Much and More - Brotherhood Synergy

In this weeks Much and More I'm going to look at cards that aren't specifically brotherhood characters but that are especially at home in a brotherhood deck.

House Martell:

House Martell is probably one of the best houses to run brotherhood out of. One other thing of note is that the POTS The Red Viper is immune to events, Beric can't be discarded, so there's some interesting potential with Westeros Bleeds and those 2 owning the board. Of course, that's a bit slow to setup, needing at least 5 cards, but it has potential and if there's one thing Martell can do, its card draw.

Flea Bottom Scavenger (AToT) - Since you're planning on not having power on your house throughout the whole game this essentially becomes pay 2 gold to hit draw cap on any turn you wish.

Taste for Blood (PotS) - The normal problem with Taste of Blood, besides that it is an attachment and vulnerable to attachment hate, is that the power goes on a character. But when that character is Beric, that becomes less of a problem.

Edric Dayne (IG) - Worth a mention since he is a unique brotherhood character but since you only actually need one brotherhood character in play he is much less important than some other characters.

To the Spears! (PotS) - A huge bonus for Beric, it turns out that tricons with renown who don't kneel to attack are kinda good (who'd have thunk it?).

Maester of Lemonwood (BtW) - Milk of the Poppy is one of the ways that Beric becomes vulnerable and Maester of Lemonwood can remove it. Note, however, that you have to play it from hand so at the gates won't help you here.


House Baratheon:

House Baratheon isn't a common house to run Brotherhood out of, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. Of course, the fact that it can be done doesn't mean that it should be done. Still, if you wanted to make a Baratheon Brotherhood deck there are some surprisingly good choices in the House of the Stag.

Knight of Summerhall (DB) - Worth a mention because he possesses the brotherhood trait and he has free recursion which is never a bad thing. However, remember what I said about dupes? This guy isn't unique and that means he's a bad choice for where to put your power. That also means its brotherhood trait is only useful if you're using it to power up Lem Lemoncloak (probably not worth it) or if you're using it to gain strength from Ghost of High Heart (who can be an awesome character but may not make the Knights worth it).

Robert's Loyalists (IG) - Everything I said about the Knights of Summerhall is true about Robert's Loyalists as well. Still they're a decent character on their own, so if you're running out of Baratheon you may consider them.

Maester Cressen (Core) - Again anti-milk of the poppy tech.

At the Gates (GotC) - Go fetch your anti-milk of the poppy tech on command.

Banner Bearer (THoBaW) - Attach it to Beric and give him Vigilant.

Fanatic (RoR) - Giving Beric a holy crest can make him pure money on power of the faith turns.

The Power of Faith (KotStorm) - After having given Beric a holy crest power of faith is even better than it is normally. Also works well with the holy version of Thoros (one of only 3 holy characters to have renown.)

Burning Sword (ACoS) - Risky protection for Beric, good if you're sure you'll be first player, less good otherwise.


House Stark:

Stark can be a surprisingly good choice for Brotherhood, and can actually be one of the Brotherhood decks that doesn't focus on only the mad huntsman and Beric. The wardens of the north are also surprisingly adept at helping Beric get a dupe or 2, which is good because beyond that it doesn't bring a whole lot of protection for him.

Old Nan (BoRF) - Old Nan can give any of your characters the brotherhood trait, allowing you to be sure you always have a brotherhood character available to claim power (so long as you have Old Nan of course). Beyond that she can also strip the brotherhood trait from your brotherhood character (like, say, Beric) whenever you're done with your challenges so that your opponent can't take power off of them.

Widow's Watch (GotC) - Finding duplicates for your important brotherhood characters is vitally important. Great card to pull early.

Rickon Stark (MotA) - You may be running summoning season and/or widow's watch to search for duplicates of your brotherhood characters. If you find yourself with another couple of search effects, you may consider running Rickon to get the most out of them.

Frozen Solid (LoW) - Disables the enemy's Ghaston Grey and Martell has very few answers to a frozen solid Ghaston Grey. (Generally 1 at most, that being street of silk and another Ghaston Grey.)

Building Season (Core) - Widow's Watch may be enough of a reason to run building season. Especially if you're also running Rickon Stark. (And yes, I know this isn't a Stark card, but you're running it in the Stark version more than any other version save maybe the neutral house.)

Anguy the Archer (DB) - Ok, I admit, he's not a stark character, but he can be especially good in a Stark deck due to the high amount of kill. Might even be worth basing a deck around. (It is also worth noting that each epic battle creates a new epic phase and thus a new phase for his ability to function, of course, if you're capping out his ability in multiple phases in a single turn, you're probably winning anyways.)


House Lannister:

Lannister is a very special house with regards to the Brotherhood because you can run Brotherhood out of Lannister without actually having to run the Brotherhood agenda thanks to their keyword, Infamy. This opens up other potential options such as using The White Book (which will help knock power off your house should you not get infamy early) or Power Behind the Throne (Cersei doesn't kneel, mad huntsman doesn't kneel, seems pretty good for intrigue).

Ser Amory Lorch (LotR) - He can give himself the Brotherhood trait, which means he can hold power and on the rounds when you attack last your opponent won't be able to steal power.

Devious Intentions (BoRF) - Devious intentions can seriously buff Beric up and grants him infamy to allow him to hold your power.


House Greyjoy:

Greyjoy is an unusual choice for Brotherhood, however, as a very control oriented house they may be the one best able to protect Beric.

Asha Greyjoy (WLL) - She's a non-kneeling character and happens to have the same stat icons as mad huntsman so if you're of a mind to play the "grant an icon" game with your attachments you can have the 1 attachment serving double duty on her and on mad huntsman, because really, non-kneeling tricons are scary.

Cancels - Greyjoy has a ton of cancels, including just flat canceling a triggered effects, which will stop Ghaston Grey.

Newly Made Lord (TftH) - Blow up Ghaston Grey.


House Targaryen:

Targaryen is another unusual choice for Brotherhood, there's just not a lot of synergy with the house of the dragon, though they do have some good attachments.

Attachment hate - Lots of attachment hate in Targaryen. That makes milk of the poppy much less likely to stick around and cripple (or kill) Beric. It also makes maesters loose their chains, which can be important if you're running The Prince that was Promised.

Trait manipulation - Quite a bit of trait manipulation in Targaryen as well. See Old Nan (under Stark) for why this is good. I'll deal with Rhaegar's Harp (since it is so powerful) separately.

Aegon's Blade (Core) - If you're wanting to build up Beric with loads of attachments this can be a good card to put on him, granting him +2 strength and stealth.

Rhaegar's Harp (BoRF) - More than just a bit of trait manipulation, this enables a couple of other cards to help protect Beric, specifically Snake Skin Veil and Leyton Hightower. May be better out of house since House Targaryen doesn't bring a whole lot more to the deck. (Thanks for the heads up to Dennis in the Tulsa meta for this trick!)


Neutral Faction:

There are some very good neutral cards that go in virtually every brotherhood deck. However, the neutral house card also brings some interesting things to the table with the Brotherhood, namely, working together with Hollow Hill (no, not knights of the hollow hill, just hollow hill) to get some super friends type action going on.

The Prince That Was Promised (IG) - If you decide to build Beric up in a nigh unstoppable monstrosity this is going to help you get the best mileage out of him.

Summoning Season (Core) - A risky card in that it gives your opponent as much of an advantage as it grants you, but if you need Beric first turn (and you probably do) it is totally worth it. (And in Melee, the drawback is mitigated with its ability to make friends.)

Paper Shield (QoD) - Cancels are always good, but with so many events that can screw Beric (nightmares, A house divided, game of cyvasse etc.) a bit of extra defense is never a bad thing.

Spending the Winter Stores (QoD) - Go fetch up an attachment that is vitally important for Beric (if you're running that way).

Milk of the Poppy (Core) / Nightmares (LoW) - If your opponent plays Melisandre (Core) and you don't have an answer for her, you loose. these are perhaps the easiest (though not necessarily the only) answers for her.

Flaming Sword (DB) - Double power for renown is good.

Hollow Hill (ASoSilence) - Very good for a neutral Brotherhood / super friends type deck. May necessitate running building season as well.


Let me know in the comments if you have any other cards that work especially well in your Brotherhood decks. Next week I'll be giving you some sample deck lists to show just how some of these cards might work together.