54 replies to this topic

[scantrell24]

Here's my current build. The combination of icon control with stealth seems like a natural way to guarantee unopposed challenges. I'm currently running it without any attachments, but I'm open to experimenting with Little Bird, Milk, Throwing Axe, and Seal. When the next pack hits, this deck gains Nymeria, Reader, and Raiding Longship. It's biggest weakness is a lack of repeatable card draw. If you don't find Great Kraken, or can't trigger it, you're in trouble.   

 

Plot (7)

1x  A Noble Cause

1x  Calling the Banners

1x  Confiscation

1x  Here to Serve

1x  Marched to the Wall

1x  Rise of the Kraken

1x  Wildfire Assault

 

Character (32)

1x  Aeron Damphair

1x  Arianne Martell

3x  Asha Greyjoy

3x  Balon Greyjoy

3x  Bastard Daughter

2x  Desert Scavenger

1x  Dornish Paramour

2x  Drowned Men

1x  Edric Dayne

2x  Euron Crow's Eye

3x  Iron Islands Fishmonger

2x  Littlefinger

2x  Lordsport Shipwright

2x  Maester Caleotte

1x  Maester Wendamyr

1x  Obara Sand

2x  Theon Greyjoy

 

Location (17)

2x  Great Kraken

3x  Iron Fleet Scout

3x  Sea Tower

1x  Sunspear

3x  The Kingsroad

3x  The Roseroad

2x  The Seastone Chair

 

 Event (11)

3x  Confinement

2x  Risen from the Sea

2x  Support of the People

2x  The Kraken's Grasp

2x  We Do Not Sow

[Barnie25]

Some questions?

 

Why no Seal of the Hand? Really makes Balon shine.

 

I don't like Littlefinger, to me he is rarely a good draw, instead I like summons over Here to Serve, I want to find Balon most of the time. Balon is the make it or break it card for me, Greyjoy is erally good with it and a bit underwhelming without him I have found.

 

Why no Rattleshirt Raiders? If you go the Seastone Chair route, isn't it a must to at least run one of them, you can discard the attachment when you win the challenge and then use the Chair to kill said character, quite the powerful combo.

 

How easy is it to trigger Support of the People in this build? I would probably run one and run a third Great Kraken over the second one instead.

 

Why no Little Birds? They are good on Edric, on Maester Wendamyr, every bomb Greyjoy character and gives you tears protection?

 

I know I am asking why a lot of cards arent in here and I would probably change a bunch of cards around but I am interested to hear your thought process on why you arent running the cards I mentioned.

[scantrell24]

Thanks for the feedback. This is my second draft so far, so I've played about a dozen games but nothing extensive. 

 

I'm definitely open to running 1 Seal and 2 Little Birds, but trying it without them right now. Zero attachments means my opponent's Confiscation does nothing or hits his own attachment. This deck is also relatively expensive and doesn't have much leftover gold to play attachments anyways.

 

I could make room for a Rattleshirt's Raiders, but again they're expensive and can't be reduced like the Drowned Men (which might become Black Wind's Crew). Basically it seems like a luxury, not a necessity.

 

Littlefinger is crucial for both money and draw. I'll cut to 1 copy if the Reader draws cards as expected.

 

Support is easy to trigger thanks to the Scouts.

[hagarrr]

With the Rattleshirt Raiders, you need to spend the 4 gold to bring them in - We Do Not Sow surely gives more flexibility in this; if the target characters has no attachments, then kneel the Seastone Chair to kill them. Use We Do Not Sow to remove a location. If they have an attachment, you can use WDNS to remove it for a lower cost than Rattleshirt Raiders.

 

Completely agree with Support of the People. I would go 3x Great Kraken and 1x Support of the People.

 

Little Bird - agree also.

 

Seal is a big Confiscation target, you probably need more than one to get good mileage from it...

[Serazu]

Seal is a big Confiscation target, you probably need more than one to get good mileage from it...

 

Yeah, but it's Balon we're talking about here (he's the likely candidate for the Seal): even one use out of the Seal can give the game.

[Barnie25]

House Greyjoy Banner of the Sun

Draw deck: 61 cards

Plot deck: 7 cards

Packs: Core Set (3), Taking the Black

 Plot (7)

1x  A Noble Cause

1x  Calling the Banners

1x  Confiscation

1x  Marched to the Wall

1x  Rise of the Kraken

1x  Sneak Attack

1x  Summons

 Character (31)

1x  Aeron Damphair

1x  Arianne Martell

3x  Asha Greyjoy

3x  Balon Greyjoy

3x  Bastard Daughter

2x  Desert Scavenger

2x  Drowned Men

1x  Edric Dayne

3x  Euron Crow's Eye

3x  Iron Islands Fishmonger

1x  Littlefinger

3x  Lordsport Shipwright

1x  Maester Caleotte

1x  Maester Wendamyr

1x  Rattleshirt's Raiders

2x  Theon Greyjoy

 Attachment (3)

1x  Little Bird

2x  Seal of the Hand

 Location (17)

3x  Great Kraken

3x  Iron Fleet Scout

2x  Sea Tower

1x  Sunspear

3x  The Kingsroad

3x  The Roseroad

2x  The Seastone Chair

 Event (10)

3x  Confinement

2x  Risen from the Sea

1x  Support of the People

2x  The Kraken's Grasp

2x  We Do Not Sow

Name

 

I would probably run it like this, what is different? My character suite is a bit different, I like Euron quite a bit, maybe more than I should, main difference is that I dont extremely care about littlefinger but do want the effect in my deck, so that is why I run one.

The attachments I already explained.

 

The plots is where my deck differs from yours. I want to have summons to find my Balon, I don't think Here to Serve has enough impact and I don't like Wildfire, I'd rather heavy a Sneak Attack for some extra punch or more closing power, it also helps to pay for stuff you need to get out like the Seal. I don't like the Marched but its probably needed, I'd rather run Clash of Kings instead of the Marched. Go all in on the power challenge and have 3 plots that can potentially claim double on the power challenge, combine that with the extra UO tech and you are on your way to a quick victory.

[scantrell24]

I went with Here to Serve partly for the higher initiative compared to Summons, but it's a close call between them.

 

Wildfire feels essential. I want a small board, since it's easier to stealth by 4-5 characters than 6-8 characters. Although if you're going all-in with the Balon strategy, you don't really care how many dudes they have. 

[GIBraag]

Although if you're going all-in with the Balon strategy, you don't really care how many dudes they have. 

 

You also don't need icon removal anymore.

[hagarrr]

And Ruben, if you're going with Voltron Balon, why both bannering Sun? Might as well banner Rose and put Margaery into the equation too.

 

I think Steven's deck is more versatile, and as such will certainly need a Wildfire to capitalise on stealth advantages

[PulseGlazer]

Beyond the White book gas a build for this.

[JoeFromCincinnati]

I like the build. But I think Varys belongs in this deck.

 

Of course, I'm biased because I play against ThroneRunner's Conniving Pirates build (http://thronesdb.com...ing-pirates-1.0) and Varys and Balon are the two scariest characters in that deck. And Varys is the only way he can beat me with it.

 

I dunno. Just a thought.

[Barnie25]

And Ruben, if you're going with Voltron Balon, why both bannering Sun? Might as well banner Rose and put Margaery into the equation too.
 
I think Steven's deck is more versatile, and as such will certainly need a Wildfire to capitalise on stealth advantages

How is his deck more versatile? This isnt a Voltron build at all. Seal is just money, it helps you in so many ways. For one it is anti kneel tech, it helps you push the game once you need it, gets you more mileage out of your loyal plot.

I am not saying Stevens build is bad and Wildfire isn't a bad solution, I just don't extremely like it. I also believe that all Greyjoy decks are by definition Balon centered if you go for UO tech as he makes that so much easier. The Sun banner gives you the tools to get that UO, so the banner choice wasn't in question.

[ojimijam]

 Plot (7)

1x  A Noble Cause

1x  Confiscation

1x  Filthy Accusations

1x  Here to Serve

1x  Rise of the Kraken

1x  Sneak Attack

1x  Wildfire Assault

 Character (31)

2x  Aeron Damphair

2x  Asha Greyjoy

3x  Balon Greyjoy

2x  Bastard Daughter

2x  Black Wind's Crew

2x  Desert Scavenger

2x  Drowned Men

1x  Edric Dayne

2x  Euron Crow's Eye

3x  House Dayne Knight

3x  Iron Islands Fishmonger

1x  Littlefinger

2x  Lordsport Shipwright

1x  Maester Caleotte

1x  Maester Wendamyr

2x  Theon Greyjoy

 Attachment (2)

2x  Little Bird

 Location (17)

2x  Great Kraken

3x  Iron Fleet Scout

3x  Sea Tower

1x  The Iron Throne

3x  The Kingsroad

3x  The Roseroad

2x  The Seastone Chair

 Event (11)

3x  Confinement

2x  Risen from the Sea

2x  Support of the People

2x  The Kraken's Grasp

2x  We Do Not Sow

 

So this is my (slightly updated) list that one our local winter kit tournament and ive used on octgn a little. A larger focus on int icons as i find these are often an UO weak point for decks. Dropped sunspear as im going first a lot and it normally acts a deterrent rather than a claim raise. Filthy accusations is always money, normally kneeling a stealth guy or some big threat so i can be more comfortable kneeling out my board.

 

[VonWibble]

If draw is such a problem in the op deck, why not run counting coppers?

Reader will help in a week or so with that also.

[scantrell24]

If draw is such a problem in the op deck, why not run counting coppers?

Because low economy is the other problem.

[JoeFromCincinnati]

Because low economy is the other problem.

 

Those two problems don't go well together

[Slippy]

Might as well post my thronesdb reply here, for more discussion:

 

Thanks for clearing that up. I’ve been play testing a bit with the previous iteration and here are some of my findings:

 

- Sunspear didn’t really seem to serve a clear purpose (at least to me). There wasn’t a situation where I wanted or needed it.

- The event package is really strong. I’ve done some pretty amazing things to force unopposed, to kill characters with we do not sow and seastone chair. I did sometimes have a lot of events in my openingshand, limiting my setups. I see you’ve taken some out, I would agree with that. I am going to miss Support of the People though, it’s pretty cool.

- Great Kraken; the deck kind of runs out of cards at a certain time with (the many) events (of the previous version) that you kind of always want to Kraken to really capitalise on your unopposed challenges. I think, if you’re not playing Support of the People, 3 is the only way to go. So agree on that.

- The reducers dudes are really strong, if only in setup.

- In the current Targ meta, Asha seems like a real liability. It kinda hurts to see, but I have to agree with your going down to 2 Asha’s.

- As few unique Plaza targets as possible. Definitely agree with the one-offs you’ve put into the deck.

- Not sure about the attachments. While I missed Little Bird at one point (losing Balon to a Tears but killing Dany with Chair in the same turn), I’m not too sure on the Seal. I know, it’s super strong on Balon, versus Baratheon, but it’s going to get removed 100% of the time. In my testing I didn't have that much gold to play around with (between the characters and the events). One of the strengths of the previous version was the no-attachments deal, all of a sudden, all these confiscations are actually a liability for your opponents own cards.

- Why two Summons? I know you play some one offs, it’s an extra draw, but it has no initiative. Wouldn’t one be enough? Marched is so strong.. Care to explain?

- How did you like Here To Serve? I see you’ve removed it. I liked it because it got one of those beasts out early, but it always felt awkward because I didn’t really know when to play it. Turn 1? Turn 2? etc.

- What was your reasoning behind including the Black Wind’s Crew? Your previous version did not have them if I a not mistaken. Do you think they are better than Drowned Men with all those boats?

- I disagree with Barnie25 on the Paramour (his remark on thronesdb). It forces through unopposed and is good versus Targ to kneel Rhaegal and Dany if necessary. It pulls hard to pass tricons into challenges as well, clearing the way for Seastone Chair and power challenges. 

- What are your thoughts on Dawn?

- I feel running no Support of the People is a mistake. Did you miss it in testing? I like to think of it as the flex spot among locations. 

- Arianne is pretty awesome, especially when Nymeria comes out, but what's her use in this deck right now?

- Do you feel 31 characters is enough? I kind of feel like I'd like to run more, but there's no room (and there's really no high quality characters left that are not going to be dupes).

[PatrickHaynes]

 

Here's my current build. The combination of icon control with stealth seems like a natural way to guarantee unopposed challenges. I'm currently running it without any attachments, but I'm open to experimenting with Little Bird, Milk, Throwing Axe, and Seal. When the next pack hits, this deck gains Nymeria, Reader, and Raiding Longship. It's biggest weakness is a lack of repeatable card draw. If you don't find Great Kraken, or can't trigger it, you're in trouble.   

 

Plot (7)

1x  A Noble Cause

1x  Calling the Banners

1x  Confiscation

1x  Here to Serve

1x  Marched to the Wall

1x  Rise of the Kraken

1x  Wildfire Assault

 

Character (32)

1x  Aeron Damphair

1x  Arianne Martell

3x  Asha Greyjoy

3x  Balon Greyjoy

3x  Bastard Daughter

2x  Desert Scavenger

1x  Dornish Paramour

2x  Drowned Men

1x  Edric Dayne

2x  Euron Crow's Eye

3x  Iron Islands Fishmonger

2x  Littlefinger

2x  Lordsport Shipwright

2x  Maester Caleotte

1x  Maester Wendamyr

1x  Obara Sand

2x  Theon Greyjoy

 

Location (17)

2x  Great Kraken

3x  Iron Fleet Scout

3x  Sea Tower

1x  Sunspear

3x  The Kingsroad

3x  The Roseroad

2x  The Seastone Chair

 

 Event (11)

3x  Confinement

2x  Risen from the Sea

2x  Support of the People

2x  The Kraken's Grasp

2x  We Do Not Sow

 

I am all about this deck Scantrell. I've been looking for a go first GJ deck that isn't just a scavenger hunt for Balon. What will you drop for Nymeria, the Reader, and the Raiding ship? 

[Slippy]

I played this deck in a small local tournament (attendance 14) Yesterday and came in third. I brought Scantrells second version (the one with attachments).


My games were as follows:



1. Loss to Greyjoy Fealty. He had had better draws, more initiatieve bidding and pressure due to 2x Sneak Attack and had Risen for my Seastone on both Asha and Balon. I had a small board of one or two characters all game. I still managed to go to 14 power, but lost just short. I made a mistake counting Rise of the Kraken as claim 1, coming up one power short (I calculated the win during the plot phase but apparantly forgot in the challenge phase), but on the other hand he miscounted the initiative (apparently he had a Kingsroad still) which would have given him the initiative and the game as well. So fair is fair.
2. Win to Baratheon/Lion. He kept an iffy hand and I opened Balon, Asha, Theon, Seal. He conceded turn 2 when I also dropped Seastone Chair.
3. Win versus Baratheon Fealty. I had a trip-Balon setup but he got the Mel to kneel him all day. He also had the Red Keep but Wendamyr was MVP as the little maester made it so he couldn’t trigger the Red Keep once. Euron was also very strong, but the minute he couldn't kneel Balon anymore, the game was over. He had some nice plays, like taking my Sow at the exact right time with Seen in Flames to save his Red Keep. This player eventually got second place in the tournament. Very nice guy to play against.

4. Modified loss versus my teammate with Targaryen/Rose who ended up winning the tournament (GIBraag on these forums). His plays are usually very solid and he is a strong technical player. I started out strong with Euron taking 3 or 4 Kingsroads but he stabilised before and after the Wildfire. After a while his board position was stronger than mine (Dany, Drogo, Dragons, Jorah). The only out for me was Balon, but I couldn’t find him. The turn I did eventually find Balon was the turn after Euron wasn’t able to take a Kingsroad from his discard pile and so I couldn’t play him. That was the last turn of the game and Chris took it modified.

5. Win versus Targ Fealty. His opening was mediocre, as was mine. I, however, drew into Euron and the Seal of the Hand. I ended up taking this pretty easily because my opponent wasn’t able to draw into his big hitters. He didn’t play summons, which helped me, and Euron pillaged one of his Dany’s which, I guess, helped me out in the end.





My view on the deck so far:

- The deck worked well throughout the day. When you’re winning with Greyjoy it makes you feel like a boss. ‘Yeah, I can’t do anything against that, unopposed I guess.’

- You’re usually going to have a really hard time without the Great Kraken. I still played one Support of the People in my deck (as the 61th card) and was happy to be able to get it out that way at least once. The deck, like you already said, tends to run out of gas without it. Maybe it will be a bit different when the Reader comes out, but you need Kraken right now.

- Even though I didn’t run into Plaza of Punishment (people said they were under too much pressure or didn’t dare risk it versus Sow and Euron) I still liked all the one-offs. For example, Edric came up in one game (in which someone had to play a Filthy Accusations on him as they couldn’t afford another stealth on Power) but there hasn’t been a situation I would have wanted him twice.

- Arianne felt kind of awkward to me. I didn’t need her Intrigue icon today, so maybe that contributed, but I kind of felt I didn’t want nor need her. There are also only a few cards that are worth putting into play with her. She becomes a lot better when Nymeria comes out, for sure, but for now she was a bit underwhelming.

- Dornish Paramour. I saw myself discard her to Reserve twice. I didn’t really need the intrigue today (she’s really good versus Tyrion for example so you can Stealth on Power) so she was a bit underwhelming as well.

- The event package is really strong but it’s hard to have what you need when you need it. I guess there’s no real remedy for that at this moment.

- I feel like I would want to replace some of the Martell characters (like Arianne, Paramour) for characters that ‘do more’ (at least until the chapter packs comes out) but there aren’t really any characters that ‘do more’ right now that fit this deck. We play all of them.

- Martell improves the setup of this deck. These cheap Martell characters really add to the quality of setups (especially with those Scouts, they are so good). Bastard’s Daughter is great, because it adds pressure due to its effect. The Camels are awesome for setup. Caleotte is a beast if you draw him.

- I got lucky running into only one Dracarys all day. So not too sure on how big of an impact it is. Feels like a pretty big one.

- The attachments were golden. Seal won me two games, and Littlebird kept Balon in a game I would’ve lost without him. I was almost always happy to see them.

- The Plot deck is pretty solid. The only one I didn’t really need all day was Marched to the Wall. Maybe I’ll try a Filthy Accusations in its place. Noble Cause is awesome. People almost always go Calm or something like that first turn, win for me. I liked Here to Serve, not sure whether it belongs here (more creatures and both Maesters are very strong)





Thanks for the deck idea Scantrell, love to hear your thoughts on the above.

[scantrell24]

Hey guys, there's lots of great feedback again! I'm committed to playing Greyjoy Sun at my SC this coming weekend, so I'll check back with a full report afterwards. 

 

I'll try to quickly respond to all the comments now.

 

1. Sunspear is on the chopping block. It's nice to have the pressure, and have a fallback if I'm not first player, but it's competing for space with a 3rd Scout, a 2nd Raiding Longship, a 2nd Seastone Chair, and the attachment package of 1-2 Seal and 2 Little Birds. 

 

2. My current event package is 2 Grasp, 2 Risen, 2 Sow, 1 Support, and 3 Confinement. The Support is essentially a 4th Great Kraken, or a Chair if I already have my draw engine. I'm debating a couple of Hand's Judgement over the 2nd Grasp and the 3rd Confinement. 

 

3. I'm cutting either Obara or Dornish Paramour for a 3rd Desert Scavenger to lower the curve. Still deciding which.

 

4. I'm debating Here to Serve vs Summons, Marched vs Filthy, and Calling vs Calm. I'm having a little trouble because I generally want to Wildfire around turn 3 to thin the board, so I don't want to fetch my Maester before then. 

 

5. Black Wind's Crew are simply cheaper than Drowned Men, so they get the nod here, although I'm debating cutting BWC as well for Alannys (she's unique to trigger the Reader, and has an intrigue icon) and a 3rd Shipwright (to lower the curve).

 

6. I'm considering cutting the 1x Arianne. She's just so expensive. Probably stays though for the intrigue icon and versatility.