An Empty Throne - Making deals

Welcome back to the An Empty Throne. In this article we want to talk about diplomacy in Melee. Specifically we want to talk about how and when to cut deals. So we have created a list of things that you can offer your opponents for to make a deal.

Here is a short legend for our list:

Timing: When is the best moment to offer that type of deal.
Offer: A description what you can offer or ask for to cut a deal.
Counter: Some things you could try to do to undercut other players when they attempt this type of deal.

Sharing Plots
Timing: After pre-plot actions are finished when you choose your plot.
Offer: If you are running any of the sharing plots like a Counting Favors (Core), Summoning Season (Core), Building Season (Core) or Spending the Winter Stores (QoD) you can typically get quite a lot in return for them. If you are looking to persuade a player to make you the beneficiary of the effects then offering to support them in challenges or go after one of the other players can be a good way to encourage them to pick you.
Counter: The only effective counter is to intimidate the player. "Choose me and your card is safe. Choose another player and the card is lost". If you are playing Stark threatening The Weasel's Way (TIoR) is another good intimidation avenue. The point is you do not need the card in your hand; you only have to suggest that you might have it in your hand. Intimidation is an avenue that is best used sparingly, if you constantly fall back on this eventually the other players will get fed up and start to focus on you to retaliate.

First player
Timing: After you have won initiative and nobody has cancelled the initiative with an Ahead of the Tide (WotN).
Offer: Initiative is very important. The selection of titles depends heavily on initiative. And often it is also good to be the first or the last player for specific reasons. So if you won initiative you might sell the choice of the first player to another player.
Counter: No chance, you have to offer a better deal to the players.

Protection from attacks
Timing: Before titles are selected, which means it could be useful before and after plots are selected. Anyway this option is open until the end of the challenge phase.
Offer: I will not attack you. That is not the same thing like we do not attack each other. Of course very often the deal can be created two-sided, but you do not fear the player anyway you can offer him not to attack him against any other advantage.
Counter: The selection of titles or any promises can help to counter those deals. You can help to be secured by a supported title, you can protect a player by selecting a supporting title or you can choose the crown regent and promise to redirect an attack.

Free unopposed
Timing: In the challenge phase.
Offer: Very often a lost challenge does not harm you. Giving an opponent the chance to grab an unopposed power and perhaps trigger various card abilities can be an advantage in itself. Depending on your house you or your opponent might be able to trigger some nasty effects from winning or losing challenges. If you notice cards with these effects on the table offering the chance to trigger them can be worth alot to your opponent.
Counter: The selection of titles may help to redirect a challenge or protect another player to avoid unopposed challenges. You do not have to spend resources, but you might argue that you will do it. Some card (e.g. Greatjon Umber (WLL) ) may help too to avoid those deals from forming by allowing you to defend other players.

Control
Timing: React to possible harm.
Offer: There are a lot of characters and locations with control effects. Playing them might be good just to intimidate other people. If you do this, I will use it against you. Do not do it and you will be safe.
Counter: Try to form an alliance against the owners of those cards. Work together to get rid of them instead of being frightened by them.

Veiled threats
Timing: React to possible harm.
Offer: Control cards can be used to intimidate other players. Talk about your hand to create veiled threats. A Greyjoy player may argue "if you use your scourge against me this round, in the next round a newly made lord will discard it". Nobody knows if he really has that card in his hand.
Counter: Argue! A newly made lord is a high cost in a melee game and maybe the player cannot afford to play such a card in the current situation. You can also focus on intrigue challenges against those players. Promise that you will try to discard that card.

Help
Timing: In the challenge phase when another player is thinking about his actions.
Offer: Who will I attack? This is a common question you have to ask yourself. Influence other players in that decision. If you attack him, I will use my effect X to help you. This has the good side effect, that he will not attack you. Also don't forget about the ability to support from title selection. You can often catch another player unaware and make a deal with the player you support in the process.
Counter: Threaten the players. "If you help him I will focus my attacks on you.“


Conclusion

So we hope we were able to give you a brief overview of some of the possibilities for making deals and working against them. Our intention was in first place to show you that there is always something you can deal about. Doing it successfully will ease up your melee games a whole lot. If you've got additional ideas to help or hinder deal making in your melee games make sure to let us know in the comments!
Remember to maximize your options, recognize the options of the other players, read the table, and give the best arguments.

We hope you enjoyed this article and even more that it was useful to you.
See you next time, when the struggle for the empty throne continues.


Tobi and SerJaime