Custard Pie Hustle. Birmingham Sheriff Winner

published Dec 04, 2016 | | |
Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
None yet

Andrew Davidson 23

The "Custard Pie Hustle" is when a clown like Funtime Freddy gives the mark a pie in the face. Then, while he's blinded, Travis Moone puts a bag over his head to kidnap him. Rico Rodegain is the lookout and Sloane gang shoots anyone who dares to get in the way.

I've won several tournaments now with a Hustle -- my name for this type of aggressive Den deck. The last one was the Halloween Hustle at the end of October, which introduced Mario Crane (Exp.1) to the gang. This latest version added Funtime Freddy as I've been wanting to build an insane clown posse and, as the tournament took place in Birmingham's Custard Factory, the theme is clear.

This deckbuilder site doesn't like multiple grifters as starting dudes but the Den of Thieves home allows for both Rico Rodegain and Travis Moone. Rico scouts the opposition, looking especially for cheatin' cards, while Travis lets you react accordingly, trying for a Kidnappin' if the coast is clear. Rico also lets you choose your non-grifter dudes but I invariably chose Makaio Kaleo, Esq. and Milt Clemons for their money management skiils, along with Barton Everest for his unscrupulous gunslinging. Because the grifters work cheap for this outfit, you then start with 1 ghost rock, which is just right for the first ante.

The three main card values for the deck are

  • Aces for more grifters, lots of Hustled for them to use and Outlaw Mask for Milt Clemons

  • Fours are for Coachwhip! so you can't cheat a cheater. This value also provides the B & B Attorneys who keeps the law's attention on Milt, as he likes. The Tusk is a good workhorse weapon at this value as it's cheap, provides a card and is a good defence against Shotgun. And you get some more grifters like Ol' Howard, who I love for his Sweetrock nostalgia.

  • Sevens provide Kidnappin' and Monte Bank. This value provides just one grifter but it's a good one: Travis Moone (Exp.1) who's a great gunslinger and has a funky reaction which I have never yet remembered to use. The Sherman Mortgage deed is a possible defence against landslide decks but I've not had occasion to use that yet either.

The off-value dudes are Funtime Freddy, who now needs no introduction; Fred Aims, who is another possible defense against landslide decks; and Mario Crane (Exp.1), who is an unholy terror when you can afford him.

The off-value actions are two Mugging to deal with all those horses that are running around nowadays and, most especially, for the Legendary Holster, which we really don't like. And finally, there's an Election Day Slaughter because this is what insane clowns are doing nowadays, eh?

In the event, we met Eagle Wardens with a collapsing Comin' Up Roses straight flush concept. This was very scary and gave us lots of lumps when we met them in the first round of both the Swiss and the Knockout stages, but we managed to bag them in the end by not cheating. We met two different Law Dogs. They both gave us a hard time with Tommy Harden and "Thunder Boy" Nabbe but we managed to face down one and hold the other to a close timed loss, which was the only defeat of the day. We went in hard against another Den, got them on the defensive and then gunned them down. And finally, there were two Morgan Regulators which is perhaps the most popular outfit now. One had mad scientists making lots of gadget horses, but we kidnapped them as fast as they could make them. The other was in the final. They had me on the back foot for a while, as I was mightily scared of This'll Hurt in the Mornin', which Rico spied at the outset. But once I got Travis Moone (Exp.1) out the hard way and gave him a gun, I sent him with Funtime Freddy and the rest of the gang to have a big pie fight in the town square and they painted the town yellow!

3 comments
Dec 05, 2016 Prodigy

Congratulations on the win - tough competition over there for sure!

Does this make both the top 2 decks as versions of @jordan caldwell decks? I heard the other 2nd place regulators deck used a variation of his, as well.

Dec 06, 2016 jordan caldwell

Hustled is such a damn cool card, both the mechanics and the theme.

Why Mario Crane (Exp.1) over The Sloane Gang or Sloane (Exp.1)?

And if the former, why not Cookin' Up Trouble?

Also, what is your strategy for when Milt Clemons becomes "too" wanted that the risk/reward ratio becomes too dicey to include him in shootouts?

Finally, how do you decide when to use the home during lowball vs when to use it in a shootout?

Cheers.

Dec 06, 2016 jordan caldwell

(I meant Sloane)