Classic Clown Control - Undefeated OP Kit Winner

published Apr 23, 2016 | | |
Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
None yet

ironcache 189

Same general archetype that has been around since Paralysis Mark was released. Decided to try a very high-valued Sight Beyond Sight variant.

Initially this had The Tattooed Man in the start to prevent acing Sight, but he is too resource-intensive at 7 cost + 1 upkeep, so I went with a more traditional start. The Brute (along with Horace Manse) and Arnold McCadish makes your initial posse pretty resilient. You can afford to fight fairly recklessly. Ambrose Douglas is very effectively valued at 2, and is your primary shooter until Tattooed hits the table. Outside that, this is a fairly bread and butter clown deck.

The deck went undefeated in the OP kit. Smaller turnout, with only 5 people, a couple of which were very new to the game. 3 rounds were played, and all 3 of my games were against some form of Law Dogs.

First round was against a veteran player playing a Gadget The Arsenal deck that made ridiculous money with Technological Exhibition and Disgenuine Currency Press (going on 4/6/8 as values). He ended up taking a fight on my deed where Tommy Harden got separated by Paralysis Mark and Mario Crane was the only choice for Point Blank, which proved fairly crippling.

Second match was against a veteran player playing a Blessed Gadget Abram's Crusaders deck. The deck was quite solidly constructed (using 7/8 as values IIRC), but my opponent made a critical mistake of forgetting to account for the loss of influence from Blood Curse when starting an Epidemic Laboratory job with almost his entire board, leaving just Erik Samson unbooted. I moved into the now 2 control point lab for check, and, with just Erik to defend, won the following shootout without issue.

The last match was against a new player who was borrowing a punchy low-value Law Dogs deck (using 2/3 as values w/ unprepared IIRC) from a friend. This was his third game ever (with his first two being the two previous rounds of the tournament). He caught on remarkably fast on how to actually play the game, and ended up getting a Shotgun on Vasilis the Boar which made me pre-emptively curse, and kept Funtime Freddy out of the following fights. However, he lost some key influence early, which, along with Blood Curse, let me win off of a couple of my deeds.

5 comments
Apr 25, 2016 Gozik

So, what are your posttesting thoughts on Sight? Did it make differense?

Apr 25, 2016 LordManHammer

Well done!

Same question as gozik and did you ever get Ivor in play? Did you experience any issues with only 3 influence?

Apr 26, 2016 ironcache

Sight Beyond Sight was surprisingly effective. I never used the ace clause much, but when I did it was a massive advantage. The more useful part was the knowledge it provided. As an example of both points, during the second match, my opponent had two cards in hand; some dude and a This'll Hurt in the Mornin'. I used Sight, got rid of the Hurt, and knew that I could cheat in the upcoming shootout (as he had no board effects I was worried about). The information is great, as is the threat of the ace.

Also, and probably fairly obviously, buffs to high-values just makes Paralysis Mark and Soul Blast even better.

I'm not going to go out and say Sight Beyond Sight is better than the other B-list hexes like Shadow Walk and Phantasm (and I don't mean to call those bad either, but Blood Curse and Paralysis Mark are just amazing clown cards). I do think Sight works better in a fight/control hybrid deck than them though. The game plan with this deck was to fight hard with the resilient start, get The Tattooed Man out, and fight harder. Sight Beyond Sight was the better choice towards that goal I feel.

Apr 26, 2016 ironcache

With respect to the influence, no, but this is a product of my local meta more than anything. They all play extremely fighty decks that throw control and slide aspects to the wind (we're talking decks with less than 5 CP total in the deck in some cases). YMMV here. As with all decks in all these games, gotta tailor to your meta.

Apr 26, 2016 ironcache

Not to spam, but I do realize I forgot to mention that Ambrose Douglas is a 4th influence on demand.