Forging the Chain - It's About Time - TR Montclair Regional

Welcome back to another edition of Forging the Chain. This week's edition is a recap of my first AGOT regional victory in Montclair over a talented 15 person field.

So preparing for this event I had become quite frustrated with the meta. The Long Voyage had poked its head up as the top agenda of the meta. That's not to say you cannot win without it, but it has proven to be the strongest archetype right now. This left me in a conundrum. I am at heart a control player, yet the strongest archetype is aggro. So I had a choice, continue complaining about TLV or join the party. Being the Jaime player I am, I joined the party and decided to run TLV. That left me with deciding which house to run it out of as most are good. I finally whittled it to Bara or GJ. I like Bara because it puts a ton of pressure on your opponent and has lots of standing. However, the more I thought about TLV, the more I liked GJ. If I'm running aggro I want lots of 2 claim plots and want to be able to put a ton on the board. With saves, I could have no fear of running 2 and 3 copies of uniques I wanted to draw, knowing they probably wouldn't die. Once I started playing with that mindset I starting liking this option. However, what I really liked about the build was the opportunity to play a deck with control and aggro. This is where my normal tendencies broke into my deckbuilding. Because I get so many cards I was able to add defensive cards like Fishing Net and Bastard. I had found that not many people were playing negative attachments and therefore, the anti-negative attachments cards were not prevalent yet. Fishing Net is a great choice in an aggro meta because it can lock down that critical first turn card like Cersei or Bob or Stannis. Moreover, Bastard tested well against maesters and Bara decks. However, with 85 cards I needed more redundancy and added 3 Milk of the Poppy.

Now I started testing with my international cadre of test partners and they all said I was insane. "8 negative attachments?!!? What are you thinking?" Then we tested and these attachments were always game breaking and they came around. I talked to Bruno about the idea before the event and he reminded me that a Milk on the Northern Cavalry Flank during a Fortified Position turn meant the attachment would stay on. Well I wasn't running Fortified but Men of Pride would work and the combo was amazing in testing. Finally, Bruno and Libertine started pushing me to try Nightmares. I decided to test it thinking I had too many negative cards already and I would have to put it in for Fingerdance or some attachments and I was quite hesitant to make this change. However, Nightmares ended up as the all star in testing and even more so in the tournament.

So in the end after testing I entered the tournament with 11 non setup, negative cards, and they were money all day long. Another major change during testing was River Blockade. I started with 1 copy. It won a few games in testing, especially the one time I flopped it. I bumped it to 2 copies and it won a few more games. I realized that every game I flopped it, I won, so I went with 3 copies and it won me 2 games. In fact, I ended up with a third copy over a 2nd copy of LIV. That was probably the hardest decision I made during testing.

The Event:

My apologies in advance to any scenarios or plays I mess up. By the time the day ended my memory of past events had become swiss cheese. So my report is essentially cobbled together from vague memories. Hopefully they will be satisfactory enough.

W Geoff Targ Kothh (2-2)
This was a case of me jumping on Geoff quickly with 2 claim, lots of dudes, and draw. He just wasn't able to get much going and I was able to overwhelm him rather quickly.

Warren - Martell Kothh (2-2)

This was a very tough game. In typical Ghaston Grey/Bleeds fashion, I was able to grab a fairly large lead early, something like 9-1. However, then he got GG going and started looping Arianne and Edric. Although I was drawing plenty of cards, I couldn't play enough guys for his tricks and the power grabbing slowed way down. He was able to go first, make challenges, and then bounce my dudes. The key for me was around plot 6 I finally found and played a fleet which he could not bounce. On the last plot I got a Newly Made Lord to hit GG. Then nightmares won the game, as was the theme of the day. Warren sent in Arianne who looked to be able to stealth the fleet and win a 3 claim power challenge to delay one more turn and bring on my Valar. However, after he attacked I played nightmares on Arianne, she lost her stealth, and I blocked with the fleet. Then I won my power challenge which allowed me to win the game.

Ben - Stark LV (3-1 tied for 4th, lost to tiebreakers took 5th)

Ben is a close friend and a podcasting partner of mine so I didn't relish playing him in a game that mattered so much. Basically, whoever wins this game is in the top 4. It was a very interesting game in which he got out a Frozen Outpost early which was crushing me hard. However, I got out Alanyss mid game and began cancelling Frozen outpost every turn. I was forced to use all my dirty tricks to win this hard fought game. I played Men of Pride in order to put a Fishing Net on his Northern Cavalry Flank to slow him down a turn. Then later Nightmares won the game. I went in for a crucial Mil challenge with Alanyss knelt. I attacked with guys, he defended with a war crest, and since I was first player I played a Nightmares on his Frozen Outpost so he could not stand his guy and win the challenge.

Speck - GJ Damphair (4-0)

James and I have a running joke that its not a real event unless we play, and we always do. James is one of the top SoCal players and I would venture to say he's the best player in the country you haven't heard of (if you haven't) He's real good and we always have tough games. This one was not a tough game, James blew me out. First turn he played Fear of Winter which allowed him to take a good hold of the game and hold onto it. He also dropped 2 Fishing Nets on my key characters at opportune moments. This was a learning game though. Since I knew the game didn't matter for anything other than seeding I was most interested in learning how to beat the deck. Don't get me wrong I was trying to win, but I wasn't terribly disappointed that I didn't get my Nightmares or Milk of the Poppys as they could still be surprise cards if we met again. Bottom line, he got Damphair on his house early and whipped me good.

TOP 4

Bruno - Stark Siege (3rd overall)

First turn plots were the difference in this one. He played a preplot Epic battle. Then he played Much and More. This seemed to be telegraphing Fear of Winter, but I had no idea if he was running it. I also wasn't sure if this was going to be a patented Bruno triple deek into a Rule by Decree. So I had a critical choice to make between playing Forgotten Plans against his Fear of Winter or play a 2 claim plot against his Rule by Decree. I went with the safer, more likely, choice of forgotten plans. He did in fact play Fear of Winter, despite some more Bruno bluffing tactics, and I was able to blank it. However, he still had a great setup playing another epic battle, carrion bird, a dude, and a card I had never seen before Vanguard Scouts. I had flopped a River Blockade (another all star on the day) and this prevented him from dropping a first turn NCF and hampered him all game. I was able to drop a few military characters as well. But the key was putting a Fishing Net on Vanguard Scouts. However, I still looked to have my board cleared by his Carrion Bird in a 2 claim epic phase, but I played a clutch Nightmares on his carrion bird to take away his stealth and block him. The game was essentially over after that turn. I drew a billion cards and played them he drew many less. He did wildfire my massive board at one point, but I just kept dropping dudes and 2 claim. This was a typical, first turn is critical, aggro vs. aggro matchup.

James GJ Damphair (2nd overall)

This game was the complete opposite of the first. I kept a marginal hand with a river blockade in it and a 3 card flop. I don't remember the early game well except that I was somehow able to litter the board with characters and jump out to a small lead with Asha, Alanys, an Iron cliffs, and a duped Victarian, which he played a fishing net on. James played a critical Newly Made Lord on the Cliffs and I knew a Valar was coming. I had no save in hand and played my Negotiations, knowing he had a big hand also. I got no new saves and thought "oh *@#@" James just outplayed me and I'm cooked. However, because of the River Blockade and my massive draw I was able to quickly out populate him. He had an Iron Cliffs and saved his Moqorro and Baelor Blacktyde. However, I played Marched to the Wall to knock off Moqorro to my Carrion Bird. Then I dumped a bunch of dudes out and overwhelmed him over the next few turns with dudes and 2 claim.

So when the dust cleared I finally had a regional win under my belt and the monkey off my back.

All Star Cards:

Nightmares
Fishing Net (Especially with Men of Pride)
River Blockade

Shout Outs:

- The entire SoCal meta. We had 13 people roll into a store we'd never even heard of and had a great day. I'm lucky to get to play and hang out with such a talented and friendly bunch. We can compete fiercely all day, yet have a good time before, after, and in between rounds. Thanks for letting me be a part of the crew!

- John Bruno for being a great friend and cheerleader for me. He's always rooting for me to win even while he's kicking my rear. You can't have a better friend than John.

- My playtesting team of Alex, Libertine, Darknoj, and everyone else on the Skype AGOT group who donated their time to helping me test out this seemingly awful deck.

- To Gameology for running a solid event. There were no hiccups and a good time was had by all.

- To James for being a skilled, classy, and all around great guy. James always wins and loses with dignity and class. He's due to get the monkey off his back and I predict now that he will win Kubla Con. Got get 'em James! (Sorry James, looks like I was wrong on this one. So my new prediction is that you win Oceanside!)