Strong Belwas

I can see it now, put him in a summer deck and run Summer Encampment (SA) to get a fresh start saving characters.

And with the Raven cycle getting re-printed, that becomes a possiblity for old and new players.

Omg :\ Immortal Targaryen

Yeah this card is sweet. About time a non-sucky Belwas came out. Although I was expecting a "joust" keyword (thematically), I will gladly take a 2-cost character that can provide 3 saves, and STILL get in a challenge!

Well he would only be able to do 2 saves unless you had an increased STR modifier on him because 3 saves would put him at -3 STR which would terminally kill him. That is unless you are cool with not returning to hand.

Ah yes - thanks for pointing that out (damn timing rules...). Still pretty cool.

Due to moribund state, Belwas can still use his response to save a character before dieing. But it's still a shame to lose him.

What's great is if you cancel the response, the gold is still placed on him but the save effect is cancelled.

very nice for dragons. lots of reliable saves with this and unburnt

With some trait manipulation and Southron Vessel (IG) you can move gold tokens from Belwas to your gold pool. Add Norvos (VD) to lower gold penalty. Now The Red Viper (APS) costs you "only" 5 gold out-of-house and he happens to work well with trait manipulation + Vessel. I don't know if it's worth it, but maybe you guys will come up with some ideas to make this viable in a deck.

Southron Vessel states that it has to be House Dayne characters - which makes it a lot harder, because then you need trait manipulation too :s

That's why I mentioned trait manipulation. Twice.

edit: Theoretically Rhaegar's Harp (BoRF) would be an option, but you don't want that ally trait and 4 gold for Old Nan (BoRF) is kind of expensive, so I'd say Copper Link (GotC) is the best (and quite good) solution here.

edit: Forgot about The Songs of Bael the Bard (AKitN), but it's probably better to either run another, better plot, or use this one for another effect like Dissension (QoD)

To be honest, that is too much preparation and dependence just for one card. Even with copper link x3 and At the Gates you would be committing too much just to revolve around this character. Unless there comes a way for a constant House Dayne trait, I don't think Southron Vessel will be paying off much. Fun idea though. (Sorry for no card links, doing this from phone)

I guess you're right. And it's a pity, because Targaryens have more cards that could benefit from trait manipulation (Ser Jorah Mormont (WLL) and Daario Naharis (WLL) among others) and moving gold would buff Grey Worm (QoD). I'm waiting now for a more efficient way to manipulate gold tokens on characters

Just use Unburnt (QoD) on him and some attachment recursion to get the attachment back.

You can't do that.

No attachments except Boon.

With Unburnt is a handy combo that shouldn't be too hard to get going.

And sorry Crow. For some reason I missed both instances of you mentioning trait manip. I guess I was overlooking it myself the first time and then realized it halfway through my thought process

I don't want to be too negative about it, but its very hard to make larger combos worth it tbh. But I guess I prefer it that way then how it is sometimes in Magic, where combo decks can win without ever interacting with the opponent's deck (unless counterspelled). I'm not gonna try to talk you out of it. It might actually work out if you find many elements to put into your deck that favors from it, like those you mentioned. But as Atticus is saying, its gonna take a lot of effort to get it going and it has a few weaknesses which your opponent probably will seek to exploit. And in the end, its not a combo that allows you to win once you get it going - which doesn't favor its risk vs reward balance.

I guess I should stop now ^^

You can't do that.

Bah, I always over look something. Ty for the correction.

Just looking at what you can attach to him, you could give him The Dragon's Blood (WotN) or Rich Lands and a Keep (LotR) and keep him alive with The Power of Blood (Core), which could be pretty awesome saves against a Valar turn. "I will save all the (unique) things!"

For something a bit simpler - a well timed Threat from the North (PotS) will get him into your discard pile so that he can be re-used (assuming you have him in 2X or 3X). You could also use Ambush from the Plains (QoD) to jump him in, save some characters, jump him back out.

A lot of work either way... but there are ways to keep him alive and, of course, you could totally use Maegi's Promise (QoD) to bring him back from the dead so he can save again.

After all is said and done, however, once he's saved three characters... that's three characters Targ used to have a hard time saving... so whether you go through the machinations to recycle him or not... he's still just plain awesome.

First Snow of Winter allows you to recycle him with relative ease as well.

I still like my complicated way of giving him a noble crest. You could save every unique character you had plus himself against Valar if you flipped PoB against it.

I still like my complicated way of giving him a noble crest. You could save every unique character you had plus himself against Valar if you flipped PoB against it.

His response is a limited response, so you could only save one character if Valar happened.

Just use Unburnt (QoD) on him and some attachment recursion to get the attachment back.

Unburnt (QoD) won't work with saving this card, because unburnt would have to save Belwas from dying. The terminal 0 STR effect prevents that completely. If we are still thinking about keeping him around for lots of saves. He is retrievable with To Be a Dragon (SB) and someone mentioned Maegi's Promise (QoD). Of course it's very possible to just flat out increase his STR by a number of ways so he can save more.

You can also bounce him with Called to Court (ODG). Side effect is some control on your opponents, though you leave open the possibility of them putting down a strong character for free.

Bah. Undone again. I give up on this week.