(I typed up a longer summary of the tournament as a whole, but it was lost, so now everyone gets a short version)
Wow! No report yet? Everyone must still be playing the Chosen Few tournament.
We had about 33 players. In the top 8, the deck break down was:
4 Lannister
2 Martell
1 Stark
1 Targ
The final, Mathlete vs Syd was Lannister vs Stark with Lannister as the victor. Yay Mathlete!!! Woo for the LA meta having 2 players in the top and winning the Joust.
I did not make the top 8, but did keep good track of my games. So here is a report of 2-3 player.
I played a Greyjoy/Kings of Winter choke deck (restricted = Fear of Winter). I was really excited about this deck. I had play tested it with Mathlete against most types of decks. It consistently beat Targ and Martell. It was about 50/50 against Lanni (hyperkneel). And had a tougher time with Stark and Baratheon (something I wasn't super worried about as these were likely going to be less frequent decks).
Round 1 Ryan Jones "ryansd" Martell/Kings of Summer (restricted = Venomous Blade). My deck worked just like it should. I had 2 White Ravens in hand on the first turn. I kept it Winter the whole game. Ryan had Darkstar with Taste for Blood out 1st turn and it worried me quite a bit, but I was able to use Pulled Under on him and that ended that threat. He tried to Valar, but my choke with Winter and Burned and Pillaged was on, so I was able to repopulate with Asha and Victarion and he had no characters. Next turn Fear of Winter meant the game was mine. Win 1-0
Round 2 Lucas Sydlaske "Syd" Stark/No agenda (restricted = Pyromancer's Cache). My 4 card flop was much weaker than Luke's 5 card flop. He had 2 X direwolves, King Robb and Luwin by end of turn 1. I had 0 characters by turn 3, and my 4th round Valar was met by The Power of Blood, which kept Robb on table and that was game. I lost 15-0. 1-1.
Round 3 Eric Prescott Stark/The Siege of Winterfell (restricted = Fear of Winter). Eric played The Battle of Whispering Wood pre-plot, followed by Fear of Winter for his plot. His 2 claim Intrigue discarded White Raven and Burned and Pillaged. I successfully defended his 1st military attempt. His 2nd military had 2 claim, saved 1 character, and then the targeted kill re-killed it. No characters left. 2nd turn Eric played Blockade, but thanks to Greyjoy's 0 cost locations I was able to deck my cards down (not enough characters though). So on the 3rd turn it was my Rule by Decree that discarded 4 of Eric's cards. Still lost 15-0. 1-2.
Round 4 Jeff Lebow "Freerider" Martell/Knights of the Realm (restricted = Fear of Winter) Jeff was playing a House Dayne Martell deck, which was nice to see compared to the majority of Martell Summer decks at the tournament. But Jeff summed it up perfectly, his deck was "cheap character speed deck", which exactly like the previous Stark decks was my deck's serious weakness. He had Starfall on his flop, so his House Dayne characters kept creeping up in strength. It was the first time I saw any of my Winter based cards, and had a Wintertime Marauders on the flop, but Orphans and Burning on the Sand stopped it in it's tracks. Jeff played Fear of Winter 1st turn. I played my Fear of Winter 2nd turn vs his Blockade. His Knight draw hurt him, as turn 3 I played Rule By Decree and discarded 7 cards
. I made a first turn error that likely cost me the game. For his 2 claim military victory, I killed a Island Refugee and a Ice Fisherman, but then he shuffled away a Carrion Bird using his Carrion Bird. If I had chosen the Bird and Fisherman as claim, that subsequent turns would have been quite different. I lost 15-1. 1-3.
Round 5 Ronny "sandhawk" Martell/The Brotherhood without Banners (restricted = Venomous Blade). My deck was amazing. 5 card flop. 2X Ice Fisherman first turn. 1X Wintertime Marauders first turn, which was used to discard 2X +1 gold locations. I had a 2nd turn Fear of Winter. A 3rd turn Rule by Decree, discarding 4 cards. My Burned and Pillaged causing havoc. I Winter Festival-ed for the win. I won 15-0. 2-3.
What did I learn? That despite what I thought about the Fear of Winter/Blockade/Rule by Decree opener being a thing of the past since the restricted list, I was quite wrong. That the number of Limited cards in the a Greyjoy can sometimes be a hinderance. There were a few turns (not many) where I had 2 limited characters and a limited attachment in hand and something cheap to replace those would have been nice. I should have run 2X or more copies of River Blockade. Also, the reports from previous Regionals, led me to believe that most of the decks (Martell, Brotherhood, etc) were running big characters, but many of the decks outside the top 8 were running "cheap character speed decks". In retrospect, there are some slight changes I would have made, but had my match-ups been different (not playing the 2 Stark decks in the row, playing one of the Targ Dragon decks or something of the like) I think I could have done better.
Also, I learned that the guys from the boards who are regular posters (Dobbler, rings, Fieras, Deathjester, etc etc) are amazing guys, and it was a pleasure to meet them all.