So here's the decklist,

asshairush

House (1)
House Baratheon (Core) x1

Agenda (0)

Character (39)
Bearer of the Light (KotStorm) x3
Brienne of Tarth (PotS) x1
Highgarden Refugee (RoW) x3
Intolerant Priest (RoR) x3
Knight of Summerhall (DB) x3
Maester Cressen (Core) x2
Marya Seaworth (KotStorm) x1
Melisandre (Core) x3
Old Red Priest (Core) x3
Renly Baratheon (TRS) x2
Robert Baratheon (KotStorm) x3
Selyse Baratheon (Core) x2
Ser Eldon Estermont (MotM) x1
Stannis Baratheon (Core) x2
Zealot of the Light (BtW) x3
Army of the Faithful (Core) x3
Salladhor Saan (KotStorm) x1

Location (11)
Aegon's Garden (Core) x3
King Robert's Chambers (Core) x1
Narrow Sea (Core) x3
Seat of Power (WotN) x3
Street of Steel (Core) x1

Event (3)
The Dragon's Tail (PotS) x1
Confession (KotS) x2

Attachment (7)
Fanatic (RoR) x3
Lightbringer (Core) x1
Motley (Core) x3

Plot (7)
Many Powers Long Asleep (RoR) x1
The Power of Faith (KotStorm) x2
The Red Wedding (PotS) x1
Lineage and Legacy (KotStorm) x1
Fury of the Stag (AE) x1
Valar Morghulis (Core) x1

Agree to disagree

The decklist obviously needs some work. I literally threw this together in the five minutes before the tourney. In retrospect I wish I could've found more dragon's tails, and Sally Saan was just horrid. I never wanted to spend four gold on him. Ever. There are some others too, but I don't really have time to collect my thoughts.

Round 1) Jerrod "Ill Tidings" Martell Ghaston Grey bull

So I drew into confessions early and managed to discard Ghaston Grey AND Edric Dayne. I was able to get a Mel and King Bob out early. Throw in Selyse and Fanatic and it was over on turn 3. The confession really hurt Jerrod here. He actually drew into another Ghaston Grey but he didn't have any nobles.

Round 2)Luke Reed "Maester Luke" Martell Martell Summer

So this game was just kinda silly. I get Renly and Estermont on turn one. They each get one power. The second Turn I play Power of Faith, and drop Mel, King Robert, and Selyse. Robert and Estermont get Fanatics. GG. We were able to actually back up the turn and see what would happen if Luke Valars on turn 2. I lose in turn 6 or so. Thankfully I win the game that matters

to be continued.

I agree with Fieras. Not that it's bad by any means. If you're gonna use holy characters and Power of Faith though why, why, why would you not use Smuggler's Cove?

I'm wondering why these two versions of Renly and Robert. They're both Kings, and will deactivate the other. Am I missing something? With two Renlys and three Roberts, it seems likely you'll end up with both.

Staton said:

For accuracy's sake, I'll make a point out a couple of corrections. You didn't actually drop Additional-Power-Challenge-King-Robert on turn two, it was Stannis. But Stannis + Fanatic, Eldon + Fanatic, Mel and Selyse (from first turn) and the two influence to tricon EE & SB was 9 renown + 3 unopposed + 1 claim on Pow + your 2 previous power = 15.

And you were running at least one Fat Bob (Core Set), because in our quarterfinal match, you tried to play him after I'd already killed another the 5-cost version with the Valar.

And guys, don't be too hard on him, the deck was super slick as it was and could certainly get even better. The Motley's really harshed out my Viper in a fun game, but they could probably sub for the Coves. And John, in your "agreement" what would you suggest is the "best rest?" (though I think Josh is a little bold in his proclamation)

Well first of all, there weren't smuggler's cove's because I put the deck together in five minutes. Like literally five minutes. It was amazing that I even had sixty cards that went that well together. Now as for the two kings, I didn't really care if I got both kings out at once. I generally put Renly out first and tried to soft overextend to bait an early valar. Then I would lay out king bob for a quicker win. Like I said before though, this deck could get A LOT better.

Now as for the Asshai not being the best rush, I'd like to point out that I'm using some of the best rush cards (ie bara renown dudes) but making it so they don't kneel to attack. Granted I could probably make it quicker by running more renown dudes, or maybe something like superior claim or make an example, but again, refer to the first of all.

Meanwhile, back at the tourney...

Round 3) Tim "Lion's Blood" Lyon's Martell Maesters

Tim was running maesters, and I mean a fuckton of maesters. I tried to keep up with his character output, but couldn't. I eventually had to valar but came out behind. I proceded to draw locations for the next two turns. GG. I actually had a good setup this game too. A couple of renown guys, and some good locations. The thing that sucked was just how much control Tim drew into that game. He had two orphans and two or three game of cyvasses. Still doing ok though at 2-1

Round 4) Nick "Nickler" Targ Burn

This game started out poorly for me. I flopped a Bearer of the Light, King Bob, and a sea and an aegon's garden. Not the best setup, but then Bob get's flame kissed and forever burning'd preplot on turn one. Ouch. Thankfully, after playing first turn Power of Faith I had just enough gold to play Renly with Lightbringer and Fanatic, and Mel with a dupe and Fanatic. Nick can't really do much since I have the attachments on my guys. He lays out a few characters, nothing too big. Second turn I follow up with another Power of Faith. Nick manages to only play one more character this turn, and then kills off both of my weenies. I manage to get to 14 power! Noooooooooooo! Luckily I'm packing Red Wedding and pull out the win. Man, thank god for the lucky attachment draws!

Round 5) Josh "I don't know your board name" Elliot GJ Holy Rush

This is actually a very weird game. Josh is essentially trying to do the same thing I am, except with Driftwood Crown, and a lot less renown. I pretty much win due to the fact that I drew into my Renown and Fanatics and he doesn't. This is over on turn three. Phew! Made the top cut with no wins lasting more than three turns! awesome!

Top 8) Return of the Jedi - Luke

Well the lack of draw finally caught up to me in this game. I can't really seem to get started and having no draw really doesn't let me bounce back from his valar. His TR has a bit more detail. I do get to leave for Old Chicago early though and grab everyone a couple of tables.

I also want to give a special thanks to Charlie "Cmann" Wheeler for coming out of retirement for this tourney. He hasn't played really at all in two years, plays a bolton deck that we throw together in about twenty minutes, and makes top 8. Played like a boss!

Thanks for the report.
Some good insight for new players such as myself.

I'm going to give you some love, because my Asshai Holy Hand Grenade deck is a great rush deck as well. Though I usually go for a bit of delayed rush, like in in round 5, (three sir.) THREE!

I like your approach, Josh. I ahev always crapped out wiht Holy decks - becuase the inherent crest guys/girls alck renown and you can't maximize the Plot. Tossing Fanatic on some of the typical rush engines like Estermont, Renly and King Bob (good call there - nice synergy wiht the Plot) really lets you exploit the Plot.

I couldn't get away with it aorund here, becuase locally too mnay people still run tin link and Targ should eb able to shrug those attachments away pretty easily. But if you are going to go with the Holy Plot - fanatic on the big guns is a good way to go.

I still prefer Knights in terms of speed and consistency - but its good to see a rush build out of another keyword.

Thanks for the love Goshdarn! Shoot me an email. I really want to try and make this deck streamlined and ready to go for Days of Ice and Fire.

Stags-I feel like this deck is pretty consistent. I mean this deck doesn't even have the right cards and almost no card draw, yet I was still able to set up the rush by turn two or three. Taking this deck and streamlining it should make it even more consistent. The fact that there are so many different characters I can use to rush is what makes it consistent. I don't need to get Mel, I don't need to get King Bob, I just need someone with renown and a fanatic. Lineage and Legacy worked great for me all day. I would play it first turn and use it to stall for a turn while I got my position set up. By turn two I was able to rush to at least some degree. Even the games I won on turn three were pretty much over on turn two with me getting to around ten power. I'm going to be very excited to see how this deck does at Day of Ice and Fire.

Fair enough. I must admit I wasn't really thinking in terms of Fanatics, when people say Holy out of Bara I tend to assume Asshai rather than pure crest focus. Which is dumb because Fanatic with any renown character and Power of Faith is just sick. I just used to have an Asshai deck and tried to come at it from the other end and add renown to already Holy crested characters while focusing more on the Asshai trait for strength boosting. I do however still say that if you wanna fiddle with the deck and improve my personal opinion is that the best card you can add is Smugglers Cove. In both my old Holy Asshai deck and in my 1st place Calicon Maester deck Smuggler Cove was always one of my most useful cards.

And I do really like the deck. I had a ton of fun playing Bara again over the weekend.

Maester_LUke said:

I don't like rush decks that can't withstand valar. Noble crest rush is the way to go. I could be a little bit of a Homer and say that I think Bara treaty to the south is the best rush .

This deck actually withstands Valar just fine. It all goes back to the fact that I need absolutley no certain character. I play a side game where King Bob, Mel, and Stannis died to a Valar. I simply laid out more characters that turn, an estermont I think. Then the next turn put Mel back into play and got Renly I think. There are dupes in there as well as Lightbringer. I've been toying with the idea of putting in bodyguards too. Not sure I like that idea though since I see a lot of cressen and maester of lemonwood. Maybe I just need more dupes? Idk. ~If only they would reprint The Good God's Own Kiss!

And I'm definitely looking at getting the Cove into the next version of this deck. I'll probably start another thread to discuss the deck specifically and see how each version does.

Granted I was playing Martel Combo but, being forced to Valar turn 2 put me out of position for the rest of the game (well, 1 turn anyway). I would consider the draw 3 cards plot on the turn they are going to play Valar to make sure you recover faster.

Yeah I was looking back over my origional decklist and that was one of my plots. I'm not sure what I would replace at this point though. Lineage and Legacy would be the only thing I could see right now, and that plot was just clutch in a few of my games. Why can't I just run 8 plots?!

What turn does the deck usually win? What do you do about lanny kneel? Non-kneeling characters seems to get hit hard by that. How does it fare against attachment control decks?

Fieras said:

I beg to differ. Didn't we prove over this last weekend that Bara Maester Rush tops Bara Treaty to the South Noble Rush? Now if I could just figure out what chains to remove so I can win when I hit 15 rather pulling my last chain in the 18-28 range I'd be set. Actually John, really looking forward to playing that deck again or the updated version maybe vs the updated version of mine.

Freerider said:

I'd like a rematch too. One where I don't flop a loyal guard and where I can get a couple more locations out.

The deck tends to win on turn three all things considered. As for Lanni Kneel, yeaaaaaaaah. I probably just lose. I haven't really played against any lanni kneel. How prevelant is hyperkneel these days anyway? Most of the control players are gravitating towards Martell lately, and I figure if I'm going to see Lanni, it'll probably be Lanni shadows. Granted Lanni Shadows still has some kneel, but not nearly enough to stop this deck I feel like.As for the attachment hate decks, I seem to do fine. I was playing some games where people where searching for ill tidings or had that one chain. It certainly slowed the deck down, I was winning on turn five or so, but they didn't have a way to get rid of the characters. I feel like Targ Burn is a really bad matchup for me as long as they can get rid of the attachments, but you are always going to have bad matchups. The trick of playing the metagame is to figure out what is being played and build your deck accordingly. Right now I see very little Targ burn and very little Lanni Hyper Kneel, at least in my neck of the woods.

Of my 8 games on the day, my results were as follows:

1 time: was legitimately crushed
4 times: won on turn 2
2 times: won on turn 4-5 (both were KOTHH)
1 time: lost due to opponent trickery and failure to claim TFB 4 times.

This is your Bara Treaty to the South deck?

Staton said:

Days of Ice and Fire in November, probably not very. Post that with the Lanni box, very. We like the shinny!

Staton said:

yeah.

Josh you could drop Valar for Threat from the East. Seriously - you could drop Valar. You're a rsuh deck - if your opponent gets out to a better baord than you - your probably losing anyway.