Actually, I'm sure it's not.

Yesterday, I built a Baratheon Winter Night's Watch deck with all the obvious trimmings: Stannis (Defenders), The Wall, The Stewards agenda, Longclaw, White Ravens, Carrion Birds, Samwell Tarly, and a bunch of Baratheon characters with renown and M/P icons, who, under the influence Stannis, The Stewards, and The Wall, were +1 STR Tricons who didn’t have to kneel to defend.

It worked against a very basic Lannister deck, but it felt sluggish and fragile. Part of this is because I threw absolutely everything that seemed like a moderately good idea in the deck. Including the agenda, in is 70 cards.

I am somewhat restrained by the fact that I have only one copy of each chapter pack, and that won't likely change. So I only have 1 copy of The Wall and 1 copy of King Stannis. I do have two copies of the Core Set and 2 copies of Kings of the Sea, and a single copy of both Princes of the Sun and Lords of Winter.

If any of you could suggest where to trim this deck, I would be greatly appreciative. Sadly, I won't be competing at the Gencon Joust or Melee this year, so you won't be helping me sharpen a blade that will be used against you.

Agendas (1)
1 x The Stewards

Plots (7)
1 x Summoning Season (to get King Stannis into play)
1 x Building Season (to get the wall into play)
1 x Time of Ravens (to make it winter)
1 x Power of the Blood (if I feel a valar coming on)
1 x Fury of the Stag
1 x Winter Festival
1 x Winds of Winter

Characters (33)
1 x Renly Baratheon (Core) (because I have several influence-providing locations)
1 x Ser Davos Seaworth (Core) (for claim soak)
2 x Loyal Guard (for Stannis saves)
2 x Royal Entourage (should be easy to play for free)
2 x Maester Cressen (for attachment control, specifically frozen solid/milk of the poppy)
2 x Robert Baratheon (Core) (for double renown)
1 x Stannis Baratheon (Defenders) (key ability)
1 x King Robert’s Host (for power challenge immunity)
1 x Eddard (King’s Landing) (for Stannis defense and draw)
1 x Arena Knight (renown + vigilant)
1 x Edric Storm (stealth + multiple power challenges)
1 x Brienne of Tarth (Core) (renown + lady, to trigger royal entourage)
1 x Shadow Stalker (directed kill)
3 x Banner for the Storm (play for free as attachment to give vigilant)
3 x Herald of the Stag (character search, combo with R'Hllor's Blessing to get characters into hand)
1 x Denys Mallister (because I have several influence-providing locations)
1 x Jon Snow (Core) (for steatlh & renown-like ability)
1 x Ghost (Core) (can save any Night's Watch)
1 x Maester Aemon (Core) (can save any Night's Watch)
1 x Samwell Tarly (for draw)
2 x Builders of the Watch (for recovery of "The Wall" is case of location control)
3 x Carrion Bird

Locations (17)
3 x Narrow Sea
3 x Seat of Power
3 x Stormlands Fiefdoms
1 x Crossroads
1 x Kingdom of Shadows
1 x Streets of Steel
1 x Street of Sisters
1 x Robert’s Chambers
1 x The Gift
1 x The Wall
1 x The Shadow Tower

Attachments (10):
3 x Black Raven
3 x R’Hhlor’s Blessing (use herald of the stag, the play R'Hllor's Blessing to get character into my hand)
1 x Longclaw

Events (9)
3 x A Sword in the Darkness (draw)
3 x Vigilant Stag (use influence to give key characters vigilant)
3 x Yoren’s Task (useful for getting Maester Aemon or Ghost into play, who should be able to save anyone)

I think you mean White Raven, not Black. But other than that, it looks like a solid deck. Maybe you want a plot with higher initiative to make sure you go second.

Young Ranger said:

Oops. Yeah. Let's hope I don't make that mistake when I actually play.

Thanks for the feedback.

Eldil said:

Noticed you have 10 attachments listed, but I only see 7 under that heading. I realized it's probably because your Banner for the Storm guys are doing double duty being in your character list as well as attachment list.

As for ideas on how to trim it, I'd dump the Yoren's task events since it requires you to discard a NW to get another, and you stated you wanted to use it to get Aemon or Ghost. Well, it can get Aemon, but it can't get Ghost, because he's not a NW. I'd probably also get rid of Denys Mallister and Jon Snow too (but keep Ghost because he can basically save anyone once the Wall is up). You will have enough renown with the Bara folks to not worry about losing Jon. Having only one shadow stalker will not make it a consistent part of your matches, so I'd probably dump that too unless you planned to search for it with your search plot. It certainly doesn't look like you are building for that card anyway, so better to stay focused on the other stuff that makes your theme tick. Finally, because they are limited cards and could hurt your flop, I'd drop the stormland fiefdoms.

That would trim 9 cards from your deck and would still keep your main theme quite intact. Those are my ideas, anyway. Good luck, and enjoy!

Which version of The Wall are you running?

jmccarthy said:

The one from Winds of Winter:

The Wall (4)
[baratheon Location]
The North.
No attachments.
If it is Winter, your characters gain the Night's Watch trait and do not kneel to defend.

I'm not experienced in aGoT, so you can find that what I'm saying can be totally wrong... However I recently built a Baratheon deck with the banners, King Robert's Hammer (it doesn't fit in your deck but you wouldn't need it) and Arena Knight. I've tested it for a few games and, although this is just the version 0.1, it seems pretty good. Quick victories, I'm always standing my characters so I always make the 3 challenges and when it's the opponent's turn it's usually easy to defend because or he kneels to defend my challenges, or they are unopposed and he suffers the claims while I grab power.

So my question is: do you really need the banners and Arena Knight with Ghost and Maester Aemon with the Wall? Maybe it makes the deck very good, but in a first thought it sounds too much defensive. I also don't like very much Maester Cressen because it just says "condition", but for now I can't remember anything more useful (I just know some cards yet). Usually I use Frozen Solid in my Stark deck when iIsee something I don't like, but in the Baratheon deck I still haven't added anything to get rid of attachments.

Your deck is far better in melee, you have time to set up, the plots that search can be dealt with others (for the draw one or the search a character) and you can redirect challenges to you and win defense with all your renowns (remember you can defend in the place of someone you support). Your opponents will want to crush you but you'll be strong enough to endure it.

In joust, you won't have the time to set up winter, the wall, high str renown characters ... before your opponent wins.