Law Dogs 2nd Swiss 2020 Online Name a Card

Thanks to Pinebox and Joe James for running 2020's Name a Card online event, working hard to fill the gap in Doomtown organised play that would otherwise have been caused by the Covid pandemic. It was well attended, with 26 players signing up for weekly games.

I played a very vanilla Law Dogs deck to take the temperature of the broader environment, as this was a great opportunity for the playtest team to review the current environment. I felt much more comfortable playing a vanilla shootout deck due to the release of Magnum Rounds in Hell's Comin' With Me, as it helps manage hand rank manipulation like Calling The Cavalry and Hex Slingin'. These cards are a feature of a number of recent successful decks. Plus Magnum Rounds is free, boosts your bullets and cycles back in to your deck. A great package, but also an interesting deck building puzzle - it shares a value with Shotgun and sometimes you'll wish you had one rather than the other! Previously I tried including Virginia Ann Earp as an off value option and switching her in when I saw Morgan Regulators, but that means I might not have her against some Hex Slingin' decks and it sacrifices the powerful Hattie DeLorre from my starting line-up.

Standard non-skilled Law Dog starting posse, with a mix of a forced callout (Bounty Hunter), a strong shootout action (Sun in Yer Eyes) and forced removal to overcome attrition decks/outlast tied full houses (Point Blank). Cheatin' punishment is sprinkled in "off value" as I try to keep these in my hand and playing them off value gives me a broad range of options to choose between.

As this was mainly a "live environment" check for playtest purposes and as I get a chance to help with card names through my involvement with Pinebox I dropped out at second in Swiss ahead of the top 8 to give someone else a chance to participate.

As ever, thoughts/suggestions very welcome!

G1 David Avery Smith & Robards Trade Show

Typically for an online event I was drawn against a fellow Edinburgh player, a previous Marshal finalist who would go on to at least make the top 8 at this event (at the time of writing). Dave's deck has a much stronger mid/long game than mine due to Decimator Array and Disgenuine Currency Press, so I went after his Mad Scientists early with forced callouts via Bounty Hunter and attempting to "target" my Point Blank use via bullet reduction. 1-0

G2 Vincent Schwartz - Eagle Wardens

Another game where I felt compelled to rush my opponent, as his Outfit gave him very strong card draw. A Point Blank ended Alexander Sequoia and the Law Dogs subsequently hunted down the remaining opposition. I think Vincent had The Mixer in his starting posse - this dude is a real challenge for Law Dog decks due to the popularity of "Thunder Boy" Nabbe. I think the Mixer is good - reasonably priced and can be used to protect your own dudes or remove buffs on opposing dudes. 2-0

G3 Josh's 108 Drunken Masters

Josh was piloting a Nicodemus Whateley blitz deck. He got the 2CP deed he wanted on T1 but I had a Fancy New Hat and a hand back with strong actions. With my opponent only having one card in hand (Siege Of The Orphanage), I was able to Cheatin' Five of a Kind to victory on T1. 3-0

G4 David Hogg's The Spiritual Society (I think?)

A great game and a long game! Each Point Blank only managed to get rid of a 1GR bullet catcher for most of the game bar one that picked off a lone Wei Xu, and Dave's Mariel Lewis was tooled up with a Peacemaker so I had trouble dropping his hand ranks. Inner Struggle latched on to my home and wouldn't budge as my relatively tight deck kept cheatin' in low ball while Dave's didn't - this ultimately proved decisive as Dave sat on my deeds and edged each shootout due to the hand rank penalty, his strong actions on dudes/cards. My best shot at winning had passed me by in an earlier turn, as having dropped Dave's pair of dudes with influence down to only draw he managed to top deck a legal full house without even needing his draw. I wailed and gnashed my teeth, but lord knows I've done the same often enough and his strong play took full advantage of the opening. But encouraging to know my deck might have prevailed on a different day. 3-1

G5 DeVon Green's Desolation Row

DeVon's Desolation Row club straight flush deck is a terror to face event when you're familiar with it! It packs a wave of actions and can overwhelm you with strong actions, so you generally need several studs in a fight or to force multiple fights in a day. Law Dogs have a slightly better match-up here due to their anti-wanted cards, and after several entertaining skirmishes I was able to force a win. A good game, with a number of smaller shootouts taking place. 4-1