Hey all, I built a Direwolf deck for melee play using Siege of Winterfell and I would like some feedback on it. We don't play melee much and I don't play Stark much, usually sticking with Targ and Martell and Targ and... Targ. We only played 1 game last night, I was playing against a Neutral Brotherhood deck, a KotHH Bolton deck and a KotHH Clansman deck and it was a strange game where Valar got played the first two rounds and everyone had a military build so I can't tell how well the deck was really doing. I got to 13 power but didn't win, so any comments and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

House Stark
Siege of Winterfell

---Plots---
Fury of the Wolf
Minstrel's Muse (this one is getting tossed out)
Respect of Old Gods
Threat from the North
After the Mummer's Ford
Battle of Oxcross
Retaliation!

---Characters (33)---
3x Direwolf Pup
3x Feral Pack
3x Wolf Pack
1x Ghost (DotN)
1x Lady
1x Summer
3x Bolton Refugee
1x Arya (Kings Landing)
3x Carrion Bird
1x Old Nan
3x Guard at Riverrun
1x Blackfish
1x Brienne (PotS)
1x Jojen Reed
1x Val
1x Catelyn (LoW)
1x Eddard (LoW)
1x Cat o' the Canals
1x Robb (core)
1x Sansa (Kings Landing)
1x Hodor

---Attachments (8) ---
3x Frozen Solid
1x Nymeria
3x Shaggydog
1x Greywind

---Events (9) ---
3x To Be a Wolf
3x Endless Endurance
3x At Night They Howl

---Locations (14) ---
3x Winterfell Kennels
1x Wolfswood
3x Fiefdoms
2x Great Keep
2x Godswood
1x Bear Island
2x Narrow Sea

Certainly not the most original build, but no one in my meta has built a Direwolf deck so I tossed one together; the deck is a little over 60 cards and I could probably take out the Frozen Solids to slim it down some, they didn't help me much when I drew them anyway. I really like the LoW Catelyn but might change to the core version instead, and I have thought about using a different Eddard or adding Maester Vyman for dealing with control decks. I may also add Narrow Escape but it didn't quite fit when I built the deck. I don't know what plot to be using instead of Minstrel's Muse; it was a stupid mistake to include it but I was in a hurry. Storm of Swords would obviously not be a bad choice, but I would prefer something that gives me a bit more gold... Take Them by Surprise is absolutely out of the question, I've seen people lose their hand far too many times recently.

Skowza said:

I assume since you realized Minstrel's Muse doesn't work with the agenda you'll sub in Storm of Swords for the extra M challenge? Also I like to use the trait buffing Robb since you have so many cards of one trait. I would dump a Godswood (or two) and add a third Narrow Sea and another Great Keep. I do like the Kennel Master since he's easy to save with all the Direwolf love you have. Also Wolf Dreams is a better seach (IMHO) than the Kennels, though I do run both, just less copies of the Kennels. Also Greywind/Shaggydog combo is so awesome that another copy of Greywind would be useful, you could dump the carrion birds. I understand why they are in the deck, however they destroy the Feral Pack (the best part of the direwolf deck) and bear island. Val does as well but she's fragile and a good source of draw and you could always eat her if you need to I would chose either Cat O' Canals or Arya since you need to thin the deck out.

Too few claim-2 plots for my taste. Why not use Siege of Riverrun and/or Winds of Winter? And is Threat from the North really worth it? I get the Combo with Shaggy, but you've got plenty of STR-1 weenies that are vulnerable to it yourself - Val, Jojen, the Birds, Cat. It might be a good idea to either get rid of Threat or to get rid of those weenies.

Also, the Nan/Bird combo is nifty - but in a deck with Feral Pack and Bear Island? I'm not too sure about putting combos that go in a totally different direction and are in fact mutually exclusive into the same deck.

Not sure about Jojen either. Is his ability really that strong? Apart from the fact that he's gone when you flip Threat, you don't have that much Influence in the deck - and you're going to want to use the Fiefdoms and Narrow Sea in for cost reduction in Marshalling more often than not.

Why not use LoW Robb instead of Core Set Robb? Safe from VB, less vulnerable to Burning, great synergy with your wolves and renown. What's not to like?

I'd also think about the Kennel Master for Direwolf synergy or the Tully Septon for INT defense. Vyman would look good in that deck, too, I think.

Also, you're pretty light on saves. You obviously don't believe in dupes, but how do you keep your key uniques from the dead pile? Also, hand or deck discard are as much of a threat to key uniques as kill effects if you only run one copy of them.

Just my two cents. I'm still pretty much a noob, so if you think I'm full of it, feel free to tell me so brusquely.

Thanks for the feedback!
Yea, like I said, the Minstrel's Muse was a stupid mistake on my part - "House Stark therefore my plots start with Fury and MM" and I didn't even think about the fact that the Agenda neutralized it. The Carrion Birds do screw up Feral Pack, but for Bear Island I figured I could just win a challenge with them and shuffle them back into the deck, leaving me with all Stark cards by the time I get to use Bear Island. I do think they might get removed from the deck. Kennel Masters just didn't make the cut when I was whittling it down from 40+ characters, so maybe they should go back in. I should probably also switch the core Robb out for the LoW version, thanks Ratatoskr.

goshdarnstud said:

I don't like Wolf Dreams because it doesn't really net you much. Its a one-for-one trade - it doesn't get you any extra cards since you are just playing one card to get another one and I could have just drawn a Direwolf card to start with instead.

Ratatoskr said:

Ratatoskr said:

I am definitely keeping Old Nan... she's just far too useful, removes Lord and Lady traits and other traits that allow attachments, and I find it very useful to give attacking characters the Direwolf trait after defenders are declared when Feral Pack is in play, resulting in surprise deaths. In melee it's a nasty crossfire ability I can use on opponents' attackers to kill off a character that I can't get to... i.e. Player A attacks Player B in intrigue, Player B defends with Robert and then I give the attacking character deadly...

Ratatoskr said:

Skowza said:

Oh, I definitely agree about Old Nan. She's awesome. Very useful in any Stark deck. I was aiming at the Birds with that comment, and you already said you're tinking about cutting them.