I have recently picked up on Martell in out local melee-group, but have been having problems finding an interesting and somewhat effective build. Looking through the cards I see no imemdiate concepts, there's interesting good cards here and there but not much to tie it all together. Anyone sitting on any interesting ideas for combos, engines, theme-decks, and similair?

One of the main themes I see with Martell is losing challenges. Areo Hotah lets you kill any one target after a loss by 4 or more; Burning on the Sand has the same effect as an attachment; other events allow you to cancel the determination of challenges you're about to lose, or pay it forward by forcing someone else to pay the claim on challenges you use.

This can be really useful in melee, as you suddenly become a much less attractive target when your attacker knows what will happen if they win against you. Combine the cards I listed above with Seafarer's Bow, and use it to reduce your own characters' strength, making it possible to lose practically ANY challenge, and you have repeatable targeted kills on demand.

SethB said:

Sorry, that's actually Sunstroke.

I should mention before I attempt a response that I typically build bad melee decks. The thing about Martell in melee is that the deck needs to do something . You can't just sit there and hope no one challenges you out of fear of retribution, and if you do then someone else will win while you fumble about with 2 power each Round. Martell has good Nobles, but is somewhat lacking in Renown and doesn't rush well (aside from TRV rush, which is still a viable build imho) and some of their revenge effects (Doran, VB) are probably going to piss off opponents enough that they come after you or start targeting you with effects. Their locations still kinda suck for melee, though you may be able to bargain with opponents (I wont use my Scourge on you if you dont attack me) but their real weakness in melee I think is their lack of P icons; once you do get close to winning everyone can gang up and steal your power pretty easily. The title-swapping Myrcella is a huge boon, but I just think Martell does poorly in melee most of the time.
Theres always the glass canon Sand Snakes build I guess.

IMO the easiest thing for martell to do in melee is have the Red Viper and less characters than the opponent you plan on attacking and the Vipers Rage event card. wait for one of your opponents who is going before you to attack you or even bait them into attacking you, play the vipers rage blanking out all their character icons, now use the red viper to have 3 unoppossed wins against someone with no icons, 3 for unoppossed, 3 for renown and 1 if they had a power to steal, now you just got 7 power in one turn, throw in a superior claim and you got 9

another really powerful card in melee is Arieanne Martell, paired with the non kneeling plot she gives you 2 claim or 3 claim for at least 2 challenges.

Martell doesnt really need a lot of locations so you can always throw Favorable Ground in your deck, and with bodyguards, dupes and the power of blood Valar should be a turn 2 or 3 flip

This is what I've come up with so far, as an interesting Martell Melee build. I don't normally play Melee, so it might need some tinkering. Quentyn Martell is amazing, and Narrow Escape provides some resilience for your characters. When the timing is right, you can kill your own House Dayne Skirmisher to trigger A Nest of Vipers.

House Card (1)
House Martell

Plots (7)
Take Them by Surprise Lords of Winter 1
Relentless Persecution Dreadfort Betrayal 1
Feast or Famine Kings of the Storm 1
Retaliation! A Song of Silence 1
Game of Thrones Lions of the Rock 1
Valar Morghulis Core Set 1
To the Spears! Princes of the Sun 1

Characters (33)
Sarella Sand Princes of the Sun 2
Bastard Daughter Of Snakes and Sand 3
Myrcella Lannister Kings of the Sea 1
Ghost of High Heart Where Loyalty Lies 1
Obella Sand Dreadfort Betrayal 2
Obara Sand The Winds of Winter 2
House Dayne Skirmisher Princes of the Sun 3
Walder Frey A Change of Seasons 1
The Red Viper A Poisoned Spear 2
Orphan of the Greenblood Princes of the Sun 3
Dornish Paramour The Tower of the Hand 3
Dorea Sand Tourney For The Hand 1
Quentyn Martell Valar Dohaeris 2
Tyene Sand Of Snakes and Sand 2
Nymeria Sand Of Snakes and Sand 3
The Bastard of Godsgrace Epic Battles 1
Darkstar Princes of the Sun 1

Events (12)
The Viper's Revenge Epic Battles 1
Narrow Escape Kings of the Storm 3
A Game of Cyvasse A Change of Seasons 3
The Viper's Rage Tales from the Red Keep 2
He Calls It Thinking Princes of the Sun 1
A Nest of Vipers Tourney For The Hand 2

Locations (12)
Bay of Ice Kings of the Sea 2
Sunspear Tourney Grounds On Dangerous Grounds 1
Street of Silk Lions of the Rock 1
Palace Fountains Princes of the Sun 3
Water Garden Princes of the Sun 2
Shadowblack Lane Core Set 1
Flea Bottom The Grand Melee 2

Attachments (3)
Oberyn's Guile Mask of the Archmaester 2
Longclaw A Sword in the Darkness 1

Personally I am not a fan of the Sand Snakes. I've tried a number of builds with them and in general I always end up feeling the deck would have been better without.

Martel can actually be a great house for melee. It doesn't rush as fast as Bara can but it has a lot of nice effects to bring to the melee table.

1. I have yet to have had a chance to play with it, but the new Quentyn should be amazing for Martel for melee. Just don't depend on him as your only source of card draw.

2. Taste for Blood - Power claim and challenge deterrent. Use challenge redirection and this for even more fun.

3. Myrcella - the Lanni/Martell Myrcella that allows you to swap titles is possibly the most impressive melee card out there. Sure you still need some good stuff on the table to stay in the game, but the control she gives over not just abilities but over supports and opposing gives you a huge amount of control over the game. Just make sure your Myrcella is the only one on the table.

4. The Red Viper - In melee there will almost always be someone that controls less characters than you. Great, great rush card.

5. Ellaria Sand - Possibly even better than the Viper. Steals power from ANY character in play anytime you lose a challenge. Often the MVP of a Martell melee deck. Works especially well with Taste for Blood.

6. Lost Oasis - Stealth on demand. Sure it's great offensively to kneel people out and win unopposed challenges, but this card should not be underestimated defensively in melee as well. Combine with Vengeful to make sure you can always oppose challenges even if you can't win.

7. Quentyn's Guard - read the stats and the text. Need we say more?

8. Darkstar and House Dayne Reserves - Handy to have in case you end up losing any intrigue challenges. Also handy to have or just imply you have to make your opponents wary of making intrigue challenges against you in the first place.

I like this discussion…

1. Quentyn seems pretty awesome, just not sure I trust the charagendas yet. Time will tell how good they really are.

2. Still don't trust Attachment reliability due to MP; in melee TfB will draw some hate and even without a MP player theres plenty of Attachment control out there.

3. Myrcella is amazing, running 3x with additional protection (Power of Blood, Bodyguard) ensures plenty of title trickery.

4. TRV - probably just a typo, but you need someone who controls more characters; the problem is that good players know that TRV wins games and will work together to get rid of him.

Not a fan of House Dayne Reserves, especially with the amount of Intrigue icons Martell will generally field, but Ellaria, Lost Oasis, QG and Darkstar are always welcome. So is Arianne

The decklist is interesting, it looks like a more focused/revamped version of a glass canon SS build. I rarely run 1x of anything other than Characters, so I'd probably ditch the HCiT, Walder, the Tourney Grounds, the Bays of Ice (not as reliable in melee), switch for ODG Myrcella, +1 Quentyn to help ensure you draw into him, toss in 2x Brothel Guard, add River Row and add Street of Steel since half your guys have M crests. Take Them by Surprise out of any House other than GJ is always a risk, in melee its a bit too much of a "please don't play Ahead of the Tide" for me.
The Vipers Revenge is an odd choice, but I could see how it would be useful for the delayed SS rush when you draw into it; bump to 2x if its been useful?

good players can work together to control and kill TRV all they want, all it takes is one good turn with him in conjunction with the Viper's Rage and your at 7 power, so they gimp him or kill him, power of blood should protect him but even still darkstar, arieanne and elliria can pick up the slack. i think hes far too good a card to not play because of how much a target he is

and i find it odd that you think the vipers rage is an odd choice, in melee it is one of the most effective martell cards for a lot of easy power. agree about take them by surprise too much of a risk

jack merridew said:

Oh, I don't think he shouldn't see play, like I said, he wins games… I just think every experienced player will recognize the threat and he draws a lot of hate; suddenly that Fat Bob on the table doesn't look like the guy everyone should worry about.

jack merridew said:

I think Viper's Revenge is odd choice, not Vipers Rage… to me its always been one of the weird clunky Epic Battles. It works great with TRV and/or To the Spears! but otherwise its a niche card, though having everyone knelt out in the Round before you kill your TRV with Wildfire and release the SS rush would be pretty useful.

Thank's for all the input!

I acutally ended up using most of these ideas in different combinations. The new Quentyn is AMAZING, the best chargenda so far imo, stacked 3 of him to be sure to get him, and once he was an agenda the draw just went through the roof.

Coupled him with alot of noble and hence uniques, and tried to squeeze in as much renown as I could get. Arianne is of course a must.

The Viper's Rage is a classic melee-winner IMO, opening up an opponent for what few power-grabign tricks you do have. Martell is certainly one of those houses in melee where I often find myself thinking that they have and endless stream of fantastic cards, but very few tricks to actually win, i.e. to make that final power rush before anyone pulls you down.

My unique take on the martells:

Inspiration: Yu-Gi-Ho, first season: Zodiak

x3 of all sand snakes characters

x1/2 red viper

x 3 that grief event (sorry, dont remember the name)

x 3 blood of the viper

locations/chars that give you influence

optional: psn dagger attachment, really messes up the enemy, and with the alchemist location you get a nice +2 str.

so you need to complete the puzzle:

1) have 3 influence potential in play

2) have grief in your hand

3) red viper in game with the blood of the viper attachment

4) get the red viper killed

5) use the grief event to bring ALL sand snake characters from your hand INTO PLAY

6) game over, they are all stealth, deadly, vengeful, have all conflicts colors.

i recommend:

* summoning season to get the red viper more easily

* valar morgolis / wildfire / ox-somethign or any other plot that will help you to kill the red viper

this tactic also makes people get paranoid so they mess up with their gameplan.

I've been running a sand snake rush deck for a couple of months now and everyone is terrfied of killing the Viper…but recently all the Stark players in my melee group have started using widows watch in combination with Rickon and Galbart Glover so when I pull my trick of using Valar Morghulis to kill everyone and trigger No Use for Grief there's usually alot of Tully characters left on the field and they normally have 3 power on Brynden by this point, I've been thinking about switching to the TftRK version of The Red Viper to help combat this, is it worth the trade off?