Edinburgh 1st place - Fearmongers

published Jul 01, 2019 | | |
Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
None yet

Ijiasu 84

Here is the deck that won the Edinburgh Jonah's Alliance event, having gone 4-0 in the swiss. I couldn't possibly match other people's artistic flair in their descriptions so will just post a much dryer, methodical rundown of the deck. Sorry!

The basic idea is to shut down whatever you opponent is trying to get going by using Forget and Phantom Fingers, then win shootouts by attrition, through the power of Arnold McCadish, The Blighted and Hex Slingin'. Point Blank can also assist with the attrition stakes, and can (sometimes) be targeted by using Faster on the Draw on Valeria Batten to pick off zero bullet dudes.

Election Day Slaughter moves the game along. Although it lacks the directness of Kidnappin', it can often be win/win as your opponent either ignores it (which they can find hard to stomach) and sacrifice a dude, or they get dragged into a shootout which suits this deck as it generally has an attrition advantage. De Annulos Mysteriis also helps in this regard, and can turn Ambrose Douglas into a strong shooter!

Flex start is built-in should it see Morgan Regulators, with Papa Marias coming out for Virginia Ann Earp. This can turn off Hex Slingin' if you need to commit her in to stop Calling The Cavalry, but The Fourth Ring lets you cycle through that blockage.

Thanks to everyone for coming along, great fun and good to catch up with people who travelled to make it. Thanks also to @harlath for his help in putting this together! Will try and post a match by match roundup shortly!

9 comments
Jul 02, 2019 Harlath

Congratulations and thanks for the kind mention - top piloting and the vision behind the deck was very much yours.

I loved the surprise of Carter Richardson in a deck people didn't expect to see him in. Looked to have a good impact in at least one match from what I saw.

Pleased to see a Fearmonger deck work well without Blood Curse and the use of lower difficulty spells gave the flexibility to move to 6.

Use of Virginia Ann Earp was excellent, and as you rightly point out Ambrose Douglas and The Fourth Ring help you cycle Hex Slingin' when she's rendering it useless.

Well done again! :)

Jul 02, 2019 Neramoor

Good work. it really heartening to see a deck with clever meta choices excelling.

Jul 03, 2019 jordan caldwell

So many decks are like "4 x this, 4 x that, 4 x the other" and so on.

This deck takes that formula and flips it on it's head.

Super cool.

Jul 04, 2019 Harlath

With the The Fourth Ring outfit and Ambrose Douglas plus all those free spells, Mark's deck had pretty impressive throughput so he could search for things in his diverse card pool. Plus things like the seldom seen De Annulos Mysteriis to "tutor" for his kill job, Election Day Slaughter. Or The Blighted, which might be off-value but can be grabbed following a Soul Blast, Point Blank or Election Day Slaughter.

Reminded me of your decks @jordan caldwell in having a similar "toolbox" approach.

Glad that even now, with the game several years old and experienced players there's still room to challenge conventional wisdom.

Jul 04, 2019 Harlath

With the The Fourth Ring outfit and Ambrose Douglas plus all those free spells, Mark's deck had pretty impressive throughput so he could search for things in his diverse card pool. Plus things like the seldom seen De Annulos Mysteriis to "tutor" for his kill job, Election Day Slaughter. Or The Blighted, which might be off-value but can be grabbed following a Soul Blast, Point Blank or Election Day Slaughter.

Reminded me of your decks @jordan caldwell in having a similar "toolbox" approach.

Glad that even now, with the game several years old and experienced players there's still room to challenge conventional wisdom.

Jul 04, 2019 davido

Lots of 1x cards, easily playable 2 or 3x, makes it harder to cheat and easier to win lowball. And great to see an 'orginal box' outfit thrive in the current meta.

Jul 09, 2019 jordan caldwell

One in my playgroup just built and played this against me.

This is a brutal combination of 52 cards!

Jul 09, 2019 Harlath

It's a tough attrition match! I'll pass the word on to Mark that his good work (wicked The Fourth Ring work?) is travelling the world in case he doesn't spot this post. :) Great to see decks travel across the world and see how this gets on in different play environments. @Ijiasu tried this kind of deck on a range of values so I'm sure he'd be keen for people to experiment and put their own spin on it.

Cracking Arnold McCadish is a big help - an early job or booting him via Run 'Em Down! can work well, or Forget. Or just burying the deck via Calling The Cavalry and your own sidekicks for attrition, but where is the finesse in that? ;)

Jul 09, 2019 Ijiasu

Glad to hear it travels well!

Switching out the Jacks for eights is an option, it gives you Gateway, Fleet-Footed and This'll Hurt in the Mornin' so can be good a flex if you want to move away from Hex Slingin' and Forget.