I’m not sure if this is a “strategy” or “general” post, so my apologies if I’ve put it in the wrong forum. Does anybody still play Bicycle format as an alternative fun format? IE, your 52 cards must be 52 cards that form a bicycle deck? No poker value can be repeated? We played this occasionally in Classic, and it made for some head-scratching deck construction fun.
People do indeed play this, there is often a special event at GenCon for it too.
There are a few cards that are particularly powerful in this format, such as Gambler’s Gun, but for some people that’s part of the fun of the format!
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Indeed! We do allow play with Jokers to go to 54 for the GenCon event and also make it multiplayer for further hilarity.
The Philadelphia area was also playing Kansas City for some time, a variation where if you ever cheat you lose the game. This allowed for the deck to be mostly Bicycle, but allow some overlap with your starting posse with values. However, when those dudes start getting discarded as casualties and going back through the deck , you start to worry during lowball 
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I’ve not played it, but I’ve ventured a bicycle deck that played more like a landslide. It is hoping to see opponents with very little spot removal. Runs out of Sanitarium, most dudes are zero upkeep and many have influence. Actions are focused on card draw, tutoring, and otherwise easy to play to get rid of noon actions. Hearts are mostly attire and free spells. It gains extra control points from Clementine at Union Casino and Showboating. There is a hidden backup plan of Mario Crane wrecking house when the deck only has clubs left.
Another powerful start for Fourth Ring is Jia Mien xp with Freddy. Quicker access to Fiddle Game and Putting the Pieces Together. Or Father Tolarios with Law Dogs with Andrew for that first turn Gambler’s Gun. All kinds of possible shenanigans!
Okay, this makes me pretty pleased. I’ll be sure to have a bicycle deck stashed away for fun games.
The next League we’re going to have in Portland Oregon is probably going to be a bicycle League which I am looking forward too as I have been working on both a Sloan deck and a law dog deck that I think will do very well
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