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Top Tournament Lists – ASOIAF

Carly C

Quite a few large tournaments have taken place recently and I was curious which factions were winning in the tournaments with a substantial attendance. There are some consistencies and then some surprising standouts. This article will break down some of these lists and also discuss the future of the competitive scene for the remainder of 2022. 

Sunday Slaughter Nationals Qualifier (24 Players) – Winner: Targaryens – Khal Drogo

datalink7’s List 1: 

Daario Naharis – Stormcrow Captain (0)

Unsullied Officer (3)

List 2: 

Khal Drogo – The Great Khal (0)

Fortune Seeker (1)

Unsullied Officer (3)

I for one am sick of seeing this Khal so dominant in tournaments, thankfully there is a list here that isn’t the Khal but it was never used over the course of the day. I think it’s very sad to see the other Commanders shine due to them being overshadowed by this tyrannical brute. When you scrutinise the list it is following similar patterns of what made Othell so obnoxious; multiple Attacks in one Round. Whether it’s the Vets in built shoot and attack combo now backed up in the list by Motivated by Coin or its Drogo taking advantage of Overrun with the Flayed Men. But is this a problem?

CMON has said many times when bringing an update to the game that the unit or character did not perform like they envisioned them in the first place. Khal Drogo isn’t broken or overpowered, he is just forcing the rest of the faction to be overshadowed, reducing their playtime. I could see CMON reworking Drogo not to reduce his prowess but to allow the rest of the faction to stand up in comparison to a point where he isn’t an auto pick for Targaryen players. 

War for the Wall #3 (21 Players) – Winner: Night’s Watch – Jon Snow 

Hylo’s List 1 and 2: 

Jon Snow – 998th Lord Commander (0)

Watch Captain (3)

Watch Captain (3)

Jon Snow. How poetic that after Othell is reduced form his position of top dog that the white wolf would take his place. Jon has similar issues that Othell and Khal Drogo have. Othell was able to make the Crossbowmen very effective as they would do multiple damage over a short period, as discussed this is the same for Drogo, and it is the same for Jon or any Commander who pairs with the Ranger Hunters. The Night’s Watch Deck is set up so you could have unlimited buffs attached to a unit and Jon gives a free charge buff which again gives more damage from attacks in a short period of time. 

Othell, Jon and Khal. All are performing well because of one tactic; how many attacks can you fit in a round. Do we need to nerf like the devastation to Othell? Sure this could work, but it seems like the skirmisher design or anything that can increase the amount of attacks in a round needs to be reworked. The reduction in damage all units can do has resulted in these specific examples being at the top of the food chain. A rework is needed, not to nerf the Commander or units, but putting these specific units and characters in a position where they aren’t an auto include due to them steamrolling lists with too many actions. 

Rant aside, it’s not specifically Jon that’s the issue here, nor is it the Tactics Deck. Although I do think there should be a rework to Night’s Watch so that they feel like the elite army they were originally made for, I also think the attach vow limit should be brought back otherwise the Watch Captain death star is going to continue to be selected. 

Ostatni turniej w warbandzie (16 Players) – Winner: Starks – Greatjon Umber 

Joakru’s List 1: 

Greatjon Umber – Lord of Last Hearth (0)

Rickon Stark – Prince of Winterfell (1)

Osha – Spearwife Guardian (0)

List 2:

Greatjon Umber – Lord of Last Hearth (0)

The Greatjon has been frequently appearing at the top of high performing Stark lists for a while now. The typical combo of the berserkers with the Mormont Veteran aren’t present here, however the Cavaliers make their way into both lists. Osha, Rickon and Shaggydog are also popular choices across most lists and so is Sansa and Arya. With the Greatjon lists it is less specific units or combinations and more to do with him as a Commander. Free Wounds to the enemy on two cards, and the third card is a free attack albeit it triggers when a unit is destroyed. Do you see the similarities? Again the high performed is doing additional damage than normal. 

Sansa helps pull these cards back into hand to use again and again. Arya puts the units in position. Catelyn and Lyanna to improve the quality of the attack. Cavaliers do massive damage to a point where anything extra is likely to wipe out the unit they attack. Greataxes, Sworn Swords, She-Bears, Shaggydog, these are all great combat units that with the slight push for more damage become dominant. 

Starks are still spread however. Brynden Mounted is still being taken quite often, likely due to the power of the Tully cavalry. I do believe that we will see Karstarck and Mormont lists start to appear that do compete against Greatjon to a point where I don’t feel like there is a problem with Starks at the moment. Perhaps if there are changes to the typical dominant lists Greatjon might lead the charge, but that is all ifs buts and coconuts. 

Song of Ice and Fire Tournament (13 Players) – Winner: Lannisters – Tyrion Lannister 

Endline’s List 1: 

Tyrion Lannister – Halfman (0)

List 2: 

Tyrion Lannister – Halfman (0)

I am shocked a Lannister list has won an event, let alone a quite large local event. Since my previous article about how Lannisters needs a rules sprucing, I do think they are better in some areas than what I made out. After my experience with Tywin at the Charity Event last weekend proved to me with the right list any Lannister Commander can be very strong. Tyrion is the top performing Commander for the Lannisters so it’s no doubt if one list was to win it would be with the Halfman. 

Although he doesn’t have activation manipulation as potent as the other Commanders mentioned, he has a little with the Cunning Ploy card and quite a dominant presence with the Tactics Board. Double Crossbowmen feels like filth, but with their recent buff I can see why this might be a strong list. Both lists have strong cavalry support, triple NCU and a good amount of activations. It’s a rounded list that I can’t immediately see what made it so good at this event. I will need to play or talk to people who use Tyrion often to understand why he is performing so well. 

To conclude, any faction, unit, Commander or anything that can give extra damage or actions perform the best out of the entire game. Those with more access to better quality units or many actions will perform better. A rework is needed not to nerf this factor (although this would solve it) but to give reason to take a list that doesn’t revolve around this aspect and still stand up to these dominant Commanders and Units.

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