Fire and Blood - Haterz Gonna Hate

It's good to have you here to discuss some thoughts on how the new FAQ will affect we dragons. It's not all good news, but it's not soooo bad either. Unless you're Dothraki, but I'll get to that. Let's start at the beginning, or at least at the most exciting part:

1. THE LONG VOYAGE ERRATA: NEUTRAL HOUSE ONLY

Something had to be done about TLV, if only on the principle of "the customer is always right." While the agenda saw some cool regional wins earlier for Dragon decks and a Dothraki/Aggro deck, the meta finally figured out that if you run actual good archetypes in TLV, things go bonkers. This hurts Targ a bit since we probably had one of the top TLVs, but not extremely so since Greyjoy TLV was just better and now the meta will re-diversify. That's a small price to pay for losing this agenda, in my opinion. I'm a huge fan of the errata and think that a neutral TLV just might make the cut at GenCon.

2. BLOOD MAGIC RITUAL ERRATA TO MAKE IT WORK

Well, it worked before, but it was clearly not how it was intended. This is yet another blow to Dragon decks, but I think this card remains playable and interesting, so I'm not too upset about it. This errata feels less like a power level nerf and more like a correction of text to make it work as originally intended.

What's funny about this is that the deck I built for my wife to play and learn with was a TLV Dragon deck featuring three Blood Magic Rituals. I guess I will have to remake it lest I mistakenly bring it to a tournament.

Which brings me to an aside--people worrying that losing TLV makes teaching new players harder should just remember that the restricted list is for tournament play only, and just go ahead and play TLV at home if you are so inclined.

3. STREET WAIF RESTRICTED

Well, I guess Targ needed another card to be hit, and the natural place for that to happen is in our card advantage engine. Waif/Long Lances was fun while it lasted, but this degenerate combo has finally been erased. Those still playing high recursion jumper decks can do so, but they'll have to replace the waif with Archmaester Marwyn or extra Recruitment/Ambush from the Plains/Blessed by the Maiden or good ol' Lady Dany's Chambers. Whether this hit to Targ's hand will be enough to rein in Hollow Hill decks is something that I'll be waiting for GenCon to find out. My early guess: this won't matter and will make those decks who haven't already go back to Hatchling's Feast as their restricted card of choice. IMO, the stronger decks were already doing that so I think this change won't matter all that much.

4. BRAIDED SCREAMERS ERRATA TO ONCE PER ROUND

To begin with, once per round limits on phase-limited actions always amuse me. I mean, why not call it once per phase since you can only use this during Marshalling? I am still waiting for the Epic Marshal phase, though you have to admit that'd be pretty sweet.

Enough tomfoolery, let's look at this card and how it hurts. Put simply, it hurts a lot. Targaryen has very limited options for draw, and losing TLV and the Lances/Waif combo leaves Targaryen basically with Meraxes (which is awesome), Jhogo (which is awesome but challenge conditional), Maegi Crone (which is powerful but VERY expensive and LOTS of drawbacks), and the Summer Agenda featuring Samwell Tarly (which is restricted). The Screamers gave us the opportunity to use another card advantage source alongside the trusty Jhogo, who is amazing (especially in a Dothraki deck) but conditional. If you can't force through that MIL challenge, then you get no cards.

Braided Screamers also gave us room to use the underrated Griff character agenda card. The rise of attachments has helped him get mileage out of his resurrection ability or the choice to use him alongside great attachments of our own like Flame Kissed or seldom used Dothraki options like Jhogo's Whip or Aggo's Bow. Losing the potency of this Dothraki search nerfs this build quite a bit, and that makes me sad since it was something new and fresh for Targaryen. To be fair, this is still a highly playable card, but I didn't necessarily think it was so strong as to receive errata already. I think one deck running this tech made the cut at a US regional, so it was hardly running amok. Especially when you consider the next card on the list that matters for we Targs:

5. NEGOTIATIONS AT THE GREAT SEPT RESTRICTED

There had been lengthy debates concerning whether TLV was the problem or Nego was the real culprit. I felt it was TLV but was not surprised at all to see this amazing plot find its way onto the Restricted list, if only for the fact that 2 claim is just too much for such a powerful effect. On the whole, I think this restriction will actually help Targ, since it hurts the amount of recovery that an opponent can have after we have cleared their board. I think this will harm Greyjoy especially and maybe even set control archetypes as a whole up for a resurgence. Most top-tier Targ decks were not using it anyway since the Maester versions would choose At the Gates and burn decks would usually not want the 2-sided aspect to come into play.

In fact, the only Targ deck that this really hurt was......Dothraki Aggro.

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN: THE DOTHRAKI DILEMMA

To be clear, seeing a Targaryen player whining about their pet deck being hurt is like a toddler throwing a fit because he can't have yet ANOTHER Thomas and Friend Tank Engine to go along with his Tier 1 Thomas and the Misty Island playset at home. But I NEED the Quarry playset too, daddy! Where else will Mavis work? So yeah, with the Misty Island of Burn still among the best decks in the meta, why shed a tear for Dothraki at all?

Well, first off, it was something different. It gave Targaryen players space to explore a new deck and a new deck style entirely. It also gave design space to keep stretching the boundaries of the house without making Burn so redundant that nothing could ever stay alive. I felt that Braided Screamers was a great card in this direction, tipping you towards some cards that never really got used much, exploring a great, Nedly theme, and built enough opportunity cost into its ability to remain balanced. After all, it's a 4 cost character who requires no other agenda. Admittedly, if you got these rolling you could draw lots of Dothraki and play lots of Dothraki. But were they ever so strong as to win a regional? To my knowledge, they placed once this season--hardly the stuff nerfing is made of.

But enough whining. The errata is here. The new restricted list is here. What do we Dothraki Aggro players do in response?

RESPONSE ONE: THE RESTRICTED CARD

To me, a Dothraki Aggro deck has three real options for its restricted, with three more out-of-the box ones. The problem (outlined above) with Dothraki decks is their card advantage opportunities. When you're playing Aggro, you typically want to flood the board, hit with high claim, and keep on coming. To do this properly, you typically have more characters in play and are asking for a Valar. So, to me, your restricted card will help you recover from a Valar by drawing more cards. Compounding this is the Intrigue weakness of Dothraki. So what possible options are there for a No Agenda Dothraki deck?

1. Fear of Winter

This is one of those out-of-the box suggestions. The idea here is to keep them from playing characters to crush what they have out their with your 2 claim. I happen to think you can do better than this.

2. Val

This is another out of the box idea. Nobody draws like Val. The problem is that there is typically no way to have reliable recursion in a Dothraki deck, especially now with the Street Waif restricted. She also dies so fast to burn, is easy to Enslave, and basically isn't resilient. I'd look elsewhere, personally.

3. Long Lances

While perhaps the singular best Targ character, the Lances really shine in jumper-style decks. Their potency is reduced somewhat in a straight Aggro deck and I wouldn't personally choose them. I like my Dothraki a bit more straight-ahead than this requires. Also, most good Dothraki are in the 3 cost slot and yet another character at that cost can really stretch your curve.

4. Refugee of the Plains

I think this is a great choice. It offers a 0 cost guy for setups, and it allows you to guarantee that you can put this into play after searching with the Screamers. It also allows an extra trait for Incinerate, if you go that route, and overall is a very solid option. It's mini-card advantage and claim soak, but generally I'm looking for something a bit more comprehensive.

5. Narrow Escape

With Narrow Escape, you're hoping to draw it and use it on their Valar turn. Either they clear your board while you clear their hand, or you stick them on a 0 claim plot. It's even tastier if you can grab them with Art of Seduction.

I'm not sure why this card has gone so far out of favor in terms of restricted cards in joust, but it's super powerful and really a card advantage engine on its own. The disadvantage in a Dothraki deck is that you have to draw it and hold on to it despite probably losing the majority of Intrigue challenges. In my older builds, I had decided it was worth the risk and slotted it, but going forward I'll be dropping it for....

6. Negotiations at the Great Sept

What a great card this is. Sure, you have the possibility to improve your opponent's hand, but your intrigue-light deck likely won't care. Further, you can refill your own, and since Targaryen has Dominance phase card advantage effects like Meraxes and Womb of the World, you can Nego even if your hand was cleared in Challenges.

Grabbing back up to five (and maybe even copying with City of Spiders) is usually enough draw to win games. Now if we could just avoid that nasty control.....

I apologize that this look is a bit too brief at what's going on, but I don't think the FAQ really turned the meta on its head. It made us adjust a few things and I'd love to hear if you think Dothraki remain competitive. Next time, we'll look at a more comprehensive Dothraki deckbuild and see what sort of tech we can slide in their to deal with our major problems.

Until then, just burn everything.