Sixes and Sevens (NA 2018 Top 4)

The genesis of this deck was Grim Servant O' Death with the Full Moon Brotherhood – on offense, their crucial dude can't join; on defense, your Agent Provocateur will be at home to not join. TLDR: 4-1 in the Swiss (losing to eventual second place), won the quarterfinal, conceded the semifinal.

Round 1 vs. Thunder Boy Nabbe (Justice In Exile). I wasn't cheating enough for him to bounty all my guys. The key to this game occurred when he pulled a job (Kidnappin', I think) on a wanted dude of mine, and I defended with two non-wanted dudes, obviating his Law Dog shenanigans. 1–0.

Round 2 vs. Robert Newara (Original Sloane). Robert was camping with Allie Hensman in town square, with Barton Everest as backup. I turned off Barton and had enough Cheatin' punishment to punch through. 2–0.

Round 3 vs. Dustin Horn (Morgan Regulators/Hellstromme). Dustin built up a nice array of studs with Yagn's, despite my best efforts to ace and disable his Gadgets. We were in a shootout when time was called; rather than take his guaranteed victory on time, Dustin decided to stay in the shootout, and lost to Lady Luck. (Figuratively, not the card.) 3–0.

Round 4 vs. Rich Carter (Full Moon Brotherhood). Rich's Forgets stopped my Agent Provocateur from bringing Ivor Hawley into play, and after he Kidnapped The Ghostly Gun, I didn't have enough influence to contest his deeds. 3–1.

Round 5 vs. Stephen Holder (Protection Racket). Stephen's job fu was powerful, but he was unlucky enough to Cheat during lowball a couple of times while I had a Fetch in play, meaning his Fiddle Games weren't sticky enough. He Established Who's in Charge twice, and I was able to sit on both of those deeds and Summon a couple of Abominations; he ended up not being able to afford the upkeep for both Antoine Peterson and The Fixer at the same time. 4–1.

I was surprised and pleased to make Top 8! Unfortunately, I knew I had to leave Indianapolis at 2, so I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to make the final. After my mirror match with Carter in Round 4, I decided it would be worth it to start with Ambrose Douglas over Christine Perfect for Top 8. This proved to be the correct decision.

Top 8 vs. Chase Causey (The 108 Righteous Bandits). My home was able to blank both Longwei Fu and Randall, thanks to Ambrose Douglas. Despite some attrition (losing two dudes to a Jael's Guile!), I was able to shoot well enough, and punish Cheatin' enough, to reduce Chase to three dudes and no permanent influence (only Amazing Grace remained). This game went to the warning, but I ended up securing two control points, which was all I needed.

Top 4 vs. James Meredith (108 Drunken Masters). I got hit with an early Inner Struggle and lost Black Owl, but somehow after that I was never cheatin' when Joe wasn't. This might be partially due to my This'll Hurt in the Mornin's skewing his deck such that he was cheatin' more often. Whatever the case, he wasn't able to inflict any serious damage, and my robust suite of weird Shootout and Cheatin' abilities kept me mostly safe, although neither of us were able to develop the town much (I remember 2-3 deeds per street). At the 55-minute warning, I knew I wouldn't be able to stay for the final game even if I were to win, so I conceded.

Changes I would make: swap out The Whateley Estate for a third Sight Beyond Sight; ditch Christine Perfect for maybe Henry Moran (I never used her action, not once).

Thanks to everyone for a great event and a great weekend!