I've used a dragon deck in four player long ago, against an asshai shadow, lannister kneel, and greyjoy discard decks. I kept getting locked down, I got fed up and crafted a Brotherhood deck, which fares way better, but I thought about bringing the dragons back every now and then, but I'm haunted by memories of crushing defeats. Is there a way to salvage dragons in melee, or should I just move on for good? The dragon deck was your run-of-the-mill Heir to the iron throne agenda, 3 dragons+Dany (QOD, of course) very ambush-heavy with true queen's harbinger and plenty of influence providing locations, trait manipulation to turn my other characters into dragons, and dragon's lore to summon Balerion.

I kept getting crushed by various kill cards, kneel effects,and other things that target characters without an intrigue icon, such as wicked seductress, M argaery Tyrell (Tftrk) and The only game that matters (LotR) And of course the horrible horrible: Shadows and Spiders (LotR) plot card, which effectively caused me to miss a turn. Wex Pyke (Kings of the sea) made my dragons unable to block unless I got Daemon Blackfyre (Tftrk) which I only acquired recently. The Iron Throne and Lannisport Brothel (Both LotR) kept me on lockdown. And Nurtured by the Crone can stop Viserion and Drogon from targeting unique characters and locations, and Seasick (Kings of the Sea) hurts aswell because my influence is usually spent by the challenge phase. It just seems like there's so much working against me, is there any hope?

Dragons can be a fantastic deck in melee with the right plot cards and theme.

I would immediately suggest playing KOTHH instead of the iron throne agenda. I would lose Balerion and Dragon Lore and concentrate on 3 Dragons with Daenarys and bouncing Khal Drogo.

Then build in the Ambush and burn.

So basically the idea is to win before all those terrible things happen to me?

So basically the idea is to win before all those terrible things happen to me?

Well that is always good but here is an explanation

By changing to KOTHH you immediately protect your cards a little better whilst once again becoming a threat yourself in intrigue as well as considerably weakening cards such as shadows and spiders.

Margaery et al can be dealt with by burn, Flame kissed and Forever Burning combo does the trick nicely.

With KOTHH you have two influence to use which will aid your ambushes and in melee you can always do a nice slow start by playing plot Across The Summer Sea (6,0,0) and potentially following up with Loyalty Money Can Buy which generally provides you with two turns of not getting attacked/damaged and assess the landscape.

There will ALWAYS be cards to hurt the Dragons and from experience nobody likes to see the Targaryens with cards in their hand, but remember, you are the Dragons !

Dragons are great, they have answers to most of the melee decks out their. I took the following dragon deck with minor edits to gencon this year and took ~7th in melee with it, maybe some of it will inspire you.

House (1)
House Targaryen (Core) x1


Agenda (1)
The Maester's Path (GotC) x1


Character (28)
Balerion the Black (RotO) x3
Daenerys Targaryen (QoD) x3
Rhaegal (QoD) x3
Viserion (QoD) x2
Oldtown Scholar (FtC) x3
Linked Advisor (TIoR) x1
Strong Belwas (VD) x3
Archmaester Marwyn (CD) x1
True-Queen's Harbinger (QoD) x3
Brown Ben Plumm (Core) x1
Maester Aemon (Core) x1
Oldtown Advisor (GotC) x1
Black Hatchling (DB) x3


Location (17)
Khal Drogo's Tent (QoD) x1
Summer Sea (Core) x3
Meereenese Fighting Pit (ARotD) x2
Great Pyramid of Meereen (AHM) x1
Kingsroad Fiefdom (QoD) x3
Shivering Sea (KotS) x2
Yunkai (QoD) x2
Street of Sisters (Core) x1
Flea Bottom (TGM) x1
Shadowblack Lane (Core) x1


Event (8)
Dance With Dragons (Core) x3
Desperate Measures (TCC) x1
The Dragon Strikes (GotC) x2
At the Night They Howl x2


Attachment (7)
Dragon Lore (CbtC) x3
Black Iron Link (MotA) x1
Copper Link (GotC) x1
Valyrian Steel Link (HtS) x1
Tin Link (CbtC) x1


Plot (7)
Spending the Winter Stores (QoD) x1
Called to Court (ODG) x1
Summoning Season (Core) x1
An Empty Throne (KotS) x1
The Power of Blood (Core) x1
Fortified Position (LoW) x1
Into the Lists (TftH) x1

With cards such as Young Griff, Long Lances, Meereenese Fighting Pit, To Be a Dragon and At Night They Howl, Kneel poses no real threat against Dragon decks.

Dragons are great, they have answers to most of the melee decks out their. I took the following dragon deck with minor edits to gencon this year and took ~7th in melee with it, maybe some of it will inspire you.

House (1)

House Targaryen (Core) x1

Agenda (1)

The Maester's Path (GotC) x1

Character (28)

Balerion the Black (RotO) x3

Daenerys Targaryen (QoD) x3

Rhaegal (QoD) x3

Viserion (QoD) x2

Oldtown Scholar (FtC) x3

Linked Advisor (TIoR) x1

Strong Belwas (VD) x3

Archmaester Marwyn (CD) x1

True-Queen's Harbinger (QoD) x3

Brown Ben Plumm (Core) x1

Maester Aemon (Core) x1

Oldtown Advisor (GotC) x1

Black Hatchling (DB) x3

Location (17)

Khal Drogo's Tent (QoD) x1

Summer Sea (Core) x3

Meereenese Fighting Pit (ARotD) x2

Great Pyramid of Meereen (AHM) x1

Kingsroad Fiefdom (QoD) x3

Shivering Sea (KotS) x2

Yunkai (QoD) x2

Street of Sisters (Core) x1

Flea Bottom (TGM) x1

Shadowblack Lane (Core) x1

Event (8)

Dance With Dragons (Core) x3

Desperate Measures (TCC) x1

The Dragon Strikes (GotC) x2

At the Night They Howl x2

Attachment (7)

Dragon Lore (CbtC) x3

Black Iron Link (MotA) x1

Copper Link (GotC) x1

Valyrian Steel Link (HtS) x1

Tin Link (CbtC) x1

Plot (7)

Spending the Winter Stores (QoD) x1

Called to Court (ODG) x1

Summoning Season (Core) x1

An Empty Throne (KotS) x1

The Power of Blood (Core) x1

Fortified Position (LoW) x1

Into the Lists (TftH) x1

Out of curiosity: why black hatchling over Drogon?

With cards such as Young Griff, Long Lances, Meereenese Fighting Pit, To Be a Dragon and At Night They Howl, Kneel poses no real threat against Dragon decks.

Those are great answers to kneeling effects, but the fact that my whole playgroup has nurtured by the crone, and every other cancel card under the sun that they save just for me, still hurts. What would be some good answers to text-box blanking effects like Meera Reed and Margaery Tyrell (Tftrk)? The Black Cells causes big problems for me too.