Movin' Forward: Updating Archetypes for Weird West Format - Part 1: Morgan Regulators' Poor Lonesome Cowboys

Nothing excites me more than when the format of a game changes, with old sets rotating out and new cards rotating in. Even Magic the Gathering’s standard format changes this September, and I think everyone is looking forward to it. Why shouldn’t they?

The format becomes the wild west all over again. Players scramble to find out what decks are going to work, and are far more willing to try something crazy if it means it’s fun and can also win some games. It generates a certain buzz that players just enjoy.

Soon the same thing will happen to Doomtown. The Kickstarter for the new base set, and it’s eventual release, will change the game forever. The new Weird West format will be the tournament standard, while all the old cards are going to be legal in a “Legacy” style format called Old Timer. But for yours truly, I’m going to focus on the new,

The new base set removes some of the big problems, changes some of the others, and generally just makes the game more balanced for everyone. But with this update, things change. Decks that are legal for tournaments now are going to either need retooling, or stick to the Old Timer format from now on. Personally, I wanted to see if my favorite archetypes were still getting sleeved, or going back in the box.

As soon as Weird West spoilers started dropping, I knew I was going to sit down and see how my own decks were going to change. I didn’t know what to expect. With each article releasing on the Kickstarter’s update tab, I immediately began to glean what I could. What was staying, what was going? Would I wind up tearing down every deck I use and have to build something completely different? And as I sat down to convert my favorite deck, one based off the Starter Deck I ordered, I was surprised.

Pleasantly surprised.

I started with the Outlaws Article, finding out a few of the cards on the values that I played were back. I was happy about that. Then came the Entrepreneurs article, and I learned that a lot of my dudes were back, too. I was even happier. The big bombshell was the Demo article. It clued me in on so many of the cards that, actually, were already in my deck! Not all of them, but I’d deal with that bridge when I got to it. I also got a little bit of insider info, and got spoiled on a few cards that were improved in this new edition.

I just recently sat down long enough to build out the new deck and compare it to the old one. Here’s what the old list looks like:

1 Morgan Regulators(3gr, 3 inc, 1upkp)

1 Irving Patterson(3gr)
1 Maggie Harris(2gr)
1 Buckin’ Billy Ballard(6gr)
1 Jon Longstride(4gr)
1 Henry Moran(1gr)

1 Chuan “Jen” Qi
1 Mahogany Jackson
3 Pistol Whip
1 I’m Your Huckleberry
2 Mustang
1 Charlie’s Place
1 Hart’s Tea Shoppe
1 Long Strides Ranch
1 Shane and Graves Security

1 Adrian Vallejo
1 Nathan Shane
2 Kidnappin’
2 Pinned Down
2 LeMat Revolver
2 Pinto
1 Blake Ranch
1 Hunter Protections
1 Ike’s Place
1 Maza Gang Hideout

1 Dead Billy Jones
1 Lane Healy
1 Stephen Wiles
2 Ridden Down
2 This’ll Hurt in the Mornin’
3 Pedro
1 Quickdraw Handgun
1 Circle M Ranch
1 Pat’s Perch
1 Rham’s Readings
1 The Gomorra Gazette

4 Calling’ the Cavalry

2 Point Blank

Joker (Red)
Joker (Black)

And here is the path I took while upgrading to the new format:

1 Morgan Regulators(MRP)(3gr, 3inc, 1upkp)

1 Irving Patterson(4gr)
1 Maggie Harris(2gr)
1 Buckin’ Billy Ballard(6gr)
1 Arthur Dingler(3gr)
1 Rob Wilby(1gr)

1 Chuan “Jen” Qi
1 Mahogany Jackson
3 Pistol Whip
1 I’m Your Huckleberry
3 Mustang
1 Pearl-Handled Revolver
1 Charlie’s Place
1 Hart’s Tea Shoppe
1 Long Strides Ranch
1 Shane and Graves Security

1 Adrian Vallejo
1 Nathan Shane
2 Kidnappin’
2 Pinned Down
1 LeMat Revolver
3 Pinto
1 Cattle Market
1 Ike’s Place
1 Sherman Mortgage

1 Jon Longstride
1 Lane Healy
1 El Anónimo
3 Fleet-Footed
1 This’ll Hurt in the Mornin’
3 Ragged Mule
1 Quickdraw Handgun
1 Circle M Ranch(MRP)
1 Pat’s Perch
1 The Gomorra Gazzete

3 Calling’ the Cavalry(MRP)

3 Point Blank(MRP)

Joker (Red)
Joker (Black)

The deck remains mostly the same, though we shift some values around. Losing Dead Billy means we must deck Jon Longstride to keep our draw structure 8’s together. This means having to start a different dude. I chose Arthur Dingler as he provides a similar but weaker Henry Moran effect, able to dump horses into the discard pile for Maggie’s job, but at some point I might try Vida Azul as she synergizes well with horses.

On the topic of starting dudes, with Irving Patterson’s cost increase, Buckin’ Billy looks even more expensive than he did before. I’ve considered the option of starting Jarret Blake, another really mobile dude as long as he has a horse, able to boot a horse to join one shootout at one place, and replace another dude in another shootout somewhere else. Henry Moran is out, and our new bullet sponge, Rob Wilby, takes his place. Maggie thankfully returns, but her job has changed, meaning she can’t run it from the safety of the location she’s at. As someone else pointed out, however, if you’re the dealer, you can move Maggie to TS as your first play, and should your opponent move a dude to TS as well, Maggie still marks your home for her job, and only the single dude in TS can oppose.

Looking at our shootout values, we’re still quite solid on 5’s, 7’s, and 8’s, but what changes exist might be big ones. Beginning with the 8’s, other than Jon, Wiles is replaced by the new drifter, El Anónimo, whose cost and upkeep are the same, but for a 2S 2inf dude, far more balanced than the powerhouse Stephen was. Pedro is replaced by the Ragged Mule, losing us the movement protection, but allowing us to travel more efficiently over the board. I wasn’t sold on Ridden Down, mostly because it would be a control-style card in a more aggressive, mobile deck. Instead, I’ve been eyeing Fleet-Footed. It can pull a dude out of a pinch, and the second ability works really well with Point Blank. This’ll Hurt is back, and has the strange distinction of being a Cheatin’ card that works better in Lowball than a shootout, but I like acing my opponents cards, especially ones that cause me grief. However, since it’s best against a cheating lowball hand, I’m going to test a single copy instead of a 2-2 split. I’m kind of waffling on using Rham’s Readings as it is just so situational to be useful, so for this iteration of the deck, I’ve dropped it to add a PHR for some extra studliness to give to dudes like Jon and Maggie. Gomorra Gazette is my meta choice against Outlaws to attempt to keep up with their bounty-based income strategies.

As for the rest of the 7’s, my biggest disappointment is the removal of Blake Ranch, which, on 7’s, was the best income we could get. I received word from part of the playtest crew that the focus on in-town deeds increased, so Blake Ranch didn’t make the cut. I believe that making your dudes wanted when against Law Dogs is a painful matchup, causing me to swap out Hunter Protections for Sherman Mortgage. Kidnappin’ is less restrictive than Run Em Down was in the previous format, and i’ve kept two copies of Pinned Down to remove any pesky dudes and their pesky goods, and increase my volume of horses, I went with a 3:1 split between Pinto and LeMat. Maza Gang Hideout is out, and I filled that slot with an extra horse on 5 instead of sticking with the 7s.

Fives do not change other than the addition of the extra Mustang and Pearl Handled Revolver. I went with 3 copies of Pistol Whip as I want to see it often, it’s just that good. I have a single Huckleberry because it’s too good not to include as well.

Off value, I’ve included the ubiquitous Calling the Cavalry, but trying 3 instead of 4. It’s not the steamroller it used to be, and that’s a good thing (maybe people will not be running Magnum Rounds all the time now). It still can provide a casualty swing, and makes one of your dudes a stud, which is good for Jon and Maggie. Dropping a copy of Calling the Cavlary, I added a copy of Point Blank. I don’t have any token dudes so I’m fine with the requirements, and using the combination boost+penalty from Fleet-Footed, It opens up the potential to cause a bit more hurt.

The deck breakdown:

14 8s, 14 5’s, 13 7’s, 3 6’s, 3 K’s
12 dudes, 10 deeds, 12 goods, 18 actions.
Shootout Hands range from full house to cheatin’ five of a kind. Cheatin’ Reactions that go after your dudes and reduce casualties will be a nightmare for you, but if that’s the case, try to outmaneuver your opponent’s dudes with your horses instead of pressing the fight.

Some thoughts:

  • Morgan Regulators no longer makes one of your dudes a stud. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you have a strong shooter in town square after booting your home.
  • Without Pedro, your dudes are now vulnerable to movement effects like Pistol Whip. Consider using an unbooted Pinto or Ragged Mule to move back in.
  • Don’t fight fair fights. You have the luxury of horses to safely move to profitable deeds and deny production and abilities. Use that mobility to put your opponents’ dudes out of place, then once a dude can’t refuse a callout and can’t bring in much help, you can use the horses to ride to the rescue.
  • Beware using Calling the Cavalry in the mirror match. It counts whichever side has the most horses, and gadget horses will definitely be a thing.
  • As stated before. Your first play should be to move Maggie to TS. Second play will be to run her job and mark your home. Have Irving join to get your extra ghost rock.
  • A Mustang on Jon Longstride can ride all over the board, especially if he stops to visit Vida Azul or uses your home’s ability.
  • Slide may actually be your best matchup. It’s a deck that plays deeds and influence, but mainly wants to avoid a fight. Move as aggressively as the situation warrants, take over their deeds, play your own, and if they don’t fight, they will be limited to 5 Influence for Sundown.
  • Conversely, decks that run a lot of dudes, and probably most forms of Law Dogs, might give you some headaches, as you will not have the manpower to match the other side, and bounty will enable lots of Law Dog abilities and many of the support cards they will run, such as having a Bounty Hunter show up out of nowhere to call out one of your isolated dudes, negating your mobility slightly. Minimize starting fights on your opponent’s private property.
  • Don’t be afraid to let a Ragged Mule go to the Discard pile, especially if you’re about to reshuffle in the middle of a shootout. It will put one of your shootout values back into the deck, hopefully improving your chances.

There you have it, folks. You have no idea how glad I am that the deck didn’t change much in the way of sticking to the same values, but the strategy overall will shift wildly. The movement prevention of Pedro might be gone for this deck, it still remains for another type of horse deck that I’ll be looking into next. Come back for Part 2 of Movin’ Forward: Updating Archetypes for Weird West Format. Thank you for reading!

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Excellent break down.

Thank you

I would do this for my decks, but my decks are far from “standard”

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