Fire and Blood - Reviving the Embers

Is it just me or has it really been over a month since I wrote one of these articles for myself? I've enjoyed hearing from my fellow legions of Targaryen bannermen, but this week the task falls once more on my shoulders to take a look around all things Targ and try to add some insight or comment into what is going on in the game currently. One thing I've noticed is the huge shifts in the meta, brought on largely by the new agendas and the FAQ. Summer is Coming's recent episode 20 and some of the Forum threads currently percolating are discussing a few trends, so I thought that I'd see how Targaryen fits within these new grooves carved by the current state of the game. Then, for each meta shift, I'll suggest some of my "secret tech" that I'm experimenting with to help leverage our house's advantages.

META TREND 1: LONG VOYAGE IS DOMINATING

Despite your perspective on this agenda, I think we can all agree that TLV is currently a strong and popular choice in the current meta. Fortunately, House Targaryen was one of the first houses to bring a regional victory home, with the Tulsa regional seeing TLV Dragons take the win (and another make top 8). Further, the Phoenix regional saw a different brand of Long Voyage, with a Dothraki/War Crest/Summer flair taking the victory. Based on these results, I think it's fair to say that Targaryen is as good a choice as any for your TLV monstrosity.

On the flip side, TLV's rise (and that of Negotiations at the Great Sept) really hurts Hollow Hill decks in my opinion, particularly those basing their strategy solely around burn. One of the dirty little secrets about KoTHH post-FAQ is that the card advantage options are fairly limited. If you want the Hatchling's Feast, you can't do the Long Lances/Street Waif based recursion for your card advantage, leaving you with Meraxes and Bay of Ice. However, so many Aggro decks care about initiative that your Bay of Ice is very unreliable. I'd say that this particular build is now one that's gone from borderline enough card advantage to one having no chance at card advantage in the TLV world.

I'm now shifting back to recursion based Hollow Hill builds, simply to try to keep pace with the card advantage options available in the current popular environment. Recursion is one of our house's strengths, so if you pack three street waifs with a bunch of standing, you'll be on your way. Long Lances is great here, but Young Griff is also quite solid. Another overlooked card is Hrakkar Pelt, which will not only draw when it comes into play, but also is itself recurrable with Lady Dany's Chambers and stands your Waifs or (even better) Archmaester Marwyn. Trying to fill the Hatchling Feast hole is tough, but Field of Fire comes as close as possible, though it requires summer. If you're doing summer, then Red Warlock is great as an attachment tutor, and Summer Encampment can boost your ambush even further. Dropping a Parting Blow off of your Summer Encampment action is also a crowd pleaser (and it cantrips to boot!).

An upcoming card that I think will really solidify this type of deck is the Blood Magic Ritual. This is a shadows attachment that pulls a character out of your dead pile and puts it back into play. What a great target for the Chambers or your Warlocks! It adds a great option to replace To Be a Dragon with, since you won't need a Power Struggle plot and gives yet another entry for Magister Illyrio. For its s1 cost, the ability better be really good, but I think this has potential.

META TREND 2: BARATHEON IS BACK (AND SO ARE ALL THEIR RUSHY FRIENDS)

Alongside the Aggro-y TLV decks are faster versions of TLV decks, usually ran out of Baratheon, but also very solid options from Martell TLV, Bara Knights, Bara Black Sails, rush maesters, rush Dragons, Power Behind the Throne rush, and many others. It's harder than ever to grind out 12 plot matches since your opponents are likelier than ever before to push for the win condition right off the bat. Many are even saying control is dead in the water, but is this really true?

I looked at two of the Martell control builds to win a regional this year (Cobe's Martell Iso which is up in the deck forums here on CardGameDB and Libert1ne's Martell Hollow Hill which won in Australia) and noticed a common thread--challenge control trumps card advantage. Both of these builds took Burning on the Sand as an answer to either Naval challenges, Renown builds, and as a defacto way of standing, since you won't have to kneel characters to win challenges on the defense.

But wait, you might say. Burning on the Sands is House Martell only? You're right. But there's a few cards out there that can help us simulate its effects. First and foremost is the neutral The Only Game that Matters. This card can wreck fast, strong Baratheon builds centered around Stannis and Robert and can often be your only hope against Stark Siege. I admit that finding space for it is tough, but it can truly save your bacon. The other card is one that I've always loved as a gem in melee games, but with the faster pace of games these days and the concurrent rise of the importance of the Power challenge, True Power is becoming a great Joust choice. I saw that a top level European deck used it in his House of Dreams build to buy time and slow the game for a while until his control came online--I thought that a great choice! While it doesn't have the variety that Burning does, anyone who's faced a Misinformation from Lannister knows the frustration that a surprise challenge win can bring.

Sometimes people forget that for each challenge type, two houses are given effects which trigger off of it. Lannister and Martell have Intrigue, Stark and Martell have Military, and Baratheon and Targaryen have Power, even though you might never suspect it. That means our new Naval characters typically have the enhanced Power icon and we have lots of forgotten effects which trigger off winning Power challenges. Khal Drogo from Wolves of the North is great, as is Flaming Pitch Tower. Those two allow you to leverage your Power challenges earlier in the game, which is when they are typically weakest. I think that our in-house agenda is more viable than before (Heir to the Iron Throne), but Long Voyage has obscured it. Perhaps an out-of-the box build with Heir, True Power, Flaming PItch, and some renown can do some work--oh, and looky there: House Targaryen Loyalist and Dothraki Outrider are both able to gain Renown during POW challenges! I haven't seen this build work, but it seems like the type of thing more viable in the current environment than it used to be.

META TREND 3: ATTACHMENTS EVERYWHERE

This is perhaps mostly the result of the Tin Link's restriction, but don't discount how Long Voyage and the lessening of control have stabalized characters in play. Sure, there's the odd Stark Murder, but you can more reliably count on your attachment-laden character avoiding Ghaston Grey than you used to, for example. Game of Cyvasse seems to have gone the way of the Dinosaur, opening the door for awesome attachments like Oberyn's Guile, Taste for Blood, and Devious Intentions to force their way back into the meta.

Targaryen can answer this in two ways. The first is by leveraging our attachment hate, which is the best in the game. Dragon Thief and Meereenese Brothel are staples, but Krasnys mo Naklos, Crown of Meereen, and even our Burn can help with troublesome enhancements. For extra fun, run Magister Illyrio (CbtC). (PS: Don't actually do that. He's terrible)

The second way is by running some positive attachments of our own. Aegon's Blade might be the best in the game, and Shade of the Evening is pretty OK as well. Throw in the extra attachment search mentioned above, and you can really soup up your characters. The Rusted Maester build going around is the best example of this, but you don't need to go full Voltron to take advantage of these--just splashing one or two should be enough to push through a key challenge or grab that last bit of Renown to close the game.

CONCLUSIONS

The Meta is dark and full of terrors, but Targaryen seems to have risen to the top. With at least four tournament viable builds (and perhaps more) we might have more options than any other house. Leveraging our forgotten key house themes of attachment control and power challenges is better than ever right now, and our character base has finally risen to the level of some of the other solid houses. Sure, you need answers and a fair bit of luck to succeed, but hopefully I've given you some ideas on how to voyage forth in the new meta and take your Targaryen skills to new heights.

Thanks again for reading and I look forward to the next installment where we will likely discuss a tournament-level build in specific and see how it answers the key questions that the modern meta poses. See you then or in the comments!