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Forgotten Plans - Rhaegar's Harp
Nov 05 2012 06:00 AM |
jmccarthy
in Game of Thrones
Small Council Forgotten Plans jmccarthy
The most beautifully complex and simple text in the game: "Attached character gains all Traits." Gaining everything from Fool to House Florent, attached character gains all the strengths and weaknesses of every trait in the game. Rhaegar's Harp (BoRF) is one of the most versatile and underused cards I know of, and it is the focus of this week's "Forgotten Plans." Once attached, this character will gain all of the "positive" traits in the game, such as King, Queen, Dragon, Knight, Dothraki, Maester, and Army. You could add to a theme deck, such as Brotherhood, Night's Watch, or Wildlings. Imagine a House Targaryen Beric Dondarrion holding his harp, and using all of House Targaryen's dragon cards, or giving all of The North's agenda bonuses (Stealth, Strength, or Tricons) to any character you choose.
On the other hand, that character will also gain all of the "negative" traits in the game, such as Refugee, Ally, Mercenary, Traitor, Dragon, and Knight. Card choices like Dissension, Ser Jorah Mormont, Daario Naharis, Varys, Ser Aerys Oakheart, Traitorous Crow and Horn of Dragons immediately come to mind. These cards not only represent a danger to using Rhaegar's Harp, but also represent a great opportunity.
So what makes Rhaegar's Harp better than Old Nan, Lion's Gate, Copper Link or Songs of Bael the Bard? Simple answer: the simplicity of the card, and the ease with which House Targaryen can use this card over and over again. No need to worry about death, seasons, location control, maesters, or having to wait 6 turns to use it again. You also only need one copy of Rhaegar's Harp, because you can search for it with Spending the Winter Stores, and you can use Targ recursion (Lady Daenery's Chambers, Griff, Street Waif, Archmaester Marywn, or Bronze Link) to get the Harp back again and again.
Wait, Spending the Winter Stores (QoD)? N00b alert!? An experienced OCTGN player once told me that when he sees his opponent flip Summoning Season as his opening plot, he immediately quits, because his opponent is obviously a n00b. Of the three mutual search plots (Summoning Season, Building Season, and Spending the Winter Stores), this one is the most one-sided. First, many decks don't have any attachments, or they don't have in-house attachments at all. But more importantly, using this plot out of Targaryen is as much of a non-risk as possible: if you're Targaryen and you can't discard an attachment, you're doing something wrong.
So now that you have the ability to search for an in-house attachment, let's take a look at my favorite "Forgotten Combo" from A Clash of Arms: Rhaegar's Harp and Dragon Bite (AE). Simply place both attachments on your opponent's character for a total cost of 1 gold, and watch as your opponent's best character - my favorites are The Red Viper and Cersei Lannister - commits suicide. The combo is simple: Rhaegar's Harp makes Cersei a Dragon, and Dragon Bite kills the attached character when participating in a challenge with a dragon. Cersei attacks or defends? She dies. Dragon Bite is a passive (read: non-triggered, nearly impossible to cancel) kill effect that cuts through saves.
And without further ado, check out the decklist below for a very effective Harp deck. The real focus of the deck is to use the Harp for "negative" trait manipulation, discarding your opponent's best characters with Ser Jorah Mormont, Daario Naharis, Dissension, and Varys. You can recur these nasties with Unburnt, Maegi's Promise, Regroup, and Archmaester Marwyn.
If necessary (and the risk is low), you can place the Harp on your own characters for "positive" trait manipulation - even Strong Belwas can hold the Harp! Useful traits include Dothraki, Night's Watch, Dragon, Maesters, or Queensguard - powering up your Dothraki abilities, saving with Aemon, or increasing the reach of Incinerate.
You can get extra use out of Marywn and your other maesters with Hrakkar Pelt, and Jhogo, Xaro's Home, and Valyrian Steel Link fill in some additional draw. If you want location control, you could easily plug in a couple copies of Price of War. I've found 6 chains to be just right... only 5 maesters (but they can come back from the dead), so you don't want too many chains. Anyway, give it a whirl, or just take Rhaegar's Harp out for a spin on your own!
Total Cards (61)
House (1)
House Targaryen (Core) x1
Agenda (1)
The Maester's Path (GotC) x1
Plot (7)
Spending the Winter Stores (QoD) x1
Regroup (KotStorm) x1
Men of Pride (THoBaW) x1
At the Gates (GotC) x1
Retaliation! (ASoSilence) x1
Twist of Fate (APS) x1
Valar Morghulis (Core) x1
Character (28)
Black Hatchling (DB) x1
Blood-Crazed Screamer (MotM) x2
Archmaester Marwyn (CD) x2
Aggo (RoR) x1
Dothraki Handmaiden (DB) x2
Daario Naharis (WLL) x2
Green Hatchling (TWH) x1
Refugee of the Plains (RoW) x3
White Hatchling (AKitN) x1
Viserys Targaryen (Core) x1
Maester Aemon (Core) x1
Strong Belwas (VD) x1
Linked Advisor (TIoR) x3
Jhogo (OSaS) x2
Rakharo (IG) x1
Ser Jorah Mormont (WLL) x2
Varys (SaS) x1
Khal Drogo (QoD) x1
Location (14)
Eastern Fiefdoms (QoD) x3
Khal Drogo's Tent (Core) x1
Lady Daenerys's Chambers (Core) x2
Street of Steel (LoW) x1
Summer Sea (PotS) x3
Street of Sisters (Core) x1
Street of Silk (LotR) x1
Xaro's Home (Core) x2
Attachment (11)
Rhaegar's Harp (BoRF) x1
Dragon Bite (AE) x1
Unburnt (QoD) x1
Hrakkar Pelt (RotO) x2
Copper Link (GotC) x1
Valyrian Steel Link (HtS) x1
Apprentice Collar (GotC) x1
Bronze Link (FtC) x1
Pale Steel Link (FtC) x1
Tin Link (CbtC) x1
Event (8)
Dissension (QoD) x3
Incinerate (VM) x3
Maegi's Promise (QoD) x2
-Jimm
- Archrono and bigfomlof like this
22 Comments
I have to admit a certain feeling of smugness when my opponent flips Spending, but that's just because I never make a deck without Frozen Solid (LoW) and I certainly won't quit because of that.
I'd argue that using the deck searching plots isn't "noobish", but they're hardly optimal. In some circumstances they would be a "must have" but I'd argue that rigorous/disciplined deck building and some sort of draw power is the better way to go.
That being said...
Great article. It happens to be one of my fave Targ attachments. I have a trait deck that works well in Joust as well as Melee (last weekend, I won a 6 man melee with it).
One question about the Deck: If your are running the The Maester's Path (GotC), why don´t you include Balerion the Black (RotO) and Dragon Lore (CbtC)? They have a huge impact!
To be clear: I would not quit, I would just win and help them learn.
The guy that quit wasn't quiting because of the plot effect itself, more likely since he considers it such a bad play he didn't want to play against that person. At least that's what it seems to me.
If your deck is centered around a character, then you may consider running this plot - but like others have mentioned, chosing ways that don't benefit your sole opponent are generally better ways to approach it.
Back to the OT though, really like this post. Trait manipulation can be lots of fun and it can be played extremely well out of Greyjoy Maesters/Winter with Horn of Dragons (ASoSilence) and Mance Rayder (TWoW).
The other reason is that in melee stuff dies all the time and having a key character with dupes is often more important there, and certainly rushy, character-centric builds work more in melee.
That said, there is a time and place for mutual plots in joust, and Spending the Winter Stores is a good example of this....just discard their location with your anti-location tech as Targaryen. Also, with the (real or perceived) weakness of attachments in today's meta, many decks won't have any in there at all giving you a one-sided benefit.
And by anti-location tech I assume you mean anti-attachment tech?
Summoning Season (Core) with
The Weasel's Way (TIoR) was a pretty cool combo and not n00bish at all.
To comment on the topic: The harp is one of the best cards in the game, no accident it was ment to be one of the three ultra-rares. You can use in a dragon deck puttinh it on the tricon, 5-strength Rhaeger, or you can use it with Jorah Mormont or Daario to passivly discard even immune characters from the game.
I have seen some amazing decks focused around that combo. The real problem for me is that that combo is really only useful for Balerion (1-3 cards in a deck of 60). I was trying to build a deck where the various pieces all interacted with each other no matter what pieces of the deck you have in your hand at any given time.
Its just personal taste. This is more of a toolbox approach, Balerion would be more of a combo-deck approach. And believe me, if you've got a Maester with a Dragon Lore, its totally worth running Summoning Season for Balerion!
That's really the whole point about Spending the Winter Stores or Summoning Season - imagine what the best card your opponent could possibly get is. If you can handle that (Tin Link or Balerion), then its no problem. If you're just searching for a Robb or a Cersei, your opponent probably has something better. And they get their own useful plot to hit you with.