my hand. By plot 2, he already had Tywin Lannister (Core) with Bodyguard, Cersei Lannister (LoCR) with a dupe, some Lanni weenies out. I had no Iron Mines, only King Balon with no dupes and only wildling weenies. Offensive Valar did not make a difference. Had I known he did not play Valar in his plot deck, I would definitely have played differently from the start and not focus on discarding his Bodyguard on Tywin even on 4th turn, instead of a Milk on my King Balon. I conceded. I live with it and learn from it. It was a good game.

I thoroughly enjoyed all my games and thanks to all my opponents for the games. I am grateful to be able to play against seasoned players in all my rounds, all of them had been playing thrones for at least a year now, definitely wasn't an easy to make it to top in swiss.

Ultimately, I was 5th place overall out of 39 players, with King of Swiss, and overall top GJ player after swiss. Winning an Iron Throne playmat, Team Covenant's GJ tokens and the awesome beautiful alt arts designed by our local artist, Thomas, as participation prize.

TL;DR R1: Full Win Vs Martell Kraken (Icon Control), R2: Full Win Vs Tyrell Watch (False banner), R3: Full Win Vs Tyrell Kraken (Tinder Marge), R4: Mod Win Vs Tyrell Watch (another False banner), R5: Full Win Vs Greyjoy Fealty (Drowned God Rush), Top8: Loss Vs Lanni Rains (Heavy Intri with Casterly Rock, Queen Cersei, Wardens)

JP link: http://thejoustingpavilion.com/tournaments/3565

Inspired by: https://thronesdb.com/decklist/view/8338/noecons4u-king-of-swiss-29-player-brighton-charity-joust-t-1.0 (For strategies, please read his deck posting first, almost everything are already answered in his comments.)

My R4, R5 and Top 8 games were actually recorded, as I was at the top table. I will put a link in the comments below when my tourney's organizers release the videos. Thanks for reading! Do feel free to ask me any questions! And, I welcome any tips or advice. What is dead may never die. (: