Hello,

A sort of trend that I have seen in my recent games has been Search and Detain. I have not made a deck without it and I have not seen a deck that didn't play it.

The stats on itself are powerful and at times the ability it has is a game changer. Many times either me or my opponent has had to valar in which this plot also comes in and suddenly the biggest threat is in their hand ready to beat your face again as they have the gold to play it back and most likely at the valar turn you don't. It also makes it even more dangerous to play high cost characters in the current enviroment and well it was probably the final nail to brotherhoods coffin (brotherhood can still work in as a surprise deck, but you better hope you can fill berick with attachments fast). Also this thing rarely if ever backfires, which it should. "oh I return my sea, street, comes into play ability guy" and depending on the deck your opponent is forced to choose you to go first when this is revealed. Also with the current enviroment where we are just not playing attachments the restriction on it barely ever matters. The card is high reward low risk which it shouldn't be with those plot stats.

I think that this plot is just way too versatile and powerful in our current enviroment and it should have a higher risk to gain its high reward. So how do you feel about this plot in the current enviroment?

Yeah it's an auto-include now in any deck. Maybe that's intended though to increase the value of attachments?

At least that other auto-include, Retaliation!, beats it.

It's definitely my favorite plot. One thing I really like about it is that, even if it is an auto-include--and we can definitely debate whether it is--it's almost always an interesting choice to play. Obviously Valar involves a lot of consideration, but how much thought do I really need to put into playing Loyalty Money Can Buy or Retaliation? Search and Detain takes some thought, not just in playing it but in choosing how to use it after seeing what else has been played.

I like making someone take Street of Silk back into their hand. It's an indirect location discarding effect.

Fun idea with Street of Silk! I agree with what's been said... great for use on your own cards that have effects that trigger upon coming into play like Aerys, Balerion, Iron Cliffs, the new Targ chars, Coin Mint. The list goes on! One of my favorite uses, though, is a nice little renown dump when you target an opponent's character with a pile of power... in particular the new Cersei!

Just another way to hurt Baratheon Rush. Sigh.

Overall, I would put it in the top 5 plots, and it is an auto-include for me.

Actually, it probably only 'goes off' about 60-70% of the time to my heavy benefit, but when it does, it can certainly change games. The lack of restrictions make it 99% of the time a no-lose situation.

Stag Lord said:

Just another means to clear some chaff out of the way of your rush you mean.

Alando said:

Haha... when I lost my OCTGN quarter final, this happened to my detriment, and my opponent joked that he'd seen someone in the forums mention this that very morning. I had no idea it was YOU who'd done so

Haha, how'd I know that Bronson would get in on the Search & Detain love? He's showed me the hard way that this plot is amazing.

Stag Lord said:

And Brotherhood.

I only play melee now though pretty competitively. It is terrible in that format, but seems so strong for joust. Not sure what they were thinking to be honest.

I really hate that "cannot be saved" part. I put out one of my guys with 3 copies and "Search and Detain!"

Kingsguard said:

And by "3 copies" I mean "2 duplicates"

Agreed on the "Cannot be Saved" part. While it makes a certain amount of Nedly sense on a handful of cards, I really think that text is pretty counter productive to a game where there are already quite a few reasons not to use duplicates of your uniques.

Kennon said:

Everyone will have to start packing 0 and 1 cost attachments to protect their characters. And not to mention that it further degrades the reasons to play locations that cost more than 2 gold.

I also hate the Cannot be Saved part of Search and Detain. One time in a melee I had core set Rhaegal with 5 dupes (three Riders of the Red Fork) bounced and the rest were discarded. It was quite terrible.

Crevic said:

Ouch. Stupid plot!

Despite the fact that it makes Bara Rush even more fragile than it already is - I do have to say I love being able to bounce a character in the face of Valar and replay him. Anything that helps neuter that talentless Plot (even a little) is a plus in my book.

I still have mixed feelings on this one, but it does take a little thought to use this to best effect.

I don't understand this discussion. It's good plot as many many others that's all. We can create another couple of threads how broken are: Valar, Marched to the Wall, Treat from the North, A time for Raven, Fear of Winter, Blockade, Rule of Decree and much much more. The only problem with plots are that we have only 7 slots for them...

berto said:

Valar - it gets a lot of talk about it, for sure. Valid comparison - although a two-sided plot, and it is in the discussion.

Marched - what?!? You are comparing Search and Detain...to Marched? Marched is two-edged plot, where your opponent gets to choose their own character to control, and it has worse stats...

Time for Ravens - certainly a good plot, but doesn't effect the current board position in the least.

Fear of Winter - Restricted. Enough said.

Blockade - two-sided again. And fairly easily combatable, especially turns 1 and 2 when you see it the most.

Rule of Decree - again, could hit you at times, and many times worthless unless you are not running heavy draw.

BTW on all of these plots, whomever flipped Search and Detain vs. them, is doing very well that turn.

I think it is certainly a valid discussion. Easily one fo the top 5 plots in the game - nothing else gets rid of almost any character, of your own choice. The 'downside' is that you might have to put back a Street of Steel in your hand, or a card that has a come into play ability...and still have a 4/5/1 plot. There is a reason we are seeing it a TON in any competative play since Days of Ice and Fire.

Maybe that event in Greyjoy that guarantees you initiative is worth a second look now?

Being able to defend against this and cripple people who play Take them by Surprise may be worth it to decks that really like to go first (or second)

Rave said:

Nah. I don't think it is worth the deck slot. And people who play Take them by Surprise are noobs anyway

Crevic said:

Frankly, I wouldn't mind the "Cannot be Saved" ability if we had a reprint of Emmisary of the Red Keep . But as you mentioned, it pretty much blows for any unique that is No Attachments and carry power... like, say... Dragons. Trust me, I like the encouragement to play attachments (but everyone seems to bemoan their fragility... so you've got to stack them to be reliable, further wrecking card advantage if they have a different way to dispose of the character)... and to make intiative matter, but as Matt says, it's just too easy, and it doesn't really have a draw back.

...Unless you're horribly screwed anyway, and only have a beefy character or location as your singular option.

At least, Dragon decks tend to have high Initiative.