Batalla and state of the Meta now

Ciao

has has anyone seen the deck from batalla publish on agotcards? a few notes
1. both wamma and vince involved in the top deck
wamma (stark) vince (bara)
2. wedge deck is quite cool and honestly i had no idea common cause was prized
3. I'm a bit surprised martell came on top given all the aloof and apart decks that circulate - how do u control those bad boys
4. where are the greyjoy? no one plays more bara n/a
5. would love to see the targ na of jef - I guess the structure is similar to mine but 100 times more optimised and better

I think Wedge's deck is superb. As someone said on agotcards it is essentially TLV without the draw back. This has given me something to think about as I have been considering for some time trying out HOD Longship Iron Victory (the original) in an attempt to replicate the success of Greyjoy TLV. It lack's the cast iron guarantee of an extra card in the way Wedge's deck does, but it is as close as you can get in Greyjoy. Perhaps, HOD Thunderer? In any case, it's a build I'm going to experiment with and report back on.

As for Martell, I know Wamma already said this on Facebook, but I think the reason Martell NA is perfectly fine against Aloof and Apart is due to the Venomous Blade. Not only does the blade do work against the low cost curve characters, I think Martell NA can establish a far better all round board presence and using Quentyn will out draw all of the top AaA builds without breaking a sweat.

As for the lack of Greyjoy, it's pretty simple. Greyjoy is for real men.

I've set up a rough build for Greyjoy HoD Thunderer, betting on Fishmonger's square en the usual GJ stuff to draw. I still struggle to chose which theme to add in. Basically any would do, I guess it's more of a meta-call. Maybe we should discuss it in the Greyjoy part of the forum?

Certainly. I will throw a build together and post it later today.

Firstly thank you
Secondly Jef's deck has now been posted http://www.agotcards.org/deck/v/70490
Thirdly i plan to look at your thunderer deck when i get a chance

The meta is in a really great and diverse place right now. Which is a shame considering we are unsure yet what ramifications 2.0 will bring to the state of the game and its player-base.

I think we can expect a few things moving forward.

Doran's Solar will have a big impact on the game, either from HoD or out of NA as an extra draw tool so there isn't so much reliance on Quentyn. Blades is also in a great place right now so I think if I had to name the house to beat, it's Martel. But how do we beat it?

I really like the concept of the Thundered allowing Greyjoy to get relatively consistent draw without having to overburden the deck with it. Add the winter module and the deck is very strong and can also then add an effective choke sub-module to stop the high economy decks out there and really give decks like AaA and Lanni across the board a hard time.

Stark is also in a good place right now, again primarily due to a lot of the Tully synergy that gives them access to more reliable draw. The kill effects in Stark are also even better right now because there's so many great targets, prized or otherwise that need to be dealt with my targeted assassination.

But what all of those decks need is often to go to the long game, so is there anything out there that can beat them before they have chance to establish control and board presence? Bara kind of died a death after the restrictions if the results from Batalla are anything to go by. But I think there's a deck there. Rowan and I have been looking at a build focusing on prized since last August, with cards like Robert from ADM, Knight of the North, Seasoned Smuggler and economy Renly. The deck got a massive boost recently (we feel), by turning it into a HoD from Renly's Pavillion. That extra power per round can really help you rush to victory. I was pusing power challenges through with it for 5, 6 or 7 power s turn last night and with all the ways to ensure they get power on their house card by using prized effects to your advantage, it feels in a good place.

Lots to test before Dockside, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

And Vince, this doesn't mean you win.

"Bara died a death if the results of Batalla are anything to go by"???? I hate it when a house can only manage to be the second best deck in the room... You have to be seriously shit as a a house to have your best finish at second...

I'm trying to get my hands on the standings. Laplante is obviously an amazing player, and I don't know if him making the top 2 necessarily means Baratheon is the second best house. The larger stats should bear that out.