Memorial Fortress

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Ranch

"I just don't get why it's called 'Wagner Memorial Ranch'" Kyle said, sidestepping his way around a particularly prickly patch of shrubbery. "What's the Memorial for? I didn't have any relatives in this area or anything."

Irving's stomach dropped at the thought of Kyle's discovery, but his mouth stayed firm and his feet continued to lead the party. Wagner was stumbling through the landscape, followed by the eternally distracted Howard Aswell. Irving tried to warn the good doctor that he needn't bring anything, but Aswell insisted on carrying a leather case bulging with schematics. He spent the whole mosey mumbling to himself, nary casting a glance nor greeting at anyone around him. Near as Irving could tell, Aswell was in his own little world. Just as well. Irving thought the doctor was too weird. Chuan "Jen" Qi followed behind, bemused at something else entirely.

Who knows what, though. We're not indulging in that part of the story.

The skies were darkened from the smoke wrought by the receding Gadgetorium and the forthcoming Memorial. The fires of industry blotted the sky in stark defiance of all attempts by nature to overcome it. Sunny sky? Smoke. Clear night? Smoke. Raging dust storm? Well, that peaked through...but there was still a lot of smoke involved in that as well.

The group had been sent to look in on the Memorial Barn, a centerpiece of the larger ranch and site of the impending Morgan Technological Exhibition. All sorts of gadgets and gizmos were to be showcased - the tried & true Force Field, a Mechanical Skeleton that Jen had taken a shine to, and even an old, mechanical woman brought across the ocean and continent by one of those Euro scientists. Thing creeped out most of the party, but it was gaudy and showy and fit the general nature of the exhibition.

When the group reached the central barn, Irving and Jen grasped the barn doors and worked them open. Despite being newly built, the doors creaked, groaned, and struggled against the efforts of humanity as though they were the gates to an ancient and primordial temple. The interior was dark and musky. In a distant corner a scampering sound was heard. Irving's eyes darted from place to place - this was supposed to be a new barn. Why does it look like this has been here for years? Elsewhere, Kyle blew dust off a Memorial plaque and read it.

"Uh, guys? Why is this a...why does this say this barn is a Cenotaph...for, uh, me...?"

It was unnerving to the old cowhand. This whole situation was just unnatural. Just deeply unset-

"GUNS!"

The entire party jumped back as Aswell burst through the entrance, papers flying behind him as he bounded into the darkness and back again like a child in an unattended candy story. "That's what'll pick this whole thing up." Aswell's hands flew from place to place. "A gun here, and a gun here, and a gun here..."

Weird. This was all just too weird.

DECK DESCRIPTION

Okay, look, I put more thought in that introduction than to the deck itself, which should give a good indication about the amount of thought put into the deck. But, having toyed with this a little bit, I think this showcases a few neat ideas.

First and foremost, Technological Exhibition. Imagine - it's turn 1. You're depressed because you saw Yagn's Mechanical Skeleton get dumped in Aswell's attempt to discover an Auto-Gatling, because Aswell is so singularly focused on his Improvements that he missed out on a great gadget for Jen. You won lowball, which was great because you start with 8 ghost rock then, but right now all you're thinking is that you wish a legal High Noon action would be to cry.

Except there's Technological Exhibition, whispering into your ear and telling you all will be okay. Because you can pick up that discarded Mechanical Skeleton, give it an ol' spit-shine and attach it to Jen for free and at difficulty 4.

So why would you even Aswell? Because although this is a stupid straight flush deck with clubs (bell curves are for people who believe in efficiency and sense, IE those who do not belong in the land of the weird), you're looking at 5 Improvements to attach to the Ranch - 4 Auto-Gatlings and a Fate Dispenser. Aswell's discard doubles the chances of getting an Improvement onto the Ranch in the first round from 40% to 82%. It also gives your discard pile a chance to fill up with juicy gadgets to exhibit, as well as the opportunity to drop any Jokers you might pull out of your hand.

In short, he's certainly not consistent enough for competitive decks, nor for even inclusion in other versions of this deck, but he's just weird enough for it. And weird is what we want.

J.W. Byrne is there for MechaByrne nonsense, Nicodemus Whateley is there to help support an actual win condition (along with the only Ace and Two of clubs cards).

The clubs are largely interchangeable with whatever seems to fit your Meta. About the only ones I would say are Must-haves are Technological Exhibition and A Slight Modification.

As an additional sidenote (because this is something I had to remind myself of time and time again): Try to avoid using Technological Exhibition to attach improvements to the Ranch. Because it's a job, even if you mark the Ranch your Mad Scientist will end up booted at home prior to inventing the gadget. This means you won't be able to boot the Ranch to lower the difficulty and increase its production. I tend to use them for the other gadgets: Force Field, Ballot Counter (both meant to help use up all the Ghost rock you'll be swimming in), and even Yagn's (although if you can get Kyle to invent those at the Ranch, that's always more production).

Get weird, folks.

I'll add some changes and post-play thoughts in the comments in a few days.