Sloane Town Square Blitz T8/"T4" GenCon 2017

This is the Sloane deck I took to 4-2 during Swiss at GenCon. Thanks to Pinebox for hosting so many enjoyable events and to all of the North American players for making me so welcome between rounds and at the social events. It was great to get your views on what worked and didn't worked in the game and thanks for lending me decks for the Saturday ngiht games too. The tournament games were competitive but friendly and it is always fun to see how decks do in a different meta. My only grey mark was leaving my tokens and new Richard Carter poker chip behind after Saturday night's social games - I think I lent out my tokens and forgot to get them back! A price worth paying.

We had a debate among the playtesters about whether or not Sloane could prosper in the current meta, so it was decided that I would play Sloane in Worlds. This is a self-consciously old school square blitz deck with the majority of cards from the base set that often risks cheatin', to see if this still works. There are some jobs thrown in to help against turtle decks and lots of Headlines as a meta call. Although the plural of anecdote isn't data (not a large enough sample, some players are stronger with certain factions and weaker with others, good match-ups etc) it was good to see another Sloane make the final and this deck put in a solid performance too. There are still elements where Sloane is weak and may need help (influence? Calling the Cavalry protection? Interested in other thoughts!), and I had to stuff the deck with headlines to help against Calling The Cavalry, but old school Sloane can still get it done. As many of my matches were quick (win or lose!) I also appreciate many opponents playing an extra match with their tournament deck or an alternate to aid my review of the deck. It was encouraging to see this continue to perform well in these matches.

Special thanks to Max Way for lending me two Nightmare at Noon - he beat me in Swiss with his Law Dog deck so the good karma paid off, and he followed his Euros T8 with a T4 at Worlds. I went in to a decisive shootout against him thinking "I've won this even if he has a Coachwhip, only a Bottom Dealin' can make me lose" only to run face first in to a horrible Bottom Deadlin'. His deck posting prompted much wailing and gnashing of teeth when I reached his section on including an extra copy of this excellent card. A top player and a great guy too. Sorry scheduling conflicts meant I couldn't live up to my threat/promise that we'd meet again in the knockout rounds. ;)

Potential changes: this was made on the morning of the tournament, so I'd probably add a few more hearts next time to balance the suits and boost my draw hands. I'd also consider switching to Jacks for Shan Fan Showdown! to give me a react speed Headline to help combat the horribly strong Calling the Cavalry - I deserved a taste of my own medicine after using it during the EU Marshal and at GenCon's Friday servitor event! Even when I had Headlines in my hand I sometimes lost lowball against the various horse decks kicking around, so they were able to get their headline off first. Horse decks can generate plentiful studs with their starting posse, home and Headline so they can bear a loose structure and they sometimes have low values, helping them win lowball. I also might move Buford Hurley up to 2x, I thought I was playing two but now remember that the extra copy was one of the last cards I removed. He would have been useful against attrition decks and as a surprise way to pick off opposing booted dudes.

We had to reschedule the top 4 to Sunday morning due to the popularity of the Saturday event requiring a sixth round of Swiss. Unfortunately, like at least one other player in the T8 I had an event booked for Sunday morning so I was likely to have to drop out. I think Dave Hammond and I were even booked in to the same event, a special 12 player Arkham Horror LCG scenario. However, this was a good trade overall - we needed the Sunday slot because we had so many players for Doomtown's glorious comeback!

We played out the Top 8 match anyway as we didn't know how many people would drop and it gave me another match to see how this deck did. I was up against Stephen Holder's excellent 6-0 Morgan Horse deck that I had lost to in Swiss. I managed to win in slightly unusual fashion, losing a turn two shootout in the Town Square by two ranks due to Calling The Cavalry, costing me a Lawrence Blackwood I'd hired while my opponent went home booted, content to have caused some attrition. Stephen had left his Irving Patterson on one of my deeds to deny me income, secure in the knowledge he could run home if I came after him. However, I had a Kidnappin' and was able to run a job against Irving, using Pinto to bring in my booted Barton Everest for some reassuring stud. Three control points on dudes and a fourth on my deed was enough for a surprising win after I'd slain Irving when he defended. This was a little rough on Stephen as he'd gone unbeaten in Swiss, but I appreciated the extra match and a chance for revenge for one of my Swiss losses! He's also great fun to play against and a thoughtful player.

My starting posse was flexed a few times, once dropping Jake Smiley against Full Moon Brotherhood to avoid his trait being turned off (switching for printed influence) and then dropping Jacqueline Isham against Morgan Cattle Co. as an anti-slide mechanism - I didn't think they'd be contesting Town Square much. I like that Doomtown gives you the option to adjust your starting posse to face different threats.

On the subject of slide, I should add that my match-up against Geoff's slide deck was excellent fun, he was nudging ahead until I got some deeds which gave me the ghost rock to afford more dudes and swing things my way. A real back and forth match with lots of good tactical movement, even though there were only two shootouts (one of which didn't make it to resolution!). It was fun to showcase the movement side of the game even when piloting a blitz deck. Thanks to my opponent for making it such an enjoyable match too.