RoboRegulators 2.0 2nd place at European champions

I had been playing round with a couple of other deck prior to the Euros but I came back to roboregulators as it seemed more reliable and crucially had answers for spirit fortress which I simply could not deal with in other decks.

I got back to Edinburgh at 6pm on Friday after a week away literally travelling the length and breadth of the UK. I got a good six hours sleep before getting the 6am train to Huddersfield.

Round 1 Andy Roe Deedless sloan I completely failed to twig that andy was not playing deeds. both decks needed to contest town square early and it got bloody quickly. Andy won the early encounters and got the caretaker set up in town square. The following turn I hit with a skeleton powered JW after a couple of rounds andy just missed a Straight flush and Instead ended with a cheating four of kind which I punished and followed up with an outgunned and that was it for the sloan gang, 5 points

Round 2 Paul Protection racket holster. Paul hasn't much of the recent sets and hadn't seen either Linares or Post A Torn before I sat down opposite him. Turn 1 he plays faithfull hound on marion seville and I visible gulp his dog can chew up my skeletons and their is nothing I could do. I try to ply conservative but with a limited supply of ghost rock its tough. Turn two he played the holster and I though it was over. I managed to hang in for another three rounds were Paul didn't see any control point deeds and no kill jobs just muggings which I didn't contest. Eventually i won lowball and got some hydro punchers in play. I managed to counterattack hydropunching the gun and then picking off marion with pinned down. From their my deck got rolling and paul never recovered. 10 not really deserved points

Round 3 David Hogg FMB control. David had identified prior to the tournament that my deck was a problem so ended up hiding in his home surrounded by unphantasimable mechanical skeleton. Eventually I got 6CP and he had to start sending dudes out to break the regulators influence cap. unfortunately I drew all my control points in the final turn and by the time sundown came around time and already been called. 13 points and a bit of worry as another timed victory would be a problem.

Round 4 Rob (harlarth) regulators hexes and horses. I know robs deck pretty well, we are running a similar action suite and values but he is running flesh and blood horses and more of them so call the cavalry was not going to be my friend. When he dropped two horses early this was confirmed so I tried to take a note from Robs book and try to come back by cheating through the pain. unfortunately he had drawn three 3! it's not what you know in his starting hand and drew another two in subsequent turns as my dudes where quite quickly taught a lesson about cheating. Still 13 points. Next round is must win and in time.

Round 5 Justin Den of thieves. This was over in two rounds. I saw my cheating punishment, always a problem for the den and the sloan gang got blown away in a series of particularly bloody gun fights with outgunned and it's not what you know combining to cause five casualties in one round. 18 points and, thankfully a good schedule sends me through to the cut forth.

Semi final Vince spirit fortress. A match for ages. Part of the idea of my deck had been as a counter to spirt fortress and I knew between very high grit and skeletons I could get in and counter the send home.

Early on we both got our economy rolling with positron and silver bounty doing work for us. Turn two I managed to get Buckin billy and el Grajo out and forced the first showdown in the fortress. I used pinned down to pick off mariel lewis but after that vince took the hits on harrowed dudes and token. I ended up running home to solve my upkeep problems.

The next turn I got a hydro puncher to lock down the turtle guard and managed to drive vice out of the fortress. This persisted for a couple of turns until I got to 6CP and vince had to act. His dudes on mass retook the spirt fortress and a climatic shoot out began during which time was called. It all came down to this. I won the first round by 1 using it's not what you know. Vince had to stay to gain the influence from his totems but I had a choice. If I fled I would win with 15 CP/Influence to vinces 14 however two of those CP's were on misamic purifier. i could flee and put the whole game down to a pull. Clubs I lost anything else I won. After a long agonising thought process I decided I didn't to leave it to chance and stayed. no shootout action were played so I drew the top card of my deck to form the next shootout hand and

a spade

Balls.

Vince had two turtle guards out so I couldn't risk cheating and creating more token dudes. In the end I revealed a legal full house to vinces cheating 4 of a kind. I played it's not what you know and outgunned to shred enough influence that misamic purification was no longer relevant and won at time. Easily one of the toughest games I've ever played

Final Rob regulators - not a match for ages. Rob looked at my hand with sight beyond sight and shot all my dudes.

I'm not unhappy with the outcome it was an all edinburgh final and I beat two of the other three decks in the top four. Robs deck does the same thing my deck but better. He's weaker to control but can win a straight fight with ease.

Thanks to Scott and heidi for running and for Rob and steve for travelling down with me.

Well done making the final and putting in a great display with gadgets. Yagn's Mechanical Skeleton is great, works really well with your Outgunned and Point Blank.

Hydro-Puncher is really good, you and Chris from the Newcastle group both made good use of it against me to punch by Theo Whateley-Boyer right in his spells, preventing me from using my jokers in shootouts. Plus it is a great buff for your resolution plays.

I wish your semi-final with Vince had been recorded - it was a match-up for the ages and I would probably have struggled against him again, having lost swiftly in a previous match. That said, at least if there are no semi-final recordings it means our final "Town Square Murder Blender" isn't featured. A mercy - we'd clearly used up all our maneuvering/"high level Doomtown" skills in our semis.

I wondered if a Roan or two might be worth considering on 6 to help with Calling The Cavalry and your booting resolutions actions/Nathan Shane. That said, it would mean giving up on Robo-horse purity. ;)

I'm confused why Andy would ever want to move The Caretaker to the town square, he's only got the 4stud while at a location you own. Using the home ability on him doesn't sound worth it.