Fools in the Sun
Martell Mummers
Boy I really missed the boat with this one didn’t I? The unparalleled safety offered by Someone Always Tells was a dream come true for fools decks, and I did have the chance to play with it some back last year before it was podded away, I remember beating even such dreaded foes as Martell Hollow Hill because they simply could not use any reset plots on me, ever. Alas, those days of peace and prosperity are now long behind us.
Again, in some ways this is an opportunity, as now it means I have the chance to try and construct Martell Mummers decks post-nerf. The direction for the big guys deck seems clear enough, as the Martell big characters with keywords lend themselves naturally to a used-plot-count theme, and bestow support complements this via Ricasso. I briefly tried a shadows version but I think Martell shadows would do better out of a different agenda and does not pair well with fools, aside from being able to use Penny.
With the above in mind the deck pretty much builds itself.
House Martell A Mummer's Farce Plots 1x At Prince Doran's Behest (Sands of Dorne) 1x Close Call (True Steel) 2x Loan from the Iron Bank (Dragons of the East) 1x Summer Harvest (Called to Arms) 1x The King in the North (Redesigns) 1x Varys's Riddle (Across the Seven Kingdoms) Characters 1x Anders Yronwood (Hear My Words) 2x Areo Hotah (Sands of Dorne) 2x Arianne Martell (Journey to Oldtown) 3x Begging Brother (Oberyn's Revenge) 1x Benjicot (As High as Honor) 1x Dagos Manwoody (The Blackwater) 3x Doran Martell (Core Set) 1x Edric Dayne (Core Set) 3x Highgarden Jester (The Blackwater) 1x Jinglebell (Hear My Words) 1x Mellario of Norvos (Forgotten Heroes) 1x Myrcella Baratheon (Ghosts of Harrenhal) 3x Patchface (The Brotherhood Without Banners) 1x Quentyn Martell (Sands of Dorne) 2x Ricasso (All Men Are Fools) 3x Ser Dontos Hollard (House of Thorns) 3x Shagwell (Hear My Words) 1x Trystane Martell (Lions of Casterly Rock) 3x Vargo Hoat (Forgotten Heroes) Locations 1x Gates of the Moon (Journey to Oldtown) 2x Great Hall (Redesigns) 1x Gulltown (Jade Sea) 3x River Gate (At the Gates) 2x The Iron Bank (Redesigns) 3x The Roseroad (Core Set) Attachment 3x Bodyguard (Core Set) Events 2x Doran's Game (Redesigns) 3x In Doran's Name (The Road to Winterfell) 2x The Prince's Plan (All Men Are Fools) 2x Unbridled Generosity (The Brotherhood Without Banners)
Every single character here fits one or more of the themes: bestow, lord/lady, used plot cards, fools. There is of course room to adjust as one sees fit, I’ve just squeezed all my personal favorites from within those silos. Core set Arianne for example would probably be just as viable as the bigger one. I realize in hindsight that the economy might be overkill with the inclusion of In Doran’s Name, but in practice I don’t recall ever thinking “wow I sure wish I didn’t have so much gold,” so maybe not.
Once again, the non-character cards have plenty of room for adjustment depending on personal preferences. I think it’s hard to go wrong with The Prince’s Plan and Doran’s Game, and you probably want Unbridled Generosity since one of the main points is to possibly use Vargo Hoat and Shagwell, but other than that there is wiggle room for things like Dawn or just whatever random stuff tickles your fancy. A Pinch of Powder, for example, would fit just fine, and at that point you maybe add Penny and Braavos. But personally I didn’t want to put Pinch of Powder in every single deck (only like, half of them).
Gulltown is a nice location for this deck but unfortunately that’s podded with At the Gates. Since we are going to Behest anyways, we will use Varys’s Riddle. This allows you to cheese an opposing At the Gates by copying it and putting Gulltown into play. Although if you wanted more consistency and less meme factor, you could just use At the Gates over Riddle and not use Gulltown. Summer Harvest is another given with Behest, Loans and Close Call are obligatory, and then I used The King in the North in my jank spot.
Although there are some decently powerful things in the deck disabled by King in the North, a lot of the deck runs based on passive text like Shagwell and/or events. The locations are pure economy, I also tried to maximize gold income bonuses on the economy locations (as opposed to using Dornish Fiefdom or Kingsroad) to account for this plot. In general I found that it definitely hurt the opponent more than me. You are well-equipped to make a much bigger board than many other decks, so if you just do that and then turn off all the “tricks,” you will often have advantage for that turn.
Just be careful not to flip it into Valar Morghulis when you need to use a Bodyguard!
1. Win vs Tyrell Lord of the Crossing: Tyrell Crossing is scary so I was happy to actually beat it. It was a deck of nearly all knights which only played tempo plots and clearly didn’t have any resets. This allowed me to overpower it by flooding with characters mega-buffed by Doran and Ricasso. If he had Valar Dohaeris he might could have won because Green-Apple Knight is a card.
2. Win vs Greyjoy Kings of Winter: This seemed to be a House Harlaw no-reserve deck. I played an early Loan to dump my hand and discarded The Prince’s Plan for reserve. The opponent conceded without playing any resets, not even Valar Dohaeris, which I think you’re probably supposed to have in that deck?
3. Win vs Tyrell Knights of the Realm: The opponent opened with Summer Harvest then made the mistake of choosing me as first player. Oops. He played well in spite of this and even managed to get to 14 power, using a strategy of collecting renown on big characters and not caring about much else. Unfortunately he was stopped at 14 when I used Arianne to send Knight of Flowers with 6 power back to hand. Arianne was devastating in general in this game, attacking before bouncing a character in every round except the King in the North I think.
4. Win vs Greyjoy Sea of Blood: This deck went for pure tempo with high initiative plots and Raiding Longship. I think his plots were Vanquish the Unbelievers, You Win or You Derp, Rise of the Kraken, and maybe something else. But I know I saw those three. I used The Prince’s Plan to get an Areo trigger and defend military on one turn, and generally prevented any agenda triggers. When I played The King in the North to disable the Raiding Longships he conceded.
5. Win vs Tyrell Battle of the Trident: This was an Armies deck with the 7 cost Randyll, who he had out on turn one, along with plenty of armies during the game. However there didn’t seem to be a whole lot going on besides having those decent sized characters that he can stand a couple times. We both had large boards with no resets and traded back and forth for a while until I eventually did Doran’s Game for 5 power and used Vargo to get some renown on fools.
6. Lose vs Greyjoy Prince That Was Promised: This was a Drowned God deck with Prince Tarle. I’m not sure if it’s winnable… it’s definitely a one-sided exercise in solitaire. Maybe if you get really lucky and start out far ahead in tempo, somehow. In this game he started with two Priest of the Drowned God so there was no chance of contesting power challenges and it’s a no go from there.
7. Lose vs Targaryen Free Companies: This was the closest game I can remember in a very long time. The opponent used many resets while placing Milk on key characters. On the final turn I forgot that he could use his agenda to give Golden Company renown, which allowed him to sneak to 15 during his challenges (he was first player). If I’d remembered that and stopped him at 14 I think I would’ve won during my challenges on the same turn.
8. Lose vs Martell Alliance Dragon Qohor: This was pilot error 100%. Dunno how it would’ve turned out otherwise, but I played so badly it’s not even funny in this game.
9. Win vs Baratheon Banner of the Lion: This deck went and used The Prince Who Came Too Late to get the 7 cost Robert that keeps things kneeling. I responded by playing a Begging Brother with tons of gold and he conceded. Okay.
10. Win vs Baratheon House of the Red Door Black Cells: A typical mass kneeling deck. I didn’t draw any Begging Brother but the opponent also didn’t draw any Selyse. I was able to have enough characters that he couldn’t kneel them all and got ahead 8-1 or 8-2, something like that. I won by jumping to 15 with Doran’s Game + 2 renowns on fools, so that was a nice way to close out the run.
In hindsight I think The Iron Bank Will Have Its Due may have been a better faction kneel to use instead of In Doran’s Name, as I definitely found myself with plenty of use for challenges phase gold between Areo Hotah and The Prince’s Plan in particular, and TIBWHID can pull double duty as Milk removal which is otherwise a potentially devastating card. Playing In Doran’s Name for 7 gold or something ridiculous like that is still really good though.
Deck number two.
Martell fits a “weenies” build naturally—Martell has a long history as a “lame”/”control” faction, lending itself naturally to the use of lower cost characters who, while efficient for their cost, are not centerpieces around whom the gameplan is built in the same way as say, Greyjoy. Rather, Martell is known for isolating and breaking down such characters from other factions until they are rendered relatively helpless. As low-cost characters that pull double duty as draw engines, the fools fit right into this gameplan.
One card that caught my eye for Martell Mummers was The Bloodroyal. I’m pretty sure this card never gets played, except maybe in Qohor or something, but check it out. Stealth and renown, you just have to be second player. So to combine this with Shagwell, we need two ingredients: High initiative to make sure we go second, and some bestow support. Both are plenty doable here. Elia Sand is another source of stealth who is especially effective when going second. When considering that many of her bastard sisters are also small uniques, this gives reason to use a Sand Snake theme as well.
House Martell A Mummer's Farce Plots 1x At the Palace of Sorrows (Redesigns) 1x Forgotten Plans (True Steel) 2x Retaliation (Watchers on the Wall) 1x Valar Dohaeris (The Archmaester's Key) 1x Varys's Riddle (Across the Seven Kingdoms) 1x You Win Or You Die (Someone Always Tells) Characters 3x Begging Brother (Oberyn's Revenge) 3x Benjicot (As High as Honor) 2x Desert Raider (Redesigns) 1x Dorea Sand (The Archmaester's Key) 1x Edric Dayne (Core Set) 1x Elia Sand (There Is My Claim) 3x Highgarden Jester (The Blackwater) 3x Jinglebell (Hear My Words) 1x Loreza Sand (Sands of Dorne) 1x Maester Caleotte (Core Set) 1x Nymeria Sand (The Road to Winterfell) 1x Obella Sand (Sands of Dorne) 3x Patchface (The Brotherhood Without Banners) 3x Shagwell (Hear My Words) 1x Spotted Sylva (Dragons of the East) 1x The Fowler Twins (City of Secrets) 1x The Tattered Prince (Forgotten Heroes) 1x Trystane Martell (Bran the Builder) 1x Tyene Sand (Sands of Dorne) Locations 3x Dornish Fiefdom (The Fall of Astapor) 1x Gates of the Moon (Journey to Oldtown) 2x Ghaston Grey (Core Set) 1x Gulltown (Jade Sea) 2x Starfall (Sands of Dorne) 2x The Iron Bank (Redesigns) 3x The Roseroad (Core Set) Attachments 2x Attainted (The King's Peace) 2x Condemned (No Middle Ground) 2x Imprisoned (True Steel) 1x The Bloodroyal (Kings of the Isles) Events 2x "Florian and Jonquil" (Bran the Builder) 3x Tears of Lys (Core Set) 2x Unbridled Generosity (The Brotherhood Without Banners)
This deck is designed to punish big characters with icon removal and benefit from going second. Double Retaliation and You Win or Derp will make opponents wary of declaring challenges, tempting them to pass so they can defend from 2 claim. Ghaston Grey and Desert Raider also discourage attacks. When it comes around to your turn, you can use icon removal and stealth to push through your attacks. Tears of Lys is already a strong card but becomes extra scary when your deck can reliably remove intrigue icons.
Most of the characters are fools or small Sand Snakes. The one big sister is Nymeria Sand who is very useful as always. 5 cost Obara would also fit well if you want to add her. Edric Dayne provides stealth while The Tattered Prince fits with bestow and Shagwell. There are a few more assorted small uniques that could be switched out for whatever one prefers, although I would recommend keeping Trystane Martell, who is quite handy when icon removal is prevalent. Dornish Spies would be useful but ultimately I cut them because they can end up under fools and then can’t be ambushed.
Gulltown is included to meme on At the Gates, since we want high initiative, we have Varys’s Riddle as an opening plot. Valar Dohaeris is a given. I have Forgotten Plans to try and stop First Snow once again. I do not have as many 3x copies of uniques since there is no Close Call, but Close Call is always an option if you prefer it. The meme plot for this deck is At the Palace of Sorrows, which I think fits very nicely. In addition to the natural inclination of a weenies roster leading to a larger board, the combination with icon removal makes it very likely you will have more bodies to throw around than the opponent.
I think the deck should have 2-3 Summer Sea Ports in it, as I forgot about the trick of actually using those when you are running Win or Derp. But I didn’t think about this until later.
1. Win vs Lannister Conclave: This deck played the Prince Who Came Too Late to fetch 7 cost Cersei, then conceded when I put Attainted and Condemned on her.
2. Win vs Baratheon The Prince That Was Promised: Another Prince Who Came Too Late opener, this time searching for Robert. Plot 2 he did Loan From the Iron Bank and played several bigs but had no locations. Plot 3 I did Dohaeris and put the icon attachments on Robert for a concede.
3. Win vs Tyrell Lord of the Crossing: Ghaston Grey and military claim served to reduce the opponent’s board while my own got fairly wide. After being hit with 2 claim military from Retaliation the opponent was facing a full board wipe as they had no good claim soak.
4. Win vs Stark Banner of the Watch: This appeared to be a false banner with the core set Wall. I don’t think I saw any loyal Stark cards. Turn one he had Maester Aemon and Qhorin Halfhand, so I did military first so that Aemon would kneel, then did intrigue to put Tears of Lys on Qhorin. This put me ahead on board and I was pursuing a board pressure strategy when Edric Dayne and Unbridled Generosity were drawn. This gave me 4-5 stealth characters so it was over.
5. Lose vs Targaryen Many-Faced God: Yep. I think Targ is generally unbeatable for these “weenie” decks, assuming it’s the usual burny Targ.
6. Win vs Baratheon Fealty: This was a smugglers deck. Smugglers just… aren’t good. This guy got Salladhor Saan’s Lyseni, Valyrian’s Crew, Khorane Sathmantes, Salladhor Saan, the whole nine yards. I don’t know, maybe if it’s combined with something else. On its own, it provides nice location control, but not much else.
7. Win vs Targaryen Banner of the Rose: This deck was like, all knights with Khal Drogo. He did have two Green-Apples and Khal Drogo for one turn, but Drogo was promptly removed by Tears of Lys. I had Desert Raider and plenty of dupes to ignore military claim. For some reason the opponent never had a single location in the entire game, which I guess is some really terrible draw luck, so this one gets an asterisk by it for that.
8. Lose vs Lannister Many-Faced God: A Clansman deck. I died on like turn 2 when I was board cleared by 3 military claim + follow up March to the Wall. I managed to stop First Snow of Winter in this game with Forgotten Plans, so that’s a moral victory, but I was still super dead after the initial board clear.
9. Win vs Tyrell Knights of the Realm: Another mystery concede. The opponent had a much larger board than me with two Highgarden Courtiers and a Green-Apple Knight. He had just Confiscated my Attainted and I didn’t have any other attachments. Genuinely don’t know why he conceded, maybe something came up and he had to run.
10. Win vs Night’s Watch Aloof and Apart: The opponent had Qhorin Halfhand, Great Ranging, Jon Snow, and Old Bear Mormont all out together at one point but I remained far ahead the whole game. I think because he did not have any resets, a Wildfire Assault or Mad King’s Command would have helped him a ton. But without those I had far too many cards and the big characters were easily controlled by icon removal or Fowler Twins or whatever. After I did Valar Dohaeris it was over.
This deck did very well. 8-2, with the two losses being one out-aggroed by Clansmen, and the other being burn. Burn is probably auto-lose so we can write that one off. Either way it’s a good result overall. I think my main takeaway here is that those non-terminal icon removal attachments are still super nasty. They always have been and every so often I’ll make a deck with them and think to myself, wow, why aren’t these being spammed all the time?