So hopefully I'll be able to give an up to date report on how the event is going... assuming my batteries and phone hold out.

Since we're wating for people to come still, I'll put up my decklist. Hopefully I'll convince some others to do the same.

Greyjoy Winter

LCG winter - Greyjoy

----- Plots (7) -----
A Time for Ravens x1 A Change of Seasons F59
The Winds of Winter x1 The Winds of Winter F40
Rains of Autumn x1 Core Set B184
Fleeing to the Wall x1 Core Set B187
Winds of Summer
Valar Morghulis x1 Core Set S201
Fury of the Kraken x1 Ancient Enemies F28

----- Characters (27) avg cost: 1.8 -----
* Balon Greyjoy x1 Kings of the Sea F1
* Asha Greyjoy x1 Kings of the Sea F2
* Victarion Greyjoy x1 Kings of the Sea F5
* Maester Wendamyr x2 Kings of the Sea F7
* Wex Pyke x1 Kings of the Sea F8
Sea Raiders x2 Kings of the Sea F9
* Dagmer Cleftjaw x1 Kings of the Sea F14
* Randyl Tarly x1 Kings of the Sea F45
* Varys x1 Secrets and Spies F97
Distinguished Boatswain x3 Tales from the Red Keep F69
Island Refugee x3 Refugees of War F88
* Alannys Greyjoy x1 Refugees of War F89
* Samwell Tarly x1 The Raven's Song F66
Wintertime Marauders x3 A Change of Seasons F47
* Theon Greyjoy x1 A Change of Seasons F48
Ice Fisherman x3 The Winds of Winter F29
* Fishwhiskers x1 Calling the Banners F104

Saltwife x2

----- Locations (16) avg cost: 0.8 -----
Iron Island Fiefdoms x3 Kings of the Sea F23
* Aeron's Chambers x1 Kings of the Sea F24
Sunset Sea x3 Kings of the Sea F25
* Longship Iron Victory x2 Kings of the Sea F28
Scouting Vessel x3 Kings of the Sea F29
Gatehouse x2 Kings of the Sea F31
Street of Steel x1 Core Set S139
Street of Sisters x1 Core Set B149

----- Attachments (6) avg cost: 1.5 -----
Support of Harlaw x3 Kings of the Sea F21
White Raven x3 The Winds of Winter F24

----- Events (9) -----
Seasick x3 Kings of the Sea F19
Risen from the Sea x3 Kings of the Sea F20
To Be a Kraken x3 Sacred Bonds F47

Current House breakdown (total of 17 players) T(2), M(1), L(3), B(3), S(4), G(4):

Targaryen x2

Martell (treaty with Isles)

Stark Winter

Baratheon x3

Stark Whitebook

Greyjoy Kings of Summer

Stark (treaty with Isles)

Greyjoy x2

Lannister Shadows

Greyjoy Kings of Winter

Stark Kings of Winter

Lannister x2

Game 1 vs Corey playing Martell treaty with the Isles

oddly enough, we started out almost the same, he got longship out, boatswain, card in shadows. I had my boatswain, some fishermen and a saltwife. we played, looked like I was doing well, got to 9 power, wendamyr, and a saltwife. Two venomous blades kept trying to kill wendamyr, and finally succeeded in dominance after I had to use him during challenges. We swapped challenged back and forth, I got up to 9 power at one point, then a really poorly played Valar on my part, forgetting he had a save on the table and he pulled one out of hand. So I had no characters, he had a boatswain and a marauders. Two 2 claim plots later and I'm out.

Best card: Venomous Blade. Amazing since it goes back into shadows after you lose a challenge. That means two kills possible a turn, really nice against weenies.

0-1 (5 power to 15 power)

Game 2 vs Staglord playing Targaryen

So I've played Chris a couple times, and I was pretty conifdent that i could win if I could get some lock on his influence. He started early, trying to kill wex with dragon bite/reagar's harp. I just left him there to keep the attachment's out of his discard. I had wintertime marauders x2 and wendamyr. He tried to kill wendamyr, I saved with risen. A couple turns of marauders and winter, and I had knocked out his influence. two valars, but wendamyr saved himself and my marauders with the support of harlaw. I won soon after that.

Best card: Support of Harlaw, stealth and standing? Yes please.

1-1 (15 power to 7 power)

Game 3 vs Kevin playing Stark Whitebook

So it started out ok, I had boatswain, marauders and wendamyr. We traded back and forth, staying around 6 power each. I attacked and forced him to use up most of his defenders (which he still got power for) and I had saves to hold him off. Catelyn stopped my intrigue challenges which hurt. he had lots of kingsgaurd when I finally valared, saving wendamyr and Theon with a risen (he also had a support on him) from there on out he couldn't muster more than one or two characters, and I stealthed and killed him with theon for the win. ]

best card: Catelyn, preventing any intrigue is harsh, I could've used it to take out a defender possibly...

2-1 (15 power to 6 power)

Game 4 vs jason playing Stark treaty with the isles

Again I play one of my meta. jason and I have a history of games that are decided in the first or second plot... this time I got Samwell on the flop, and a raven. I got to draw 4 extra cards before he got his bay of ices, and my fisherman kept his gold down to keep him low on characters. we went back and forth for a couple turns, my saltwife absorbing his mil claim. He milked my marauder, but I kept up the pressure with mil and pow challenges, finally getting balon with my winds of winter plot. I managed to get 5 power to get to 12 power and won. 4 plots and the game was over.

Best Card: Samwell, thanks for the cards, and dying to satisfy claim when I was done with you

3-1 (12 power to 5 power)

Game 5 vs Dan playing Targaryen

So it started out pretty well, I had characters, wendamyr and some locations (2 scouting vessels). Then the burn and my deck decided to fail epically. he killed things, and I drew only locations or events. The events weren't saves and he had the influence to block my seasicks. Between my horrible draws and his shadowness I couldn't get anything into play for about 4 turns. Also, he had an amazing ability to choose the only cards I wanted in my hand Oh well, can't win them all! And Dan, despite his apparent 7 bad plays, played a complicated deck very well. my head hurt from trying to follow it all!

Best Card: King's Landing. He drew so much, it hurt! at least 2 cards a round. I missed you Samwell...

3-2 (6 power to 15 power)

So now we cut to top 4, and I'm not in it.

Top four:

Erick (Finitesuare)

Andy (Sithlord)

Dan (twn2dn)

Paul (RedTerror)

Will post results as they come.

Finals first round:

Dan (targaryen) vs Andy (lanni shadows)

Dan wins

Paul (lannister) vs Erick (Lannister)

Paul Wins

Final Round:

Dan vs Paul.

Paul wins with Lannister. (15 power to 8 power)

Congrats to the 2009 Black Friday Champion.

Questions? Comments? Post away. Hopefully some of the other participants will post some thoughts. Thanks to everyone who came!

Greyjoy Chris said:

ChrisIt's too bad your deck crapped out on you when we played...three rounds (or was it four?) without characters (which meant no draw from Longship Iron Victory) was really tough, especially against burn. Despite the poor draws, you played your deck well.

Yeah, the Targ deck definitely made my head hurt too. Tthere are a lot of card effects to remember, and after a few games I felt pretty worn down. My worst misplay I think was blocking your round 1 Dagmer on a power challenge with my Titan's Bastard, forgetting he was deadly. As you might have guessed, I was preocuppied with the Forever Burning>Titan's Bastard>Recursion effects. (It was one of those decisions that I did because I could rather than because I should.) Had you been able to use that Longship a little more, I would have had a much tougher time.

And yes, King's Landing was amazing in every matchup I played it. When in play, I typically drew 2 (and sometimes 3) additional cards a round.

I just want to thank the NYC guys for another fantastic time. Jason really knows how to run a tournament, and everyone was a class act.

I also want to say the final game against Paul was a lot of fun. I had to run out the door to hang out with my wife, who waited patiently until 9 pm, so I couldn't stick around long after our match. Paul is a nice guy and a good player. I think that in terms of decks, I probably had a slight advantage going into that matchup, and he clearly outplayed me for the win. Great job!

I can't write a full tourney report now, but I hope to write something later on Sunday or Monday. (The rest of this weekend is for family.) The NYC guys should feel free to post my decklist, or I'll post it as soon as I can, and I will comment on the build and my rounds, etc. if people are interested. If that's the case, it would actually be great if someone could send me the list of players I played and decks.... I was running off of five hours of sleep, so some of the details are already a bit foggy.

Dan, thank you; it's a lot of fun for me doing what I can to help make these events happen. Even though it means the regulars here on the forum will have to wait a bit longer , if you would, send your report to me and Staglord (I've asked Paul (Red Terror) to do the same). He and I will work with FFG and hopefully get a combined tournament overview with your and Paul's reports and deck lists posted on the FFG main page.

I just want to let everyone know I had a great time at Black Friday! Being very new to the AGoT scene my main goal was to have fun and get a look at the decks that other players are making, and both of those goals were met. I particularly enjoyed playing against other Baratheon decks to get an idea of how to improve my own (and it needs LOTS of improving....) I also enjoyed being smacked around by the various Greyjoys. Unfortunately, I never got to face off against a Lannister.

Thanks to Jason for organizing this, and here's hoping I can make it to the Winter event at the Strategist!

Jeff

Here's the deck I ran yesterday. I built it last Friday and had some fun playing it locally so I figured I'd try it out at a big event to see how it ran.

Black Friday 5 (Stark - The White Book)

- Plots (7) avg income: 3.8 -
Siege of Riverrun x1 Kings of the Sea F49
A Song of Summer x1 A Song of Summer F20
Mutual Cause x1 Core Set B182
Rains of Autumn x1 Core Set B184
The Power of Arms x1 Core Set S200
Rule by Decree x1 Core Set T206
Fury of the Wolf x1 Ancient Enemies F25

- Characters (36) avg cost: 2.4 -
Robb Stark x2 Kings of the Sea F33
Randyl Tarly x1 Kings of the Sea F45
Ser Mandon Moore x1 The Battle of Blackwater Bay F117
Ser Osmund Kettleblack x1 Secrets and Spies F98
Sansa Stark x1 Tales from the Red Keep F61
Syrio Forel x1 Tales from the Red Keep F77
Eddard Stark x2 The Tower of the Hand F41
Ser Preston Greenfield x1 The Tower of the Hand F58
Catelyn Stark x1 A Time of Trials F21
The Hound x1 A Time of Trials F37
Ser Meryn Trant x1 City of Secrets F17
Northern Cavalry Flank x2 Scattered Armies F103
Northern Infantry x2 Scattered Armies F104
Bolton Refugee x3 Refugees of War F83
Theon Greyjoy x1 A Change of Seasons F48
Maester Vyman x1 The Winds of Winter F26
Ser Arthur Dayne x1 The Winds of Winter F34
Carrion Bird x2 The Winds of Winter F35
Jeyne Westerling x1 A Song of Summer F6
Carrion Bird x1 A Song of Summer F16
Arya Stark x1 Core Set S7
Hodor x1 Core Set S12
Lady x1 Core Set S15
Jon Snow x1 Core Set S136
Ser Barristan Selmy x1 Core Set B146
Knight of Flowers x1 Core Set B147
Jory Cassel x1 Calling the Banners F101
Old Nan x1 The Battle of Ruby Ford F81
Dacey Mormont x1 Epic Battles F61

- Locations (16) avg cost: 0.4 -
Bay of Ice x3 Kings of the Sea F30
Storm Dancer x2 A Time of Trials F23
Northern Fiefdoms x1 Core Set S26
Northern Fiefdoms x1 Core Set S27
Lord Eddard's Chambers x1 Core Set S28
Great Keep x1 Core Set S29
Great Keep x1 Core Set S30
Great Keep x1 Core Set S31
Narrow Sea x3 Core Set S33
Street of Steel x1 Core Set S139
Street of Sisters x1 Core Set B149

- Attachments (3) avg cost: 1 -
Icy Catapult x3 The War of Five Kings F12

- Events (11) -
The Hand's Judgement x3 The Tower of the Hand F59
Bound by Duty x3 City of Secrets F4
Lethal Counterattack x2 Core Set S158
To Be a Wolf x3 Sacred Bonds F44

I expected to see alot of Lannister and alot of Greyjoy with a smattering of Baratheon, Targaryen, and Stark. I figured with Greyjoy winter being so popular I'd be able to use some of the Winter tech without having to run the White Ravens myself. I hoped the Whitebook would allow me to win enough power defending challenges to put me over the edge. It didn't. After this event, maybe run the Whitebook out of Martell, maybe Targ, but never Stark.

Game 1 versus Paul(the eventual champion) /Lannister

I opened with a Bay of Ice and decent flop and I should have used my Fury plot to establish board. Instead I opened with Siege of Riverrun. By plot 3 I had to use Vyman to satisfy claim and had no reliable cancel to his kneel effects. Paul was able to win by plot 6 so he didn't have to use his Valar to let me back into the game. He outplayed me and the game was quite enjoyable. Even though Paul isn't well known outside the NYC meta, he's a really good player and can be fun to play against. I guess now his days of anonymity are over.

Lost

Game 2 versus Josh/Greyjoy

Josh has played since Westeros and spent a stint in Bruno's LA Meta. He had a Sea of Storms Greyjoy House Card which I haven't seen in forever. The first few plots were fairly even. He should have Valared earlier, when he had 3 saves on the board to my 0. But he waited to try to rebuild his hand, and he never recoverd well from his own Valar. He probably should have won this game, but I appreciate him taking it easy on my crappy Stark deck. Unfortunately, after that I thought somehow the deck might work which set me up for disappointment in rounds 3 and 4.

Won

Game 3 versus Jay(Bloodycelt)/Greyjoy Summer Agenda

He had a great flop, a great drawback, and saved from my lethal Counterattack during his first Military Challenge. After that it was all down hill. I thought I forgot to cancel his save(which I found out after the game that I couldn't have canceled anyway) and I was out of the game both cardwise and mentally. Jay played a great game and it seems like we always end up playing at NYC events. Well played Jay.

Lost

Game 4 versus Chris(Greyjoy Chris)/Greyjoy

See post above.

Lost

Game 5

Bye

Deck Analysis: Bad build. The real good cards all day were Bay of Ice, Catelyn, Ser Arthur Dayne, and To Be a Wolf. Robb and Eddard and Agenda Armies were Ok. Even though I had a bad build, I don't think Stark has a strong top-4-at-a-major-event build. Hopefully the next cycle of chapter packs will change that. Or Princes.

Event Analysis: Well Organized by Jason. Once again everything ran smoothly. And the T-shirts look really cool. Thanks to FFG for the huge banner with the AWESOME Night's Watch art. Everyone agreed that the the banner would be great to take home as a prize. And Also Thank you FFG for the extensive prize support. Almost everyone went home with something. It was great to catch up with old friends and meet new players in the NYC meta. Jason, Chris and the rest of the NY metas are doing a great job of growing the local meta and deserve alot of praise for that. I think this Black Friday had the most local participation of any Black Friday event.

Many thanks to Mike and Lars for all the time discussing and prepping for the event. The trip there and back was a blast and I think I laughed more yesterday than I have in a long time. Thanks to all the NYC guys for being friendly and making us provincials fell welcome.

Bob, Randy, Mike, Tom, the Braz, the Triplets, Rick, Ethan, John, Mainn, Melnick, Where are you guys?! It doesn't feel like an East Coast event without you guys. The thing that kept running through my mind yesterday was the flashbacks in Storm of Swords to the Tournament at Harrenhall where all the great players of the Game of Thrones came together and the events that led to Robert's Rebellion started brewing. That's how the Black Friday and East Coast Regionals used to be. Now, it doesn't quite feel the same.

Hey, awesome. I am very glad to see the Black Friday tradition being kept up. Way to be guys. I'm a little jealous. Guess I'll just have to see about trying to get an event going down here again eventually.

Here's my deck list:

Stark - Treaty with the Isles

- Plots (7) avg income: 3.8 -
Siege of Riverrun x1 Kings of the Sea F49
A Song of Summer x1 A Song of Summer F20
Rains of Autumn x1 Core Set B184
Wildfire Assault x1 Core Set L191
The Power of Arms x1 Core Set S200
Rule by Decree x1 Core Set T206
Fury of the Wolf x1 Ancient Enemies F25

- Characters (25) avg cost: 1.8 -
Balon Greyjoy x1 Kings of the Sea F1
Asha Greyjoy x1 Kings of the Sea F2
Victarion Greyjoy x1 Kings of the Sea F5
Maester Wendamyr x1 Kings of the Sea F7
Dagmer Cleftjaw x1 Kings of the Sea F14
Randyl Tarly x1 Kings of the Sea F45
Varys x1 Secrets and Spies F97
Sansa Stark x1 Tales from the Red Keep F61
Distinguished Boatswain x3 Tales from the Red Keep F69
Northern Cavalry Flank x1 Scattered Armies F103
Northern Infantry x1 Scattered Armies F104
Bolton Refugee x3 Refugees of War F83
Island Refugee x2 Refugees of War F88
Carrion Bird x3 The Winds of Winter F35
Eddard Stark x1 Core Set S5
Catelyn Stark x1 Core Set S6
Hodor x1 Core Set S12
Old Nan x1 The Battle of Ruby Ford F81

- Locations (20) avg cost: 0.5 -
The Iron Mines x3 Kings of the Sea F27
Longship Iron Victory x2 Kings of the Sea F28
Scouting Vessel x3 Kings of the Sea F29
Bay of Ice x3 Kings of the Sea F30
Great Keep x3 Core Set S29
Narrow Sea x2 Core Set S33
Sunset Sea x2 Core Set L65
Street of Steel x1 Core Set S139
Street of Sisters x1 Core Set B149

- Attachments (3) avg cost: 1 -
Milk of the Poppy x3 Core Set B145

- Events (12) -
The Price of War x3 Kings of the Sea F38
Winter is Coming x3 Core Set S156
Distinct Mastery x3 Core Set S177
To Be a Wolf x3 Sacred Bonds F44

I have been running different versions of Stark, Treaty with the Isles for much of this year, including at Kingsmoot in the East during the summer. That version of the deck preceded the Kings of the Sea expansion and so was more about using some of the good GJ utility non-uniques and both houses good Winter tech. When KotS came out, the deck become more of a Stark/GJ "All Stars" deck with a lot of uniques from both houses and an emphasis on 2 claim plots. As Black Friday approached, I began to rework the deck with many good suggestions from other NY meta members. I removed some expensive cards in favor of cheaper cards to help me get a quick start, which I need with the 10 power goal the Treaty gives to my opponent. I pared down my Warships to the ones that seemed to consistently deliver the most often, Scouting Vessel and LIV. The big positive change right before Black Friday came from a suggestion made to me by Andy (Sithlord), which was to lighten up on the 2 claim plots which, except for Siege at Riverrun, have low initiative in favor of high claim and try to get draw from Bay of Ice. That change proved to be very effective for me in generating draw. I also think it helped me against what was a problem for me: Bara rush. Being first play was important in avoiding letting Bara decks run up their renown and take full advantage of Vigilant.

er, "in favor of high claim and try to get draw from Bay of Ice" should have been "in favor of high initiative and try to get draw from Bay of Ice"

If I lived a little bit nearer than this...

Anyway, congrats to the winner and thanks for all the reports guys.

Just, please, POST THE DECKS! Thanks to those who did it already...I'm pretty interested in the Targ builds...

What about Baratheon? How did they do?

Well - you're not going to see my Targ build - I scrubbed out with only one win and the bye and I don't post decks that finish under .500.

But more ot the point - congratulations to twn2dn. Excellent job and one of the more innovative and effective new decks i ahev seen in a while. I could not get shadows to work wiht the attahcment recursion/draw them out of Targ - and I never imagined you could just the Xaro's draw engine and still be successful. Running KL + Dragonpit + the KL shadows reducers let him hit the cap **** near every turn - and he had the control to beat most of the decks in the filed. Great job and kudos for developing such an interesting and fresh approach. You ahve given me lots to think about.

a link to the third place deck lanni hyperkneel, chosen again due to solidity, despite a good weakness to appropriately built greyjoy/winter decks

http://tzumainn.com/agot/decks/deck.php?current_deck_id=17055

~and the spot on my AGoT shelf where the 2009 black friday cup was supposed to go :-(

http://erickbutzlaff.com/agot_shelf.jpg

kpmccoy21 said:

Called you Black Friday to see how things were going. Send me an email or FB message.

The trips are off in graduate school. Eric is in Maryland near DC. Greg and Adam are in Pittsburg. I haven't spoken to Rick in forever. I'm trying to see if I can make the melee event in a couple of weeks. I haven't played since summer 2008. I do miss y'all.

I'm glad the event went so well.

finitesquarewell said:

its a shame the kingsmoot crystal doesn't show up

my deck list:

Black Friday V - Baratheon

- Plots (7) avg income: 3.7 -
The Raven's Song x1 The Raven's Song F80
Fleeing to the Wall x1 Core Set B187
The Power of Blood x2 Core Set L194
Valar Morghulis x1 Core Set S201
Rule by Decree x1 Core Set T206
Fury of the Stag x1 Ancient Enemies F27

- Characters (36) avg cost: 2.3 -
* Knight of Flowers x2 Secrets and Spies F86
* The Queen of Thorns x2 Tales from the Red Keep F66
* Margaery Tyrell x1 Tales from the Red Keep F67
* Syrio Forel x1 Tales from the Red Keep F77
* Eddard Stark x2 The Tower of the Hand F41
Royal Entourage x3 The Tower of the Hand F47
Stormland Scavengers x1 Scattered Armies F108
Highgarden Refugee x3 Refugees of War F86
Arena Knight x1 Refugees of War F87
River Bandit x1 Refugees of War F95
* Renly Baratheon x1 The Raven's Song F64
* Selyse Baratheon x1 A Song of Summer F8
* Robert Baratheon x2 Core Set B71
* Stannis Baratheon x1 Core Set B72
* Melisandre x2 Core Set B74
* Ser Davos Seaworth x1 Core Set B75
* Maester Cressen x1 Core Set B77
* Edric Storm x1 Core Set B79
* Devan Seaworth x1 Core Set B80
Old Red Priest x3 Core Set B84
Renly's Courtier x1 Core Set B86
Bastard of Robert x1 Core Set B87
Banner for the Storm x3 Calling the Banners F114

- Locations (12) avg cost: 0.2 -
Kingdom of Shadows x1 Kings of the Sea F32
Kingswood Trail x1 City of Secrets F8
Narrow Sea x3 Core Set S33
* King Robert's Chambers x1 Core Set B94
Aegon's Garden x3 Core Set B95
Street of Steel x1 Core Set S139
Shadowblack Lane x1 Core Set L144
Street of Sisters x1 Core Set B149

- Attachments (6) avg cost: 0.5 -
Motley x1 Core Set B67
* Lightbringer x1 Core Set B68
Milk of the Poppy x1 Core Set B145
Bodyguard x3 Core Set T150

- Events (9) -
The Hand's Judgement x3 The Tower of the Hand F59
Condemned by the Council x2 A Time of Trials F38
Support of the Kingdom x1 Core Set B172
Seductive Promise x3 Core Set T175

with some analysis here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=16&efcid=4&efidt=242481

though i should edit that i took 2 dupes out, stannis and renly aparrently

thebraz said:

Glad to hear this! The limited card pool rules should hopefully help keep the deck building cost and effort modest if you haven't been regularly buying chapter packs and there will be several new players there, so some of the emphasis will be on helping them get better immersed into the nuances of the game. It should be a fun, laid back event.

Lars said:

How did you end up doing - and what caused your losses?

becuase honestly - i think that is pretty darn close to the optimal Baratheon build at the moment - though I might have gone with the multiple power challenge Plot, and maybe three less characters to fit in three Distinct Masteries. I'm also an addict to Bastard of Robert x 3 - love the stealth which pretty much guarantees the power win when you need it. And I think Baratheon is all about multiple stands and multiple challenges.