Frozen armies, nice guys, and "I call it thinking?" - my GenCon Joust TR

By Shenanigans8, in 1. AGoT General Discussion

House: Stark

Agenda: The Siege of Winterfell

Plots:

Fury of the Wolf

Respect of the Old Gods

After the Mummer's Ford

Storm of Swords

Battle of Oxcross

Siege of Riverrun

Calm Before the Storm

Characters:

Robb Stark (KotS) x1

Robb Stark (Low) x1

The Blackfish x2

Catelyn Stark (LoW) x2

Hodor x1

Brienne of Tarth (KotS) x 1

Ser Rodrik Cassel x1

Jeyne Westerling x1

Lucas Blackwood x1

King Robb''s Host x2

Edmure's Host x 2

Northern Cavalry Flank x2

Northern Infantry x2

The Bastard's Elite x2

Riders of the Red Fork x3

Reed's Crannogmen x2

Guard at Riverrun x3

Bolton Refugee x2

Attachments:

Frozen Solid x2

Events:

To Be a Wolf x3

Endless Endurance x2

The Battle of the Whispering Wood x1

Locations:

Lord Eddard's Chambers x1

Great Keep x3

Godswood x1

Northern Fiefdoms x3

Narrow Sea x2

Street of Steel x1

Street of Sisters x1

River Row x1

Widow's Watch x2

Training Grounds x1

High Ground x 1

Frozen Outpost x2

Frozen Moat x2

Round 1 vs. Martell/Kings of Summer (James aka "Bronson")

For a much better description of this match, check out Bronson's superior TR

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=16&efcid=4&efidt=534763

It went just like he said. I expected his Valar after I marshalled big early, but didn't expect him cancelling my save of the duped Blackfish. Luckily I recovered pretty well. Catelyn was an early MVP (as she was most of the day) until he got rid of her with Threat from the East. Ktom came around and gave us a time warning, so figuring that the next turn would be the last and seeing James with a mitt full of cards, I played my anti-Martell tech, Calm Before the Storm. It paid off, as Robb was able to gather enough power to give me the modified win, even with To the Spears staring back at me. It was nice to open with a win, as well as play against such a nice guy. 1(modified)-0

Round 2 vs. Stark/City of Shadows (Justin Fox)

Justin made it Winter early on and got out a Littlefinger very quickly, which he used to beat me senseless on intrigue and some on power too. Shadows Arya came out quickly and absorbed most every military challenge as well. He also got a Black Cells out part way through, but I was able to Frozen Solid that. High Ground and Training Grounds kept me in it. He seemed to stall out resource wise a bit, though, so I was able to push through with my beefy armies and two-claim plots, giving me the 15-8 win. 2-0

Round 3 vs. Lannister/Maester's Path (Tim Peterson)

I'd never played against Tim, but I've seen him play several times and knew how tough he'd be. I held my own early, mostly though Widow's Watch, Catelyn, and Riders of the Red Fork. To Be a Wolf also helped with the kneeling. He got rid of Catelyn with I'm You Writ Small, which hurt a lot. His card advantage from Gold Tooth Mines and eventually Pyromancer's Cache (What I'd have given for a Frozen Solid...or two) really started adding up, though, as did his City plots, and Tim knelt me out on turn 5 (maybe 6) and took the 15-? win. 2-1

Round 4 vs. Stark/City of Shadows (Carl Morgan)

Carl was yet another super nice guy who was a pleasure to play against . Once again, Littlefinger hit the table early, as well as Reek, which was even more troublesome. Luckily, I was able to hold off Reek with Frozen Moat. Frozen Outpost was also a real winner for me, allowing me to keep up the attack with my armies and then hold off his challenges and win 15-?. This round also holds the distinction of the first match I was in that didn't go to time. 3-1

Round 5 vs. Greyjoy/Kings of WInter (Dan Ach)

This was probably my most nerve-wracking match, as Dan is a sharp player with a deck I was scared of and a great poker face. Greyjoy Winter Choke was one of the matchups I anticipated, though, so I'd built my resource curve to be a bit more robust than normal. Fury of the Wolf was nice as my first plot, but still, he did very well early, foiling my kills with Wendamyr and Inn of the Kneeling Man, as well as activating the Winter Agenda effect.. I was able to hang, mostly because of Respect of the Old Gods and my location-based reducers, until Alannys disappeared (I forget how), and Robb Stark (LoW) plus the Blackfish earned me the win. The kicker was that his Winter helped me pump up Robb and the Blackfish just enough to seal it for me, 15-?. 4-1

Round 6 vs. Martell/Kings of Summer (Jonathan Benton aka "longclaw")

So here's the match to decide whether or not I make it, and what do I run into but the Benton buzzsaw? :) Jonathan (another very pleasant fellow) had a great flop and maintained board control with Game of Cyvasse and the Viper's Bannermen. Hodor and a duped King Robb's Host were just not enough and I played Calm Before the Storm too late for it to do much good. He took the win 15-?, but I hung with a World Champion for five turns and he signed my Halfhand, so I was happy. 4-2

My analysis:

I did expect to run into a fair amount of Martell, but not this much. I gameplanned against Greyjoy Choke, as I mentioned before, and some against Martell (Calm Before the Storm, Riders of the Red Fork, Edmure's Host, Brienne) but it wasn't enough, as Martell Summer handed me a loss and a modified win. My MVP's: Catelyn, Riders, Widow's Watch, Calm Before the Storm, Northern Cavalry Flank, and everything with "Frozen" in its name.

Overall, I had a blast at GenCon. All my matches were fun and interesting and as usual, the members of the community proved to be friendly and cordial. I saw some old friends, made some new ones, and connected plenty of board names with faces/real names.

Good report. Out of curiosity, how did Siege turn out? I've found that in an environment with lots of control they can lock you out on at least one challenge, and if they choose Mil it slows down dearly. That being said, if you can win a few quick ones on defense it can make the difference. Were you ever hoping to get that unopposed from an intrigue or power? Did you run into Brienne?

As far as the Agenda itself, I think it went well. The extra Military challenges from Storm of Swords and Mummer's Ford helped, and the forced challenges of Oxcross were good too. I only had four intrigue icons in the deck total, and defense with Catelyn went pretty well. There were times when the unopposed from Power challenges would have been nice, especially with my Deadly armies, but I still think it worked pretty well. I never ran into Brienne (other than playing her myself) but she was a concern.