Whateley's Spirit Fortress

published Dec 02, 2015 | | |
Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Spirit Fortress 2 0 4
What Just Happened? 1st place 10 person OP Kit. 13 17 12
Whateley's Spirit Fortress 1.1 York OP#4 Winner 03/01/16 3 7 2

DoomDog 973

This deck is one that actually came about by accident. My friend had built a Beyond the Veil deck and was playing against my Sanatorium shooter running Kidnappin'. After an early kidnap took out one of his Shamans, he built The Whateley Estate and started moving all his dudes there and piling up Red Horse's Tails, The Pack Awakens and Fire of Nanahbozho to make a tough-to-assault place for his dudes to hide from Kidnappin's while he came up with a plan. If I moved there I'd be booted by the Whateley Estate and he could call me out and use Red Horse's Tail to send me home. Red Horse's Tail also meant that if I wanted to make a successful Kidnappin' I'd need to send in several dudes to have one left in the fight. Black Elk with a couple of Fire of Nanahbozhos was a Shaman 7 and wasn't failing any of the pulls.

Get past all the Red Horse totems and there'd be Nature Spirits and Ancestor Spirits to get through before I hit his dudes, and of course he was running No Turning Back. Beyond the Veil's trait meant all the dudes hiding there had an extra influence, which also meant each Ancestor Spirit there was worth 2 influence. The problem with this strategy was that if his dudes left, they'd be very vulnerable, and he didn't have a way to finish the game. I couldn't successfully attack and didn't have enough deeds to force him to have to leave his fort. Eventually we called the game a draw.

How to take advantage of such a good defensive position? Why hello Mayor Whateley! I've reworked the deck so it's focused on building a totem fort and then inviting Nic over to start building up the control points. If your opponent can get past all your totems, it isn't a slouch in the shooting department either. If Zachary Deloria is still around to guard the mayor he alone is going to be a 4 stud thanks to the influence boost.

Need more control? Use Fire of Nanahbozho to unboot one of those Ancestor Spirits and have them run Establishin' Who's in Charge on your fort deed!

Can't draw a deed? Set up your spirit fort on your opponent's deed and deny them income into the bargain!

This is a different style to what I usually play, and it's not one I'm particularly fond of. I haven't seen a deck like this before so I figured I'd post it here. Any thoughts/suggestions on card choices?

7 comments
Dec 02, 2015 DoomDog

Possible changes I've been thinking about include swapping the Establishin' Who's In Charges for Recruitment Drives, dropping a Many Speak As One for an Idol of Tlazolteotl, and starting Black Elk in place of Butch.

Dec 03, 2015 twoeyedjack

Adding a Bunkhouse would help your zero-influence dudes with Nic's control points. It's an older for Nic that might work well to supplement this deck.

Dec 03, 2015 twoeyedjack

Adding a Bunkhouse would help your zero-influence dudes with Nic's control points. It's an older strategy for Nic that might work well to supplement this deck.

Dec 03, 2015 DoomDog

All the 0-influence dudes at a deed with a totem get +1 influence, so I've got that covered :)

Dec 04, 2015 goreshde

@DoomDog How import is it to setup your base at the Estate? Is it something you wait for?

Dec 04, 2015 DoomDog

You can set up at any in town deed, even your opponent's if you get the chance. I might add a Spirit Trail or two to make it easier to get from your home to your fort. Whateley Estate is the best case because it's 2 control and has a nice defensive effect, but the main thing is building up the pile of totems early for the extra influence & defensiveness.

Dec 05, 2015 DoomDog

I just played my Morgan Stables against the deck that inspired this build, now tweaked to take advantage of Nicodemus. I was in control until one bad shootout hand which gave him the opportunity to rush across to one of my deeds and set up the fort. I couldn't break it and for him victory was a matter of waiting for the ghost rock to get Nic into play.

I'll have to see if I can get him to post his version up here, it has some differences to my take on the idea.