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1
All Things Shagga - In The Magister's Burning Palace
Jun 06 2012 05:00 AM |
Devastacia
in Game of Thrones
Small Council All Things Shagga Devastacia
Welcome all to a very special announcement from All Things Shagga. No, I haven't finally convinced FFG to stop neutering my favorite deck. I have even better news! This week, I'm proud to introduce Joey Kreins (Devestacia) as my new sidekick here on the column. If I'm the Batman of Shagga players, Joey's most certainly my Robin. Probably Jason Todd.
Ok, here's to hoping that he lasts longer than that! But seriously folks, I'm glad to have him aboard. No, I'm not stepping down from writing the column. Instead, I'm proud to announce that with Joey's help, we're actually going to step up the release of All Things Shagga to a weekly column here on the site. We're looking to keep it simple to organize, so I'll be keeping to a bi-weekly schedule of writing, with him writing bi-weekly on the off weeks so that we have a brand new column each and every Wednesday! So, without further ado, check out Robin's first contribution to ATS!
-Kennon
Chapter packs from Beyond The Narrow Sea have begun to roll out, and the first chapter pack brings players several fun new toys for creating misery for their opponents. One of the most Shagga worthy cards out of this pack is the new version of Magister Illyrio (VM). Illyrio takes many of the already existing Targaryen cards and mechanics and gives them a bit of an extra punch.
Ambush characters have always given Targaryen decks a strong element of surprise, but with Illyrio they gain an explosive potential. Cards like Queen's Knight (TWot5K) can jump into play to initiate or defend a challenge, trigger Illyrio’s ability, then do it again after the Queen’s Knight is inevitably returned to your hand. Dragon Knight (TBC) gets a little extra burn by being ambushed into play, plus the kill condition it sorely needs if targeting the same character as Illyrio. Dragon Thief (AE) becomes a two-trick pony by discarding an attachment while triggering the burn effect.
Illyrio’s ability also makes some other burn cards better. Although The Hatchlings' Feast (ASitD) is an excellent card, it suffers from having no kill or discard condition built in, and it cannot target characters with attachments, such as those you have already Flame-Kissed (Core). Illyrio’s ability gives you the chance to fully dispose of at least one troublesome character with the The Hatchlings' Feast when Threat from the North (PotS) is not your active plot. King's Landing Assassin (SaS) also becomes better as you can burn down larger targets or get rid of two smaller ones. Illyrio can also make Meereen Tourney Grounds (ODG) more fearsome by providing it a kill condition as well.
Now, the drawbacks. Illyrio is an Ally, making him very fragile. A deck revolving around him also requires a LOT of influence to work. Cards such as Kingsroad Fiefdom (QoD) and Advisor to the Crown (QoD) help with this, but if you are unable to draw into them the deck could run very flat. Illyrio's ability also works on only non-uniques, meaning the rest of your burn needs to be focused on unique characters. Despite these flaws, Illyrio can be incredibly potent as a recurring source of burn that will make your opponents struggle to keep more than a couple characters on the board.
The deck below has managed to be very explosive in testing play. Even on a two card setup the deck was able to recover and burn enough down to gain control of the game. Did I miss anything that might combo well with Illyrio? Think there’s something in the deck that isn’t necessary? Please feel free to comment and offer any tweaks, changes, or criticisms that you might make.
Agenda (1)
Kings of Summer (ASoS) x1
Plot (7)
Retaliation! (ASoSilence) x1
Threat from the North (PotS) x1
Search and Detain (HtS) x1
Summoning Season (Core) x1
Fury of the Dragon (AE) x1
A Song of Summer (ASoS) x1
A Time for Ravens (ACoS) x1
Character (31)
Magister Illyrio (VM) x3
Khal Drogo (Core) x1
Queen's Knight (TWot5K) x1
Dragon Thief (AE) x2
Dragon Knight (TBC) x3
Thundering Calvary (QoD) x2
Refugee of the Plains (RoW) x3
Ser Jorah Mormont (WLL) x1
Daario Naharis (WLL) x1
Advisor to the Crown (QoD) x2
Horseback Archers (QoD) x1
Drogon (Core) x1
Brown Ben Plumm (Core) x1
Green Hatchling (TWH) x1
Jhogo (OSaS) x1
Lyanna Stark (ODG) x1
Rakharo (IG) x1
Gilly (RoW) x1
King's Landing Assassin (SaS) x2
Bloodrider (MotA) x1
Location(17)
Meraxes (TBC) x1
Lady Daenerys's Chambers (Core) x1
Myrish Villa (QoD) x3
Eastern Fiefdoms (Core) x3
Kingsroad Fiefdom (QoD) x3
Bay of Ice (KotS) x2
Summer Sea (Core) x3
Meereen Tourney Grounds (ODG) x1
Event (7)
Ambush from the Plains (QoD) x3
The Hatchlings' Feast (ASitD) x3
Incinerate (VM) x2
Attachment (5)
Flame-Kissed (Core) x3
Black Raven (ASoS) x2
- Reager likes this
13 Comments
Great article btw, keep it up!
I'm wondering if you need a bit more ambush and a bit more influence to run smoothly....like a Red Keep and go up to x3 Queens's Knight. Maybe that's just overkill or a holdover from my last burn-y deck.
In melee games I would even consider adding in Dothraki Honor Guard (Core)
http://teamcovenant....ne-gun-illyrio/
@Flint Rhaenys' Hill is great and all, but it's honestly not necessary in this deck. I'd rather devote more of the deck to just keeping their board clear.
@Reager Pentoshi Guildmaster is pretty meh. Maybe if he came back from your dead pile too. Titan's Bastard is an idea I like though.
@Widowmaker93 I like your build as well. Pyat Pree is one that might eventually find it's way into my deck. I also noticed from your comments about how hard it is to choke, and I guess part of my leaning towards Summer instead is that i'm seeing very little winter and/or choke in my own meta right now.
Another idea(that may be too much extra crap for the deck) is Varamyr Sixskins (AKitN) with any of your dragons or other creatures you may use. More for emergency burn or last ditch effort challenge boosting.
One more quick and unusual idea here which was sort of what a poster above was getting at. 3x Dothraki Honor Guard (Core) should be a win-win for you. Not only do you trigger Illyrio, but you get them back if they win a challenge against you with them. The worst thing they are going to do is kill them off for claim, but who cares if their sole purpose is to reinforce Illyrio's burn.
The biggest issue I see with a deck burn focus like this is when you are against a deck with a lot of Unique characters. You'll need to rely on Incinerate (VM) and The Hatchlings' Feast (ASitD)(and whatever other sources of burn and kill you got) to kill off any unique characters because Illyrio's can only burn non-uniques.