Knoxville Sheriff event Winner

I've been playing some variation of this deck since I started having success with this deck back in April: http://dtdb.co/en/decklist/854/knoxville-friday-night-gunfight-winner

The Knoxville Sheriff event had 13 players. 3 came from KY, where we attended an event earlier this year and 1 came from Atlanta where we will be playing next week. This deck went undefeated in Swiss and lost one game in a best of 3 during the top 4. Since I had won the first round against 108, I got aggressive in order to finish the second game quickly and it didn't pay off.

I don't remember all my games that well, but the opponents were

Round 1 vs. Law Dogs Hangin deck

Round 2 vs. Drow Holster Deck

I've played against this deck several times and it has been difficult at times when a shotgun or Holster appears. I have to keep my dudes away from the holster until the opportune time to try and win the game. After she played a few deeds, I was able to keep the gunslingers booted and take the deeds for the win.

Round 3 vs. Laura Scott's Drow

I figured this would be my toughest game of the day and if my suspicions are correct, so did she. I figured I would be seeing her in the finals, regardless of who won this game as we were both undefeated at the time. To be completely honest, her deck backfired pretty badly during shootouts. The draw structure on my deck isn't that great as it relies on Hex Slingin and It's not what you know to win shootouts. I was getting legal Full Houses pretty regularly while she would frequently need to cheat for a Full House or 4oak. Between cheatin resolutions and Hex slinging, the hucksters took the day.

We played another game for fun and her deck performed more admirably and more Kidnappins were had. She also reminded me that I invited her to Knoxville while indicating Will and I wouldn't be playing so she would have a solid shot. I completely forgot I said that and now I must hear about this for a very long time.....

Round 4 vs. Eagle Wardens

This game didn't happen. We were both undefeated, so we chose to meet each other in the finals.

Top 4

My first round, I had to play a 108 deck piloted by a relatively new local player who had only recently gotten the Faction Pack. The first game, he played a hustings early that I was able to take with Steven Wiles and force him out of his home. I kept playing assuming Bao with a weapon would show up in any shootout I started. I was able to win by dropping enough influence and maneuvering around his dudes.

The second game I started playing a little more aggressively since I knew I had the third round to fall back on. It cost me as I had to start losing dudes on purpose to earn the ghost rock I needed for my It's not what you knows. That wasn't a good place to be. I lost this game.

The last game was very tight and went all the way to time. We had both changed our game plans based on the two previous games. I was able to drop Avie Cline on my last action in order to bolster the difference in tie breakers.

We went to time because our store had to close at 9 and we didn't want to run any chance of the final games getting cut short.

Finals

Game 1

I got to play Jacob Hampton for the Badge. This was pretty much a rematch of the game in KY that kicked me out of the finals games. We both still had very similar decks. In the first game, I was able to win nearly every lowball while he struggled to make a significant amount of money. He still had some, but it wasn't enough to overcome the advantage 4R can make when they get loads of cash. He played a bunkhouse and had started seven? influence. That mountain of influence would be hard to beat. Fortunately, I was able to make his dudes move around enough that I could go to the bunkhouse and give Travis Moone and the Brute some extra influence. I dropped Nicodemus Whateley and starting earning CP as most of my dudes were still unbooted. It was enough to win the game.

Game 2

I think Jacob wanted to be a little more aggressive this game and he won a few more lowballs than the previous game. He was able to take his money advantage and come across the table at my dudes. What I thought was a horrible opening hand actually helped with one hex slinging and two It's not what you knows. I only had a few spells out at the time he started a shootout, but they were just enough. He brought Nathan Shane into the fight with a Pinto and I couldn't afford to lose any of my cards to him, so I used Blood Curse on Shane instead of his likely shooter, Wendy.

Between Hex Slingin and paying for two It's not what you know's I was able to win the shootout significantly. The game was pretty much over after all those important dudes were lost. He couldn't recover.

That's the wrap of what happened in Knoxville. Laura promised she wouldn't let me forget that I thought I wouldn't be playing. She had even more reason to be upset as my earlier draw is likely what kept her SoS low enough to be 5th place and not get to play in the top 4.

Some of my card choices:

Phantasm: I know some control decks don't really care for Phantasm, but I mainly kept it in case I had to play against Eagle Wardens in order to move their ancestor tokens and make them disappear because the tokens have usually been difficult to deal with. Phantasm is always good when you can pile your opponent's dudes on a useless deed and then they have to boot to leave that deed.

This'll Hurt: I put these in because Hammond mentioned how important they were to his wins. To be honest, I don't recall using one all day during the tournament. I used a few in the "after" games and they were pretty solid. I really enjoy using them against a 4 or 5oak because there isn't much chance of the hand breaking even or getting better. I'll likely stick with Rumors because it cycles easily and it helps win significantly when they can be played the same turn as Nicodemus.

Old Man McDroste: I snuck him into the deck because I wanted to try out his "control" element. I didn't get to use him at all in the main event, but he did help me win a few lowball hands since he is the only K in the deck. I'm not sure I'll stick with him, but he has let me win a game by coming into play and making a 2 inf dude 0 inf.

Circle M Ranch: I played two copies simply because card cycling is so incredibly important in this game.

No Tax Office? : I've seen this deed on the table a ridiculous number of times and I've seen it used against the owner more often than their opponent. I have no desire to lose my Nicodemus control points because I have to keep my eye on this deed.

Flight of the Lepus: This was mainly in there as a cheatin card to save against Eagle Wardens or a Hot lead flying build. I didn't face either and I'm not sure it's really worth it when a clever manipulation of hand ranks could avoid disastrous casualties.

Ask about any of the other cards you want and I'll answer.

I'll be playing in Atlanta next week. I'm not entirely sure what I'll be playing. Since I've got the badge, I'm not super focused on winning again, but hey, someone has to challenge David Lapp's reign of terror. Well, JOIN it.