Hi,

I am quite new to the game and i would like to intruduce a houseless - brotherhood deck to my girlfriend since she loves the idea of a deck without using one of the 6 houses.

I have the cards but i am quite inexperianced. Can someone help me build a deck that could be fun (but not so awfull)? We used to play the preconstracted decks that there are in the expansions (Targaryen, Stark, Baratheon expansion) and the Core set decks. So, if the power level of the deck is the same or higher than these it would be great.

Thank you in advance.

Neutral House is probably the weakest of all the Houses due to inability to play nice in-House events and lack of discount locations, so making a deck that is comparable in power to the Box builds shouldnt be too hard. You can use Hollow Hill with a smattering of OOH weenies for draw (maybe some good cost-STR ratios like Hodor, PotS The Hound, etc) or if you want to stick to mostly neutral cards, use FB Scavenger or Pyromancers Cache. 3x Beric, 1-2x Lady Stoneheart, 2-3x Thoros, 2-3x Mad Huntsman, probably only 1x of any other unique Brotherhood characters you want. Flaming Swords, Craster, Carrion Birds, I like the idea of including Lucas Blackwood and Reek if using Hollow Hill, Martell Refugees + Ill Tidings can help attachment control... all the 0-cost "limit one per deck" reducers you can reliably use, Searoads and Roseroads I suppose, I think Shivering Seas kinda suck compared to the other Seas but you could use em if you need more discounts.
I may already be assuming you have cards that you do not, but for plots I'd include Prince That Was Promised, Relentless Persecution, Summoning Season, and Loyalty Money Can Buy.
Good Luck!

Thank you very much!

I ll try it

Hello again...

well, now i am building the deck (still not tested - a version of it will be tested hopefully one of these days) and here is my first draft version. Any input or help would be really great!

I know Neutral faction has many disadvantages as a previous poster mentioned but i want to stick with my choice. Also, the whole concept of the "Brotherhood without banners" really intrigues me so the deck would have this agenda too!

The main theme of the deck would be of course the brotherhood characters and i suppose mainly Berric. As a second theme which i found also intriguing is Hollow Hill card. The (flavor) concept of (small) in-house characters that would be desert their banners or being kidnapped sounds very fun. So, i include several characters with house shield with cost 0-2 gp hoping to have good synergy with Hollow Hill.

The main disadvantage is that i feel the brotherhood deck has not a solid strategy behind it in order to be succesfull. I am saying that having in mind most of the preconstructed decks from the house expansions (Tully or Wolf deck from Stark, Dragon from Targ., Knights from Baratheon, etc.).

Before i continue, i remind you that my first aim of this is to make a thematic and fun deck. Of course the fun will get higher if i manage to win against my oponents . The level of my gaming party is that of the preconstructed decks that the expansions have. However since we have all the cards there have been some improovments.

The deck list that will follow is still in draft and fluid form. The cards in brankets "()" are cards that i am considering to include but i am not sure so any input in these would be great. Of course you can comment anything and make any suggestion!

House Card : Neutral Faction

Agenda : The Brootherhood without Banners

Characters : 30 -37

Berric Dondarion x3

Lady Stoneheart x2

Thoros of Myr x2

Anguy the Archer x2

The Mad Huntsman x2

Lem Lemoncloak

Tom Sevenstrings

Jack-be-Lucky

Flea Bottom Scavenger x3

Lucas Blackwood (x1-2)

Hodor

Scurvy Cutthroat

Wex Pyke

Tommen Baratheon

Refuge of the Citadel

Island Refuge

Mountain Refuge

Bolton Refuge

Highgarden Refuge

Refuge of the Plains

_________ until now 28 - 29 chars. Below is the chars that i am considering but still i am not sure

(Orphan Recruit x1-3)

(Fanatical Follower x1-3)

(Marya Seaworth)

(Shae)

(Craster)

(Littlefinger - Core set)

(Pyromancer's Apprentice)

Other chars that i am considering but are not high in the list: (Ser Mandon Moore, Ser Arthur Dayne - , Shadowcat, Vale Refuge)

Reek as Skowza would be great but it says "Stark only". Can i put him in my deck?

Any other suggestions?

Attachments: 3-4

Flaming Sword x3

(Milk of the Poppy)

Locations: 15

Hollow Hill x3

Stoney Sept

The Roseroad x3

The Searoad x3

River Row

Shadowblack Lane

Street of Steel

Street of Sisters

Shivering Sea

Events 6 - 10

Gossip and Lies x2

(Make an Example x1-2)

(Distraction x1-)

(Retreat x1-)

(Retreat and Regroup x1-)

(Paper Shield x1-2)

As you can see i am not very sure what events to put in the deck... any suggestions here? Ill Tidings as Skowza writes would be very good defense against attachments but the Maester restriction isn't too much? If is not i can put 3x Refuge of the Citadel... Also i was considering some of the reinforcements cards... what do you think about them?

Plots

Summoning Season

Building Season

Alliance

Loyalty Money Can Buy

(Marched to the Wall)

(Take them by Suprise)

(Attack From the Sea)

(Valar Dohaeris)

(Valar Murghulis)

(Drunken Alllegations)

(Let My Poridge Fly)

As you can see I have not decided which plots to use for sure but have some in the list. Relentless Presecution and the Prince that was Promised i am not sure that fit in this deck....

I feel that i have a kind of versality of creatures and several card drawing cards for more choices but lucks the creature or the combo or the suitable plot that will make the difference.

Any insight?

Yusaku said:

D'oh, forgot he was Stark only.

I do like the Orphaned Recruits if you can fit them; nice way to win during Marshaling and useful for getting power off your house if your opponent puts some there... late game when you can afford it, they can be recursed with Stoney Sept to pull a couple of power off your opponent. Edric can also be used well with SS. I'd also suggest Superior Claim over MaE most of the time...
I would definitely include Valar (not VD) in a Brotherhood deck, Beric can't die, Thoros can kneel to save himself and Stoneheart will just come back to life at the end of the Round. Retaliation and/or Fear of Winter maybe?

I've played a lot of games with Brotherhood decks. I've found the two best House's are Martell and Lannister and for different reasons.

Lannister -

Lannister is very strong with the Brotherhood. They give the Brotherhood the best resource scheme as well as a few support cards that have a great synergy with the way the Brotherhood operates. Lannister also has fantastic card draw and there are a variety of ways to get that draw on.

There are two effective Resource schemes you can set up with Lannister.

The first one runs 3 Gold Road, 3 Sea Road and 3 Rose Roads, plus River Row, Street of Steel, Shadowblack Lane and Street of Sisters. You can also run shivering sea if you want to. This gives you a potential of 13 to 16 free cards which is very useful for set up purposes.

The Other scheme runs the 9 free gold locations. You then also run the either the steward, weaponsmith or councilor. I'm all for optimizing my set up, so 2 or 3 councilor and 2 or 3 weaponsmiths should be fine. In addition, this is a great scheme that allows you to lead off with Burning Bridges.

Devious Intentions - This is a great attachment for Brotherhood. No matter who you put it on, it's going to make them a monster since you can stack power on your Brotherhood personalities. Since I essentially use Berric Dondarrion as my house card, slapping devious intentions on him is a game changer. It also works well on The Mad Huntsman, since he does not kneel.

Must have Plots:

Burning Bridges. I"m all for this plot with the second scheme mentioned above. It's my personal choice. It's a great way to stifle folks who run reducers or a lot of locations.

Bungled Orders/Valar Morghulis - This plot duo is meant to be a set up. With Berric in play, you can effectively make it your opponents choice to kill all his people. If you lose any challenge, you switch over to Valar, Berric lives, your opponent cries.

Honorable Mention - Campfire Mime. She'll gain the Brotherhood trait, has a green icon and will pump up Lem Lemoncloak. She's an effective soak.

Card Draw - Very simple, Golden Tooth Mines, Pyromancer's Cache and King Tommen is all you need.

Martell

The advantages that Martell gives you is in their event selection. You still get the free resource scheme that Lannister can give with the 9 free gold locations and the 4 reducers for a good set up.

Events

Burning on the Sand, Red Vengeance, The Viper's Rage and The Prince's Plansare all awesome cards to use. The biggest issue with The Prince's Plans is that it takes 4 influence. The best idea is to run a few soaks with influence and the Shivering Sea.

A Taste for Blood is also another must use card. Since I use Berric as my house card, giving him Taste for Blood makes him more infuriating towards my opponents.

Characters - There are three Martell characters that you should include. One is Ellaria Sand. Stealing power when you lose to put it on her is fantastic. It's just a synergetic move to play her. Maester of Lemonwood is really a meta card choice to ensure Berric can get rid of Milk of the Poppy or A Pinch of Powder. Finally, the Flea Bottom Scavenger is the perfect card draw for this deck as she draws you three cards in marshalling if you have NO power on your house card.

Plots

To the Spears - this is probably a No Brainer. Once you have enough people and Berric has a flaming sword, you've got an easy win.

Regroup - What's better than playing 3 Burning on the Sands? Playing 4 of them.

Bungled Orders/Valar (see the above reasons)

Honorable Mentions - Edric Dayne. Edric has the Brotherhood trait and has a semi-interesting ability. I do not run him personally in my Brotherhood build out of Martell

Final Thoughts

Brotherhood decks almost nearly build themselves. It's the support that you select that will flavor your deck. Personally, I feel that each is strong. It depends on your play style. Good luck.

If you want to play Brotherhood out of Martell, a "weapons" build is fun too. Not a tier-1 Beric build necessarily, but 3x Mad Huntsman, 3x VB, 3x Flaming Sword, 2-3x Rusted Sword, 2-3x Poisoned Knife, 3x Alchemists Shop, Prince that was Promised, To the Spears!
Beric and Huntsman turn into stealthy deadly high-STR beasts.

EviLaz said:

That honestly sounds like a lot of Limited locations... I think six 0-cost +1 gold locations should be enough...