My first GenCon was a sweet experience. I had no idea what to expect, but when I first walked into the exhibit hall I was filled with excitement--so many games, so little time. The guy in the teenage mutant ninja turtle costume was quite impressive. It was entirely made of balloons.

Before discussing the Agot results and my thoughts on the game, I have to thank Corey and Erick who taught me how to play this game competitively before worlds last year. Getting beaten repeatedly for months by them is the best Gencon prep anyone could ask for. Also, I would like to thank Corey for building decks with me all summer; we built 3 or 4 decks that we thought could be competitive from every house--only to find out we were wrong almost every time. Because I am hyper-competitive, I can't discuss the exact decks I played (card for card), but I will say that it isn't just a Martell Quentyn Joust Deck--it is THE Martell Quentyn Joust deck, and all other Quentyn decks are sub-par. I know this because I playtested extensively all summer; probably more than anyone in the world.

This next part is slightly emo--I move across country to San Francisco this Thursday. So this gencon victory was bittersweet, and felt like an end to an entire year of hanging out with friends in the DC meta and working on thrones over and over and over. I have a lot of friends in DC and they are kind of separated into three groups--thrones friends and former work friends and my girlfriends' friends (to a lesser extent). Even though I have only known the thrones friends for less than 1 year now, I feel like they are some of my closest friends in this city. That is a testament to the game and the bonds that it helps form . Ok. I'll stop being emo now.

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Melee -- Stark Siege -- 1st place

Most people would say melee is a joke (like Sandy did when he belittled my melee title at the bar even after I bought him a Jameson) and I would tend to agree. I won because of luck and a coinflip by Jim at the final table. Jim (and Danigral) was in a king making position between me and my friend Chad J. I won the coin flip and won the overall. This is the luck part of melee. The skill part comes in deckbuilding. You can make a deck that will Top 16 in melee every time. Which is what my deck was designed to do--make Top 16. From there, anything can happen.

The funniest part of melee was my first table with Darknoj. I had never met him before but it was a pleasure. It was a three person table that he won, but it was me, him and a girl whose name I can't remember, who I am not sure how old she was. Anyways, these melee tables were double-wide, too wide, and Darknoj and I were sitting on one side and she was sitting on the other side and the game only lasted 1 plot. He and I spent the entire first plot just trying to tell this girl who to help win--I felt kind of bad, but it is funny in retrospect. I ended up losing because he is more convincing than I am, and his dragons benefited from epic battles perfectly.

Joust -- 2nd place -- Martell No Agenda

The Swiss rounds involved a bunch of games that were about 10 minutes long. I had a notable mirror matches versus Dusty (swhiteboy) and Rick which were a bit longer but I won. I was 5 and 0 heading into game 6 where I played against Tim who eventually beat me at the final table.

Game 6: Me (5-0) v Tim (5-0) (Martell v Martell) - We were playing card for card the same deck (I think). The night before we all knew that our biggest competition would be martell quentyn so we all added secret tech to the deck to tech each other. He just seemed to have all the answers, and he calls it thinking's for days. Loss. (5-1)

Top 16 - Me v Benton (Martell v Targ KOTHH) - Benton was playing a version of targ kothh that Corey and I had kind of built in playtesting. It had golden tooth mines and meraxses for draw and even a crone or two. Unfortunately for him, I invoked my anti targ strategy right from the start--molest their hand. I pummeled him with intrigue challenges and limited his options. Also, I ensured to kneel out every turn so he would win dominance to keep my power rush going.

Top 8 - Me v Sorry I forget your name (Martell v Martell) - This wasn't a mirror match as he was playing more knights and more house dayne stuff--and muster--which is a bad card. Turn 1 I had double bannerman and by the middle of turn 3 he shook hands with me. He never really got off to a good start. So I spent the next 40 minutes seeing who would win between Erick and Tim in the martell mirror match to make the top 4 (it was obviously tim).

Top 4 - Me v Chris (playing greyjoy winter choke no agenda) - This was the closest match that I won all day. Chris is a gamer--through and through. He knows what he is doing more than any other opponent I played and I could tell. I think if he would have beaten me he would have taken the whole tournament down--which is no offense to Tim who won it all, but Tim basically won it all with no practice, while I practiced extensively (50 plus games) against all the greyjoy builds we could think of this summer. Chris understands the subtler points of the game--which is lost on most inexperienced players, and only gained from playing against top players and asking them why they do what they do.

Anyways, Chris was dominant and came out fast, but with no wintertime marauders. That is the key card to the deck to apply pressure and without those it becomes significantly harder. If you watch the video when they post it, you will see a critical turn where I attack power with the bannerman and he blocks with his character agenda. I then bounce it with arianne mid challenge. He briefly, very briefly, puts the card in his hand and then puts it back on the table and tries to cancel with kerwin. I don't let him take it back. This may be seen as a **** move. But it is a top 4 table in a big tournament, and I just needed that play to happen or I may have lost the whole thing.

I made a few other mistakes this game too, because both boards were filled with characters and no one was valaring. Had he stopped me from getting to 15 on the 5th plot, he would have been able to valar plot 6 and draw 3 cards from his agenda and he would have been right back in it. In the end, it was my most difficult non-mirror match.

One of the keys to the game is winning initiative against a time for ravens on turn 1. For you newer players, my advice to you is to not let a choke player marshall first--it is just bad business for you.

Final Game - Me v Tim rematch of the top 2 seeds.

I had experience over him and I thought I had the edge in this matchup. But anything can happen in a mirror match, and I clearly didn't have what it takes to win melee, joust and overall all in one tournament. There will be a video of this match so I don't need to go into detail. Congrats to Tim for taking it down after we just handed him the deck the night before. Very impressive.

So my two losses of the day were to my own deck. Fair enough. That is the drawback of playing the same deck as your friends--you might not get the glory for yourself. I tried to come up with a secret better deck than the Martell before gencon, but it wasn't to be. That house of dreams drawback is too steep.

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Thoughts on the game - I got the card design and the overall trophy, so that is pretty awesome. I would like to make a card that makes control more viable. I think it is bad for the game that a first turn high claim intrigue with a decent board position all but wins you the game. If anyone watched my matches all day you would have seen what I mean. If control becomes more consistent, player skill will be more important. It won't be a game of simply getting a fast start and keeping your lead. I think the cards at your command mechanic coming out will also help fix this issue that I have with the game. I love the game, and I think it is improving and moving in the right direction.

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props - To the DC meta. You guys are awesome, and sometimes we get a bad rap which is probably deserved. It sucks that you guys are losing your best player in me. I can't wait to move to San Francisco and build a new meta, the right way.

Francisco G. - Making that flight--that shows dedication to the game. I hope to see you again some day.

Darknoj - You had me fooled on the morning of the joust. You said you were playing the crouching tiger, hidden weapon deck. I quickly ran to a dark corner of the convention hall to look up the list and figure out what I would do against it. When I heard you were playing greyjoy I chuckled to myself--you got me bro. Also, props to countering siege decks with the dragons. Well done all around.

Dusty - You and the NC guys are awesome. Hopefully, I'll be able to visit you guys next year for your regional, but it is a longgg way from San Fran.

Jim - Playing candy crush at the final melee table--Like a Boss. Thanks for helping me win; Collusion.

slops - to gotlove for trying to tear down a great community, pre-gencon.

Chad J. - You are just a rounder who forgot the cardinal ******* rule, always leave yourself an out bro.

Chad B./Kid - For not showing up.

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Contrary to popular belief, we play a lot of "fun" decks in DC. We just don't play them anywhere near a tournament setting.

See you all at worlds -- I'll give you a hint to what I am bringing: The best decks.

i generally think the overall title is stupid, but it was well deserved this year. i dont think anyone would argue otherwise.

I concur Dennis. The overall title is kind of dumb, but it is the most winnable of the three titles. Because a good player should make top 16 in both tournaments without exception. And all you can ask for is top 16 in this game.--so that is what makes the overall meaningful.

I'm pretty sure you don't mean to say that there are only 16 good players in this game...

Congrats, Steve. Well fought, and your welcome.

No, you are right Dan, there are more than 16 good players. But I believe with enough work and dedication, a good player can make top 16 fairly often.--after that it is all about matchups and some luck.

And thanks again for that final melee table (sorry I had to kill your viper).

No, you are right Dan, there are more than 16 good players. But I believe with enough work and dedication, a good player can make top 16 fairly often.--after that it is all about matchups and some luck.

And thanks again for that final melee table (sorry I had to kill your viper).

I just wish that there were pro-teams like Ben was talking about for LoL. I would quit and go full-time like you.

If there are pro teams, I got dibbs on Stannis and the Stags as a team name.

Every time control becomes too consistent, the NPE level rises. There's a reason why martell and lannister have a lot of cards restricted. Its not fun when the control player locks you down every turn.

Its also not fun when the perfect storm can just take a game away on turn one.

And generally consistency in control is related to card draw, you need options to bear, but to keep it too consistent, you don't want these options repeatable. (Otherwise it becomes too easy to just lock everything down).

Or if it is repeatable, it should be highly situational, and allow the opponent some control. Taste for Blood is a good example (and my favorite card in the game).

If you want to add consistency to control, make a good agenda, but its a challenge because its so easy to make the agenda over powered, or not worth the cost.

Heres a random one:

Best Served Cold

House Martell Only

Players do not claim power for unopposed military or intrigue challenges.

Players claim one power if they lose an unopposed military or intrigue challenge.

This is an example, and one fitting of martell as it upends the table and forces players to think if they actually want to initiate a challenge.

i generally think the overall title is stupid, but it was well deserved this year. i dont think anyone would argue otherwise.

You really think no one would argue otherwise? Is that a challenge?!?!?!

There's definitely value in it, though it may not be properly weighted, but I think it's easy to see who is better when you have a person go 1st and 2nd and 1st and 3rd who is best. They definitely need to do some theory and stats and stuff to nail it meaningfully, but it's definitely not a meaningless title... I'll think on what the proper weightings might be and do some research and see how it compares if I ever get enough motivation to care about it.

i generally think the overall title is stupid, but it was well deserved this year. i dont think anyone would argue otherwise.

You really think no one would argue otherwise? Is that a challenge?!?!?!

There's definitely value in it, though it may not be properly weighted, but I think it's easy to see who is better when you have a person go 1st and 2nd and 1st and 3rd who is best. They definitely need to do some theory and stats and stuff to nail it meaningfully, but it's definitely not a meaningless title... I'll think on what the proper weightings might be and do some research and see how it compares if I ever get enough motivation to care about it.

Who won overall at Gencon last year? If you polled 100 active thrones players right now (who were also active last year this time), how many do you think would know? I'd guess less than 5. To me that means its meaningless.

Edit: also, when i said no one would argue otherwise, i was referring to arguing that it was well deserved this year by the winner, not that it was meaningless.

I figured the only Champions people remember are Mathlete and Dobbler, because of their community involvement.

Granted, I don't know how famous a specific champion is considering I met a decent number of them.

I don't know about recent games, but I do know Tzu-Mainn deserved the overall champion title when he got it. Maybe dobbler or mathlete can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe he got a full round of applause since he had been trying for the title for quite some time.

Past Gencon's had provided Joust AND Melee champions with card designs as prizes, correct? I kind of wish they had done that this year.

Bomb, that was the case when Gencon was "Worlds" - now that's only the case at Worlds.

i generally think the overall title is stupid, but it was well deserved this year. i dont think anyone would argue otherwise.

You really think no one would argue otherwise? Is that a challenge?!?!?!

There's definitely value in it, though it may not be properly weighted, but I think it's easy to see who is better when you have a person go 1st and 2nd and 1st and 3rd who is best. They definitely need to do some theory and stats and stuff to nail it meaningfully, but it's definitely not a meaningless title... I'll think on what the proper weightings might be and do some research and see how it compares if I ever get enough motivation to care about it.

Who won overall at Gencon last year? If you polled 100 active thrones players right now (who were also active last year this time), how many do you think would know? I'd guess less than 5. To me that means its meaningless.

Edit: also, when i said no one would argue otherwise, i was referring to arguing that it was well deserved this year by the winner, not that it was meaningless.

I think popular opinion is a bad example. It really reflects a lack of knowledge. Do the top 100 decathletes know who is going to win the Olympics? If the answer is no, does that make the Olympic Decathlon meaningless?

In AGoT, we have an INCREDIBLY geographically disparate community along with no tourneys that mimic Gencon. I don't think there is a discernible way under the current competitive structure for anyone to have enough knowledge to determine the answer to that question. If we had a pro-level circuit and all the top players knew each other and played against each other frequently, I bet we would have a far more conclusive guess as to who would win that title.

I agree that this, and really ALL of the overall titles, are really well deserved. You have to come out ahead of the competition in two fairly disparate styles. I bet a lot of the issue is that Melee has been derided as non-viable competitively in the past and is now actually gaining some credibility.

Reread what I wrote. I wasn't asking if people knew who would win this year, I was asking how many people knew who won it LAST year. And yes, I am willing to bet all Olympic athletes know who won the gold in their respective sport the previous year. No one in aGoT knows who won overall at Gencon last year because no one cares. Ergo, it is meaningless.

It is the most winnable of the three titles (melee, joust and overall). It is also the one that gives the card design.

But yeah, I know what you mean Dennis. I'd much rather trade my melee and overall title for the joust title. Tim was just too good on that day.

Reread what I wrote. I wasn't asking if people knew who would win this year, I was asking how many people knew who won it LAST year. And yes, I am willing to bet all Olympic athletes know who won the gold in their respective sport the previous year. No one in aGoT knows who won overall at Gencon last year because no one cares. Ergo, it is meaningless.

Congratulations, Steve! Thanks for the compliments, they are appreciated. As I said after the game, I don't begrudge you at all not allowing me the takeback, and I felt bad about getting mad about it. DC's loss is the west coast's gain- look forward to battling many more times!

Are there any deck lists posted yet from Gencon???

Are there any deck lists posted yet from Gencon???

Four Top 16 lists have been posted; Francisco G 's, Kyle S 's, Alex H's and Jon A's .

Reread what I wrote. I wasn't asking if people knew who would win this year, I was asking how many people knew who won it LAST year. And yes, I am willing to bet all Olympic athletes know who won the gold in their respective sport the previous year. No one in aGoT knows who won overall at Gencon last year because no one cares. Ergo, it is meaningless.

Hah. Well I still doubt that's a good example. I don't remember the name of anyone who won last year and I'm pretty active. Heck I don't know the name of the guy who won this year and I actively look for this stuff (though I don't try all that hard to internalize it). I still think we're talking a knowledge issue again.

Does FFG even celebrate their overall champion (other than the card design)? I don't recall if they post pictures, tournament reports, and the like for the overall champion. I remember Bruno's articles (partially because they include his picture and because I vaguely know who he is), but that's about it. Now I kind of want to do a poll... Hahahahahaha.