From: "Eric Jome"
Well, with both Origins and Gencon finally behind us, I can start a series of articles on local tournament decks. Below is my deck, "The Supershooter". This deck has been under constant playtest for about 18 months. I made Fifth at Origins 2000, beaten only by Jason Jung and Andrew Davidson. I made the finals at Origins 2001, beaten only by Patrick Pulvino (lucky guy!), Brian Haggerty, and Jason Hawthorne. And I made the finals at Gencon 2001, beaten only by Jason Jung (again!?) and Mark Greenholdt. As you can see, it has taken the talents and skill of finalists and champions to hold this deck back. It has also acquitted itself quite well in our local tournament and league scene.
My goal was to build the best shooter I could without resorting to some of the more abusive cards and combos. In the end, all the hard work seems to have paid off; I can number on one hand the shooters who beat me while those who lost are stacked like cord wood in Boot Hill. It usually took a different strategy to win against me, with Action/Event influence reduction and Puppet/Shadow Man being the top contenders... although Daniel Llewellyn's Law Dog Lyncher was quite effective as well. The deck is built using essentially a two value, one secondary value structure. The suits used are Aces, Eights, and Jacks. This is key; early on, a Full House or Four of a Kind is reliable while having the option for a Dead Man's Hand exists.
This "core hand"/"higher hand" form is essential to shooting well... no core hand means poor early shooting, no higher hand means poor late shooting. Another key ingredient is the use of sets in the non-value cards. That is, you will notice a tendency to stick to Nines, Twos, and Threes in the section marked Other Cards. This is important as a pair of these values in your hand sticks out as something to keep when re-drawing during a shootout.
Lastly, this deck does not win lowball, but it does not cheat appreciably either. The goal was "dont cheat twice"; this avoids Jackelope Stampede.
2 Dirt-face Figueroa
1 Dustin Halloway
1 Charlie Landers exp
2 Lady Luck
2 Out Of Ammo
1 The Perch
1 The Lode
1 Union Train Depot
2 Gareth Comes To Town
1 Kenny
Dirt-face and Lady Luck are essential for cycling your hand faster, looking for key cards. Out of Ammo can give a huge swing in a shootout; Only Winged Em used to be here, but it wasnt needed against Dixie (they were just Aced and I ignored or Kidnapped Ezzie) and I have Shallow Grave for my own casualties. The Perch is simply an easily defended, cheap control point, but The Lode and Union Train Depot are important against certain strategies. All shooters should always include the Depot. Gareth helped on occasion to hold Black Circle back until I could get the Mental Hospital in play.
1 Moloch
1 Abel Owens
1 Becky Henricks
1 Chin Wei-lun
1 Jackelope Stampede
3 Kidnapping
1 Fine China Shop
1 Green-eyed Saloon
1 Pony Express
2 Ammo Belt
1 Whiskey Flask
When choosing dudes at Ace and Eight, I tried for half shooters, half influence dudes. If the influence dudes had bullets or the shooters influence, so much the better. Upkeep was also important to allow me to let them go back for the Dead Man's Hand. Becky is an excellent dude, especially against Dixie. Deeds here are cheap, have control, and make ghost rock. Ammo Belts are key for a shooter to prevent most shootout actions and Whiskey Flask and Pony Express further help in finding key cards.
2 Bat's Breath Mine
2 Whiskey Nick's Joint
1 Double-barreled Shotgun
1 The Drifter
2 Shallow Grave
I would normally have a second Shotgun and either a second Drifter or Po Yu exp2 here, but at the last minute changed them out. I would probably put them back in, removing cards from the extras section. The Bat's Breath and Whiskey Nick's are some of the only good deeds at Jack, so doubles helps to insure I get them first. Nick's is a great place to launch a Kidnapping from as well. Doubles also meant I would not accidentally play too many of my Jacks of Diamonds.
1 Rough And Tumble Saloon
1 Divided Loyalties
1 Wild Dingos
1 The Swarm
1 Massacre At High Noon
1 Reggie Cornell
2 Start Again
1 Captain Sim Yut-san exp
1 Den of Eastern Delights
1 Mental Hospital
Divided Loyalties and Start Again are excellent Cheatin! cards The Rough and Tumble is an easily defended control and money maker. Dingos are important to a shooter and the Swarm is a strong dude. Reggie is key at avoiding influence reduction and/or events; the Den and Mental Hospital are included for the same reasons. Captain Sim adds some weight as well as providing a method for getting at influence you cant eliminate.
Starting Dudes (5)
1 Freddy Fast-hands exp
1 Sin Je
1 Cassidy Greene
1 Min Su Tao
1 Mr. Bones
The starting posse is 6 influence with 1 upkeep, 3 stud dudes, Cassidy to raise bullets for Kidnapping, and Mr. Bones to fetch Cheatin! cards. The shooters are very resistant to removal or reduction in a shootout; 2 studs at 2 bullets and a backup at 1 stud. Even when someone used Timmy Derek on Sin Je, I still would regularly have 3 stud total. Backing up this natural ability with some Shotguns and/or Ammo Belts meant I could usually clean house on a job or shootout. Exploiting the Landed Rats outfit ability to hold in check the opponent's deeds was important. This made it difficult for many people to get ahead and any deed with a control point was doubly dangerous. In the end, I think I would only make a few small changes here and there. Having a more reliable defense against spells would help, but its difficult to say how this can be achieved. Finding room for Barkum and Barkums also seems like a good idea.
Eric
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