What Just Happened? 1st place 10 person OP Kit.

2015 OP Kit

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Derived from
Whateley's Spirit Fortress	10	7	7

Inspiration for
None yet

goreshde 483

I think this is one of the best decks I have seen in a long time. No joke, this is meta breaking.

The inspiration for this deck is the Whatley Spirit Fortress. I took the concept and made it into a skittles deck and oh boy is it awesome. Compared to the original deck this is more combat focused while having more movement shenanigans. I found I did not need action cards to generate more control points because my win conditions were doing enough and the ability to dominate the chess phase with my movement was more than enough to snipe any more control I would need.

You basic goal is to play an in town deed, drop a crap ton of totems on it, and win with either the Chief or the Mayor. It's called "What Just Happened" because often times in games it will look like my opponent is doing well with 6-7 influence out compared to my 1-2 control. Then I drop the Mayor who can net me 7-8 control that turn. I was kind of shocked at how fast this deck could win. I think 3 out of the 4 rounds at the tournament this weekend my game was the first to finish.

You should play this deck a little bit like a movement shenanigans land slide deck at the start. With Matzel, spirit trails, and your outfit you have a lot of movement abilities. You can spread your opponent thin while you build up. The main goal by doing this is make sure they have no one that can call out the Chief if you drop him. I usually only had Matzel move around here and it was effective. If you get to mid game you should also have enough studs to just take town square with an INCREDIBLE draw structure.

By turn 2-3 you should have some nice totems on one deed. I would say 2-3 Pack Awakens and/or Red Horses tails is enough to make your stand. Move everyone who is not on annoying opponent’s deed duty to that location. You want them to come at you. You have enough protection at that spot to weather some brutal assaults. Your influence at this point should be through the roof so you just need to wait for one of your win conditions. Your opponent is playing against a doom clock they don’t see ticking. One of the many things I love about this is that every non-value card I draw I am excited to see and can play immediately (sometime I hold off on the Chief). By the time you go through your deck once your draw hands start getting really powerful. You will have almost nothing left but Js and Qs.

The deck I thought had the best chance to beat me was a Judge deck. Turn one he came after Bear Hands (I just let it go, you have so much influence her loss was not a big deal). I played a deed, dropped some totems, and moved everyone over so it was harder for him to bounty me on future turns. So turn 2 he had to use the Judge to bounty up Matzel. Turn 3 I played the Mayor and had enough totems protecting my deed that he had to come at me and when he did I was ready. Even with a hand full of shootout abilities I weathered the storm and won that turn. We played a rematch where first turn I was unable to get an in town deed into play. He was able to get someone with influence down turn 1 to put more bounty on my guys. I could not stabilize fast enough and lost that game. The 3 games I tested this deck out before the tournament and the 4 games during it I was in control of every game the entire time.

12 comments
Dec 09, 2015 sholder Have you played against other Eagle Warden decks? What happens if they've got shamans & can use your totems against you?
Dec 09, 2015 DoomDog I've played mine against an aggro sprit deck, it was close but eventually my opponent won (getting lucky with lowball helped, he was running a tighter structure for shootouts but kept winning first action). You definitely need multiple shamans in the fight if your opponent can also make use of your totems, unless they've just sent one in which case you Red Horse Tail them out of there first play. Generally I've found fast aggressive play can beat this type of deck, but if it can get the totems set up it can be really hard to stop.
Dec 10, 2015 db0 Hmm, with only 8 deeds I suspect there's a good chance you won't see a deed by turn 1-2. About 2/5 of the time I did a sample hand, I did not see a deed. About 1/4 of the time, I did not see a deed in 2 hands. That would make the deck hard to setup as you have to play your totems in your home to clear your hand to get a deed. Another issue is what happens if your opponent wisens up to your plan and hold on to a kidnap to play as soon as your drop Nic in your home. You'll have to rush back to defend or lose your money. Feels a bit of a surprise deck, so to speak. Very powerful if your opponent has no idea what it's going to do, but significantly nerfed once they wisen up to your shenanigans ;)
Dec 10, 2015 db0 PS: Don't forget to mark your decks as tournament decks when you publish then. You can do that with the edit button as well.
Dec 10, 2015 mplain Very interesting. It looks like I mis-evaluated the new Shaman home. Interesting deck structure, two main values and a straight flush on hearts. I should try that out. What I feel this deck is lacking is some 10's - Doris Powell is amazing with this new home, while Baird's and Unprepared are obviously good. Would it make sense to replace J' with 10' as the main value? Or is Flight of the Lepus critical here? I have my doubts about Fire of Nanahbozho, did you find it to be any good? Any hints on how to use it best? So your plan for the Chief is to only play him when there's no one in the town square? Does that happen often? Thanks for sharing this very interesting deck!
Dec 10, 2015 Csonti `@mplain` I guess Fire of Nanahbozho makes Red Horse's Tail a much more effective tool. BTW its ability is also awesome.
Dec 10, 2015 goreshde `@sholder` the final was against the Whatley version of this deck with some modifications. I believed my draw structure was better and I acted more aggressively early game and had the advantage. I made sure to only have 1 unbooted Red Horse's tail on my fort when possible in case he launched an attack. We got in a lot of shootouts where we would use each other's totems. Two turns in a row I had him on the ropes but he won lowball. Eventually we had a chief vs chief shootout in the center where I was able to Flight first for the win. @dbo I always used Butch regardless of the hand I saw. Only 1 game out of 8 with this deck I did not get a in town deed. Maybe I got lucky. I probably should get ride of Jackson strike though. I love it but out of town deeds are not needed. If they are saving a kidnapping for Nic I can just let him go. Or with Zach and Spirit dance (depending on what else I have) I can try and save him. It depends on your hand and board state, but mid game you should be established enough to take on your would be kidnappers. `@mplain` flight wins games. You will get into a shootout and need a CR. I don't think 10s gives enough to make me want to replace it. Like you I did not like Fire of Nanahbozho when I first saw it. I like it in here a lot. On the fort it makes Red Horses Tail pretty much a guarantee against anyone. It's also great fodder for the Outfit and does some board control for the chess phase. Chief won about 1/3rd of my games. I would always play him late in the turn after annoying their deeds and trying to get their biggest shooters booted outside of town square. One of the reason I went with Spirit Dance was to help defend him. I never had him die.
Dec 11, 2015 DoomDog Fire of Nanahbozho, as already stated, boosts your pulls for Red Horse's Tail. It depends on what else is in the deck and what's going on in the game, but the unboot and make another play could be useful after say, booting a dude to give Whateley a control point.
Dec 19, 2015 Crumbs How does it deal with phantasm sending nic/chief home causing him lose all his CP?
Dec 21, 2015 Whizzwang Came here to mention Phantasm. Crumbs beat me to it. :)
Dec 21, 2015 Whizzwang Oh - And Fortress decks mean I finally get to put some legwork into PLASMA DRILL!!
Jan 04, 2016 Nkzack Yeah, I was thinking that a well timed Plasma Drill can be disastrous.