6-0 GenCon 2022 Marshal Badge Event Winning Decklist

Alright, lets go over some important card choices for the deck. Probably the most important and last minute addition to the deck was Johnny Brocklehurst. I have always used Andrew Burton in the past because he allows you to make your opponents most important dude wanted before the game begins, and he allows you to run a job as your first action before your opponent gets to do anything if you win lowball which this deck does a lot with all the off value actions. With that being said Andrew has to boot to perform the effect and he has no influence. Johnny gives the deck one more starting influence and a useful effect with the Law Dogs outfit in exchange for the job being a little slower. I was absolutely thrilled with this change and it felt like one of the pieces I had been missing all along. Johnny allowed me to use himself to make most people wanted which freed up Thunder Boy and the judge to go out and do the killin. Speaking of Thunder Boy, he was also another super important choice. I was hesitant to start him because starting him and the judge meant that I had no starting income. It's usually not a good idea to tie up all your starting income but I knew that with those two I would have a pretty good chance in most shootouts since I would have access to two studs before playing a shootout action so I was willing to take the gamble and it paid off. As far as other non dude card choices for the deck I wanted to be on 8's because of how good Pedro is. A 0 costed sidekick is nutso and I wanted access to them because the deck is always in shootouts and with shootouts come casualties. Having free bullet catchers is exactly what this deck wants and since cash is already low having any 0 costed useful goods is always welcome. This is also why Magnum Rounds was chosen. A 0 costed useful goods that could stop any potential calling the cavalry decks made it a no brainer for the deck. Shoutout to Harlath who recommended them to me as they were not even on my radar. I was using Bowie Knife (which is also a great card) before but sometimes my deck doesn't always have the extra cash to pay for it so Magnum Rounds was wonderful. With 3's being my other value in my draw structure I was able to play one of the best shootout actions in the game in Sun in Yer Eyes. That card can and has won me many shootouts by itself and even with it changing in the weird west edition it will still see tons of play imho. The rest of the deck was filled with powerful shootout and cheatin resolution actions to help turn shootouts in my favor. Any shootout or cheatin punishment cards yall think I missed?

Round 1: I am paired up against Laura and her 108 Gracious Gifts deck. Her deck is pretty aggressive and she attempts a kidnappin on the judge before the judge is able to hang someone within the first couple actions on the first turn. I remember I was able to successfully thwart the job and then later in the turn I went to hang someone and the judge ended up dying as a casualty during the shootout. Laura's posse was severely thinned out after the two shootouts, but since I lost the judge I was unable to force her into anymore shootouts in the following turns and it led us to sitting around for multiple turns while I tried to find control points and she tried to rebuild her posse. Eventually I was able to get some control points in play and force a shootout that I was able to win that gave me the win at the end of the turn.

Round 2: I am paired up against a gentlemen (sorry I forget your name) playing Protection Racket. After having to read, re-read and then read the outfit for a third time we get the game under way. I don't know why but I couldn't for the life of me comprehend what that outfit did for the longest time lol! I don't remember a lot about this game but I stuck to the decks game plan of hangin the most important opposing dude every turn until I could create a situation where their influence was getting low enough that I could create a fight that my opponent had to take part in. I remember the last bloody fight taking place at the orphanage. Poor kids had bullets flying everywhere! I was able to win that fight and win at the end of turn.

Round 3: I was paired up against Antonio playing Desolation Row. Part of me was happy when I saw the outfit because it meant I could spend less time making his dudes wanted because he would make them wanted himself. The other part of me was unsure because a desolation row deck needs to be able to shoot well to make sure their job succeeds. Either way I knew these games would be fairly quick since we both would be running jobs the other player would be opposing. He runs his outfits job early on and I chose not to oppose to let him make Milt wanted so I could then attempt a hangin on Milt. I then proceed to run a job to hang Milt and I forget how everything shakes out but I remember Milt ended up getting hung. The following turn I believe he sends his entire posse on his outfits job and I send everyone to oppose and it ends up in a mega shootout in town square where the law dogs came away with a win.

Round 4: Indy playing Oddities of Nature. I remember in this game she got a jacksons strike out early and I sent thunder boy to sit on it the entire game to try and choke her economy out because I couldnt get any economy going either. There was one important shootout in particular where she had a dude with a claws attached that I played a sun in yer eyes. She didnt seem to think that it worked because of the wording on claws but I asked Lapp and Carter and it was explained to us that it would work because SIYE targets the dude and not the claws. With her character getting turned into a draw it dramatically shifted the shootout and I was able to kill multiple dudes and it swung the momentum in my direction. A turn or two later with Indy unable to play cards in her hand because she didn't have the income for them and me jobbing her dudes every turn I was able to force an end to the game and win in a deciding shootout.

Top 4: Laura playing her 108 Gracious Gifts again. This game started out pretty similar to the first game in that she jobbed the judge before I was able to hang one of her dudes. During the shootout I thought for sure I was about to lose because even though I was drawing 8 cards and redrawing 3 the best hand I was able to muster was a two pair. I couldn't have even cheated to make my hand better. I thought it was all over...except the best hand she could muster was a two pair as well! Both of us couldn't believe what had just happened but we took our casualties and moved on. I ended up successfully defending the job and then played a dude in preparation for the hangin I was about to attempt on her hamshanks. Problem was she played a Dynamite JACC which effectively prevented me from jobbing her anymore until I could find an unprepared. My posse can't handle an extra +2 casualties on top of the shootout itself. It was either next turn or the following one but I was able to find the unprepared and was able to unprepared JACC and win in a big bloody shootout. This game was super close and a lot of fun. Great game Laura!

Finals: Antonio playing Desolation Row. I will not spoil the match details because I know there is a recording that will be posted soon but this was an extremely fun rematch of our round 3 game. I encourage everyone to check it out!

Well that was a lot lol! If you got this far thanks for reading! I hope someone gets some enjoyment out of my tournament report. I had a blast playing the law dogs for the final old timer event and I'm glad the judge was able to bring so many unlawful people to justice for this last event. Be on the lookout for my next card: JACC's Dynamite. :-)

Congratulations on the Marshal badge, and looks like a fun list!

I was running the same draw structure, and I gotta say it's fun but unless you have a good amount of stud it can be very unpredictable. Your shootout with Laura of the 2-pair even with drawing 8 changing 3 is a good example of how a game could have ended right there (willa helps of course, but not when its defending against a kill job).

Did you ever go for a flush/SF, or was it pretty much always going for 3's and 8's?

Otherwise definitely a fun list with a powerhouse line up like Sun in Yer Eyes, Unprepared, Pinned Down and Ricochet!

I see what you’re saying about the draw structure being unpredictable but over the course of the entire tourney that was the only hand that was like that. I usually had between 8-10 stud in most shootouts between thunder boy, the gunslinger, and the shootout actions.

When it came to shootouts I was usually looking to make full houses and 4oak’s with my 3’s and 8’s. I think over the course of the entire tourney I made 3 straight flushes and two of them were with the help of a joker. I never forced it but if it looked like it was a possibility I tried to make it happen. The straight flush usually was enough to turn shootouts in my favor too. So it didn’t happen very often but when it did it mattered every time.