Scheming on the Sands - The Martell Agenda

To Agenda or Not To Agenda? It’s a Question.

In the broader scope of A Game of Thrones this is a pertinent question. Running an agenda has impacts beyond the deck its part of. The new fleets introduced this cycle among many other cards have effects if opponents are running an agenda. Likewise running an agenda can “turn off” effects of certain characters (Damon Dance-For-Me (VD)). So choosing to run an agenda—like everything else in this game—is a conscious decision that needs to be made in the context of the deck you are building and the meta you are playing in.

Martell’s angle here is a bit fuzzier though. Historically the most successful Martell builds (at least in the competitive scene) have featured an agenda. In my view there are no obvious reasons NOT to run an agenda. Again, context matters. If your meta or the competitive scene is being dominated by cards that benefit off of an opponent running an agenda then it may be better to structure a deck without one.

The Agendas

So keeping in mind that Martell probably wants to run an agenda, which one should be run? We'll break down the agendas into several groups starting with the obviously bad ones and work towards the obviously good.

Are You Crazy?

Black Sails
Disagree with me if you want, but until Martell gets significantly more characters with the Naval Enhancement icon there is absolutely no reason to ever run this agenda as Martell. Period. Done.

The North Agendas (Nights Watch)
There is a reason why they are The North. Is it cold down south in Dorne? No, it’s hot. Let the Starks and other handle the Nights Watch.

Kings of Winter
I’d honestly be seriously tempted to reach across the table and slap the person who tried to play this with Martell. It’s restricted in joust so why use a suboptimal agenda that locks you out of far more optimal cards. You don't use this with Martell. Period. Done.

Probably Not

Alliance
Of the Treaty agendas it’s certainly the least worst. You’re not granting a 5 power lead for your opponents but you’re still conferring some decent benefits. Only good for well thought out decks that absolutely require several out of house cards. On a side not it does cause an interesting conundrum for opposing KotHH decks since house card has to be knelt to get this benefits from this treaty and that would lock out the two influence.

The White Book
If you ask me this is really a Lannister agenda. Since the large majority of the Kingsguard characters are neutral you need a better gold curve to get them out. Additionally several more of them are also Lannister affiliated. The agenda is workable in Martell but far from optimal; also much like Brotherhood Without Banners it’s tied to a really specific deck type.

Treaty with the North
Not the worst agenda for Martell but would be played more if it didn’t give your opponent(s) a 5 power head start before the game even begins. If you truly have a compelling combo (that is also durable) then this could be good. Otherwise just use Alliance (PotS) on the turn you need to get your key Stark card out.

Usable, But Requires Creativity

The North Agendas (Wildlings)
You maybe wondering why this is here and I originally wouldn't have put the the Wildling related agendas this high up however after some discussion with WWDrakey he pointed me to several past Martell decks with a Wildling focus that have seen success. The meta has moved on with the release of new cards and new agendas but from my quick reading this deck type hasn't been broken and could be still viable.

City of Shadows
I’m struggling to think of a decent Martell shadows deck that I’ve seen in person. You’re going to hear this frequently under the “depends” category: use of this agenda is determined by your ability to construct a cohesive deck to take advantage of it. Big advantage is that it lets you ignore house restrictions for deck building purposes for shadow cards.

House of Dreams
I did several articles on this in conjunction with Dorne (PotS). I felt they were interesting Shagga style decks but they are probably not the best competitive decks given the need to maximize trait harmonization. Also, now with The Scourge (ODG) being restricted I don’t think this agenda really speaks to Martell’s strengths currently; of course someone is welcome to prove me wrong.

Knights of the Realm
Martell is really close, but not quite there yet, to taking full advantage of this. If Ser Archibald Yronwood (CD) and Ser Gerris Drinkwater (CD) didn’t have that bit of text requiring the use of a character agenda then this agenda might have made the cut to fall under “What you should play”. Though there are a few neutral knights you could toss in to fill the gap if you really want to make this work.

The Brotherhood Without Banners
Martell can make a decent Brotherhood deck and this agenda can certainly be part of it. Of the agendas available to Martell though I don’t think this one really stands out all the much since it’s entirely dependent on a specific deck type.

The Maester’s Path
Not too long ago this would have been a top tier agenda for Martell. Then we got the 3.4 and 4.0 FAQs. As I’ve discussed in previous articles, this agenda has been regulated to mediocre status for Martell at this point. It’s still useable but no longer the world beater that it was.

What You Should Play

Kings of Summer
Yes it’s restricted—only for joust—and yes it depends on getting the Black Raven (ASoS) out early. It’s still a really strong agenda though and since Martell has plenty of effects that play off of summer already it won’t operate in a vacuum.

The Long Voyage
The initial responses on this agenda have been pretty varied. I agree with the viewpoint that this agenda benefits houses with deep character pools (Stark and Baratheon) the most or agro based decks that spam out lots of characters. Martell doesn’t neatly fit under either of those categories; though an agro decks are possible. That said Martell is winning some regionals with this agenda so it deserves to be here; keep in mind your deckbuilding though if you use this.

Quentyn Martell
A strong character in his own right he’s also a strong agenda. Vengeful to all your unique Martells is huge since so many of them are so good. Plus it also doubles as a draw engine when any character stands for vengeful. Only problem is that you don’t get him when the game starts. You have to play him and then let him die.

Knights of the Hollow Hill
This is the agenda for Martell at this point in the meta. The dragons are the only ones who can take better advantage of this agenda. The permanent gold bonus offsets the loss of a setup by turn 3. The guaranteed two influence per turn is a constant reminder to your opponents that a Red Vengeance (PotS) could come out at anytime. Additionally it reduces your need to bring out other influence producers in order to power more expensive events. The initiative bonus helps you wing initiative so you can better control turn order.

Next Time

On the next edition of Scheming on the Sands; mmBroncos will be back in two weeks and on my next appearance we’ll take a look at a new deck I’ve been theorizing using the newly released Hellholt Docks (TPoL).