Being a fan of Lannister, I have been patiently waiting for Lions of the Rock to be released. Now that it has [as well as Defender of the North re-print], I have been overwhelmed with new deck ideas.

Eventually I want to have a crack at Knights, Wildlings and Clansmen, but for now I thought I would settle on trying the new agenda.

There are some cards that are currently in my Maester deck, which is needed for a tournament this weekend, however overall I feel happy with the potential of this deck. Alas, I may be omitting things due to being overwhelmed with the new cards.
I will state that anything that hasn't been re-printed in triple format, I don't have nor have access to, so Pyromancer's Cache or Tommen Baratheon are sadly not an option for the deck.

This deck is built for Joust format only. Whilst I may casually try it in a Melee setting, I don't think my kneeling effects would do enough for me to stop everyone if I get negative attention, and my plots would also be tweaked.

House
Lannister

Agenda [1]
The Power Behind the Throne

Plots [7]
Valar Morghulis
All the Gold in Casterly Rock
Game of Thrones
The Breaking of Oaths
Frey Hospitality
Loyalty Money Can Buy
Hear Me Roar

Characters [30]
3x Lannisport Moneylender
3x Lannistport Councilor
2x Cersei's Attendant
3x Painted Dogs
3x Brothel Guard
1x Craster
1x Shae
1x Myrcella Lannister
1x Lady Genna
1x Ser Balon Swann
1x Maester Creylen
1x Shagga Son of Dolf
2x Enemy Informer
1x Ser Jaime Lannister [TftH]
1x Bronn [LotR]
1x Tyrion Lannister [CoS]
3x Cersei Lannister [LotR]
1x Little Finger [s&S]

Locations [18]
1x Shadowblack Lane
1x Street of Steel
1x Street of Sisters
1x River Row
1x Flea Bottom
3x The Goldroad
1x Lannisport
1x Lannisport Brothel
1x Lannisport Tourney Grounds
1x The Iron Throne
3x Lannisport Treasury
2x Golden Tooth Mines
1x King's Landing

Events [12]
3x Shadow Politics
3x Terminal Schemes
3x The Hand's Judgement
3x Wars Are Won with Quills

Reasoning for choices:
Valar Morghulis - Personally I prefer Wildfire Assault as I can recover from it, still have a Claim of 1 and prevents saves. But both copies are in another deck, and I feel not having any form of character wipe is unwise.
All the Gold in Casterly Rock - Gives me a turn of high cash flow when I need it, with 15 of my locations being Lannister, so seeing only 5 of them out will allow me to either empty my hand, compete for Dominance or pay for effects.
Game of Thrones - Due to my plot, this means I can make two Intrigue attacks, and still keep my characters ready for either other challenges in terms of attacking or defending, or for Dominance. Plus I feel Initiative 5 is reasonable and based on the current database on AGOT Dabbler, there are only 17 cards that beat it.
The Breaking of Oaths - Whilst there is the risk that it allows my opponent to make an additional Intrigue against me, being able to make three Intrigue challenges a turn which could make potentially 6 power for me with other cards, whilst also restricting their hand heavily. Once again reasonable Initiative.
Frey Hospitality - Assuming I can win both Intrigue challenges the turn this is revealed, getting the added reward of winning the equivalent of a Military challenge on top is just amazing. Unfortunately if I lose, then it will work against me, but I am confident in the deck. With Initiative 6, unless they are using KotHH, I feel confident that I will win Initiative and thus be able to challenge first.
Loyalty Money Can Buy - A common choice for plot decks, and doesn't really need an excuse.
Hear Me Roar - Good income, likely my first or second turn plot [Loyalty being the other option], it allows me to get a healthy setup, whilst also penalising all the non-Intrigue characters, which is only 5/30 of my own character.

Lannisport Moneylender - Gold income and Intrigue, what isn't there to love!
Lannistport Councilor - If I had them available, I would rather take the Weaponsmith for the Military icon to prevent unopposed challenges, however they are busy in another deck and the cheap gold income with Power support for the low price won't get turned away.
Cersei's Attendant - A useful deterrant if she, or heaven forbid Cersei, gets killed off, and allows me to kneel something that could cause trouble.
Painted Dogs - Strength 2 Bicon with a useful abilty, and even better is an army for getting around Muster the Realm which I see often in my metagame to prevent Military challenges for most people. What isn't to love?
Brothel Guard - Depending on the opponent's house, I can see how people respond to this card varying. If they have no obviously strong character, they may be happy to let me kneel someone, or may not be able to pay the alternate cost on the ability. Otherwise I am denting their resources for a turn [possibly] whilst getting a free power for my house.
Craster - 5 Strength for only 2 gold?! And his symbol is that of my deck theme? Thank you very much! I see the main way of losing him being the Ally trait on him, but otherwise will be a good distraction to my opponent.
Shae - I am uncertain about how useful she will be for me, but I think taking the chance on only one copy is an acceptable risk. Once I get going and building up my power, then she will be useless, but then I won't care
Myrcella Lannister - Whilst her ability tempted me to run three copies to abuse her ability, the risk of her being killed off and forcing me to have two wasted cards put me off. Until her ability gets used however, her stats are still impressive.
Lady Genna - If I am going to lose and give my opponent a free card or power, then I may as well have another shot, especially as they will have less defenses. Plus, there is no additional cost to it, so she can still attack.
Ser Balon Swann - Adds some much needed Military to the deck, but it is his ability to defend Intrigue even when kneeling that was the swinging point for me.
Maester Creylen - In this deck, his ability helps me to get some speed up, but also works when my opponent wins Intrigue too, to help mitigate the weakness in my agenda.
Shagga Son of Dolf - I see him as the Military version of Ser Balon Swann, as he can defend Military even whilst kneeling. If any Painted Dogs are in play, I see that as an added bonus. Having Deadly is also a bonus for me, as I have noticed it frustrates people when you attack on not-Military with Deadly, as it makes them more hesitant, but also helps protect me against it, whilst also working well with Bronn.
Enemy Informer - Controlled kneeling when playing him allows me to manipulate the board for a turn, ideally on turns when I am not the first player and can shut down the new characters that my opponent has likely played with the intent of beating me up.
Ser Jaime Lannister [TftH] - With four version of him now, it can be hard to pick. But this is my favourite. Whilst he lacks Intrigue, a re-usable kneeling ability that does not rely on me winning seems too useful to ignore. I have used the Infamy ability before to enhance his kneeling ability, but the risk of him dying always worries me.
Bronn [LotR] - He is here as he interests me. His ability feels like it could put people off attacking me, being a defending version of Deadly. Being a Str 3 Tricon character seems worth the price as well.
Tyrion Lannister [CoS] - I was torn between this version and the new version, due to having four Clansmen. However this version has been handy in my Maester-Shadow deck, and attacking with him when I reveal Shadow Politics in the Dominance phase, making him Str 5 and probably gain Renown feels like it will be potent. He is also one of only two characters I have with Stealth, which is low for my typical decks.
Cersei Lannister [LotR] - Not kneeling on Intrigue so she will generally attack twice a turn, and possibly a third on Power or from other effects, whilst gaining Stealth or Deadly, she was the first character picked for the deck, and the only one important enough in my eyes to need three copies of in the deck.
Littlefinger [s&S] - Whilst he will rarely be reduced due to only five cards having the Shadows crest, the reasons I picked him are the fact he has Stealth and most importantly not requiring to kneel to attack. With him and Cersei out, having 6 Strength and one of them having Stealth on the first attack and possibly Stealth for both on the second, I feel it would help me win Intrigue.

Shadowblack Lane - An obvious choice with 25 characters having Intrigue.
Street of Steel - With 9 characters [Tyrion excluded] having Military, I was uncertain to keep it. But helping on setup, and still working for almost a third of my characters, I fell I can take the chance and remove it if I don't use it enough.
Street of Sisters - Same argument as above, with 9 characters [excluding Tywin and duplicate Cersei's] having Power.
River Row - Useful card, needs no explanation.
Flea Bottom - I tried it out in a Kingsguard deck, and whilst it does kneel whoever I play, several characters have abilities that do not require them to kneel or be standing, such as Brothel Guard, and so I don't feel it will hinder me too badly.
The Goldroad - Mandatory card.
Lannisport - I am uncertain if this should be brough up to three copies, likely by losing Streets of Sister and Steel. The ability supports the build of the deck, helping me get the power I need whilst support the deck theme.
Lannisport Brothel - A popular card, so long as you are not on the receiving end. The bane of my opponents, and one that eternally frustrates them. I will never shy away from a re-usable kneeling ability.
Lannisport Tourney Grounds - The first outing of this card for me, but one I see myself enjoying. More kneeling, with the possibility of the power on that character being discarded? Brotherhood and Renown will hate me!
The Iron Throne - A ridiculously good card, and a bargain for only 2 gold.
Lannisport Treasury - With the only other Limited cards being The Goldroad, I don't see the Limited keyword slowing me down. These are a flexible option, as whilst +2 gold is tempting, the initial cost seems like it could make me decide on certain turns.
Golden Tooth Mines - Two copies are here, two copies are in another deck, and that is with two being borrowed. If I could get three in here, I would find a way in a heartbeat.
King's Landing - Including itself there are six King's Landing locations, so chances are strong that I will be able to draw, and whilst there isn't much Shadow in the deck, there are times I could draw more then once per turn from it.

Shadow Politics - I am uncertain if the total cost of 3 gold is worth the card, but on turns when Frey Hospitality or Game of Thrones is revealed, I see this being powerful. It also combines well with Cersei, Littlefinger, Maester Creylen and Lannisport.
Terminal Schemes - Frey Hospitality bottled into an event, helping me kill off troublesome characters by winning Intrigue just feels like adding insult to injury.
The Hand's Judgement - Whilst I can't prevent events played until my turn in Marshalling, I am likely to have the gold for it, whilst also being able to stop events that Paper Shield can't.
Wars Are Won with Quills - Used to help me shut down one challenge type, I want to use this on a Targ player with HttIT out and prevent them from doing double Power challenges, whilst hitting them on it knowing they can't defend.

So there is the deck, and what is likely to be a ridiculously long post that few will read. But any feedback or advice will be happily taken on board

Cool write up. You obviously put a lot of thought into this, it was fun to read. I'm not sure if you're really looking for advice, but I'd be glad to offer some.

I think Shadow Politics is kind of clunky, especially now that you have access to Myrcella. Yeah, there are times where she will die early, but I really think 3x Myrcella is a much better choice. You can also combo Myrcella's ability with Parting Blow, which is a really efficient control choice for a deck that doesn't have much kneel or pyromancer's cache.

I notice you don't have any location control, and there are some really easy options for this kind of deck. In this deck you're going to want them drawing only the 2 cards in the draw phase, which is generally an auto-lose for them if you have a reset. You already have some character control, but you don't want them drawing cards off their locations. You could go the easy way with Condemned by the Council, or get some shadows synergy with Pyromancer's Apprentice. Or you could even get fancy and run something like: Westeros Bleeds x2, Favorable Ground x2, Red Keep x1, and some Lanni influence locations. That way, when you kill their hand, you can just wipe the board.

Those are the only real gripes I have, everything else looks pretty solid. Maybe some more gold in the plot deck? Red Wedding would be a pretty good choice.

Thank you for the response Rave. I will never turn away advice, as another perspective on things is never bad, especially as my experience in the game is limited.

I did a trial run of the deck yesterday on my own, seeing what cards turned up for three turns assuming no challenges were done against me - An unrealistic example, but helps me with basic flow, income and card draw. Straight away I found things about it that I wasn't happy with.

Then in the evening I used it twice, once against Baratheon Asshai followed by Targ Dragons. I got eaten alive against Asshai, but did well against the Dragons. This was partly down to how the cards turned up, but also flaws in the deck.

I agree with your opinion of Shadow Politics. I found it didn't do much for me, and felt the cost would have done more for me. The turns it would have been useful, they had no cards in hand anyway after previously being hit twice on Intrigue, or they had too much left to defend with and using it would have likely given them a card or power.

Mycrella + Parting Blow is definitely an idea I wouldn't have thought of, and one I quite like the idea of. Unlikely to be expected by my opponent either, or at least not the first time it is done.

Location control is something I noticed. Unfortunately Condemned by the Council is in my other Lannister deck, which I find incredibly useful. As such, Pyromancer's Apprentice will likely be added, for a combination of more Intrigue and the location control.

My concern with going for a full board wipe is making sure I can recover from it well enough - I was able to switch from Valar to Wildfire Assault, which suits my playstyle more.

A part of me is worried I am focusing so much on winning Intrigue that I am ignoring other factors, such as kneeling which you pointed out., but also card draw. Wars Are Won with Quills being a card that will also likely come out for Insidious Ways or You've Killed the Wrong Dwarf!, although I only own two of each.

At some point I will tweak it and post an updated version, with it probably being rebuilt this Saturday evening due to deck testing for a tournament. So expect a new version next week

Hi NuFenix,

Thanks for taking the time to write up your explanations, I enjoyed reading them. Whilst I look at many decklists on here, I don't often get the opportunity to here the reasoning behind some of the choices.

I don't play Lannister, just to make that clear, but I've got a couple of friends both buidling new-style Lannister after LotR was released and it's changed out meta significantly. I have just two suggestions, in priority order, too.

1) Double Bluff - I can't believe how strong this card is. It's just so multi-functional! Close to winning the game? Push through an intrigue attack with Frey Hospitality out then change it to a power challenge and scoop some extra power. Enemy characters getting on top of you? Change to a military and mop up some extra ones. Opponent has (somehow) built up a hand and you're worried about it? Even your military guys can get in on the action as you potentially throw four intrigue challenges (or equivalents) in a turn! It's just too good to be excluded, at least in my opinion.

2) You've Killed the Wrong Dwarf - Slightly more controversial than the first, and much more of a personal choice, but I've personally loved this card ever since a mate screwed me over with it. I don't think he even uses it any more, but I can't help feeling that I'd go out of my way to include it if I ever made a Lannister deck. Again, it's multi-functional and I've always been of the opinion that options = power. Whilst you have a bit of kneel in here anyway, an unexpected post-marshalling kneel can always open doors for unopposed attacks. The other option of course is playing it out of the blue to claim your 15th power by kneeling your own character. Like I said, not as good as double bluff, but I still love it.

I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts on the above.

I recently made a Stark melee deck (you'll see it in this same forum) built primarily around Catelyn Stark (AToT) just because I see Lannister hand-denial becoming an absolute menace in the future! If you get five minutes, take a look.

-MrGloverGlover

Thanks you MrGloverGlover

I always get curious why people pick the cards they do, or why they don't use cards they are debating, and so I thought I would share my reasoning with others.

I like hearing advice from those who are generally on the receiving end of Lannister - After all, you will remember the more troublesome or frustrating cards then you will over the typical run of the mill cards.

Double Bluff is definitely an interesting card. There are too many from LotR let alone all the other other sets that make picking events a nightmare, as I could make a deck of mostly events. My concern with it is that I don't run any Influence generating cards, so that means I have to have 2 gold set aside every turn I need to use it. And unless I have a turn of heavy income and few cards in hand, they will know I am up to something. If I did run it, what would you replace?

With You've Killed the Wrong Dwarf, a combination mentioned to me in another thread I made for a different deck, was combining it with Rule by Decree as my opening plot, playing YKtWD before plots are picked, guarenteeing that they will have to discard three cards, in addition to one of their characters to being knelt. As mentioned in my previously reply, I found kneeling was lacking in my deck, and so this will probably end up going in. Depending on time scales, I may modify it and post version 1.1 tonight, with further changes made after the weekend.

I will have a look at your thread now and offer my own insight back I do agree with you in that Lannister and their new box will alter the cards we see and how we should deal with them.

That YKtWD and Rule by Decree combo is very good, I've not heard that one before. I love hearing the little tricks that people get up to in this game - in fact I think I may just start a new thread elsewhere about them to see what information I can garner to decimate my friends, hahah

Looking down your decklist again, I completely agree with your assessment that there are some tasty events out there. If I had to choose something to remove, it'd probably be shadow politics in favour of double bluff. Put it like this; although you have to pay a lump-sum of 2g to trigger Double Bluff (as opposed to 1g to flip Shadow politics), it's actually 1g cheaper net. In the Stark deck I mentioned earlier I have a few reasons to 'float' gold over phases... shadow characters, Judgement of the Hand, I had Winter Reserves in there until very recently, it just keeps people guessing. It also allows you to bluff your opponents into thinking you'll be a pain to attack by floating a couple of gold when you've got nothing at all! (WARNING: Passable poker face required).

The other point of course is that double-bluff can nearly duplicate what you'd do with Shadow Politics anyway by converting a Power or Military challenge to Intrigue if you really need to, as well as allowing you to pack a bit of utility to deal with unexpected or uncomfortable situations. Feel free to ignore my opinion entirely, by the way, I just like discussing it

I am glad to pass on that combo - As I said, it wasn't my own, so I can't take credit for it, but it is one I would love to try. I just know in a Joust environment, my opponent is bound to use KotHH and thus have no characters for setup, or even just play locations and save their characters to be played during their first marshalling phase. I would need to borrow a spare copy of a friend however, as I would have to run all three copies to be certain, in addition to just having more kneeling.

I was thinking about what changes I would have if I wanted to go for multiple options for using money left over past the Marshalling phase, so that my opponent couldn't be certain what I plan to do with it.
As well as The Hand's Judgement and adding Double Bluff, I was thinking splashing in some shadows and maybe Sweet Cersei so when I need to increase the Strength of anyone, it keeps my options open.

I will never ignore a comment - If it has merit, I will take it on board and try it out. If I disagree, I will say why so it doesn't appear I am dismissing any critique of my deck.