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1
Scheming on the Sands – Martellhood
Jan 11 2013 06:07 PM |
emptyrepublic
in Game of Thrones
Small Council Scheming on the Sands emptyrepublic
Scheming on the Sands – “Martellhoodâ€â€œTHE BROTHERHOOD WITHOUT BANNERS AN OUTLAW FELLOWHIP
BERIC DONDARRION, Lord of Blackhaven, called THE LIGHTNING LORD, oft reported dead,
—his right hand, THOROS OF MYR, a red priest,
—his squire, EDRIC DAYNE, Lord of Starfall, twelveâ€
-George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords
Happy New Year and welcome beck to Scheming on the Sands; we had a good break and in this edition we’ll move out of our comfort zone and try something a bit different: Martell/Brotherhood or “Martellhoodâ€.
Martell and the Brotherhood
I’d also argue that the Brotherhood has this “underdog†ethos that fits Martell’s quiet vengeance angle. So while other houses can field competent Brotherhood decks Martell is perhaps one of the strongest thematically speaking and can provide a bit of an edge as well.
Martell + Dorne + Brotherhood
In the last edition of Scheming on the Sands we saw that with House of Dreams (ARotD) we could make Dorne (PotS) a more reliable location. We brought House Dayne together with other cards that shared traits and managed a pretty effective deck. Can Dorne perform for Brotherhood as well? Let's find out.
It will be very easy to harmonize traits with Brotherhood characters; so during marshaling we won’t have too many problems. One big problem remains though. Without the Brotherhood agenda how do you keep power off the house card so your Brotherhood characters retrain their abilities? In this regard we’ll have to steal from the Lannisters to find our solution: Infamy.
Vendor of Vendoms is actually quite strong. 3 gold cost, 3 STR, two icons, two keywords, and a very useful passive ability: can’t be discarded while he has 2 or more power. So beyond his utility of just having Infamy he’ll actually be able to contribute in challenges. While he doesn't have any strong traits the lack of Ally, Mercenary, and Refugee keeps him safe from the more common discard methods.
The passive of Vendor of Venoms is interesting because Beric Dondarrion (IG) (under the correct conditions) is also immune to being discarded. The Red Viper (PotS) is also immune to events. This sounds like a pattern we can take a bit advantage of: Westeros Bleeds (Core) fits quite nicely in this case. It’s an expensive reset to execute but relatively safe as your power pool characters will be safe from the effect. It also allows for excellent board control with little impact to you.
Deck It - Martellhood
So we've got a basic idea of how to cornerstone this deck and the rest will come pretty naturally. We load up on Brotherhood! I have a relatively equal distribution of the usual suspects and the character list won’t depart that differently from other Brotherhood decks.
The Martell twist is evident with To the Spears! (PotS) making its necessary appearance in the plot deck. I've brought in Red Vengeance (PotS) to weather challenges a bit better and included the all important He Calls It Thinking (PotS). Gossip and Lies (OSaS) is also a natural fit along with Whispers from the Hill (ASoSilence). I've put in only two copies of Westeros Bleeds as it’s expensive and unlikely you’ll be able to activate it more than once anyway.
The only attachment included is Flaming Sword (DB) in order to fully unleash Beric. It will also protect the Viper against attachment burn effectively immunizing him from most non-plot effects.
Martellhood
House Martell (Core)
Agenda (1)
House of Dreams (ARotD)
Plot (7)
To the Spears! (PotS) x1
Retaliation! (ASoSilence) x1
City of Soldiers (TBoBB) x1
City of Spies (SaS) x1
City of Secrets (TTotH) x1
A City Besieged (CD) x1
City of Spiders (TftRK) x1
Character (30)
Vendor of Venoms (SB) x3
The Red Viper (PotS) x2
Beric Dondarrion (IG) x3
Anguy the Archer (DB) x2
Edric Dayne (IG) x2
Fanatical Follower (KotStorm) x3
Ghost of High Heart (WLL) x1
Jack-be-Lucky (OSaS) x2
Lady Stoneheart (MotM) x1
Lem Lemoncloak (MotM) x2
Orphaned Recruit (OSaS) x3
The Mad Huntsman (ASoSilence) x2
Thoros of Myr (TGM) x2
Tom Sevenstrings (RoR) x2
Location (13)
Dorne (PotS) x1
Summer Sea (Core) x3
Lord Doran's Chambers (PotS) x1
The Roseroad (KotStorm) x2
The Searoad (KotStorm) x2
Flea Bottom (TGM) x1
River Row (QoD) x1
Kingsroad Fiefdom (QoD) x2
Event (14)
Red Vengeance (PotS) x3
He Calls It Thinking (PotS) x3
Gossip and Lies (OSaS) x3
Westeros Bleeds (Core) x2
Whispers from the Hill (ASoSilence) x3
Attachment (3)
Flaming Sword (DB) x3
Deck Notes
The largest problem you are likely to suffer with this deck is accumulating power on your house card. When I’ve tested this deck out it has happened that I just don’t get the Vendor of Venoms out and end up with power on the House card because I’ve won dominance unintentionally. In one case I still won the game because I managed to keep board control and had Beric and the Viper each with swords amassing tons of power via renown despite having little power on the house. The problem remains though that in other situations my position is threatened because all the Brotherhood abilities are turned off.
Devious Intentions (BoRF) is a possible fix for this but it’ll be run out of house so keep in mind the +2 gold penalty. If you think you might want to include one or two, I suggest dropping a copy of Westeros Bleeds and/or Whispers from the Hill in exchange.
Again, if you have some suggestions feel free to comment below!
Next Time
On the next edition of Scheming on the Sands; we’ll try out one more deck concept with House of Dreams and Dorne and see if Maesters can be just as dangerous without their agenda.
15 Comments
I had made a deck revolving around Dorne and Hellholt Engineer (CbtC). Admittedly, it was a Lannister Alliance deck with Martell for the Melee format.
Because it had a lot of Lords and Ladies, I used Norvos (VD) and Braavos (VD). Norvos helped reduce Martell Lord characters by 2.
Anyway, if you feel like you need to go the OOH Lannister route a little bit, you might enjoy adding Tyrosh (AHM). It will also generally help you pay for some of those brotherhood alliance characters as well.
If you were to go that route, the Free City locations also provide some of the influence you need.
One character that I really like in Martell Brotherhood is the Flea Bottom Scavenger (AToT).
Another thing, if you can keep power off your house card, Beric becomes an excellent candidate for Taste for Blood (PotS).
I think that if you want to be bold, Head of a Dwarf (RoW) could be a candidate for Beric as well, but perhaps it would be better to use Devious Intentions over that.
Also, keep in mind that Dorne can reduce ANY card of a specific trait. This include locations and attachments. If you didn't realize that, then perhaps that is something you might want to consider. For example, there are a lot of locations with the Westeros trait. Martell has a lot of locations with the Dorne trait. The Free Cities locations also have the Kingdom trait, along with Kingdom of Shadows (KotS).
So, if you were to go the Devious Intentions (BoRF) route, it has the Condition trait. If you were worried about its cost, there may be other neutral or Martell Condition attachments to take into consideration with the idea that you may want to reduce their cost.
I'm not saying what I'm suggesting is the best route to go, but one of the reasons I like to elaborate is to get some other ideas out where they can be improved upon. :-)
In my meta Valar destroys an idea to accumulate power on characters. Maybe someone else has an idea how to protect Martells?
@Gorthauer: Note that I did put in Whispers from the Hill (ASoSilence). You might not be able to save the vendor but you can at least move the power to Beric or another character that is duped and savable.
Knights of the Hollow Hill (MotM) Martell), runs 3x Orphaned Recruit (OSaS) and Lady Stoneheart (MotM) to keep power off his house card. Does it win much? No, no it does not. But it does help to keep power off your house.
With that being said this is a much better build and does look to have more potential. Again it is just frustrating trying to rely on characters that sometimes didn't show up. I thought about adding knight characters and using Muster (Core) to at least grab hold of Beric or including Ser Jaime Lannister (TftH) to use his infamy and include the Alliance plot. Just to help get control of infamy keyword...
Secret Alliance (TBC). I've never really liked the "Pay a Power to do something" cards, as it goes against the win condition of the game, but in this case, it might be worth it to get power off your house. Just a thought.
That's a pretty good thought, but only if you're playing melee.
I really do not see any advantage of playing HoD + Dorne instead of playing the brotherhood agenda. Especially because of Dorne you are using all brotherhood characters and some of them are not that good. With the normal agenda you could use several good Martell characters instead of them.