And the winner is….not me!

Since the other three Top 4 finishers at the Fresno Regional did a write-up, I decided to join the write-up party. Besides, I owed it to my contest winner, Nathan Bradley (widowmake93)! We do have a winner here! Congrats Nathan!

So, a few weeks ago, after I had won the Kingdom Con Regional, I created a contest. I asked people to send me a Targaryen, Lannister or Baratheon deck and stated that I would play it in my next Regional and if I won, I would share my prizes with that player.

I received about 15 decks in total. Most of the decks were Targaryen. Most of those decks were Knights of the Hollow Hill decks. ~They were all very different and original (burn, Tourney Grounds, Meraxes, Ambush, Ambush from the Plains, Hatchling’s Feast, Flame Kissed, etc.). Gee, I hadn’t thought about playing those cards in a Targaryen deck! LOL Actually, I don’t mean to sound like I’m making fun of these decks or that I didn't appreciate these decks. They were all very good decks. I do believe that Targaryen has some of the best tools in the game. They can draw cards (Meraxes), get rid of Maesters and their chains (burn the Maesters) and other attachments (Dragon Thief, Meereeneese Brothel), and even have the best card to counter a Martell Ghaston Grey deck (Aegon’s Hill).

So, out of the many Targaryen decks that I received through my contest, I selected Nathan’s deck. Nathan and I sent e-mails back and forth tweaking/changing the deck. I had some ideas that I thought would make the deck more playable and more to my play style. In the end, there were many changes made to the deck. A few copies of cards were cut. Some cards were cut completely. I wanted to play three copies of Queen’s Knight. I decided to make the deck more versatile by adding in Varys, Ser Arys Oakheart (out-of-house) and two copies of Rhaegar’s Harp (to make Ser Jorah and Daario more playable). I added in Pyromance’s Cache for extra draw. Since I now had the Caches, I added in Rhaegar Targaryen. He’s a King and can help me draw extra cards and he’s an excellent character. Most people are afraid to play him because of his “Response” but I didn’t mind, especially if you can play him after your opponent has already played Valar. I added in Xaro Xoan Daxos for some extra trickery. I wanted a way to combat Greyjoy Winter so I added in two copies of Black Raven. Most people think the best way to combat “seasons” is with Carrion Birds. While they are good, you still have to win a challenge. But, when you play the Black Raven, Winter goes away immediately and with Lady Danaery’s Chambers, you can always get your discarded Black Raven back again. And, it’s not like the extra gold and benefit of Summer is a bad thing either. Finally, the last change that I made was to deal with Targ’s one deficiency, location control. I added in two copies of Newly-Made Lord (out-of-house). BTW…that’s the last time I will call that card the NM-L name. It will always be “Bandit Lord” to me!

So, now I was ready to play my newly-made deck. Was it better than Nathan’s original deck? Not necessarily. Was it worse? Not necessarily. It just fit my play style better. And, I would not have made any changes without consulting the original deck creator, and Nathan was onboard with the decisions, so this is the deck that I played.

Round 1 vs. Joe (local SoCal player) playing another Targaryen Knights of the Hollow Hill

Gee? I wonder what will be in Joe’s deck? Joe’s deck was just like Nathan’s original deck list. I felt good when (after a mulligan) I drew two Pyromancer’s Cache, but I didn’t draw a location in the first three turns. Joe did. He played Meraxes on the first turn us both a card and he won Dominance. We both took turns burning each other’s stuff down, but his continued winning of Dominance and better initial characters, got him out to a 10-0 lead. Joe dropped an Aegon’s Hill, but my Bandit Lord got rid of that. I then Valared, drew Meraxes and took control of the game. On the last turn, my beef (Rhaegar and Thundering Cavalry) was stronger than his (Jhogo and Thundering Cavalry) and I powered through for the win. 1-0

Round 2 vs. Jeff Lebow (freerider) playing Martell Knights of the Hollow Hill

Jeff was playing Martell KotHH and I expected it to be like my Kingdom Con deck with Nobles, Ghaston Grey, Red Vengeance, etc. I wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t completely right. Jeff added in a Sand Snake flavor to the deck. I really like and respect that he did something different instead of straight copying a deck. I hate pure net-decking! Besides, we are not Magic players! And, this game is so much now about match-ups more than it is about one ultimate, tourney-winning deck. A deck can win a tourney in one part of the world and tank in another. (There is still the car vs. driver factor too!) Anyway, onto the game…. Jeff marshaled first and dropped a Ghaston Grey and a dupe, The Scourge and some reducers. He also played a Flea-Bottom Scavenger. In my marshaling, I put Varys into Shadows and dropped an Aegon’s Hill. He was like “oh crap!”. In the first Challenge phase, I “killed” Arianne with Aegon’s Hill. I saw he had Doran Martell and Edric Dayne and a Red Vengeance too. I brought Varys out of Shadows to discard the Scavenger. Next Plot Phase, he played Search and Detain and brought Varys back to my hand. He marshaled, The Red Viper (War Crest) and Doran and Edric. I played Rhaegar’s Harp on The Red Viper and Varys discarded him. The game was very slow going overall, but Jeff kept characters up to win 1-2 challenges a turn and I burned down his other characters and Aegon’s Hill killed many characters which resulted in him drawing dead cards. One of the best things about Aegon’s Hill is know what is in your opponent’s hand. Jeff had three Red Vengeances over the first four turns and I had to make sure he used them all before I could do serious intrigue or military. By the time I killed all of his characters and exhausted his Red Vengeances, again I was down 10-0 but he had little left. He did slow me with The Scourge, but I did have two attachments in my discard pile and a Lady Danaerys’s Chambers in play. So, I played Xaro Xoan Daxos (XXX), chose himself to return to my hand, and got back an attachment. I played XXX again and got another attachment. I didn’t need gold for characters any. I used the recycled attachments to offset his Scourge and eventually won the game. Jeff and I have played each other many times over the years and this was by far, the most fun game we have ever played. Lots of crazy, goofy combos and a great time! 2-0

Round 3 vs. Chris Schoenthal (imrahil237) playing Martell Maesters

I already knew what this deck would entail since Chris is from my SoCal meta and we have played each other when I was playing a similar Martell Maester deck and Chris wasn’t. I always felt that this deck was the best deck out there. I was able to consistently win by the 2nd or 3rd turn, even with 7 chains on my Agenda. Chris had the exact 7 Chains on his Agenda, so I knew what I had to do, burn his cheap masters, try to deny him the reducers for the Conclaves and get off to a good start. This didn’t happen. I was able to discard one Conclave with the Rhaegar’s Harp/Jorah trick, but Chris had two more Conclaves on the table by the second turn. The Concalves combined with To The Spears, Maester and Narrow Escape did me in by the end of the third turn. In my version of the deck, I ran Burning in the Sand as my Restricted card. Chris played Narrow Escape. This was an excellent change, especially to to protect his masters against Stark kill or Targ burn. Very nice change! 2-1.

Round 4 vs. Jennifer Lebow (khaleesi) playing Targaryen Summer

Pre-Plot, I dropped a Dragon Knight then played Rule by Decree. It’s dirty, but gives you an early edge. I then got off to a quick start vs. Jennifer in this game and killed her early characters while also doing the Queen’s Knight, Jumper Khal Drogo and Ambush characters tricks. It was a very fast game and I won by the end of the fourth turn. 3-1

Round 5 vs. James Speck (Bronson) playing Stark Maesters

Fifth game of the day and fifth game against a friend and someone that I had played many times. James opened with At the Gates and got Maester Lewin, who I Flame Kissed and then played Forever Burning. How do you beat a Maester deck? Kill the Maesters before they get chains! James got out to an early power lead but had very few Maesters surviving to receive chains. By the end of the 9th turn, he had 14 power but still had 3-4 chains on his house and maybe 1-2 maesters left in his deck. I won on the 9th or 10th turn after many rounds of burning his characters, and ambushing my way to a win. 4-1
So, everyone in the Top 4 was 4-1. Chris ended up #1 with strength of schedule, James #2 and another meta-mate, Ben Tully (scarletnite) and I tied for 3-4 with strength of schedule. We rolled a die and Ben was #3 and faced James and I faced Chris again as the #4 seed.

Top 4 vs. Chris Schoenthal (imrahil237) playing Martell Maesters

Chris flopped an Informed Acolyte, a Maester of the Sun, an Orphan of the Greenblood and a Refugee of the Citadel. Three freakin’ Maesters! Here come some Conclves right out of the gate. I had some options…I could Valar or play Threat from the North. Pre-Plot I put Flame Kissed on the Informed Acolytre. Now I could also play Rule by Decree. I expected Chris’s opening Plot to be Forgotten Plans, as it was the first time we played. That game I played A Song of Summer. This game, I was also tempted to play First Snow as my first Plot, but held off for the second turn. I revealed Threat from the North and he revealed Forgotten Plans. He lost the Acolyte and the Orphan and I played Forever Burning on his Maester of the Sun and left him with one character, the Refugee. In my hand I had A Hacthling’s Feast and an Eastern Fiefdom. I figured that I could wipe out three characters on the next Plot phase when my Threat from the North would still be in effect. I did take down some characters, but it was way too late. Chris marshaled a Conclave and Red Viper and played To The Spears! On Plot three and rolled me with two Maester of War-boosted Conclaves and the Viper. Game over. Day over!

Congrats to Chris on a well-played tournament. Thank you to the store and the owner. Jennifer from Crazy Squirrel Games was an excellent host and we really enjoyed visiting her establishment. Thanks to Nathan and Jonathan Benton for collaborating on this deck. Thanks to the best meta that I have ever had in the ten years playing this game. It’s fun to be back playing and it’s always a blast to hang out with my SoCal players and friends.
Now…on to my contest. What did I get for fourth place? What do I owe Nathan Bradley? I won a beautiful art print of Jon Snow and Melisandre from some upcoming card in the Across the Narrow Sea set. I won my second Targaryen/Regionals playmat and I won a set of six house cards. I did say that I would share prizes with the player whose deck that I used. I never promised a playmat!!! Besides, I think that the art print would look awesome framed in Nathan’s new baby’s bedroom….I’m just drawing this out to torture Nathan a little longer….

Thanks for working with me on the deck Nathan! The art print, err…I mean playmat is on its way!

Here is my deck (if you’re interested:
Targaryen – Knghts of the Hollow Hill

House (1)
House Targaryen (Core) x1

Agenda (1)
Knights of the Hollow Hill (MotM) x1

Character (27)
Thundering Calvary (QoD) x1
Viserion (QoD) x1
Ser Jorah Mormont (WLL) x1
Ser Barristan Selmy (TftH) x1
Xaro Xoan Daxos (Core) x 1
Pyat Pree (QoD) x1
King's Landing Assassin (SaS) x2
Khal Drogo (Core) x2
Jhogo (OSaS) x1
Dragon Thief (AE) x3
Dragon Knight (TBC) x2
Daenerys Targaryen (GotC) x1
Black Hatchling (DB) x1
Ser Arys Oakheart (PotS) x1
Daario Naharis (WLL) x1
Queen’s Knight (Wof5K) x3
Rhaegar Targaryen x 1
Newly Made Lord (TftH) x2
Varys (KLE) x1

Location (17)
Eastern Fiefdoms (Core) x3
Meereen Tourney Grounds (ODG) x2
Meereenese Brothel (BtW) x1
Meraxes (TBC) x2
Summer Sea (Core) x3
The Red Keep (TftRK) x2
Kingsroad Fiefdom (QoD) x1
Lady Daenerys's Chambers (Core) x2
Aegon’s Hill (TotH) x1

Event (5)
Forever Burning (Core) x2
The Hatchlings' Feast (ASitD) x3

Attachment (12)
Flame-Kissed (Core) x3
Black Raven (ASoS) x2
Pyromancer's Cache x3
Rhaegar's Harp x2
Dragon Skull x2

Plot (7)
Retaliation! (ASoSilence) x1
Rule by Decree (Core) x1
Search and Detain (HtS) x1
The First Snow of Winter (ODG) x1
Threat from the North (PotS) x1
Valar Morghulis (Core) x1
A Song of Summer (aSoS) x1

Great report, John! You're a good friend and a scary opponent. Good work on the deck to you and Nathan, it had some really cool tricks that definitely caught me off-guard- first turn Harp + Jorah on my Conclave was definitely not something I saw coming!

Thanks for the TR. Congrats to you and Widowmaker on the deck. Seems very interesting. Are you taking a contest deck to Kubla or one of your own creations?

I want to start by saying congrats to Mathlete on a hard fought day. That deck is not easy to play, and must have made for an exhausting experience. I'm honored that you chose my deck out of the 15+ other decks that you received. I'm sure many of the Targ KotHH decks were similar, so it's good to know that I had something in mine to set me apart from the rest. That being said..

Lol, Bruno, you kill me. I just want to throw my arms in the air and snort with derision, exhausted by your constant tomfoolery. I really hope someone gets that Big Bang Theory reference! I would say that this deck was more yours than mine in the end. Although many of the changes made were ones that I easily got behind. I mean, it's not like you tried to play any stinking Greyjoy cards im my deck…..oh, wait… . Through talking with you over the past couple weeks it has given me new insights into playing a KotHH deck. So thank you so much for that! . Like I said before , I would have been happy with anything that you decided to send me. However, a Targ playmat for a Targ player that sent a Targ deck just makes too much sense to ignore. Maybe I should collect that art print from ZombiePrime since he probably owes me more for his Cincy win than you do for your top 4 at Fresno. Based on decklists, that is. It sure would look great in my daughter's room. Like my wife would ever go for that! lol

Congrats to Imrahil327 on a well deserved win. If you beat Bruno twice in one day you deserve the win! That Martel Maester seems like a very nasty deck. Considering your only two losse, Bruno, were to the same deck I have to be fairly pleased. I'm not sure there was anything that you could have done about those losses. Maybe we just need to tweak that deck a little more…

Thanks again for the prize, Bruno! I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival! I won't hold my breath on that playmat until it's in my hands…not that I don't trust you.

kpmccoy21 said:

Not sure yet….are you offering one up?

Maybe… I have a Lanni deck I've been kicking around.

kpmccoy21 said:

Yeah, it's a blast to play. Thanks for the kind words. I wasn't sure about 5 ooh for Bandit Lord(there you go Bruno) but if he said it's worth it then I'll go with it.

mathlete said:

~But then you can't just play mine like last year…

Seriously though - great TR. I am going to get SMOKED at Kubla. Has any WC ever got the Sansa award? Get ready for the first!