All Things Shagga - Reaver Rerun

Welcome back again my fellow goat-lovers. Errr… goat eaters? You know what, there’s just not any good way to approach that. Lets just go with Shagga. Yes, that’s right, today we have another installment of the only all Shagga, all the time article around- All Things Shagga!

This week we’re going to take a look back at the deck that I made last time and what sort of thoughts I have on it and what tweaks we should look at now that I have several games with it under my belt.

One of the things that I really noticed the most is that the deck is slow. I mean really, really slow. It has a hard time getting running right off the bat until it has enough River plots in the used pile to make Crossing the Mummer’s Ford really start to count. Back shortly before Worlds in November, I had built a Targaryen Knights of the Hollow Hill deck with the goal of using as many cards as possible that had dual roles or replaced themselves with another card in order to maximize my efficiency and overcome the slow start that is the KotHH drawback. Since that time, some new tools like a more fully realized River plot cycle have been added to the pool. One of those cards is Redwyne Straits. Now, when I updated my Targeryen deck (which was using a couple River plots already) to utilize Redwyne Straits and Crossing the Mummer’s Ford, I didn’t seem to have much trouble there. In fact, it really only seemed to enhance the deck.

The difference between the two decks then, lies in how they are able to utilize those early turns with their available cardpool. In the Targaryen deck, I’m able to sit back more and use ambush cards to only commit to the board at the most opportune time, while the Greyjoy deck needs to expend cards from hand more quickly in order to establish a board presence since they largely don’t have the luxury of those more timely characters. As well, in Targaryen, a single card like a Dragon Thief likely becomes a body on the board as well as providing removal of an opponent’s card or something like Company of the Cat becomes a body on the board as well as replacing itself with a new card from my deck. Greyjoy, on the other hand, largely doesn’t have this type of efficiency, so the more I’m pressured to put a presence on the board in the early game, the faster it strips my card resources and I wind up hurting for Crossing the Mummer’s Ford to refill my hand.

So, with that in mind, let’s see what we can do to alter the deck.

Removed:

Distinguished Boatswain x3- Sure, cheap, beefy bodies are usually pretty good, but the Boatswain really shines in the a deck that has a setup. I originally included them in the worry that I was going to need to get bodies on the board that I would be able to afford with a very small location base, but the gold boost from the agenda and Redwyne Straits plus a second River copy seems to be proving to me that I could afford to spend this on something a little better.

Enraged Crewman x2- Ok, partly I put him in the first iteration of the deck as a way just to work in a new card, but also he seemed like a reasonably costed body that would really help push through challenges. If I’d kept a light Raider theme, he might be worth keeping around, but as it is, I’ve not been having much trouble pushing across challenges otherwise, so his slot can probably be used on something that could pull double duty.

Maester Murenmure x1- I don’t really have any Maester tech, and while the cancel can certainly be useful, it’s during a very limited phase and he doesn’t actually remove any of the opponent’s cards or provide me with one.

Salt Wife x1- We only have so much influence to go around, and while the repeatable save is pretty hand, she doesn’t do much else and we’re still looking pretty good with a single Salt Wife, Wendamyr and Moqorro.

Longship Black Wind x1- Again, it seems that I haven’t had as much trouble pushing through challenges as I had expected. Sure, you don’t ever really expect to draw a card out of this, but even the deadly unopposed challenges has been less useful than I would have expected.

Longship Grey Ghost x1- It was serving much the same surprisingly unnecessary role as Longship Black Wind. Sure, I thought the fact that it would keep returning to Shadows was a neat little twist that would keep it out of the way of my Reaver’s Song, but it’s a little too cutesy for actual play.

Kingsroad Fiefdom x2- The extra initiative is really just overkill, and as astute readers pointed out, The Red Keep is just hands down better for what this deck is trying to do.

Confession x2- I really, really liked the control that it was giving me and the extra way to use my influence or holy crested characters, but the one for one trade is just not at all what this deck wants in the first few turns of the game.

Added:
Newly Made Lord x3- Getting him in the deck is one of my top priorities. He’s one of the few really solid two for ones that Greyjoy has available to them and while you wait to get a Reaver’s Song online, he lets you take out a pinpoint problem location. Even better, he gives you another way to activate one of your other two for ones (Blackwater Raiders) and steal a prime location from your opponent as quickly as possible. Let me tell you, you haven’t lived until you’ve knocked out a Golden Tooth Mines with Newly Made Lord and then brought Blackwater Raiders out of shadows to steal it for yourself. Especially in a traditional draw starved deck like this.

The Red Keep x2- This suggestion from a reader was a fantastic idea that I really can’t believe slipped my mind at first glance. It helps with the influence base for a few of our effects and is effectively immune to Reaver’s Song by just returning to shadows where I can bring it right back out again.

Storm the Gate x1- Since the deck is rather slow, we can sure use the help of another reset to thin out the opponent’s character base and slow them down as well. As one of the other few cards in Greyjoy that is likely to be more than a one for one trade, we really ought to go up to a third copy. It can be paid for in full with our Red Keep but is amazingly flexible in ability to be paid with gold as well if need be, which can sometimes be quite easy thanks to Redwyne Straits. Essentially that important flexibility of Targaryen ambush wrapped up in Greyjoy/Baratheon event form.

Dragon Chaser x2- This is a card that I want to experiment with some. He offers a bit of flexibility in resource cost and gives us an actual ambush card to play around with. He’s not as good as the cantrip (ie. self replacing) Company of the Cat, but he does allow us to make more careful decisions about when and where we need to commit to the board. Plus, intimidate is sure to push through some challenges, especially if we can boost him with Longship Iron Victory (conveniently netting us a card when we win). Still, we really need the Red Keep to ambush him, so I’m going to stick with just two copies and see how it goes.

Littlefinger x1- Another shadows card to bluff with doesn’t hurt, and this one works quite nicely for a slower deck. If your opponent rushes off in power during the early game, Littlefinger can become very cheap for his very impactful board presence. Don’t forget, that claim boost applies to all of your challenges against someone with more power than you, not just ones that he participates in. Use that to your advantage and if he’s active, make sure to make your power challenge last.

Conveniently, these tweaks also bring the deck down to an even sixty cards from the previous sixty-four that we had. This will help the consistency just a smidgeon as well, which is good for a deck that is seeing less cards in the early game.

The Deck:

Deck Built with CardGameDB.com GoT Deckbuilder

GJ- Rivers- Reaver's Song v2

Total Cards: (60)

House:
House Greyjoy

Agenda: (1)
1x Knights of the Hollow Hill (MotM)

Plot: (7)
1x Crossing the Mummer's Ford (SoW)
1x Crossing the Ruby Ford (RotK)
1x Shores of Ny Sar (VM)
1x Before the Black Walls (VD)
1x Redwyne Straits (FF)
1x Under the Bridge of Dream (VD)
1x Valar Morghulis (Core)

Character: (31)
2x Alannys Greyjoy (ODG)
1x Andrik the Unsmiling (TPoL)
3x Asha Greyjoy (WLL)
1x Baelor Blacktyde (TIoR)
3x Blackwater Raiders (TftRK)
3x Damphair's Drowned (FaI)
2x First Mate (SB)
1x Gormond Goodbrother (THtW)
2x Kingsmoot Hopeful (FtC)
1x Maester Wendamyr (KotS)
1x Moqorro (VD)
1x Qarl the Maid (AJE)
1x Salt Wife (AE)
1x The Reader (TGF)
1x Victarion Greyjoy (RotK)
1x Wex Pyke (KotS)
3x Newly Made Lord (TftH)
2x Dragon Chaser (SB)
1x Littlefinger (AHA)

Attachment: (0)

Event: (19)
2x Iron Lore (MotA)
3x Storm the Gate (TBG)
3x The Reaver's Song (SoW)
3x Desperate Measures (TCC)
3x Flood Waters (ARotD)
3x Finger Dance (WLL)
2x Blessed by the Maiden (AJE)

Location: (10)
3x Captured Cog (AHM)
2x Longship Iron Victory (KotS)
3x Sunset Sea (Core)
2x The Red Keep (TftRK)


Have you been trying this out? If so, let me know how the updated version does in the comments here!