First Tilt - Building Your House Plot Deck

Building a plot deck can often be a daunting task for new players. If you stick with a core set, you’ll find your plot selections made for you. But once you begin building your own decks and adding cards to your collection, the number of plot choices can quickly expand and will end up presenting you with a large amount of cards to sift through and decide from. How do you pick with so many options? How do you know which cards to include and which to take out? Doulos2k touched on general strategies last week, so for this week we’re going to construct a “go-to” plot deck for each house. Use this only as a starting point--these plot decks are built to be somewhat generic and assume you are following traditional house builds. If you’re in a hurry, or feeling overwhelmed, you can take these builds and either throw them in as they are, or use them as a base to then swap individual cards with plots that better fit your deck.

FIRST PLOT
Your first inclusion in most plot decks, regardless of house, and especially if you are a new player, should be Valar Morghulis (Core). This card can get you out of many tricky situations. Having it in your deck will also be a constant reminder that your opponent likely has it in their deck as well, so that every time you look at your plot deck you'll be reminded of these ticking bombs that will eventually go off and that you need to plan for.

SECOND PLOT
Your second plot, if you have access to the cards, should be the Fury Plot for your house. The stats on these cards are superb, so that even if you do not face an opposing house that is affected by the plot text, you’ll still be happy to have the 5 gold and 7 initiative. And if you do face an opposing house? In most cases, you’ll be very glad to have included the plot.

These cards all come in one Chapter Pack, Ancient Enemies, so you can get them all in one purchase. However, it is an older CP, so if you don’t have access to it, you’ll need something else to fill this slot. The Fury plots are also restricted, so if you are playing with another restricted card in your deck, you won’t be able to throw the Fury plot in. Should either of these be the case, the second plot card for most decks should be Retaliation! (ASoSilence). This is another card with excellent stats, and will be an excellent fit for pretty much any deck build out there.

PLOTS THREE THROUGH SEVEN
With the first two plots out of the way, the next few will depend on your house. We’ll focus mainly on core set and house expansion plots, since newer players are likely to have those over specific chapter packs. These lists are by no means comprehensive, but hopefully give you a good starting point for picking cards for each house. What are your favorite plots for each house?

Stark
3.) Respect of the Old Gods (LoW) - This is a top pick for any Stark deck.
4.) Storm of Swords (LoW) - Military will likely be what you excel at as Stark, this will help you make more challenges in that area.
5.) The Power of Arms (Core) - If you’re playing Stark, there’s a good chance you’ll be running many War crest characters to play Die by the Sword (LoW) as it is, so this is a great plot to tack on and really add to the hurt. Characters with +2, launching a 2 claim military challenge, and then using Die by the Sword makes for a nasty attack round. Even if you don’t have many War crest characters, the stats are still good.
6.) Siege of Riverrun (KotS) - Decent stats, 2 claim, with a drawback that won’t really affect you as Stark.
7.) Regroup (KotStorm) - A great card for Stark decks, since you’ll likely have many great events and characters, and this will allow you to get one of them back and throw in 2 claim while you’re at it.

Also consider:
* At the Gates (GotC) - This may seem like a surprising choice for Stark, but Maester Luwin is such a superb character that it is worth it for many Stark decks to take this plot card. Bringing out Luwin on your first turn gives you an intrigue icon to shore up a weak Stark area, and gives you Luwin’s superb search ability. Keep in mind that if you are playing with Riders of the Red Fork, the plot can also be used to bring them into play, giving you more flexibility.
* Family, Duty, Honor (LoW) - If you are playing Tully, this is a perfect fit. Even if you aren’t, you’ll be surprised how many Tully characters a non-Tully deck can happen to run.

Lannister
3.) Frey Hospitality (LotR) - Win at Intrigue, then make someone die as well.
4.) Blockade (Core) - As just mentioned, Lannisters are good at getting gold from a variety of non-plot sources. So why not take advantage of that?
5.) Edict of the Rock (LotR) - Play this in a kneel deck, and you could end up with the whole opposing field knelt. With numerous gold sources and kneeling abilities of the Lannisters, winning dominance shouldn’t pose too big a hurdle.
6.) Game of Thrones (LotR) - A killer plot for Lannister. Plays to your strengths and lets you use your characters for more than one challenge. Combine it with The Power Behind the Throne to really knock down your opponent’s hand while claiming power.
7.) Shadows and Spiders (LotR) - If your opponents can’t match you in Intrigue, then they won’t be able to attack you at all.

Also consider:
*All the Gold in Casterly Rock (LotR) - this certainly seems like a great plot at first. Extra gold for each location? But by the time you have a couple of locations, will you really need the extra gold? Think about your cost curve and how many gold producers you have when considering if you want to play this card. Another use for it is to play lots of locations, hold onto characters in your hand, play Valar, then follow up with this and unload a huge army of characters.


Baratheon
3.) An Empty Throne (KotS) - More power challenges for a Power based house.
4.) Lineage and Legacy (KotStorm) - Since Baratheon excels at Power challenges, this is a good way to control the challenge phase and limit your opponent’s options.
5.) The Power of Blood (Core) - you may realize that you have a lot of Noble characters. That’s what happens when you have three kings in your family. Use this plot to protect them.
6.) The Power of Blood (Core) - 4 gold and you protect your main characters. Let’s throw two of them in!
7.) Regroup (KotStorm) - If one of your key characters gets discarded, use this to bring them back and then attack with 2 claim.

Also consider:
*Threat from the East (QoD) - if you have The Laughing Storm, then this plot should be in your deck. You get to make your opponent discard while you don't have to discard at all.
*The Power of Faith (KotStorm) - if you go with an Asshai build, this is practically an auto-include. Even if you don’t go specifically with Asshai, you may still have enough holy characters to make it worth inclusion. If this card is a good fit, go with two copies.

Targaryen
3.) The Power of Arms (Core) - Dothraki and mercenaries love war, and they are full of War crests. If you play with Daemon Blackfyre, expect your total strength to get ridiculous.
4.) Muster the Realm! (QoD) - Targ tends to have a lot of Army characters. This card gives you lots of gold to play one of your many Army characters, and then a plot effect that lets you not worry about your opponent attacking you militarily if they have not brought an Army into play.
5.) Regroup (KotStorm) - In a Burn deck, this can help you recycle a Burn card and then gives you 2 claim to pile on the hurt. Even in non-burn decks, this will still be a good plot to have with its stats and ability.
6.) Loyalty Money Can Buy (QoD) - Good stats and it can neuter your opponent’s offensive capability for a turn. This card would also be a good fit in any other house, so feel free to throw it in to other houses when you don't know what else to add.
7.) Mad King's Legacy (Core) - A good way to destroy an opponent’s attachment. Just be careful, if they don’t have any attachments you’ll have to destroy one of your own.

Also consider:
*Threat from the North (PotS) - If you are playing Burn, this needs to be in your deck.
*Wildfire Assault (Core) - As Targ, you may end up with fewer characters than your opponent, particularly if you are playing a dragon heavy build. Use this to level the playing field.

Greyjoy
3.) Siege of Riverrun (KotS) - Intrigue? Who cares about intrigue? We’re pirates!
4.) Rains of Autumn (Core) - if you’ve played a few Burned and Pillaged on your opponent, this plot could really add to the hurt.
5.) The First Snow of Winter (ODG) - whether you are running an unopposed challenges deck or a choke deck, this card will serve you well.
6.) Rise of the Kraken (KotS) - 2 claim and additional power for unopposed, this could get ugly fast.
7.) Stay of Execution (KotS) - Almost every Greyjoy deck is going to have a Euron and Alannys. Keep them from being killed with this plot.

Also consider:
*The Power of Blood (Core) - the Greyjoys are already hard to kill. Now, your noble characters can’t be killed at all.
*Blockade (Core) - This plus Burned and Pillage makes for one unhappy opponent.

Martell
3.) To the Spears! (PotS) - An amazing card. You can turn the game around with this, or finish them off.
4.) Attack from the Sea (PotS) - A good way to surprise your opponent and lock down their income producing locations, while giving yourself good gold and initiative.
5.) Uneasy Truce (Core) - Make them pay to attack you. If they win, use Vengeful, or, for added fun, make them pay to attack you then show them what
Red Vengeance (PotS) looks like.
6.) The Power of Blood (Core) - lots of noble characters in Martell, so this should be a good fit in many decks.
7.) Battle of Oxcross (PotS) - this should goad your opponent into coming after you, which should allow you to use your Martell abilities that depend on being attacked.

Also consider:
*Building Season (Core) - there are certainly many better options than this, but if you are playing Ghaston Grey or any of the other great Martell locations, and have a limited card pool, this is a good pick.