All Things Shagga

Hello, and welcome to the first installment of “All Things Shagga,” a weekly column in the new Small Council section here on CardGameDB. This column will focus on the “Shagga” side of the game and hopefully give you insight into the possible combos and big shiny things of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game. We’ll be discussing card interactions for sure and most weeks, I’ll have a deck list as a sample template as well. An important note about the column, however, is that my involvement will be on an every other week basis. This does not, however, mean that the column itself will be bi-weekly. You should see a new “All Things Shagga” here each Thursday, but I’m proud to announce that articles will alternate between me and WolfgangSenff as author. Exactly how he intends to treat his take on combos is best left expressed by him, but I have a feeling that I’ll be handling the more experimental side of things, while he covers a more practical, slightly Jaime-esque take. Stay tuned next week for another intro paragraph from my partner! Thank you, readers, for joining us on this exciting venture. Now on to the meaty stuff! (ie. My goats are hungry)

This week’s Forgotten Plans (re)introduced many of us to the strength of the House Bolton sub-theme for House Stark in a general joust game play overview. Joust is a great place for the Boltons. With only one opponent, you can minimize your chances of losing challenges and your Bolton characters at key moments by the virtue of there being only 6 total possible challenges to worry about. In melee, you have to add another 3 challenges per player for everyone past the 2^nd. At a standard 4 player table, that’s now 12 possible challenges for you to lose which greatly increases the odds of losing control of your Bolton characters. At first look, this seems like a terrible proposition and a great way to lose the game.

Enter one key card that makes it all worthwhile. In Ramsay's Name (ASoSilence).

Suddenly, the tables turn and now you want other players to take your House Bolton characters so that you can find a way to take them back once they have power. Roose Bolton (DB), the patriarch of the Bolton family, is the most straightforward way to do this, but you can’t make your opponent challenge you in order to take those characters. So what does an enterprising Shagga player do to make that happen? Find a card that gives itself away, of course.

Steelshanks' Reserves (ASoSilence) then becomes the second piece of our combo deck, as it gives itself away to the active player each time that changes during the challenge phase. Of course, the key to this combo is the requirement that this take place in a melee game where the active player changes more often. In a 4 player game, the Reserves will go straight to the first player before you have the opportunity to play In Ramsay's Name (ASoSilence), but there it will still change control 3 times after you play the event. An interesting feature of this army is the timing of when it changes control. Since it is always controlled by the active player, it’s never going to be controlled by the person fulfilling claim, thus keeping it safe from military claim.

Gaining 3 power per challenge phase as Steelshanks' Reserves (ASoSilence) travels around the table, just isn’t all that impressive, I must admit, but being able to play multiple copies of In Ramsay's Name (ASoSilence) gives you the opportunity to dial the power grab up to 11. The next comboriffic step consists of a means of playing the same copy of the event multiple times. Conveniently, The Weeping Water (OSaS) allows you to put the top House Bolton card of your discard pile on top of your deck for the low, low price of kneeling the location. Considering that The Weeping Water (OSaS) stands each time a character changes control, this is so low a price, that you can readily use it multiple times per phase, provided that you keep drawing and replying In Ramsay's Name (ASoSilence). Provided we haven’t already hit the draw cap, Val (RotO) gives the opportunity to use her any phase ability to immediately draw the top card of your deck and replay it.

Now, let’s walk through what this does if you have one copy of In Ramsay's Name (ASoSilence) to play, and one Steelshanks' Reserves (ASoSilence) in play. After the first switch, you play the event, then kneel The Weeping Water (OSaS) to put it on top of your deck and immediately use Val (RotO) to draw and play it again. Next the Reserves change control to the 2nd player and claim 2 power. Now The Weeping Water (OSaS) stands and you can kneel it to put In Ramsay's Name (ASoSilence) on top of your deck and immediately Val (RotO) it. Then the Reserves change control to the 3^rd player where they now claim 3 power, for a total of 5. Again, follow The Weeping Water (OSaS) and Val (RotO) procedure to play In Ramsay's Name (ASoSilence) once again to prep for the move to the 4^th player. Now when the Reserves move, they claim 4 power, for a total of 9. That’s quite a lot of power on a character without you ever having to initiate a challenge. Now imagine you had an extra copy of In Ramsay's Name (ASoSilence) to have played at the start of the challenge phase. Or imagine if you’d had a second Steelshanks' Reserves (ASoSilence) in play.

Of course, the most obvious problem to this whole plan is making certain that you win the game off of this power, rather than an opponent. Melisandre (Core) helps make certain that the power on the Reserves only counts toward victory while you have control of it. If you don’t have Mel in play, then Bay of Ice (KotS) and Karhold Rookery (CbtC) should help you win initiative so that you can plan the turn ahead of time and determine who should be the first player in order for the Reserves to be under your control at the most opportune time.

Being a combo deck, the Bolton Merry-Go-Round only functions when you have access to the exact cards you need and in the proper order. Thankfully, House Stark has several options that can help you search out any piece of the combo that you might be missing. To Be a Wolf (SB) can search for any piece of the combo that you need, provided your opponent doesn’t name the card type that you’re going looking for. Wolf Herald (SB) can search up Steelshanks' Reserves (ASoSilence) or any other Stark you might need. Maester Luwin (FtC) will help you dig into the top of your deck to find In Ramsay's Name (ASoSilence), and Luwin can even be searched out by At the Gates (GotC). The other search plot, Summoning Season (Core), can find any of the characters that you might need.

Aside from these pieces, the rest of the deck is geared largely toward two things- getting to the key cards as fast as possible and contingency planning. Thanks to the low cost of the House Bolton armies and the majority of the other cards in this deck, setups drawn from test hands are generally 5-6 cards which help you dig further into the deck early on, in order to get the key cards. As well, The Dreadfort (DB) gives quick self replacing draw as you play the Boltons. Meera Reed (TftH) gives you a pinpoint solution to any opposing copies of Melisandre (Core). While Arya Stark (Core) and Muster the Realm! (QoD) can be used to slow down opponents long enough to get the pieces of your combo set up.

After playing a little bit with the numbers, I present to you:

Merry-Go-Round

House (1)
House Stark (Core)x1

Agenda (0)


Plot (7)

Muster the Realm! (QoD) x1
The Power of Arms (Core) x1
The Minstrel's Muse (RotO) x1
Retaliation (ASoSilence) x1
At the Gates (GotC) x1
Winter Festival (WotN) x1
Summoning Season (Core) x1

Character (36)
Bolton Refugee (RoW) x3
Reek (MotM) x1
Roose Bolton (DB) x2
Bolton Loyalist (DB) x3
Steelshanks' Reserves (ASoSilence) x3
The Bastard of Bolton (IG) x1
The Bastard's Elite (RoR) x3
The Flayed Men (DB) x3
Ser Jorah Mormont (PotS) x1
Wolf Herald (SB) x2
Rickon Stark (MotA) x1
Meera Reed (TftH) x1
Maester Luwin (FtC) x2
Jojen Reed (LoW) x2
Jeyne Westerling (ASoS) x1
House Tully Recruiter (Core) x2
Arya Stark (Core) x1
Melisandre (Core) x2
Val (RotO) x3

Location (18)
The Dreadfort (DB) x2
The Weeping Water (OSaS) x2
Narrow Sea (Core) x3
Lord Eddard's Chambers (Core) x1
Abandoned Fort (RoR) x1
Street of Sisters (Core) x1
Street of Steel (Core) x1
River Row (QoD) x1
Flea Bottom (TGM) x1
Bay of Ice (KotS) x3
Karhold Rookery (CbtC)x2

Event (6)
In Ramsay's Name (ASoSilence) x3
To Be a Wolf (SB) x3

Attachment (0)