Day one is now over. Top 4 were 1) Lanni 2) Stark 3) Martell and 4) GJ. I played a Martell Maester deck, modified from what I played at Days of Ice and Fire to add more control and have less rush. It was a mistake. I am going on record here and stating that adding GG to my deck definitely cost me my loss to the deck that won and put me at 2-2 for the day. Here's how each round went down.
Round 1 vs Dan S (Twn2dn) playing, you guessed it, Targ Maesters.
This was the one round where GG actually was useful. I flopped GG and Edric. First turn I also got out the Scourge. We both played At the Gates. I ultimately used GG to bounce his one maester back to hand putting me in front with the race to pull and use chains. I ultimately got a little overzealous with The Red Viper (I think on a To the Spears Turn as I likely had more characters in play) and declared my last 2 challenges right in a row for the unopposed and renown leaving 1 chain left. A couple turns later I won.
Round 2 vs Rachel from PA playing Martell Summer.
Things started off well. We both had the Scourge out for first turn which slowed us both down, but the draw with maesters was helping me out a little. However, on my Game of Thrones 2nd turn I made a huge intrigue challenge going first. She then played The Viper's Rage blanking all my characters. To make matters worse, I had discarded my He Calls It Thinking that could have canceled the event in order to give an intrigue icon to my conclave. After facing 3 unopposed 2 claim challenges from a Winds of Winter plot, there was no recovering. 1-1
Round 3 vs Robert who is a new DC player (and won the joust) playing Lanni with the new agenda
I mulliganed into an okay setup, but not great. After that I had only cyvasse and conclaves with only my single informed acolyte on the table. I needed more maesters to reduce their cost. This game went back and forth a couple times. I had to valar fairly early. Then I got characters but Robert didn't have any. He valared when I didn't have any leanred crests on the table to use outwit (my 1 informed acolyte I had valared and he discarded 2 conclaves and both copies of Leyton with intrigues). We went through about 10-11 rounds, which is a testament to his ability as a fast learner to also not be hit by analysis paralysis. Every time I had some maesters and was starting to get ahead he was able to valar. The game came down to a final turn where either of u could have won. I played To the Spears and Robert played Breaking and Entering. I had Darkstar with a He Calls it Thinking on him and a Maester of War, 1 chain on the agenda, and 12 or 13 power. He had Ser Aerys Oakheart, Ser Kevan Lannister, and a power only character (Joffrey?). He starts with a military using Aerys. My 1 card in hand was Cyvasse. I should have played it forcing him to kneel his intrigue character and bounce Aerys back to hand. Instead I defended with Darkstar and stand him with vengeful on the intrigue. However, Robert had an I'm You Writ Small in hand (I saw one previously so should have expected it). I lost the mil challenge and both my characters allowing him to make uo intrigue and power challenges for the win. 1-2.
Round 4 vs the 1 NY player whose name I forgot playing Targ Summer.
This game was pretty straightforward. I had a 5 card flop of 3 resources, a refugee, and The Red Viper. Plain and simple I rushed to a quick victory. I will say that GG helped me to bounce TRV back after mistiming Outwit, but I don't think it was essential since I had a strong lead at that point. 2-2.
If I had to redo everything, I would take out 2x GG, 1x Myrcella, and 2x Edric to replace with a 3rd carrion bird, 3rd maester of war, a 2nd informed acolyte, and 2 make an example for those to the spears turns. 1 game I never drew into GG, 1 game it was towards the end when I drew into it, and I often didn't have the nobles with 1x Myrcella, 2x Edric, 1x Airanne, and 1x TRV. I know that's a little light, but expecting significant Targ from NY and Dan 2.0 (Danigral) I only played 1x Myrcella. If I had to put more into GG, it would have diluted my maesters too much. Playing a couple conclaves for a single gold is so good. 2 5str tricons (maester of war often in the mix at 3x in the deck) for 1 or 3 gold is amazing. If Leyton is out protecting Maesters that's even better.
I will say that GG is a great card. Bounce is amazing, but cyvasse is enough for my maester deck that needs to rush instead of control. Despite how good GG can be, it doesn't fit every Martell deck. Replacing GG with Make an Example and nobles with maesters would have been preferred cards almost every time today.
Congrats to everyone who came out today to make it a great tournament. We had 18 players in total including 1 from NC, 3 from PA, and I believe 6 from NY. I'm looking forward to Melee tomorrow afternoon.
) Martell - Sandsnakes for Melee:
Kinda puts the whole thing in perspective 