AGOT - MultiPlayer tips

[fatolaf]

In place of this week's card spoiler, we are presenting this article from 2010 A Game of Thrones Melee World Champion, Brett Zeiler. Brett gave us a thrilling play-by-play of the tournament, which we couldn't fit in this space, but for those of you who are interested in a full account, just follow this link.

For those of you looking for tips on how to climb to the top of a tough melee, we present Brett's Top 10 Rules for Being Successful in a Melee. Without any further ado, take it away, Brett!

Brett Zeiler's Top 10 Rules for Being Successful in a Melee

1.) Know how to make friends! I guarantee you will never win a melee game without making at least one deal with another player.

2.) Be OK with taking second place if you have to. It is highly unlikely for anyone to win every one of their tables, so taking second is not a bad thing. Unless you know you can win it is always better to take second than risk getting lower than that (that is, the first round. After that, go for first every time!).

3.) Don't play a deck that is no fun to play against. Any Winter deck will automatically make most of the rest of the table dislike you, and if you are playing a Greyjoy mill deck everyone will hate you when you discard all of their cards.

4.) Go into every game with a clean slate. It doesn't matter how much you do or don't like a player at a table, there is always the chance that you will need them to win the game. Hate whoever you want to before or after, but during a game you need to be able to put those feelings aside.

5.) Be aware of what's going on. You never know when one or two people at the table may know or like each other, and if you don't pick up on it quickly enough you could easily find yourself in a very disadvantageous position.

6.) Play Condemned by the Realm.



I honestly don't know why anyone would not play it, the card is too good. On a similar note all of the friend making (Summoning Season, Building Season or Counting Favors) plots and the Mutual cycle (Blackmail, Cause, and Enemies) are all good in the right deck.

7.) If you choose to run a control deck, know whether you can handle controlling every other player (or at least 2 others). In this way, I see Targaryen as the best control deck in the format as they have enough global burn (Threat from the North, Dragon Pit, and The Hatchling's Feast), while Lannister kneel seems fairly weak and I haven't seen the deck do very well in most melee tournaments.

8.) Realize how important initiative is. The plot phase in melee is one of the most important phases and is also one of the most complex if you win initiative. There is a lot to think about, especially what order you need the players to go in. You have to balance that with the order of having plots go off, and therefore that can have a huge effect on which player you choose to go first.

9.) Realize the importance of titles. Obviously Master of Laws and Crown Regent are the most powerful and best titles to pick and on most turns they will be chosen by the first two players. And while there will obviously be personal circumstances that will make you pick other titles (say you really need the extra gold or influence) there are even more tactical times to chose. You don't know how often someone will bank on challenging you only to find out that he can't since you chose the title that he supports. Or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, you can pull out a win if someone forgets that you oppose them and you win a challenge against that player.

10.) Be aggressive. In a lot of tables I saw someone in a strong position who didn't want to play aggressively enough to win for fear of retaliation from other players. While this is something that you obviously need to balance, you will not win a melee game being passive. If you're the big fish in the pond then act like it. Bully players around, make favorable alliances. You're in the best position, take advantage of it.

[fatolaf]

And here is his actual tournament full report...