melee(but should be playabe in 1 on 1) built with 2 core sets and clash of arms chapter.

The concept behind is it to try to have the effect of surprisse working for you at all times by combining Ambush with characters that enter play as response. While being able to soak casualties with viserys or negate them with retreat making attacks against this deck unsure and sometimes rather

futul. Should be a fun deck but has to be well played to win. stealth with (in general) lots of icons on the characters should be able to get in some power but except the ambush cards and khal drogo their aren't alot of options to make a sudden run for power.

Plot
Mad King’s legacy
Mutual Enemies
Herding the Masses
Uneasy Truce
Fury of the Dragon
Rule by decree or planning ahead(rule by decree might become a problem for me, while with planning ahead my initiative is very low)
Holding the Trident

Characters: 28
3 Rhaegal
2 drogon

2 viserion
2 Khal drogo
3 Dragon Thief
3 Dragon Chaser
3 queens Knight(will have to see how he plays, probably the first to go if another cheap ambush becomes an option)
1 Rhaegar targaryen
2 viserys targaryen
2 daenerys Targaryen
2 Qartheen Fanatic
2 the titan’s basterd
1 queen daenery’s horde

Locations: 16 (9 influence)
2 Summer Sea
3 eastern Fiefdoms
3 temple of the graces
2 great pyramid
3 Crossroads
1 Khal drogo’s tent
1 xaro’s home(doubting a bit if i should work with the xaro-daenery's chamber combo, it's great when it hits the floor though)
1 lady daenery’s Chambers
Events: 8

2 forever burning
2 retreat
2 dance with dragons
1 to be a dragon
1 too proud to bow

Attachments:8
3 dragon bite
2 blood of the dragon
2 Flame kissed
1 Aegon’s blade

I've been experimenting with decks similar to this for a while now, and the main difficulty I find is that it is way to slow against a decent deck. My main advice, which seems to be working well: pick up a copy of Refugees of War, and run Dothraki Refugee x3 and Vale Refugee x3, removing most of your lower cost characters. It will give you a chance to be competitive while you set up your long term strategy.

I personally run Valar and Westeros Bleeds x2, and I would swap out the Blood of the Dragon for Bones of a Child x2 for more claim soak.

Mig el Pig said:

Just double checking, you only have access to 2x core sets (not 3), right? Ideally, you would run 3x Summer Sea, 3x Forever Burning, and possibly 3x Qartheen Fanatic. If you don't have a third of each of these, no worries--your deck would just be a little more consistent if you did. I also suggest running 2x Khal drogo's tent and cutting some of the other locations that don't provide influence--if you want to have reliable ambush capabilities and Forever Burning, you'll need to have more influence in your deck. (In general, unless you have a lot of search with plots, etc. you should probably run at least 2x of each non-unique card, including events and attachments, for reliability.) I personally vascillate on whether to play Xaro's home. You definitely need some sort of draw mechanic, so I suggest 2x Xaro's Home with attachments (especially if you're playing 8, which is a relatively high number), or else run 2x lady daenery's chambers. Actually, the chambers are really strong and can win you games pretty easily. (Unlike Xaro's home, they don't require influence to work so you can save influence for ambush.) If you really want to make sure you draw enough, try experimenting by running both, though this might cut into the characters you want to play.

In terms of characters, I like your dragon/ambush focus. You can probably cut back on some of the ambush though. In particular, the Dragon Chasers and Queen's Knights can probably go to 2x each. Given the amount of influence you have in your deck, it will be very difficult to ambush this many characters and you'll need your influence for Forever Burning too. Also, 4 gold for 3 strength isn't very efficient, so unless you love intimidate, Dragon Chasers aren't that amazing right now. (As more influence is printed, they'll get better.) It might be better to consider some of the characters with 3 icons that cost 3 gold so that you can play those during the marshalling phase and ambush in a smaller number during challenges.

I like the events your playing, and with the exception of Forever Burning I think 2x each is probably right for these. I would cut "Too Proud to Bow" and increase "To Be A Dragon" to 2x if possible, or 3x if you have them. If you're limited by your card pool, the events you have should do just fine though.

In general, I think this is a great first stab, but I would play with it a bit to see if (a) you have enough influence or too much ambush (which I suspect you do), and (b) you have a reliable draw engine. Also, because you have so much save and your Queen's Knights come back to your hand, you might consider playing Valar as a plot. (Just a thought, though it can definitely come back to bite you in the butt too.)

I noticed you mentioned Rule by Decree biting you back... it's an "old" trick, but one worth considering in almost any Targaryen deck. If you can take a pre-plot action on the first turn (after you've drawn back up from set up, but before you and your opponent reveal your first plot), consider playing a Forever Burning, or any of your Ambust cards if you have the influence, and reveal Rule by Decree as your first plot.

You'll have 6 cards to their 7 and they'll be losing 4 of those before they can even marshall once. It's almost worth running the dragon hatchlings to improve your chances.

@master luke:

that's a great trick

Just double checking, you only have access to 2x core sets (not 3), right?

Yeah, but i'll probably buy another so I can try to make 2 decks for each house.

Already made a few changes, ditched a few of the "queens knights", "Dragon chasers" and "dragon blood" for "Bones of a Child" for 1 jhogo, 1 Belwas and a few Pentoshi guildmasters and warlocks servitors. But i'll probably ditch the warlocks for westeros bleeds

In terms of characters, I like your dragon/ambush focus. You can probably cut back on some of the ambush though. In particular, the Dragon Chasers and Queen's Knights can probably go to 2x each. Given the amount of influence you have in your deck, it will be very difficult to ambush this many characters and you'll need your influence for Forever Burning too. Also, 4 gold for 3 strength isn't very efficient, so unless you love intimidate, Dragon Chasers aren't that amazing right now. (As more influence is printed, they'll get better.) It might be better to consider some of the characters with 3 icons that cost 3 gold so that you can play those during the marshalling phase and ambush in a smaller number during challenges.

Yeah ran into that problem from time to time but with the adaptions (esp dragon chasers was a bit too expensive)

It's a very fun deck to play though, with khal drogo, titan basterd, dragon thief and pentoshi guildmaster i've managed to get a few surprise wins. (think they won 2 of the 8 4player mellee's we played this week.)

I like the events your playing, and with the exception of Forever Burning I think 2x each is probably right for these. I would cut "Too Proud to Bow" and increase "To Be A Dragon" to 2x if possible, or 3x if you have them. If you're limited by your card pool, the events you have should do just fine though.

In general, I think this is a great first stab, but I would play with it a bit to see if (a) you have enough influence or too much ambush (which I suspect you do), and (b) you have a reliable draw engine. Also, because you have so much save and your Queen's Knights come back to your hand, you might consider playing Valar as a plot. (Just a thought, though it can definitely come back to bite you in the butt too.)

I'll probably change Planning ahead to Rule by decree. I Think i'll get more out of that card and since the Lannister almost always has more cards it might work well.

This style of Targ deck is fun to play and frustrating to play against. One of our local players is now running a variant on this type of deck and it is hard to deal with because you can't plan appropriately.

dormouse said:

Yeah, it's alot of fun. Of the 10+ 4 player melee games (my friends really like the game) it has won three times I think . Power hungry Baratheon has won 4-5 times(2 turn 5-6 wins) and Stark hasn't won yet. (although he could of won one time) and the rest went to the Lannisters.

Ordered another core set and one booster each of the raven chapter. i'll probably try and create a few new decks then while keeping my currents one mostly intact.

I play a similar deck but I have a problem with Valar. I can save some characters (Viserys, Aemon, duplicates) and play some jumpers the same round (Khal, Queen's Knight) but the claim of the plot is 0, so what's the use? My opponent will have 2 marshalling phases to rebuild so, if he has any draw options, it will be quite easy for him to match my army. I play Wildfire Assault instead, but I will be happy to hear experimented Targ players about that.

Besides, if you need influence (and who doesn't in Targ'?), the event that allows you to steal a location that gives influence/gold is quite useful (Xaro + forever burning + jumpers get happy), but not game breaking of course.

What do you think of the event "Dragon Attack"?

About characters that you dont' play I like Xaro (3 gold, 3 icons, drawback not that bad in Targ) & Jhogo of course (but you added him).

I play Aegon's blade too, powerful with a lot of characters.

Instead of "Dance of the dragons", I'd rather play the character that allows you to search for any character and put it on the top of your deck "Eastern Herald", sthing like that, sorry I have french cards). He costs 2 but has 2 power Intrigue. And if you already have dragons in play he could allow you to search for sthing else.

My current version of this deck has changed quite a bit (and i'm about to change it a bit more)
Keep in mind that all my decks are intended for melee.

Plot
Mad King’s legacy
Mutual Enemies
Herding the Masses
Uneasy Truce
Fury of the Dragon
Rule by decree (might change it with wild fire or mutual blackmail to have acces to 3 claim 2 cards and targ tends to get hit by intrigue alot due to ambush/burning)
Holding the Trident

Main Characters
3 Rhaegal
2 drogon
2 viserion
2 Daenerys
2 viserys
Good Support
2 Khal drogo
3 Dragon Thief
3 Qartheen Fanatic
2 Queen daenery’s horde
Nice but not necessary (so only included one each)
1 captain Groleo
1 Jhogo
1 Titan's basterd
1 rhaegar
1 Daario Naharis

Locations: 16 (9 influence)
2 Summer Sea
3 eastern Fiefdoms
3 temple of the graces
2 great pyramid
3 Crossroads
1 Khal drogo’s tent
2 xaro’s home
1 lady daenery’s Chambers

Events: 8
2 forever burning
2 dance with dragons
3 to be a dragon

Attachments:8
2 Poisend Wine( while change these with a copy of Drogon and another dance with the dragons)
3 dragon bite
2 Bones of a Child (just love this card)
2 Flame kissed
1 Aegon’s blade

Would like to add another Flame kissed, a third copy of viserion and daenerys but still doubting what to ditch)

fabest said:

I also doubt to add wild fire (just received my 3rd core set) but in general I don’t really need it. This deck has strength and stealth (and surprises) to overcome decent defence.
Since this deck is played in melee most of the times someone else will reset once in a while. The deck itself is quite good in recuperating with dance with the dragon (to find a safe in the turn before valar or to find a dragon that hasn’t died yet), to be a dragon and the possibility to return key attachments. Reducing your opponents claim with Bones of Child helps a lot in getting ahead after a reset. (or additional protection in the turn you’

fabest said:

fabest said:

fabest said:

I build decks for melee & joust so I prefer building a good joust deck and then see what happens in melee

To me Daenerys' chambers is the most important card in my deck so I put 2 of it, and a plot that allows me and another player to search for a location.

With 3 Flame Kiss, 1 Dragon Skull & 2 Bones of a child (+ Aegon's Blade, Rhaegar's Harp but they are not discarded so often), it is very important to bring attachments back from the discard pile.

I play less gold locations, I focus on influence ones to play Ambush cards, bring back Forever burning… My locations are

2 Summer Sea

3 eastern Fiefdoms

2 temple of the graces

1 Crossroads

2 Khal drogo’s tent

1 Street of sisters (Viserys for free each turn)

2 Danerys Chambers

2 Xaro's Home

I have to test, I may lack gold and reducers (especially that I usually wanna keep Summer Sea for the influence).

About characters, I use almost the same as yours. I play the refugees (x2), Mestre Aemon (X1), Xaro (x1). No Daario (but I hesitate), no Groleo (does not really help you win).

I'll try Valar tonight, and maybe Fleeing from the wall (not so many important locations, comparing to a Lannister deck).

I doubt the utility of Dragon bite, I played them and they were almost useless. Better rely on direct burn.

3 Forever Burning is good to me. I only have 1 To be a dragon but I'd like to play at least 2.

I'll try 3 Dragon Attack and tell you how it worked

More feedback soon.

So my feedback after 3 games, 1 melee (2 vs 2), 2 joust (2 wins 1 loss):

Plots:

- "Valar" is great, there is only one game in which it would have been negative for me but I won early enough not to play it In the melee game it was the card that made us win. Without him it was a loss.

- "Fleeing to the wall" is good too. In melee vs 2 Lannister it was perfect. Against Houses without a lot of locations (Stark for example), you just have to play it early so it won't hurt you too much. You juste have to keep Daenerys's Chambers and 2 influences, (or 1 & Xaro's home). If Martell and Greyjoy play a lot of locations it may be very interesting. But in Targ we have some great locations too so it's a choice to make not to include a lot.

- The plot that allows you & your opponent to search for a location (sorry don't know the english name) is good too, to go for Daenerys's Chambers or Xaro's Home or influence. As opposed to "Fleeing to the wall", it is more efficient versus low strong locations decks, of course (Lannister can go for Toll Gate or Goldtooth mine but as they draw so much card it doesn't really make a difference).

Other plots were usual ones (Mad king, Fury, Decree & Mutual... with claim 2).

Characters:

We all know the best (without Summer): Viserys, Khal Drogo, the Dragons, Rhaegal, Daenerys, Dragon thief…

Xaro was great, with Aegon's Blade he is the man. Titan's Bastard is good too. Magister Illyrio was really helpful vs Stark.

I'd like try Quaithe of Shadows just to avoid beeing knelt but I don't play a lot of attachments on my characters (Bones of a chil get discarded very often, so it only leaves Aegon's Blade, which is better on a 3 icons).

Attachments:

Flame Kiss is the best of course. Bones of a child is great with Vyseris and the Chambers. Aegon's Blade rocks. Rhaegar's harp is okay too (can be useful with Quartereen fanatics, Daenerys Horde, Maester Ameon).

Dragon Bite seems very disapointting (as msot of the attchaments that kill if the opponent do sthing particular, like Ice, in worst, but cheaper of course). it really should have been Ambush, or there shoud be a way to give Dragon as a Challenges action to a character. Or else, if there were 7/8 good Dragon characters it would be very good (but of crouse there are only 3 Dragons in the world).

Dragon Skull is ok. Far worst than Flame Kiss of course but still it is burn. But I'm not conviced it's an autoinclude, maybe when there will be Shadows cost reducers.

Locations:

My deck worked fine with 12/13 gold/influence/reducers locations + 2 Chambers, 2 Xaro's Home and 1 Pitchflame tower.I wasn't able to use the last one but I played it once and it would have been great if I could have used it (because of a plot that gave -1 STR to my characters, I wans't able and lost the game quickly. Would have at least last a few turns more). Have to give it another try, but it's expensive & doesn't fit well with "Fleeing to the wall".

Xaro's Home was not really helpful, it made me draw only 2 or 3 cards in 3 games but hey, it's not that bad and I guess it will improve (but the lack on influence is a real pain).

Events:

No need to speak about To be a Dragon, except that I need more!

Forever Burning x3, autoinclude. even if you don' t burn, 1 STR makes often the difference.

Dragon Attack was shameful, won't play it again ofr a while.

I included Seductive Promise but never drew it (or was discarded, can't remember). Would have been useful though.

I play only 60 cards, that's why I make a lot of cuts. I'm so used to cut to 60 from Magic that I can't imagine why playing 65 or 70 would been better? But i must be wrong as a lot of great decks have more t

I'm currently running a Targ deck that uses attachment burn to control the Challenges phase (Poison Wine in Melee with a lot of influence is a pain in the butt, add Desolate Countryside and you really reduce your opponents options on attack and defense).

I love Dragon Bite. I toss one or two on their best characters in a melee and I have a dragon out (or a Bringers of Law with Blood of the Dragon if you play with them) and suddenly that character is only attacking or defending against the other guy(s).

I love Dragon Skull. It is a great addition to their burn arsenal. Being able to put it into Shadows during setup, and essentially pay for burn on lay away is very nice. I especially like being able to take characters out with it and poison wine and bring them back via Lady Daenery's chambers. I'm apparently the only one who likes them right now, but 3 gold to burn someone with another attachment is just fine for me.

I also use Dragon Sight combo'ed with Poison Wine. Make them declare their defenders give them a sip of poison wine and then declare your attackers. Usually prevents chump blockers, which gives you unopposed, or lowers the strength of their strong attackers to still get the win. They get wise to it after a turn ortwo and then end up having to overcommit strong characters.

I use Dragon attack after the Dominance phase if I have a standing dragon, often coupling it with Drogon's Ability for a 3 STR kill for one gold, or to finish off someone that was hit with a Flamed Kissed that may have bit off more than it can chew (in other words to kill a 4 STR character).

Maester_LUke said:

Is this a legal move?

dreddric said:

Why not? It's just like any pre-plot action. First round is no different from any other.

FATMOUSE said:

That's fine. I was lucky enough to get Forever Burning in my start-up hand today and used it today against my Baratheon opponent, he didn't really recover after that move. We were just using core decks and have only been playing AGOT for about a month now.

Yes, that's an old trick, but a good one (using a card as a pre-plot action then revealing "Ruled By Decree" on the first round). I've used it to great effect myself in the past.