Hello!

I am a new AGoT player who will be attending the Days of Ice and Fire next month. Winter is coming, and to prepare I'm looking for some deck-building advice. Right now, I have the following sets:

• Core Set
• Princes of the Sun
• Queen of Dragons
• Tourney for the Hand chapter pack

Before I start trying to put some decks together, I have a few questions:

1. Do people usually build different decks for joust and melee? If so, what types of cards should be included in each? I was thinking I would make two decks, one for each format. If I wanted to try the Hand of the King variant, what kind of deck should I try?
2. When do you include multiple copies of unique characters? I've looked through some deck lists - some characters have three copies while others just have one. Am I right in thinking that once a unique character is in the dead pile, it can no longer be played?
3. I am interested in using the Alliance card (either the plot or agenda) since I don't have many cards to work with. What kind of house combinations work well?

Mitchifer said:

You will definitely want a different deck for melee than for joust. A melee deck will need to be able to survive multiple resets since you're likely to see 3+ Valar or Wildfire in a four-player game. You also have a bit more leeway when deckbuilding for melee since you'll have access to the titles and you'll likely get the gold or card draw at least once. Its also important to not look like a threat or a target... if you start the game with like 6 power at the end of Round 1 you'll be the one everyone goes after to prevent you from winning and you may never recover from getting stomped on by three other players; alternately, if you are the only person at the table with no I icons, your hand is gonna get hit pretty hard when every other player goes after you for the unopposed power.

Mitchifer said:

You probably only want 3x of one or two unique characters who are very important to the deck. A lot of duplicate uniques means when they get killed you'll draw into a bunch of useless cards (and they will get killed... Targ burn and "cannot be saved" effects, for example).

Mitchifer said:

Alliance is a dangerous Agenda to use if you are a new player. It gives a huge advantage to your opponents, especially in melee. I would advise against using it, but if you do, a Martell-Bara rush deck is probably considered one of the best options right now... but anything you can come up with that combines strong mechanics and controls the board would work. A Direwolf-burn deck might work pretty well too (I'm sure I'm not the only one who has thought of this).

Ok, so I had some time this weekend, and put together my first deck. I started with the army deck from the Queen of Dragons boxed set, and made a fair amount of adjustments.

House (1)
House Targaryen (Core) x1

Agenda (0)

Character (28)
Blue-Lipped Warlock (QoD) x2
Daario Naharis (Core) x1
Grey Worm (QoD) x3
Hired Swords (QoD) x3
Horseback Archers (QoD) x2
Jhogo (Core) x1
Jorah's Cohorts (QoD) x2
Khal Drogo (QoD) x3
Pentoshi Guildmaster (Core) x1
Pike Phalanx (QoD) x3
Ser Barristan Selmy (TftH) x3
Thundering Calvary (QoD) x3
Warlock's Servitors (Core) x1

Location (18)
Eastern Fiefdoms (QoD) x3
Great Pyramid (QoD) x1
High Ground (QoD) x3
Khal Drogo's Tent (Core) x1
Lady Daenerys's Chambers (Core) x1
Plaza of Pride (QoD) x2
River Row (QoD) x2
Street of Steel (Core) x1
Summer Sea (QoD) x3
Temple of the Graces (Core) x1

Event (5)
Dragon Support (TftH) x2
Forever Burning (Core) x1
Make an Example (PotS) x2

Attachment (9)
Bloodrider's Arakh (QoD) x3
Flame-Kissed (Core) x1
Nightfall (TftH) x2
Shade of the Evening (QoD) x3

Plot (7)
Alliance (PotS) x1
Battle of Oxcross (PotS) x1
Muster the Realm! (QoD) x1
Spending the Winter Stores (QoD) x1
The Power of Arms (Core) x1
Threat from the East (QoD) x1
Wildfire Assault (Core) x1

Outside of playing a few solitaire games, I don't know well this deck would do. I typically opened with Muster the Realm! and then chose my next plots based on what I had in my hand. I typically am able to get a pike phalanx and one other character with a war crest at the beginning to help increase my claim value. After building up a good number of characters with a war crest, I use the Power of Arms plot card. I included more "burn" cards than the original deck had; the new Barristan and Dragon Support works well with Grey Worm.

Now that I've built this deck, I have a few questions:

1. Since this is an army deck, there is virtually no characters with intrigue icons. Shade of the Evening helps somewhat, but I don't know how reliable that can be (even with Spending the Winter Stores). Would it be worth it to use the Heir to the Throne agenda? Or should I include more characters with intrigue?
2. I intended this deck to be used in melee, but I don't know how well suited it is to that format. What is a good way to make this deck more viable in melee?

Thanks for your help in advance.

i would first start by asking why you have such expensive characters, as far as i can tell your cheapest characters are 2 gold, this is goinjg to hurt your setup and your ability to bounce back after a reset i would realy consider including the Refugees, Brown Ben Plum, Viserys and shadow Seer

why 1 copy of flame kissed and forever burning?

if its really an army deck you should consider using Training grounds, it will help you get the most out of your armies

jack merridew said:

Like I mentioned in my original post, I went with a modified version of the army deck in Queen of Dragons, which doesn't seem to have many low-cost characters. I don't have any refugees or shadow seers, but I could put in some cheaper characters like you mentioned. What would you recommend cutting?

jack merridew said:

I only have one of each

And I looked at that card, and it seems pretty similar to the High Grounds that are in my deck currently.

Thanks for your help.

hey my fault i forgot about your card restrictions in deck building

heres the thing about weenies, in the deck you have right now if someone can win a military against you with 2 claim, your gonna throw away some characters you really want on the board, wouldnt you rather kill Brown Ben Plum and kick Viserys back to your hand than kill Pike Phallanx and blue lipped warlock? Weenies arent just there for setup its so if someone can make it impossible for you to defend a military challenge you can afford to kill siomeone on the board.

the main difference between Training Grounds and High Ground is that Training Grounds is a passive effect, as long as it is on the board none of your army charcters have to kneel for a military challenge. so if you have 3 thundering calvary out you can attack with all of them for military get 3 renown and then attack with all of them for power and get 3 renown and whatever claim. With High ground you can only stand one

Mitchifer said:

Someone should probably point out that RR is limit 1 per deck...

Mitchifer said:

Your locations... you put in a lot of discount locations with a decent number of 1 and 0-cost that'll be great for setup. That's good. I don't think you need the 2 Plaza of Pride though. You have 7 locations that provide influence - 3 Fiefdoms, 3 Summer Seas, and KD Tent... of those, the Fiefdoms already reduce the cost of your characters and therefore are not useful with PoP. That leaves you with just 4 locations that'll be useful; probably not worth the 2 card investment in PoP. It works great with Kingsroad Fiefdoms since they provide 2 influence and playing one will pay for itself the same turn when PoP is in play, but in this case I would suggest adding two more characters instead. Given your need for some weenies and your limited card choices, I would say you should add Brown Ben Plum or Illyrio's Man (pays for himself) or Core Aemon (saves himself) or Ser Jorah (very cheap tricon with stealth).

is the only out of house card your running nightfall? kinda doesnt seem worth it to include Alliance as a plot and without nightfall becomes a 4 gold attachment in a very attachment hate environment

personalkly i would get rid of nightfall and alliance plot, include at least 6 weenies in your charcters and limit some locations.

Well, I had a large post ready, but the forums ate it. Thank you for your feedback - I'm currently working on an update of this deck.

jack merridew said:

Yes, that's the only out-of-house card I'm running. I included it mainly as another card that provides the war crest, as well as a decent ability. How many out-of-house cards are typically used in a deck to make running the alliance plot worthwhile?

And to revisit one of my earlier questions, would it be worth it to use the Heir to the Iron Throne agenda with this deck, since I barely have any intrigue?

I'll post an updated version of this deck once it's ready, as well as another deck that I've been working on for joust. Thanks again for your help.

Mitchifer said:

Generally just one or two cards at 3x each, but to bother with the plot at all they should be pretty powerful cards. Alliance is probably not worth using for a 2-cost attachment these days with all the Maester attachment hate out there.

Mitchifer said:

The real question you should ask is "Do I have the ability to even make 3 challenges in the average Round?" HttIT would probably be a good idea, but it wouldn't matter much if you cannot get that 2nd power challenge off anyway.