4R Force Slingin'

published Dec 18, 2014 | | |
Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
None yet

mplain 1657

A fun exercise in deckbuilding - let's build a deck around Force Field! Read the full deck description here.

Force Field might not be able to raise our hand rank above that of the opponent, but with some help we can turn a draw into a win. I'm talking about Cheatin' Varmint, Hex Slingin', and the upcoming It's Not What You Know. If you've got a couple of those, someone is going to take heavy casualties, and it's not gonna be you!

But what if we don't have any of those cards that increase hand rank, and we're forced to take one casualty, just like our opponent? Can we somehow prevent this tragic loss of life? Yes we can!

♠ You know what's on value with 9♣ Cheatin' Varmint and Q♣ It's Not What You Know? Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Or, as they are more commonly known to the good citizens of Gomorra, Dr. Dawn Edwards and Eve Henry. A single casualty turns one into the other - you start with a 2-influence mad scientist who can actually invent that Force Field, and then you get an angry 3-stud craving for human flesh!

Arnold McCadish will not turn into something abominable (well... more abominable than he already is, anyway). Instead, he can save any dude who suffers a single casualty, and take them home to safety.

Avie Cline needs no man to save her, she can do it herself! She's a Harrowed, which means that one casualty will make her go home booted instead of leaving the board. And she's a Huckster to boot, which might be helpful to play Hex Slingin'.

Takin' Ya With Me can turn that 1-1 draw into a 2-1 in your favor, or even a 2-0 if you combine it with any of the above options. Note that that when you use Force Field to raise your hand rank to that of your opponent, your hand will be the lowest possible at that rank, so you will probably be considered the loser of this round of shootout, and thus be able to play Takin'. (Note: I'll probably be swapping Takin' Ya With Me for It's Not What You Know once the new card gets released)

♥ We still need some hexes to power that Hex Slingin'. The best of them, Paralyze Mark, is unfortunately unavailable to us because it has the same 8♥ value as the Force Field. But there are still some good ones: Shadow Walk to bring your gadget-weildin' & hex-slingin' champion into any shootout, Blood Curse to decrease the chances of the oppoment having a good hand (and thus to save us some money on powering the field), and a couple Raising Hell in case they manage to ace Eve Henry, or maybe you can sneak her into a shootout. You could take Forget instead against Wendy and Allie. As for Soul Blast and Ace in the Hole, they're kinda risky for pulls, so i'm inclined to avoid them.

♠ For our starting posse we need Arnold himself, Dr. Dawn Edwards to create gadgets and shapeshift, a huckster to sling all those spells, and someone with low value and high bullets to suffer the casualty, play Takin' Ya With Me and then be saved by Mr.McCadish. You could go with Avie Cline and Travis Moone, but honestly the idea of paying 2+1 upkeep from turn 1 doesn't appeal to me all that much, plus I'd rather have some silver bullets in order not to pay huge amounts of ghost rock in every shootout. So my choice is the classic 4R starter, Mongwau the Mighty. He has three bronze bullets that can become silver at a cost of one hex, a huckster skill of 1 to reliably cast Blood Curse and not fail on accidentally pulling Force Field, and a value below any other card in the deck to always be saved by Arnold.

♦ As for deeds, I won't be creative here, I'll just take what's on value: 9♦, 10♦ and Q♦.

Now, let's throw in a couple Unprepared to prevent Mongwau from getting Shotgunned, and we're done!

So, is this deck janky? It sure is! Is it viable? I really don't know! Is it fun and original? Most definitely! :)

Oh, and now that you've got a solid deck with a strong shootout structure, useful spells and lots of hand rank manupulation, consider taking out those Force Fields, you probably don't need them anymore ;)

4 comments
Dec 18, 2014 db0

Force Field? Dafuq? :P

Dec 19, 2014 ttsgosadow

Looks great! Always up for more fun and original decks!

Dec 28, 2014 ttsgosadow

Tried this deck out, and its a lot of fun to play. The shenanigans are cool and work! Only problem I seem to have consistantly is not having enough money. Rarely could I play even one deed. With your starting docter transforming in his counterpart, there is no income and you are hoping for bounties or a rare win on lowball.

Cool deck though, can't imagine how well it would run with moneys :)

Dec 28, 2014 mplain

Glad you liked it :)

I think this concept could work in Morgan, you lose Arnold and Mongwau but fix the money issue. I'm waiting for the new saddlebag to come out before I give further thought to this deck.