Card draw simulator |
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Derived from |
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None. Self-made deck here. |
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A Burning Reset | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 |
resets | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
No Funny Stuff: Ep7 - Martel Fealty | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1.0 |
Reset the World Greyjoy | 6 | 1 | 5 | 1.0 |
Rain Rain Varys Away Top 4 Regional | 3 | 1 | 7 | 1.0 |
Loras Tyrell 322
This is the deck I brought to the final at Milan Fighting Pits on June 17, after 6 turns of Swiss and cut to top 16: 51 players attended the tourney.
Given the recent success of Stark Watch at US nationals I was expecting a lot of Night Watch in general, many Targ since they are the most entertaining faction and Lanni Castamere, always super solid. I chose Martell Fealty not only because it's my favourite house, but also because being so much under the radar I strongly believed I could tech against the meta and create something unexpected, which is what happened.
The main strategy I thought about is pretty clear from the deck's name: I do not like crowded boards, I am also bad at math during my games (probably bad in general :D) and wanted to get things easier by keeping the board very small, playing the attrition game against my opponents, with multiple removal effects and hopefully better economy provided by Dornish Fiefdom. Political Disasteris a key card in achieving this and it fits this deck very well, since it makes the NW matchup much easier, but it is also so good against GJ or dominance decks, and in general when the opponents spam too much economy on their board: it also helps a lot against Targ, even though it remains the worst matchup. In general, Political Disaster makes it hard for the opponent to recover after Varys, or Valar. Besides Political Disaster, the MVP of the deck is clearly "The Last of the Giants", which allows me to trigger Varys multiple times in a game without needing high-income plots. Other key cards include The Iron Throne, but also Vengeance for Elia, His Viper Eyes and Hand's Judgement who are there for both hand destruction and protection for the Varys / Giants combo: I usually picked characters with Viper's Eyes unless the opponent had a Hand's Judgement, Nightmares or Treachery, in order to make his recovery after reset even harder.
The game plan usually sounds like this: hope to setup economy and have Varys or The Last of Giants in your opening hand, also The Iron Throne is very important for both dominance and extra reserve (look at the values in my plot deck). Just reset the board multiple times and hit both economy and utility locations with Political Disasters and Pyromancers if necessary. After the first reset play Marched To The Wall if there is still someone in play, or be aggressive with Retaliation otherwise, hopefully a Venomous Blade on a chud followed by 2 claim military will help you clear the board again, extra points for 2 claim pow or int (really depends on the situation an icon spread). The average setup is usually around 4 cards if you draw into an economy location, 3 cards without any economy, but in general the characters in the deck are very efficient and I also got a few 5 cards setups during the day. Sometimes I have even mulliganed 4 cards setups in case I didn't get The Iron Throne, Varys or Last of Giants in my opening hand.
Tourney report:
Swiss:
Lanni Castamere - W: triggered Varys in 1st or 2nd turn protected by Hand's Judgement, then reset almost all of his economy with Political Disaster, my opponent didn't recover. 1-0
Lanni Castamere - W: basically same as above. 2-0
Targ Castamere (what a deck from Valerio Catellani!) - L: the opponent managed to play too many dupes, I timed my Blackwater Bay wrong (one plot earlier than I should have) and didn't manage to reset the board until it was too late. 2-1
Tyrell banner Lion - W: I immediately managed to trigger Varys in T1, the opponent didn't recover and the deck went smoothly all the way. Against rush decks everything is decided in T1 or T2: if the opponents doesn’t reach 15 powers quickly, I should be able to get in control and win. 3-1
Lanni banner Rose - W: I remember the match being a bit harder than the one before (probably less of a glass cannon deck), but I was always in control after triggering Varys 1 or 2 times. 4-1
Targ Fealty - W: very tough matchup, but I got a super aggressive start thanks to 3 Viper's Eyes, Bastard Daughter and winning an intrigue challenge in the very first turn, leaving the opponent with no characters in his hand. I valared Turn 2 and controlled the board due to better economy and generally efficient characters, plus Venomous Blade killing all his chuds and providing partial protection from burn. 5-1, I was the 4th best player after swiss
Top 16, NW Fealty - W: I met Federico Fasullo who is a meta mate of mine and a great player, I know he is running a very solid NW with some interesting tech, but hope it is a manageable match where my location hate would shine. In fact, in T1 he already has The Iron Throne, my worst enemy since it cancels my own, which is one of my win conditions in long games, but I could drop a Pyromancer with Arianne in 1st turn and immediately blow it up. In the second turn I removed a copy of Eastwatch-by-the-sea in order to hit his draw engine by the next turn, while very a lucky Varys pick on my intrigue challenge forced Fede to valar away my Pyromancer, while I started making a few unopposed challenges and cumulating power thanks to The Iron Throne. Political Disaster reset almost all of his economy in turn 5 or 6 while Venomous Blade did a lot of dirty work, I slowly creeped towards 15 powers in plot 8, closing the game with renown from Myrcella.
Top 8, Targ Fealty - W: I got paired with Axxo, one of the best players and deckbuilders in Italy (also such a polite and nice person); I really didn't look forward to this pairing but it was a great pleasure to play with him. It was a very gruesome match and probably the hardest for me during the entire day, where my deck really worked at his best notwithstanding the fact that I made quite a few mistakes. I drew all my His Viper's Eyes and 2 Vengeance for Elia almost immediately and destroyed his hand in the first 3 turns (felt lucky and a bit sorry at the same time...), managing to slow him down quite a bit and cumulating points with my Iron Throne, while getting unopposed from time to time. Luckily my initial advantage was so big that I closed the game towards plot 12 (!) just when my deck seemed to be running out of gas, after 3 or 4 Valar and 3 Varys, mind games and whatsoever. I had such a great time but it was also really a very hard game, props to Axxo for being a great opponent.
Top 4, Lanni Castamere - W: https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=gj1Cy8mCHC8 . I was paired with Roberto Cicciu, another meta mate of mine (shout out for Milan!) and, to me, one of the nicest guys in the italian thrones community, another great player who won a few tourneys this year. If I read his strategy correctly, I think he tried to be as aggressive as possible from the beginning, in order to try and close the game before I could get my control in. In fact, he didn't care about the presence of any Viper's Eyes, etc. and started doing all the challenges he could get in immediately and I actually think it was a good idea because he started cumulating powers very quickly. Luckily for me, I opened with Counting Coppers and notwithstanding the fact that I had very little economy to begin with I was immediately ready to reset with Varys (I had 2 in hand) and Last of Giants, even if I decided to wait for the second turn. In fact, after losing an intrigue challenge I drew into a Vengeance of Elia due to Late Summer Feast and I opted to use it rather than paying claim and risking to get a key card picked: during swiss I took this risk several times while having 10+ cards in hand, but in a semifinal I think this was a wise choice. On the other hand, in T2 Roby was well covered with both Treachery and Nightmares, but I managed to pick one with His Viper's Eyes and cancel the other with a Hand's Judgement, hence getting my Varys in. From that moment on Roby didn't surrender at all and tried to throw at me whatever he could get on the board, not caring weather it would get Marched or killed, but in the end I took control of the game also thanks to a well timed Venomous Blade followed by Marched to the Wall on Cersei and there wasn't much he could do to recover.
Final, Targ Fealty - L: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1rnB6NIT8y8. I want to spend a few words about my opponent, Luca Anzaghi, one of my best friends and the person I playtest more often with, I was so happy that we managed to break the meta with both decks we built together and the final was very relaxed, it almost looked like we were playing at home. Props to the Fighting Pits champion! His Targ Fealty is a beauty, we both know all our techs and I believe that the best deck won. The game was actually pretty fast because I didn't get any hand destruction tool at the beginning of the game and he also played very carefully, winning the power challenges he needed to get in, stealing powers I got from The Iron Throne (I felt I desperately needed some extra reserve). When I got my Varys in he was already at 13 powers and closed the following turn, but we both felt that with a few unopposed challenges less I could have survived one more turn and try a super comeback. We agreed that it would have been awesome to see a Martell deck win the tourney, but Targaryen is probably the strongest house right now, he played beautifully all day and deserved his win all the way.
Thanks to Khal Prono who organized the tourney and all the people who came visiting us, including all the guys from Poland and Austria who made a great showing. Also thanks to all the opponents who didn’t lose their patience, I had fun playing with everybody and I hope it was the same for you.
46 comments |
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Please read "but" as "plus" and "ok" as "on" |
Bravo Lorenzo. Very cancer deck ;) |
bravissimo! It's very impressive to make the final with Martell in a meta infested by targa and nw. Given the new chapter coming do you think is worth taking out 2 last giant for 2 new draw event? |
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Fantastic deck! Thank you for sharing this thing of beauty with us. Look for a shout out from the Jank Tank, coming soon! |
Great recap Lorenzo, it was incredibly detailed and it shows how you are passionate for this game. The final was very cozy like if we were playing at home chilling with our decks. I was pretty lucky you didn't have any His Viper Eyes early game and that saved my hand so i managed to grab some powers as u said and that helped me a lot to get close to the win. Congrats to you since you reached the final beating very good players and only a true Martell player would have achieved this feat. Best Martell player I know ;D But the Fighting Pits needed a Targ winner, the BG called and I had to burn them all!! LOL Anyway we both won the final and I couldn't have wished a better opponent, well actually great friend, to fight against. Logoped & Associates will finally take off xD |
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gz loras :) long time no see hope to catch you in stahleck! |
What plots other than Counting Coppers do you normally consider as your opener? |
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One question, you don't fear "The Last of the Giants" 'd be a dead card if you don't draw Varys? Or in your testing you have always achieved consistency? |
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Congratulations to the huge result |
How Orphan of the Greenblood worked out? Was it efficient for saving your characters before resets? Do you still think they are worth the two slots in the deck? Thanks and congratulations!! |
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Congrats Lori, nice deck! |
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I love this deck, i adjusted it the following way though: A close call instead of Times of Plenty. Opponent doesn't draw a card also it's not game over if Varys get's killed through heads on spikes or Clegane or similar effects. -1 Gold net, otherwise a perfect fit. Also added the Boneway. it's a perfect fit for this deck as it stretches the game anyways like crazy. Usually you can defend with your low STR chars to avoid the UO Bonus. Furthermore got rid of the Blade and added 2 x Condemned to better control the enemies Power Challenges. I also had mixed results with the Starfall Cavalry. If it's early in the hand it's a very expensive card with limited gold / use ratio. Put in 1 Quentyn Martell, he loves getting killed through Valar and then kill another char in the process again. Either way, i love this deck but it's important that you mill for the Giants / Varys combo otherwise you'll suffer against many matchups. Thank you for sharing! |
Hi |
Hey thanks for posting! Had been working on a similar deck myself, but I didn't have the presence of mind to include Political Disaster. Luckily my first regional is this coming weekend :D |
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Hi, congratulations on your success! I was just wondering if you've considered Jacqen. From my experience it might be very useful on small board and you might have a use your Last Giant in case you don't want to play/use another Varys. |
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three questions for you. is fealty better for you then banner to the sun(would require some plot changes, and gets around that pesky 12 cards neutral max)? why no icon control? kind of surprising. third with the additions coming from future packs how do you expect the deck to change with things like Secret Schemes and Ellaria Sand |
Thanks |
Is Fealty necessary? Based from a previous comment, you mainly use your faction card for Vengeance for Elia. I ask you this because i know a loyal GJ player in our meta. In one of the tournaments we had. I fought against him using GJ Kings of Summer. The surprising thing about his deck is that he didn't have any summer plots in the deck. After the tournament, i ask him about his agenda choice. He basically said the deck is basically a GJ No Agenda deck. The reason he chose Kings of Summer is because the agenda gave a static +1 reserve. This allow him to use aggressive plots that have smaller reserve value. Second he didn't want to use Fealty because of the neutral cards limitation. In our meta is filled with Targ players. The needed more neutral cards slot to fit in The Hand's Judgment, Nightmares, Milk of the Poppy and Seal of the Hand. I wonder if you can apply the same thing as well? |
The true question is: should I swap the agenda to get a Milk or an extra Hand's in, and maybe get my Last of Giants discarded in T1 because I have no gold for Red Vengeance? Meh, I don't think it's worth it, unless you change the deck's idea of course... it might even be a good deck, who knows :) And finally remember The Iron Throne, I would almost never mulligan if I see it in my opening hand, that's my extra reserve. Hope I answered your question! |
I have tested this deck now many times and i agree with most that you said Loras. What i love most about this is the archetype this deck creates, you can recreate something similar in Greyjoy or to some degree in Baratheon and i've tested rather successfully something in GJ and i would argue in some aspects it works even better as you can avoid the board clearing for key characters quite often for yourself to create a better post boardpresence. Either way, it's a great deck, and i think we'll see alot more Giants / Varys combos in the future thanks to it's successfull implementation in here. |
What are your thoughts on having a one-of The God's Eye? It has +1 reserve and is safe from political disaster. |
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I am currently in the middle of building a Martell deck for a friend (for Melee) and I was finding it difficult to make a deck that gains power fast enough without going the Red Viper + stealth route, which was not what I wanted to build. So... how do you think this kind of deck would do in Melee? Obviously, field and hand destruction cards like His Viper Eyes and Venomous Blade will be less effective on a Melee board. On the other hand, especially in my 'meta' (the group of friends I play with), there tends to be less control cards in Melee. What changes would you suggest? |
Congratulations Lorenzo, excellent deck, happy for you! |
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Martell in melee - would banner of the rose with Randyll be a decent shout? Randyll really likes Princes Plans. Loras Tyrell - how was Arys in the deck? I imagine he is there to take out reducer chuds in order to ensure claim/Marched takes out big guys? |
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Great deck! Have you considered First Snow? Another reset plot . It’s also good against Starks matchups (primarily to breach Winterfell walls in at least one round), who may be more popular since they seem to be a decent answer against Targ domination. No less effective against NW I believe. It could fit also as a good recycling plot for Areo, Greenblood Traders and Orphans and its initiative is not so bad to go second. Maybe it could take place of in Time of Plenty? |
Just throwing it out there, would Crow Killers fit this deck? Lots of low reserve for them. |
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Semifinal video is up: m.youtube.com |
Congratz on your result |
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im also guessing you do not want to lower the body count of your deck |
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Link to the final: m.youtube.com |
Very nice! Is Duel worth considering in the marched slot?