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With two new Knights, one of which is tailor made to work with the latest Barristan Selmy, and both of which fill the 2-cost slot, does this mean Targaryen finally has a way to make a viable Knights of the Realm deck? (Heck, the new Griff is a Knight too)

Since Targaryen traditionally has draw issues, I think Targaryen Knights/Burn could become hot (pun mostly intended.)

Thoughts?

Honestly, it would be tough. You could do it but the problem with Targ Knight's is that most of them are transient. Two are allies, one is a merc, one retreats to hand frequently, one turns into an agenda. Only Selmy will stick around and he doesn't receive any special favours in terms of survivability. I suspect that Rolly Duckfield may make in appearance in the next CP cycle so that might help.

It would depend on your opponent. Not everyone uses lots of Knights and hopefully you might still be able to outnumber people who splash the useful ones into their decks. Targ do receive two small bonuses. They can ambush in Knights during the plot and draw phase as well as burning out opposing Knights. Superiour attachment recursion allows them to better use the Knighted attachment which can also be used offensively with Daario. Same goes for Rhaegar's Harp.

I'd like to see something that essentially Knighted your Dothraki characters. They occupy similar niches for the House, and Ride Them Down has already given them some joint synergy. Given that Barristan is training new Knights, it could work out to be quite Nedly. As someone who likes Knight decks and wants Dothraki decks to work better, I wouldn't mind something that brought them together.

Perhaps a location:

Ser Barristan's Training Grounds

Dothraki characters you control gain the Knight trait.

oo oo how about "Knighted" 0 cost attachment... Attached character gets the knight trait

Selmy isn't training Dothraki to be Knights though. He's training Meereenese to be Knights. That's what the Tourney Grounds card represents.

playgroundpsychotic said:

Well, I'd argue that the card (or at least its art) actually seems to be representing the fighting pits, but point taken.

Regardless of how it's done, what I would like is some way -- other than the Knighted attachment -- of spreading the Knight trait to more cards Targ has. Just from a Nedly perspective, Targ shouldn't have many in the way of Knights, but Dany certainly has more than her share of loyal warriors by her side that may as well be Knights if not for the cultural differences.

Perhaps it could be tied to the Queensguard trait. Give us a more playable Strong Belwas, and give us a way to make him and Dany's Bloodriders serve as Knights.

Maybe it is just me but I am really liking the ambush-burn more than the knight trait...

Tokhuah said:

I can imagine it working so **** well with Threat from the North and Dragonpit... Targaryen burn is becoming very strong indeed.

alpha5099 said:

What I think we'll see is an expansion of the Exiled Knight concept ie more Mercenary Knights. Harry Strickland, Brendel Byrne, Franklyn Flowers and so forth are all Mercs fighting for Griff. The Second Sons and the Windblown also have Knights fighting for them. There could also be Knights who are secretly loyal to the Targeryens but were forced to swore fealty to the Baratheon's after Robert's Rebellion. These would have no negative traits and would have a shadow crest.

I would really like to see more Queensguard stuff but I put it in the same category as Targ influence generators. Targ isn't allowed to have nice things.

I am hoping they add some more Queensguard synergy. Arstan Whitebeard is the closest thing we have and there are a handful of others with such a trait.

Maybe if there are more knight's popping up for Targaryen, some will have Queensguard trait and some effects that benefit that trait.

Tokhuah said:

Also, deadly on a 2/2 with power is a nice thing to have. The ability on him is pretty situational but likely to be very good in some situations (apprentice collar?).

Twn2dn said:

Court Advisor. Turn him into a Tricon and then draw a card.

I wouldn't run it - too many knights all over right now, and the benefit doesn't equal the risk in Targ. And burn is getting really good.

I do like Exiled though, I think FFG might turn to some more decent attachments and that is a good trait when combo'd with Deadly.

Quentyn Martel Brought a few knights with him. I could definitely see his group being Martel/Targaryen multihouse knights.

Are there really too many knights out there for a Targ KotR build not to trigger tha vast majority of the time? If I were going to run Targ KotR/Summer/burn, I'd be running at least the following:

Ser Barristan Selmy TftH x2

Ser Jorah Mormont (set?) x1

Queen's Knight x3

Exiled Knight x3

Dragon Knight x3

Former Champion x3

Hedge Knight x3

And perhaps some of the better neutral knights, like Mandon Moore or Gerold Hightower.

I'd imagine that you'd be able to keep 3-4 knights on the board consistently, and against the vast majority of decks that should be good. I'd only imagine problems against another KotR deck or perhaps Lannister.

Shenanigans said:

Depends on your meta but I look at this way. Targ will have a comparable number of Knights to Martell and Stark. With a dedicated build you could outnumber the average deck from either house. However both of those houses have their own forms of targeted removal so they might be able to force Knight parity. On top of that, you will not outnumber Lannister or Bara who have both numbers and variety at their disposal. Even in a non-KotR build both may still be able to outnumber your Knights.

For my own local meta, I am likely to face 2 Bara, 2 Lanni, 1 Stark and 1 Martell deck who will likely out number Targ knights. I'd say I have about a 60% chance of facing a deck with few enough Knights to make it work. Is that good, I don't know but its much worse than Summer. Not that I can run Summer but if I had the Ravens I would.

playgroundpsychotic said:

Your meta might be different, but from my experience, here are Knights you're likely to see even in a non-KotR deck, House by House:

Baratheon: TLS, Ser Cortnay Penrose, Ser Davos Seaworth, Ser Eldon Estermont, Ser Guyard Morrigen, Ser Parmen Crane

Lannister: Ser Jaime Lannister, Ser Aerys Oakheart, maybe the new Ser Addam Marbrand

Martell: Darkstar, Ser Aerys Oakheart

Greyjoy: The Knight

Stark: The Blackfish, Ser Jorah Mormont

Targaryen: Ser Barristan Selmy, Ser Jorah Mormont

Even some of these are a bit conditional. I guess I just don't see as much of a threat from houses outside of Baratheon as you do. Even Baratheon seems to be more popularly built around Asshai these days.

Shenanigans said:

Lannister you'll likely see a bit more than that I think. Lorch, Bronn, Kevan, Balon Swann are all useful and they still have many more with alternate trait manipulation. The new CP also has new Knights for Stark, Bara and Lanni. I know the Stark one (Knight of Harrenhal) is 2for2 with Mil and a long ass text box.

Specific to me though I have to contend with Bara KotoR, Bara Stannis theme, Lanni Kingsguard, Lanni Nobles, Tully Siege and House Dayne Summer. I think its doable but its not like the other houses are especially disadvantaged (besides GJ) from doing the same.

Let's not forget KL Knight of Flowers, he's very standard in Bara decks, Knights of the Realm or otherwise.

alpha5099 said:

Ahhh yes, I knew I was forgetting one. Thanks for picking that up alpha.

Lorch, Bronn (the newer one I presume), and Swann I can see getting some play, but I still haven't played against anything from the Lanni box yet, so I'm a bit behind/

PGP, that meta of yours does seem awfully knight-heavy; Lorch should be nigh-unblockable.