Fire and Blood - Dallas Regional Report

Thanks for clicking over to this weeks edition of Fire and Blood. I was hoping to regale you readers with a rousing rendition of my romp through Texas' finest players, but, unfortunately, my deck I was preparing for the regional just wouldn't come together. I panicked and went Lannister. What a mistake that was! I came in sixteenth out of twenty, hopefully learning my lesson to always play Targ when it counts!

Instead, I had the top Targaryen finisher from the Dallas tournament compose a tournament report for your reading pleasure. I'll let him speak for himself, but his deck list can be found here: Targaryen HoD Dragonpit

Without further ado, here's agktme:

I finally had a decent amount of success at an AGOT Regional this past weekend in Dallas, finishing in the top 4 after squeaking into the top 8 on strength of schedule. It was my second regional tournament ever (the first was Springfield, MO last month). I am normally a Stark player, but also play Martell and most recently Targaryen. Prior to this tourney I had a Stark TLV deck and a Targaryen House of Dreams deck built and was debating which to play until the drive down to Dallas. Buz (OKTarg) managed to talk me into playing Targaryen and since I did pretty well (by my standards anyway) I think it was a good choice.

Since I'm newer to playing Targaryen I have generally started off by looking at other decks that have been posted online (net-decking, it's not terrible!) and then testing them out and making changes for my own style. This is exactly what I did for my Dragonpit deck. I started with the "Pit Dreams" deck list from Alquimista which is posted in a couple places online. After playing it a bit I got a better feel for how it works and some of the other cards in the Targaryen card pool that I was less familiar with. Once I got the hang of it I was able to better analyze the list and then make my own decisions. One of the first was cutting down to 60 cards because his list was at 64. I also decided to switch out a couple cards and they were great decisions for me (which I will explain later in the report).
We had around 20 for the tournament, so 4 rounds of Swiss followed by a cut to the Top 8 for elimination rounds.

Round 1 vs. Jeremy (Greyjoy - The Long Voyage - Fury of the Kraken)

Jeremy ended up winning the regional, so I'm glad I got to beat him here in the first round! Things went pretty well, had a turn where he had Alannys out to cancel my burn, but he ended his marshalling with a character, so I used Sorrowful Man (one of my own inclusions in the deck), hoping he would cancel with her so I could use Dragon Skull in challenges. He did cancel so it worked out well for me. On the following turn I played Valar Morghulis and he played Marched to the Wall. Unfortunately for him, he let me go first, so I resolved Valar, he used a save on Alannys and then I had Marched to the Wall resolve and as I said the words, he realized his mistake. It was glorious. Fun match and well fought. Jeremy drove up from Austin all by himself so I'm glad he managed to take the trophy home!

1W - 0L

Round 2 vs. Matt (Baratheon - Wildlings x3 - Val)

For those who don't know, Matt and I are both from the Tulsa meta, so I know him and his deck pretty well. I knew this would be tough because his Wildlings agenda pretty much counters my Dragonpit. Also, he has those Wildling Hordes and they are a real pain. Matt was doing great all day and went undefeated in Swiss rounds. In this game, he got off to a great start with Val and The Laughing Storm and a Retreat to save (by which I mean, return to hand) Val from the one burn card I had early enough to matter. With no way to stop his draw or hit his hand with intrigue claim, it was not pretty for me the rest of the game. I could not get my draw engine establish and I started without any resource locations and didn't draw one until right near the end, it was brutal. I will avenge myself later on in the day however!

1W - 1L

Round 3 vs. Brandon (Greyjoy - The Long Voyage - Fear of Winter)

Brandon came up from Houston with my next opponent (Robert), he ended up making it to the top 4 and doing well all day. This match was pretty bad for me once again. As in round 2, my draw was terrible. I did not draw a single gold or influence producer until I shuffled my 9 or 10 card hand back into the deck on his Negotiations at the Great Sept. Needless to say, that was the last turn of this game. Congrats on your top 4 finish Brandon!

1W - 2L

At this point I was resigned to not making the top 8 and just having a great time and enjoying the last round.

Round 4 vs. Robert (Baratheon - Black Sails - Knight of Flowers)

Robert was here from Houston and this was my first and only fun/interesting match of the day (because I hate GJ TLV and I know Matt's Wildlings deck too well to actually enjoy playing against it, no offense to my opponents however). He had armies out early and managed to slow me down with a Red Queen's Faithful trigger, but he was unable to play enough characters and my draw problems were fixed. I was hitting draw cap and burning everything down. On one turn he had several uniques and a Dagger Lake Galley in play, I used Warlock of Qarth to send it back to hand and he was unable to use any Naval enhancements that turn, this was good for me since I was able to burn Stannis (no draw!) and then still use Meraxes in dominance. Marched to the Wall took care of a single army left standing and there was just nothing he could do about it. It was great to see my deck perform so well and that I knew it could be tough to stop if I had my resources.

2W - 2L

After this round I realized that my opponents all had really strong finishes, all but my final opponent were 3W-1L or better! I started to hope that I would make the cut with strength of schedule and I did just that. Unfortunately, as the 8th seed I would face off against the top seed, the undefeated Matt Phillips of Tulsa.

Top 8 vs. Matt (Rematch)

Once again, I was worried since I knew I couldn't keep up with his characters and might not have enough burn to handle it. Luckily for me, I started off strong with some good resources and draw cards. In his first turn he had Val on the board and then played two Wildling Hordes and Mance Rayder. However, he did not have The Laughing Storm turn 1 (which is why he had to play one of the armies and Mance, to my benefit!). This meant that he was open for intrigue claim and I was able to take a Retreat from his hand. That was huge. After that I managed to burn down Mance. I believe that next plot was City of Soldiers to kill Val (no Retreat and no dupe!). The following turn he still had the two hordes and another character, so I played Valar Morghulis. I know he uses Outwit and since he had no Learned crests I couldn't wait another turn. Unfortunately for him, he was only able to play another Horde, Marched to the Wall took care of that the next turn. With no draw and nothing on the board, Matt had few options, so he spent all of his gold on a King Robert's Host. Sorrowful Man took care of that and the game was mine. It was well fought and everything worked out for me this game. Sorry Matt!

Top 4 vs. Ray (Greyjoy - The Long Voyage - Fury of the Kraken)

Got off to a good start, but could not draw enough burn cards to really clear his board. I managed to get up to 11 power before he finally finished me off though. I wish I hadn't lost Khal Drogo to intrigue claim as soon as I did, it was a great discard by him (as was my discard of his To Be A Kraken in round 1!). I don't remember as many details from this one since I lost and it was not quite as exciting as the last match. All I know is that he had Euron first turn, so I was unable to defend my hand from his intrigue claim. Not what I normally experience against Greyjoy.

Overall, I had a great time and really enjoyed the tournament. Well done and all the players were great and friendly. I hope they host another next year and that I can make the trip again. I was really pleased with my results and wish I had drawn a bit better to give myself a chance in the middle rounds.

Some of my main changes to the deck were the Sorrowful Man (as mentioned) and the inclusion of Dragon Skull. The reason for Dragon Skull was that I was worried about attachments being played and knew that Dragon Skull (unlike Flame-Kissed and King's Landing Assassin) would still work if they have other attachments. This proved very useful, especially after a Greyjoy save with Risen from the Sea. That Flame-Kissed doesn't really do much in that scenario. All things considered, I was pleased with my changes, but I definitely saw way too much of Maegi Crone. Some games I needed it for the draw, but honestly, if I had to use her, I was getting beat. I would certainly cut down to only 2 of her. If you guys have any other suggestions, feel free to share and discuss.