Santa Claws: Signing Over The Last Game Store

For a better take on new Abominations/Claws, please see the following tournament report: https://dtdb.co/en/decklist/2886/abominations-wins-abominations-

Now that I have stolen a veneer of craftsmanship and success from my opponent (both in terms of deck construction and in terms of tournament report write-up), on with the show! :)

Since we were playing the Abomination Series event, it felt only fitting to try out an Abominations themed deck. I wanted to try something outside of my usual bounties-and-bullets wheelhouse, and FMB is both popular and powerful. Opposition research and development with a card that rewards me for gettin' into shootouts? Sold!

When sortin' Too Tough to Die into my newly-arrived There Comes a Reckonin' trunk, I saw Claws and Skinwalker. Both seemed to give Abominations a healthy boost, and would fit the theme of the evening. Plus, equipping Claws and other goods with Signing Over the Stores seemed like fun.

Finally, in a similar vein (Aboms themed + wanting to try out different cards), I haven't really come to grips with how to deck build around JStone. As the results of this tournament show, I still have a ways to go. But, I thought it might combo well with a janky starting posse: The Harvester, Karl Odett, and The Brute.

Round 1: My Own Des Row.

In a quirk of timing (or a coy tease), a friend of ours who hadn't been out to Doomtown for many a moon stopped by the store before our tournament began. After some friendly cajoling and with the enticement of promos, he agreed to play a round or two with a loaner deck.

He was saddled with my Desolation Row 4's and 7's deck: an unfamiliar play style to the unrepentant Turtle-Warden. Soul Cage helped me draw Abominations off of his (my) hands, and I had more depth of bench.

Because I am constitutionally incapable of playing a legal deck at a tournament I TO, turns out two Ghostly Guns stuck together when I was building the deck. I discovered this when they both turned up in a terrible "3-pairs" draw-hand that nearly killed me. (Disarm saved my bacon, as I recall). Poor Ghostly Gun: despite that sweet promo, desperate for table time in a meta that has moved beyond ye. Remembered only as the villain who set up a cool death story for the unforgettable Steven Wiles. I suppose it must burn when another dead guy sees more play than you!

Round 2: Stoned Priests? (Stone and LD Blessed).

An interesting match-up, as my opponent was also rockin' Stone. I believe I remarked: "Darnit! I took the second Stone token out of my Pinebox Token Set, thinking I'd only ever need one! You should go to their webstore and buy a snazzy bottlecap token set, too!" (That last sentence may be a post-incident fabrication, designed to fish for corporate likes. The first sentence is genuine, though!)

Father Tolarios and Holy Roller were a solid combo, and the Twisted Sister, Mary Gideon utilized Stone's power to good effect. Luck and a ceaseless supply of expendable dudes were on my side, however, as I carried the day.

Round Three: Abominations Wins Abominations!

Where my readers are doubtless already familiar with the broad details of this match, having already read my opponent's views, I merely need to fill out some details around the edges. ;)

I feel I made a couple key misplays in our game: most notably, moving to town square to start a fight when I should have used Mugging on my opponent's Soul Cage. Also, playing Pettigrew's Pawnshop when I knew my opponent was running Doomsday Supply was unwise... though I didn't expect him to get 4 GR in 1 turn!

The match would not be complete without a couple of mistakes as we wrangled with some new cards. Notably, we forgot that Guns (i.e. my Peacemakers) turn off Claws. Oops!

It was an enjoyable match, though, and I'm itching for a revised rematch next week! :)

-- Concluding thoughts:

Great minds think alike: I spent last sundown and this mornin' brainstorming changes, only to fire up DTDB and find my opponent had beaten me to the punch!

"Obvious change to make to the deck would be to include some force fight. I didn't need it because Halifax meta only makes decks that fight, but most meta probably would. Mugging is on value, but I think working in some Kidnappin' would also be good. ...

Reformatting to 6/Q vs. 2/6 is also probably a preferable move for the deck. It's almost all aboms to begin with (and you can simply cut ... [The Fabulous Mister Miss]), so Rose isn't necessary (the influence loss could be covered with 2x Bible). Swap a Claws for a Winchester if a gun is needed. You can get away from 2s almost completely (which makes room for the aforementioned Kidnapping). Maybe keep 1x Pag."

I feel some combination of 2, 6, Q, and K is a good strong brew. Not sure the exact right proportions yet, though!