UnSpirited Away - 2nd place Gencon '26 Marshal Event

No sprits, just good dudes and good stuff out of a very strong Outfit. I first tried to make a shaman deck, but I couldn't make it work without upkeep. Primary goal was to have fun, with secondary to help represent the under-represented 1st Peoples - I didn't think I'd be the only one playing them in the Marshal tourney! Having more money to spend is fun, so upkeep was out. I think this starting posse came out fantastic, as we have:

*2 studs, one of them normally 2 bullets

*5 influence (6 in town square with zach)

*zero upkeep!

Add in the Mixer, and you have some good bullet protections for yourself, or a nasty counter to opposing effects and dudes. This is a scary starting posse for any deck to face, and throughout the tournament + a couple of games the next night at O's Callout, I was never drawing less than 8 cards in hand - usually more. The first game I lost to Jake, I was drawing 10 cards + changing out 2 and I consistently could not make a legal hand, but that game was definitely the outlier. This draw structure is tight, but designed to be very consistent with legal full house and 4oaK once you get some red cards on the board (preferably no more than 2 per suit/value).

Not only do you have shootout protection for your studs in the Mixer, but the Outfit also fights against send-home effects. Oddly I didn't encounter any send-home effects until after the tournament, so it was mostly used as a way to undercommit dudes to keep them unbooted until needed, which is a great option to have. Very strong home for a shooty deck!

Other than some of the unique aspects of the 1st Peoples dudes, the rest is just good stuff. Most of my games were filled with a combination of shootouts and chess, except for one where we both foolishly day 1 town square murder-blendered (and we went at least a couple days past that, but it was an uphill battle for my opponent). The finals game was pretty epic, with Jake having 3 phantasms plus several other hexes (including a blood curse), and me having a couple of movement tricks with my Outfit and a horse, but in the end he out-chessed and outshot enough to seal the deal. It was a very good back and forth game that made both of our heads hurt - the hallmark of a great Doomtown game!