Austere Assembly – Baratheon

Beginning this series (described in detail here: https://www.agot.cards/2019/01/23/austere-assembly-hub-article/) we have House Baratheon.

Bara are in a weird place with regards to a core deck, insofar as most of their more successful decks being those that ‘stick out’ more due to their regular gameplan being weak. Despite this, I’ll be looking at focusing on a more standard Bara build. Despite what cynics might say, it won’t be weak forever as the meta inevitably moves on, so let’s assume the GoodStuff build comes into prominence at some point.

To that end I present to you the Bara Necessities.

Plots:
(None)

Characters:
3x Dragonstone FaithfulDragonstone Faithful House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. Ally. Marshaling Action: Kneel Dragonstone Faithful to reduce the cost of the next character you marshal this phase by 1. Core Set #56
1x Maester CressenMaester Cressen (Core) House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. Maester. Marshaling Action: Kneel Maester Cressen to choose a Condition attachment, and discard it from play. Core Set #46
1x MelisandreMelisandre (Core) House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. Lady. R'hllor. Reaction: After you marshal or play a R’hllor card, choose and kneel a character. (Limit once per round.) Core Set #47 (Core)
1x Moon BoyMoon Boy House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. Fool. Insight.
Forced Reaction: After you lose a challenge in which Moon Boy is participating, discard 1 card at random from your hand. The King's Peace #47
1x Old Bill BoneOld Bill Bone Neutral Character Plot deck limit: 3. Mercenary. Shadow (1).
Reaction: After Old Bill Bone comes out of shadows, kneel each opponent’s faction card. In Daznak's Pit #97
3x Poor FellowsPoor Fellows Neutral Character Plot deck limit: 3. Army. The Seven. No attachments.
Reaction: After you win a challenge in which Poor Fellows is attacking, the losing opponent chooses, either: Poor Fellows gains 1 power, or you draw 1 card. Streets of King's Landing #57
3x Robert BaratheonRobert Baratheon (Core) House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. King. Lord. Intimidate. Renown.
Robert Baratheon gets +1 STR for each other kneeling character in play. Core Set #48
1x Ser Cortnay PenroseSer Cortnay Penrose House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. Knight. Reaction: After you win a challenge in which Ser Cortnay Penrose is participating, stand him. Sands of Dorne #25
1x Ser Davos SeaworthSer Davos Seaworth (Core) House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. Knight. Smuggler. Stealth.
Interrupt: When Ser Davos Seaworth is killed, return him to your hand instead of placing him in your dead pile. Core Set #50
1x Shireen BaratheonShireen Baratheon (Core) House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. Lady. Interrupt: When Shireen Baratheon is killed, choose and kneel a character. Core Set #51

Attachments:
(None)

Locations:
3x Dragonstone PortDragonstone Port House Baratheon Location Plot deck limit: 3. Dragonstone. Limited.
Marshaling Action: Kneel Dragonstone Port to reduce the cost of the next card you marshal this phase by 1. Core Set #59
1x Gates of the MoonGates of the Moon Neutral Location Plot deck limit: 3. Contested. House Arryn. Limited.
Increase the gold value on each opponent’s revealed plot card by 1.
+2 Income. Journey to Oldtown #38
1x The Iron BankThe Iron Bank (TAK) Neutral Location Plot deck limit: 3. Braavos. Bestow (1).
During the marshaling phase, you may spend gold on The Iron Bank as if it were in your gold pool.
Reaction: After you collect income, move X gold from the treasury to The Iron Bank. X is the number of gold on The Iron Bank. The Archmaester's Key #19
1x The Red KeepThe Red Keep (Core) House Baratheon Location Plot deck limit: 3. King's Landing. The Red Keep contributes 2 STR to your side during any challenge in which you control a participating character.
Interrupt: When the challenges phase ends, if you have not lost a challenge this round, kneel The Red Keep to draw 2 cards. Core Set #61

Events:
2x NightmaresNightmares Neutral Event Plot deck limit: 3. Dream. Action: Choose a character or location. Until the end of the phase, treat that card’s printed text box as if it were blank (except for Traits). Calm over Westeros #99

This list is driven by three main things Baratheon lacks: strong draw; strong economy; and strong cheap characters. Not all lists will be so neutral-heavy or so core-heavy, but the Baratheon cardpool is what it is so here we are.

Baratheon have a lot of characters in the 3g-5g range that are, broadly, interchangeable. I’ve included very few of them in this list for that purpose. One deck may want The Bastard of NightsongThe Bastard of Nightsong House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. Bastard. Knight. Reaction: After you win a challenge in which The Bastard of Nightsong is participating, move 1 power from the losing opponent’s faction card to your own. Someone Always Tells #107 ; where another may want R’hllor cards; where another may want Ser Justin MasseySer Justin Massey House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. Knight. While you control a King character, Ser Justin Massey gains renown.
Reaction: After a character gains power, stand it. (Limit once per phase.) The March on Winterfell #27 ; where another may want LittlefingerLittlefinger (Core) Neutral Character Plot deck limit: 3. Ally. Lord. Small Council. Reaction: After you marshal Littlefinger, draw 2 cards.
+1 Income. Core Set #28 ; where another may want any combination of those cards. Therefore, including all of them in the core felt wrong to me.

However, what Baratheon do not have a lot of is good characters in the 2g cost slot. As a result, I’ve had to import more neutral characters into this list than I normally would be comfortable with.

Firstly, the Dragonstone Faithfuls. They may seem obvious, but I won’t be including “3x reducer chud” in every list. However, as previously discussed Baratheon need both the economy and the chuds, so in they go. Following on in the 2 gold cost slot we have Moon Boy, Old Bill Bone, Poor Fellows and Shireen Baratheon. Moon Boy again solves two of the problems, in this case chuds and draw. Old Bill Bone and Poor Fellows are good enough that they can basically be considered for any deck in any faction; however for Baratheon I think they’re must-haves. Baratheon are the only faction in the game that don’t have at least one 2 gold, 2 STR character with 2 icons and a further upside. OK, they have Devan SeaworthDevan Seaworth House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. Companion. Bestow (3).
Reaction: After you win dominance, discard X gold from Devan Seaworth to search your deck for a non-limited location with printed cost X or lower, reveal it, and put it into play (X cannot be 0). Shuffle your deck. Journey to Oldtown #27 , and there are certainly decks where I’d consider running him, but his ability is very situational and therefore not suitable for a core list. To that end, Old Bill Bone can as a base-scenario be a blank 2g 2 STR bicon, but for only one gold more can kneel the opponent’s faction card. The three most-recently released agendas all require a faction kneel to leverage, as do numerous others in the game, making this a very powerful effect. Meanwhile Poor Fellows, like Moon Boy, solve the chud problem and the draw problem. They’re particularly good in Baratheon where you may well include Stormlands FiefdomStormlands Fiefdom House Baratheon Location Plot deck limit: 3. Westeros. Action: Kneel Stormlands Fiefdom to move 1 power from a character or location to its owner’s faction card.
+1 Income. The Shadow City #9 s, making the choice to give them power instead a much tougher one for your opponent.

The controversial one here, arguably, is Shireen Baratheon – indeed, I showed Bara loyalist Adem Kolar this list and he told me I should remove her. For ages this would have been one of the least-controversial, as she is a phenomenal chud, one of those core cards that has stood the test of time; however, recently Baratheon got Shireen Baratheon MoDShireen Baratheon (MoD) House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. Lady. Shadow (3).
Action: During a challenge in which Shireen Baratheon is participating, choose a participating character. That character and Shireen Baratheon do not contribute their STR to the challenge. (Limit once per challenge.) Music of Dragons #67 , and she’s been making serious waves among the Bara loyalists. Ultimately I decided to keep the original in here due mostly to her being cheaper (as well as an easier card to ‘get’ if you are a less experience competitive player), but this is the card I would add the most caveats to – if you are running icon-granting effects, go with the other Shireen; if your deck is predominantly built around the power challenge, go with the other Shireen; if you are running enough economy to support a more expensive card, at least strongly consider the other Shireen. If you are Adem, play the other Shireen.

Moving on up the cost-curve, we have Maester Cressen. He is one of the best characters in the entire game, with several key attachments – WardWard (TS) House Stark Attachment Plot deck limit: 3. Condition. Character with printed cost 4 or lower only. Terminal.
Take control of attached character.
Attached character gains the affiliation. True Steel #102 , Milk of the PoppyMilk of the Poppy Neutral Attachment Plot deck limit: 3. Condition. Terminal.
Treat attached character’s printed text box as if it were blank (except for Traits). Core Set #35 , CravenCraven The Night's Watch Attachment Plot deck limit: 3. Condition. Terminal.
Attached character cannot be declared as an attacker. Called to Arms #26 , Frozen SolidFrozen Solid House Stark Attachment Plot deck limit: 3. Condition. Non-limited location with printed cost 3 or lower only. Terminal.
Treat attached location’s printed text box as if it were blank (except for Traits). Wolves of the North #21 and more – all having the Condition trait. You may well want more than one copy of him, but everyone should be running that first one at least.

Ser Davos Seaworth is one of only two of Bara’s several efficient mid-range characters I deemed mandatory, simply because he fits so many different styles of play. If you’re running a low curve, his stealth is excellent for opening up routes past the opponent’s big characters; if you’re going Knights, he has the trait; if you’re playing a mid-range control list, he will stick around through pretty much all resets; he’s just a complete character. The other, Ser Cortnay Penrose, is less ‘complete’ than Davos, but is just really, really efficient. He helps you win power challenges on attack and defence, something Baratheon wants to do, with no loss of tempo. He also has reasonable stats for his cost and an occasionally-important Knight trait.

Melisandre used to be a 3x centrepiece card, but with kneel currently at (hopefully) its lowest ebb I think decks can afford to branch out further in that regard. However, even if your focus is not kneel, there’s still very little reason not to run a single copy of her – even if you don’t want to run Fiery FollowersFiery Followers House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. R'hllor. Reaction: After the dominance phase begins, stand Fiery Followers. Core Set #54 , Asshai PriestessAsshai Priestess House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. Ally. R'hllor. Reaction: After you marshal Asshai Priestess, choose and kneel a character with STR 2 or lower. For Family Honor #47 et. al., she still triggers off herself and that’s plenty-good value. The only caveat here is that, like Shireen, there is another version of Mel in the game. Personally I think she’s a much tougher include than the other Shireen is, but nonetheless it of course goes without saying that if you’re running Melisandre GtRMelisandre (GtR) House Baratheon Character Plot deck limit: 3. Lady. R'hllor. Insight.
Reaction: After you win dominance, choose an opponent and look at his or her hand. Then, choose and discard 1 card from that hand. If that card is a character, place it in its owner’s dead pile. Guarding the Realm #27 , you’re not running the core version.

Finally for characters we have 3x of Big Bad Bobby B, Robert Baratheon. In a meta where it seems like every faction has gained shiny new powerful characters, Robert Baratheon remains a reason for Bara loyalists to stay calm despite their lack of equivalents themselves. Bob is an absolute powerhouse who can still dominate a table to this day. He will, often by himself, be able to win challenges, kneel out the opponent’s characters to stop them winning challenges, and gain power to get you closer to victory. He’s just about the only “must-answer” character Baratheon have in the entire cardpool, and fully deserves to be 3x in any Bara deck, with the sole exception of a mini-curve that’s running DuelDuel Neutral Plot Income: 4. Initiative: 5. Claim: 1. Reserve: 6. Plot deck limit: 1. War. When Revealed: Choose an opponent. That player chooses 2 non-Army characters, each with printed cost 6 or higher. Then, that player chooses and kneels 1 of those characters. Kill the other (cannot be saved). The Fall of Astapor #60 .

Moving onto locations, and again we have gold and draw. As with the Dragonstone Faithfuls, I won’t always highlight the 3x 0g limited – but with one of the weakest 2g limited econ cards and one of the weakest 2g non-limited econ cards, what choice do Bara really have? Similarly I won’t always recommend Gates of the Moon, and definitely won’t always recommend The Iron Bank, but for Baratheon right now I feel they’re necessary. I personally like to run 3x Iron Bank, but I think even if you don’t want to rely on it you should run at least 1 in my opinion – this is a card some people dislike and some people love, and while I fall somewhere in the middle, the upside is very strong for a deck that predominantly relies on relatively expensive (or at least overpriced) characters and effects..

Lastly we have The Red Keep. There was a point where this was a mandatory 3x card for Bara; however, with more sources of draw (the likes of Blackwater BayBlackwater Bay House Baratheon Location Plot deck limit: 3. Westeros. Reaction: After the challenges phase begins, kneel Blackwater Bay to choose an opponent. Draw 1 card for each kneeling character that player controls. Streets of King's Landing #48 and King at the WallKing at the Wall House Baratheon Attachment Plot deck limit: 3. Title. Unique character only.
Attached character gains the King trait.
Reaction: After you win a challenge in which attached character is participating, draw 1 card for each out-of-faction location you control. Someone Always Tells #108 , amongst others) its importance has dropped off. Despite that, it’s well worth the inclusion at 1x still. It forces your opponent to make a challenge they might otherwise not necessarily want to make; it helps you win power challenges on both attack and defence; and it can draw you cards round after round for no effort on your part.

Baratheon of course have other good locations available to them that you should consider, particularly if you are running a dominance- or kneel-based gameplan. However, as some decks may run one or the other, or both, or neither, they are left out here.

Lastly, events. I’ve gone on record before, and probably will again, that every deck needs to include ways of blanking characters and ways of cancelling events. As a result, my default include in these slots will be 2x Nightmares and 2x The Hand’s Judgement, explaining why they’re left out rather than included. To that end, I’ve left out The Hand’s Judgement here because Baratheon have a few different ways of handling events. Firstly, they have Privileged PositionPrivileged Position House Baratheon Event Plot deck limit: 3. Play only if you have not lost a challenge this round.
Interrupt: When the effects of an opponent’s event or triggered location ability would initiate, cancel those effects. Music of Dragons #68 , a tremendous card that not only cancels events but also location effects, and may well consider this over HJ. However, if the deck is not built to protect the power challenge, PP can get switched off. They also have another option, Seen in FlamesSeen In Flames House Baratheon Event Plot deck limit: 3. R'hllor. Play only if you control a R’hllor character.
Challenges Action: Choose an opponent, and look at his or her hand. Then, choose and discard 1 card from that hand. Core Set #64 , which doesn’t cancel events but can pull them from an opponent’s hand before they ever get the chance to play them. Seen in Flames is an absolutely outstanding card, and the only reason it’s not 3x in this list is that you won’t necessarily include a R’hllor package. However, if you do include a R’hllor package, Seen in Flames isn’t only a 3x, but is probably the reason you’re doing so in the first place, even more than Core Mel is. So while neither Privileged Position nor Seen in Flames are going to consistently go in every single Bara deck, between them they certainly mean Hand’s Judgement won’t either.

So there we have my list of every card I think Baratheon need to run right now, regardless of their deck. Agree, disagree? Have cards you strongly believe should be added to this list or removed from it? Please let me know below – this is obviously a series that will be prone to being hotly debated, and I relish the opportunity to hear the views of the community.