Greyjoy Dragon - DC/Maryland Regional Winner

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Vaccaro 440

This is the Greyjoy Banner Dragon deck I piloted to victory at the Rockville, MD Regional at Dream Wizards (42 Players).

The deck is a deadly combination of raw power from Greyjoy's character suite, location control and the consistency of running x3 of just about everything. Plaza of Pride allows me not to worry about drawing extra copies of dead characters - they would just become Plaza fuel. If those are the fuel, Counting Coppers x2 is the engine.

Round 1 - Targ Crossing - Win

6-card set up with 2 Iron Fleet Scouts, a Limited and an Iron Mines + 2 characters. My opponent opens with Political Disaster which was a bit of a shock; that plot is really good late game against my deck, but he used it too early. The game was in my favor for the most part; I was able to apply pressure early and keep him fighting off his back foot.

Round 2 - Greyjoy Crossing - Win

The first two turns of this game had us taking almost identical turns. Opened same plots, lead with Asha and Theon early, and we both even had a Challenge phase where we each played 2 Nightmares to keep each other's Renown gain in check. The game came down to initiative on Plot 4 - He flipped Rise of the Kraken, I flipped Weapons at the Door, went first and won.

Round 3 - Tyrell Crossing - Loss

My deck prides itself of playing high impact characters that let me dominate the challenge phase... this guy played better characters than me this game! Turn 1 gave him a Duped Renly with Bodygurd. Turn 2 I flipped Trading with the Pentoshi into his Late Summer Feast. With all that gold and his limited locations, he was able to drop Tinder Marge WITH 2 DUPES, Knight of Flowers and Brienne. I misplayed my Challenges walking right into Growing Strong. I was forced to Valar as a last ditch effort, but that just changed his board to include a Randall. This was a complete blowout.

Round 4 - Greyjoy Banner Dragon - Win

While we're running the same house/banner combo, our decks could not be more different in philosophy. He ran a much higher gold curve than mine. I don't want to talk too much about his tech here because it really didn't matter - I had an insane setup, the drawback had dupes for everything including Euron, who stole a Roseroad turn 1 and a Seastone Chair turn 2 that was used against him. He scooped and to quote my opponent, "was the dumbest game I've ever seen."

Round 5 - Targ Fealty - Win

A pure burn deck. I set up 4 locations including Great Kraken, and my only characters were 2 Targaryen Loyalists. He opened with Blood of the Dragon to clear my board, but it also meant he had a 2 Gold (3 with limited) openers, while I opened With Noble. I was able to rebuild my board with an Asha while he took a tempo hit. Asha unopposed challenges with Great Kraken out means the game ends quick. I got ahead and stayed ahead.

Round 6 - Baratheon King of Summer - Win

He set up Robert and a chud. He put a Bodyguard of Bob turn 1 and started to go wide with unduped characters. I was able to play Theon and Euron, but he kept them knelt the first 3 turns with Even Handed Justice, Consolidation of Power, and Filthy Accusations; unfortunately, I didn't see my Plaza at that point. He was down to 1 card in his hand by turn 3, so I flipped Weapons at Door to hit the Bodyguard off Bob; now with an unduped board and not many cards in his hand, he got crushed by Valar, I saved my board with Iron Mines and Dupes, stole the Red Keep with We Do Not Sow + Euron, and stayed ahead from there on out.

Top 8 - Lanni Banner Kraken - Win

I expected typical Lanni on Crack Murder Face, but he was a MILL DECK with a focus on massive power gain from King of Rock and Salt! He sustained his board with Duped Asha, Duped Theon and a Mountain with a Bodyguard, PLUS Iron Mines that I hit with Newly Made Lord. However, I got Euron out very early and could get in on Intrigue easily, allowing me to steal his Iron Mines to set up a Valar. I hit the Mountain's Bodyguard with a Mirri challenge, which meant it was go-time for Valar. He was left with a board of Asha and Theon, while I had Asha, Theon and Euron. Story of the tournament - I got ahead, and stayed ahead, though the post-Valar challenge phases were an absolute slugfest. I eventually pulled it out, but this was my favorite deck I saw all day. Kudos to Brennan from NC on the great build!

Top 4 - Targ Fealty - Win

If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best, and that's what I did against Seth Low. This was a LONG game so there's way too much to cover. He set up Mirri, Roseroad, Chud and played out some more characters, so I Valar'ed his board aggressively turn 2. That worked in my favor and set him back a couple of turns. I got very fortunate to not see Dany or Drogo until the last turn of the game, which was mind boggling lucky considering he ran x2 Counting Coppers too. He literally killed about 20 of my 32 characters, but I was able to not break. I apparently could have won a turn earlier with a Balon power challenge, but misplayed. Luckily, it didn't come back to bite me. This was the kind of game I came to D.C. to play, and was not disappointed; I'm a better player for having experienced it.

Finals - Targ Fealty - Win

My first hand was unplayable so I mulliganed. After cutting, Martin said "I just hope you don't get Euron, Roseroad, Fishmonger on setup"... he cut me to exactly that PLUS and Iron Fleet Scout which is an absolutely must against Targ. My location control (WDNS, NML, Euron) really kept me ahead for most of the game. Martin was able to hit my board with Blood of the Dragon, Drac and Plaza of Punishment, but could not get Euron off the board. Every time he whittled me down, I was able to play 2 more characters. I eventually won on an Intrigue challenge with Euron and Jorah; he ambushed in Quaithe of the Shadow to try and block, so I ambushed my own Quaithe in and removed his. Hot Quaithe on Quaithe action!

Big thanks to everyone in the Maryland/D.C. Meta! They brought awesome skill, quality competition and paired it with good times at the bar!

Be sure to check out the Missing The Cut podcast by Sandy Barnabas for coverage of this event including a post-victory interview!

If you have any questions about card decisions, feel free to ask.

7 comments

mythras 712

Interesting build. More usage out of Euron or Victarion is always fun.

No Risen from the Sea? As the guys you want to save are all still GJ (except for Mirri), Risen might allow for more aggresive Valar usage and provides some burn protection.

3x Theon Greyjoy (TFoA) is interesting in a build without The Seastone Chair. Just for Great Kraken and WDNS? A guy with Str 2 isn't the best in Targ infested meta. :D

Would you switch out Illyrio for Irri when the next pack is released? Or maybe one of the Targ reducers?

Vaccaro 440

@mythras- Risen from the Sea would be cards 61-63 that I was considering when finalizing the build. I ultimately cut it for two reasons: 1) Hands Judgement is as popular as ever, especially out of Martell which is the very hot in this area, and the fact Risen can be cancelled for nothing during a critical moment in the game could put me in a really bad position. Most my opponents played assuming I had Risen anyway, causing them to second guess a borderline Valar on their part. 2) I'm not looking to aggressively Valar in most cases - this is a power gain deck first and foremost. So, I felt Iron Mines was enough save tech when combined with all the dupes (and can be played on setup). Also, because of the sheer amount of threats in the deck, losing one or even two is far from crippling for this deck.

TFoA Theon is a MONSTER card, even with Targ being popular. Like you said, he generated unopposed for Kraken and WDNS triggers. Plus, there were games where I would stand him with Plaza discard extra Limited locations or similar and leave my big guys standing to defend my opponent's challenges or secure dominance. If Theon takes a Dragon is No Slave or Drac away from Asha or the like, he's more than pulled his weigh in the deck. If he dies, any extra become fuel for Plaza, and at 3 cost can stand Balon and Vic. Even with Theon being in range of Plaza Of Punishment, the deck overall is favored against Targ - I beat 4 of them on the day, 3 of which were players who made Top 8, so they weren't pushover decks either.

I haven't considered Irri, but she's definitely worth taking a look at. The benefits that Illyrio has over Irri are that he survives First Snow of Winter, can stand Mirri (rare at X1, but still) and that he can be discarded to stand Euron. Solid suggestion nevertheless!

Vaccaro 440

@mythrasDefinitely would consider Irri for 1 of the Targ reducers for sure

euphius 249

Great job on the day and great deck. Curious, was the one loss versus my friend, Patrick McAlevey? I think he was the only Tyrell Crossing deck on the day and I know he won in the 3rd round. If so, I apologize for making him a really good deck that nearly outperformed my own.
Banner Dragon for the stand tech is probably going to be very strong for a while...which as a fan of control via kneel decks I am going to hate personally but I'll find a way to work around it.

Vaccaro 440

@euphiusYep, that was him! I was shocked he fell off because the deck ran so solid against me. Once he gets a little more big-tourney experience, he'll be golden! Plaza will definitely be a big player in the meta for sure; if we ever get to a restricted list, I will not be shocked to see it as one of the first cards on it.

euphius 249

I was sad to see him fall out of the cut as I thought it would have been great to see him get in. The two guys I brought with me have really only played joust against me and our little living room group...but I guess I've given them enough challenges and though provoking games that they can hold their own most of the time. Once they get used to playing vs my control style and having to think through and math out every choice to avoid falling into pit falls...well tournaments aren't so different.

The deck was very solid but he told me he didn't even see Tinder Marge in two of the last 3 games and she was the engine that made him comfortable with that deck. Without his queen he was a little uncertain of how to protect his board state best and probably played a little too passive in at least one of the matches...I didn't get to watch much as most of my games went nearly to time and were 8-10 plots long.

Plaza, Illyrio, soon to add Irri. Targ brings the stand and repeat effects for sure. I'd like it as a balance to Bara's kneel lock if more people were playing the kneel lock, but its just not a big part of the meta right now so its just creating a board state unpredictability and advantage for anyone running Targ or banner Dragon...which means I think those are going to be played a lot for quite some time to come.

Derbo 7

Great Deck! Played two games with it on saturday, liked it and took it to the regional in Kassel (Germany) on sunday (yesterday). Went 3:2 in swiss and finished 9th place. Someone dropped from the cut, I replaced him and won the tournament :) I owe that to you! And the guy who dropped ;)