Greatest (Trade) Show on Earth! Top 8 GenCon/Tombstone 2019
TybarSunsong 94
Hello all!
This was my first top 8 showing I'd had at GenCon, so I was pretty excited, especially with how the deck started the day.
This is a Straight Flush Hearts Gadget deck, and I definitely have a love/hate relationship with the deck style.
A few general notes:
First, this deck absolutely cannot fight on the first day, unless you end up with both a very specific hand and an opponent who, for some reason, lets you invent at least two gadgets, preferably three. Even then, it's probably best to just lose a dude to a first turn Kidnappin' than actually fight.
Your goal is to basically get out as many Decimator Arrays as possible, at least one Hydro-Puncher, one Devil's Six Gun and one Yagn's. The faster you can do that the better. Use William Specks' ability like it's going out of style. High level tournament players are going to squat on any deeds you get out early, so they're almost as good as expensive dudes to cycle with the home ability.
One odd thing I've realized while playing this deck: Yagn's get far less valuable after the second one. With the change to the Attire attachment rules, you often times would rather have two other gadgets rather than just the one...but it's often your best first card to invent (second only to Decimator Array).
What I can recollect from GenCon:
Round 1 vs. Stefan's Jia Conditions This one gave me fits. I first got hit by Christine Perfect's ability so that my opponent could get a Lost to the Plague on Chuan "Jen" Qí with her Yagn's already invented.
So, with 4 stud and 4 draw, facing off against Christine Perfect all on her lonesome...I tied the first shootout, and ended up having to discard a dude.
This happened again on the second day, with me losing to Christine with a lucky 5 of a kind, and losing all but Specks and Jen, but with Jen having 3 Plagues on her.
I survived one more turn, then lost Jen to upkeep (turns out 7 upkeep is rough), with no more dudes in my hand, I conceded.
0-1
Round 2 vs. Abominations by Indy I've played a lot of games of Doomtown against my wonderful partner, and while I love her interesting abomination decks, I know exactly how to exploit them. Unfortunately, she knows I can't pick a fight with her early.
Lucky for me, her play hands never had the cards she needed to pick a fight or play enough deeds to slide me out, so it was a quick match, without me needing to worry about a ton of her recursion (though she did pull back at least one Pag on Lowball cheatin').
1-1
Round 3 vs. Christopher's Den of Thieves I don't honestly recall much of this game, though I do remember being whittled down as I couldn't get my engine going fast enough. I recall the last action I took was to play an Elander Boldman from my hand, and attempt to invent a Yagn's to give him a fighting chance...and pull Luke, who had been discarded early on. This, @prodigy, is why I make sure my decks can't fail in the first place. ;)
I conceded after that.
1-2
Round 4 vs. Pottorf Justice in Exile Played against a Justice in Exile Deck that never seemed to find what it wanted. I don't recall a ton of this game. All of my gadgets came out when I needed them to, I had plenty of rock, and I was able to come out on top just enough to secure a victory.
2-2
Round 5 vs. Nabbe's Justice in Exile Getting to see Nabbe again was a treat! I've seen iterations of his deck over the years, and this game involved a lot of careful A Slight Modification work to keep myself from getting into some bad spots early on. I got a bit of an advantage, and then he recovered just enough, until finally our last two shootouts went my way, causing him to lose just enough Influence.
3-2
Top 8 Match with Max 'Deputy' Way's Miracles and Machinery out of The Arsenal Probably the most fun I had with the deck all weekend, with Nabbe's match being a close second. Max and I agreed to an early morning Sunday shootout. I, unfortunately, did not prep in time to fully eat before our game, which certainly caused me to be Unprepared.
Max and I both played setup decks, with each of us inventing or blessing ourselves as we saw fit. The first turn saw me play two deeds out of town, with Sister Mary Gideon sitting herself on one all by her lonesome.
After I felt fairly good, I went and gave her a Curse of Failure with all of my dudes, losing Jen in the process.
A bit more setting up and he had 5 control points to my 7-8 influence. Being the honorable gentlemen we are, we patiently gathered all of our dudes in Town Square for a murder blender. Both sides fought hard, but Max's deputies decided that the law needed to make a tactical retreat.
I was able to go in after with another Curse of Failure. Here's where us both being tired caused the game to go in poor directions.
First, he forgot that it was a job, so he could just accept the dude I chose as a casualty, and all of my brave men and women of science would have to go home booted (though him with two less influence).
So he kept fighting to the bitter end.
I forgot I had an unbooted Devil's Six Gun when he cheated, which would have saved me a casualty...and got that joker back in the deck where I needed it.
Unfortunately, due to me not paying attention, and him not paying attention, I wiped out all of his dudes and went home with...4 influence!
His 5 control to my 4 influence 1 control meant I lost, though he nobly helped me find any way I could to salvage what my hubris and bloodlust had caused.
So, my thoughts on the deck:
- It needs a couple of tweaks, which Laura and someone whom I forget (I think Max) suggested after looking through my deck.
- Straight Flush on Hearts requires you to be quite well prepared for a fight. It's not enough to just have gadgets out, you have to have the right ones...often having 6-7 stud wouldn't get me a natural Straight Flush, so I'd need at least one Decimator Array out there to fix it, or a Comin' Up Roses in my hand.
- Devil's Six Gun is often more useful for fixing Low-ball than it is for shootouts, simply due to the nature of the draw structure.
- If you are the winner, it's okay, sometimes, to let your hand start as cheatin', then Decimator Array it to legal (just watch for those traits!)
- This deck is frustrating to play if you don't have patience. You will wreck your chances of winning if you fight too early.
- I actually didn't realize how weak a couple of my values were, especially 8's.
- Smith and Robard's is absolutely vital to this style of deck. Being able to cycle a card when you need it is invaluable for getting either another gadget to invent early on, or to fish for ASM or Roses. The control point portion was barely used by me in any of my games, which was fine.
- I would not play this deck against inexperienced players. I think the build up nature of it gets too nasty for them to enjoy if they don't know to camp your deeds early on.
| 12 comments |
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| Aug 07, 2019 DoomDog |
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Aug 07, 2019
TybarSunsong
While I like Doomsday Supply, I think I'd rather avoid going down any further in value. As it stands, I can have my MS 0's invent anything but the Flamethrower, Yagn's, and the Ornithopters with just any pull from the deck, which is about where I want it to stay. I've thought about putting in a Jael's Guile for one of the Aetherics, but I'm a bit hesitant due to wanting to keep those potential bullets...especially for Nathan Shane. As for sidekicks, I have 4 in the deck already, I thought about more, but I honestly haven't been too hurt by not having them (most of my issues come from not being able to Slight Mod a Pinned Down, rather than just taking too many casualties). |
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Aug 07, 2019
TybarSunsong
That said, I appreciate the suggestions, and I'll keep looking if I can slot in something useful! |
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Aug 07, 2019
Prodigy
Good stuff, man, and congrats on the top 8! It must have been after your bad luck in round 3 that you and I spoke, and you were not super happy with how things were going. Glad to see that turned around! I'll just keep my mouth shut about Doomsday Supply and Currency Press... :) However, there is a certain dude who can almost single-handedly mitigate risk from low pulls. Chances are you'd need to switch to Gadgetorium to make up for the upkeep, though. Either way, it's a solid and fun deck - one I've played the likes of quite a bit, and I feel your pain on the issues it has. |
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Aug 07, 2019
TybarSunsong
Thanks I think this deck really doesn't get a ton out of Currency Press, mostly because I was flush with cash most of the game (I did not, however, have Specks shut down except in one game, and that one was already well on the downslope...). I really do think about Doomsday Supply, but I honestly find that the home ability means I almost always have what I need. The non-gadgets are actually the hardest things to find! I played with the good Professor for a bit in the first SF Hearts deck I made. I like him in concept, but booting yet another dude to make a gadget is...well, it felt like quite a bit of commitment honestly, especially since I hope to churn out three a day for at least the first two days. As for Gadgetorium, I just find that being able to cycle cards is more important for this particular deck. That said, I can see Professor Roe and Gadgetorium making a different kind of gadget SF deck pretty easily. |
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Aug 07, 2019
TybarSunsong
Thanks I think this deck really doesn't get a ton out of Currency Press, mostly because I was flush with cash most of the game (I did not, however, have Specks shut down except in one game, and that one was already well on the downslope...). I really do think about Doomsday Supply, but I honestly find that the home ability means I almost always have what I need. The non-gadgets are actually the hardest things to find! I played with the good Professor for a bit in the first SF Hearts deck I made. I like him in concept, but booting yet another dude to make a gadget is...well, it felt like quite a bit of commitment honestly, especially since I hope to churn out three a day for at least the first two days. As for Gadgetorium, I just find that being able to cycle cards is more important for this particular deck. That said, I can see Professor Roe and Gadgetorium making a different kind of gadget SF deck pretty easily. |
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Aug 07, 2019
Prodigy
"I like him in concept, but booting yet another dude to make a gadget" Prof. Aloysius Roe doesn't boot, or did you mean something else? That's part of the reason I love Gadgetorium so much, as it allows you to invent an extra gadget every turn (not to mention the helpful 1 GR). Perhaps my favorite thing to do with gadgets is to have Specks reduce the cost of a Decimator, have someone else invent it, use Gadgetorium, and you get a free gadget, +1 GR, and both mad scientists can unboot! It's a glorious feeling. But when you're stuck with a hand full of black cards in your opening hand (the great fear of decks like this), Robards really shines! Nice to have multiple good options. |
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Aug 07, 2019
TybarSunsong
Huh, I wonder if I've always misread that. Yeah, I do like Gadgetorium for that particular bit of jank, even with the increase in difficulty. :) The hand full of black cards has been probably my biggest problem with gadget decks in aggregate. Being able to cycle away one more card has been great for the deck. Before I had tried both Gadgetorium and Regulators, and both had quirks I wasn't as happy with. |
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Aug 07, 2019
TybarSunsong
Huh, I wonder if I've always misread that. Yeah, I do like Gadgetorium for that particular bit of jank, even with the increase in difficulty. :) The hand full of black cards has been probably my biggest problem with gadget decks in aggregate. Being able to cycle away one more card has been great for the deck. Before I had tried both Gadgetorium and Regulators, and both had quirks I wasn't as happy with. |
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Nov 06, 2019
TybarSunsong
Update from Tombstone: Will Herrmann's First Peoples I don't recall much of this game, but I'm pretty sure my deck just went off well, which lets me actually start moving around town and threatening earlier. 1-0 Joe James's (Prodigy's) Miracle Law Dogs This one was a grind. We both got enough of our setup done that once we started picking fights, there was not much in the way of actual casualties being taken. I found out from this game that the wording on at least one miracle was incredibly important, causing me to have to take some more attrition than I had intended. Near the end of time, he conceded due to the board state. I think it could have gone either way in an untimed match, with a bit of an edge toward his deck. 2-0 David Winner's First Peoples This one was interesting. I remember being a bit thrown off by Mariel Lewis in his deck. I was continually counting influence during that game. The downside to this game is that it ground down to time...which is an unfortunate (and frustrating) part of having to fish for the few clubs in the deck. 3-0 Zach's Protection Racket Zach's deck really threw me for a loop. I ran into issues with being unable to set up fast enough to counter his deck, coupled with some Inner Struggles, a Legendary Holster, and two good pulls from his Cookin' Up Trouble lead to a defeat at time. 3-1 Andrew Davidson's Den of Thieves By this point I was pretty wiped out, and I only remember a few things about this game...mostly that he managed to experience Travis once during the game, then get Travis back later (we both actually missed that he already had a second Travis on the board). My deck was able to grind his out at the end with enough force fields and Roses to get through his cheatin' with Barton and Mario XP to get a win and scoot into the top 8. 4-1 Top 8 vs. The Cackler One of my few times seeing a control deck, and his went off like a rocket. He saw Phantom Fingers and two Phantasms in the first two days. This exposed, yet again, that my deck really can't risk a fight until at best day 2, by which time it was almost too late. Several blood curses, phantom fingers, and a well-placed puppet got me reeling...and the mayor himself came out to finish the job. All in all, while I love the idea of this deck, too many games ended up becoming a "do I get my combos in place early enough and then bully the town?". If I don't, I end up turtling and getting enough Influence to wait out almost any other deck...which isn't too fun after a bit. |
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Jun 16, 2022
Bobozer
Looks good, could you try and start Nicolus Kramer for a stud? A clubless , Elandor Boldman deck can sometimes be a bully first day. |
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Jun 17, 2022
TybarSunsong
You certainly could! I don't know who you would swap out, but you could definitely blitz a bit more if you wanted...just be aware that it's hard to make a great hand on the first day with this deck! |
I wonder if you could drop a few of the extra copies of gadgets and add some Sidekicks, for hearts you can play but that can also cycle back into the deck. Bacillus Pasteuria is also pretty cool for that, and can unboot your Scientist after inventin', or a useful dude with influence/stud after a job. I've always found Doomsday Supply to be useful when doing this, for extra chances to grab the cards you need.