Ours is the Fury - Maestering the Storm, Part 2

Today we're continuing with the more Learned side of the Storm Bannermen, picking up where we left last week. We'll be dissecting some specific specimens in order to figure out what really makes them tick. Does everyone have their scalpels ready? Enough candle wax to last? Some barrels of beer handy? Ok then, let's proceed.

The Demon's Dance Deck

The Demon's Dance decks were an interesting development in the meta last year, which were run with decent success in some larger Tournaments in Europe.

The primary concept of the Demon's Dance decks (in Baratheon, there was also a Targaryen version which plays differently) is to run 3x of Demon's Dance (ACoS) together with Crown of Azor Ahai (KotStorm). You then proceed to switch the season between Summer and Winter, meanwhile moving the Dance attachments to new targets with either Ser Davos Seaworth (TBoBB) or a combination of Bronze Link (FtC) and Pale Steel Link (FtC). If all goes well, you should be able to get some really efficient character removal going on, and can further support it with one largely forgotten Baratheon card: Shadow Stalker (ACoS). Best thing about Demon's Dance? The "cannot be saved" text!

There are certain specific things you need to take into account with these decks. The most obvious one is Season Control, since a single Raven can pretty much ruin your whole game plan. Now, in the pre-FAQ 4.0 Meta, these decks could rely on Copper Link (GotC) and Tin Link (CbtC), but in the current environment it would probably be necessary to run 3 copies of Ill Tidings (IG). Another one is the fact that you will need to look for stand effects outside of King Robert's Hammer (TBoBB), with The Inn of the Kneeling Man (FtC) or Massey's Hook (ASoSilence) (for Pylos and Davos) probably being the first candidates for inclusion.

The second thing you will need is making sure you draw into your pieces, especially the Crown. Back in the day these decks were running Spending the Winter Stores (QoD), and relying on Tin Link (CbtC) to handle any attachments your opponent had... and it wasn't like there were many around, since they were such a liability against Maesters. But now those days are gone, and if you're going to be searching for the Crown, it's best to expect some nasty attachments. Remember what I said about Ill Tidings? 3 copies. Another approach is to forego the plot-based search, and rather just run 3 copies of the Crown, and maybe thin the deck further via Much and More (AHM). Especially with the latter case, it will pay to trim your deck to exactly 60 cards, including Chains.

Other cards from outside the usual Maester portfolio that you should probably consider for inclusion: Mance Rayder (TWoW) (for location steal with Copper Link (GotC), Nightmares (LoW) (to blank No attachments keywords) and Prosperity and Plenty (Core) for protecting your combo.

Baratheon Burn

Back when The Maester's Path (GotC) and Secrets of Oldtown Cycle came out, many Maester decks experimented with running Lead Link (CbtC) and Threat from the North (PotS) together on a repeatably standing character in order to force a brutal one-sided reset on the table. While Targaryen was naturally the best House for those shenanigans, it was perhaps a bit surprising that Baratheon wasn't half-bad at it either, due to the good amount of stand available through all phases. Of course the most efficient example of these decks would be the GenCon-winning "Bob MD" -deck, with unerrata'd Robert Baratheon (TTotH) grabbing chains from an unerrata'd The Maester's Path (GotC)... burning your whole board in one turn and drawcapping on the side.

Now, while those days are (thankfully) well and truly behind us, the concept of Baratheon Burn is still pretty much workable. So, let's have a look at what the key pieces here would be. Lead Link (CbtC) and Threat from the North (PotS) create those one-sided resets. Steel Link (TIoR) and King Robert's Hammer (TBoBB) allow you to repeat the burn every phase (an alternative solution exists with Maester Pylos (KotStorm) and Massey's Hook (ASoSilence)). Greyscale (tHoBaW) is an important card for the deck, allowing you terminal effects easily outside of the one Threat from the North round. It works even better when combined with Bronze Link (FtC) Pale Steel Link (FtC), so that you can use Lead Link with your Maester and through the responses get Greyscale on them for the terminal (again, this can be repeated each phase, if you have the stand-loop up and running).

That would be the real core of Baratheon Burn. However, there are also some other cards that can nicely give the deck some more STR reduction, in order to bring larger STR targets into range. Salla's Escort Ship (KotStorm) is probably one of the least used Baratheon locations, but it finds an oddly fitting home in this deck, especially with Greyscale in the mix. Another rarely seen card, Stinking Drunk (Core), also finds a home in combination with Greyscale...This will usually function as a glorified Dragon Fear (QoD), but with Bronze Link (FtC) in the mix, it may very well be worth it, especially if combined with Margaery Tyrell (AToTT) who can force the chosen character to participate (and die trying).

Now, there's one big issue with running Baratheon Burn, and that would be running into Targaryen Burn. One Dragonpit on the opposing side of the table can easily ruin your day and make your own Threat from the North a liability. Now, there's a few ways that this matchup can be mitigated:

• Avoid 1 STR characters and try to include a decent amount if higher STR chars (especially non-Baratheon ones, see below)
• Always run Leyton Hightower (GotC)
• Pack a decent amount of STR pump effects (extra Apprentice Collar (GotC)s in the draw deck and some R'hllor's Blessing (AKitN)s go a long way)
• Always run Melisandre's Scheme (RotK) (Threat from the North discards, remember? This is why 1 STR Baratheon characters are better)
• Pack location control to hit Targs influence/Dragonpit (A City Besieged (CD) and Salladhor Saan (TPoL) are probably a good start, while Support of the Kingdom (Core) can also help nicely)

With the way the deck starts building up, it's probably a good idea to consider running a large piece of the City plot-cycle, since you will want the additional control and Burn tends to synergize well with City of Soldiers (TBoBB). The amount of attachments this deck will want is pretty staggering, so be prepared for some difficult cuts on your events. Like with Demon's Dance, Nightmares and Prosperity and Plenty can be good event choices, as can Citadel Law (MotA).

Mill-combo

Some of the most purely combo-oriented decks in AGoT are mill-decks aimed at quickly depleting their opponents deck, then wiping the board and afterwards cruising to victory. This Regionals Season Dobbler (a previous World Champion) made Top 4 with such a deck, built out of Baratheon Maesters. Since I've only heard second and third-hand rumours of what his deck was capable of, I'm going to have to hypothesize here. This portion could just as well be called: "A blind estimate on what Dobbler ran".

The stories of that deck mention it being able to completely mill an opponent's deck in 2-4 rounds, even for opponent's running The Long Voyage (TPoL). Now, the heart of the deck pretty much has to be Brass Link (HtS), and triggering it each phase via some stand loops. Since we're looking at a combo-deck, it's pretty likely that the deck should go for both redundancy in getting the stand-loop for Steel Link (TIoR) together consistently (several copies of King Robert's Hammer (TBoBB), possibly also running Maester Pylos (KotStorm) + Massey's Hook (ASoSilence) on top of that).

Additionally, since the milling speed is directly connected to the number of Chain attachments on the character, it would probably be a good idea to run Chains also in the draw deck. These should be cheap ones, so Apprentice Collar (GotC) is the best guess... while running extra copies of Brass Link (HtS) or Steel Link (TIoR) wouldn't be amiss either. The deck could probably also get good usage out of deck thinning (Much and More (AHM)), while the Combo could be protected via Prosperity and Plenty (Core), Lightbringer (Core) and Paper Shield (QoD). A Rule by Decree (Core) would be good to have in the Plot deck, in order to wipe their hand once you have the deck depleted, and Valar Morghulis (Core) of course for the board wipe.

The rest of the deck should probably be aimed at helping get early challenge wins (to get the combo started) and resilience (to keep it rolling). Let's do a quick calculation... If you get 4 Chains on your Maester during the Challenge phase of the first round, how many cards can you mill before the next Challenge phase (assuming you have the stand loop up and running)? 28 cards. For a decently drawing deck, they would have drawn something like 17 cards by that point, so that would leave them with only 15 cards left of their 60 card deck. From there it should be pretty easy completely mill them out before the end of the third round, as long as your combo isn't interrupted.

Now, after doing a blind estimate, it's always interesting to try to find out how close one gets. After writing this, I had a chat with fellow Small Council member OKTarg, who happened to be the one to finally defeat "Dobbler's Monstrosity" in the Tulsa Regionals. What was he running? Three copies of King Robert's Hammer was correct, but instead of running Pylos as a second option for stand with Massey's Hook, he had Gutter Rat's Cunning (Core) in the deck and was using Pale Steel Link (FtC) to get it onto Lomys without the OOH penalty. Now that's a brilliant way of reinforcing the combo without having to rely on cards susceptible to The First Snow of Winter (ODG) or Enslaved (THoBaW)!

As I speculated, he was running additional Chains in his draw deck, at least 3x Apprentice Collar (GotC) and 2x Brass Link (HtS). There's one particular feature in his deck that I could never have foreseen, however. He had found a lost gem in Stoic Resolve (MotM), which helps protect his Chain-laden Maester through Valar, as well as kill-effects in the Challenge-phase. Now that's the kind of ingenuity that marks a true Archmaester of deckbuilding.

Rush Maesters

Before the FAQ, Maesters used to have easy access to one of the best rush cards in the game with The Conclave (CbtC), and Rush Maesters used to be a strong deck run out of both Martell and Baratheon. With The Conclave hitting the list, Maesters have definitely moved away from speed and towards interesting combos and Control. But does that mean that Rush Maesters can't be a thing anymore? Not really, and if there's one House that should be able to resurrect the Theme it's Baratheon.

Probably the best starting point for this would be basing it more around something called Ebrose's Epiphany, a Martell Maester Rush deck from expert-deckbuilder Jimm that was almost completely built around rushing with a chain-laden Archmaester Ebrose (CbtC).

So what would an updated Baratheon Rush Maester with Ebrose look like? Well, naturally we'd need three copies of Ebrose. With the amount of power that Ebrose can gain, Lomys could easily be used to help provide more stability (making him Cannot Be Killed before plots, for example). The Chains should mostly be centered around providing challenge tricks (Black Iron Link (MotA) and Iron Link (MotA)) as well as making Ebrose unstoppably strong by running 3 copies of Apprentice Collar (GotC). Similarly to the Mill Combo, running Chains also in the draw deck can be a benefit for this deck, since speed is of the essence.

Instead of the usual stand-engines (which don't really work on Ebrose), it would probably be best to run a decent amount of stand events (Obey the King (KotStorm) and/or Distinct Mastery (Core)). Even trait-manipulation via Copper Link (GotC) for Kingsguard Squire (PotS) could be a consideration. Additional speed could be gained with Melisandre (RotO) and Oakenshield Port (TPoL), while Smuggler's Cove (KotStorm) would also help push through challenges. In addition to Ebrose, it would probably be good to include some more traditional Baratheon Rush cards like Robert Baratheon (Core) and Stannis Baratheon (VM).

Similarly to all Rush decks, the plot choices would be extremely important. The Art of Seduction (LotR) and Outwit (TIoR) would be strong contenders, and even something as drastic as Summoning Season (Core) could be considered... even though Baratheon could easily manage the Rush perfectly fine with other cards even in those games where Ebrose doesn't deign to appear without searching.

Final Words

Instead of trying to be some kind of exhaustive listing of all possible Baratheon Maester builds, the idea here was to showcase the sheer variety that building with Maesters can afford... and encourage people to try interesting stuff with their decks. There really is no such thing as "standard Baratheon Maesters", but rather the decks run a huge spectrum from pure Control, through Rush into some of the most interesting Combo-decks in the game. However, as we saw last time, there is a certain underlying chassis that quite often stays the same between builds.

Now that they have been brought into line with other decktypes, Maester-decks have finally really taken the position one could argue that they were originally supposed to have in the meta... a nice platform for interesting Combo-centric decks, where your imagination is the only real limit for what you can do, but your skill in both deckbuilding and playing are also truly put to the test.