I've experimented with many Baratheon builds over the years but have never been satisfied enough in playtesting to take one to a tournament. This was in part because I lacked some of the expensive WED rares that made previous decks viable (especially the R'hllor attachment and Melisandre). Now that I expect to play LCG a bit more, I thought I would experiment.

I expect this is 80% the same as other LCG builds, though I haven't played LCG much yet so I'm not sure. Two quick notes: I have avoided the "summer" mechanic because I suspect seasons are difficult to control in multi and will be more so after the Greyjoy expansion comes out (given Greyjoy's preference for winter). Also, some income-generating locations are placeholders for generic Kingdom -traited versions that I hope to see in the Greyjoy expansion. (These will provide gold and power the +1 STR location.)

The goal, of course, is to win through power rush. I thought it might be good to try it immediately after I valar, on turn 3-4. If things go well early, I may just play back-to-back Power of Blood and let the nobles take it away.

I want to work in 3x Zealous Collectors to the list below, any suggestions? Thanks for your thoughts/advice!

Plots (These are basically for their game text, though they have decently high gold. I don't see a need for high claim.)

• 1x Fury of the Stag
• 1.Valar Morghulis
• 1x Counting Favors
• 1x Summoning Season
• 1x Herding the Masses
• 2x Power of Blood

Characters (29 total)

• 3x Banner for the Storm
• 3x Bastard of Robert
• 2x Herald of the Stag
• 2x Brienne of Tarth
• 2x Edric Storm
• 2x Robert Baratheon
• 2x Selyse Baratheon [intrigue-buffer version]
• 1x Stannis Baratheon
• 3x Old Red Priest (small guys for claim soak and for early defense)
• 3x Royal Guard (for vigilance and claim soak)
• 3x Renly Baratheon [draw version] (3 copies to get him out early)
• 3x Renley's Courteson (better than milk of the poppy?--to protect own characters)

Locations (19 total -- Probably too many, not sure. I may wait to cut until I see what the kingdom -traited locations look like.)

• 2x Heart of the Kingdom
• 2x Claw Isle
• 3x Aegon's Garden (to be switched out for kingdom -traited)
• 2x King Rober's Chambers
• 2x Great Hall
• 3x Stormland Fiefdoms (possibly switched out for kingdom -traited)
• 1x Street of Sisters
• 1x Shadowblack Lane
• 3x Narrow Sea

Attachments (7 total -- mostly for saves, but I thought Martial Law would be handy too, no?)

• 2x Martial Law
• 2x Lightbringer
• 3x Bodyguard

Events (5 total--pretty basic, good surprises)

• 3x Distraction
• 2x Distinct Mastery

Alright, here's my rather disjointed thoughts on running a Baratheon deck similar to yours.

-I think Wildfire Assault works better for you than Valar does. You'll usually have only 3 big characters you'd be able to save with Valar anyway. So why not get better numbers on your plot, and have a claim to work with that turn instead of being left high & dry outside of renown.

-I've found that of all the Epic phase events, Baratheon's is the most worthwhile and quite awesome in LCG. You'll have Vigilant and Distinct Mastery to keep someone big standing for the extra challenge, and draw 3 is huge. I'd maybe lose some of the doubles to make room. 1x Lightbringer, 1x Brienne maybe?

Another really great combo to run with the Edric's and dupes you'll be discarding is To Be A Stag. Standing tech, plus return a discarded character to your hand. It also synergizes really well with the Baratheon refugee for when you lose dominance and can't pay that 1G. I think you wouldn't really miss Renly's Courtesan by swapping in 3x refugee for them.

I'd lose the Heart of the Kingdoms for some of the events I mentioned above as well. They're just not giving you too much at all presently.

I do like Martial Law as well. There are trade-offs to running it and/or Edric Storm's Limited Responses. I've found myself down to just one copy of Martial Law however and 2x Edric with the recylcing tech I mentioned above. Discard Edric to create another power challenge, play To Be a Stag and put Edric back in hand, stand your Robert (or whoever) for another power challenge. Rinse, repeat.

I would ponder losing a Royal Guard (or multiples for other stuff) for Davos too. He's awesome claim soak, more useful as a character on the table, and won't clog your draw like the RG's will when you don't want them to.

Oh, and I'd consider Cressen and/or some Retreat's. As losing someone like Renly or Robert early to a non save-able effect can really suck. Retreats are a good backup plan, and Cressen helps against Targ burn kills with Flame-kissed or insta-kills with Dragon Bite as both are Condition attachments.

Anyway, those are just some suggestions. I don't really play Baratheon at all, as I pretty much hate them in the books, but I've built a spare deck for melee games and I've found some of the above tricks to work nicely for a power rush.

Thanks RJM, I'll give the epic events a try. I like your idea of incorporating some recursion, and Davos sounds good as a replacement for one of those Royal Guards.

In terms of the Heart of the Kingdom, I think you're right about not using them in the current state of the game. In the future though I'm hoping to incorporate kingdom locations for STR pumps and the Bara characters that discard attachments (when you have 3+ kingdom locations). We'll see how that goes, but I'll experiment a bit with some your suggestions to see if the deck runs a bit more smoothly.

Thanks!