Beheading Ned: Super Article

Warning: This article may contain spoilers from any and all of the books.

Wow, it has been quite some time since my last installment of Beheading Ned. Now whether that was due to regional season starting up, the website going through some changes, or my overall laziness, it is completely irrelevant. *Cough* it was my laziness *cough*. Anyways, I have decided to create a super article! Oooh! Wow! Amazing! Sexy! All of these are great words to describe a super article, but what is it, exactly? Well a super article is much larger than a normal article. It has more content, more questions, and much more exclamation points!!! So dear readers, sit back and get comfy. Turn down the lights, grab a glass of wine, and get ready to get your Nedly on. It’s time for a Beheading Ned: Super Article!

I’ve been writing Beheading Ned articles for a while now and if you have been the devout follower that I hope you have, you will have noticed that my articles are centered on one of three different themes. The first theme is constructing a Nedly deck, the second is discussing a Nedly card, and the third is giving a Nedly review of a chapter pack. The third theme, albeit fairly recent, is one I intend to continue until such a time comes when I no longer write these articles. In this super article, I plan on writing about all three of these themes in one convenient issue. So let’s start with the Nedly card and that will transition nicely into the next theme.

The Nedly card I want to discuss this time around is No Use For Grief (DB). And what perfect timing to talk about this card considering the Red Viper just bit the dust on the TV show. To truly understand why this card is so Nedly, we need to look back to the books to get some context.

As we all know, the Red Viper is killed during a trial by combat while fighting with the Mountain. We were all devastated when this happened, but little did we know of the real repercussions for the Viper’s death. In book three, the Martells were a largely unknown house to the readers. By book four, however, we learned that Oberyn wasn’t the only snake living in Dorne. We learned that Oberyn Martell had sired many bastard girls with several different women. These bastards were nicknamed Sand Snakes, and all of them had great admiration for their father.

When news of the Viper’s death reached Dorne, the first bastard daughter to show her rage was Obara Sand. Obara demanded that Doran call his banners and wage war to avenge his brother. Being the cautious and weary man that he is, Doran declined Obara’s request. Outraged, Obara decided to rally support on her own and turned her attention to Oberyn’s other children. Ultimately, she gathered the other Sand Snakes behind her and they all wanted blood.

That’s all of the background we will need to understand why this event is Nedly. Do the Sand Snakes win after raising their spears? Yes, if by win you mean get imprisoned by Doran, then yes, they do win. But the story isn’t over and the bastards may have their way in the end. For now, let’s examine this crazy event.
This event has two different parts to it. For the sake of time, I’m going to skip the first part because that really isn’t where our focus is. Let’s bring our attention to the second part of this card. This event states that you can kneel three influence to search for any number of Sand Snake characters and put them into play if The Red Viper was just killed. Whoa, hang on a sec. Did it just say search for ANY number and put them into play. What the f**k?! That’s absolutely incredible. But it makes sense when you think about it. After the Viper is killed, Obara (a Sand Snake) rallies all of the other Sand Snakes to her side in order to seek vengeance. Hey, look at that. Vengeance, vengeful. Huh, it’s like that was planned or something. Anyways, Oberyn has so much influence over his daughters (which is why the influence cost is so high) that they all jump to the frontlines in order to fight on his behalf.

This event is incredibly Nedly as it truly captures the EVENT of the Red Viper dying and the Sand Snakes rising up. There is no use for grief for these bastard daughters. The only way to satisfy their thirst for blood is with vengeance. Now that we’ve covered our Nedly card, let’s throw it in a Nedly deck.

The next theme we’ll cover is our Nedly deck, and what better starting point to use than the Nedly card we just discussed. No Use For Grief is a card that you have to build a deck around, so it only seemed natural to partner the two themes together. I’ve have written articles about Nedly decks for each house except Martell. It also struck me that I had yet to write an article about a Nedly melee deck. So I says to myself, I says, why not do a Nedly Martell melee deck? Kill two suns with one spear, so to speak. Normally, a Sand Snake deck will fall flat on its face in the joust format. However, you will find that it is much more forgiving in melee as it takes off some of the pressure until you can get your pieces together.

The Characters:
We need the man himself, The Red Viper! But which one do we use? I considered using the infamous Viper-Morghulis, but I thought that would attract too much attention to our super-secret plans. Plus, we need a reason for our opponents to want to kill the Viper. That’s why I’m choosing The Red Viper (PotS). He’s our restricted card of choice and he is a huge target that our opponents will definitely want to see dead (almost as much as we want him dead). Plus, he can single-handedly win games, so if we don’t get our Sand Snakes out, he’ll be our trump card.
Now we need the Sand Snakes. I chose to include three copies of all of the unique Sand Snakes except Sarella, because, well I don’t like her. She doesn’t add too much and we have enough snakes without her. Arianne Martell (PotS) also found her way into the deck as a beast who can raise claim on a power challenge.
I’m running Starfall Merchant in this deck as another way to pay for our event. Yes, this could telegraph our plans, but I like having more than one way to pull off the event. There’s also Flea Bottom Scavenger in here for some fast draw. Finally, we finish off the deck with some weenies and a little control through the use of Orphan of the Greenblood.

The Locations:
Do you guys remember when The Red Viper was in King’s Landing? Well he was there for a little bit before he was killed and I’m pretty sure he stayed in the Red Keep. Is that right? Anyways, we will be using The Red Keep (TftRK) in this deck as an easy way to trigger the event. It’s Nedly, alright! Even if the Viper didn’t stay in the Red Keep, he was still in the same city as the tower.
We’ll also use a plethora of other influence providing locations because we want to get these pieces together as quickly as possible. If we don’t have to use a plot grabbing our location, we can use a plot to grab another piece. Reducers and Lost Oasis (AToT) round out the locations.

The Attachments:
We don’t use any attachments in this deck. Moving on.

The Events:
The main event here is No Use For Grief (DB) obviously. This is the lynchpin of the deck, but by itself, it does very little. We need this card in addition to the next event, A Nest of Vipers (TftH). This event, when combined with the other will give all of our now in play Sand Snakes renown until the end of the phase. Combine that with Dorea’s ability to make all of our Sand Snakes not kneel to attack and now we have won the game. He Calls It Thinking is in here to make sure our events go off without a hitch.

The Plots:
Pretty standard melee plots. Building Season to grab The Red Keep if we need it. Both Summoned by the Conclave (because we won’t have an agenda) and Summoning Season to grab either the Viper or a Flea Bottom Scavenger or whatever you need. On the turn when you want to pull out all of the pieces, play Doran’s Scheme and name the challenge phase to make sure nothing gets in your way. Valar and To the Spears! will finish off the plots.

The Deck:
The Dead Viper

Total Cards: (60)

House:
House Martell

Agenda: (0)

Plots: (7)
1x Valar Morghulis (Core)
1x Building Season (Core)
1x Summoning Season (Core)
1x To the Spears! (PotS)
1x Doran’s Scheme (TGF)
1x Counting Favors (Core)
1x Summoned by the Conclave (AHA)

Characters: (35)
1x Arianne Martell (PotS)
3x Dorea Sand (TftH)
1x Ellaria Sand (PotS)
3x Flea Bottom Scavenger (AToT)
3x Lost Spearman (MotM)
3x Nymeria Sand (OSaS)
3x Obara Sand (TWoW)
3x Obella Sand (DB)
3x Refugee of the Citadel (RoW)
3x Tyene Sand (OSaS)
3x Orphan of the Greenblood (PotS)
3x The Red Viper (PotS)

Locations: (16)
3x Dornish Fiefdoms (PotS)
1x Lord Doran’s Chambers (PotS)
1x Southron Stronghold (TBG)
3x Summer Sea (Core)
2x The Red Keep (TftRK)
1x Street of Silk (LotR)
1x Street of Steel (Core)
1x River Row (QoD)
1x Shadowblack Lane (Core)
2x Lost Oasis (AToT)

Attachments: (0)

Events: (9)
3x He Calls It Thinking (PotS)
3x No Use For Grief (DB)
3x A Nest of Vipers (TftH)

And there you have it, the Martell melee Sand Snake deck that is also Nedly. Remember what the goal is, kill the Viper, play the events, and win the game. An easy way to kill the Viper in melee is to grab the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard title and redirect a military challenge to you. Be smart, and you can overcome your opponents with a fantastic Nedly build!

Finally, we move on to our last theme, the Nedly chapter pack review. The most recent chapter pack to come out is the third pack from the Conquest and Defiance cycle called Fire Made Flesh. This pack has some very interesting new cards that are also pretty Nedly.

Knight of the North: 4 out of 5
This card has the Knight trait, which believe it or not, is very Nedly for a knight card. His keyword shows how he is prized in the North, most likely by the Night’s Watch. Finally, his effect is a form of pseudo jousting. It’s one icon vs one icon.


Heartsbane: 3 out of 5
Certainly an item that is worthy of the prized keyword. Heartsbane increases the fighting power of anyone who uses it by giving them +1 str and it allows the user to continue to fight after they have already won. Seems pretty Nedly to me.

Orkmont Reaver: 3 out of 5
This reaver gets Nedly points for his Raider trait and his ruthless, cutthroat ability. My only problem with this card is that he has an intrigue icon. Most of the raiders we have seen are not very intriguing.

Iron Island Marines: 4 out of 5
Now this is a card with a spot on ability. A warship that actually does the fighting for you. It makes perfect sense! And it has the deadly keyword as we all know these warships are killing machines.

Longship Iron Victory: 2 out of 5
Certainly prized by Victarion and a very destructive warship, this boat did not, however, have to be destroyed in order to take down another person.

Podrick Payne: 5 out of 5
Yes, another Nedly squire card! Pod is showing off his sexy Squire and House Payne traits as well as having the stealth keyword. This keyword is very thematic as Pod always worked for Tyrion in the background and by staying undetected. He also gives Tyrion Lannister a military icon! Seriously, can he get more Nedly?! His ability can be seen as way of stripping your opponent of some of their strength, which he did by helping Tyrion construct his massive chain for the Battle of Blackwater Bay.

The Mander: 2 out of 5
Not a lot to say about this one. A vital river that can potentially bring you an advantage (such as card advantage). But what does it have to do with prized cards and why can it only be triggered during the dominance phase?

There Are No Men Like Me: 1 out of 5
“There are no men like me,” except when you play this event. Then everyone is like you, to the point of giving characters a military icon even if they shouldn’t have one. This is extremely un-Nedly. If it only gave Jaime Lannister some sort of boost, then it would be a different story.

The Bastard of Godsgrace: 3 out of 5
His icon, keyword, and traits are what make him a somewhat thematic card. His ability, however, does not contribute anything in that regard.

The Stepstones: 3 out of 5
If I’m not mistaken, and I very well might be, but I believe this location is in Dayne territory. This of course makes it prized by the Daynes and also explains the thematic synergy it has with House Dayne cards.

The Drunkard’s Tower: 3 out of 5
Much like the tower from the last chapter pack, these forts were well known for their defensive prowess. Therefore, a bonus given when you have less characters is very thematic.

The Children’s Tower: 3 out of 5
See above.

Ice: 3 out of 5
Ice, as we all know, is a very prized weapon. It is also very good at killing people which fits with this card’s ability. The only thing that does not make sense is the fact that it is only for a unique Stark character. We’ve seen this exact sword used by Ser Ilyn Payne to behead Ned. Nuff said.

Blackfyre: 3 out of 5
Another interesting Valyrian sword. These swords are well prized and have great strength on the battlefield. This is shown here by the ability to single-handedly win any challenge on the defense one time.

Fire Made Flesh: 4 out of 5
Nothing screams prized like dragons! Nothing says renown like dragons! Nothing says winning the game like…well you get the point. This card is talking about dragons. Very thematic representation of what a dragon can do.

House Bannerman: 2 out of 5
What bannerman doesn’t have a house affiliation? Who is he loyal to? And his effect doesn’t make sense either. Why would he be helping someone who isn’t already allied with him and the other bannerman?

Septon Utt: 4 out of 5
These mercenaries are great! The Brave Companions, as we all know, are not loyal to anyone but themselves. This is reflected by their interaction with the neutral faction, as seen here with Septon Utt, who also has two very Nedly traits and a Nedly icon. Nedly!

Zollo: 4 out of 5
Once again, another very thematic mercenary. Zollo’s traits fit perfectly, as do his icons and his prized keyword. For some reason I love the idea of a fat Dothraki.

Calling the Banners: 3 out of 5
Nothing is more prized than getting your banners together and dominating the field. This is probably why this card can only be used in the dominance phase. Very clever FFG.

Common Cause: 4 out of 5
The more allies you have, the stronger you become. This is reflected perfectly on this plot card. Alliances, in turn, are also prized.

Well, that’ll wrap it up for now. We covered all three themes and had some fun doing it, right? No? Well fine, I didn’t want you to have fun anyways. That’s not true. I really do hope you’ve enjoyed this super article. Oh I almost forgot the trivia, which I know is everyone’s favorite part. How about three questions then, one for each theme.

Who killed Jon Arryn?
Who killed Joffrey Baratheon?
Who killed Ser Mandon Moore?

Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment with any questions or concerns you may have or if you just want to get something off of your chest. Until next time, remember, it’s only a game. Be bold and daring, take a Nedly deck to a regional. Be that guy.