Tao of the Pegasus

Once upon a time in the West, a neanderthal was hunched in a tree waiting to drop upon a passing animal to bash in it's skull with two sharp rocks. At a similar time far away in the East, the people were mastering the art of horsemanship. There were even legends of a great rider so bonded to his horse that he could command it to gallop across the clouds. These legends would bear fruit in the American West millennia later.

I absolutely adore Quarter Horse (we call it "sticky horse") because, under the right conditions, it mitigates the main drawback of jobs like Kidnappin' by enabling your victorious to stay in the chess game after a key "spot removal" conflict. Thus, though you may take one of their dudes away, you don't hand over the board in doing so.

On the offensive, by trotting Wang Men Wu or Shizeng Lu over to the location of the mark (including at their home) unbooted, and having Benjamin Washington and/or Xiaodan Li lead the job.

On the defensive, by using Rabbit's Lunar Leap to fly back into a posse unbooted - maybe even comboing into Rabbit Takes Revenge if your opponent is careless - hence enacting the deck's namesake.

I chose 108 Drunken Masters over all the other 108 homes because some of the replacement dudes (notably old-school masters like Longwei Fu and Xui Yin Chen) wouldn't be able to reliably make the Kung Fu pulls in the event the deck needs to rely on them. That and being able to "pluck" any pulled card of value 4 or less (notably Bottom Dealin') is a pretty neat trick. The Clementine Lepp synergy is a bonus treat, but the deck certainly doesn't rely on that to advance it's primary objective.

Finally, to keep the horses and jobs coming, and because the Combo "opener" plus "finisher" does the combined work of The Stakes Just Rose+Sun in Yer Eyes+Siege Of The Orphanage+Unprepared+Pinned Down (don't ever cross a hare!), I decided and am happy with three copies of Fool Me Once..., which hopefully your opponent will be saying the first time you surprise them with the Tao of Jade Rabbit.

...

Here is my "tournament" report: I bested my two friends today with this deck going 2-0 round robin.

First off was Tom Ramirez's Protection Racket Jasper Stone deck fronted by Pancho Castillo with Straight-Flush bullets loaded in it's hammer. Pancho attempted early at Signing Over the Stores to which I met him practically all-in and was lucky that he both cheated and I had the proper answer - Bottom Dealin' left him with a Two Pair and he quickly surrendered Willa Mae MacGowan to back out of the gambit. Soon enough, after downing a Bacillus Pasteuria (eww!) Pancho was back, took my deed, made a pile of dirty money, downed one of my starters as well as Xui Yin Chen, earned a victory point or two, and basically sent me into full defense/chess mode. I Kidnappin''d Ike Clanton while Pancho's back was turned, however, but soon lost another dude or two to Bad Company (and Tom smartly playing around my Tao). Joe Vermilion hit the board and I recovered my economy while Tom was unable to draw another dude in kind despite sitting upon a mountain of unspent cash. With the board ripe, I avoided combat and chessed out a win.

Next up was "Ghost Marshal" (more on that later...) Jevon Heath, "trying out Lawdog science" utilizing The Arsenal with Darius Hellstromme calling the stratagems, Dr. Erik Yaple writing the warrants, Janosz Pratt building the machinery, and "Thunder Boy" Nabbe doing the enforcing. A first-turn 3-round shootout wiped from the board every dude on both sides that did not have influence (and then some). Yaple downed, I played the "layin' low" game by not engaging conflict with my own wanted dudes so as to deny my opponent good poker odds - which he was unfortunately able to restore to hisself by being Faster on the Draw - and he shot down two of my fighters with a single well-played round - but not before I plucked Longwei Fu out of a Kung Fu pull "just in case". At this point, perhaps too late, I peered into his discard pile (or his "deck" bein' that it had 40+ cards in it) and discovered only one off-structure card (the other was Quincy Washburne who was now in play). Should have figured as much with the home choice. Almost terminally discouraged, I attempted to rebuild, while intentionally trying to avoid being at both private locations and my own home. Fortunately, though his shootout potential was strong (to boot recurring Joker (red)s courtesy Devil's Six Gun and my cheatin' lowball odds), his deck lacked table movement cards and his home didn't let him call out booted non-wanted dudes; thus he was unable to both block my production while holding firm to his side of the street. We played cat and mouse for a couple days. The moment Surveyor's Office hit the table I made a break to try to use it to pick a fight with Dr. Dawn Edwards wearing a Decimator Array who was blockading my Blake Ranch. Nabbe "headed me off at the pass" (booted but booting a Holy Wheel Gun to call me out), and since I would have lost if I retreated (Jevon graciously let me change my mind after counting chips), I had no choice but to fight. We both cheated: my Four to his Five -of-a-Kind. He played I'm Your Huckleberry and schmoozed one of my two dudes; I played Bottom Dealin' and shot down both the traitor and his new friend. This not only put me out of check momentarily, it leveled the chip field to make it any man's game. Boldly, Dawn booted to once again put me in check, forcing a callout from Clementine Lepp and Benjamin Washington (who recovered from his earlier wound). The doctor was unlucky enough to not flip into another Gadget with which to "decimate into" a solid poker draw.

...

In hindsight, I noticed the deck struggled a little with "tower dudes" (single dudes who attach lots of stuff and fight solo) because fighting solo is how your opponent can circumvent your combinations ("...if your posse does not have more dudes than the opposing posse..."). Both my opponents got smart to this. That said, as the card composition is a pretty standard dudes and deeds and jobs deck, with only six cards dedicated to it's "skilled" dudes (note: Kung Fu is not a skill), it functions somewhat normally even if your opponent gets keen to your tricks. This is perhaps how I was able to recover in both matches.

As for changes, I would consider Ike's Place for replacing Sherman Mortgage but all my copies of this nasty deed are stuck in other decks and I had to make due.

All in all, I am very pleased with this deck, it is very fun to play, and would recommend it not only for casual neighing but also for hoof-stomp-flying through your friendly neighborhood OP Kit tourney. Or "round ups" as they call them now. Cheers!