Crimson and Gold - Fragile Alliance

Welcome back to Crimson and Gold!

Anybody think the card pool is a little bit stale? I think today we're going to take a break from the usual builds and try something new.
Lets see how well Lanni plays with others.

Alliance and the Treaties seem to be a fairly unpopular set of agendas in the current environment, and for good reason. Since you're essentially giving your opponent a 5 power lead, or get out of jail free card for the rest of the game, your deck really has to be on point at all times.

But with this lack of control over the game, comes a lot of possibilities.

Today we're going to talk about House Baratheon. Let's see what Lannister can do to offset the weaknesses of their signature decktype: Rush.

Here's the current state of the build I've been working with.

It's run out of Baratheon for access to the Loyal Guards, with Lannister as the out-of-house option.


House (1)
House Baratheon (Core) x1

Agenda (1)
Alliance (QoD) x1

Plot (7)
Valar Morghulis (Core) x1
A Song of Summer (ASoS) x1
Winter Festival (WotN) x1
The Red Wedding (PotS) x1
The Power of Blood (Core) x2
The King's Law (KotStorm) x1

Character (30)
Gilly (RoW) x1
Carrion Bird (ASoS) x3
Tommen Baratheon (SA) x1
Doubting Septa (LotR) x3
Brothel Guard (LotR) x3
Marya Seaworth (KotStorm) x1
Willas Tyrell (VM) x1
Loyal Guard (WotN) x3
Ser Arys Oakheart (PotS) x1
Knight of Flowers (SaS) x3
Renly Baratheon (TRS) x1
Ser Guyard Morrigen (KotStorm) x1
Robert Baratheon (TTotH) x3
Melisandre (RotO) x1
Eddard Stark (TTotH) x1
Ser Eldon Estermont (MotM) x1
Stannis Baratheon (Core) x1
Knights of the Storm (KotStorm) x1

Location (16)
Narrow Sea (Core) x3
Seat of Power (WotN) x3
River Row (QoD) x1
Street of Silk (LotR) x1
Street of Sisters (Core) x1
Street of Steel (Core) x1
Smuggler's Cove (KotStorm) x3
Massey's Hook (ASoSilence) x3

Event (0)

Attachment (14)
Bodyguard (Core) x3
Summer Tax (ASoS) x3
Pyromancer's Cache (TWot5K) x3
Crown of Azor Ahai (KotStorm) x2
Court Advisor (PotS) x3


I feel like the main problem of dedicated Baratheon Rush is the draw. It sucks. Really, every single piece of draw Baratheon has access to, has a huge potential drawback, is contingent on at least 1 other thing happening, or triggers after the draw phase.

I also feel that Baratheon's cheap intrigue base is pretty lacking. There are a couple gems, but overall, in the 0-2 range, there are a lot of odd abilities attached to those characters that aren't really what we are looking for in a rush deck. If it doesn't slow anything down, intrigue can be nice in rush, because of the unopposed power, and the off chance of pulling a key anti-rush card.

Other than that, as far as fixing weaknesses, I don't think there is much else... but I do think that Lannister has a few ways to speed up the gain of power. They are few, but I think Lannister has cards that can actually help add efficiency to Baratheon's power engine.

The main objective of the Lannister support can be broken down 3 ways: Reliable draw, efficient intrigue, and extra speed.



Mwahahaha


Here's what Lannister can bring to the table.

Pyromancer's Cache (Draw):
Though Davos might not be too happy to see it, this is one of the more obvious boons, and fills this hole in Baratheon's offense with a truck-full of cement. Pyromancer's Cache is so useful in Baratheon that one copy of it can keep you alive by itself with just a single King. (Bara has no lack of King characters, that's for sure.) Baratheon Rush gets a lot out of each card, with cards like Seat of Power, Knight of Flowers, Robert, Court Advisor, or Melisandre. 1-2 cards in Baratheon Rush in the marshalling phase can change the face of the game fairly easily.

Tommen (Draw/Speed):
Tommen is a killer card for the flop, as well as strong early and late game draw. Tommen clashes a little bit with the other King characters but if you're hurting, his usefulness cannot be overstated. If you haven't drawn your key characters yet, Tommen and the Cache will get you there pretty quick if you draw into them. If you've already drawn your King characters, he's good royal claim soak.

Summer Tax (Draw/Speed):
It's a great deck thinner because it is free, but if the cards happen to fall, and we draw into Crown of Azor Ahai, we can hit the Winter switch and win a bit quicker.

Brothel Guard (Speed/Intrigue):
How many times have you played your Lannister deck when your opponent gave you like 3 or so power over the course of the game from this ability? I'm curious to see how often they choose to give you the power over the kneel VS rush. Marya can stand them out of turn too, which is kind of fun.

Doubting Septa (Draw/Intrigue/Speed):
Great cheap intrigue, friendly to the flop, and draw. Not to mention, she is really nice claim soak for character based decks.

Arys Oakheart (Speed):
Arys is a solid renown character even compared to Baratheon's offerings, with his no-attachments and lower cost. The ability is nice to have as insurance also.


Notes for other cards

The Red Wedding:
This is your anti-Lady card. No characters in the game will give you grief like some of the Lady characters can.
Brienne of Tarth (PotS) out of Stark is walking death for voltron decks.
Meera Reed (TftH) is in every deck you can put her in, and will go back into shadows to weaken Robert and Knight of Flowers after melting off their bodyguards...
Eventually someone will get funny and try to run this card Melisandre (Core) also, which we want to avoid as much as possible.
Shireen Baratheon (FtC) seems like an efficient holy crest for Asshai decks, so she might pop up too.

If none of this applies, if the cards fall, it's an easy 2 power.

Eddard Stark:
I remember how much I hated this guy while running dedicated Lanni, and I like what he brings to the table, since he can share Narrow Sea, and take Loyal Guards.

Court Advisor:
This is the ignition for our Voltron. Robert or Knight of Flowers can take this guy and get us almost half our victory condition in one turn with this card. It also protects against burn, draws, and takes some of the heat off of Pyromancer's Cache for the opponent's attachment hate.

The King's Law:
This is for your powergrab turn if needed. When you get the Court Advisor on Robert or Knight of Flowers hopefully with a save attached, this is where you want to maximize your power gain. If your opponent runs shadows. That' s fine. You only need one turn of this to change the face of the game, and Shadows decks will lose their control for that turn. Knight of Flowers and Robert still have renown, and can use Massey's Hook/Smuggler's Cove on subsequent turns, making them solid renown characters without the ability.


The Drawback

Is bad... Neither Baratheon nor Lannister have a treaty, so we need to dust off the Alliance (QoD) agenda and do what we can with it. I can't really argue with the drawback, it's always bad. Like I said before, The Alliance will get your opponent out of every tough spot they could possibly be in at the start of the game. But lets examine the drawback a little.

VS. KOHH: KOHH is everywhere now, so its relevance cannot be ignored. Alliance still provides an advantage for KOHH, but it is less so than the other agendas. KOHH will have to choose between the influence and economy every turn, and since most KOHH decks are built around the influence that the agenda offers, this wont always be an easy decision.

Redundant Economy: Decks that already draw well and have good economy can potentially get less from this agenda. The agenda will invite them to overextend, which may not be the best option if the player doesn't have control over your characters and will need to Valar.

Human Nature: Since this is a triggered effect from an uncommon agenda, people do forget. This is definitely nothing to rely on, but if you can end a game in 3 turns, and the opponent forgets to use the effect 1 time. That is a huge advantage.

Ultimately though, the drawback is dependent on the opponent. For example, every renown character in the deck has a power icon. Some decks can get all the gold and cards they could possibly want, and not be able to deal with a post-valar mass power challenge in the mid-game. It's really up to the opponent's deck to see if Alliance can give it enough character and control resources to avoid situations like this.


Big Weaknesses

Martell Control: Martell takes all the fun out of life.
Orphan of the Greenblood (PotS) and The Scourge (ODG) alone really hurt us. Martell Summer sounds like an absolute nightmare, getting the most out of our agenda, and reliably cutting off our winter option. A lucky Crown of Azor Ahai in setup could be nice to curb their draw for at least a turn though. And if not, we can always hand them the Summer Tax. Not being able to stealth past The Viper's Bannerman is also a problem.

Greyjoy Choke: The first turn really matters here. Since outside of reducers, this deck only really runs off the plot gold. If we can come out swinging on the first turn, and set up Knight of Flowers or Robert, it's not so bad. Playing catch up is what is really going to hurt. Greyjoy also doesn't care about Valar and will use it with impunity. A lucky seat of power is nice, but triggered effect cancels can pop up pretty easily and take care of that.

Incinerate: Can't wait to run into this one. All Targ really needs are 2 or 3 allies to get the kill off of this card. Including the Voltrons. Careful use of Power of Blood is advised against Targ because of this.


Variations

King Stannis
-1 Winter Festival, -2 Knight of Flowers, -1 Lord Stannis, -3 Summer Tax, -2 Crown of Azor Ahai, -1 Bodyguard, -3 Carrion Bird,-1 Knights of the Storm, -1 Gilly, -1 Renly,
+1 Take them by Surprise, +3 King Stannis, +3 Nightmares, +3 Bay of Ice, +3 Lannisport Weaponsmith, +3 Enemy Informer

This deck is overall a little bit slower, but more solid. King Stannis is a great answer against Martell, and makes Shadows less of a roadblock. This deck is also more likely to get a bonus off the cache. The problem is that Stannis doesn't play well with others, so you're going to have to have either Robert OR Stannis out, instead of both. (Like we could do in the original setup with KOF and Robert) Tommen could also be a liability if we draw him at the wrong time. By abandoning the Season tech, we can also add nightmares to help Stannis along, or just deal with that 1 single card that may be annoying us at the time.

Heavy Seasons
-1 Massey's Hook, -1 Smuggler's Cove, -1 Knights of the Storm, -1 Guyard Morrigan, -1 Eldon Estermont
-+1 Crown of Azor Ahai, +1 Inn of the Kneeling Man, +1 Ilyn Payne, +1 Saladhor Saan, +1 Kingdom Location Mance Rayder

This is more for fun. But this variation adds some more Shagga to the matchup. Inn of the Kneeling Man has great synergy with Tommen, Brothel Guards, Ilyn, Saladhor, and Wyllas. Mance helps us trigger the Cache, and can steal kingdom locations for power also. For what it's worth, because of the 3rd crown, this version is more likely to trigger the early winter win also.

And that's the deck! Is there a variation you prefer? Maybe one of your own?

Anyway as always, thanks for reading.