The Dead Spirit's Society (1st Place - 2022 Marshall Online)

This is the first deck I’ve made that I’m actually proud of. It started with a desire to make a Dead Man's Hand (DMH) deck, which I’ve never been able to pull off before. I first asked myself what home/faction would be best for DMH and I very quickly landed on The Spiritual Society.

Overall Strategy: This deck is half shooter/half slide. It’s important to get your economy up quickly to fuel the slide, but more important is to take over town square in order to activate your key abilities on Marcia and Alexander. While cycling for DMH is powerful, this deck shoots pretty well even when DMH doesn’t hit thanks to plenty of off suit cards on the DMH values, so don’t be afraid to go all in early. However, the jokers are the key to reliably winning shootouts, so once they’re gone you need to play a bit more conservatively. The Joker’s Smile is fantastic but can’t be relied on with only one copy. Checking the discard before accepting a callout is a must. The starting dudes make this deck what it is, so use their abilities wisely. Don’t forget to use your home ability, either to keep your opponent’s powerful dude out of a key fight, or to lock down a dude so they can’t decline your call out.

Starting posse:

• Marcia Ridge – Probably my favorite card in the deck. Her ability is so incredibly powerful, and her high influence fuels Zachary. Keep her in town square and make sure you’re constantly aware of what abilities are available on deeds.

• Zachary Deloria – The core of your starting offense. Two dudes with two influence in your starting posse means he’s generally a 2 stud with no upkeep, but when paired with the influence raising deeds (e.g. Yan Li’s, Mayor’s Office) he becomes a powerhouse. +1 influence when in town square is simply a bonus.

• The Mixer – The most underappreciated card. His ability is incredibly powerful. I learned after making the deck that it can be used both offensively and defensively. Also, keep in mind that it applies both prospectively (to prevent future bullet modifications) and retrospectively (to clear previous modifications). Make sure to save it for when it’s most impactful. I typically use it to protect Zachary.

• Alexander Sequoia – Another underrated card. Discarding an extra card at sundown is great for DMH cycle. You’re going to want to discard your weakest cards, but really force yourself to cycle your DMH values even if they’re better in hand. His ability is surprisingly useful for the chess aspect of the game. Typically, I’ll move him to an opponent’s deed to bait their dudes, then once they move to fight me, I boot to town square, unboot with the ability, and take over a different deed. This effectively lets him play at 3 different deeds.

• Jacqueline Isham – This is the last dude I picked for the starting posse. I knew I didn’t want to spend more than 3 to keep the starting wealth at 2, and Jaqueline was perfect. Try to get the opponent to be the one to issue the call out to trigger her ability. She’s typically my first sacrifice since she’s zero influence.

Deeds: There are plenty of cheap 2/1 deeds to get the economy started. The abilities synergize well with the overall strategy, including influence boost and card cycle. Unless it will win you the game, never play the J deeds since you need them for DMH.

Dudes: Daomei and El Anonimo are mainly for DMH values, but are also cheap defense and offense in a pinch. Don’t be afraid to play them, if only to cycle. Smiling Frog is the strongest of the non-starting dudes. For 4 GR, you get a 2/3 stud dude (with his ability) that also helps to cycle cards.

Actions: This’ll Hurt in the Morning is your go-to cheating res. Don’t be afraid to use it during low ball to ace opponent cards that are key for their draw structure, especially when they’re also running DMH. Establishing Who’s in Charge is great for a surprise control point and will typically go unopposed as it can target your deeds and you will typically control town square. Meet the New Boss is another way to generate control, and even though it’s risker since it marks town square the permanent influence is a great synergy with Zachary. I like to run this as early as possible to minimize the impact of giving up control of town square. Overall, you want to cycle your A and 8’s for DMH whenever possible.

Goods: Feathered Friend is a cheap sidekick for soaking casualties. La Quema is expensive but very powerful, especially considering that posse removal is a weakness of this deck.

Pros:

• Shoots well with or without DMH, but once you get your DMH rolling it’s practically unstoppable in a shootout.

• Plenty of deeds

• Abundant card cycle

• Really powerful synergies and starting dude abilities

• Great chess tools

Cons:

• Can suffer if you lose lowball and can’t get your economy going

• Vulnerable to posse removal, since your stud power is concentrated

• Not too many offensive shootout abilities

• Not much forced callout