Rumours of plague: The Long Con

Right! I'm posting this to try and stop myself endlessly fiddling with it. If I've posted another version later, it hasn't worked.

Also, it'll force me to write my match reports in a timely fashion, and not forget about it for 6 months, after which it's no longer relevant.

Also also, it means this is the first worlds deck that'll be on here. :)

Comments welcome.

Largely the same deck as older iterations, with some of the newer TCaR cards added. Use Fiddle Game for income, and to support Putting The Pieces Together, then use Forced Quarantine to force shootouts, supported with Comin' Up Roses.

I'll put match reports here, after the weekend, except one which I'll predict right now:

Round X: Graham Law Dogs basic. Again I come up against this deck, and again I am unable to beat it, due to all my dudes being reduced to 0-bullets. Loss.

To potential future opponents: this deck is weak against THINLY SPREAD DUDES, RAMPANT CHEATING and DUDES SITTING AT HOME DOING NOTHING. :)

Added: my write-up.

Stephen B

Law Dogs basic

So, I didn't get Graham, but I did get this match-up instead. Even though his deck is different from Graham's Law Dogs deck, I faced many of the same issues: opponent knows how my deck works, SIYE, Faster on the Draw and Hattie. Just, Hattie. Also, many, many sidekicks. When time was called, I had made a little headway, but it was too little, too late. Loss 0-1

Benni

Eagle Wardens basic

A slow start from me, allowing him to get a lot of use out of his base ability. Eventually though, I managed to get enough out to get into the game, and began using FQ to force shootouts, killing a 2-control Allie Hensman. Then, disaster! (Dun dun duuuun!) Double cheating during lowball. But! (Dun dun daaaah!) He hasn't got any cheating resolutions in his hand! I begin to think I may have gotten away with it, but then he points at Gomorra Gaming Commission, which he's got occupied. "Does that count?"

(Waah waaah waaaaaaaaaah)

Yes. Yes it does.

So, bye bye 8 income from fiddle games, and bye bye Tyx and Jia, who both had a Gambler's Gun on them. And bye bye all the dudes I can't afford any more. So, I have Henry(booted) Willa Mae, and Ambrose, versus 4 control points and a whole lot of dudes. I conceded at this point, as he had basically won and there was no point in letting it go to time (there wasn't long left in the round at this point) So, a loss, but I did get two ultra-cool Danish jokers, so I didn't come away empty handed! Loss 0-2

Mads

The 108 Righteous Bandits

I had a better start to this round, with me being able to set up my home conditions within a reasonable time. I discovered that Forster Cooke blocked everyone off from my The Sanatorium/Forced Quarantine combo, so he had to be the first to go. Then Hamshanks. I got really lucky in one shootout, as he had used Doomsday Supply to bring in a Surprise Legendary Holster, but he didn't make the pull. This one went to time, with me winning on inf+control. Also: another two Danish Jokers! Win 1-2

Amit

108 Drunken Masters

I got really lucky in this round, with two fiddle games in my opening hand, and one in the lowball, meaning that I had a total of nine income by the end of day one. This meant I was able afford a load of big dudes, and get all the conditions out, a lot earlier than I normally would. Between all of the PTPT out and Coming up Roses cheating resolution, I was consistently pulling really high shootout hands. Some aggressive play later, and I won. Win 2-2

Dan V

Morgan Regulators

This game went completely the other way to the previous one, with me not seeing a single Fiddle Game until day 3 or 4, and also with him practically drowning in Yagn's Mechanical Skeletons, Personal Ornithopters and Mechanical Horses. By the time I had the opportunity to go for a fiddle game, a six-stud Chuan "Jen" Qí + Yagn + hydro-puncher Voltron and five-stud El Grajo were in the town square to stop it, with Maggie Harris Ornithopthering in. Even a Nightmare at Noon was more of a Barely Noticeable Inconvenience at Noon to that posse, and my natural straight flush was beaten by a non-cheating 5 of a kind. (Apparently someone back home plays something like my deck, so he knew that cheating was a very bad idea- and it would have been, as I had Coming Up Roses in my hand for practically the whole game) The rest of the game passed similarly, and while he didn't get to play Calling The Cavalry, he didn't really need to. Loss 2-3

Final thoughts: when this deck works, it can work very well. As Mads(I think it was Mads?) said, it puts a clock on the game, and beyond that point, barring accidental double cheating in lowball, it will very likely win, with many rank 10-11 shootout hands. However, it is weak against early aggression, Fiddle Games not coming out early enough, accidental cheating, and decks that don't cheat. I don't think there's much I can do against the first, beyond card cycling to get more cards to reduce the vulnerable period. For the second, some other sources of income are needed, like more deeds and things like Monte Bank. (Which is in fact what @doomdog told me to do- ignore his advice at your peril!) This would also help a bit if the town square is being camped by tough dudes. For the third, perhaps a looser deck structure? Or The Extra Bet. Also, more alternative income would make it easier to recover from accidental cheating. And the fourth, maybe less cheating punishment, lulling them into a false sense of security. (Possibly not posting my deck online for all to see would help in this regard...) As someone else (Benni?) was saying, if you have Inner Struggle on someone, and they don't cheat in lowball, they're very unlikely to cheat in shootouts, as they'll be hit with -1 hand rank, plus whatever you have in hand. Also, I found that I mostly did not have time to find any conditions other than my main three (FG, PTPT and FQ), so Inner Struggle being a condition didn't help me out too much.

Sorry for the wall of text, I didn't realise I'd written quite so much!

Feel free to contact me either here, on Discord or over on Pine Box Entertainment's forum (I am Caelreth on all of them) if you want anything here changed, if I've been inaccurate/unfair/spelled someone's name wrong, you'd prefer to go by your online handle, etc.