Mario Crane

published Jan 05, 2015 | | |
Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
gadgets 1 2 1
Inspiration for
Mario Crane v2.0 2 4 0

mplain 1657

I reworked swider's deck around Mario Crane + Force Field combo, inspired by db0's post.

6s - x12, 8s - x15, Straight Flush

Spend the first couple of turns preparing and inventing gadgets. Then you have a near-unkillable 3-stud that will shoot someone in every gunfight while staying alive himself, as long as you have some money.

Force Field will turn your legal straights and flushes into whatever the opponent has drawn. Then it's 1 casualty for them and none for you, as long as Mario participates solo in shootouts.

Holy Wheel Gun makes Mario a respectable 3-stud, so that you can draw something better than a legal 3-of-a-kind, and thus saves you money on Force Field.

Telepathy Helmet saves Mario from Unprepared and other nasty bullet-reducing effects. Don't forget to look at the opponent's hand before you engage into an important shootout!

Hiding in Shadows is crucial if you don't yet have Telepathy Helmet, or if you lost lowball. Otherwise you can play it on Steven Wiles.

Hot Lead Flyin' is extra casualties for the opponent. If you only have one, raise your hand rank to that of the opponent minus 2 (so that Mario stays alive). If you have two, make it a tie and play both -- 3 casualties is two dudes down.

Kidnappin' helps when nobody wants to mess with Mario on his terms. Especially useful against Clowns and Landslide.

Reserves will help you stay afloat early in the game until you get some deeds out, and will fund that Force Field later on.

Cheatin' Varming is a well-known combo with Force Field, nothing to add here.

Unprepared is super-useful against all those hucksters and armed dudes.


♠ The worst part about Mario Crane is his low value of 9. Any decent huckster will reliably paralyze him with every pull. That's why Rémy Lapointe is in the deck -- you start him instead of Mario when playing vs. The Fourth Ring. No more solo shootouts, gameplay is more straightforward here, but all the gadgets and actions are still pretty helpful.

6 comments
Jan 05, 2015 db0

A few suggestion. This deck relies A LOT on money, so your 8 deeds are not going to do you any favours here. I would go -1 HWG, -1 Telepathy, -1 Hiding (you don't need to get all that protection early on, before you're setup, it's useless anyway), -2 Kidnapping (you want it when ready, not turn 1), -3 Hot Lead Flying (You're not going to be going into THAT many shootouts. Also this is going to get stuck in your hand early on and it will suck).

Then I would add +3 One Good Turn (A bit more anti-cheating and money and you get to find your Force Fields faster), +1 Bobo (one more 6 for your structure that is easy to use), +4 Deeds (You're going to need that econ). Maybe even a Mechanical Horse to help with getting Mario where it's needed.

Jan 05, 2015 db0

Also I'd take Elander over True. True it's 1 less inf at the start, but 4 is plenty and you're going to need that early production.

Jan 07, 2015 mplain

Thanks for the advise, db0, I did some changes according to your suggestions. I start Elander Boldman now, and I swapped 1x Holy Wheel Gun for a Mechanical Horse. I also agree that Hot Lead Flyin' might be kind of a win-more card, so I replaced those with 3x One Good Turn and 1x Horse Wranglin'.

I am, however, reluctant to sacrifice my Straight Flush structure for more deeds. Maybe I will do so after more testing, but so far first turn Kidnappin' has been a great help against Clowns, and it is probably crucial vs. Landslide (though I didn't test it yet). The game against 4R is totally different, as I no longer rely on the combo, and must play more agressively, otherwise they'll just paralyze me and win by cutting my influence.

Jan 07, 2015 Otomo

Wow this looks like a lot of fun. I'm going to try it but push up to 10-11 deeds. Need that Deputy Kit to hit so that I can get some more Stevens. Has it been working better than other Morgan gadgets decks you've seen?

Jan 07, 2015 db0

Just publish the new version. It will appear in the "Inspiration for" column ;)

Feb 18, 2015 mplain

Note that this deck got a whole lot weaker after the recent ruling on the interaction between Telepathy Helmet + Unprepared.