End Hostilities - Blackwater top 16 Bristol Regional top 4

Card draw simulator
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Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
None yet.

action_johnny 745

First things first - shout out to my fellow Rowdy Boys Hagarrr (Richard Walker) and James Nowecki for their input into this deck.

This one began as a thought experiment between myself and the aforementioned fellows at the end of cycle 2. The aim was to make a deck that could reset endlessly and win through recovering quickly and capitalising via Martell trickery. Unfortunately at the time it was missing some key pieces, so sadly it got put on the shelf.

Fast forward to pack 3 cycle 3 and Martell find themselves with one of the best economy locations in the game, perfectly suited to their style of play. This, combined with being able to cycle their draw effects made the reset deck genuinely plausible.

They contingent in the deck are there for 3 reasons - location hate (super important in the current meta), saves for resets and helping to close. Martell have always been slow, and being able to get a late game Asha/Vic/Theon down can help you close out a game much more quickly.

The version I ran at the Bristol regional (where pack 4 of cycle 3 was not legal) had 2 x Tears of Lys (best kal spil) instead of Secret Schemes and 1 Starfall Cavalry over the Spearmaiden. After Schemes was released, I had to have it in the deck and something had to get cut. Deck space is tight as hell in here, and I'd found that the Tears, while nice, weren't doing enough work. So out they went. Secret Schemes also kind of makes the Starfall Cavalry redundant so I swapped them for a Spearmaiden to give her a try. This in retrospect was a sub optimal choice - I think a second Knights of the Sun or a Palace Spearman would've been better. Potentially even a third Asha Greyjoy but she's a card you prefer to see mid-late game rather than early.

The inclusion of Secret Schemes is immense. You will generally play to plot 6 or 7 in this deck, and being able to get 3-4 cards late game after coppers is ridiculous. Combine that draw with bouncing in and out Greenblood Traders via The First Snow of Winter or the Orphan of the Greenblood, and you can dig through huge swathes on the deck over the course of a game.

MVP here is Areo Hotah, who you can get multiple triggers with in a game, especially if you see the Orphan of the Greenblood and Arianne Martell (and you will, because you draw shitloads of cards here). Him coming in on your Retaliation turn can be devastating, likewise him coming in unexpectedly during your opponent's pivotal turn (i.e. when they A Clash of Kings can ruin their day entirely.

Other shout outs include the Orphan of the Greenblood - saving characters from death from Valar Morghulis in the taxation phase beforehand or a Varys in dominance are one use. Being able to reuse Newly-Made Lord and Littlefinger is also another great use of them. And of course, more Hotah. The Prince's Plan is just a phenomenal event. Making Asha Greyjoy a tricon, giving a Milked Nymeria Sand an icon, giving Victarion Greyjoy a third icon and boosting his intimidate are all amazing uses of it. It's a surprise no one sees coming, and once you have it it's easy to reuse again and again. I love it.

His Viper Eyes are absolutely essential for plucking out nasty events like Dracarys!, Nightmares or Treachery before they're allowed to happen. Also great for scouting and stripping a hand right before Heads on Spikes, or great in conjunction with Ghaston Grey to get rid of a troublesome character.

The backbone of the deck comes from the Dornish Fiefdom. A lot of the tricks in this deck are dependent on seeing economy, and this is the best economy card in your deck. One of these, and your life gets easier. Two to three and the deck moves like flowing water. It's the best card Martell have in the current meta, and the enabler of the reset builds.

Scorching Deserts is a meta call. With builders everywhere, having an extra trick to remove their many power mononocons from a challenge is invaluable in order to push an unopposed challenge through against The Wall. Also hard counters Ser Gregor Clegane (lol, like anyone's playing that PoS card anymore) and other monocon nasties. It also works in conjunction with Nymeria Sand. If become less prevalent/powerful in the meta, I could see this card getting swapped for something else.

As fun as this deck is, it is not easy to play. The order in which you sequence your plots is huge, and if you botch it by making the wrong decision, it can be devastating. Likewise, the deck can struggle if you don't get econ to play Varys reliably. This is thankfully rare, but out of the 50+ games I've played with it it has happened a handful of times. The Long Plan is usually your opener, and if you don't see economy early that will enable an early Varys play for turn 2.

I won't do a tournament report for both tournaments. As I right this, my brain is like soup. Blackwater was an incredibly tough field and I faced some masterful opponents. I was very grateful to make top 16 with it. I would've loved top 8 but sadly my opponent was the brilliant QT from France, and he was playing a Stark deck that was a very difficult match up for me. Overall I finished 12th out of 80 and won best Martell in Swiss, so I was very happy with that.

Below is a W/L record of both tournaments. If you have any questions on the deck, please feel free to ask. Otherwise, enjoy it for yourself :) <3 Action_Johnny.

BLACKWATER 2017

Round 1: vs /Kings of Summer. Win.

Round 2: vs Banner of the Kraken. Win.

Round 3: vs Banner of the Kraken. Win.

Round 4: vs "The Rains of Castamere" - the overall winner of Blackwater and fellow Spicy Meat Gang member, Darren Hazledon. Win :D

Round 5: vs Banner of the Rose. Loss.

Round 6: vs Banner of the Wolf. Win.

Round 7 vs Kings of Summer. A gruelling game which ended with his 12 to my 9 on plot 8 or 9. Loss.

Cut

Top 16: vs Fealty. Loss.

BRISTOL REGIONAL

Round 1: vs Bye. Cashed in my store champ win and got a sweet breakfast. Win!

Round 2: vs Banner of the Stag. Win.

Round 3: vs Kings of Summer. Win.

Round 4: vs Fealty. Loss.

Round 5: vs "The Rains of Castamere". Win.

Round 6: vs Fealty. Win.

Cut

Top 8: vs Kings of Summer rematch. Win.

Top 4: vs Banner of the Rose Hyper Viper piloted by JoePerson - Loss. Joe went on to win the regional

11 comments

Panda with issues... 200

Still by far and away the best deck shape we built together.

hagarrr 829

One of the greatest things about this report is that my mind reads the whole thing in your voice

imabunneh 361

How did you spell Hazelden wrong you're in like 32 group chats with me

Von Wibble 191

I too am reading it in your voice.

Just how many gangs are you in?!

Amoon 1

Great deck, great performance, great report! Thx for sharing Loving The Prince's Plan with Asha and Victarion. .

zack 126

congrats for your result!

The one thing I find surprising in the deck is that you've no way of defending Varys: no The Hand's Judgment, no "The Last of the Giants".

Has this ever been a problem for you? I would've expected "yes", but given your results it's clearly a "no" :-) I'm curious why though.

action_johnny 745

@zack No The Hand's Judgment has not been a problem for me. Maybe once out of every 10 games I've thought it would be nice, but never needed it. His Viper Eyes does so much work in regards to protecting Varys. You always play him second, and generally at a point when you suspect they don't have the Nightmares. If you've seen their hand on the turn you play him, or the turn prior, it's normally safe. Likewise, if you've seen them play Nightmares on something else like Ghaston Grey, you know the odds of the second are lower. You just have to read the game generally.

"The Last of the Giants" is a card I'm in two minds about. You could cut Scorching Deserts for it, but I'd be reluctant to. The issue with "The Last of the Giants" is that it's useless on its own - you need to have Varys for it to do anything. The second issue is the risk: if you use it and Varys gets Nightmares on him, you better hope you have an orphan handy or he's dead.

I think if you're concerned about Econ, then you swap Heads on Spikes for Varys's Riddle or Calling the Banners. I generally tend to Mulligan aggressively for economy. Also, if you see just one fiefdom, you're set.

action_johnny 745

I should also mention clever timing of The Long Plan does a huge amount of work towards playing Varys out.

Nounours 13

Hi, With the apparition of flea bottom in the curent meta, what will you change in your deck? The possible jump of hotah can be possitive in the deck dynamic...

I really like the synergy between martell and gj, and i ask myself about the possible utility of FB. Nightmare is also a relevant option with the new bomb deck. Concerning sea bitch, is it just to steal the wall or bomb mandatory location?

What is your opinion and ideas on it? Thank you :)

action_johnny 745

I'm currently working on a version with this that uses Flea Bottom. Though, pack 5 changed the meta so much that the new version of the deck is pretty different from this. A good few of the cards in this deck were either meta calls at the time, and no longer needed. This deck could be considered a reset deck, whereas the pack 5 and onwards deck is probably more of a pressure/tempo deck, using Flea Bottom aggressively to heavily pressure the opponent's board.

Sea bitch is a really good card right now, and will remain a really good card until the meta shifts away from favouring locations (can't see that happening anytime soon). The Wall is the obvious prize here but Astapor/Red Keep/Great Kraken are all nice hits, as are burning through GJ's Iron Mines.

Nounours 13

Thank you for your answer =) You are right, the presence of Flea Bottom and The Iron Bank Will Have Its Due in the meta change the way to control the board.

Sea bitch is a good meta call card, I will add it for sure in my own deck. You convince me! I think against Cersei OTK, FB jump and other trinks based on the challenge phase, the addition of Barring the Gates could be a good option...

I am trying to work on a version of Martell-Kraken and your deck is an inspiration source for me. (1 week before the french national... I am late guys xD)

I am open for any suggestion on your feeling on the evolution of this deck. May be remove Varys for a more aggressive version on "hate location". Humm, question is open ;)