Ours is the Fury

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Ours is the Fury, a series centered around the Lords, Ladies, and bastards of House Baratheon. This series will be spearheaded by perhaps the most widely known Baratheon player in the game, the infamous Joshua Staton, while WWDrakey will be bringing a slightly alternative view on the House from a different perspective.

A General Perspective on Baratheon:

While we will necessarily also be talking a lot about the Rush playstyle in its various forms, it would be selling the House short to say that Baratheon is all about Rush. A more accurate view might be to say that Baratheon is all about jaw-dropping characters and huge effects that make any Shagga-player proud. Whether those large effects are used to shut down your opponents play (Brienne of Tarth (PotS), The Laughing Storm (GotC), Stannis Baratheon (KotStorm), King Robert's Host (TWot5K)), gain power quickly (Robert Baratheon (Core), Stannis Baratheon (VM), Melisandre (RotO)) or just control your opponent (Melisandre (RoR), Salladhor Saan (KotStorm), Margaery Tyrell (TftRK)) is up to the player. When it comes to bomb characters, no other House can sport as large a list of heavy hitters as Baratheon. Ours is The Fury, and woe our foes.

An interesting aspect of the Baratheon profile of powerful characters is the sheer diversity of effects available. This can be traced back to the three Baratheon brothers themselves – from sheer Robert-like power-cards to Renly's prosperity and Stannis' characteristic harshness – the different cards highlight the diversity and inner turmoil of the House. However, this means that successful Baratheon players need to balance all of the strong effects against each other. Ours is the Fury, and to it there are no boundaries.


In addition to characters, a large portion of the distinctive Baratheon playstyle arises from its pure speed. A large arsenal of fast cards from resource accelerators (Royal Entourage (TTotH), Seat of Power (WotN)) to a plethora of stand-effects (Obey the King (KotStorm), Marya Seaworth (KotStorm)) means that unlike slowly awakening Lannister or Targaryen control decks, all Baratheon decks always start actually playing from Round 1 onwards. When the game starts, it begins. Not tomorrow, not the day after that. Ours is the Fury, and it shall not be held.

However, speed and aggression always have their flip-sides. Like a sprinter will tire before a long-distance runner, so do many Baratheon decks start running out of steam at one point or the other. When playing Baratheon, you need to be extra mindful of finding ways to help your deck maintain its momentum even in longer lasting games. Be those methods draw, recycling or other methods like immunities and saves, the real challenges of building and playing Baratheon are tempering your speed and strength of effects with longevity and stamina. Not to be too brittle and break, nor to be too shiny and flexible. Ours is the Fury, for we are the true steel.

Future topics to expect from this column:

Ours is the Fury will not only go over various decks for Baratheon, but will delve into how these decks actually play out. On the surface, many Baratheon decks will appear to contain many of the same cards, but those cards could be used very differently depending on what deck they are being used in. In a Noble Rush deck you are going to be getting out Core Set Robert as quickly as possible to start getting power on him. However, in an Asshai Holy Rush deck (that tends to work towards a delayed rush) you aren’t laying Robert out until turn three or so when you can put Fanatic (RoR) on him with The Power of Faith (KotStorm) revealed. Ours is the Fury, with the will to wield it.

[float='right'][lightbox='1281901163/gallery_11_121471.jpg']1281901163/tn_gallery_11_121471.jpg[/lightbox][/float]Another topic we want to look at is which version of a unique character you want to use for each deck. Baratheon has some of the highest number of different versions for the same unique characters, and it’s a bit confusing at times to figure out which version to use. For example, in a Knight deck, you may want to use Kings of the Storm Renly, while in an Asshai deck you might want to use A Time for Ravens Renly and Kings of the Storm Robert. Each version has its own strengths and weaknesses, and we will explain how to leverage those strengths and mitigate those weaknesses effectively. Ours is the Fury, whatever form it may take.

We will also be going over each chapter pack and looking at it from the perspective of House Baratheon. How did the pack impact the house as a whole, how did it affect certain builds, how it may have affected previous cards, etc. Essentially we are going to be your one stop shop for all things Baratheon. If you have anything you want us to cover or any specific questions you want answered, send Staton or WWDrakey a PM on these forums and we will get back to you or even incorporate it into an article. We will be working on a bi-weekly basis, so keep an eye out for future articles.

Ours is the Fury,

the Mead,

the Battlefield

and the Storm.

- Staton & WWDrakey


Over the next two weeks we'll be debuting or continuing a House Specific article series every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We are missing one house though, Greyjoy. We are looking for 2 writers to spearhead a Greyjoy column here so if you have what it takes, think you can write 2 articles a month, and love house Greyjoy send Darksbane or Kennon a message here with your ideas.