Here There Be Dragons! (Tulsa Regional Melee - tied for 1st)

I'm curious as to your 7th plot....

D'oh! Summoning Season in case I needed Dany.

Why Jack of all trades ?

Why Jack of all trades ?

Sorry - I never noticed this question. Firstly, he's a cheap tri-con. Granted, he's an ally, but hard to complain about 2G, 2 STR tri-con and the ability to take on any crest.

That said, he's a holdover from a previous build that included Daemon Blackfyre and two Power of Arms. Since he's neutral, Daemon wouldn't give him a War Crest, but since he could give himself one, it was a nice add. But, he's resource easy and gives an extra intrigue icon for defense, which is always helpful.

Like your deck. Why Power of Arms? Why Dragon Fear and why Bitter Crone?

Like your deck. Why Power of Arms? Why Dragon Fear and why Bitter Crone?

Power of Arms was a bad choice. I never played it - it's a holdover from a different build and I just never pulled it. I wanted to have as much 2 claim as I could in there, but there are other, better plots.

Dragon Fear in Melee is amazing - lets you choose who dies for military claim. Bitter Crone ensure they can't be saved. With the Dragons in play, military presence is pretty high and preventing a save can be helpful. If someone attacks you and you can't win the Military challenge, you use Bitter Crone for soak. Win-win.

Power of Arms was a bad choice. I never played it - it's a holdover from a different build and I just never pulled it. I wanted to have as much 2 claim as I could in there, but there are other, better plots.

Dragon Fear in Melee is amazing - lets you choose who dies for military claim. Bitter Crone ensure they can't be saved. With the Dragons in play, military presence is pretty high and preventing a save can be helpful. If someone attacks you and you can't win the Military challenge, you use Bitter Crone for soak. Win-win.

Sounds about right! I'm running a similar deck (Kind of trying to make a Dragon Melee Rush deck) and it looks (at least some things) like yours, and I'm getting ideas! Now, what are you gonna use as your 7th plot since Power Of Arms is gone?

Also, since I'm kind of new here, and I can't really seem to find out exactly how these forums work, could you tell me how I can post my deck so you can see what I'm talking about?

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Now, what are you gonna use as your 7th plot since Power Of Arms is gone?

That's a tough choice. I was thinking that I might try either Twist of Fate or Focused Offense for the big finish. They're both risky plots as they have huge downsides so you only want to use them if you're sure you can close it that turn.

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<br /> Also, since I&#39;m kind of new here, and I can&#39;t really seem to find out exactly how these forums work, could you tell me how I can post my deck so you can see what I&#39;m talking about?<br />

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On the toolbar you should see a deck box, click on that and it will take you to the deck editor.
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How do you use Focused Offense? I've tried it but it doesn't work very well with me.

Instead, I play with An Empty Throne and I find 3 blue challenges with renown, stealthy dragons that do not kneel is pretty satisfying.

Well, I've only ever used Focused Offense once and it was to great effect, but it's a late game choice. If I have all my pieces in place and believe I can win that turn, I'll play it to close out the game with a 3 claim power challenge - with Yunkai and Rhaegal (assuming you have four dragons in play), pick the right person and you've got 9 power in a single power challenge: 1 for printed Renown (Balerion), 1 for Yunkai giving Renown, 4 for Rhaegal's ability and 3 for claim. That should win you the game if the deck is working as it should. If somehow it doesn't work, then, yes, the plot will hurt you immensely as you can only declare a single defender to any attack. I try to only play the plot if I only need somewhere between 5 to 8 power to win because Yunkai can be cancelled.

On the other hand, imagine having 4 Dragons just like you said. With Daenerys supporting them and having Yunkai.

Plot Phase, you play An Empty Throne and end up having 3 Power challenges.

So it's reknown x3, Yunkai reknown x3, Rhaegal's ability, Claim x3, Unopposed(maybe, after 3 attacks and 3 stealths), and you still have the Military Challenge just in case, and are able to defend so that if somehow you get cut you can survive.

In a game, I only had Daenerys(with Rhaegar's Harp) and Balerion and gained 15 power (also used Make An Example) without even initiating a Military Challenge.

True, true. I don't have anything in the deck that gives Dany the Dragon trait, so I couldn't run that combo. Rhaegal wouldn't trigger unless I could do that. It's something I've considered. I tested it with Blood of the Dragon, but I found the expense hard to justify (though that plus 6 is pretty freakin awesome).

Loving this deck. Bitter Crone and Dragon Fear are great additions.

True, true. I don't have anything in the deck that gives Dany the Dragon trait, so I couldn't run that combo. Rhaegal wouldn't trigger unless I could do that. It's something I've considered. I tested it with Blood of the Dragon, but I found the expense hard to justify (though that plus 6 is pretty freakin awesome).

Rhaegar's Harp (BoRF) is a nice cheap way to give Danny the dragon trait.

I've considered that too... but EVERY trait? That's got its own set of dangers. There are so many cards that can do things based upon traits that the opponent paying attention now realizes Dany has the Ally trait. Well... crap.

That's true also. Suppose you might be better of with Copper Link (GotC) for granting the dragon trait. Much safer that way.

Exactly my thought - haha! I've started playing around with Maester's and Dragons... not sure yet if I'd go full Maester's Path (though very tempting) or stick with HttIT. Still tweaking that idea. There's just so much utility in those chains and winning challenges tends to be fairly easy with Dragons... just balancing that with the number of Maester's you may need in order to run it efficiently and still gain max benefit from the Dragons... I think it can be done, but much play testing will be required.

I mean, Linked Advisor (TIoR) as an in-house Maester is already incredibly tempting... throw Apprentice Collar (GotC) for the extra trait protection and you're suddenly +2 for every chain. Pretty sweet.

Yea and the ability to give an INT icon to a dragon is always good for business.

And Old Nun or camp fire mims?

What are your first targets for Building Season?

Yunkai, almost every time. Getting Renown on a Dragon can be the game winning move. That said, I didn't always choose to run it. It's a risky card, even in Melee. There are some seriously excellent locations in a lot of decks, so I only ran it if I thought my power rush was moving too slowly or if I thought it could push the win that turn.

Can I just say, it seems almost crazy to not be playing The Red Keep, because 3 initiative is stupidly good considering you don't play Knights of the Hollow Hill.

Instead of Jack of all trades, I'm playing two Long Lances, which also prove to be amazing. I don't understand the one spot for Ser Jorah, either. Why is he in the deck, because I don't see any synergy?

Furthermore, you can't play Superior Claim and Make an Example because they're both restricted in Melee, so instead of the three Make an Examples (because I don't have them) I'm running a third Superior Claim and two Maegi's Promises to just in case they kill my Dany, or maybe my Rhaegal (assuming they kill it after I ambush it in, because otherwise I'll only play it if I'm duplicating it). Any thoughts on this would be appreciated, because I'm still new to the game, and would like to hear from the people with experience.

All good points - but you first need to look at the date for this deck before commenting on what cards are restricted and why I don't have Long Lances in there.

In April of 2012, those cards weren't restricted and Long Lances didn't exist.

That Jorah is a 2 cost, for 3 str Tricon with Stealth. This was before the new Jorah existed. With Dragons, cost curve is a huge problem and being able to defend Intrigue challenges is a must. Add him to a Dragon challenge and you've got multiple Stealth bodies performing challenges. He's only in there as a single for the very reason you mention - there's no real add'l synergy. He's just a solid card. Totally made sense at that point in the meta game (still would if not for the fact that the new Jorah is just absolutely amazing).These days, I almost always play the new Jorah.

I rarely run Jack of All Trades anymore due to the amazing new cards we have. My Melee deck is now a Dragon deck with some Maester's maindecking chains (not running TMP) with Knights of the Hollow Hill as the agenda. At the Gates to grab Advisor to the Crown so that you can afford to ambush a Dragon turn 1. I'm running Hall of Dragons and Meereenese Fighting Pit to boost the Dragon synergy with a full playset of Copper Links to just start creating Dragons at my whim. Get enough Dragons in with Rhaegal and you're going to win that turn. Toss in Make an Example and game over.