Austere Assembly – Night’s Watch, The

Austere Assembly is back, and it’s time to look at the next faction alphabetically, which is of course Night’s Watch, The. Check here for how the article series works.

The Night’s Watch – not an easy faction to do this for. Many factions have some notable sub-themes with vastly different builds, see for example Drowned God in Greyjoy. What sets NW apart, though, is that there’s no longer a ‘main’ decktype with some deviances from it – Jon Snow MODJon Snow (MoD) The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Bastard. Commander. Lord. While you control a:
– Builder character, Jon Snow gains stealth.
– Ranger character, Jon Snow gains intimidate.
– Steward character, Jon Snow gains insight. Music of Dragons #65 voltron, The Wall TMOWThe Wall (TMoW) The Night's Watch Location Plot deck limit: 3. The North. Each character you control gains the affiliation and loses all other faction affiliations.
Action: Kneel The Wall to choose an opponent. Put an eligible character of that player’s choice from his or her discard pile into play under your control. The March on Winterfell #26 -driven recruitment decks, The WallThe Wall (Core) The Night's Watch Location Plot deck limit: 3. Stronghold. The North. Each character you control gets +1 STR.
Forced Reaction: After you lose an unopposed challenge, kneel The Wall.
Interrupt: When the challenges phase ends, kneel The Wall to gain 2 power for your faction. Core Set #137 -driven defence decks (be they Stewards, Builders or all-round) and Ranger-rush all deserve equal consideration, and have very different sets of cards within them. If I were to do a list for all of those decktypes at once, it would probably look something like this:

Plots:
(None)

Characters:
2x Messenger RavenMessenger Raven The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Raven. No attachments.
Dominance Action: Return Messenger Raven to your hand to draw 1 card. Core Set #130
1x Three-Finger HobbThree-Finger Hobb (IDP) The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Steward. No attachments except Weapon.
Reaction: After you check reserve, if your hand size is lower than your reserve value, draw 2 cards. In Daznak's Pit #85

Attachments:
(None)

Locations:
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
3x Underground VaultUnderground Vault The Night's Watch Location Plot deck limit: 3. The North. Limited.
Marshaling Action: Kneel Underground Vault to gain 1 gold. (2 gold instead if the gold value on an opponent’s revealed plot card is 5 or higher.) The Fall of Astapor #46

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

Now “draw, economy and Nightmares” might be accurate, but it’s not an exciting article, so to handle this, I’m going to produce two completely separate lists – one for defence, and one for recruitment. As mentioned above, these are not the only two ways of playing Night’s Watch by any means, but if I create a further one for Ranger rush, a further one for full-on choke, a further one for Jon Snow voltron, and so on, this article will never end. As those decks broadly build themselves more and these two decks are the primary archetypes for the faction, they’re what I will focus on building – and, while I’m on the “B” word, we’re not going to think about Builders here either, because that list is so radically different from even a standard defence deck. With that out of the way, onto the lists – first defence, then recruitment. Cards gather, and now this deck begins:

DEFENCE

Plots:
(None)

Characters:
1x Benjen StarkBenjen Stark The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Ranger. Each Ranger character you control cannot be bypassed by stealth.
Interrupt: When Benjen Stark is killed, gain 2 power for your faction. Then, shuffle him back into your deck instead of placing him in your dead pile. Core Set #122
2x Maester AemonMaester Aemon (Core) The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Maester. Steward. No attachments.
Interrupt: When a character would be killed, kneel Master Aemon to save it. Core Set #125
2x Messenger RavenMessenger Raven The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Raven. No attachments.
Dominance Action: Return Messenger Raven to your hand to draw 1 card. Core Set #130
3x Three-Finger HobbThree-Finger Hobb (IDP) The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Steward. No attachments except Weapon.
Reaction: After you check reserve, if your hand size is lower than your reserve value, draw 2 cards. In Daznak's Pit #85

Attachments:
2x CravenCraven The Night's Watch Attachment Plot deck limit: 3. Condition. Terminal.
Attached character cannot be declared as an attacker. Called to Arms #26
2x 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

Locations:
1x Castle BlackCastle Black (Core) The Night's Watch Location Plot deck limit: 3. The North. Action: Kneel Castle Black to choose and stand a defending character. Until the end of the challenge, that character gets +2 STR. Core Set #136
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 Haunted ForestThe Haunted Forest The Night's Watch Location Plot deck limit: 3. The North. While The Haunted Forest is standing, it contributes 1 STR to your side during any challenge in which you are the defending player.
Forced Reaction: After you lose a challenge, kneel The Haunted Forest. There Is My Claim #66
3x The WallThe Wall (Core) The Night's Watch Location Plot deck limit: 3. Stronghold. The North. Each character you control gets +1 STR.
Forced Reaction: After you lose an unopposed challenge, kneel The Wall.
Interrupt: When the challenges phase ends, kneel The Wall to gain 2 power for your faction. Core Set #137
3x Underground VaultUnderground Vault The Night's Watch Location Plot deck limit: 3. The North. Limited.
Marshaling Action: Kneel Underground Vault to gain 1 gold. (2 gold instead if the gold value on an opponent’s revealed plot card is 5 or higher.) The Fall of Astapor #46

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 looks to cover the basics of NW defence. A lot of the core principles of a defence deck are very fluid, allowing for the deck to be built around Builders, Stewards or just all-rounders without the overall strategy really changing significantly. The only true constant is 3x The Wall. Aside from the basic economy and draw cards, the other choices on this list exist to help fuel that core strategy.

Firstly, as you want to oppose every challenge, you need tools to assist with that. In the locations, we have Castle Black, allowing you to oppose a challenge with no loss of tempo, as well as a single copy of The Haunted Forest, allowing you to not kneel out any characters at all but still prevent a challenge from being unopposed. Many defence decks may want multiple Forests, but deck slots being tight means I’m only considering a single one to be an auto-include – playing zero is almost never the correct call.

Additionally, in the character base we have Benjen Stark. He serves the deck in two key ways – firstly, by stopping Stealth from getting you down; and secondly, by further enabling your passive power gain. Depending on how much power you’re up to he can even single-handedly dissuade the opponent from making the military challenge in the first place.

Of course, the other card that weakens the opponent’s military challenge is Maester Aemon. This is important, as you won’t necessarily be able to win all of the opponents’ challenges on defence, just oppose them. With power challenges being the most important for the decktype to win (as if you lose a power on defence, then that’s a 2 power swing that negates the gain from The Wall), being able to repeatedly ignore the military round after round is a huge boon for the deck. With NW having a couple of very good characters with military icons and low STR (Old Forest HunterOld Forest Hunter The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Ranger. No attachments except Weapon.
Action: Discard 1 card from your hand to gain 1 gold. (Limit once per phase.) Core Set #131 and Shadow Tower MasonShadow Tower Mason The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Builder. No attachments except Weapon.
While you control 3 or more locations and/or attachments, Shadow Tower Mason gains a and an icon. There Is My Claim #65 ), being able to dedicate them to opposing without losing anything of significance is great. It also allows you to potentially run Valar MorghulisValar Morghulis Neutral Plot Income: 2. Reserve: 5. Plot deck limit: 1. Omen. When Revealed: Kill each character. There Is My Claim #80 and still keep board presence.

Lastly, some characters can just be a pain to defend against. Think of the likes of Theon Greyjoy TFOATheon Greyjoy (TFoA) House Greyjoy Character Plot deck limit: 3. Ironborn. Lord. While Theon Greyjoy is attacking alone, each character with a higher STR than his does not contribute its STR to the challenge. The Fall of Astapor #51 , Balon GreyjoyBalon Greyjoy (Core) House Greyjoy Character Plot deck limit: 3. Ironborn. Lord. Renown.
While Balon Greyjoy is attacking, each defending character with a lower STR than his does not contribute its STR to that challenge. Core Set #68 , RattleshirtRattleshirt Neutral Character Plot deck limit: 3. Wildling. While Rattleshirt is attacking alone, each character without attachments cannot be declared as a defender. Watchers on the Wall #39 or even Maester CaleotteMaester Caleotte House Martell Character Plot deck limit: 3. Maester. Reaction: After you lose a challenge in which Maester Caleotte is participating, choose a character. That character loses a challenge icon of your choice until the end of the phase. Core Set #107 . To that end, we’re putting in 2x Craven. As well as handling problem characters, they can also prevent your opponent from getting renown, or on smaller boards can shut the opponent out of a challenge completely, leaving you only two to defend. You will often want the third, but you’ll always at least want the first two.

That handles how to keep yourself from losing unopposed. However, the Wall has two other main issues when it comes to defending it. Firstly, some characters can disrupt you from triggering the thing – think Victarion Greyjoy MODVictarion Greyjoy (MoD) House Greyjoy Character Plot deck limit: 3. Captain. Ironborn. Lord. Challenges Action: Kneel a Warship location to (choose 1):
– choose and kneel a location.
– stand Victarion Greyjoy.
– have Victarion Greyjoy gain renown until the end of the challenge. Music of Dragons #71 , or Maester MurenmureMaester Murenmure House Greyjoy Character Plot deck limit: 3. Maester. Interrupt: When the effects of a triggered location ability would initiate, kneel Maester Murenmure to cancel those effects. Kings of the Isles #10 . And secondly, some characters can gather passive power even quicker than The Wall can – the likes of Mace TyrellMace Tyrell (SAT) House Tyrell Character Plot deck limit: 3. Lord. Small Council. Reaction: After Mace Tyrell is knelt, draw 2 cards. Then, choose a card in your hand and place it on top of your deck.
+1 Income. Someone Always Tells #103 or Drowned DiscipleDrowned Disciple (AMAF) House Greyjoy Character Plot deck limit: 3. Drowned God. Reaction: After a character enters play from your dead pile, choose a Drowned God character and have it gain 1 power. (Limit twice per phase.) All Men Are Fools #11 . To deal with all these problems at once, we have 2x Milk of the Poppy and 2x Nightmares. Milk is a long-term solution, and Nightmares can catch an opponent off-guard to allow you to leverage an advantage they weren’t expecting.

Finally, gold and draw. These are quite self-explanatory, really. Underground Vault is one of the best economy locations in the game, and Gates of the Moon only makes it even better and more reliable. As a rule with NW defence, once your board is established you don’t really mind what your opponent does, so the +1 for them +2 for you deal works perfectly. For draw, 2x Messenger Raven are easy adds. Being 1 gold characters they’re great for setup, loyal means you can potentially use them with FealtyFealty Neutral Agenda Plot deck limit: 1. You cannot include more than 15 neutral cards in your deck.
Action: Kneel your faction card to reduce the cost of the next loyal card you marshal or play this phase by 1. Core Set #27 , or Breaking TiesBreaking Ties (SoD) Neutral Plot Income: 4. Initiative: 7. Claim: 1. Reserve: 4. Plot deck limit: 1. House Frey. Scheme. Action: Sacrifice a loyal character to choose a non-loyal character or location and return it to its owner’s hand. (Limit twice per round.) Sands of Dorne #50 if that’s your restricted, and they’re reliable draw round after round. The only reason I haven’t assumed 3x is that adding 2 cards to your hand right before checking reserve can be an issue with Three-Finger Hobb, an insanely good draw card. 2 cards a round near-guaranteed (especially if you’re using Old Forest Hunters) for only a 2-gold initial investment, that even let you get over reserve – what’s not to love?

Oh, and no The Hand’s JudgmentThe Hand's Judgment Neutral Event Plot deck limit: 3. Interrupt: When the effects of an opponent’s event would initiate, cancel those effects. X is that event’s printed cost. Core Set #45 because, once you have the lock in, what events are you scared of?

So that’s defence out of the way. Now let’s recruit some folk:

RECRUITMENT

Plots:
2x Marched to the WallMarched to the Wall Neutral Plot Income: 4. Initiative: 8. Claim: 1. Reserve: 5. Plot deck limit: 2. Edict. When Revealed: Each player chooses a character he or she controls (if able), and discards it from play (cannot be saved). Core Set #15

Characters:
1x Janos Slynt TSCJanos Slynt (TSC) The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Ally. Shadow (0).
Forced Reaction: After Janos Slynt comes out of shadows, sacrifice a character. The Shadow City #6
2x Messenger RavenMessenger Raven The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Raven. No attachments.
Dominance Action: Return Messenger Raven to your hand to draw 1 card. Core Set #130
3x Old Forest HunterOld Forest Hunter The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Ranger. No attachments except Weapon.
Action: Discard 1 card from your hand to gain 1 gold. (Limit once per phase.) Core Set #131
3x Recruiter for the WatchRecruiter for the Watch The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Wandering Crow. You may choose not to stand Recruiter for the Watch during the standing phase.
Marshaling Action: Kneel Recruiter for the Watch to choose a character with printed cost 2 or lower. Take control of that character until Recruiter for the Watch stands or leaves play. The Fall of Astapor #45
3x Three-Finger HobbThree-Finger Hobb (IDP) The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Steward. No attachments except Weapon.
Reaction: After you check reserve, if your hand size is lower than your reserve value, draw 2 cards. In Daznak's Pit #85
1x YorenYoren (Core) The Night's Watch Character Plot deck limit: 3. Wandering Crow. Reaction: After you marshal Yoren, choose a character with printed cost 3 or lower in an opponent’s discard pile, and put it into play under your control. Core Set #129

Attachments:
(None)

Locations:
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 HardhomeHardhome The Night's Watch Location Plot deck limit: 3. The North. Shadow (2).
Dominance Action: Kneel and sacrifice Hardhome to choose an opponent. That player sacrifices a standing character. In Daznak's Pit #86
2x Isle of RavensIsle of Ravens Neutral Location Plot deck limit: 3. Oldtown. Action: Kneel Isle of Ravens to choose a card in any player’s discard pile, and shuffle it into its owner’s deck. There Is My Claim #78
2x QueenscrownQueenscrown The Night's Watch Location Plot deck limit: 3. The North. Action: Kneel Queenscrown to reveal the top 3 cards of an opponent’s deck. Choose up to 1 character revealed this way and place it in that player’s discard pile. Place the other cards on the bottom of that player’s deck in any order. Watchers on the Wall #19
3x The Wall TMOWThe Wall (TMoW) The Night's Watch Location Plot deck limit: 3. The North. Each character you control gains the affiliation and loses all other faction affiliations.
Action: Kneel The Wall to choose an opponent. Put an eligible character of that player’s choice from his or her discard pile into play under your control. The March on Winterfell #26
3x Underground VaultUnderground Vault The Night's Watch Location Plot deck limit: 3. The North. Limited.
Marshaling Action: Kneel Underground Vault to gain 1 gold. (2 gold instead if the gold value on an opponent’s revealed plot card is 5 or higher.) The Fall of Astapor #46

Events:
1x Guarding the RealmGuarding the Realm The Night's Watch Event Plot deck limit: 3. Marshaling Action: Choose a character with printed cost 3 or lower in an opponent’s discard pile, and put it into play under your control.
Reaction: After you win a challenge as the defending player, pay 1 gold to return Guarding the Realm from your discard pile to your hand. Guarding the Realm #26
3x Mutiny at Craster’s KeepMutiny At Craster's Keep The Night's Watch Event Plot deck limit: 3. Dominance Action: Choose a character with the highest printed cost among characters you control. Sacrifice that character to choose a character an opponent controls and discard it from play. Oberyn's Revenge #86
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 was quite hard to nail down, between the more attritional versions, the wolf banners and the full-on recruiting versions, but hopefully this is a fair representation. It is worth noting that this list doesn’t include a restricted, as depending on your build, you may go with Flea BottomFlea Bottom (OR) Neutral Location Plot deck limit: 3. King's Landing. Challenges Action: Pay 1 gold and kneel Flea Bottom to put a character with printed cost 3 or lower into play from your discard pile. At the end of the phase, if that card is still in play, place it on the bottom of your deck. Oberyn's Revenge #98 , Breaking TiesBreaking Ties (SoD) Neutral Plot Income: 4. Initiative: 7. Claim: 1. Reserve: 4. Plot deck limit: 1. House Frey. Scheme. Action: Sacrifice a loyal character to choose a non-loyal character or location and return it to its owner’s hand. (Limit twice per round.) Sands of Dorne #50 or (if your agenda is Banner of the WolfBanner of the Wolf Neutral Agenda Plot deck limit: 1. Banner. You may include non-loyal cards in your deck.
You must include at least 12 cards in your deck. Core Set #203 ) 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 .

One thing all these different decks have in common is that the plot deck starts with 2x Marched to the Wall. It’s pretty much tailor-made for this decktype, and is mandatory.

In the character base, we have the same draw module as before. This time added to that though we have a Janos – very efficient, especially when it’s your opponent’s characters that are being sacrificed – Old Forest Hunter to help add economy and set up Hobb triggers (which is often included in defence but more necessary here due to the often lower gold on the plots you select), and our key recruitment characters, Recruiter for the Watch and Yoren. These help make up a core of your deck’s strategy and should never be overlooked.

In the location base, we have the same economy module as we did previously. We also have 3x The Wall. This Wall, however, is very different. Despite being 3x, it is far, far less important to the overall strategy than the Core Wall is to defence. The defensive decks wouldn’t exist without the Core Wall; attrition/recruitment decks existed and worked well before, and I’ve even heard talk lately of cutting the Wall from this list, as it’s not necessary to win and it can backfire heavily against Greyjoy. For someone unsure though, I would definitely start by including it, and only cut it if you feel confident in doing so. To go with this Wall, we have 2x Isle of Ravens to shuffle back less desirable targets and try to increase the chance of the opponent having to give you someone juicy, as well as Queenscrown and Hardhome to try to help add those bigger characters to the discard pile.

Of course, the best way of adding top characters to the discard pile is in the events, and it takes the form of Mutiny at Craster’s Keep. More than The Wall, this is the centrepiece of the deck. The ethos of the card is essentially “I’m going with quantity over quality”, so the best character you sacrifice is going to be far smaller a loss for you than the opponent’s character you take in place. It also has value if the opponent has a duped character, as you can use it to pick off their smaller accompanying character and then March that big to the wall. Or you can use The Bloody FluxThe Bloody Flux Neutral Plot Income: 4. Initiative: 8. Claim: 1. Reserve: 6. Plot deck limit: 2. Omen. Characters cannot be saved. The March on Winterfell #40 or Arya Stark TFMArya Stark (TFM) House Stark Character Plot deck limit: 3. Lady. While Arya Stark is standing, characters cannot be saved. The Faith Militant #81 to make them cannot be saved in the first place. Regardless, this is a nasty, nasty card.

Guarding the Realm will often see more copies, but as Yoren: the event, it should definitely feature at least once. Nightmares is actually quite questionable in this list, especially with the more attrition-heavy builds, which take an attitude of “why blank it when I can just remove it”? However, with no other effects in the deck that can deal with a problem card at any point, I think it’s a worthy include in an initial list, even if you have to cut it for space later.

That concludes the article. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please do post them below. I will (eventually!) get round to responding to them, I promise!