Intimate Intimidation: Cersei and Jaime's Wild Ride (Stormin

Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Lanni Rose Intimidate 0 0 0 1.0

deaseb 53

Cersei Lannister (LoCR) and Ser Jaime Lannister (Core) are the only characters in the game who are almost assured two attacking challenges per round, with no tricks involved. "Lord Renly's Ride" makes it really freaking awesome to have a character that attacks twice. Thus, a moderately janky deck with Casterly Rock and Olenna's Informant to get extra challenges off.

Tournament report:

Round 1 vs Rosie - Bara/Fealty

Bara doesn't run First Snow, so I set up a bunch of cheap stuff. She set up the Chamber and added the Chair on plot 1 with Feast For Crows. My deck gave me Jaime early - very useful going first, as his non-kneeling military occupied Rosie's King's Hunting Party. She did not see Melisandre, so I lived the dream and got Queen Cersei to go off on three stealthy Intrigue challenges on a crazy ride turn, and the Chamber never made much of an impact. Result: W in 5ish plots

Round 2 vs Sean - Targ/Fealty

I got a Tywin/chud setup here, while he set up a bunch of small dudes, as Targ is wont to do. I drew relatively light on good characters afterward, so I didn't open First Snow. Key to this matchup was the plots. Plot 2, I'd dropped the Eyrie and triggered in the Plot phase, causing Sean to blow his Marched to the Wall in anticipation of Valar. I no longer played around that, and it was a godsend. Plot 3, after I had marshaled Tyrion on plot 2, I was made FP, and his Building Orders went for Crown of Gold. I marshaled Widow's Wail, a rare sight, and that pretty much put an end to the idea of King Tyrion. I Milked Drogo, resulting in growing boards. With no great resets on hand, I prioritized going first to force him to kneel on defense, and the Power challenges in general. Tywin never left the board. In the end, I had a big power lead but a really tenuous board state. Lord Renly's Ride won it for me on defense, where the +2 strength gave Jaime enough to get that final Renown + dominance. Result: W in 6ish plots

Round 3 vs Todd - Greyjoy/Stag (http://thronesdb.com/decklist/view/8780/waves-of-warships-2.0)

Duped Tywin/chud setup against Asha/chud/boats. We double-Summer-Harvested to open the game, and I think that really threw Todd off his game. With Tywin, I had 4 gold to his 2, which was brutal. He took FP on the tiebreaker and was ready to rack up challenge wins, so I milked Asha to make him feel as bad as possible, and he forgot about the pump on Iron Fleet Scout. Next round Todd dropped Trading to stabilize his board. Slowly, by prioritizing defending the Military, he got out Victarion and Marya Seaworth - who seems absurdly underrated - but I used Nightmares on Marya the first time she showed up. In Marya's second round, I was going first and had Cersei + Lord Renly's Ride, so he wound up kneeling out. Todd did a very effective job protecting his board, but as I was going first, it came at the expense of losing lots of Power and Intrigue challenges, while I piled power onto Cersei and Tywin. Heading into plot 4, I was at about 12 power. He played Rise of the Kraken, looking to close and smash my board, and took first. I marshaled Randyll and some claim-soak. In a huge mistake, Todd did not save gold to use Marya's ability, so while he got a really nice power rush off on me and thinned my board, I was able to strike back for an old-school Renown win. Result: W in 4 plots

Round 4 vs Joe - Tyrell/Lion

Tywin/chud/Roseroad vs Arbor/small dudes setup. Plot 1 - double-Harvest - is defensive on both ends, as I go second, protect Tywin, and milk Jaime. Plot 2 I lose Initiative, so I'm made first. I drop Tyrion, and he drops Varys. It becomes pretty clear I have Treachery, so he saves Varys. Plot 3, I Treachery his Pleasure Barge and continue to prioritize Military - which winds up with Joe playing out all his Ambush characters, emptying his hand. Varys pops and he Marches Tywin on Plot 4 to clear the board, but I have a giant hand/Power advantage at this point. With only tiny boards remaining, I win the power-rush game with Jaime. Result: W in 6 plots

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeSDJYAXyGY

Round 5 vs Chris - Martell/Wolf

I think set up Tywin/chud here, which tells you what type of day it was for me. Chris opens with chud/Knights of the Sun. He opens Heads on Spikes and misses a character, and he goes second, loses challenges, and makes life hell for me with His Viper Eyes, discarding The Hound. Plot 2 is a second Heads on Spikes, which nets Chris some power. This time, he chooses first and drops Harrenhal. I spend much of the game either holding back newly duped Tywin from running into Ghaston Grey and holding back Tyrion/Cersei from Harrenhal (of which he played a second copy after the first plot) - instead, I wind up running the likes of Ser Amory Lorch, Janos Slynt, etc. into those, while he countings to shred my hand with His Viper Eyes and Tarred Heads. I refill my hand with Counting Coppers, Battle of Blackwater strips Tywin's dupe, and I can see Valar coming. In order to ensure that he does play Valar immediately, I overextend with Janos Slynt. Valar strikes, but I have Ghosts of Harrenhal for that, and Tywin loses his power but otherwise winds up looking pretty fly for a dead guy. Retaliation winds up being a dead plot for him because he can't keep guys to strike at me with. Result: W in 6ish plots

Round 6 vs Bryn - Targ/Fealty (http://thronesdb.com/decklist/view/8785/sizzle-kos-runner-up-storming-of-starpike-49-players-1.0)

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeSDJYAXyGY

This one was for the King of Swiss, and I got my ass handed to me. I set up Tyrion + Dagger + Chud + Western Fiefdom to duped Dany, Plaza of Pride, and Illyrio's Estate. I open Marched... into Blood of the Dragon. With a wiped board and no Lannister power icons, my Western Fiefdom becomes a dead card, and I'm forced to try some garbage with Randyll, Bodyguard, and Margaery. Bryn chews through me with Drogon on Plot 1 (where I forget that Drogon is of equal strength to Randyll) and then Doreah on Plot 2, when we run Summer Harvest into one another. Khal Drogo soon joins the party and I've still yet to build a board, always finding myself seemingly one gold short. I bring Randyll back with Ghosts of Harrenhal, but it's way too late, and the 2 gold doesn't allow me to find him a playmate. Result: L in 5ish plots.

Top 8 vs Patrick - Lanni/Rains

I open with a duped Margaery and some chuds and an economy location, along with Casterly Rock, against Jaime and Burned Men. Plot 1 has Patrick opening Counting Coppers, and I have an extremely unfruitful Summer Harvest. We play some defense. Plot 2, Patrick plays Trading with the Pentoshi. We each get out Tywin, though mine has a Bodyguard. We trade Confiscations as he strips my Bodyguard and I take the Bodyguard off Jaime. Pat continutes to play extremely deliberately, finally getting the Eyrie, Tyrion with a Bodyguard, and duped Core Cersei. I'm left without a lot of great options and decide to play Cersei to try to strip his hand and force decisions on him. I make a few minor mistakes, but my inability to save either Tywin OR Cersei from Valar is the difference. I play Ghosts of Harrenhal and gamble, getting back Cersei (who can at least make multiple challenges with Casterly Rock, giving me a chance to strip Trial By Combat from Patrick's hand). I don't draw into the economy I need to play Tyrion (who could help repopulate the board with Burned Men), so I scoop after he wipes my board with Rains into Claim + Trial. Result: Loss in 6ish plots.


Tournament notes: Hard to say what I did right and wrong here, honestly. Many of my wins were 'skin of the teeth'-style, and they came off setting up Tywin and playing very tactically. It's the way I've played Lannister a lot, but I think it can be vulnerable to decks with more focused strategies. Not having Valar left me feeling unprotected quite often as my opponents often built their boards with impunity.

Deck notes: Obviously, at 63 cards, we're running a little fat. Great Hall is incredible and I didn't see it enough. In a redo, I probably drop both Western Fiefdoms and add one Great Hall (the scars from that final game cut far less deep if I am able to reduce Randyll/Margaery's cost - but the Fiefdom was useless there). Probably also worth reconsidering some of the "good stuff" cards like Milk and Nightmares - due to the combo-y nature of the deck, it should be more concerned with getting its pieces than focusing so much on denial. Yet those cards were indisputably useful against Khal Drogo and Asha in my second- and third-round matchups, which is exactly why it's tough to cut them.

The plot list might be able to use a few tweaks, as well. Wildfire or Valar might provide more effective resets than First Snow, as I wasn't generally trying to obliterate my opponent's board. The details are left as an exercise for the reader.

9 comments

fauxintel 221

Come on, George. This was not a causal level tournament.

Kakita_Shiro 984

Upvote the above comment.

scantrell24 3334

I love the Cersei / Jaime / Renly's Ride idea. Thanks for sharing!

georgeglashan 1

nice report

Milchtee 43

nice la

euphius 249

I wasn't sure this was you, George until I found our game in the report. Accurate retelling of our game for sure and wishing I had not made that last mistake to at least see if I could pull off the come back that turn...such is life though. Glad we both made the cut and at least flaming out got us out for the after party earlier! You officially sold me on Renly's Ride as a great combo card. That it can target any faction's character and is not limited to attacking or defending is fantastic. Even if it is just for +1 it can have an impact. Playing it after defenders are declared to swing a challenge in your favor or to add intimidate to a UO is amazing.

euphius 249

@fauxintel nope...which made a few janky decks like his and mine making the cut so much more satisfying! ;)
Shagga for the shiny, shiny combo win.

oulala 1

Nice deck Building and congrats for your perf. One question, i understand the utility of garden caretaker to improve setup and for claim soaker, but don't you think it's too much ? 3 cards :/ !

deaseb 53

@fauxintel If I can make Top 8 then it's casual to me ;) Thanks for organizing an awesome tournament!

@euphius You know it. Getting the pieces together is awesome.

@oulala Thanks! You might be right about the Garden Caretaker. But I think that a deck this stacked at the top end of the curve (3x Tywin, 3x Cersei, 3x Jaime, 1x Randyll) desperately needs the setup potential. In particular, Lannister decks love having six 1-cost characters, because they increase your chance of setting up Tywin and getting a massive early edge due to it.

The deck can be susceptible to Control or to heavy Aggro. It's a very mid-range build as is.