The Things I Do For Win - Resource Renaissance

I have been accused of a lot of things and running too few resources is one of them. I hate running more than ten. There is nothing worse than ripping a sea when all I want is a dude to walk across the battle field. I also vilify playing an inferior cards when there are so many better cards out there like using a Pyromancer’s Apprentice in a non-choke deck when a Newly Made Lord (TftH) would be far superior.

The advent of the Free Cities and some other hidden gems creates opportunities to play the best cards in the game no matter the house. Asha Greyjoy (WLL) is both a lady and a Greyjoy. Brienne of Tarth (PotS) is both a Stark and a lady. Daario Naharis (WLL) is both a mercenary and touts a war crest. We’re talking about sheer power on the board available to everyone.

The Basics
Every house has access to a stable of solid resources. All of the bases can be covered with in-house and neutral locations. These choices keep your gold curve down for reasonable flops. Most basic decks can survive on these. The amount of limited locations will choke your options at times, but for the most part they are playable if not ideal.

In House Basics
+1 gold
Sea
Limited influence reducer
2 reducer
Dude reducer

Neutral Basics
The Streets
River Row
Flea Bottom
Ocean Road

Note: I’m ignoring crossroad because it’s terrible. The two cost makes it too prohibitive because you don’t get your money worth until two turns later. Blah.

Reducer vs Gold
Here is where a great debate could rage. Fact: having more gold at your disposal is better than a card type reducer. Fact: reducers trigger the turn you play them as opposed to waiting until next turn. Arguing between the two is akin to debating the intrinsic value of chocolate versus peanut butter. Like any great thinker we know that combining them creates a richer play option palate.

Choosing between the two really depends on your deck. Counting how many of each card is a beneficiary lets you decide what locations work in your build. If a location can account for two thirds of your characters, then it’s a three auto-include. Unfortunately not every location allows you to put three ofs in a deck; the streets are great non-limited reducers. Gold providers are a must in a heavily themed shadow deck.

The zero cost in-house locations should never be overlooked. Gold can pay for everything; shadows, attachments, and locations all get the love they deserve. I use at least two in the majority of my deck builds.

Traveling Abroad
The Free Cities offer up a lynch pin to playing the greatest cards in the format. The idea of playing the previously scandalous two out-of-house cost was far fetched. Newly Made Lord is the best location removal that Targ, Martell, and Lanni couldn’t afford. Lowering the cost down to four makes this rock star a beater in most decks. The beauty is you can use Volantis (VM) or Norvos (VD) to make it happen.

The culturally rich rainbow of houses can not be ignored. Ser Arys Oakheart,Jeyne Westerling (ASoS), and Magister Illyrio (VM) change the way the game is played once they hit the board. We haven’t even seen the other Free Cities to find out what we now have access. The flat reducer skirting around choke effects is a bonus.

Taking a trip to the bordering houses via the seas should always be considered. Newly Made Lord shores up Lannister’s weakness in location destruction and shares their sea. Targ is fortified with off hand maesters from the southern lands. Ser Jorah Mornmont is a great knight to have in stable with Bara.

Jet Lagged
Trying to piece together these combos puts serious lag on your setup. Using more than four out-of-house bombs can clutter your opening drive unless you stitch together multiple keywords, houses, and crests. Infinite Theon Greyjoy still costs four before locations are a go. You can’t run an out-of-house silver bullet without utilizing two or more resource types that pertain to the card.

Count the out-of-house cost when examining the gold curve. It's the same as not counting all of the lords in your deck even though you may have Norvos on the flop. You can't always count on getting the right resources as the right time. If you can't play the cards in your hand they are dead cards reducing your options.

Identifying your deck’s weakness is key. If there is an element to the game which you are missing, then fill that spot with out-of-house strengths. The Free Cities aren’t limited to characters. Meereenese Brothel (BtW)l can be played in any house. The same can be said of Taste for Blood (PotS) and Imposter! (MotM)

Keep in mind the gold curve. Cards falling in the four and five slot have to be game changers. Paying five gold for Dagmer Cleftjaw is a terrible decision.

Following the Rainbow Connection
As an exercise to myself I built an organic deck based on the Free Cites.

House Martell is the easiest to give as an example. The in-house components let you search out the Free City of your choice with Palace Spy (WotN). There are also plenty of worth while lords to play invoking Norvos. Even using half of the location’s ability is enough to entice such powerhouses as Doran Martell (TGM) and The Red Viper (PotS). The list I pulled for Martell lords solely included uniques. The Silk Road became an obvious choice.

The amount of unique characters led me to Quentyn Martell (VD). His ability to give Vengeful plus a card drawing mechanic really wasn’t my idea but I decided to let the deck build itself. Now, all of the lords act as card draw and seriously distorts the challenge phase for my opponent. At this point I tossed in efficient Vengeful characters like Maester of the Sun and Ellaria.

If we are using Norvos already paying four for Newly Made Lord (TftH) is a must run. By doing a quick search with CardGameDBs engine I pulled up a list of other lords that might be interesting. Tommen Baratheon is worth three in most decks but to have that cut down to two was too good to pass up.

Many of the Martell lords possess the noble crest for Ocean Road and a known component in Ghaston Grey. Inputting a search for Lords and a Noble or War crest costing two or less revealed two cards I hadn’t even considered. Ser Kevan Lannister and Theon Greyjoy (WLL) tout the correct keyword and crest. Theon has the added benefit of being a reoccurring threat.

Stretching the boundaries I searched up Mercenaries and crests. Daario has both. For the most part I’ll be playing him for four gold but a two for one play. I was interested to see if it was worth it. Fairweather Followers was an intriguing include but I thought adding summer was too much for this exercise.

This deck has garnered a seven and two record with an unreasonable plot selection (I’m also exploring the River plots with this deck). The regional season is over, now is the time to break new ground. When a person tells you they only play with good cards they haven’t truly tried outside the box.

There will be a couple more Free Cities released over the next couple months giving us even more opportunities. Braavos and Pentos weren’t mentioned here but could construct a mutant that was not possible before. The world of AGOT keeps getting larger and it’s within our best interest to pursue every game winning strategy.

Martell Quentyn Lord Outline
I was asked to post what I ended running. What makes this a Jaime deck is the continued focus on efficient themes and keeping location, attachment, and card draw relevant.

Resources
2 Water Garden (PotS)
3 Summer Sea (Core)
1 Lord Doran's Chambers (PotS)
2 Norvos (VD)
1 Volantis (VM)
1 Ocean Road (WLL)
1 Street of Silk (LotR)
1 Flea Bottom (TGM)

Card Draw
3 Quentyn Martell (VD) - Lord
3 House Messenger (PotS)
1 Tommen Baratheon (SA) - Lord
2 Palace Spy (WotN)

Noble Crests
1 Myrcella Lannister (ODG)
1 Edric Dayne (IG) - Lord
1 Dagos Manwoody (TBC) - Lord
1 Arianne Martell (PotS)
1 Doran Martell (TGM) - Lord
1 The Red Viper (TftRK) - Lord

Maesters
3 Refugee of the Citadel (RoW) - cheap maester
1 Maester Kedry (FtC) - maester with reusable resources once Quentyn is active
1 Maester of Lemonwood (BtW) - attachment control
3 Maester of the Sun (ASoS) - vengeful!!!

Martell Uniques
1 The Bastard of Godsgrace (EB) - reusable pump
1 Dorea Sand (TftH) - cheap
1 Obella Sand (DB) - cheap
1 Ellaria Sand (PotS) - an autoinclude
1 Ser Arys Oakheart (PotS) - character removal
1 Areo Hotah (PotS) - reusable character removal
1 Harmen Uller (PotS) - Lord, renown

Out of House
2 Newly Made Lord (TftH) - Lord, Location removal
1 Theon Greyjoy (WLL) - Lord, War Crest, unkillable
1 Ser Kevan Lannister (LotR) - cheap lord, noble crest
1 Daario Naharis (WLL) - war crest, character removal

The Rest of the Deck
2 Ghaston Grey (FtC) - Reusable character control
1 Tin Link (CbtC) - Attachment control
2 Condemned by the Council (AToT) - Location Control
3 Red Vengeance (PotS) - Still triggers vengeful
3 A Gentle Prison (WotN) - Experiment
2 Narrow Escape (KotStorm) - Experiment

Character Gold Curve
Because of the number of out-of-house characters the curve is pushed to the expensive end.

Zero Cost - 3
One Cost - 3
Two Cost - 9
Three Cost - 11
Four Cost - 4
Five Cost - 5

Icon Count
Military - 12
Intrigue - 20
Power - 27

Plot Deck
Under the Bridge of Dream (VD)
Shores of Ny Sar (VM)
At the Palace of Sorrows (VM)
Above the Sorrows (VM)
Dry Season (CbtC)
The Power of Blood (Core)
Regroup (KotStorm)

The plot deck is pure experimentation. I'm currently looking at non-Valar (I'm hating it by the way) aggro builds. The River plots while flexible are insanely hard to play effectively. The first River you play is completely lack luster. My favorite play so far was triggering At the Palace of Sorrow three times in a row for Newly Made Lord and Daario twice. Regroup and Power of Blood seem to be the weak link so far. More conventional plots take this deck from competitive to tournament worthy.

As a hint I'd lead with Shores, Above the Sorrows, and finish with Palace. Most folks will forget the timing and put a character they are trying to save on top of their deck only to see it discarded by Above the Sorrows. Shores keeps you powering though Palace turns. I'm interested to see what Before the Black Walls (VD) will do with all the vengeful in this deck.