Golden Balls (1st Place; Quezon City, Philippines)

published Jan 27, 2015 | | |
Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
Brass Bullets, Brass Balls. 20 39 22
Inspiration for
Sloane 4/5/7 1 1 0

moveslikejuaber 81

I took mysticpickle44's "Brass Bullets, Brass Balls (http://dtdb.co/en/decklist/259/brass-bullets-brass-balls-) and one of the comments suggesting to change a value, and used it in a 16-man tournament held in Ludo Boardgame Cafe last January 22, 2015 for the first OP kit here in the Philippines. Since NTNR isn't officially released here yet, only core set cards were allowed. The deck went 3-1 during the Swiss rounds, taking out Fourth Ring Suicide Squad, Straight Flush Sloane, and Dudes n' Deeds Morgan, before succumbing to DMH Sloane during the last round. However, I managed to get enough pretige points to get into Top 2, where I had my rematch with DMH Sloane. It was a bloodbath, with EVERYBODY dead on both sides, and a lone B&B Attorneys on my end for the win.

It plays like how its predecessor works: Force a fight solo and give them a tough time with insane shootout hands. I have even won games where I just brought Silas Aims out and drew five cards straight into a four-of-a-kind. LEGAL.

The big difference is the value. 4B used 3s, 4s, and 7s. I used to run that, but I wasn't happy with Shotgun, since it has a limit as to who I can target to. To make it worse, since I barely win lowball, my shotgun dude just gets soul blasted or holstered before he could even act. I tried trading Sun in Yer Eyes, Tommy Harden, and Ramiro Mendoza for the switch, and personally it was worth it. Pistol Whip lets you isolate a powerful dude for a later fight (such as Barton Everest or Steven Wiles), leaving the rest of the posse greatly weakened. Pearl-handled Revolver is a god send, since your starters are all draws. Travis Moone (THE BADDEST MAN IN THE WEST) with the revolver allows you to draw into a full house as a minimum. Charlie's Place and Pearly's Palace are highly useful, increasing your offense by a lot. Lastly, Pancho Castillo and Barton Everest are great solo fighters, with a strong 3-stud for the former and a strong trait for the latter.

Piloting this deck requires a ton of timing, dude positioning, and all-out guts. You can't just go gung-ho into a fight. Knowing when to attack and how is vital to its success.

ADDED!!!

Planned upgrades with New Town, New Rules:

-2 Androcles; +2 Ulysses Marks

Ulysses is a no-brainer, same stats as the Colonel, with the ability to kick somebody out.

-2 Kidnappin; +2 Hired Help

I have tested this with proxies, and it is great! Being able to surprise people with an extra dude (and a 2-stud, at that) is neat new trick

-2 Whiskey Flask; +2 Faithful Hound

Still in two mind about this, as the doggy is 4 to play. I worth it though, would wreck a ton of goods-centric decks (hexes, holsters, etc)

8 comments
Jan 27, 2015 mplain

The last paragraph in particular is quite intriguing. I thought that the deck piloted itself, you just send one of your dudes to attack the enemy, and if they fail, you send another one. Would be very interesting to hear about the finer aspects of timing and positioning when playing this deck.

Jan 27, 2015 Gazette_Alex

Grats on the large turn out!

Jan 27, 2015 moveslikejuaber

@Gazette_Alex thanks! I'm glad there are a lot of people to play with here in our little ol' Philippine community.

``@mplain` I thought so too, at first. But after a lot of losses, I realized that while that tactic is still viable (especially as a last ditch effort), there is a deeper level of play. For example: knowing how many cards he has in his hand can my aggression. If he doesn't play any permanents, then he might have strong action cards, so I force them out by fighting him with a zero inf dude such as Silas Aims.

Another factor is what cards am I holding. If it's full of actions, then I can fight straight out. If I have a dude or two, then I can take more risks, knowing that I could replace him. If I have deeds, I play a bit more passively, slowly establishing control and tempo as I empty my hand of deeds and replenish them with (hopefully) dudes and actions.

There are a ton more factors, such as if I have Pearl-handled Revolver or not, as that can greatly power up my main dude TRAVIS MOONE.

As for positioning, I learned a lot from fighting 4th Ring decks. You can't always just chase people down, especially when you run towards deeds. Sometimes you have to stay in town square to protect Allie Hensman, or there are even times when I didn't leave my home at all during the first few turns! It's just a matter of reading opponents, I suppose.

Jan 27, 2015 Nakata

About your last paragraph : "Still in two mind about this, as the doggy is 4 to play. I worth it though, would wreck a ton of goods-centric decks (hexes, holsters, etc)"

Keep in mind Hexes and other kind of spells (to come in a maybe near future) are not goods. So the Dog will only eat higher value goods.

Jan 27, 2015 moveslikejuaber

Gosh dang it! =( Well, at least it can eat rifles and holsters.

Mar 18, 2015 maxwelljrj

Hello, as a new player I was refereed here as a good Sloane starter deck. Do you have any updates with the newer cards?

Mar 19, 2015 moveslikejuaber

Hi @maxwelljrj! Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to a) Add the new card in other than Hired Help and MAYBE Allie Hensman; and b) With Puppet, Paralysis Mark, and a slew of new cards, this deck is having a hard time keeping up. I'll try to update this soon though, and thanks!

Mar 19, 2015 moveslikejuaber

Hi @maxwelljrj! Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to a) Add the new card in other than Hired Help and MAYBE Allie Hensman; and b) With Puppet, Paralysis Mark, and a slew of new cards, this deck is having a hard time keeping up. I'll try to update this soon though, and thanks!