Beheading Ned - King Stannis

For my fifth and final article in the series of building a deck centered around the kings that started the war of the five kings, this time we will be looking at Stannis Baratheon. So lets look at the great Stannis the man that just seems to grow on me in the books. When you start making deck centered around a king the first step is choosing your king. With Stannis we get three options.

King Stannis

Stannis Baratheon (AKitN)
Now this card did catch my eye for being able to make a nedly deck. Could go with using the neutral night watch characters or even The Wall (TWoW). However, I made that deck a while ago for fun because I love the Night's Watch and really started to like Stannis after the last book but I want to make at least a semi competitive build and this doesn't really cut it. Maybe after we get new Nights Watch cards to help this deck with the next cycle he could be an option, I really hope.


Stannis Baratheon (VM)
Now this versions clearly the best single card of Stannis he has all the keywords you could want in a character, however, for this process it isn't an ability I feel I can really build a deck around besides just a straightforward rush deck and to me that isn't what I want to play at all.


Stannis Baratheon (KotStorm)
So that left me looking at this version who as himself is just a solid character with renown, but (Made this deck during the reign of The Long Voyage) his ability absolutely destroys decks that look to draw a lot, and as the saying goes winning equals winning, most top teir decks have a good amount of draw and this guy makes those all dead draws, and as you'll see there are even more nedly ways to hurt the hand with this guy.

So lets look at the deck and give you my process . Now warning for true die hard Nedly fans this deck was made more competitive so there are more non-nedly cards in this deck than the others.

Deck Built with CardGameDB.com GoT Deckbuilder

Total Cards: (60)

House:
House Baratheon

Agenda: (0)

Plot: (7)
1x Valar Morghulis (Core)
1x Wildfire Assault (Core)
2x The Power of Faith (KotStorm)
1x Negotiations at the Great Sept (TPoL)
1x Melisandre's Scheme (RotK)
1x Many Powers Long Asleep (RoR)

Character: (34)
3x Stannis Baratheon (KotStorm)
3x Acolyte of the Flame (TWH)
1x Melisandre (Core)
1x Selyse Baratheon (Core)
1x Shireen Baratheon (FtC)
2x Zealot of the Light (BtW)
1x Brienne of Tarth (PotS)
3x Carrion Bird (ASoS)
1x Craster (WotN)
2x Dale Seaworth (AToTT)
1x Maester Cressen (Core)
1x Marya Seaworth (KotStorm)
2x Royal Entourage (TTotH)
1x Ser Davos Seaworth (Core)
2x The Laughing Storm (GotC)
1x Willas Tyrell (VM)
1x Syrio Forel (TftRK)
2x Bearer of the Light (KotStorm)
2x Herald of the Stag (SB)
1x Hedge Knight (KotStorm)
2x Intolerant Priest (RoR)

Attachment: (0)


Event: (8)
3x Confession (KotS)
2x Fiery Kiss (ODG)
1x Judged by the Father (TCC)
2x Supported by the Smith (AJE)

Location: (18)
2x Aegon's Garden (Core)
3x Altar of Fire (RoR)
1x Flea Bottom (TGM)
1x King Robert's Chambers (Core)
3x Narrow Sea (Core)
1x River Row (QoD)
3x Seat of Power (WotN)
1x Shadowblack Lane (Core)
1x Street of Silk (LotR)
1x Street of Sisters (Core)
1x Street of Steel (Core)


So first think before the last FAQ that just came out this deck was being ran out of winter for even more hand control, but after new restricted list I had to tweak a few cards. This deck needs Negations since it can drop a whole hand down in one turn. Also, this deck I have played more than all of my other nedly king decks combined (I love how it plays and could actually compete against pre errata TLV) and most games the opponent had no hand after 3rd turn and winter didn't matter anymore anyways. So this new version may actually work better anyways, although winter was pretty nedly too. Now what makes me love this deck from a nedly point of view is how the Asshai work with Stannis, and the MVP card Altar of Fire (RoR) destroys an opponents hand while you don't care about draw because you have none in deck anyways and have built the deck with more characters than normal to counter that.

Other key cards are:
The Laughing Storm - because with no draw, having your hand safe from discarding cards is very important.
Dale Seaworth - to get some key cards back, especially like Seat of Power when you want to get many characters on the board.
Stannis and his girl, not his wife the one that matters, Melisandre (Core) - When she hits the board you start shutting down even more options for your opponent, I should bump her up to x2 I think.
The Prayers - Also the prayer's aren't that nedly but I just picture them as prayers to the red god, and they are very strong for this deck, getting two seat of powers back is CRAZY (especially when it was winter and had less gold).

Currently this is my favorite deck to play. It can be so frustrating for your opponent to play against and is as a bonus it is a decent deck overall. So what do you all think, any good or have I just been lucky? With TLV no longer a real threat is this deck worth playing? Or will this deck do better against a normal deck with just little draw since it will be easier to get opponent down to no cards? So leave me some comments and we can discuss. Also now that done with my series of the Kings, any suggestions for me on future Beheading Ned articles feel free to leave in comments as well.