[Cycle 3, Chap 3] House Tyrell, LotC 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Hello community,

This is a deck that I developed on Throneteki and displayed an excellent behavior. Soberly speaking, it is an evolution of my previous Tyrell LotC deck, who was builded just before Brienne was made available, and at a timepoint when Valar was not yet assimilated by the metagame.

The arrival of Brienne modified the conception of the deck, since it was the 4th natural renown, who was hugely needed. I had to play The Arbor as 4th strong card, not because it was a decisive one (it was not the case), but rather because it was the only 4th strong card available at that time.

The others modifications come from the understanding of the weaknesses of the deck, and the work proposed by Daniel Correas Lopez and Lordbisounours.

---------------------------------Past Weaknesses of the Deck -------------------------------------

• Not enough intrigue icons, and not enough consistent and performant intrigue icons.

• Lack of "pure" powergrab. The deck powergrab better than the average dedck on the middle-run, but is beaten by "pure" powergrab decks.

• Poor ability to contest Greyjoy, especially because of Rise of the Kraken initiative.

• Stucked against NW because they neutralize your main characters before you reached the victory condition.

• Support of the People + Location module has a lack of efficiency, especially because Highgarden requires one gold.

• Powergrab centered on main characters, thus vulnerable to character control on them.

---------------------------------------Insights by Daniel------------------------------------------------

• In a Valar-assimilated metagame, Dupes are fundamental because the best way to resist Valar is to keep your characters on board. Thus, 3xBodyguard and 3xLady-in-Waiting.

• In a Valar-assimilated metagame, Ghosts of Harrenhal allows you to keep a faction leader you cannot save from Valar. The plot was not available on the first version of my deck.

• Playing pure rush is the best counter of mirror match. It's also the gateway against NW, before they paralyzed your main characters.

• Filthy Accusation is an amazing plot.

• Validation of Seal of the Hand and Renly's Pavillion efficiency

• Validtion of Clash of Kings is the counter to Rise of the Kraken, and don't give your opponent an opportunity to counter you on your finish turn.

-----------------------------------Improvements by New Releases-------------------------

• Knight of the Reach and Ser Jon Fossoway ashtoningly propose what Tyrell needed : Performant intermediate cost characters, consistent intrigue icon, additional powerrush.

• Renly's Pavilion propose the additional permanent STR boost needed for Randyll, and the additional STR boost outside of challenges to counter Dracarys ! if the Targaryen is first player. Outside of that, it's extremely performant at turning challenges in your favor and make an excellent target for Support of the People. Thus....

--------------------------------- Shift in Support of the People Use-----------------------------

First of all, I want to emphasize that locations are my favorite card type and as a consequence I like Support of the People. Since the behavior of the deck is naturally focused on power challenge, and even more with Superior Claim, it was a small step to emphasize it even more, but I will not argue it is the best solution, It is the solution I like to play in the adjustments cards of the deck.

• Support of the People was previously used for : 1°) Tutoring Highgarden, but the needed gold is expensive and the location don't fully protect yourself against opponent's character. 2°) Tutoring Mander for Valar-matchup. It was not really satisfying.

• With Renly's Pavilion, I can rather use Support like : 1°) Tutor Mander to get your draw, and don't play Pleasure Barge 2°) Renly's Pavillion which is simply efficient, and play it in *2 because regularly marshalling him is a good option.

• Iron Throne is the third option, as before. You can also tutor an economic location ! That's why I am thinking of shifting one Roseroad for Kingsroad.

----------------------- Why Getting Rid of Pleasure Barge and Kingsroad ? --------------

Because they are short-term sighted and I don't like that. KR turns out to be a poor investment on Valar, and Pleasure Barge are unuseful in setup/T1.I removed them because of these considerations :

For Kingsroad :

• Opening with Trading with the Pentoshi provide me all the gold I need to play my hand on T1. I would rarely need the extra-boost of Kingsroad.

-My setup tends to be a problem, and a 0-gold location like Roseroad is better than a 1-gold location like Kingsroad. Especially with another 1-gold location in the deck like Great Hall.

• Against a Martell match-up, it's extremely important to be able to replay your characters. Having a consistent economy is much more important than having a fast one in that case. A consistent economy also allows you to easily deal with a low-economy curve and opponent's Valar.

For Pleasure Barge :

• Absolutely unuseful at setup and T1. Have to survive intrigue claim in a reduced hand in order to be played at T2.

• If the game last, choke your already low curve economy.

• Mander gives one card less, but is more stable and can be activated since T1 with Support.

But Mander is terrible to marshall or play at setup, that's the drawback.

------------------------------------ Possible Changes on the List----------------------------------

Forgotten Plans is the main debate as the 7th plot. The deck has clearly a vulnerability to The First Snow of Winter and it is the best way to tackle the problem. However, FSoW is not particularly played, despite her counter-metagame potential...

Winter Festival has always been simply efficient. Summons is a coherent option, as well as Close Call, as well as Counting Coppers, but this last one suffer the poor economy of the deck.

Milk of the Poppy has always been a good option. In these conditions of high initiative, numerous attachments and fastly ended game, it's surely efficient. I choose to keep with Nightmares x3 and Filthy Accusations.

Highgarden can be inserted at the expense of the second pavillion. I honnestly believe that it is economy consuming, but it can be used on yourself if a character attack for nothing, just for reaching the third challenge condition.

The Mander is playable in x2 if you want the certitude of tutoring it with Support.

Relentless Assault is a possibility with Clash of Kings, but not more than in *2. The event require you to have a table in order to make 4 challenges. By experience, you often have what is needed to do three challenges and win the last one. So winning the third one by +5 and do a fourth one seems quite unlikely for me.

Margaery Tyrell (AMAF) is not in the deck because Randyll really need the CS version to be efficient. Moreover, the deck rather need a strong intermediate character, rather than an unstable expensive one. Remember her ability is not trigerrable on demand there (but she helps with Valar, yes !)

Pleasure Barge and The Kingsroad are normal choices in emphasizing the short-term. You need draw anyway, so make your choice between Barge and Support + Mander.

-----------------------------------------Not convinced but... -----------------------------------------

The Honeywine is not particularly good, because winning at least two challenges per turn with +5 is not the basic behavior of the deck. But Support does not provide immediate powergrab options, and it can make a difference in mirror match or in Martell matchup where their STR is always very low.

Street of the Sisters is unconsidered at the moment, but it's an option for an adjustement card. Maybe even better than Honeywinne. And you can even play both if you really focalize on powergrab.

Paxter Redwyne is resilient to FSoW and provides economy, but he is damn weak statistically speaking.

Lady Sansa's Rose is a bit too much rush for me, and the condition is unstable to validate. All Men Are Fools suffer from the fact that only three Ladies are present. One of them in x1.

--------------------------------------------Conclusion----------------------------------------------------

Tyrell LotC reached a turning point with the statistical reliability of having performant intrigue icons, allowing him to cure his weaknesses. Obtaining Renly'Pavillion helped him playing the Support of the People module.

However, I often find myself struggling with setup, and drawing the Mander tend to make the deck subefficient, questionniing her pertinence in x2.