Den of Dudes

Gencon 2022 Marshal list

Continuing on my new obsession of flush/SF on spades, although this one is a little more reasonable with 2 values at 15/16. Top contender for the most fun deck I've ever made - there's nothing more fun than having a dozen or more dudes on the board, even if half or more of them don't have influence.

Main goal of this deck was to cheat through the pain, even in a world where Richochet exists. If you scout their hand with Rico Rodegain, or see it in a discard pile, its easy enough to choose a throw-away dude as your shooter in most instances. The most annoying cheatin res this deck can face is Inner Struggle, but unless they have more than one, Barton and the Den of Thieves can still make up for it.

I did a good amount of tweaking and playtesting before Gencon, and I made 2 changes I horribly regret: 1) Removing x1 Outlaw Mask from the deck: this was in my Aces/5s version, and really needed 1 to be in this deck, searchable by Doomsday Supply for facing decks that stay at home, to all but guarantee a win at time, especially if put on Fred Aims

2) Not putting 1-2 Kidnappins in: I relied on Allie to be the main win condition, but really needed it in game 1 for my opponents fred aims

Other than that, I'm really happy with it. Sometimes you build a deck that does surprisingly well in an event, and sometimes you build a deck you expect to do really well and it falls kinda flat. This time was the latter, as I think the deck is much better than my 2-2 showing at the event (and one of those wins was a bye). I was going to drop from the cut if I made it, but wanted to give it my all up to that point.

We had 13 folks at the event, but naturally we had mostly veterans, who brought solid decks and solid plays! Happy to get my butt handed to me, and had a blast at this last official old timer Marshal!

Game 1: vs Greg w/ Desolation Row

Saw 4 dudes and a kidnappin in his opening hand, and played a little defensively while expecting the kidnappin to hit Barton or Jake. The moment he kidnapped his own dude, I knew exactly what was going on and was very aggressive from that point on. I'd played against this type of deck several times and knew I had to put influence on the board ASAP, as that deck can build to 8+ control points by turn 2-3 sometimes. Hired guns and having lots of dudes helped a lot, and I was never really in danger of being overwhelmed with control. I doled out a few casualties in a couple of different shootouts at an out of town kidnappin against my lone 2-bullet draw (luke and/or christine I think), but eventually he smartly stopped going after my out of town dudes and just went against his own.

Maybe halfway through the game I got Allie Hensman and Fred Aims on the board, but it was probably too late, and it was almost assured the game was going to time. From my home's bounty going to Fred and having Allie, I was getting 1CP and 1 influence (plus any additional dudes) each turn, but it wasn't enough.

This was the game with the most dudes on the table I've ever seen - I think at the end I counted between 32-34 dudes on the table, with 17 of them being mine! Total hilarity and madness, and I loved it! I was at 20 influence and he was at 22, but he had 11 control to my 7ish, so he was the clear winner at time. Fun game, where I desperately missed having an Outlaw Mask or a kidnappin.

Game 2: Bye, booo :(

Game 3: Laura with 108 Gracious Gifts

When I try to remember this I get confused with this match and our match the previous day in the Legends event. I think this was the game she got 3-4 deeds pretty quickly, along with a kidnappin or two early, and stopped me from being able to build up my dudes/board. One notable fight was my Christine who was a 4 stud thanks to my Charlies and a pearl handed revolver. She fought solo vs Bai Yang Chen and "Dynamite" Jacc, beating them by 3 ranks, but Jacc did what Jacc does and made sure all 3 dudes died! I think that was the nail in my coffin, and I couldn't keep up with all the control points. Quick and brutal death!

Game 4: John with Law Dogs

We also played multiple games so my memory is fuzzy, but I simply remember cheatin' like a mad man, and him not having nearly enough cheatin punishment to deal with it. I think I got an early Allie, and combined with a bunch of dudes hanging out in the town square, we just cheated and Allie'd our way to victory. I was worried about his Tommy, but I was able to luck into a pistol whip or two to continue my dirty cheatin' ways unimpeded.

Fun event, and was happy to get some post-event games in as well!