Outlaw Series Great Rail Wars Event Warden Blockade - 2nd Pl

published May 23, 2016 | | |
Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
EW - Pinkerton Outlaw Event, Kansas City First Place 10 9 5
EU Marshal 2016 - EW Blockade Top 8 2 3 2

kollatt 523

this version of blockade was an adjustment made in response to the may card erratas, specifically to hot lead flyin' which lent a great deal of power to the deck. other blockade decks started to find success switching to 3-value cards with the release of turtle's guard, but would ultimately still struggle to close the game out before going to final actions. once upon a time an eagle player could amass hlf's and repeatedly kidnap dudes without much fear, especially with the ability to create a posse of harrowed dudes. slide was still a troubling matchup, and the economy was generally terrible all around. luckily, dropping the broken react made room for another 6 with one good turn... in a matchup against an opposing shooter deck, you can more commonly gain an extra three ghost rock during lowball. versus slide, the resolution turned noon action could be cycled in the search for jobs or the more crucial new addition, allie hensman.

generally the listed starting posse is your go-to, but if you see the original 108 home you'll want to make adjustments. zach, mariel and enapay swap out for marcia, mazatl and lydia. this gives you an essential 7 starting influence, a significant amount of wealth+upkeep, and better dudes to ease your game. marcia will function as your card draw, filling your hand with cantrips and jobs, and utilizing the player's deeds without you having to commit to them before you're ready. the gameplan against the slide opponent is to ace any useless cards ( sun in yer eyes, stakes, mountain lion friend, coachwhip! etc. ), and rapidly drop guards and tusks to get them out of your deck and assist in finding multiple kidnappin's. take care to never lay more deeds than you can defend. the dudes in the deck were picked specifically for their low-cost influence or lack of upkeep so as not to fall behind so quickly should 108 gain the upper hand. with the winning outlaw deck ( and i suspect many others to come ) now running the worldly desires home for slide, rico might have to become an important inclusion so that you don't guess incorrectly with your opening gang.

in a fight, mariel is the queen, sending home barton or any other key shooter. willae mae is a badass and can allow you to take bigger chances when cheating ( though you still have to be cautious of things like coachwhip! or jael's guile ) or just be a solid backup plan should you draw poorly. a nice touch is when she becomes harrowed with turtle's guard and is discarded for her effect rather than aced so that she might return later. the deck is fairly straightforward and very heavily leans on the power of it's initial lineup. mariel, enapay and zach essentially function as one unit, so it's good to be aware should one get separated from the group.

on a side note, tusk's value increase trait should NOT be overlooked. puppets, soul blasts, paralysis marks and shotguns still run rampant, so equip your dudes correctly. it's one of my new favorite cards, and probably the best 4-value goods we've seen so far.

15 comments
May 23, 2016 Doowa

Well done and thanks for the write up. Did you feel the addition of One Good Turn… allows you to start with 3gr? Your starting posse is strong, but could less do? Does the deck need 4 kidnappin? Are those your plan A strategy? Did you miss Mugging to counter Soul blast fx?

Although I agree Tusk is strong I'll recommend at least 1 Faithful Hound if you expect Yangs or LH (which I feel can be a bane of this deck?)

May 23, 2016 kollatt

one good turn fires often enough to make a difference for sure. you don't usually need very much to get going as nothing in the deck is terribly expensive. i do think against a gadget deck that shoots but needs a bit of time to set up, a dude like mazatl can replace enapay to help you keep up with their ghost rock producing ability. mugging isn't really any good here as it's off-value and would cause turtle's guard pulls to miss. tusk does a good enough job of protecting you against soul blast, puppet and the like. although legendary holster is definitely a problematic card for this deck, i wouldn't run hound unless it was very prevalent. fh is quite expensive for this build. the deck needs 4x kidnappin' absolutely. against slide you have to be spamming them and ambush as quickly and often as possible.

May 23, 2016 kollatt

kidnappin' is also powerful with mariel, since ( unlike wendy ) she can use her ability while booted. it essentially forces them to commit with a large group of dudes to protect a key mark ( since if they only oppose with two you can send the supporting teammate home ) and pushes unfavorable fights if you're equipped with sidekicks and spirits.

May 23, 2016 InvertedGuard

I've been trying to build something similar but starting Richard Faulkner over mariel Lewis and Travis Moone over jake. I've been unsure how to proceed after when using Kidnappin after having Richard booted in the square, since he ends up exposed. How do normally platform these situations with your deck? Who do you normally boot? Who do you Kidnap with? I've wondered if Election Day Slaughter could be an effective alternative, so that my booted dudes can join the job too and then run home.

May 23, 2016 crx3800

I played against this one. I made a tactical error moving around when I didn't need to and Mariel had me locked down. I'm not even saying I had a chance to win, but I didn't help myself. Kidnapping is important, when it doesn't get hit by Sight Beyond Sight

May 23, 2016 kollatt

@InvertedGuardi'm not generally not at all afraid to boot mariel down in town square. in a raw, full posse shootout i'm pulling 10 cards and redrawing 2. if things go wrong i can sac willae mae, but with all the turtle's guards, sidekicks and mariel's ability/sun in yer eyes i'm very rarely losing dudes easily in fights ( and if they cheat, i'm creating wolf spirits and coachwhipping the next biggest dude who didn't get sent home ). it's blockade because you're cutting town square off, rather than trying to use it and then escape. the home ensures you keep drawing the good stuff in the meantime.

May 23, 2016 kollatt

and of course, once you're set up you just proceed to defend ts while allie racks up the win :]

May 23, 2016 tbowers13

I thought that I'd read a ruling that states that having the Harrowed keyword doesn't allow you to bypass paying the cost of acing a dude for abilities and discard them instead. If an ability states that you have to ace someone in order to gain an effect you must actually ace them otherwise you haven't paid the cost. Am I misremembering that ruling?

May 23, 2016 twoeyedjack

From the rules on Harrowed:

If a Harrowed dude in play gets aced by a card effect (but not through being aced to cover casualties in a shootout), discard that dude instead of acing them.

From the rules on paying costs:

When you pay the cost of an ability, no player can use a react to prevent or cancel the payment of that cost. Conversely, traits, keywords, and other mandatory effects can still prevent or cancel the payment of such a cost without affecting that ability - should this happen, the cost of the ability is still considered paid.

Harrowed is a keyword, and they can be discarded to pay the cost of acing for card effects.

May 23, 2016 InvertedGuard

@kollatt but what about after a Kidnappin once your other dudes are at home?

May 23, 2016 Doowa

You're running 5 cards off value including Allie, who fails pulls. My thoughts on mugging would be to replace a single kidnappin. Btw Mountain Lion is almost as costly a ol' faithful, so I'll absolutely recommend it, but I'm also played against a lot of gadgets

May 23, 2016 kollatt

@tbowers13i double-checked a while before the event to be certain, as i thought the same thing initially. it's not anything crucial, just a nice bonus. :]

@InvertedGuardsometimes i can catch them off guard afterwards with a nice stakes just rose, but generally you just have to pay attention to the ebb and the flow of the game before you decide what to do. it would not be too hard to then take ts back the following turn.

@Doowasure. i could see lowering one kidnappin' if it felt worth it. i originally had the same thing with an additional allie to ensure she was drawn more often, but found i saw her pretty consistently since the deck draws so many cards. mountain lion is a 2-cost true enough, and it's usually the first non-dude card i discard as a result. the money here is very tight, and going from 1 to 3 gr is huge. but versatility is always nice too, so i say give it a try if it's working better for the respective meta :]

May 23, 2016 InvertedGuard

I see what you mean, but the situation I mean is when you have 1 dude booted in the square from the home ability and you want to Kidnappin afterwards. You have to leave your booted dudes behind in that case, so maybe EDS is better? Or play both mwuhahaha

May 24, 2016 kollatt

well.. to be honest i don't think a lot of people use kidnappin' correctly. it's just as much targeted removal mixed with movement as it is an aggressive card created to prevent turtling. there's no need to make it an all or nothing affair each time. there were many instances during the tournament when i only sent in 2-3 dudes, and often when the mark was away from home ( preferably as isolated as possible ). the timing of when you use it is key. mariel makes it pretty easy to be an auto-succeed if you catch them separated from the group.

May 24, 2016 InvertedGuard

I see, I think I just need to play smarter. Thanks!