The Things I Do For Win - The Kindly Man

A newer deck type that might have gone under the radar but posted two top eight finishes at the Iowa Regional is The Kindly Man (VM). This innocuous character is the engine for a personal favorite tool in the game; recursion. The focus of any great recursion deck is dropping fatties early far beyond the gold curve. It’s only with the release of Chase of Dragons and Wildling Bard that I feel this deck is now top tier.

Killing The Kindly Man
Weirdly enough there is nothing more annoying than a living Kindly Man. We want him as dead as a Khal. Ideally our opponent wipes him off the board directly to the recursion machine we desire. Well, it’s rare our joustmate makes things easy for us.

Plots are truly the only thing you can count on in AGOT. Thankfully he is a mere one strength. At the Gates (GotC) is an auto include when you have such a stud in Luwin. The follow up of City of Soldiers (TBoBB) two claim and kill effect does double duty. Wildfire Assault (Core) reads up to 3 characters, meaning you can choose not to save Kindly Man. Outside of plots we have to rely on House Umber Berserker to do our dirty work. More often than not this is the way our bony ally eats it.

Intrigu-licious
The only recursion housed here is The Kindly Man playing into two challenges that Stark can excel at; intrigue and power. Before you scoff at the Stark intrigue arsenal you need to do a search for reasonably costed characters with the icon and stealth. There are a shocking amount of beaters here plus the tutorable Maester Luwin including:
Catelyn Stark (LoW)
Wildling Bard (CD)
Maester Luwin (FtC)
Bolton Refugee (RoW)
Meera Reed (TftH)
Varys (SaS)
Ser Jorah Mormont (PotS)


Recursion Targets
The best recursion targets offer game changing two-for-one effects. House Umber Berserkers (BoRF) are beefy character killers and Northern Cavalry Flank (SA) for the most part won’t kneel to attack. However, The Viper's Bannermen (PotS) are the true crowning achievement on turn one with the massive card advantage swing avoiding the draw cap. I didn’t put any in this deck but I was sorely tempted to put in two huge intrigue icon non-unique with Starfall Bannermen. As the deck is, we have to scrounge for refugees and the bard for intrigue support after a power challenge win.

Discard Outlets
The Viper’s Bannermen are the only targets in the deck that can not be played from hand. Therefore we need to ditch them to the discard pile in order to get them into play. Wildling Bard (CD) is going to revolutionize recursion decks in Stark and Baratheon. Dumping berserker to give Luwin renown is a strong play. Knight of Harrenhal (TBC) allows you to let intrigue challenges through to your advantage. Ghost of High Heart (WLL) gets overlooked as a draw engine. Her one strength is a concern but she drops Kindly Man targets and draws you a card. The learned crest always keeps opponents guessing whether you are running Outwit (TIoR) as well.

Search and Card Draw
Stark can’t talk about card draw the same as other houses. Search effects can be a boon and bane. On one hand you know exactly what you are getting. Unfortunately you may not need the card you can search up. I feel a balance should be achieved to ensure Kindly Man hits agenda status.

In order to get the main man in play I’m featuring him times three (remember, copies of him after he is an agenda can still be played) plus two old stand bys in Wolf Herald (SB). To add further digging I added two Gates of Winterfell (CtB). On their own they can play out dudes for free. Combined with the heralds you can choose who you put into play. Younger players may not know how good these older cards can be at gaining card advantage.

There are five Stark armies we want to get into play at the moment with the silly high cost of four. Robb Stark (KotS) kneels to use his ability but replaces his strength and gets armies on board that we don’t really care if they die or not. Jeyne Westerling (ASoS) does a good job fetching up her lover and any Riders of the Red Fork (FtC) you may be stacking.

Stark has been blessed with draw in Ser Kyle Condon (APS). Stalwart normally make me toss a character to the unplayable pile but he adds draw. The plan is to kill your own folks until you don’t have to anymore. Parting Blow is a twice blessed card by creating more character control and draw.

Location and Attachment Control
I feel you can’t play Stark without Frozen Solid (LoW). It does so many good things. The sheer power of The Price of War (KotS) in a deck running war crests is also a must. Granted I only have a handful of war crest, but they should be seeing the light of day repeatedly with Kindly Man. You can also tutor up Rider of the Redfork with At the Gates or Jeyne. Nightmares (LoW) makes an appearance here as well to mitigate the relatively small number of location hate I’m running. Attachments on characters shouldn’t be a problem with the amount of killing I’m planning to do.

The Wolfwoods
Adding the pressure of renown from Wildling Bard onto characters you plan on keeping around ala Northern Cavalry Flank shortens up the amount of time your opponent has to react to your plan. A great card to discard is Endless Endurance (LoW). Early it powers through intrigue and power challenges, late game is hands out the renown without depleting your hand. The amount of stealth in the deck should also push though plenty of unopposed power.

To avoid getting your allies swept to the discard pile we need to protect them. Nightmares is an important play here. When facing off against Martell, Lannister, or Targaryen the first move to make is blanking out the Kindly Man during marshalling. I saw a game with a duped ally getting Dissension (QoD) twice in a row.

Parting Blow (PotS) adds an element of character control and card draw. To maximize its effectiveness Carrion Bird and First Snow of Winter are used. We want Stark characters leaving play to double up on Meera’s ability as well.

Stark Kindly Man Recursion

Plots
At the Gates (GotC)
City of Soldiers (TBoBB)
Wildfire Assault (Core)
The First Snow of Winter (ODG)
Breaking and Entering (LotR)
Respect of the Old Gods (LoW)
Retaliation! (ASoSilence)

The Main Event
The Kindly Man (VM) x3
Wolf Herald (SB) x2

Recursion Targets
The Viper's Bannermen (PotS) x3
Northern Cavalry Flank (SA) x3
House Umber Berserkers (BoRF) x2

Discard Effects
Wildling Bard (CD) x3
Knight of Harrenhal (TBC) x2
Ghost of High Heart (WLL) x1

Intrigue Icons
Catelyn Stark (LoW) x1
Meera Reed (TftH) x1
Varys (SaS) x1
Maester Luwin (FtC) x2
Bolton Refugee (RoW) x2

Utility
Robb Stark (KotS) x2
Jeyne Westerling (ASoS) x1
Ser Kyle Condon (APS) x1
Lucas Blackwood (GotC) x1
Riders of the Red Fork (FtC) x1
The Bastard's Elite (RoR) x2
Carrion Bird (ASoS) x2

Locations
Gates of Winterfell (CtB) x2
Great Keep (LoW) x3
Lord Eddard's Chambers (Core) x1
Kingdom of Shadows (KotS) x2
Street of Steel (Core) x1
Street of Sisters (Core) x1
Flea Bottom (TGM) x1

Attachments
Frozen Solid (LoW) x2

Events
Parting Blow (PotS) x3
Nightmares (LoW) x3
The Price of War (KotS) x2
Endless Endurance (LoW) x2