All Things Shagga - Rhaegar Loop

Here we are again with another installment of All Things Shagga. You wouldn't believe how quickly it seems like these weeks come and go! It seems like just as I'm putting the finishing touches on one build, it's time to brainstorm the next. Thankfully, some astute readers have been kind enough to help me out by offering some awesome suggestions lately! This week, we're going to feature a pretty awesome little interaction brought to my attention by erocklawell.

The Cards:

Rhaegar Targaryen- One of the biggest of big, splashy, Shagga cards. It's hard to get more mind blowing than the "end the current round" portion of his text. It's the kind of thing that makes my little Shagga heart go all a twitter, but he's been around in the game for quite a long time now, and it just hasn't really been worth it to use this. But what if we could make it reliable?

Blood Magic Ritual- This is actually another awesome card that saw intrepid Shagga players bringing "no attachments" dragons back from the dead pile where the attachment would promptly fall off, and they would still live. Thankfully (or sadly?) that particular interaction has been addressed via the FAQ so that it no longer works, but Rhaegar can sure take attachments. What if we were to bring him back from the dead pile so that we can kill him again?

Viserys Targaryen- Wow, this new Viserys is a doozy. Not only is he going to tamp down the appearance of attachments in decks once again, but he's also the final missing piece that we needed to make sure that we can kill Rhaegar on command! Once you've killed him once, you can bring him back with Blood Magic Ritual and then as an Any Phase action, discard the Ritual to kill Rhaegar and end the round.

Lady Daenerys's Chambers- Once BMR's been discarded, we're going to need a way to get it back for the next turn. Thankfully, we can just drop a 3 cost or higher Targaryen character to get it back. Pop it into shadows, and you're ready to bring Rhaegar back again!

Cape Wrath- Despite being out of house, paying two gold for Cape Wrath is totally reasonable for this deck because it gives us an all in one way to kill Rhaegar and reset Blood Magic Ritual so that it's primed for the next round- just as long as we can win a challenge by four or more strength. Once you do, pop BMR back into shadows and instantly kill Rhaegar when it leaves play!

Thoughts on Play:

This deck is awesome! Ok, ok, so I haven't had the chance to play it yet, but the premise seems awesome at least! Make sure that you go first and then you can challenge with impunity, and then kill Rhaegar on command before your opponent gets the chance to challenge. Let me repeat that. You can keep killing Rhaegar and ending the round whenever you want to so that your opponent is shut out. Don't want to challenge this turn? Marshall and then end the round before they can. And the best part is that an opposing Valar does little to stop the combo, aside from possibly killing Viserys if you haven't gotten a duplicate yet. Ok, ok, so I'm sure it's not going to work out as smoothly in play as I want it to in my head, but that's probably a good thing, right? If this was terribly consistent, I can guarantee it would get the FAQ hammer ASAP.

Still, the usual combo guidelines apply to stalling a bit to get the pieces up an running, but you should be able to do that at a reasonable pace with the two search plots available to you to get Blood Magic Ritual or either of the characters that you're missing. As well, Captain Groleo gives additional attachment search if you need it and Desperate Measures provides some all purpose filtering to get copies of anything that you might need. On top of that, Jhogo and Bay of Ice give you some additional card advantage with draw.

Speaking of Bay of Ice, we're looking at some solid initiative boosts with it and Kingsroad Fiefdom. With these around, we're almost a shoe in to win initiative, although it could still be an issue against KotHH. Our plots also play into the initiative game so that we can win it to become first player and have the option of ending the round before the opponent can do anything productive. As long as we can do so, the drawback of Twist of Fate is completely moot since the opponent will never challenge anyway. As well, Wildfire Assualt has reasonable initiative and provides a good way to kill Rhaegar the first time, if the opponent isn't kind enough to oblige with a military challenge.

Initiative is also important for another reason. While we've built in a good bit of redundancy with search, attachment discard, and recursion effects that allow us to attack this combo "problem" from many angles, one in particular stands out- Griff. I thought long and hard about what agenda would be best for this deck, and really, it seems like he's the best fit. He provides another alternate means of recurring BMR, but one that you have to watch carefully. You have to be first player for it to work. If your opponent is first player and you discard the Ritual from Rhaegar, your opponent will have the first response, which means that they can end the round immediately. This gives you no chance for Griff's response and leaves your Blood Magic Ritual stranded in the discard pile until you have alternate recursion means. On the other hand, if you're first player, you can trigger Griff's response to save your attachment first, then either you or your opponent can safely trigger Rhaegar and you're ready for the next go around.

Finally, you'll not that there's not really much burn in the deck. I've opted instead to largely look at attachments that will provide negative strength modifiers to help you push challenges through, but are largely likely to stay in play for a time so that you're able to keep Griff as an agenda and utilize his ability.

The Deck:

Deck Built with CardGameDB.com GoT Deckbuilder

Rhaegar Loop

Total Cards: (63)

House:
House Targaryen

Agenda: (0)

Plot: (7)
1x Spending the Winter Stores (QoD)
1x Summoned by the Conclave (AHA)
1x A Song of Summer (ASoS)
1x Frey Hospitality (LotR)
1x Take Them by Surprise (LoW)
1x Twist of Fate (APS)
1x Wildfire Assault (Core)

Character: (28)
3x Rhaegar Targaryen (BoRF)
3x Viserys Targaryen (TCP)
3x Dragon Thief (AE)
2x Captain Groleo (RotK)
1x Drogon (QoD)
3x Exiled Knight (TBC)
2x Griff (CD)
1x Lysono Maar (SoW)
1x Rhaegal (QoD)
1x Strong Belwas (VD)
3x Venomous Manticore (AJE)
1x Viserion (QoD)
1x Aegon Targaryen (SoW)
1x Ser Barristan Selmy (CoS)
1x Missandei (RotK)
1x Jhogo (OSaS)

Attachment: (11)
3x Blood Magic Ritual (TCC)
3x Flame-Kissed (Core)
2x Harpy's Scourge (TK)
3x Harried by Dragons (VM)

Event: (5)
2x Forever Burning (Core)
3x Desperate Measures (TCC)

Location: (19)
2x Lady Daenerys's Chambers (Core)
2x Cape Wrath (AJE)
1x Khal Drogo's Tent (Core)
1x Meereen Tourney Grounds (ODG)
3x Summer Sea (Core)
3x Kingsroad Fiefdom (QoD)
1x Great Pyramid of Meereen (AHM)
2x Bay of Ice (KotS)
2x Temple of the Graces (Core)
2x Eastern Fiefdoms (Core)