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3
Forgotten Plans - The Brotherhood Without Banners
May 14 2012 05:05 AM |
Rave
in Game of Thrones
Small Council Forgotten Plans Rave
Hey all! Staton's computer is still on the fritz, so I'm next up for a guest spot in Forgotten Plans.This week, I want to talk about the black sheep of the LCG, the Brotherhood without Banners.
The Brotherhood without Banners is a fun mechanic, and plays host to some powerful effects, but it has heavy weaknesses that keep it from becoming a truly competitive deck type.
Ultimately, the problem lies in reliance on Beric. It is a very common tactic to use Beric as if he was your house card, and put all of your power on him because he is the most survivable card. If you don't do this, Valar and other kill or discard effects will do a good job at keeping you from winning. The problem is that there are so many card that will blank, bounce, or bleed the power off of Beric that using him in this way usually results in shattered dreams.
Using Widow's Watch, you can play 2-3 copies of the key Brotherhood characters with less worry about the dupes coming up later when they are dead, allowing you to spread the power around, and make less of a target for your opponent's effects.
Don't forget that the star of your show is not necessarily Beric, and with dupes on some other characters they become equally as effective.
The Mad Huntsman: The Mad Huntsman is always a threat when he is out, especially with the kill effects Stark has access to. Not to mention he does a great job in warding off intrigue weenies.
This effect for 3 gold is about as efficient as it gets. Stark also has access to the Winterfell Practice Hall, which gives The Mad Huntsman non kneeling renown.
Anguy the Archer: Did you know that with the right plot deck, Anguy can win you the game at 9 power with little effort? With enough characters to cap his ability, flip Wildfire Assault on the next turn and then Valar the turn after that. Even if Anguy dies on the Valar turn, he is moribund while claiming the power, and you will still win.
In general, with all of the character's dying to military claim, Anguy is at home in a Stark deck with their kill effects.
Tom Sevenstrings: Tom has synergy with Widow's Watch himself, and no-one will discount the usefulness of his cancel ability. He's not a heavy hitter for sure, but he is good support.
Thoros of Myr: I prefer the save version. This guy is great to have as backup. Discard the power from the dying character if you can, in case the effect is cancelled.
Other key synergies:
Old Nan: Great utility for Widow's Watch, blanking Maesters, and your own Brotherhood characters.
Riders of the Red Fork: Searchable with Widow's Watch. This is a good way to make sure we have a way to trigger our war effects.
There are other useful things you can do with Widow's Watch besides grab dupes of The Brotherhood. For example, you can grab extra copies of Ice, or Rider's of the Red Fork if you've splashed in some War effects you'd like to use.
What to watch out for:
These cards are a nightmare to come up against, even if you're putting all of your power on Beric. Keep them in mind as you play, not all are common, but know they could potentially pop up.
Don't ever get overconfident, if you've never played Brotherhood before, trust me. Life finds a way.
My favorite Brotherhood story comes from Rings, where he mentioned that his Beric was Nightmare'd and Valar'ed first turn during a large tournament. Poor guy.
If you have some more of these, please add them in in the comments section.
Search and Detain
Ghaston Grey
Ellaria Sand
Melisandre (core set)
Slander and Lies
Lannisport Tourney Grounds
Here's a link to a sample build, Stark Brotherhood
Stark Brotherhood
House (1)
House Stark (Core) x1
Agenda (1)
The Brotherhood Without Banners (RoR) x1
Plot (7)
Fury of the Wolf (AE) x1
Search and Detain (HtS) x1
Take Them by Surprise (LoW) x1
The Minstrel's Muse (RotO) x1
Valar Morghulis (Core) x1
Wildfire Assault (Core) x1
Building Season (Core) x1
Character (30)
Beric Dondarrion (IG) x1
The Mad Huntsman (ASoSilence) x3
Anguy the Archer (DB) x3
Ghost of High Heart (WLL) x1
Thoros of Myr (RoR) x1
Tom Sevenstrings (RoR) x1
Maester Luwin (FtC) x1
Old Nan (BoRF) x1
Guard at Riverrun (LoW) x3
Lucas Blackwood (GotC) x1
Meera Reed (TftH) x1
Sansa Stark (Core) x1
The Blackfish (LoW) x1
Fanatical Follower (KotStorm) x3
Cat o' the Canals (RoW) x1
Ser Kyle Condon (APS) x1
Hodor (Core) x1
Carrion Bird (ASoS) x2
Riders of the Red Fork (FtC) x3
Location (18)
Widow's Watch (GotC) x3
Lord Eddard's Chambers (Core) x1
Isle of Faces (APS) x1
The Searoad (KotStorm) x3
Bay of Ice (KotS) x3
Harrenhal (ODG) x1
Winterfell Practice Yard (ODG) x1
River Row (QoD) x1
Street of Silk (LotR) x1
Shadowblack Lane (Core) x1
Street of Steel (Core) x1
Street of Sisters (Core) x1
Event (6)
No Quarter (TBC) x3
Die by the Sword (LoW) x2
The Price of War (KotS) x1
Attachment(6)
Ice (Core) x2
Frozen Solid (LoW) x3
Flaming Sword (DB) x1
Description:
Get your key Brotherhood characters out, and roll them with your high initiative and military effects. If you get within 9 or 10 power with Anguy out, hopefully Wildfire, then Valar for the win.
Widow's Watch is the cornerstone and your deck thinner, get it out ASAP.
Kill your cheap characters over your duped Anguy or Mad Huntsman, treat those dupes as if they were gold.
Price of War and Die by the Sword are dependent on Riders of the Red Fork, which are searchable with Widow's Watch.
What are your successes with the Brotherhood? Any insights of your own? Heroic stories of victory?
- OrangeDragon and Reager like this
20 Comments
Melisandre (Core) is in play.
Lady Stoneheart (MotM) and Martial Law (BoRF) can help. They're not an amazing faction but they are still fun.
By the way another card to watch out for may be Fury of the Lion (AE)
Well... not necessarily doomed if you aren't relying on Beric. Definitely weakened, but if you're spreading the power around, you still have a chance to come back.
As you said, there are ways to deal with locations in the deck too.
But that being said Lady Stoneheart should probably go in with this card in the environment.
Enemy of My Enemy (TBC).
I don't think I've ever seen one at all. The saves would be handy though.
The deck doesn't work without Widow's Watch, so yeah. The point is to not be forced to rely on Beric. Besides the 2 characters, don't forget that you can grab Riders of the Red Fork, and Ice as well.
Yeah, that guy is pretty good, i didn't add him because the 2 slot is already kind of crowded. What would you swap out?
Touche on being able to grab Ice, and I guess technically you could use widow's watch to dupe itself so it would effectively lower the deck size, but you can't grab the riders of the red fork with it.
I agree with ogseamus (at least as far as using cat/stoneheart are concerned). cat (imo at least) is an auto-include in my stark decks because she's so good (and you know me, always a fan of characters that effectively stay in hand). stoneheart is renown if nothing else, and unless she gets hit by the varys/arys/jorah (or dissension i guess but how common is that?) she's just gonna bounce back to play.
I personally wouldnt want to use the riders/events as there is the potential to draw into deadweight if you dont have the characters, but I know you've made a stark brotherhood deck before (only saw you play it once a couple months ago) so you would obviously know how it would work better than me.
Also, I agree yet again with seamus with regards to sansa. at best she's gonna get ice played on her and net you 1-2 cards, but if you've already used your ices or get her and dont draw them, she's just another 2 for 2 with intrigue and power.
i can only really see the isle of faces being "necessary" on a minstrel's muse turn, but if you use high claim plots (or winter is coming) and die by the sword, you should be able to have enough board control to be winning dominance anyways, and if not you're probably too far behind to win dominance.
lastly, i would find a way to add a second blackfish. albeit expensive, he's really good card draw and has renown, and with widow's watch you'd be able to get his dupe out early.
regardless of my opinions, you know how much of a LCG noob I am, having only played for 2 months or so, so what do i know =P
Though, back to our discussion why would I not be able to grab Riders of the Red Fork with Widow's Watch? it is a search effect.
Maybe we should drop them for the sake of consistency. Even if Widow's Watch is an easy way to grab Riders, I have to assume I can pay for it, and for Widow's Watch to make it to my marshalling phase.
Anyway...
-Sansa could get cut fairly easily.
-Winter is coming sounds solid, and more versatile than extra kill anyway.
-I'm sold on Lady Stoneheart for sure, for both renown, claim soak, and a Brotherhood character when things get desperate.
-I have divided feelings on Cat. I don't think she is necessary because of the intrigue The Brotherhood brings (especially if we add the Orphaned Recruits), but as far as power goes, with these tweaks, our presence in the power challenge is getting pretty weak.
-3 Riders
-2 Die by the Sword
-1 Price of War
-1 Sansa
-1 Isle of Faces
+3 Orphaned Recruits
+3 Winter is Coming
+1 Lady Stoneheart
+1 Blackfish
That actually works out even, and keeps our event/attachment slot at 12.
The only thing I would worry about is our setups, in my experience, 8 1 costs is the sweet spot for your setup, where you will consistently draw at least 1 1 cost. Since we're going to want to flop Widow's Watch as much as possible (especially with the absence of the Riders) I don't want to get into the situation where you have to flop 2-2-0, 3-2-0, 3-2, or just 2-2. I don't usually place such an importance on setup, but since we've got kill effects in there, I'd like to draw into the deck as much as we can without sacrificing mid or late game.
Also, adding the 3 Orphaned Recruits puts us at 21 cards we could possibly draw into in the setup that we wont want to/can't flop. (events/attachments/anguy/mad huntsman/recruits)
I dunno, what do you guys think about that? Am I just being neurotic?
Even if you don't rely on Beric though it is a huge thing considering you will lose all the extra brotherhood abilities for the rest of the game. So yes I think Lady Stoneheart is a must. For the rest I think your not being neurotic at all, and that it is a very interesting deck to try out.
It's probably a good idea to run any deck you plan to take to a tournament through Martell Control and Targ Burn and see if they can hang. At least half of my deck concepts get rocked by either.
At least Anguy and Mad Huntsman are hard to hit with Venomous Blade, and Martell doesn't really have any other kill effects to speak of, so if you can get your claim soak out, you only need to worry about dupes on the valar turn.