Originally published at: http://gomorragazette.com/2015/11/25/holiday-celebrations-in-gommora-1-an-undead-thanksgiving-feast/
by David Lapp
Howdy partners, Bayushi Jinn-Ja here again. I’ve been asked to give some insight into a deck each holiday season and turn it into a beer pairing, so here we go! For this Thanksgiving, I’ve chosen to go with the Eagle Wardens, mostly because at first I found myself struggling with them. With some factions, it’s pretty easy to see how they get to their win condition. Sloane’s outfit has built in ways to gain control points plus Allie, The Righteous 108 can landslide through their amazing Clan Champion (whoops, that’s the Bayushi’s L5R talking again), Fourth Ring has control plus influence reduction. So what is it that the Eagle Wardens can do to win a game of Doomtown: Reloaded? Simply put, draw a bunch of cards, make a bunch of studs, and throw what they can at their opponent while building up control. To better understand a possible avenue for Eagle Warden success, we’ll start off by looking at two existing decks, starting with this build posted by Gozik on Doomtown DTDB.
Jon Del Arroz (Otomo) then tweaked the deck by adding a Buffalo Rifle and Jackson’s Strike, along with swapping out a couple of Buried Treasure for Unprepared, managing to win an event in the process. While I love Buried Treasure’s card draw, I agree with Jon that Unprepared is so clutch against any sort of aggro/shooter deck. Don’t leave the wigwam or teepee without ‘em. My tweak to Jon’s build would be to trade in the It’s Not What You Know for a pair of Takin’ Ya With me, which pairs nicely with all those expendable and recurrable Abominations. Also, with the release of Dirty Deeds, I swap out Three Eyed Hawk for Doris Powell and her ability to apply control point pressure.
Decklist: Jon Del Arroz’ version of Warden Undertaker
Spades (* starting posse) (17)
1x A Jake Smiley*
1x Pagliaccio
1x 3 Mazatl*
1x 4 John “Aces” Radcliffe* (or Smiling Frog v. Control)
1x 4 Marcia Ridge*
1x 4 The Brute
1x 6 Bobo
1x 8 The Ghostly Gun
1x 10 Bloody Teeth
1x 10 Max Baine (Exp.1)
1x 10 Three Eyed Hawk
1x J Sarah Meoquanee
1x J Smiling Frog
1x J Tyxarglenak
1x Q Eve Henry
1x Q J.W. Byrne
1x Q Nicodemus Whateley
1x K Jacqueline Isham*
Clubs (11)
2x 10 Buried Treasure
2x 10 Unprepared
3x J Flight of the Lepus
2x Q It’s Not What You Know
2x Q No Turning Back
Diamonds (11)
1x 2 Gomorra Parish
1x 10 Baird’s Build and Loan
1x 10 Carter’s Bounties
1x 10 The Union Casino
1x J California Tax Office
1x J Jackson’s Strike
2x J Undertaker
2x Q General Store
1x Q St. Anthony’s Chapel
Hearts (13)
3x 8 Spirit Dance
4x 10 Spirit Trail
2x J Rapier
1x J Buffalo Rifle
2x Q Soul Cage
Jokers (2)
1x Joker (black)
1x Joker (red)
John and Jacqueline are excellent starting choices, as you want to be able to get out to the town square and use your outfit ability, while having the ability to defend if you get called out. Plus neither dude puts your influence at risk. Flight of the Lepus allows you to clear out the town square if your opponent cheats, and the cheatin’ hate gets even stronger with Soul Cages (swap That’s What You Know back in if you’d like some more). The Parish, outfit ability, and Buried Treasure allow you to activate the Undertaker, bringing in more money to get out your dudes and deeds. Use Spirit Trail along with Mazatl to have access to your opponent’s deeds. Your Queen actions put the Tokens to good use and your monsters should be able to shoot down your opponent. 10s, Js, and Qs seem like the obvious on values for now, with dudes and dude generators as off suits. As a huge Oddities fan, I appreciate the use of Abominations in this build.
Now for the beer! I came across the Terrapin: The Walking Dead Blood Orange IPA a couple of weeks ago at my local liquor outlet. The official beer of the undead seemed appropriate for an Abominations and Undertaker deck. I had an opportunity to drink it this past week along with piloting the above deck. This beer is a Red India Pale Ale brewed with Orange Peel. Fittingly, it has a horrific amount of hops, with the bitterness taken off by the orange. You get some tart and citrus flavors up front, with a sweet back end. IPA fans will appreciate this different take on the style, but I’d also recommend this brew for those generally turned off by IPAs. Remember this holiday season to drink responsibly and shoot straight.
Bob “The Wave” Martin (at right in red shirt) piloting this deck at the Dallas post-Kotei after-party.