All Things Shagga - Dreaming at the Inn

Hello again, fellow clansmen! This week your resident Shagga is exploring one of the more Shagga friendly agendas in the game- House of Dreams. As well, I mentioned last time that we’d soon get the chance to look at a deck using the new event, Sitting the Iron Throne. So here’s our first deck that features that sweet intersection between the two. Props go out to fellow CGDBer, Tiny Grimes, as the genesis of this deck spawned from a conversation with him via Skype a few days ago. As well, I would caution that this is might work best as a melee deck. While there are more chances for someone else to win dominance, there are also more targets, and it’s most likely that you’ll look least threatening on the board until you’re getting pretty close to the win. In joust, you may have less total concerns, but there’s certainly less chance to set up before your opponent is disrupting your plans. If you try this out or have done something similar, let me know which you think it fits better.

Key Cards:

House of Dreams (ARotD)- Well, there isn’t really much to say here other than our agenda of choice enables us to start with a mostly untouchable location in play, which can lead to a huge resource boost if done right.

The Inn at the Crossroads (LotR)- I once built a Lannister gold production themed deck, but never managed to use those effects because I was playing against a Lannister Clansman deck which had the Inn out early. With nothing more than a steady supply of Clansman characters, that deck out earned me every turn of the game. Here, we’re co-opting that technology for ourselves. It won’t be unusual to be counting +3 gold from this location alone.

Mountain Refugee (RoW)- Our Restricted card of choice does a lot of work in this deck. House of Dreams decks typically have a little trouble with Setup, so a zero cost character works wonders there. Additionally, it’s going to pump the gold production of the Inn with no initial outlay of our own. Nicely, it even helps make the gold necessary to pay to keep the Refugee in Dominance, though I doubt that you’ll be losing it often.

Tywin Lannister (LotR)- I’ve been wanting to make him work for awhile now, and with the frankly almost absurd amounts of gold that can be generated in this deck, it’s finally starting to look possible. Once you can win Dominance and trigger his ability, you’ll be well on your way to victory.

Daven Lannister (GotC)- Another of the Dominance and gold based power grabbing effects, Daven has the potential to go very large… if he stays alive. The risk/reward of when to trigger him is pretty intriguing to me.

Sitting the Iron Throne (AToTT)- The coup de grace, Sitting the Iron Throne appears to be the piece that this deck was waiting for. This gives the deck the ability to gain power in a steady trickle outside of challenges and without having to meet the higher thresholds for Tywin or Daven. The nice thing, however, is that you can still meet Tywin’s threshold and then spend that gold to use and recycle Sitting the Iron Throne in the same turn without interfering with each other. As well, it gives you a way to put more power on Daven without having to move unopposed power or the like to him rather than your house card.

Thoughts on Play:

In the early turns, you’ll want to utilize your plots to slow down your opponent and get your gold production in place. With a variety of challenge denial and claim lowering effects, you should be able to keep your opponent from wrecking you in the challenge phase, which is good because you don’t care about it by and large. Sure, several of your characters are effective, so you shouldn’t be afraid to participate and certainly make sure you head for any unopposed power you can get, but feel free to spend time defending. The reason, of course, for this is that bulk of your deck powergrab is going to be during the Dominance phase, where you’ll be doing considerably less interaction with your opponent.

This isn’t to say that you’ll be a total letdown in challenges, however. Several of the clansmen like Chella, the Burned Men, Shagga Son of Dolf (our namesake!), and Tribeless Vagabond can all help push through some unopposed challenges for a little bit of extra power. As long as your gold production is going off, Amory’s Poachers gives an amazing combination of stealth and renown on the intrigue and power challenge in order to help round out your power gain. Another interesting character is the little Campfire Mime who could, which counts as another Clansman for your Inn, as long as she has a buddy.

Rounding out the deck, we’ve got a few odds and ends. Increased Levy is at a great place in the game right now with the restriction of the Tin Link and the general renaissance attachments have undergone. You Killed the Wrong Dwarf is great to stall out a problem character, but don’t overlook the capability to kneel out your own character and claim that last power you need to win a game. You’ve only got Tywin as a noble in the deck, but he can claim power so quickly once he has his backup, that it’s important to protect him with The Power of Blood, so make sure you save them for the right time. As well, this plot makes him a great target for Sitting the Iron Throne. Also, since there are important characters that will have power on them, Wildfire is the reset of choice here to thin out the crowd so that we don’t wind up doing an of our opponent’s work for them.

The Deck:

Deck Built with CardGameDB.com GoT Deckbuilder

HoD Inn

House (1)
House Lannister (Core) x1

Agenda: (1)
House of Dreams (ARotD) x1

Plot (7)
All the Gold in Casterly Rock (LotR) x1
Lineage and Legacy (KotStorm) x1
Loyalty Money Can Buy (QoD) x1
Shadows and Spiders (LotR) x1
The Power of Blood (Core) x2
Wildfire Assault (Core) x1

Character (38)
Chella, Daughter of Cheyk (Core) x1
Mountain Refugee (RoW) x3
Painted Dogs (IG) x3
Shagga Son of Dolf (DB) x1
The Burned Men (MotM) x2
Tribeless Vagabond (OSaS) x3
Lannisport Councilor (RotO) x3
Lannisport Moneylender (LotR) x3
Lannisport Steward (Core) x3
Lannisport Weaponsmith (Core) x3
Daven Lannister (GotC) x2
Ser Amory's Poachers (LotR) x3
Tywin Lannister (LotR) x3
Campfire Mime (RoR) x2
Tommen Baratheon (SA) x1
Lion Herald (SB) x2

Location (13)
The Inn at the Crossroads (LotR) x1
Kingdom of Shadows (KotS) x3
Lannisport Treasury (LotR) x2
Queen Cersei's Chambers (Core) x1
The Goldroad (Core) x3
Golden Tooth Mines (Core) x3

Event (6)
Sitting the Iron Throne (AToTT) x3
You've Killed the Wrong Dwarf! (Core) x3

Attachment (3)
Increased Levy (LotR) x3