Morgans Flyin Zombies

so against something like slide or spirit fortress, maybe really anything that doesnt use fighting as its preferred interaction, how do you effectively leverage all this money into winning?

Spirit fortress is actually a decent match up. As long as you have one of your harrowed guys with a force field and ornithopter that's game over for them. They can only pump out a limited number of spirit token dudes until you start chewing through their actual dudes (or they run home). This deck shoots pretty well with 16 x 2 & 8 x1 values, so you're typically either 1- winning shootouts, 2- losing by a small margin (small amount of GR to "win" with force field), or 3- losing by a large margin because of getting a bad cheating punishment, and that's really where the force field shines to bring you back up, and usually the only time you're spending lots of cash to "win" (this also implies they either got a really good non cheating hand, or cheated AND you have no cheating punishment - so overall it's not common).

Slide is a different beast. It's probably not a great match up, and if you expect it more in your meta I'd toss the mutant cattle, bio-charged, and maybe a couple of other things for some kidnappins.

In both cases Union Casino and Nicodemus can help, as well.

Dead bully is such an interesting tool for this deck, and I love it. He can give a free move to any of your near by dudes with a horse (including himself), he can even affect opposing dudes near him who have a horse.

If unprepared becomes to much of a problem, you might throw in a telepathy helmet or two. I know it's low value, but it can really help against unprepared.

What about swapping Mutant Cattle with Marty. MC risks failing a gadget pull when inventing, Marty boosts the MS skill and fits with the Q theme. Also, why not add more zombies, especially Mario Crane ?

@jaythejester So far unprepared hasn't been an issue for this deck, but it's bound to happen at some point. I like the idea of a telepathy helmet or two, for sure.

@Flash I originally started off with 2 mutant cattles, then went down to 1. So far, it's been very unimpressive, and I think tossing a marty in there instead is a great idea. The original idea was that they'd have to take 2 different casualties when I "lost" with force field, but it doesn't work that way. They just take an extra one right away, so it's 2 at once, instead of 2 separate casualties.

As for Mario Crane, I've gone back and forth with him. I originally took him out because if he flies into combat with ornithopter, I absolutely HAVE to cheat, otherwise whoever else he's flying in to save is screwed. I want to be able to choose him as the casualty - that's the whole point. I can see it either way, and haven't actually played a game with him in the deck so I will try that out.

@jaythejesterTelepathy Helmet doesn't actually protect your gadgets from Unprepared. See this ruling.

I made some changes and played some games last night.

Changes: -1 mutant cattle, +1 telepathy helmet, -1 Angela Payne, +1 Mario Crane I decided against Marty mostly because he can't be traded, and I typically don't want my Mad Scientists getting into fights. The bio-charged is only there for emergencies - plus it's always invented for free while Marty costs 2 GR.

Impressions: Telepathy Helmet is freakin amazing - might find space for another one. I played one game where I couldn't find a force field or Harold Aimslee to save my life, but at least I had a telepathy helmet against a whole onslaught of shotguns and Legendary Holsters. It helped a lot, but ultimately this deck has problems outshooting shootout decks without a force field. Screw the zombies, really, it's the force field that makes this deck.

Mario Crane was better than expected, and I'll keep him in there. Taking out Angela Payne weakens my draw structure slightly, but I was considering doing that anyway to bump up lowball wins a bit and let the force field do its magic.

Also, Arnold Stewart is freakin amazing. I used to have Kyle Wagner in there before Bad Medicine came out, but Arnold is sooo much better. He misses a lot, but even getting his ability to land once per game makes it very much worth it (plus the extra influence over Kyle helps a lot too). He puts a currency press to good use, where normally they'd only be used for A Slight Modification

@ProdigyThanks, I get what you mean about both Mario and Marty. Didn't realise you couldn't trade Marty so weakens his usefulness. (Still good on draw value though). I played this deck last night as well (slightly tweaked). Didn't draw a Ornithoper all night, and lost specksy in a kidnappin first round. In fact, my dudes were cut down till Paternson was the only one standing, but this deck made so much money by the end of the match I was back up to 9 influence on the board and won on points. Great deck and great concept

@Flash Nice! What tweaks did you end up making?

@Prodigy Sorry for the gap in the reply. I actually ended dropping every Q except General Store and ran 9s as a tertiary number instead. (Two more harrowed in Avie and Mario, and Old Marge's Manor might help with the force fields). I took your advice about at least one kidnappin' (couldn't fit more in) and I think one Le Mat Revolver as a cheatin' resolution is essential. I put in four ornithopters as I really want to see a flying zombie and didn't pull one in my first game, and added a few more zombies like Billy and the other Avie. I also added a Horse Wranglin to get the horse and thought Id Try a Siging over the stores (as its a 9). Still trying the deck out. One flaw Ive found was the lack of a stud makes it vulnerable to early judge or kidnappin's. Im going to try putting in Jackie Isham instead of either Smiley or Moone, not sure yet, just to guard against that.

@Prodigy Sorry, I know that sounds like a lot. Ive actually been playing this deck a fair bit since that first post so that was the sum of the tweaks of each game since then. The one thing that is consistant (Ive never yet been able to pull the magic three - Force Field, Zombie and Ornithopter) is the gold it makes. The press is a godsend for gadget decks and MS in general.

@Flash Got'cha. Personally, It's Not What You Know... is my favorite card in combat, since it either gives you 4 ranks for 2 GR (saving 2 GR with force field) or the natural combo is force field to even ranks, then play It's Not... to make you the winner (or do both, and suddenly you're the winner by 4 ranks!). It's those, plus sidekicks, plus zombies that really make the force field shine.

That's too bad you haven't gotten the magical three combo, I seem to get it at least every other game, but maybe that's because most of my games seem to go pretty long. The GR production is definitely nice. I love putting an ornithopter on Irving and just being totally belligerent with him. He just becomes almost an automatic +1GR every turn. It's also a great way to clear your hand of things like Unprepared if you're mostly looking for red cards.

Early Kidnappin's are rough, but that's expected with super early aggro decks. Usually it's ok unless they get multiple, but if you play against them often, Jackie is probably a good idea.

Thanks for the updates