Just wondering if most people find that decks that work great in Joust are not as strong in Mele and vice versa? Is there a deck build that does well in both? One of the things I love about this game is that it is 2 and 4 player friendly and that both games play differently.

Based on the Gencon results, I would suggest that Lannister, Martell, and Targaryen have a slight the edge over the other houses in Joust, while Stark, Greyjoy, and Baratheon have the edge in melee.

Note the deck distribution from the Joust Championship:

26% House Martell
21% House Stark
16% House Baratheon
16% House Lannister
14% House Targaryen
7% House Greyjoy

A fairly even distribution, leaning towards Stark and Martell, and away from Greyjoy. And yet the top eight were the following houses:

1. Lannister

2. Martell

3. Targaryen

4. Martell

5. Martell

6. Baratheon

7. Martell

8. Greyjoy

In Melee, we see the following deck distribution:

31% House Stark
26% House Baratheon
19% House Greyjoy
17% House Martell
5% House Lannister
2% House Targaryen

You'll noticed that Targaryen and Lannister are barely represented, and the pool strongly leans towards Stark and Baratheon. The final table was:

1. Greyjoy

2. Baratheon

3. Stark

4. Baratheon

Speaking from a position of relative inexperience, but based on what we saw at Gencon, I would say that "control" decks work much better in joust than in melee. Lannister and Martell featured very strongly in joust because of their ability to shut down their opponents' strategies, and to disable key cards (through kneel effects, icon removal, etc.). But in melee, there are too many enemies to effectively shut down, so control decks are not as successful.

In melee, the decks that win are the ones that can aggressively exploit an opening and tactically grab a lot of power quickly. Because there are so many opponents at the table, it is much more difficult to gradually accumulate powerbefore you win, the table will turn on you. Melee decks need to be able to stay in the game without becoming either so weak that they become helpless or so strong that they become a common enemythen, when the moment is right, they need to be able to aggressively and quickly close the gap to victory.

But I'm sure there are other players here that can offer much better insight than this.

Martell Rush seems to do well in both Melee and Joust. The difference for the deck is more about playstyle than deck construction. In Joust you can jump out of the gates as fast as possible, where in melee you only want to rush when the win is in grasp.

I have a Greyjoy/Wildling that does ok in both Joust and Melee.

Excellent observation.

It is very true that a deck that domaintes in Joust may not fare as well in melee and vice versa. solid control decks can lock down another player with kneel or kill effects in head to head play - but in a melee their control elements are spread too thin to handle multiple opponents. Additionally, they often take a little whiel to establish their resources adn get their control goign - time you may not have in a melee.

Meanwhile - a melee deck which relies on cards that affect more than one player, or ar based on a couple fo key characters barrelling through out of nowhere for a surprise pwoer sieze often find their key components neutralized by their opponent in head to head - wheras in a mele, players may not see those characters as the most imminent threat. Or deals can be cut - or whatever.

It is a rare deck that cna handle both fomrats wiht the same consistency of effect - but it cna be done. Typically a deck that can withstadn challenges early and slowly build to an unstoppable momentum.