Edge of the Ring

published Jan 30, 2015 | | |
Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
Brass Bullets, Brass Balls. 20 39 22
Inspiration for
None yet

mysticpickle44 758

This is an aggressive Fourth Ring deck that heavily leverages Arnold McCadish with Mario Crane Harrowed trait to trade favorably with an opponent. Similar in playstyle to the Brass Bullets deck but instead of using expendable dudes we're going green and using recyclable dudes!

Using Mario Crane in tandem with Micah Ryse, A 16x 10-J-Q draw structure will guarantee a full house or better. This means on any of your cheatin' full house draws, the opponent has to make a 5-of-a-kind or better rank to discard just 1 of your dudes. With Arnold's ability and Mario's Harrowed Trait, you can absorb up to 2 casualties before you lose any dudes! If you find yourself in position where you're losing by 2 or fewer ranks, you can always run home and try again tomorrow at full strength!

Hexs from Micah are there to force and support shootouts with Blood Curse, Hex Slingin', and an extra stud bullet. As you are relying on relatively few important dudes, be aware that both Coachwhip and Pistol whip will always haunt your dreams!

Starting Dudes:

Micah Ryse *: He's your primary Huckster and woefully vulnerable to Shotguns and Soul Blast. You'll want to keep him out of any fights involving those but should be there to support Mario otherwise. When he's not busy supporting Mario he should be performing magic tricks outside of home to generate cash and cycle cards. The extra stud bullet from Micah guarantees a full house with Mario. On the off chance that you ever take 1 or more casualties in a shootout, take them on Mario and scoot back home and live to fight at full strength again the next day!

Travis Moone *: This fella is surprisingly going to be your main starting primary shooter. With Mario and Micah unable to contribute more than 1 stud bullet to the shootout, Travis is your best bet as lead shooter. If you need to use him to mulligan into some hexes or cash generators, you may want to be wary of starting any trouble the first day.

Arnold McCadish *: At 2 influence and no upkeep he's an absolute steal as a starter. His ability along with Mario's Harrowed ability allows you to lose by up to 2 ranks and still not lose any dudes in a shootout!

Mario Crane *: You are very likely to draw a full house even with Mario going it alone meaning even if you cheat, your opponent has to beat you by 3 or more ranks (an unlikely 5-of-a kind) or play a Coachwhip! to get rid of him for good. Otherwise as a harrowed character, he will just go home booted with 1 casualty, be discarded and then guaranteed to saved by Arnold (no values less than 10 will be pulled) with 2 casualties.

Whenever possible pair him with Micah to be able to draw 7 cards and guarantee a full house. If Mario is fighting alongside either Micah or Travis, there are times you may actually want to cheat to be able to take casualties on Mario if you feel a Coachwhip! is unlikely.

Richard Slavin: Mostly a luxury dude on the off chance you ever find yourself swimming with money. He lends another stud bullet to guarantee those full house draws, keeps you in the game a bit longer with influence and has no upkeep!

Avie Cline: Your only likely backup huckster and also a harrowed dude! Paired with Mario and Arnold's ability you now have to lose by 4 or more ranks before having to discard any dudes! She's a bit on the pricey side in terms of upkeep so you may want to hold off bringing her out until you have a deed or two down.

Clint Ramsey/Kevin Waintwright: Mostly used to fill out the J values. You'll rarely be able to field them but if you have money late game, they can be indispensable.

Tyxarglenak: Our favorite goblin provides some modicum of action card protection to Micah while guaranteeing a Full house or better in any shootout he happens to be in!

Jia Mein: Mostly used to fill out the Q's value. A pricey but solid huckster that can guarantee a full house if you have a hex in hand and can afford him/her.

Eve Henry: Mostly used to fill out the Q's value. If you find yourself with enough money, Eve is a great Luxury shooter!

Actions

Unprepared: Only a single copy to disable shotguns, hexes, and lower bullets to set up Takin' Ya with me. I'd include more copies but the next card even more important:

Extortion: With 1 starting wealth and only 2 income and a very low likelihood of winning lowball, you'll need alternative ways of addressing your cash crunch. Micah is a prime enabler of this being able to pop in with his ability, enable use of Extortion, and still be able to flee back home.

Hex Slingin': This is your guarantee win for many a shootout and why you'll want Micah participating in any he can safely be in. It can push your most common Full house 7-rank draw into a Straight Flush 9-rank which is very difficult to beat.

It's Not What You Know: With a low-money deck this is not the ideal cheating punishment card but it's the only one that fits the Q's value for draw structure. If you have the cash on hand, it can be absolutely devastating.

Takin' Ya With me!: Even if you lose by 1 or 2 ranks you won't lose any dudes with Mario's Harrowed trait and Arnold's Ability. With Micah lowering bullets with Blood Curse, you can let loose with this to come ahead of a losing shootout!

Deeds

Most of these deeds are there to fill in shootout values. You'll want to put out Baird's Build and Loan first turn if possible which is entirely possible with 2 guaranteed starting GR and 1 GR from The Fourth Ring home ability. If not then any of the other 2-cost deeds will work to get the economic engine going. The rest are there as a way to generate Control Points to force shootouts.

Goods

Hexes and more hexes. All of them save Blood Curse are free to play and used to feed Hex Slingin' in shootouts, scoot Micah around to Extort money, and enable the Fourth Ring home ability. Blood Curses can lower influence to force shootouts, lower bullets to make high bullets dudes eligible for Takin' Ya with Me and to increase the likelihood of cheating hands which can be punished with It's Not What you know.

3 comments
Feb 01, 2015 Shadai

I'm confused. How do you suppose Mario protects you when you draw cheatin'? Cause he doesn't. You draw cheating and he just becomes a narrowed dude. That means he's worth two, but you're still discarding him. His ability specifically says "If you reveal a legal draw hand...."

Feb 01, 2015 sholder

I think the idea is that yeah, you're still discarding him, but Arnold is guaranteed to save him, so it hasn't actually cost you much of anything.

Feb 02, 2015 mplain

When you're attacking with a bunch of dudes, you actually want to cheat, so that you'll be able to soak casualties into Mario (with Anold's help he can soak up to 2 cas and still stay on the board). Of course, this also makes you vulnerable to cheatin' punishment...