Dr Traveler’s Tournament Black Hills Flush

Tournament report: Round 1 vs Zenarchist’s Law Dogs. Zenarchist was running a blessed dog deck. I moved to town square with my posse and my deck gave me gold. Properties galore as we both built the town. Attachments for everyone. A General Store let me outfit my crew with horses, bibles, and spirits.

At some point Amity Hopkins stepped out to do something tricky and got jumped by a Curse of Failure led by Rob Wilby and joined by my booted and wanted Zachary Deloria and The Mixer with a Cavalry Escort. The job was in Town Square so Enapay was able to boost Zach without putting himself at risk. Shootout actions ensue but Mixer, Black Hills Guardians, and a handful of shootout actions did their job. I drew a Straight Flush to his Full House and Zenarchist fled.

And then he played out a perfect game. He sent out a Padre to call out Enapy and his Ancestor Spirits. I sent in Alex thinking when the match ended I’d use his ability to unboot. He unprepared the Ranger's Bible Zach was carrying.

I made a critical error. My best legal hand was two pair and I had a Ricochet as my last card in the play hand. I could force a cheatin’ flush. A lot of math ensued and assured me that even with Mixer floating in using the Cav Escort I was in trouble if he pulled a legal full house. So I cheated.

And so did he! He revealed a cheatin’ full house! I discarded his shooter with Ricochet but didn’t get another card or protection from casualties as I cheated too. He used flight of the lepus to make my ancestors go poof. Mixer rode in so his horse could take a bullet, but I was in trouble. No cards in hand, no ready cheatin’ punishment on the table so in a panic I fled.

Big mistake. He dropped Dr Babcock’s Office and used his last unbooted dude to seize my property. Booted out at home with no cards in hand I folded. Game win for Zenarchist.

In retrospect the deck worked, the player failed.

Round 2: vs Kacheese and Law Dogs. We both were playing aggressive but my opening hand was 4 shootout actions and a Colt-Patterson Model '36. A first day murder blender ensued and I outshot him thanks to a god play hand. Game 2 for me. Hard to learn anything from a game that went so fast but Kacheese is an amazing player so I’m going with I was lucky.

Round 3: With Laura Queen of Carnage out of Encroaching Darkness. A first turn shootout in town square caused Zach to get discarded to Black Owl. Ouch. A lot of building and chess occurs, a few jobs ensue, and once Geronimo shows up shooting starts up in earnest. Chess again ensues but at time the Fearmongers have 3 control points to my 2. That's the game. A wild wild ride. Two losses mean I'm out of the running to make the cut, so from here there's less pressure.

Round 4: Starner's 108 Gracious Gifts

We mixed it up early, and I did great in the shootouts with all my tricks dropping into play. Multiple shootouts entail, including one where Speaks-With-Earth became a missle to shoot at Starner's posse. But in the end, I got out chessed after running once Zach got hit with a Ricochet. Sundown on the last day I had 3 control points and 4 influence to his 5 control points and 2 influence. Tie breaker means Starner wins after a very good game.

Round 5: Echasketch's Law Dogs We go back and forth in shootouts and shootout actions. Mixer and Rob get knocked off the board, Bass Reeves shows up to scare everyone but a lot of suppressing fire keeps me in the match. In the end I was able to outchess him using Nicodemus Whateley to get a crucial last control point. A real nailbiter!

Final Thoughts: In the end I feel like I fault the player not the deck. This came together well, and most matches I was either outplayed or made mistakes. There are a few tweaks that I might make: Silent Sigil should be replaced by another copy of General Store. Games where I drew General Store were very good games. It's a clutch card for the deck.

I should probably work in The Whateley Estate. Cycling the Jokers back in would have helped some. I'm less sold on this change.

It's tempting to ditch 2 copies of Many Speak As One to grab a K and Q dude to get to a 16/16 build. I'm not sold on that yet either. If I do that, I'd likely pick up Fears No Owls and maybe a second copy of Eagle Woman That All Look At.

It might be worth ditching Alexander and Kiva for Lydia Bear-Hands

The last thought is a total rebuild to a three value build, K/Q/J. I only managed to pull Straight Flushes when I either had a +5 or more stud bonus or when the deck fully devolved out. Early on I had some catastrophic hands. The deck can absorb a lot of casualties, so a three value build could work.