Fourth Ring Shooter

Pretty offense heavy deck. My two concerns are: 1) What happens if you're opponent doesn't want to play ball and wants to avoid shootouts? (I'd suggest running 1 coach comes to town to try to force fights); 2) Cheating seems like it's a big problem, do you find that to be the case? How do you approach, say, an anti-cheating Law Dog deck?

I'm not sure why you find this deck offence heavy. To me it's a regular 8s-centered build. And it doesn't even want to get into shootouts. All it wants is to paralyze dangerous enemies dudes, shadow-walk around town to occupy enemy deeds, and then cut the opponent's influence with multiple Blood Curses and Rumors.

Mongwau is more Kidnappin' protection than anything, and Steven is a missile that harasses enemies and contests deeds, and is perfect for the Recruitment Drive.

Shootout structure here is solid enough to support reliable legal full house. The only thing this deck's missing, in my opinion, is a couple of Cheatin' Varmint or Magical Distraction to punish the opponent cheatin'.

I would replace Wilber with Micah, because Mongwau is vulnerable to Shotgun anyway, and you have to play around it. I'd say you either go full-on bulletproof (high value starting dudes), or plan to catch the shotgun-weilding dude Unprepared.

P.S. Ok, now I see that it's actually 1x Rumors + 3x Reserves here. Oops. I'd go with 4x Rumors because it's a primary win condition for this type of deck.

Also, I think that it is a mistake not to play jokers in 4R. They provide a definite advantage, with no real drawback (thanks to build-in card cycling).

I play a similar deck but with 10/J/Qs. Must admit after seeing this that dropping Qs for 8s sounds better. Aces in the hole will also get dropped for P Mark.

Mongwau is also in my starting line up as Sloane/Kidnapping can destroy you (especially if they have Travis to hunt twice for it lol). Makes sense seeing how good Sloane is dominant to build strong to it. Though I now fear playing Law Dogs haha!

Would love to hear/see any other starting crew for 4th Ring.

:)

I play a very similar deck, very fun once it gets going. I agree with mplain a couple of cheatin' varmints are great especially when combined with hex slingin'. I use Micah in my starting posse to hop all over the town and force my opponent to start defending his own deeds then trap them there.

My starting posse is Mong/Arnold/Micah though tempted to throw in Travis to get the important hex's in particular match-ups.

I've had some success with Wilber Crowley, Travis Moone, Dulf Zug, and Arnold McCadish as my starting crew. I find 4R has more success when they manipulate the shootout instead of attempting to out muscle someone.

Wakachow, no offence as they both are good cards but why Wilber over Micah? Is it based on Wilber getting Blood Curse off?

You're right mplain, don't know where I got that "offense heavy" analysis. Might have been the dudes that led me to that conclusion: Steven, Mong, Ghostly Gun, and Kevin.

But yeah, if you're going for a control deck, add more rumors. Jokers are always a good thing. Travis too, you never know when a bum starting hand will put you back a few turns.

Like @spyke7977, what do you do if you run in Landslide that keeps running away for example? I put together a similar deck in which I added 2 Kidnappin' for this reason exactly.

Second, how is the economy? I would be tempted to swap a Hex Slingin' or two for "A Coach Comes to Town", mainly for econ, maybe it can bait out some opponents also.

Like for many people, the starting constellation is a bit of a problem. Any idea on how Kevin starting for Mongwau would work (and of course replacing Mongwau with an additional Avie or Jia or even a Blood Curse or cool action, such as the mentioned Kidnappin')

I don't think swapping Hex Slingin' for A Coach Comes To Town is a good idea.

4R wins by carefully choosing its battles, by spreading the opposition thin and booting enemy dudes in different places. It wants few shootouts, and it wants to come well-prepared. You're suggesting engaging into more shootouts while being less prepared. Any good combat-oriented deck will still kick your butt with Sun In Yer Eyes and Pinned Down and the like, they just have more tricks than you do. And for less aggressive decks, Coach will not lure them out any more than Recruitment Drive. No, I wouldn't cut Hex Slingin'.

Why do you need Kidnappin if you have Paralyze Mark? Doesn't it serve a similar purpose? Trap their dudes when they move, chase them with Shadow Walk, and shoot them dead!

I actually used to start both Mongwau and Kevin, that was pretty decent. Kevin cannot do anything against 1st click Kidnappin' though. And that's the prime reason why you need a stud in the first place, right?

You might be right on Coach vs. Slingin' I haven't tried that so canät say.

I've played regularly against Landslide that runs away, it is very hard to catch them and generally even when they are "trapped" at a deed they "Make the Smart Choice" out of there. Another time they had Clementine at a Casino, she can not be called out and she just stayed there pumping out the control points. Kidnappin' would help in both these situations, as well as getting rid of dudes at their homes with no tricks in the world able to help save them.

Problem with Kevin for Wilbur is higher upkeep, too high, no? I haven't had much problem with T1 Kidnappin, nor decks that would shoot much better than this, though they might have some tricks too. Still, in case they shoot as well or better they'll probably lose lowball and don't get first action.

I wasn't saying throw out all Hex Slingin' rather have one or maybe two coaches to get more cash against primarily land slide, to be able to get my dudes out, maybe I'm teching too much against Landslide? So still, even if the shooting deck has some tricks, so do I, both in form of Blood Curse and unprepared and Hex Slingin'

Guess I'll have to try it out more and see what works best.

I'm teching too much against Landslide?

I think that's the point. I was there myself. Once you start teching against fleeing decks, suddenly a rogue Sloane comes and attacks your main shooter. At first you can't really figure out why would anyone do something that stupid. Then he kills your main shooter, all his friends and family. Because once you focus on chasing those who run away, you forget that they might turn around and show teeth :)

I'd say that a good aggressive deck will still outshoot the clowns in an all-in gunfight.

Might be right, maybe the Hexes, 4 Rumors and Recruitment Drive (???) is enough. Spekaing of, the card seemed out of place to me, why not 2 additional Unprepared in that case? Or something else, unprepared just seems like not the best fit.

Unprepared is actually an excellent card that's always useful (unlike Forget) - it hoses enemy hexes, weapons, Pistol Whips, and you can also use it strategically to make Travis boot some dangerous dude and his horses to prevent him from moving any further (after he kills Travis =_=)

Recruitment Drive does the same job as A Coach Comes To Town, just like you described - economy and possible trap. It's less risky, though, and it's easier to replace Unprepared (even though it's pretty good) rather than Hex Slingin' (which is crucial in this deck).

The exact proportion between Unprepared and Recruitment Drive is a matter of playtesting and metagame, I guess. Depends on what you face more oftern.

I agree with dropping A Coach and that 4th Ring is more about getting the right shootouts. I would consider starting Mongwau, Micah and Arnold - my preNTNR solid starting posse. However after NTNR I have been experiencing getting extra influence on the board mainly to stop Sloane Aggro from an easy turn 2 win.

I think that the way I play 4th Ring is more about playing the opponent than playing your own game. Find out how he is shooting, how aggressive he is - if you are the hunter or the hunted, boot him and take the fight to him when you have a good chance to punish him.

Oh, unless you really want to keep that Queen I would get rid of Jia - I have not yet experienced that she was worth it.