King In The North - Knights

Ever since the CCG days, I have been a strong supporter of the Knights of the Realm agenda. Perhaps it is the knights that appeal to my sense of fantasy, the honorable chivalrous...well I mean I guess Jamie is a knight too... Or perhaps it is the card advantage that comes with the agenda that appeals to my competitive nature. I remember strong cards such as House Manderly Knight(3 cost, 3 strength military/power got +2 strength when participating in a challenge with another stark character), and a few additional House Tully Knights, Knight of the Green Fork, and Knight of the Blue Fork.
In the current card pool Stark offers a few solid knights as well.

• Ser Kyle Condon (APS) offers limited card advantage as well as limited protection from resets with a reasonable cost in a unique character.
• The Blackfish (LoW) also offered a form of card advantage, renown, and a quite powerful ability if it happens to be active.
• Ser Edmure Tully (LoW) is the only Stark knight that can trigger both die by the sword and no quarter.
• Ser Jorah Mormont (PotS) provides two things that stark does not have an abundance of an intrigue icon and stealth both with a limited drawback

My personal Knight deck has evolved over the course of many months, stemming originally from my The Siege of Winterfell (LoW) deck that could not compete in the late game because of a lack of card advantage. Instead of trying to put the opponent at a sizable disadvantage by opening with Fear of Winter (BtW) I decided to try to put myself at an advantage with At the Gates (GotC) for Maester Luwin (FtC). The first turn play seems logical in about 75% of games because the deck generally sets up enough characters to deal with a first turn Fear of winter, At the Gates allows me to get an additional character into play against a Fear of Winter and effectively provides me a 6 gold plot that thins my deck. Another thing I often noticed with my original Stark deck, is after 2 or 3 rounds of play, and successfully killing 2-3 characters a turn I would be hit by
Valar Morghulis (Core), and lack the ability to come back because I had limited card advantage.

The restricted card slot in Stark generally comes down to 3 cards, Fear of Winter (BtW), Search and Detain (HtS), or Narrow Escape (KotStorm). When I first started playing Fear of Winter I fell in love with the card, I won many games in large part to that card and figured I would never forsake it. Unfortunately there are a few cards that deal extremely well with it, Forgotten Plans (KotStorm) obviously limits its usefulness and The First Snow of Winter (ODG) followed by Rule by Decree (Core) can even the playing field quite quickly. In my Knight deck I choose to play with Narrow Escape, using it mainly to counter Valar, but it also helped me a great deal against Targ Burn. When they used their Threat from the North (PotS)+The Hatchlings' Feast (ASitD) combo, I would be able to get my characters back into play generally ruining their plans for that round.

The deck has been altered many times, often going backwards even after it has gone forward. There are certain cards in the deck that deal extremely well against other cards. Of course their are cards in the deck, such as Meera Reed (TftH), or Nightmares (LoW) that are blanket effects dealing with almost any problem card, The Red Viper (PotS) painfully excluded.

Lannister-

• I have by far the least experience against this house, mostly because the people I play against think this house is unplayable in the top level of competition. The cards that scare me the most out of Lannister are Cersei Lannister (LotR), Enslaved (THoBaW), Shadows and Spiders (LotR)in combination with Misinformation (TWH), A House Divided (WLL)(for obvious reasons) and their various kneel effects as my initiatives are extremely low allowing them to make me the first player.
• Meera, Nightmares, Die by the Sword (LoW), No Quarter (TBC) and to a lesser extent Greatjon Umber (WLL) all deal well with Cersei. Meera and Frozen Solid (LoW) are the only things that I have to deal with enslaved, often times I just have to kill the character with an event to limit the damage they will do against me. Bonus points if I can then play Narrow Escape to get them into play under my control again. Misinformation and House Divided are both events that give me problems, and sadly my deck does not include any counters for either of them, though Paper Shield (QoD) would deal with almost all of Lannister's annoying events.

Baratheon-

• I have played against Baratheon a good deal, mostly wildling or knights. They have many good characters that are also knights, such as The Laughing Storm (GotC) and Knight of Flowers (SaS) allowing even a non knight deck to push me hard to keep my card advantage. The Wildling Horde (TWH) with any standing tech limits my ability to win any challenges as well. Also with a well thought out plot deck it can be hard for me to kill their key characters, The Power of Blood (Core) protects their nobles and Calm Before the Storm (LoW) prevents me from using any of my events. There is also a very good Baratheon Maester deck that abuses Greyscale (tHoBaW), combined with standing effects and several chains to create a combination that can discard 1 character of the opponent's per phase.
• The biggest counter that I have against Baratheon is simply the fact that Martell, specifically return to hand effects, are so strong against them it is hard to pilot a Baratheon deck into the top tier of competition. Meera and Nightmares can be key in blanking their key characters to slow them down, or allow me to win challenges. Even Old Nan (BoRF) has come into play in games when it was Knight vs Knight to allow me to draw 3 cards to their 1 card.

Martell-

• It is hard to only name a few good cards that Martell has that I planned my deck around. The Viper's Bannermen (PotS), The Red Viper (PotS), Arianne Martell (PotS), Ghaston Grey (FtC), Maester of the Sun (ASoS), The Scourge (ODG) and Lost Oasis (AToT) are all cards that can be extremely annoying, if not game changing. That said there were 2 other cards in play-testing that constantly cost me games, A Game of Cyvasse (ACoS) and Red Vengeance (PotS). Those 2 cards thwarted my military challenges either returning characters to my hand so I could not win, or turning the claim on me causing me to lose board control at key times. Luckily I found a solid answer to both of those cards...my secret tech!
• 
  My 'secret tech' was Borderland Keep (TWH), a card I had seen at one time and intrigued me greatly. I started thinking about all that it could do for me, it could cancel a save, cancel a paper shield on one of my kill events, prevent players from playing Cyvasse or Red Vengence, and also be a 1 cost location to aid my setup. Varys (SaS) and Brienne of Tarth (PotS) are both key cards in this deck in these match-ups as well. Martell has a large amount of allies, and the intrigue with stealth Varys provides is invaluable.

Greyjoy-

• Against Greyjoy I feel as though everyone would be worried about their saves and cancels. Greyjoy choke did worry me somewhat, but often times I was able to get a solid enough setup that it gave me an early edge. The offensive valar from greyjoy, especially with cancels for opponent's saves is a strong play and one that has cost me plenty of games with this deck and others. The new Asha provides them with some solid power grab to go along with their other good cards. There was one game I played awhile back where my opponent had 3 boatswains and 2 refugees on the board the very first round, that made it almost impossible for me to push through military challenges without some stealth or cards in shadows.
• Brienne of Tarth can single-handedly ruin the day for almost any Greyjoy deck. If I feel like a certain deck is susceptible to Greyjoy I often run 2 or 3 copies of Brienne because she means that much against that type of deck. The other card that is key to winning is Narrow Escape to deal with their offensive Valar. It is hard for Greyjoy to gain card advantage and causing them to discard their hand can be debilitating often times.

Targaryen-

• The games against this house can range from very simple to almost impossible for this deck. Most of these decks run the Knights of the Hollow Hill agenda, meaning that I have to burn Forgotten Plans as my first plot to counter their First Snow of Winter unless I get a solid flop with a 3 cost character and multiple resources allowing me to play 2 more 3 cost characters. Kill events often mean little against these decks because their characters often come into play after your challenges are already over. A good player that either runs into the right cards or had early card advantage is almost impossible to stop, without some great play and a little luck.
• Forgotten Plans is a huge card against this house, often times even if you are unable to hit First Snow you can hit Threat from the North which means the Hatchling's Feast has to be played in the plot phase so they lose the advantage of springing it after you have already marshaled. Narrow Escape is a great card against this house. Frozen Solid is both a blessing and a curse, it is wonderful to deal with their amazing locations such as Meraxes, or Meeren Tournament ground, but it is also easily dealt with both Brothel or Dragon Thief.

Stark-

• Stark decks that do not run Knights have the advantage of running better characters, Hedge Knight, Knight of the Red Fork, Edmure Tully are replaced by cards such as Hodor, Hound, Lucas, and Mad Huntsman. Stark has access to the same amazing cards, but Winter and Siege decks lack the card advantage that Knights provide.
• Playing against another Stark deck, Narrow Escape is a huge card to deal with high claim and kill events. Harrenhall can be a boon because of increased card advantage and of course Meera simply decides games when paired between 2 Stark decks. Borderland Keep also shines in these match-ups, especially if your opponent forgets that it can cancel their Meera going back into shadows, or even coming out of shadows if they try to trigger it during a military challenge.

The deck is all about card advantage, using Maester Luwin to tutor events, Narrow Escape as the restricted card to force your opponents into choices they do not like, and hammering the opponent with 2 claim challenges followed up with kill events. I enjoy playing this deck more than any other that I have ever played, and will likely continue to play this deck so long as it gets some minor support to keep it competitive. My tournament report from worlds is posted on AgotCards as well as the FFG forums, if anyone is interested I can provide the links. This is the first place that my deck list has been posted, but in truth it is very similar to the deck that went 8-0 at the DC regional event. It is also not very similar to the Moonboy Classic Deck that has been posted, 3 of my 7 plot cards are the same, and 36 of my 65 cards in the deck are the same. I believe both decks are good, top of the line and as unique as 2 decks from the same house with the same agenda can be.


Total Cards (65)

House (1)
House Stark (Core) x1

Agenda (1)
Knights of the Realm (KotStorm) x1

Plot (7)
The Power of Arms (Core) x2
At the Gates (GotC) x1
Forgotten Plans (KotStorm) x1
Twist of Fate (APS) x1
Rule by Decree (Core) x1
City of Soldiers (TBoBB) x1

Character (36)
Bolton Refugee (RoW) x3
Hungry Mob (CoS) x2
Knight of the Red Fork (LoW) x2
Knight of the Tumblestone (Core) x3
The Blackfish (LoW) x2
Carrion Bird (ASoS) x3
Ser Jorah Mormont (PotS) x1
Ser Edmure Tully (LoW) x1
Hedge Knight (KotStorm) x3
Meera Reed (TftH) x2
Catelyn Stark (LoW) x1
Ser Kyle Condon (APS) x1
Maester Luwin (FtC) x2
Samwell Tarly (TRS) x1
Greatjon Umber (WLL) x1
Riders of the Red Fork (FtC) x1
Brienne of Tarth (PotS) x1
Knight of Harrenhal (TBC) x2
Damon Dance-For-Me (VD) x1
Old Nan (BoRF) x1
Jory Cassel (CtB) x1
Varys (SaS) x1

Location (13)
Narrow Sea (Core) x3
Street of Steel (Core) x1
Great Keep (Core) x3
Street of Silk (LotR) x1
River Row (QoD) x1
Harrenhal (ODG) x1
Street of Sisters (Core) x1
Borderland Keep (TWH) x2

Attachment (2)
Frozen Solid (LoW) x2

Event (14)
Die by the Sword (LoW) x3
No Quarter (TBC) x3
Narrow Escape (KotStorm) x3
Nightmares (LoW) x2
Dissension (QoD) x2
The Price of War (KotS) x1

City of Soldiers was added over Retaliation and Men of Pride at the last minute to deal with Street Waif, Samwell Tarly, Val, Maester Wendamyr and an assortment of other characters. At the very least I feel like it is a 3/0/3 plot with limited chance to backfire. The price of war is also a card I added at the last minute to better deal with Targ. Next week I will talk about Stark Winter, my take on the deck is slightly different than the decks that did so well this year, but honestly when it comes to Stark Winter you add Meera plus other solid Stark cards and you try to outplay your opponent.