Assorted thoughts on Welcome to Deadwood

Expansions & Spoilers
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Well, since no-one else has been writing much about the new cards, I guess I’ll throw out some random observations to try to get the ball rolling:

JT Goodenough - Easily the best of the new Grifters - while Funtime Freddy’s double-acing cost was clearly set too high to make him viable, this seems to go a bit too far in the other direction, even before taking into account that he can team up with Janosz Pratt to make the second Weapon immediately available.

Mimi O’Brien - Pretty handy, especially given that unlike several similar effects, it’s a React rather than a Resolution ability, and therefore can be used from across the table. Plus, the reactive nature of many Miracles means that you can easily end up with some cards that don’t contribute a lot and can rather be cycled to preserve your deck structure (perhaps even doing so in shootouts where you’re not taking any casualties to begin with).

Sam Bass - Eh, I get the synergy with other pro-cheating Outlaw cards, but I’m not entirely convinced it’s worth the point of upkeep. The ‘cycling Ace for DMH’ aspect is obvious, but I’m not sure he makes the cut when competing against the Fixer/Daomei Wang/Camillus McFly. (On the even more subjective side, I like the art but feel it’s a bit at odds with the card - he looks like more of a tough guy than his stats and flavour text imply.)

Jack McCall - Again a bit underwhelmed - 2 GR for a straight-up 1 Stud/0 Inf wouldn’t be that terrific in itself, and the added condition can often trip him up - while there aren’t that many effects that value adding bounty to just a random dude.

Lew Esquilin - Probably the second-best new Grifter, with his selective extra card draw which also lets you manipulate the first-turn Lowball hand.

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A great idea for a thread! Cards are here (Welcome to Deadwood · DoomtownDB) for those that haven’t seen them yet.

This is an unusual set for me as it is the first time in the Pinebox era that I’m not part of the Playtest credits due to parenting duties and a job change. So I can offer a slightly different perspective than normal, albeit less informed as I wasn’t involved in testing these. And glad to be in the credits for a different role and back on board with Playtest for the next set.

New grifters - likely to see a lot more play than the old ones, as they’ve got influence for 3GR. May leave you down a mobile dude on T1, but abilities and cost profile frequently worth it (skill and influence for 3GR, no upkeep is generally great value).

Sam Bass - Dropping this dude when your opponent has spent their ghost rock will be a huge swing in the board state. You can suddenly bully the table with impunity. As for his Art, I see him in the broader Sloane Gang tradition of having lots of “bullies” (like Buford Hurley) backed up by a few dangerous professionals (Sloane, Pancho Castillo, Alice Stowe etc). Pro cheatin’ abilities can be tough to balance, so I’m glad a path has been found to printing a dude for this subtheme.

Jack McCall - The Tombstone Haint is 2GR for 0 Stud (and a decent trait!) and sees plenty of play already. I think Jack McCall will see some play - he might not quite be as strong as the Tombstone Haint (who I think will be a staple) but you can be a bit weaker than the Haint and still be a good card! Extra bounty might be handy to pass around with Makaio or to boost control points with Desolation Row?

Mourning Mist - fits both Fearmongers (they like cheap abominations that they can Ace and recur, particularly with a “control” effect) and shooting decks. The shooting decks will like a cheap dude on 3 (a popular shooting value) with an ability that helps with control or forcing a fight.

The Angler - a cool, balanced way to implement the Fearmonger “grit/value hunting” theme.

John “Aces” Radcliffe, Willae Mae McGowan and “Professor” Duncan - always happy to see tournament results reflected in experienced dudes!

Play for Blood - Might not get you a big win like a Sun in Yer Eyes/Nightmare at Noon etc, but great attrition for frequent tied hand ranks. And cycles itself out if you’re not planning to start a fight or if you’re in a match-up where you won’t need the help in shootouts (such as against Slide/Control, where your typical fighting cards are often dead cards in your hand).

Bad Beat - a more generic cheain’ punishment option on 7C than the specialised Comin’ up Roses, so may well see play. Will sometimes backfire spectacularly too! Great in lowball if opponent cheats twice however, taking two ghost rock can really screw with an opponent’s plans.

Carmichael’s Livery & Winner’s Circle Auction House - useful text on both and also pleased to see more 3GR for 1CP/+2 income deeds in the game. Helps economy and card games are more fun when you can afford to play more of your cards!

Fallen Star - a redirect effect! 7 of Clubs is a tough value to crack, but this is a powerful defensive tool.

Vamoosin - J didn’t have a strong shootout action and this can be used offensively or defensively.

Land Purchase - a strong effect and easy to run if you can dominate Town Square. Tutoring for deeds is powerful and this may encourage people to run some toolbox deeds “off value”. Cycles back in to your structure too, so together with Magnum Rounds and your Club on 3 it will be easier to keep 3 as a strong shootout value for a whole game.

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Land Purchase is going to find a home in every deck running 3s especially the ubiquitous 357 Outlaws. I relish the thought of grabbing useful deeds such as Charlie’s Place and should the job succeed, enter play for free. Land Purchase is the biggest powerhouse of the set, imho.

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My highlight: The three new Movement Actions!

Get Off My Land!
React speed movement? Cheating at chess? Awesome. Bonus points for following up with irrefusable callouts like Tin Star and Full Moon Brotherhood.

Swagger
Strolling down your or your opponent’s street? 24-hour boost to controlling Influence? Who needs the Townsquare anyway. Block a deed, steal a quick chess win, or just avoid a callout or other proximity threat. Or use it offensively for “adjacent location” targeting effects.

Vamoosin’
The fakeout nobody sees coming - two can play at Frank Stillwell’s game! Or on the other side of the Law, a new kind of “removal” bounty-tech for cleanin’ up the town!

Maybe the first time your opponent doesn’t seem them coming. Fool me once. Then the psychological “does he or doesn’t he?” play when your opponent asks to consult your discard pile. Cards putting in “work” without even being in your hand.

Who needs “hard” shootout actions anyways!

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I had a real “saw this and thought of you” moment when I saw Swagger! Glad it appeals to you.

@Sliptide213 Outlaws could perhaps make use of Land Purchase and Frank Stilwell to give their opponents a difficult job to defend? Although I suspect I will lose the odd game due to over/under committing to the job on land purchase! Will see which flavours of outlaw it appears in, as sometimes in town square blitz I want deeds directly rather than giving up a body to run the job. But agree this will see plenty of play.

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The Angler - Plenty of interesting applications of this guy’s abilities. One of the most obvious combos is with Christine Perfect, letting you hit Q-value Dudes (particularly nice against Anarchists, with their wimpy and starting-popular Dudes in Stevie Lyndon and Tayari), and Sanatorium letting you hit 8s (or Ks with both used together).

DMH decks might be particularly suited to running him (even off-value), since they’ll combine heavy shooting power with the option of using his second ability to reset his value to every primary value of opposing DMH decks.
Furthermore, the fact that values ‘bottom out’ at A lets Christine Perfect set up any Dude of value 6 or less for a callout by an A value-Angler (Of course, this requires this low-value dude to fit Christine’s “highest grit” requirement, but this will happen sometimes - either because the whole deck is low-value or because of heavy losses.)
Also also, DMH decks will frequently pack one or more Pedros (and occasionally Rapiers as well), which offer you even more opportunities to tailor his value for specific targeting.

And of course, his value-resetting can also be used completely independently of his callout ability, just to buff him against Shotgun/Puppet/whatever, or to manipulate who an opposing Mason Adler can target.

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Reggie Mallard - I assume there’s an intentional ‘straight flush’ wordplay in his flavour text?

Al Swearengen - A fun idea reminiscent of the Echo mechanic from old Magic:the Gathering cards, but I’m not sure about the costing - unlike Echo, where paying the cost in installments lets you potentially get the card into much earlier, in DT this doesn’t speed up the full version at all (and 8 GR for a vanilla 2S/2inf is a little overcosted), and getting a 1D/1inf for 4 GR out a little faster is…not that great a deal? I guess it could make a difference if you really want him in your starting lineup - but I’d rather just put in
Auntie Lou Marchbanks, who is really good, getting the +1 bullet from the get-go and tthe studlyness a lot of time (inclunding when defending your home. Sure, she’s not great at Town Square Camping - but if you’re camping with Entrepreneurs, you’re most likely using the Regulators home and can use that to make her a Stud anyway.

Yiska - Another one of those traits that First Peoples seem to specialize in, where you start out somewhat overcosted and get a stats buff to somewhat undercosted if [some condition] is met. This is one of the easier ones to meet in the right deck (especially if you start Fransisco Rosales), so can be well worth starting, with Spirit Steed as a particularly nice combo.

Huang Li - Anarchists finally get a second K value boss, and they made sure to design him to synergize with a whole set of different anarchist themes. Note that Yasmin Tian, He Fang, Brother Petrovic, and Hamshanks will all allow you to obtain two of the bonuses at once. (And a Praying Hamshanks (or even more implausibly, Yasmin/He with a Vitality Tonic) will let you trigger the whole trifecta.)

Alferd Packer - Is there some backstory for his looks-like-a-typo-but-presumably-isn’t name?

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On Reggie, yes. That dude was a name-a-card prize, earned by @shekky_ducky. When it came to the flavour text we decided to add a little nod to his notorious Desolation Row deck.

Alferd Packer was an actual person - see here. He makes an appearance in one of the RPG sourcebooks, and things obviously went a little differently for him in the Deadlands timeline as he’s a Harrowed hired help. Papa Marias, on the other hand, does have a typo in his name that really winds me up (it’s meant to be Marais).

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