I posted another article on CardGameDB www.cardgamedb.com/index.php/index.html/_/game-of-thrones/game-of-thrones-strategy/how-to-build-martell-control-r31

This one offers some helpful hints for building Martell. Since Sato already published his Madrid Tourney deck list, I haven't spoiled those I use (but the outlines are the same, even if some card choices are different). This is more of a "how to" article than my previous article about Targ. Hope you enjoy!

Way too much draw + reveal + overpowered events. I'm OK with their character abilities -accept that at the moment they have one of the best character bases in the game. But they get their tools in hand way too quicklythe tools they ahve, quite frankly, are dominant.

Burning on the Sands is one of the most talentless cards to ever see the light of day.

Another great article Twn2dn. I just added hover popup links to all the cards in the article so for those unfamilar with any of the cards can quickly refrence them while they are reading.

Stag Lord said:

Coming from the guy that approves of Narrow Escape............

In short, Martell is good because they literally have access to everything and just about everything they have is really good. it's the everything House. It's not even about losing. It's just says, "Nope!"

Nice article, Dan!

I remember posting an article on Martell on Mainn's site back in the day.

Taste for Blood IMNSHO is the best representitve of Martell: I lose a challenge, I gain a power. The Joy of playing Martell in my mind is the look on the opponent's face when they realize that attacking you is going to cause them to lose the game.

And Parting blow is the best representitve of how the card's designer thinks . (For those that don't recall the card was the result of a design contest which then got printed in 5KE. 5 people made the cut for 6 cards I recall Parting Blow, Turmoil in the Realm, Daybreak - Ktom, Punnishment of Thieves, Liar'sTheaves (I think), can't recall the other ones.)

Also - IMNSHO - In my not so humble opinion :-P

Martell has always been a bit of a lightning rod. People love 'em,people really hate them. People don't like having surprises ruin their day,that's Martell's niche, so I get it.

I still have major problems with Martell's character base at 2 goldlower. There are a LOT of monocons there,character effects that are reliant on discarding your character from play. At 3 gold, it gets a little bit better for me with ArysElaria, but not much. Mostly, the only improvement here is the icon spread. It's not until I get to the 4 gold slotabove that I start getting excited about Martell's characters.

Without NE, I find Martell's draw pretty spotty. Mostly because none of their draw is repeatable by itself (except for Kos Agenda).

EDIT: What is up with this stupid "and"/"or" thing!

when i start building a deck i usually have a couple cards for each house that i put in every deck, Martell is the only house that instantly have 8 different cards i feel almost compelled to put in my deck

- Taste for Blood

- Venemous Blade

- Lost Spearman

- Orphan of Greenblood

- Burning on the Sand

- Red Vengence

- Game of Cyvase

- He Calls it Thinking

Stag Lord said:

Not even close/top 10. For starters, all the characters that allow you to discard something just for coming (Bandit Lord, Ser Aerys) into play are way more talentless IMO, not to mention Massing at Twilight, Castellan of the Rock.

LordofBrewtown said:

Don't forget the Lannister House Card :-P

LordofBrewtown said:

While it's true that some of the cards you mentioned were pretty crappily designed (Aerys is in fact, pretty alright), I don't think you should use that to offset the fact that BotS is a terrible, terrible card.

I agree that it would be better if it just reduced the claim to zero so the opponent still received unopposed power & renown,if you had to kneel a character to trigger (like Lanni pays Debts).

I just don't think it's as bad as a lot of people make it out to be - lots of other cards I find to be more 'talentless' than Burning. You still have to plan on when to use best,are generally only going to negate 3 challenges a game at best.

Keep in mind that it also block any effects that key off of winning a challenge, which is a huge screw you to targ dothraki/dragons,a lot of other stuff I'm sure.

jack merridew said:

Why Lost Spearman? I don't think he's ever made it into a deck I've built.

Considering that Martell can do so much when they lose a challenge, cancelling a challenge that they are likely to lose is going to prevent them for triggering all that bonus stuff.

Do I run BotS? Of course, and at least 2 copies if not 3. I run fewer Red Vengence since that card came out. It's worth it, no doubt about it.

Really, the only card I have a big problem with is Venomous Blade. Nothing else is overpowered compared to what other houses have. Certainly not the character base (IMHO of course).