Greek Nationals - Melee and Joust Results

I would like here to take a moment and dedicate this report and my performance in our Nationals to “Chanel” . My girlfriend’s poodle dog. Friday the day before the event “Chanel”at only the age of 3 who I love like my own suddenly got paralyzed at her two rear legs.

The vet diagnosed a rare disease called IVDD
http://www.petside.c...-disease-canine
In order for her to have a chance to walk again she needed immediate surgery that costs here in Greece a lot of money… So with the help of a site called FundRazr we ask the help of anyone kind enough to donate anything he or she wants or at least spread this message so that our dog can walk again…

Donations can be made through FundRazr using Paypal from the link below
https://fundrazr.com...3446ed6b1183457

That said lets go to the events…
2 days of AGoT LCG with the highest level of competition was upon me. Saturday was the National Melee event and Sunday was the Joust one.

Greece National Melee

My mind was fresh with the image of “Chanel” being paralyzed so I didn’t have a lot of energy going to the event. That and the popular opinion here in Greece is that Melee is just for fun and not for serious competition made me field a deck just for the fun of it.
The deck was not mine. It was the deck that won the French Melee Regional and if all goes well it can win in turn 1 Marshalling. If you know the deck then I know you hate it. If you don’t though I am pretty sure you will. I play tested it a bit and half the time the deck pulled the combo off. The problem is a lot of things can disrupt your combo in Joust, like a Burn deck. Fortunately burn decks in Melee are non existent. 16 people showed up for the event. My girlfriend fielded a Targaryen Dragon deck and a close friend that we play test with fielded a Martell Maesters one.

The Deck

House
House Lannister (Core)

Agenda
Alliance (QoD)

Plots

Summoning Season (Core)
Building Season (Core)
Fortified Position (LoW)
Hear Me Roar (Core)
Valar Morghulis (Core)
Search and Detain (HtS)

Characters (20)
The Hound (PotS) x3
Killer of the Wounded (QoD) x3
Ranger of the Watch (WotN) x2
Lyanna Stark (ODG) x3
Satin (WLL) x3
Recruiter for the Watch (TWH) x3
Son of the Mist (ASoSilence) x3

Locations (25)
Golden Tooth Vaults (AKitN) x3
Coin Mint (LotR) x3
The Gift (EB) x1
The Goldroad (Core) x3
Dorne (PotS) x3
Street of Silk (LotR) x1
Shadowblack Lane (Core) x1
Street of Sisters (Core) x1
Lion's Gate (ASoS) x3
Shivering Sea (KotS) x3
Flea Bottom (TGM) x2
Street of Steel (Core) x1

Attachments (6)
Rhaegar's Harp (BoRF) x3
Increased Levy (LotR) x3

Events (9)
The Wealth of the Rock (LotR) x3
You've Killed the Wrong Dwarf! (Core) x3
Yoren's Task (BtW) x3

The Combo
Ok… I will quote here the explanation of this deck combo from the maker of the deck so that you can see what it tries to accomplish.

The deck is based on two infinite loops that work around Lyanna Stark (ODG) + Killer of the Wounded (QoD). Each time the Killer kneels, he stands up. The combo that lets you win, the "Mando combo", makes the Killer a Clansman with some trait manipulation (Rhaegar's Harp (BoRF) is the easiest way). You empty your hand except for The Hound (PotS). Then you kneel Dorne (PotS) and name the Ally trait. Playing the Hound this phase is now free. When you play it as your last card, you kneel a Clansman character, the Killer, to have the Son of the Mist (ASoSilence) claim 1 power. Doing so, Lyanna lowers the strength of the killer, making the Hound come back in your hand. The Killer stands and you can re-do the combo until you reach 15 power.

But this combo needs too many cards to be effective first turn without a great piece of luck. So I included the second combo called "Bobdenar combo", that you'll try to establish first because it helps you by tutoring 3 cards from your deck. With the same basis Lyanna + Killer, you give the Night's Watch trait to the killer (the best is always the Harp because it also gives the Clansman trait, but there are some others ways) and play Satin (WLL). You can now mill all the decks until you find the cards you need for the Mando combo. This combo is very easy to obtain with a bit of plot deal, and allows you to have in hands the Mando combo many times.

House Breakdown
Lannister – 5
Martell – 4
Targaryen – 3
Baratheon – 2
Greyjoy – 2
Stark – 0

Needless to say no one gave much credit to the Starks for the Melee event. Huge win for the Lannisters and the Martells in numbers.

Agenda Breakdown
Knights of the Hollow Hill – 4
Knights of the Realm – 2
The Power Behind the Throne – 2
Heir to the Iron Throne – 2
None – 2
Kings of Summer – 1
Alliance – 1
The Maester’s Path – 1
The Brotherhood without Banners – 1

It is obvious Knights of the Hollow Hill agenda is popular in Melee circles here in Greece. Except for that choices were quite divided for the other agendas.

Restricted Cards Breakdown
None – 6
Val – 2
Castellan of the Rock – 2
Burning on the Sand – 1
Venomous Blade – 1
Fury of the Dragon – 1
Fear of Winter – 1
Fury of the Kraken – 1
Pyromancer’s Cache – 1

6 people coming without a restricted card is a bit odd even for Melee but less odd than if it happened in Joust. Otherwise people are varied in their choices here as well.

Round 1 (points gained 10)
After 6 months of league play here in Greece I had a bye at the first round of Melee as well with other 3 people granting us a 10 point head start without playing in the first round.. To explain things better, here in Greece we run a league for Melee and a league for Joust with a tournament each week from October 2011 until now. The 4 top finishers in this league had a bye in the first round. The Melee League had an attendance of 40 people and the Joust one of 69.

I should scout around but I didn’t have the energy as I explained above. I sat and drank some coffee to wake up.

Round 2 (points gained 0)

- Left (Down Me, Up Martell player )
Right (Down Close friend , Up Martell Player )

After Round 1 was finished I knew I will be paired up with 3 other people with 10 points in their belt. Fortunately for me one of them was my close friend. The other 2 were Martell players both with the Knights of the Hollow Hill (MotM) Agenda. Unfortunately the plan didn’t go well. Here in Greece we know how the game is played and who to trust. So our opponents from the start were playing together knowing that we will too. To be honest maybe that is good for the game. Anyway I tried to pull the combo off but I was short gold. After that everything was a disaster. I lost
Satin (WLL) and Killer of the Wounded (QoD) and I knew the game was over for me. I finished last and was awarded with 0 points. That was an ugly start.

Round 3 (points gained 6)

- Left (Bottom Lannister The Power Behind the Throne (LotR), Top Targaryen Heir to the Iron Throne (QoD) my girl)
Right (Bottom Baratheon Knights of the Realm (KotStorm), Top Me)

Left with only 10 points I knew I would have easier opponents this time. That was not the case though because one of them was my girlfriend and her dragons, the second one was a very good player here in Greece playing Lannister The Power Behind the Throne (LotR) with an infamous Beric Dondarrion (IG) and the third one a new player fielding Baratheon Knights of the Realm (KotStorm).

The deck was ready to pull the combo off at first round but the cards I had in hand were too fragile. I tried to do it but a well placed cancel from the Lannister opponent and his The Iron Throne (LotR) to my Recruiter for the Watch (TWH) ruined it for me. Next plot was Condemned by the Realm (Core) played by the Baratheon player, he chose the Lannister player and he gave the killing blow to my Lyanna Stark (ODG).

Fortunately at the second plot the dragon deck of my girlfriend was on fire and she managed to gather 15 power. I removed a solo power from Beric with my Lion's Gate (ASoS)
and I grabbed one power with a You've Killed the Wrong Dwarf! (Core) on my Killer of the wounded. 6 points and second place was fine by me as the deck was ruined after the death of Lyanna.

Round 4 (points gained 10)

- Left (Bottom Targaryen Heir to the Iron Throne (QoD), Top Lannister Kings of Summer (ASoS))
Right (Bottom Baratheon, Top Me)

So….2 out of 2 times the deck failed me. This was the last round before the finals and my 16 points so far were not looking good. Everyone in this table was around that number and I knew only the first place would give me a chance to be at the final table. I had one Baratheon opponent, one Lannister Kings of Summer (ASoS) and one Targaryen Heir to the Iron Throne (QoD).

At long last everything went according to plan. 15 power in turn 1 Marshalling. The look on my opponent’s faces though was not a good sight. Before grabbing the 15^th power I stayed a bit at 14 power on my Son of the Mist (ASoSilence) as the Baratheon and the Targaryen player were asking me to stall and let them play the round so one of them can take second place and not tie for second place all 3, because they were getting only 2 point each. The curious thing was that the Lannister player never talked and he was sitting quietly listening to all this and waiting. As no one would pass to the final table with a second place I took the 15^th power and gave them all 1 because it would be unfair to choose one to be second. When the game ended the Lannister player informed us that he was waiting for this to happen because he had in hand a Terminal Schemes (LotR)
that would kill my son of the mist and ruin it for me. That was close….

26 points for me and I waited for one other table to finish and see if I made the cut to top 4. Lucky for me on the other table the only person that threatened me with 22 points before this round ended up 3^rd in his table and finished with 25 points. I was 4^th and last to be in the final table!

Final Table (1st place)

-Left (Bottom Martell The Maester's Path (GotC), Top Me)
Right (Bottom Martell Knights of the Hollow Hill (MotM), Top Targaryen Heir to the Iron Throne (QoD))

Lucky to made it to top 4 at the nick of time, things were looking good as my girlfriend was here too with her Dragons and my friend playing Martell The Maester's Path (GotC). The 4^th guy was a Martell that I encountered at round 2 with a
Knights of the Hollow Hill (MotM) agenda
playing full reinforcements. I’ll take a moment here to say that his deck was probably the best deck in this tournament. He was unlucky to be at the final table with 3 friends.
My deck failed me at the 2 first rounds but somehow it kept the good for the end. I managed to pull it off again at first round and had a You've Killed the Wrong Dwarf! (Core) to give the second place to my girlfriend (you know if I didn’t she would break up with me now don’t you?) .


- Regional Melee Champion of Greece (Me) " I wish the 40.000 Golden Dragons that i won were real though"


- 2nd Place Regional Winner ( my girl)


- The last place finisher, proud winner of the Sansa prize.

Final Thoughts
First place in our Melee National event but my thoughts were to our dog and to the Joust event tomorrow. I was happy that I took first place but the real battle awaited still. And this time I was bringing a monster of my own device.
Props to everyone that played 4 or 5 rounds of one and a half hour of Melee and still live to tell the tale.
Props to Fantasy Shop stores (http://www.fantasyshop.gr/) for hosting perfectly such an event.

Greece National Joust

The next day only 23 people showed up for the event. I know this number seems big for Greece but it isn’t. A lot of people didn’t come to play but showed up just to watch because they thought the competition would be fierce and they wouldn’t stand a chance. Gifts were given to everyone though and all were excited to have at last a different House card to boast!

Needless to say, although I’ve been to 3 World Cups for a different card game, I was quite nervous when I stepped in the venue of the event. I knew this was the real deal. Everyone was here to take home the title and I should play my best to accomplish that.

The night before I was faced with 3 choices for a deck. One choice was Imrahil’s deck that took down a Regional (Martell The Maester's Path (GotC) rush) that I play tested a bit and went quite well. But the plot decisions of this deck were no easy game for me. A wrong decision and you will lose a match only from a plot. I humbly bow to Imrahil for the creation of this monster but this was not the deck I could master in a week.
The second choice was Greg’s (Baratheon The Maester's Path (GotC) plot manipulation) that if all goes well can leave an opponent with one card at first plot. Again a great deck but again a deck that if the combo didn’t work needs a lot of serious decisions to win that I wasn’t prepared to make.
All of those reasons and one more (that if I took down this regional would be with a deck of my own) made me field my monster that I was playing with success for almost a month now. This was a Martell Knights of the Hollow Hill (MotM) deck with some twists in it. Lets go have a look at it.

The Song
From the early days of Team World cup for the Lord of the Rings card game at Essen until this very day, every time I play an important game I have a song that I quietly hum at the start of each game. This is it. Eminem - Lose Yourself



The Deck

House
House Martell (Core)

Agenda
Knights of the Hollow Hill (MotM)

Plots
Search and Detain (HtS)
Valar Morghulis (Core)
A Song of Summer (ASoS)
The First Snow of Winter (ODG)
Rule by Decree (Core)
Loyalty Money Can Buy (QoD)
Take Them by Surprise (LoW)

Characters (26)
Maester of Lemonwood (BtW) x1
Myrcella Lannister (ODG) x1
Darkstar (PotS) x1
Ellaria Sand (PotS) x1
Ser Arys Oakheart (PotS) x1
The Red Viper (PotS) x3
Ghost of High Heart (WLL) x1
House Messenger (PotS) x3
Dagos Manwoody (TBC) x1
Orphan of the Greenblood (PotS) x3
Flea Bottom Scavenger (AToT) x3
Edric Dayne (IG) x1
The Viper's Bannermen (PotS) x3
Doran Martell (TGM) x1
Syrio Forel (TftRK) x1
Arianne Martell (PotS) x1

Locations (19)
Ghaston Grey (FtC) x3
Street of Sisters (Core) x1
The Scourge (ODG) x1
Summer Sea (PotS) x3
Dornish Fiefdoms (PotS) x3
Flea Bottom (TGM) x1
Palace Fountains (PotS) x2
Shadowblack Lane (Core) x1
Aegon's Hill (TTotH) x3
Rhaenys's Hill (TBoBB) x1

Attachments (1)
Oberyn's Guile (MotA)

Events (14)
He Calls It Thinking (PotS) x3
Red Vengeance (PotS) x3
A Game of Cyvasse (ACoS) x3
Paper Shield (QoD) x3
Favorable Ground (QoD) x2

The Twists
Before a big event me and a close friend that we always play test together try to find something that will give us the edge. This time it was Aegon's Hill (TTotH).

Although expensive to play for Martell, the combo that it pulls off when combined with Ghaston Grey (FtC) was epic. Return the character that bothers you to the opponents hand and then look at his hand and put him at the dead pile.
Alliance (PotS) plot was considered but for one less gold and more protection against burn we chose the A Song of Summer (ASoS) plot.
Rhaenys's Hill (TBoBB) was the next logical addition.
The combo worked perfectly in all the games except the final….Our twist was destined to meet a meta call that destroyed me…

The Format
The format we chose for our Joust National was 32 – Bracketed Double Elimination, because as I said in the Melee report we run a league for 6 months now here in Greece.


So the pairings would come out of the position of oneself in our National ladder. For those not familiar with the format here is a quick explanation. Number 1 in our ladder faces no 32, number 2 faces number 31 e.t.c. If you lose you go to a different bracket called the losers bracket. If you lose a 2^nd game there too you are finished. The undefeated one in the winners bracket waits to play at the final with the winner of the losers bracket. But in order for the winner of the losers bracket to take down the regional he needs to win 2 times over the undefeated player so that he can throw him to the losers bracket as well. If you just win you can take down the regional with only 5 or 6 matches. If you lose your first match and go to the losers bracket you probably have your work cut out for you. You will need 10 matches to win. We find this system best for Big tournaments because it rewards the players that came to our league and finished at top places.

House Breakdown
Targaryen - 5
Martell - 4
Lannister - 4
Greyjoy - 4
Baratheon - 3
Stark - 3

Burn baby burn is the motto of the day. All houses though were represented.in good numbers.

Agenda Breakdown
The Maester's Path - 8
Power Behind the Throne - 4
Knights of the Realm - 3
Knights of the Hollow Hill - 2
None - 2
Wildlings 3 agendas - 1
Kings of Winter - 1
Kings of Summer - 1
The Siege of Winterfell - 1

Although the tournament went to Kings of Summer in Greece (how fitting), i have no words about the Maester's Path Agenda. 8 people running it says it all.

Restricted Cards Breakdown
Pyromancer's Cache - 4
Val - 3
Fear of Winter - 3
Narrow Escape - 3
None - 3
Fury of the Kraken - 2
Venomous Blade - 2
Fury of the Dragon - 1
The Viper's Bannermen - 1
Castellan of the rock - 1

As we can see opinions are varied

Round 1 (vs the fearsome BYE) 1-0
As in Melee the 4 top placers of our league had a bye in round 1. I was one of them as I finished 3^rd in our league so I relaxed a bit thinking about who I was supposed to play next. The logical opponent was a very good player here in Greece with a Stark KotR deck (Moonboy) that was facing at round 1 a Targaryen Maester’s Path burn deck that was fielded from a relatively new player. The Stark player eventually took down an easy win so now I knew for sure that the Starks would be my first challenge.

Round 2 (vs Stark KotR) 2-0

- Top Stark Knights of the Realm (KotStorm)
Bottom Me

Ι knew the Stark player well because we play in the same store and the same meta group. So we both knew generally what our decks can do. I was lucky enough to draw The Red Viper (PotS) with a duplicate early on so that eradicated his killing events that could only destroy my lesser minions that I don’t care about. He was unlucky enough not to draw to a Harrenhal (ODG) or Ser Kyle Condon (APS). So I followed with an early Valar Morghulis. He had a Jory Cassel (CtB) with a duplicate that I knew he would try to save and I played my He Calls It Thinking (PotS) to boost my viper even more. At turn 4 the viper and my House card were full with the 15 power I needed.

Round 3 (vs Greyjoy Winter no agenda) 3-0

- Left Me and my girl watching
Right Greyjoy
As I got up from the table from round 2 I saw that my next opponent could be my girlfriend. She was playing a Targaryen trait manipulation discard them all deck but she was faced with a Greyjoy opponent. Now…Greyjoy are not Knights or traitors so trait should be given to them every time for my girlfriend’s deck to work. Needless to say it was her hardest matchup so she lost. Now I had the task to avenge her
This Greyjoy player I have to admit is the one of the more enjoyable players I had to face. He is always with a smile and happy and extremely fun to play with!
I expected him to start with a Fear of Winter (BtW) to my Knights of the Hollow Hill (MotM) agenda but when I saw his setup I knew it would be a disaster for him. 3 characters of 2 cost and below and 2 locations. The First Snow of Winter (ODG) was the logical choice for me. From that point on everything went downhill for him and I got an easy win.

Round 4 (vs Targaryen Maester’s Path Burn) 4-0

- Left me, Right Targaryen The Maester's Path (GotC)
Only 4 players were left in the winners bracket. My opponent was one of the best players here in Greece playing his famous Targaryen Burn The Maester's Path (GotC) that took down a lot of tournaments in Greece. One of these tournaments and his deck is detailed in the 2^nd copy of our newspaper the Free Iron Throne.
The Red Viper (PotS) was there for me again. With a
He Calls It Thinking (PotS) to one of the chains he managed to pull at his Maester Aemon (Core) the Red Viper was not an easy man to burn. The first snow of winter came early for his Maester Aemon when i saw the Lead Link (CbtC) on him.
Aegon's Hill (TTotH) took care of the rest. The prize was getting closer…

Round 5 (vs Targaryen Summer Burn) 4-1

- Left Targaryen Kings of Summer (ASoS), right me
Only the 2 of us remained in the winners bracket. The winner here would go to the final and await the winner of the loser bracket. Needless to say this was the match of the day for me. Unfortunately my special twist betrayed me… Although I had never lost to this guy in a tournament I knew he was a good player. His meta call was Bandit of Summer (RoW) and he fielded not one but 2 in his deck. Now let me explain…. Bandit of summer destroys my Martell locations but I can live with that, I play 3 Ghaston Grey and they cost 1 to his 2 point cost. But… unfortunately Bandit of Summer destroys Targaryen locations too…My 5 point cost Aegon's Hill (TTotH) stood no chance… It was brutal…. I simply could not win whatever I did….Down to the losers bracket then and I had my work cut out for me now.

Round 6 (vs Targaryen Maester’s Path Burn) 5-1
Again the Targaryen player I faced before. He After he was thrown to the losers bracket from me he won over a Martell Maester’s Path and one of my closest friends was playing it. Then he won one of the best decks that were fielded from a very good player, a Baratheon Wildlings 3 agenda deck. Slowly he climbed and now it was he or me to go to the finals and face the Targaryen Summer burn. Unfortunately for him my deck was prepared for burn. I had the A Song of Summer (ASoS)
plot and my armies. The The Viper's Bannermen (PotS) are very hard to kill and he didn’t have bandit of summer… So I won again and was on my way to meet my nemesis at the final.

Final (vs Targaryen Summer Burn) 5-2
I knew this would be difficult. I simply had no answer for his bandits of summer. A well placed first snow of winter from him and I could have 4 bandit of summer destroying my deck. I gave him a hard battle but my shoulders were heavy. I was tired and I made 2-3 grave mistakes. I could have won if not for those mistakes but this is A Game of Thrones. Mistakes don’t win the game. I won’t describe the game because we have it on camera for you guys and girls. What I will say is that it was a great game and you will enjoy it! I will have commentary on the video as well. The video will be posted later this week.

Final Thoughts
Props to everyone that came by and congratulated me after the game.

Props to the winner of the tournament. Although all the other times I played with him in random tournaments he made mistakes, today he played like a pro. I could not find any holes in his armor.
Props again to Fantasy Shop Stores for the great event. Next stop… the European Tournament. Our sponsor The Fantasy Shop stores gave each Regional winner a free airplane ticket to Germany for the European tournament. So... be ready... the Greeks are coming!


- Left 1st Place Winner Targaryen Kings of Summer (ASoS)
Right 2nd Place Winner Me Martell Knights of the Hollow Hill (MotM)


- 3rd Place Joust Winner Targaryen
The Maester's Path (GotC)


- 4th Place Joust winner Baratheon
The Free Folk (BtW)
The Last Giants (TWH)
Blood of the First Men (RotO)


1st Place Decklist
House
House Targaryen (Core)

Agenda
Kings of Summer (ASoS)

Plots
Threat from the North (PotS)
Building Season (Core)
A Time for Ravens (ACoS)
Regroup (KotStorm)
The First Snow of Winter (ODG)
Rule by Decree (Core)
Valar Morghulis (Core)

Characters (29)
Gilly (RoW) x1
Kraznys mo Nakloz (TRS) x1
Red Warlock (ASoS) x1
Daario Naharis (WLL) x1
Dragon Thief (AE) x3
Drogon (QoD) x1
Refugee of the Plains (RoW) x3
Ser Barristan Selmy (TftH) x1
Ser Jorah Mormont (WLL) x1
Shadow Parasite (HtS) x3
The Titan's Bastard (Core) x1
Viserion (QoD) x1
Xaro Xoan Daxos (Core) x1
Dragon Knight (TBC) x3
Daenerys Targaryen (GotC) x1
Jhogo (OSaS) x1
Khal Drogo (Core) x1
Queen's Knight (TWot5K) x1
Horseback Archers (QoD) x1
Bandit of Summer (RoW) x2

Locations (17)
Myrish Villa (QoD) x3
Summer Sea (Core) x3
Aegon's Hill (TTotH) x1
Khal Drogo's Tent (Core) x1
Lady Daenerys's Chambers (Core) x1
Meereen Tourney Grounds (ODG) x1
Rhaenys's Hill (TBoBB) x1
Meraxes (TBC) x1
Eastern Fiefdoms (Core) x2
The Red Keep x1 (TftRK) x1

Attachments (4)
Black Raven (ASoS) x2
Flame-Kissed (Core) x2

Events (10)
Forever Burning (Core) x3
The Hatchlings' Feast (ASitD) x2
Paper Shield (QoD) x3
Field of Fire (QoD) x2