Hunting Grounds 3rd - Tokens (J-Q-K) (15-15-11)

Reporting in from the Hunting Grounds event in Cambridge, MA at Pandemonium where I went 2-1, good enough for third place in the field of six. This is the first deck I've made that I feel like I can really call my own; most other decks I make are slightly modified versions of decks I find on this helpful website. In this case though, I was inspired from a somewhat unlikely place: (https://dtdb.co/en/decklist/2935/clown-grinder). The purpose of that deck was to feed Abominations to Quimby with Undertaker in play, and then recur them. I thought I would take a step further - using free tokens from Many Speak as One with Charging Bear or No Turning Back to get money off my Undertaker. The Pack Awakens flowed from being on Q for No Turning Back, and then Nicodemus loves when Ancestors vote for him.

How'd the Deck Work: It worked...okay. I never played Point Blank, it should probably become Winning Agenda or something. The deck doesn't have enough Stud (though this never actually came back to bite me, it always felt like it should). Law Goes Underground I thought would turn in to an eject with my tokens, but No Turning Back already kind of covers you if you have a bad draw. The deck probably wants a third Nicodemus Whateley, as I never drew him and he would have helped a ton. Four starting influence isn't enough. The home does kind of cover you, but I don't have enough Totems to spread out and still gain the bonus, which was a problem at times. The deck needs another kill job (maybe Curse of Failure). The Js are clearly the point of the deck, but not sure the other values are doing enough.

Round 1: Ian Oneail (Protection Racket Slide).

This is my new fastest game of Doomtown ever! I am proud of myself for IMMEDIATELY identifying this as Slide, as he is starting something like 7 Influence. I say something off hand, and Ian downplays it saying he doesn't want to be slid against, but I don't buy it. That being said, after I move around and do some stuff, and he is passing I spend my money to drop Undertaker. He immediately plays the second Rumors for the turn and I lose immediately. Ian says his deck does this a lot, but it took 2 Rumors, and if I had not been an idiot/not lost lowball and had one more GR I can just play a totem and gain 4+ Influence. We replay it and as I suspected I'm able to grind it out. With a kill job it would have been easier. Blehhhhhhhh. (0 - 1)

Round 2: Matt (Law Dogs)

Matt played a lot of classic, but I believe is new to DTR. He was playing some generically good Law Dogs stuff. Shotgun is extremely scary to my starting gang as both my Shaman are in range. We have a nice game. (1 - 1)

Round 3 Jason Pere (Law Dogs/Stone)

I immediately put a Pack Awakens on my home and just stay there. I actually feel pretty safe between the token and Charging Bear if he decides to try to come in to me. This one is kind of long with a lot of chess. Eventually it gets to the point where it looks like we are both going to have more CP than INF, but I'm able to knock him down a bit. He uses my Railroad Station to get to his out of town deed where Old Man McDroste is, and starts a fight, but we are both just draws. I win it (I think I cheat to a 5oK off 2 draw. Yay). (2 - 1)

Good enough for 3rd! Emre has six playmats, so we take turns drafting them. I end up with DJ Black Elk anyway! (Huzzah!). I'm very excited to get the mat, it's excellent.

Props: Charging Bear, Mazatl, Many Speak as One, No Turning Back, the deck concept.

Slops: Point Blank, The Law Goes Underground.

General Thoughts: Moving Forward is actually pretty good, and people should probably talk about it more as lowball punishment. The winner of the event was playing Hit 'n Run Legendary Holster, and even though I like him personally, I'm glad I didn't have to play him. LH is bad for the game IMO. This deck needs more token generation that isn't on a totem. Spirit Dance is possible, but failing it's own check is pretty tough. I think I'm going to take a break from First Peoples for a bit. It's too hard to get viable stud, and there is so much upkeep in this faction.

Thanks for reading this far!

Votes:

Hero: Three-Eyed Hawk - She needs some more screen time, and I'd love to see a new version to fit in to some sidekick decks coming soon.

Death: Zachary Deloria - His job is to go down swinging, protecting someone of high influence. What a dramatic death that could be!