Card Game DB
Sign In
Create Account
Welcome to Card Game DB
Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to create topics, post replies to existing threads, give reputation to your fellow members, get your own private messenger, post status updates, manage your profile and so much more. If you already have an account, login here - otherwise create an account for free today!
Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to create topics, post replies to existing threads, give reputation to your fellow members, get your own private messenger, post status updates, manage your profile and so much more. If you already have an account, login here - otherwise create an account for free today!
0
Forging the Chain - Calicon 2012 Tournament Report
Oct 18 2012 05:30 PM |
TinyGrimes
in Game of Thrones
Small Council Forging the Chain Tiny Grimes Calicon
Calicon 2012 Tournament Report
Welcome back to another edition of Forging the Chain. Over the next several weeks I will be providing a summary of my 2012 tournament season, complete with decklists and other helpful tips. This week I'm focusing on my tournament report for Calicon, held this past weekend. This is my first trip to Calicon and most assuredly it won't be my last. Spending a weekend with Cali AGOT players is always a blast. This was to be my last event for the tournament season since I cannot attend worlds due to a work conflict that will prevent me from ever attending worlds on that weekend. Since it was a low key event, I decided to focus on just building a competitive deck and having fun, rather than testing for months trying to find a broken deck. For the entire tournament season I had been playing Maesters (because they are bonkers broken) either the Greyjoy or Martell variety. But my sensei has forced me to give them up because they make the game too easy. So for the good of my own improvement I started the search for a deck that wasn't terrible. I played Martell - Quentyn a lot and really liked it. That is, until I played a bunch of games against elite players and realized that he never made it onto my house. I tried a bunch of other decks in the meta and settled on an old school Martell Summer build. It doesn't do anything fancy. It just uses high powered Martell cards and goes to town. The only matchup I was really worried about was winter so I packed in 3 carrion birds and 2 Ill Tidings to handle those issues, not to mention knock off those pesky maester chains and draw from Sam in the process. It sat at 63 and I desperately wanted to add 3 copies of Paper Shield and Much and More, but I just couldn't find the space.
This event was much different than Gencon. Instead of spending all night before the joust tweaking my deck and talking to the gang about the meta and matchups, I just had a good time hanging out with the Socal crew.
The Joust - 10/13 - 26 people
Game 1
W Margo Martell Sand Snakes
Margo was playing a Sand Snake deck with a bunch of control. She had multiple maidens of poison out and other useful characters. I was able to slowly wrestle control away by winning 2 claim military challenges. After 4 plots I was dominating the board pretty well but only winning 5-4 or something. After that I was finally able to start grabbing power and pull away with the win.
Game 2
W J.T. Martell Maester
When J. T. put out his Maester's path I thought yup here's karma punching me in the face. I was the guy bringing Martell Maester and it serves me right to lose to one. I mentioned something about how I was playing the deck for a while and he started telling me all about his deck. He said oh don't worry it's a House Dayne version with the new Viper becoming a House Dayne character. I was stunned he was telling me all this information and it helped a ton as we started the game. I played the game completely differently. For instance, I used my Condemned by the Council on Starfall instantly instead of waiting to see what other locations he was running. I got a massive flop and was able to establish a strong board position. He wasn't able to overcome this and my ever growing hand. This game demonstrates a general principle: never talk about your deck before a game. Experienced players will take any information they can get and exploit it. I've had many opponents say things like "yeah I should really put a reset in this deck." Whatever you do, don't say things like this!
Game 3
W James Speck - Greyjoy Maester
James is a great guy and a skilled AGOT player. Moreover, I had recently visited the San Diego group and brought the deck I thought I was going to bring to Calicon and he obliterated it twice, once with this deck. To say I was worried about this game is an understatement. This game is a bit hazy, but I believe I got an early board position advantage and was able to control the game fairly well. I remember using an Ill Tidings on one of his links and bouncing his maesters with either ghaston grey or Game of Cyvasse. Baelor Blacktyde made the game a bit tougher but I prevailed.
Game 4
W John Kraus - Martell Quentyn
John is another great guy and skilled AGOT player. When I visited San Diego John crushed me as well. I spent the entire game using tricks to prevent Quentyn from becoming an agenda. Ghaston Grey helped me control this one. After a few turns I was able to amass a massive card advantage and grind John down. I was especially proud of my 2 claim intrigue in which I bounced Quentyn to John's hand mid-challenge to send him to the discard pile. Beating John and James in back to back games was a tall order as they are 2 of the top players in SoCal.
Game 5
L Christian - Lannister Winter
I had lost to this deck earlier in the week during a testing session and didn't think much of it. However, as the day progressed and Christian kept piling up wins I realized we were going to have to play in round 5. We were the only 2 undefeated players left so we would both advance. Knowing this I played the game as an information game. After the last beating I took from Christian I really had no clue how to beat this deck. Unfortunately after getting crushed 15-0 in this game I was still unable to figure out how to beat him. I knew going in that winter would be tough but this particular build was even tougher than I expected.
Elite 8
W Joey Kreins - Targaryen - No Agenda
Joey is a Norcal player who I met for the first time at the event. In this game I got a great flop and just kept on flooding the board while keeping a giant hand. Once I got out my second Lost Oasis it was all but over. I don't have too many memories of the game other than kneeling out piles of his characters.
Final 4
L Christian - Lanny Winter
Now I really like Christian. He's a great guy and works hard at crafting his decks. However, I must admit I was rooting so hard for him to lose before he got back to me. I still had no clue how to beat his deck. But alas Christian won his game and here we were again. Only this time .... yeah I still had no plan at all. However, it was a weird game. He got a slow start and I came out hard. I was able to push to 8-0 and things were looking pretty bad for him. However, Christian just kept plodding on and didn't make any bad plays. The key to this game was his ability to make it winter three times, despite only running 2 ravens, and I couldn't remove that last raven. Between his 3 Golden Tooth Mines, the ravens and Valar, he was able to change board position and slowly gain hand advantage. It became clear I was cooked long before the game ended. By about plot 7 or 8 he finished me off and I still have no idea how to win that matchup. This game is a great lesson to anyone behind in a game in a seemingly no win scenario. Keep your cool, play your best, don't miss triggers, and you may be able to turn it around. With Valar in the meta you never know what can happen. I've seen crazy comebacks revolving around a turn 6,7,8 valar which can completely change the game. Don't ever give up.
Christian went on to face Chris, who was running the same deck as me. It was a best of 3 so Christian got to beat the deck 2 more times. At the end of the day, my Martell Summer deck went 11-5, with 5 losses to Christian. Nice work Christian you sure dominated the deck!
With my 2013 tournament season over, it was time to have some fun. We stayed up late playing Resistance and generally having a good time. Instead of my usual reaction to losing, which to be honest involves wanting to punch myself, I was quite pleased with my results. I didn't beat myself, I just ran into a good player playing a deck which was essentially a silver bullet for mine. I knew with Stark Winter and maesters being so popular I could easily finish 2-3. So I'll call 3rd place and 4-1 a good day and move on.
MVP cards:
Lost Oasis - With the Red Viper this card just simply wins games. I'm still stunned it's not unique.
Ghaston Grey - It is interesting to see this card here as I very nearly pulled it and some nobles to fit in Much and More and drop closer to 60. But it was a major part of my maester solution so I left it in and I'm happy I did.
Old School Martell Summer
Here's the deck I brought to the event. Like I said above it's nothing special. It's basically a 2011 build with a handful of newer cards.
Next week I will be writing an article discussing how I go through matchups before an event. I'll be using this deck as the example since I just prepared for an event with it. So if there is a specific matchup you would like me to touch upon mention it in the comments section below.
House (1)
House Martell (Core) x1
Agenda (1)
Kings of Summer (ASoS) x1
Plot (7)
A Song of Summer (ASoS) x1
Retaliation! (ASoSilence) x1
Manning the City Walls (CD) x1
Valar Morghulis (Core) x1
Game of Thrones (LotR) x1
A Time for Ravens (ACoS) x1
Breaking and Entering (LotR) x1
Character (36)
Ser Arys Oakheart (PotS) x1
The Viper's Bannermen (PotS) x3
House Messenger (PotS) x3
The Bastard of Godsgrace (EB) x1
Darkstar (PotS) x1
Arianne Martell (PotS) x1
Orphan of the Greenblood (PotS) x3
Lost Spearman (MotM) x3
The Red Viper (PotS) x3
Ellaria Sand (PotS) x1
Gilly (RoW) x1
Maester of the Sun (ASoS) x3
Samwell Tarly (TRS) x2
Carrion Bird (ASoS) x3
Refugee of the Citadel (RoW) x3
Doran Martell (TGM) x1
Varys (SaS) x1
Edric Dayne (IG) x1
Dagos Manwoody (TBC) x1
Location (15)
Street of Silk (LotR) x1
Street of Sisters (Core) x1
Summer Sea (Core) x3
Palace Fountains (PotS) x3
Lost Oasis (AToT) x2
Shadowblack Lane (Core) x1
The Scourge (ODG) x1
Ghaston Grey (FtC) x2
Flea Bottom (TGM) x1
Event (10)
He Calls It Thinking (PotS) x3
A Game of Cyvasse (ACoS) x3
Condemned by the Council (AToT) x2
Ill Tidings (IG) x2
Attachment (2)
Black Raven (ASoS) x2
9 Comments
http://www.fantasyfl...=4&efidt=733564
The creator of the deck, who showed that Lannister are badly underplayed, has stated he doesn't want to post the deck until after worlds, in respect for his meta so it isn't copied. Afterwards however, he does plan to.
I am curious how similar it will be to that posted in Crimson and Gold - Enemies of the Crown Pt 4 by Rave.
Lol, unless of course, you're lying about not having the reset. In which case, it's encouraged.
Now keep in mind I wasn't playing Wildfire just to put him on my house which might have been a mistake. But I don't like playing 2 resets and I don't like wasting a reset for that.
I talked to Krause after our match and asked him about Quentyn. He said he rarely was able to get him on his house, but he didn't mind because his opponent spent so many resources trying to prevent this from happening. So perhaps the answer is me needing to rethink how I play the deck, but I'm just finding the character agendas to be too easily controlled by elite players.
- Why Plot Game of Thrones instead of To the Spears! ? Is it for the initiative (since first player is always useful with stuff like Lost Oasis). I understand that with GoT you also do not kneel to defend, but isn't it preferable to not kneel to attack in all challenges (being able to claim lots of renown on your chars for example). Also To the Spears! seems really works well against Retaliation! or Search and Detain
- I wasn't decided to include Lost Oasis in my build, but since you had such great results, I guess I'll give it a try (maybe just one copy though...hard to find the space for 2).
- Do you really think Ill Tidings so necessary? Wouldn't you consider using the slot for Paper Shield protection, or even some char hate such as Dissension or Parting Blows (this one also does the draw function that you also seem to want from the Ill Tidings).
- Do you consider that running a deck like this at 63 does not affect its effectiveness/consistency? Maybe since you have so much draw, it is possible to do it without really feeling the consequence playing more than 60, is it so? I have my deck at 60, but am considering upping to 62/63 to add a couple more control events
I originally had To the Spears in the deck but I removed it because there just aren't enough renown characters to take advantage of the plot. Having 0 init basically meant my opponent could go first and do whatever they want. With Lost Oasis out, going first means I kneel two guys with Game of Thrones as a 5 usually wins.
The way I build decks is to try and minimize the bad matchups as much as I can rather than try to maximize the good matchups. As such, I was deathly afraid of winter and maesters. Ill Tidings helps with both of these matchups, provides draw, and can be recycled with the carrion bird. Is it better than Paper Shiled? That I cannot say with certainty.
I used to run a 60 card no matter what. Lately I find myself willing to go up to a maximum of 63 depending on the deck. If it is a combo deck, not more than 60. But in a deck with tons of draw and redundant good cards I will at times veer over that beloved 60 mark. I believe the math says there is a neglible difference at this point.
That is a good point about not making the chargendas the focus of the deck. But, anytime I'm putting 3 copies of a character in a deck, that character becomes a large focus of the deck. Moreover, in a Kindly Man deck if you are putting in stuff like Viper's Bannermen he becomes even more the focus of the deck. The way I've started viewing chargendas is that if you can be sure that the deck functions perfectly without them on the house then I would use them. However, I haven't found this to be the case with the decks I've built. The chargendas seem to fill a gaping hole in each of the decks I've built. For instance, not getting Aaaron Damphair on your house doesn't seem that bad. Except that without him my GJ deck would be relying on drawing one of my copies of LIV and the drawing a max of 3 cards per turn. That just isn't going to cut it for me. So at that point I'm trying to find other means of draw in case Damphair doesn't make it on my house. At that point it seems like running the Winter agenda or The Maester's Path would just be better.