Rise of the Kraken - It's Miller Time

Mill is a decktype most Jaime players won't touch with a ten-foot barge pole. The reasoning behind it is as sound as it is boring - decking the opponent isn't a win condition; subsequently, every card that works towards decking your opponent is a card that's not working towards winning you the game; most of the cards that mill the most proficiently are useless without another card to benefit from this fact; and most of the cards that benefit from milling the opponent can't mill themselves. So we're left with a disjointed deck that needs too many cards to work well and even then is at best a so-so effect.

But who cares? Face facts kids, just like smoking, Mill is cool - it's thematic as all seven hells for Greyjoy to be harrying you at your home base rather than on the field like a man, and if you're a sadist (and since you're playing Greyjoy I'm going to make the safe assumption that you are indeed a sadist), there's a fair amount of pleasure to be taken from watching your opponent's reaction when they lose a Meera Reed (TftH), or a The Red Viper (PotS), or that Die by the Sword (LoW) that hadn't been there a second ago when they checked with Maester Luwin (FtC). Obviously (and as a Jaime player will tell you) it makes no difference, because unless there's a Herald of the Sun (SB) or another similar effect at play, you might as well be discarding off the bottom of the deck rather than the top since each card is as likely to be anywhere in the deck. That said, no matter how much people try to deny it they are not robots, and there is a psychological pain to seeing your characters get discarded.

Gangle has already written an excellently detailed article on Mill as a basic concept, and I don't intend to retread old ground here. However, since that article went up, the Black Sails (RotK) agenda has been released, and of its many great functions that I'm sure will be covered in this article in detail soon, one that we'll be looking at today is how it's made Mill a much more viable deck. This is because, as I mentioned before, Mill is basically a combo deck. And when half your deck is available to help with your combo, you can play with your toys a lot easier. With that in mind, lets look at those toys in detail.

The Deck's Blueprints
For those of you who've read Gangle's article, the milling I'll be engaged in here is Supplemental Milling, i.e. milling to trigger fun effects rather than for milling's sake. As a result, a number of key cards emerge:

Summer Sea Corsair (RotK) / Apostle of The Drowned God (RotK) / Ironborn Marauder (TGF) / Andrik the Unsmiling (TPoL) / The Reader (TGF) / Victarion Greyjoy (RotK) Chintarion / Fleet from Pyke (RotK) - yeah, to be able to use the deck effectively, we need to be able to trigger the agenda consistently, go figure. Every neutral and GJ naval card is in this deck x3. Additionally the Apostle helps us with Mill, Andrik can benefit from the fruits of our labours, and if we're drawcapped The Reader can also help with our discarding duties.
Euron Crow's Eye (TGM) - he is the key card in our deck. If we keep him on the table, then every time the opponent attacks, we benefit. We also benefit because he is a 4 strength tricon with renown who can turn off opposing Kings, and his Ironborn trait comes in handy too as we'll see in a moment.
Support of Saltcliffe (GotC) - stick this card on Euron and he can defend every challenge. Champion. It can also be fun on Bloodthirsty Crew (OSaS), to trigger their ability twice in one round (although this does require that they acquire a tattoo).
Fishmonger's Square (TftRK) / Corpse Lake (TBC) - Our draw and power grab say hello. Get both of these two out and Euron, and regardless of what cards get discarded, we're in business.
Finger Dance (WLL) - cancel to protect ourselves from nasty events that also mills the opponent? Thank you Drowned God! Again, have Euron out with Support of Saltcliffe for a fun combo - kneel him to cancel the event, milling the opponent which then stands him again. This works with any Ironborn, but doing it with Euron gives you a warmer feeling inside, trust me.
Motley Crewman (IG) - these buggers are annoying as hell for the opponent. Discarding one card that might provide us draw or power grab every time they want to attack is bad enough, but two, three or even four? They'll tear their hair out before the phase is over.
Nagga's Hill (ODG) - there's not much unopposed tech in this deck, but the effect here is so conditionally nice that for a tutor deck such as this it's ideal. Why yes mister Stark player, I would like to borrow your Northern Cavalry Flank (SA) because you had to let my intrigue challenge through unopposed, thanks for asking. Why yes missus Martell player, I would like some free psuedo draw off your Viper's Bannerman, thank you. Obviously the more we mill the more options we have and the better this becomes.

The astute among you may have noticed that these tricks aren't anything especially new. What is especially new is being able to fetch them at will. No more worrying about whether you get Fishmonger's Square and/or Corpse Lake in your opening hand, because you can just grab them in your challenge phases. Or alternatively maybe you've got the Square AND the Lake, but no Euron. Well no worries, just play Naval Reinforcements (RotK) to fish for him on turn one. As it does with a lot of Shagga decks, the agenda makes our combo a lot more consistent, and that allows us to reap our rewards. Our rewards in this case being pissing the opponent off.

The Deck

The deck is 86 cards. This is significantly more than I like to run - my ideal number for Black Sails is 74 or 76. I imagine this deck could be cut to that number without any outrageous difficulty, but as a fun bit of laziness crowdsourcing, I'm going to invite you, the reader (not the card) to offer your suggestions in the comments below. It is designed to be a joust deck; the core concept of keeping Euron alive to be annoying is less stable in Melee since there are 3 people to eat through your saves (plus The Red Wedding (PotS) sees lots of play and Euron's a Lord), and since opponents can win without attacking you, you'll find that setting up a wall of mill isn't as strong an idea. That said, if you want to try to adapt this into a melee deck, be my guest.

BORSTAL 1815

House (1)
House Greyjoy (Core) x1

Agenda (1)
Black Sails (RotK) x1

Plot (7)
Valar Morghulis (Core) x1
At the Gates (GotC) x1
Calm Before the Storm (LoW) x1
Naval Superiority (TGF) x1
After the Mummer's Ford (KotS) x1
Naval Reinforcements (RotK) x1
Fury of the Kraken (AE) x1

Character (45)
Summer Sea Corsair (RotK) x3
Apostle of The Drowned God (RotK) x3
Ironborn Marauder (TGF) x3
Andrik the Unsmiling (TPoL) x3
The Reader (TGF) x3
Victarion Greyjoy (RotK) Chintarion x3
Fleet from Pyke (RotK) x3
Maester Kerwin (VM) x1
Distinguished Boatswain (TftRK) x3
Maester Wendamyr (KotS) x2
Wex Pyke (KotS) x1
Motley Crewman (IG) x3
Theon Greyjoy (WLL) x1
Maester Murenmure (CbtC) x1
Bloodthirsty Crew (OSaS) x2
Moqorro (VD) x1
Newly Made Lord (TftH) x3
Asha Greyjoy (WLL) x1
Baelor Blacktyde (TIoR) x1
Alannys Greyjoy (ODG) x1
Euron Crow's Eye (TGM) x3

Location (25)
Gatehouse (KotS) x3
Ocean Road (WLL) x1
River Row (QoD) x1
Street of Silk (LotR) x1
Street of Sisters (Core) x1
Street of Steel (Core) x1
Sunset Sea (KotS) x3
The Iron Mines (KotS) x3
Aeron's Chambers (KotS) x1
Corpse Lake (TBC) x2
Fishmonger's Square (TftRK) x2
The Iron Cliffs (HtS) x1
Bloody Keep (KotS) x2
Longship Iron Victory (KotS) x2
Nagga's Hill (ODG) x1

Event (10)
Battle for the Shield Islands (TGF) x2
Finger Dance (WLL) x3
Nightmares in the North (RotO) x2
To Be a Kraken (SB) x3

Attachment (6)
Captain of the Iron Fleet (TGM) x1
Kraken Tattoo (CoS) x2
Support of Saltcliffe (GotC) x3


Fury is the restricted card for 3 very good reasons: firstly, if you're against Stark it's your "discard Brienne of Tarth (PotS) at all costs because she hates this deck" plot; secondly, it allows us to run To Be a Kraken for more cancel fun; and thirdly, because there was no other restricted card in the deck so why not, it has nice numbers. Calm Before the Storm allows us to ignore all kill events, Nightmares (LoW), Westeros Bleeds (Core) or whatever other nasty surprises our opponent has while we tutor our defense against such nastiness. After the Mummer's Ford gives us two bites to trigger our agenda through military (the most likely icon we trigger it through), and the downside isn't so bad because it just means Euron makes them discard more cards. That said, every deck is personal preference, and going with AtMF is very much a personal preference choice for me when a more sensible option might be to go with a dedicated closer plot in the form of Rise of the Kraken (KotS). Another decision that I'll leave up to you is whether to go with At the Gates (providing immediate Wendamyr to the people you care about) or Manning the City Walls (CD), which helps play those Fleets even when your opponent isn't running an agenda, and unlike At the Gates it doesn't become a dead card 5.5% of the time (i.e. when all four Maester cards are in the hold).

14 resource locations equates to roughly 10 in a 60 card deck. Common cards you'll tutor for (beyond the key cards mentioned above) are the Epic Battle if you're facing a House of Dreams deck, Captain of the Iron Fleet if you're just facing a location onslaught deck, Longship Iron Victory if you want more draw (between this, Euron and Fishmonger's Square you might even find yourself using The Reader for his mill effect!) and Baelor Blacktyde if you're facing Martell Knights of the Hollow Hill.

Lastly, I want to say a fond farewell to Gangle, my co-writer of these articles. He's taking some time off from writing articles due to finding himself more enamoured nowadays with another game, something about running nets. I'm sure I speak on behalf of everyone who's read his articles when I say he'll be sorely missed and welcomed back any time. In the meantime, if you wish to apply to be a cowriter for this column (or a writer of a one-off article), follow the instructions in our Bannermen Article and pretend it also says "One writer for Greyjoy".