Ours is the Fury - Bannerman at the Hollow Hill

After a long hiatus with Ours is the Fury, we're finally back. Having squared off a few times against fellow Regular JCWamma's Baratheon Recursion-monstrosity and with him also making the cut with it in quite a large Tourney, I felt that it would provide people with an interestingly different approach to playing with the House of the Stag.

The fact that I'm a sucker for the black arts of raising things from the dead just might also have something to do with wanting to spread this darkness...

Without further ado, take it away JCWamma:

Our good lord WWDrakey has permitted me to take time off from talking about our squid friends in order to cover the subject of stags instead. That said, this deck certainly has a strong element of the "What is Dead May Never Die" about it, dealing as it does with the subject of Baratheon recursion.

Recursion is a subject Drakey has looked at in the past. Since that article however, Baratheon's means for recurring have grown significantly - we have seen the likes of Shores of the Blackwater (AToTT), Melisandre's Scheme (RotK) and Dale Seaworth (AToTT) enter the picture, as well as neutral options such as Judged by the Father (TCC). These new cards as well as the classic Bara recursion cards already outlined in that article inspired me to make a deck based on the theme, which I'm going to spend this article walking you through the thought process of.

The precise origin of this deck came from wanting to recur Dale, and the fun that can be had combining him with Glamor of Fire (ARotD). From there though, Shagga instincts kicked in - getting to repeatedly use Glamor to recur one card at a time is fun, but not really efficient; how about using it with The Viper's Bannermen (PotS) though? Maybe kill them for claim, then use a Glamor to kill Dale to bring them back... I was salivating. Of course, then we get to the problem of "how to get them into play?" and I went back to that recursion article. The answer was staring me in the face - See who is Stronger (KotStorm). This is a conditional card, but a very powerful one, one of the most powerful effects in the game when played well - bringing a high-cost character back into play for free after the opponent has expended energy to get rid of them once already? Sign me up!

The next step was then to consider the agenda, and with this sudden need for influence and an indication that there would be a lot of events kicking around the deck, Knights of the Hollow Hill (MotM) seemed an obvious choice. The initiative wouldn't be put to as much use as I'd like, but the extra gold would always be useful and the extra influence would prove vital. Besides, the few cards in the deck so far indicate it's not going to be so set-up friendly, so the drawback doesn't hurt so much.

Now there's a clear structure present, the deck needs to be fleshed out.

Events

I'm starting with Events because they heavily inform the rest of the deck. This deck is built around recursion, and that means two things - I need ways to recur cards, and I need cards to be able to recur. One that helps me with both needs is Desperate Measures (TCC). The influence cost isn't an issue when I have influence from the off thanks to my agenda, and it helps me hunt through the deck for my recursion effects while also allowing me to discard any juicy targets for those effects like the Bannermen. And while we're talking about Bara recursion, Fiery Kiss (ODG) remains an absolutely fantastic card for using with many different characters.

On top of these cards I needed to be able to slow my opponent down. Any KotHH deck is going to struggle against rush; a deck that relies on spending time moving cards to discard before it can get rolling struggles further still. As a result I opted to spend event slots on slowing down the opponent's plans - Westeros Bleeds (Core), Nightmares (LoW), Favorable Ground (QoD), all cards that help this cause greatly.

Note from WWDrakey: Any KotHH's should really be thinking of running both Favorable Ground and Westeros Bleeds in the current meta.

Attachments

Positive attachments aren't worth much in this deck because the big expensive Army characters don't want them and the weaker characters will often be bouncing in and out of play anyway. Negative attachments however are a great include for slowing down the opponent while the combo gets set up. In my version of this deck I stuck with Motley (Core), for placing on rush monsters like Cersei or The Red Viper that are otherwise hard for the deck to hit hard. The extra gold can also be useful in later phases for bringing cards out of the shadows...

Note from WWDrakey: Motley is like a free Baratheon version of Fishing Net, which has the nice side-effect of also usually negating duplicate-saves during Valar. In the current character-heavy metagame, I would heartily recommend any and all Baratheon players to consider running it.

Locations

Since I needed influence I made sure The Red Keep (TftRK) went in the deck, which was pretty much a no-brainer. However, I couldn't take the risk of it being discarded and stuck in my discard pile, vital influence cut off. The most natural way of helping deal with this was Blackwater Bay (TBoBB). Not only could I return my Keep to the shadows if needed, but I could also recur my Fiery Kisses. This indicated a small shadows sub-theme, and since I'm already looking to slow my opponent down that made The Black Cells (TftRK) a simple include. Rounding this out with resource locations (in-house so I can recur them with Dale), I then also added a single copy of Pyre of the False Gods (KotStorm) - expensive, but tremendous late-game when my deck is thinning, to shove those powerful events back in the deck.

Characters

Since I'm running See who is Stronger 3x it makes sense to look at Army and Knight characters. The beauty of the event is that I don't need to worry about whether the cards are in-house, at least at the upper end of my cost curve. This meant I could look at cards with good "comes into play" effects. The natural choice was King Joffrey's Guard (TWot5K). A tremendous control effect as well as a big chunky target for the event was very useful.

Note from WWDrakey: An important consideration here is that you need specifically "comes into play", not "after you play" effects, due to the characters usually entering play on your side in unorthodox fashion.

Next I had to return to slowing the opponent down. King Robert's Host (TWot5K) and The Red Queen's Faithful (CD) are both excellent control cards, stopping opponents from rushing before I could get a real lock on a game, and best of all both fit the "See who is Stronger" bill. This gave me 4 different strong Army characters I could target. As far as Knights go, the options aren't so wonderful. I toyed with Quentyn Martell (TGF), but while being able to repeatedly claim 2 power is a very nice effect, it's not quite powerful enough to play with the likes of the Bannermen and Joffrey's Guard, and due to the prohibitive cost he's not worth paying for through normal means. There was at least Ser Davos Seaworth (WLL), useful in any Bara deck but particularly useful here for coming with a save when he gets pulled back into play.


Continuing the theme of maximising my usage of See who is Stronger, the next includes were Robert Baratheon (KotS) and Asshai Initiate (KotStorm). The former lets me reuse the events multiple times (notice that See who is Stronger, Desperate Measures, Glamor of Fire and so on are all Any Phase:?); the latter moves dead uniques into the discard where I can bring them back through Mel's Scheme, and also mills my deck so that I have more targets to recur, while also thinning my deck to increase the chance of drawing back into those events I'm recurring.

One of Baratheon's best recursion cards is Royal Entourage (TTotH), and it seemed silly not to find space for it here. Additionally Baratheon have some cheap Lords and Ladies to help round out the gold curve, and slow down the opponent further. A couple of extra cards to round out the character base helped supplement existing themes or force the issue in late game.

Plots

The plot deck here is incredibly tight. I'm a firm believer that just about every single KotHH deck should include Valar Morghulis (Core), The First Snow of Winter (ODG) and Marched to the Wall (LoW), so that you can easily shut down first turn rush decks. Marched also combos exquisitely with the deck since we can easily recur cards, and between Dale, the Bannermen and Royal Entourage we have enough targets we don't mind discarding.

The inclusion of First Snow also tends to suggest Rule by Decree (Core). The card has lost some power in the past couple of months thanks to The Long Voyage (TPoL) and Negotiations at the Great Sept (TPoL), but it's still a valuable effect against certain decks, especially early on. Additionally, if the bad luck of the draw loads up your hand with Bannermen, King Joffrey's Guard and the like and your opponent isn't hitting you for intrigue challenges, in a pinch you can use it when you have more cards in hand in order to discard them for recurring.

One of my main fears with the deck was a rush deck playing Fear of Winter (BtW) as its restricted. That, plus a few other nasty tricks I wanted to look to shut down, let me to the include of Forgotten Plans (KotStorm). Lastly is perhaps a weird choice for a joust deck - Counting Favors (Core). Giving the opponent draw isn't fun, but the fact is that most decks you will face nowadays will already have draw, and capping them in the plot phase won't hurt you as badly - it shuts down the advantage of TLV for a turn, for instance. More importantly though, a KotHH deck that is also a combo deck can really struggle if it doesn't draw into the cards needed for the combo early. Giving the opponent 3 cards in order to do this is a heavy sacrifice but it's one that we need to make. In an ideal world this spot would go to Threat from the East (QoD), but annoyingly it's still restricted and the Bannermen are pretty much the focal point of the deck. This is a major source of annoyance for me - if I could remove one card from the restricted list right now it would be Threat, it's an unspectacular card by itself made stupid thanks to an elaborate combo that isn't even that viable in the current meta due to Negotiations at the Great Sept. And Threat is practically ready-made for this exact deck without that restriction. But oh well, those are the breaks.

Note from WWDrakey: I would have to echo the sentiment with Threat from the East. That card is a bit of an odd bird for being on the restricted list. It's mainly to stop shenanigans with Citadel Law (MotA), but with the surplus of easy draw we currently have, those 'empty your opponents hand Turn 1' decks just aren't nearly as viable anymore.

With that wash of thoughts in mind, this is the deck I came up with:

Only 'Mostly Dead'

House (1)
House Baratheon (Core) x1

Agenda (1)
Knights of the Hollow Hill (MotM) x1

Plot (7)
Valar Morghulis (Core) x1
The First Snow of Winter (ODG) x1
Melisandre's Scheme (RotK) x1
Counting Favors (Core) x1
Marched to the Wall (LoW) x1
Forgotten Plans (KotStorm) x1
Rule by Decree (Core) x1

Character (27)
Syrio Forel (TftRK) x1
Shireen Baratheon (FtC) x1
Marya Seaworth (KotStorm) x1
Asshai Initiate (KotSTorm) x3
Willas Tyrell (VM) x1
Dale Seaworth (AToTT) x3
Ser Davos Seaworth (WLL) x1
Royal Entourage (TTotH) x2
Margaery Tyrell (TftRK) x1
Salladhor Saan (KotStorm) x1
Robert Baratheon (KotS) x3
Melisandre (RotO) x1
The Red Queen's Faithful (CD) x2
The Viper's Bannermen (PotS) x3
King Robert's Host (Twot5K) x2
King Joffrey's Guard (TWot5K) x1

Location (15)
Narrow Sea (Core) x3
Seat of Power (WotN) x2
Stormlands Fiefdoms (KotStorm) x3
Blackwater Bay (TBoBB) x2
The Black Cells (TftRK) x2
The Red Keep (TftRK) x2
Pyre of the False Gods (KotStorm) x1

Event (19)
Desperate Measures (TCC) x3
Favorable Ground (QoD) x2
Fiery Kiss (ODG) x3
Glamor of Fire (ARotD) x2
Much and More (AHM) x3
Nightmares (LoW) x2
See who is Stronger (KotStorm) x3
Westeros Bleeds (Core) x1

Attachment (2)
Motley (Core) x2


This deck was made for the UK regional tournament in Stoke, where the most recent legal pack was The Captain's Command. A Journey's End contains two very good cards for this deck, namely Fury (AJE) and Supported by the Smith (AJE). Both would definitely be worth trying to find a place for.

In the event, I went 4-1 in Swiss of 52 people before sadly losing in the top 8 (and if you want more details, I'm going to take the opportunity to shameless plug my tourney report). The star players all day were King Robert's Host, and I didn't actually manage to get the Bannermen combo off as many times as I wanted (although the two or three times I did get it off it was glorious). One card that I retrospectively kicked myself for not including was Greedy Councilor (ASitD), although how much of a difference it would have made in proceedings (and what I would've cut for it) I do not know. Overall I was very happy with the performance of the deck, and I think it was a sign that a deck like this can do well on a competitive stage. So to those telling you Baratheon is the house of rush and nothing else, I urge you to take a chance and prove them wrong! If you have any questions about why I made certain includes, why I didn't include certain other cards, how certain aspects of the deck performed or just about anything else, be sure to leave questions in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them.

Final words from WWDrakey: Making Top 8 in a tight 52-player field is definitely nothing to scoff at. From playtesting against the deck (both myself and Ire), we can also definitely vouch for the good showing not being a fluke. In capable hands the deck can be extremely difficult to play against, and once it has enough momentum, it can be almost impossible to stop anymore. A beautiful creation indeed. Well done Ser, my hat's off to you.