All in all I had a fantastic two-day adventure up to the ‘no! I drove myself and 2 members of SoCal Thrones: SD Charter, including Chris/Imrahil and Joe/Gwanum. We met up with John/Mathlete, Ben/Scarletnite, and Christian/Khal Brogo from the SoCal Thrones: LA Charter. We had no idea what the local meta looked like so it was really fun driving into the unknown. We did know that 2 other Sactowners (who also came down to Kingdom-Con in April) would be there as well as 2 from East bay (I think) who are long-time Calicon/Kublacon veterans.
Deck
I’ve been playing Stark Maesters on and off for a while. This went 3-3 at Kingdom-Con, probably due to so-so matchups against the huge Stark presence (I played Stark 5 times, and Mathlete’s Mart/KoTHH once). It includes the typical Stark power cards combined with the Maester toolbox utility. I was considering this deck, a bara rush with TLS and Val + stand, or my GJ choke deck (which I loaned to a friend who ended up earning 2nd with it at Kingdom Con!). I don’t have the deck with me and I want to get these tourney details posted before I forget, so I can’t post the exact list atm. Honestly it doesn’t include any special tricks. I knew it well and thought it was good, so I went with it. Post here if you are interested or shoot me a message and I can send it. Again, nothing too flashy. Most of the time the deck centered around Luwin with the supporting cast of Northern Cavalry Flanks, Robb Stark, Riders, Frozen Outpost, Brienne, Vyman, Hopper Catelyn, Meera Reed, Old Nan, Price of War, Paper Shield, Lethal Counterattack, No Quarter, Dissension, Kingdom of Shadows. 61 cards total and the standard 8 links. I ran 4 city plots (gates, kill, kneel, copy), Wildfire, Outwit, and Fury of the Wolf. I don’t consider it a control/combo/rush build… although I'd be curious how others would classifiy it. Somehow it just wins by round 6 or so. Plus, it’s a creation I’ve worked on for a long time and there was some pride in choosing it as my steed to ride into battle.
Swiss
Round 1 – Brooks/TheKingg playing GJ Alliance Lanni
I tend to have a mental checklist right before the start of a game when I see my opponent’s house/agenda. For GJ, I need to make sure I reduce at my first opportunity (due to Newly Made Lord), pick Lanni to go first so they can’t kneel out what I marshall with their chars, and to drill triggering the alliance agenda into my brain. Naturally, Brooks had all 3! We’ve had really good battles since he came back to the game, and he placed top 4 at Kingdom Con and top 4 in SF. He’d be pushing for another top 4 finish (with his eyes on the win) here. I knew I would have to be on top of my game, and was a little bummed that I didn’t get paired against one of the locals. Such is life!
I believe I played well, although not perfect. He hit me with Ghost of High Heart and I forgot to draw back up. Doh! I stifled his draw early with a Meera on LIV, but he did the same by hitting my deck thinning with Bandit Lord on Widow’s Watch. I also scored some solid pulls off intrigue challenges and never forgot to trigger the alliance. He didn’t get much income or his cancels (to use on the alliance agenda), and despite some close calls in the challenges phase I came away with the win here. He did not accumulate much power, although the game was closer than the score told. Always a battle with Brooks and anyone from the Sactown Mafia.
1-0
Round 2 – Christian/Khal Brogo playing Stark City of Shadows
Christian is another solid player, and although we haven’t had many matches I knew I was in for some tough competition. He finished top-8 at Kingdom-Con and plays with some of SoCal’s Finest on a regular basis. I’d heard about his deck and knew it had some really unorthodox combos, so I was a bit nervous going into this one.
I had Price of War in my hand with a decent setup opportunity (4 or 5 cards) so I definitely kept it, then used At The Gates for Riders, not Luwin (which is really rare for me). Still, I knew the Price of War would be invaluable once he got all the evil shadow locations going. He played Focused Offense (whoa!) and went first, but I was able to flood the board and soak a 3 claim mil challenge. I won 3 challenges and got some links off, so my deck was really going. Later on I made a silly mistake by reducing early with Street of Steel, then marshalling a refugee. Doh! I was worried about frozen solid for some reason I guess. Or maybe it was because I just finished playing against GJ. Later in the match I used that Price of War on King’s Landing and Black Cells. Tin Link handled frozen solid, and its friend the copper link helped get rid of winter, and then I outwitted his City of Lies. It seemed like in this matchup I had the exact answers I needed. I ended up sitting on 14 power and taking dom for the win (not initiating challenges with an open opportunity is tough for me!) but I knew he might have had more tricks. Good game, again the score didn’t tell the true story.
2 – 0 against some really good decks. After learning that the Fresno locals were both new to the game and not exposed to some of the more competitive builds, I realized that I would not likely be playing them. SoCal would have to duke it out for the crown.
Round 3 – Jenn (married to Freerider) from SF playing Targ Summer
I didn’t know what to expect from this game. Jeff/Freerider, her husband, is a very innovative deckbuilder and I knew he had a role in playtesting or outright building. Luckily, Jenn was not ready for my Stark Maesters. First turn she opened with Fear of Winter and I marshaled Northern Cavalry Flank. My deck proceeded to pick up steam. As soon as she made it summer in marshalling, I activated the Draw Link, copper Link and Tin Link to instantly remove the raven. She was surprised I didn’t want to get the gold for myself, but this helped cut her income from the Myrish Villas. I never got to see what her deck meant to do, although I believe it was based around expensive Dothraki Armies so it was probably a good call. I outwitted her Valar and still had a huge hand. Meera sat in shadows the whole game. I didn’t make any playing mistakes that I was aware of, except forgetting to throw one link out because I wanted to hurry up and end the game. I felt bad that it wasn’t close, but Jenn was so pleasant throughout and had a great attitude. I’m not sure how she did on the day, but it was nice to see both her and her hubby again.
3 – 0
Round 4 – Chris/Imrahil playing Martell Maesters
Chris threw me off since he was wearing a fantastic Stark Direwolves jersey the day of the tourney so I thought he reverted back to his Stark Knights deck. Then when I learned he was playing Martell Maesters I knew what I was in for, and a cloud fell over me. Chris is an avid Throner, involved in the Small Council, Summer is Coming podcast, and deckbuilds/plays a ton. He’s also a Jaime player who lives for tournaments and has a significant background with other CCG’s, so I definitely needed to be on my A game for this one. If SoCal Thrones: SD Charter had a starting rotation, Chris would have a strong bid for Ace.
The Martell Maester rush build has been around and popular, as far as I know, since the DC meta won the GenCon melee (in unforgettable fashion) and I’m sure many folks have had different variations. It’s crazy good, and when Mathlete crushed us with his joust version (post errata, with a number of new plots and cards) in one of our SoCal tournies, I thought it was going to take over the regional season. I actually encouraged Chris to build the deck and “have it around” during our regular meetups maybe a month or so earlier, so we can take shots at beating it. We also played a game the week before and it handily crushed my GJ choke deck. And here I was, about to play this loaded cannon in the hands of a skilled sharpshooter.
Chris got board position (oh no!) so I had to wildfire. I had also intrigued away a narrow escape, but he had intrigued away my meera. He then re-flooded, but I made Maester of War a refugee and then hit 2 chars with dissension. Since his conclaves no longer had mil icons so I had a green light. In challenges, he hit Robb with Cyvasse but I still got a mil challenge through with Arya. He killed Arrianne for claim and I hit one Conclave with No Quarter. That turned the tide and I ended up winning the game. I should have learned from this match that I needed to keep a standing intrigue icon for Cyvasse protection (which is easy to do with maesters and app collar) but I didn’t do so and it came to bite me in the final.
I started to get some real confidence going after I won this one… but then I learned I would be facing Mathlete. If Chris was a contender for Ace, John the Bruno is Cy mothaf*ck!ng Young!
Round 5 – John/Mathlete playing Targ/KotHH
John is a good friend and this was a very enjoyable game. He burned down Luwin as soon as I fetched him with ATG. Doh! In retrospect, I should have searched for Vyman who does well against Targ and Lanni. I was holding my own, then John drew into The Hatchling’s Feast off of Meraxes during a Threat from the North turn, so in the Standing phase he wiped out my power characters. Then I picked up some ground, but valar beat me back down. And then I couldn’t draw any chars for the life of me. Only reducers. I’m pretty sure he would have instantly burned any maesters anyway. Bah! Good, fun game against my buddy John.
4 – 1 and just about a lock on making the top 4, which consisted of 2 from LA (Mathlete and Scarletnite) and 2 from SD (Imrahil and myself).
Semifinal – Ben/Scarletnite playing Lanni PbtT
My deck is very strong against Lanni PbtT decks. Stealthy intrigue like Varys and Meera + pumped-up maesters like Luwin, combined with Kingdom of Shadows and Frozen Outpost means I have a pretty strong intrigue challenge presence and great stand-ability. Plus, Black Iron Link says Cersei doesn’t get to have fun and Lead Link helps neutralize some of the weenies. Then there’s the increased likehood of getting through military challenges and the bonus hate from Fury. I knew the scales were in my favor before setup. Ben had some wicked card draw but he didn’t get what he needed. I think he saw all 3 pyromancer’s caches. I got 2 of them by blanking with Meera and Price of Warring another location (maybe GTM?). The early valar was a bold move, in typical Ben form. Luckily his agenda helped me draw and so I don’t think I ever went dry on chars. I think he got to a decent amount of power, but I got lucky with his bad draw (he hit a patch of locations) and came away with the win. Congrats to Ben for a great showing with Lanni.
Final – Chris/Imrahil playing the dreaded Martell Maesters. Rematch. Dun dun dunnnnn.
He had a 6 card flop including Aerys and House Messenger, 2 fugees (I think) and 2 0-cost reducers. I had a mediocre 4 card flop including Old Nan (who is awesome against maesters) and a Frozen outpost + a street and fugee (I think). We had (in my mind, at least) a quick little chess match in wondering what plot we would play first. He probably had my plot deck memorized and I sure remembered his. I thought he would anticipate my At the Gates play and would want to stick it with Art of Seduction. Therefore, I opened with Fury of the Wolf, in hopes that I would get to keep the high initiative and high gold for 2 rounds. Plus I needed to make sure he didn't get too much board position and 5 gold is a great way to do it. Much to my chagrin, he played At the Gates and fetched a Maester of War. I think I used Old Nan to Dissension Aerys and one of his fugees during that first marshalling phase, so that helped even the field.
Old Nan was also awesome because she let me control the tempo of his chains, since I could remove the maester trait (and importantly, the draw link) at will. He likes to place it on the vengeful maester of war, which is really efficient. However he was reluctant to put it out there early with Nan in play. I think next round I played at the Gates and he played Search and Detain. He won initiative and sent my Cavalry back to hand, and we both overlooked my plot. It never triggered! Doh! That extra character (Luwin) would have proved to be very helpful later on. That turn he pulled Meera (I think) and also a Brienne either that round or next with Intrigue challenges. It was pretty even, until what I consider the turning point in the match. I had drawn into a lethal counterattack, which would have been DEVASTATING against his To the Spears round. So, I was super worried about an intrigue challenge. I target fixated.
In the challenges phase, I ended up with 3 chars including a cavalry, old nan, and an oldtown scholar with a bunch of chains. I think he Cyvassed my Robb who may have been in there too. I triggered the scholar to strength reduce someone (maybe the viper?) and remove Arrianne’s intrigue icon with black steel (didn’t want to 2 claim int to steal get The Event). I also gave Old Nan the maester trait (knowing that would give her a mil icon with Maester of War out there). I also had 2 frozen solids. Chris came at me with an intrigue from the Maester of War and someone else (I think) so after some thought (and mental cursing at Catelyn for not being there when I needed her), I defended with Old Nan and bumped her strength twice with Frozen Outposts to win the intrigue. I had about 4 cards in hand, but didn't want to lose The Event. Good, I kept the lethal counterattack and got to throw another link. However, he had given Arrianne the Military icon. He stealthed by my cavalry, attacking with a 3 claim mil challenge with Arrianne. Now came another critical decision.
I could play lethal counterattack now, likely being unable to use it to full potential later. Still, getting rid of Arrianne would be huge. Or, I could defend with nan and prevent giving him power from the unopposed, and then kill her for claim, leaving me with a cavalry and oldtown scholar with a pile of links. I admonished myself for not letting the intrigue go through the first time and gamble on the card he would draw, because I really needed to win this challenge. Nan, as I said, is huge against link tempo. Later on I would kick myself for not getting a maester into play with At the Gates. After more thought, I settled on defending with Old Nan. The instant I said “defend with Nan and kill her for claim” I realized Arrianne’s text raises the claim. I grimaced, and settled on killing the cavalry too. Ouch. Great play by Chris.
On his to the spears round I went first and played another char (Roose maybe?), as well as The Hound. He put Leyton Hightower out, which meant my Lethal Counterattack wouldn’t be as good. He orphaned Roose, and I tried to sneak through a mil with The Hound to use No Quarter on Leyton, but it didn’t work. He cyvassed The Hound back into my hand so there went that plan. I passed to him and he came at me with Beric (or was it Former Champion?), Darkstar and Leyton in a mil challenge. I played Lethal counterattack to kill them all, surprise him, and gain some satisfaction. He would go on to win unopposed int and power challenges for the win though. Great game by Chris and congrats to him on winning the Fresno regional!
Props:
- The delicious waffle I concocted at the make-your-own breakfast buffet at the hotel
- The venue and local gamers
- The 11:45pm hotel clerk who “believed me” when I told him I was both a senior citizen and AAA member (lol)
- Joe for being an awesome roommate and sounding board
- Khal Brogo for knocking back a few cold ones with me once we arrived
- All the SoCal Throners for general awesomeness
- My car Lola the Corrolla for winning Fresno’s version of the fast and the furious street races the night before the tourney, with Chris in the co-pilot seat.
Slops:
- Not really participating in Frenso’s fast and the furious illegal street races, though the opportunity was there!
- Getting paired against folks I’ve played multiple times before, despite driving for hours and hours to play against a new and unknown meta
- Poor play and analysis paralysis in the final
- My flip flop for breaking while walking to the car at the start of the journey
- Mathlete for getting the superman anthem stuck in my head, right about the time my flip flop broke. BAH!
- Scarletnite’s 2nd-hand designer shorts and luck with broken ATMs (lol!)