No Turning Back - reviewing the new cards

Expansions & Spoilers
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Originally published at: http://gomorragazette.com/2015/07/02/no-turning-back-reviewing-the-new-cards/
By Joe Oberbeck

Avie Cline (xp) – Avie’s experienced ability is what I consider a meta defining deck type. You start her and then add support cards such as Phantasm, Paralysis mark, Blood Curse, and Rumors. Voilá, you have a hard control deck. Another option is to use her as a sniper, e.g. pull a dude to her then force a lop-sided shootout. Use pharmacy and good stiff drink to rinse, launder, and repeat. 4.5/5

Judge Harry Somerset (xp) - I like him, even though I don't like the strategy he promotes. I am a control player and this dude screams aggro all the way. Together with Andrew Burton, your opponents are going to need an answer fast or they lose a dude at the start of the game. I will be interested in seeing the meta adapt to the Judge’s strategy. 4.5/5
Ebenezer Springfield - I really don't like this guy as a starter or a dude to play middle game, since he has no influence. The reason to play him would be to put him in my blessed deck just for the value. I guess you could throw a new hat on him since that is also a high value card. 1/5
Elander Boldman (xp) - The first mad scientist that has a skill of three. The Gadgetorium just got a starter that can invent any gadget in the game with ease. Flame Throwers and the brand-new Asyncoil Gun get better with his ability. 3.5/5
Antheia Pansofia - She is an auto-include in Sloane huckster decks and splashable outside of Sloane. Antheias' ability to add three to the skill check is a huge boon. Sloane Hucksters can now go after some of the high difficulty spells that have been out of their values structure without skewing their draw structure. 3/5
Harry Highbinder - Harry fits into Sloane for two reasons: he provides 3 influence which Sloane doesn't have access to, and he also allows you to play or trade goods in town square. The ability also, helps pump those shotguns out so you don't have suffer movement booting, which Sloane can't afford to do 2.5/5
Max Baine (xp) The unemployed version of Max is yet another experienced dude in this pack. Oddly, both Max and Avie went down on printed value. At first glance, I hated him mainly because he was exiled from my current favorite outfit. Then I looked again, and saw that 4th ring and Morgan have quality 10 or higher value dudes. Lo and behold, a deck was created. Cards that combo with Max are Good Stiff Drink, Pharmacy, and Louis Pasteur ( He is over 10 value and a Mad Science dude). 4.5/5
El Grajo. - Jack value drifter, stud, 3 cost, and only upkeep of 1 is decent, but not great. Where this dude shines is that while he has a melee weapon he can recover from a Sun in Yer Eyes to become a 2 stud. 2.5/5
Jacqueline Isham - This lady caught me off guard. I was not thinking a king value for such a cheap dude. The ability is hit and miss, but with Sloane pulling jobs everywhere, I think she will be starting in many deck just for that 2 stud repeat ability. 3.5/5
Huntsmen's Society - Another Jack value deed, that's four now right? When I looked at this deed I was confused on why I would play this deed over such options as the Undertaker and the Tax Office. After thinking awhile, I was thinking DMH deck, but my personal play style keeps jacks in my deck. Once Max was spoiled by OCTGN season one champ Gozik, I realized that this two card combo was going to start a new archetype based on high value dudes swarming the streets of Gomorra. The only negative thing I will say is that this deed will be having shootouts at it due to the fact it accelerates your income by reducing all of the controllers’ dudes with value of ten or higher by 1. If it had income of 0 I would still play it 5/5
Secured Stockyard - I like ranches and you know who did like ranches, Kyle, may he rest in peace. Ironically, these two cards work together so you can do the noon ability twice a turn to gain 2 ghost rock or a net gain of 3 ghost rock per turn. 3.5/5
La Quema - An ace value horse carrying a jack value dude. I am sensing a trend for DMH. Okay, at 4 ghost rock, this horse is going to be hard to put into play. With the biggest drawback out of the way, let's look at the juicy game text: attached dude gets +3 value and if they have a melee weapon, they get another bullet. Then the shootout ability to jump into a shootout and boot an opposing dude. With the stat increase and ability, I think the designers want voltron dudes to become a thing. I have no problem with this. 2.5/5
Asyncoil Gun - It's an experimental shotgun for club-less decks. I am excited to build a gadget deck using this card. 3/5
Scoop Hound - Another sidekick, this one shutting down shootout mobility effects. This card is a meta card and a good meta card at that. It turns so many strategies off that a one of in any deck would be a smart choice (Which it also turns off). As a side note, Alex is turned into a girl reporter, which is hilarious. 4/5
Rapier – Look, we have another melee weapon and a decent jack value weapon, so I can stop using the buffalo rifle. Getting +2 bullets, even if it’s conditional, and +1 value is nothing to sneeze at for a cost of 1 ghost rock. 2.5/5
Vitality Tonic - A queen value gadget with an ability to give attached dude the Abomination trait. After the attached dude dies, they go to discard instead. It has the repeat and pay 2 to unboot this dude, but if clubs discard. This card seems like it should go into a 4th ring deck, but they don't have science and then I think it should go in a club light or club-less deck. This is a card that I can't think where to put it. For now, I give it the lowest rating with a mental note that I need to play it more to figure out if it’s boom or bust. 1/5
Consecration - A holy cheating resolution with an easy skill check. With this miracle, one of your dudes is receiving +2 bullets and influence until sundown plus another miracle that reduces your casualties in shootouts. It seems once we get some blessed dudes with influence, this deck type will be one holy son of a gun to get rid of their dudes during shootouts. 2.5/5
Mark of Pestilence - At first glance I wanted to slot this in every huckster deck. Then I did a double take, and I still want to put it every huckster deck I have. The ability to boot all dudes in a shootout is great. Then after the first round, you run home. You have stuck your opponents’ dudes at a location, while next turn you will have unbooted dudes at home ready to move around at will. If this was a different value other than a 9, which it shares with Phantasm, I would like this Hex a lot more. 3/5
Cookin' Up Trouble - Punishing cheating players by looking at their hand and discarding an action, good, or spell is always a good thing. The only thing is this card is a five, and I hate to get rid of my pistol whips. The tracking of cheating players issue has been raised by the community. I solve the problem by using a token or counter. 3/5
Ol' Fashioned Hangin' - The anti-Drow deck card and another five value. If this card was another value, I could see this and pistol whips then running around using evidence to bump dudes bounty to two then sniping them with the Judge Harry's, Clyde, or Bounty Hunters. But another card that works for this is Make the Smart Choice or Flight of the Lepus. Law Dogs may be the only outfit packing this card for maximum usage. 3/5
No Turning Back - Hey, it’s the card that the saddlebag is named for! It must be great right? As a Queen value, this action can compete with the other cards at this slot. The noon action could be useful in a pinch to ace one of your dudes to gain ghost rock so you can play a better dude or deed for better usage. The resolution ability is great, instead of losing my whole posse I am just going to lose one and the dude you SIYE on is now a 2 stud again. The decks that I will try this in are going to be a 4th Ring Oddities deck and a miracle-based deck since they both sport effects that lower casualties. 1/5

My feelings on this pack give me peace of mind that the developers are not just giving me what I want. Instead, they are dangling a carrot in front of me, challenging me to find a home for every card in this pack. Also, this is my favorite pack to date, because it is the saddlebag that I think most supports current decks and fosters new deck archetypes using different strategies we haven’t yet had available.

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While I agree with many of the scores given to cards, I have some comments to the descriptive part:

Alie Cline (Exp.1)
I would be interested to see a deck starting her. To me, she’s not really a good starter because her ability is not all that useful in the early game, before you have enough spells to neutralize opposing studs and isolate your target, while having enough dudes of your own to safely engage into a shootout against even a small dude, knowing that your opponent might be packing a flurry of Suns and Stakes in their hand. And if you don’t intend on initiating a shootout, moving a dude will not have much effect on the board in the early game. Her upkeep of 2 definitely will, though.

Also, my personal opinion is that it is not worth it ever mentioning Good Stiff Drink while reviewing a card with an ability that requires booting. As we know from the data recently extracted by @platypus from dtdb, it is one of the least used cards in the entire game, and that’s because you need to combo it with a separate unbooting effect, plus ensure that the conditions for the successful use of the ability are still met after the first time. The potential payoff just isn’t worth playing a card that will be dead most of the time.

Judge Harry Somerset (Exp.1)
Starting him is definitely pure aggro, but playing him mid-game can actually be an effective control instrument. It will be much more risky for your opponent to spread out their dudes and leave them isolated, and if they want to defend effectively they’ll have to boot other dudes and vacate some deeds. The great thing about the new Judge is that in order to be scary, he doesn’t need additional support (and booting) from your other dudes. That, and his card value, of course :smile:

Max Baine (Exp.1)
Same thing here with the Good Stiff Drink - in order for it to be useful to Max, you also need an unbooting effect, and another 10+ value dude that you can still afford to play. How often can you meet these conditions?

La Quema
Regarding the Voltron dudes, the one thing that stops this from becoming a thing is Unprepared. Oh, and also Coachwhip. What they need is more protection from being targeted, not more bullets and value.

Scoop Hound
While it’s a useful card, I don’t think it’s all that great because in most cases your opponent will only have one effect that you want to block (either Stakes or Pistol Whip, but rarely both), and in order to do it you need to win initiative. So, half the time it’ll just be a casualty soak. Which is still fine, I guess.

Rapier
I think this card is actually pretty good. +2 bullets on a stud dude for the price of 1 ghost rock proved to be very effective in my games, and there are many decks that don’t play weapons at all, so you will get the bonus often. For those decks that pack guns, playing Unprepared should usually do the trick.

Mark of Pestilence
I don’t think there will be many opportunities to effectively use this card. If you’re attacking with just your huckster equipped with this spell, the opponent is unlikely to oppose with his whole posse. If you’re attacking with all you’ve got, you’re taking a risk, and if you intend to flee after the first round of shootout, then your dudes will end up just as booted as your opponent’s. If it had a lower difficulty I could use it in a low value spell deck, but as it is I just don’t see it competing with Phantasm. I’d love to be proven wrong on that one though :smile:

Cookin’ Up Trouble
Its value is 4, not 5, so it competes with Coachwhip and the almighty Swinford Finds Trouble, not with Pistol Whip.

Ol’ Fashioned Hangin’
Could you elaborate on how Make the Smart Choice and Flight of the Lepus serve the same purpose as this card?

No Turning Back
I don’t quite get why you would want to play this card in a deck that has other effects that lower casualties. You can’t really combo it with The Brute or Consecration, so what’s the logic behind this? Also, you didn’t say a single bad word about this card, yet you gave it a score of 1/5, that seems odd.

[quote=“jedilanni, post:1, topic:342”]
My feelings on this pack give me peace of mind that the developers are not just giving me what I want. [/quote]
Developers not giving me what I want has been my feeling for awhile now, though it doesn’t quite give me peace of mind :slight_smile:

Thank you for the review, I hope other players will share their experience with the new cards as well.

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I think Jacqueline is potentially better than you give her credit for. You stated in the Judge Harry Exp section that you’ll be interested to see how the meta adapts to cope with him - well, Jacqueline is good early defence against Judge Harry and Kidnappin’, and is also useful for opposing Desolation Row jobs. Plus, that value means she isn’t Shotgun bait.

For any deck that needs a few turns to set up, she’s a strong starter.

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Weren’t you screaming for an 8-value anti-cheatin’ not so long ago? :stuck_out_tongue:

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To this one, I admit. Although it was four months ago.

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I am not going to review every single card, I will just say that my first feeling was that this expansion was the best and after testing the cards my opinion changed a bit, this expansion is the best and by some distance.

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I think vitality tonic is quite good/interesting - opens up the use of clownwagon as well.

I am looking into making a deck starting Avie and it looks quite promising so far. Would you use OoN or 4R outfit?

Good review - thx!

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I put him into a 3/7/8 Law Dog deck as a non-starter (replacing 2 of my 4 Stevens). Once or twice I’ve been disappointed to see him over Steven, but any game he’s landed on the board he’s won me the game. Putting him up on turn 5 or 6 after building bounties on your opponent gives you a very real threat against any deck that can’t outshoot you.

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@mplain Good Stiff drink you might be right ,but I like using this card with the pharmacy and/or Louis Pasteur. With the new Max decks emerging the Pharmacy and Good Stiff Drink will be seeing more play. The amazing data @platypus collected. I believe wasn’t showing No turning back so that would be an interesting look for the future…
I built a deck using Avie the upkeep did hurt. @Suzy309 I would use the original outfit for the extra income.
The unprepared is a caveat to any deck that plays hearts or wants to use abilities on dudes you just have to play with that in mind and be a smart player IMO in shootout anything can happen just be prepared to get unprepared.
On Mark of Pestilence I haven’t had much luck lately with this card I prefer phantasm at the value.
Yes I realized that on the cookin’ up trouble it was coachwhip not pistol whip late night writing. But, on side note I been playing with Cookin’ up trouble lately to see how it plays. I must say I’m really liking 2 of in the four spot for just the hand knowledge that it provides me. Since most decks I have been playing against as of late are very shooter intense they tend to cheat during lowball.
Regarding Make the smart choice and Flight of the Lepus. Make the Smart Choice lowers the marks bullets by influence and give that option of running, Flight of the Lepus would kick dudes out of the shootout before hand ranks.
On no turning back I like the card personally ,but play ability it lacks the acing a dude to reduce causalities and then gain +2 bullet and stud is interesting.
On the developers I like how they make you think on card choices not just say give me this and they give you the card I play another game that they listened to the give me approach and the games power creep grew very fast. Which created a very unfunny environment because every deck had 15-20 auto include cards and that’s boring.
@Epimer I underestimated Jacqueline I would rerate her at a 4 maybe 4.5/5 depending on meta. Sorry about the jumble response I’m at work so it’s hit and miss when I was writing this reply.

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Cool - OoN still gives income, more board control - less card draw. I think you should use a 10 point scale next time though :wink:

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I like will do next time what going to make a separate thread in a sec don’t what to derail conversation. I know with the current meta a Drow and town square I am shying away from OoN.

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Such a wall of text + loose punctuation = absolutely impossible to process what you wrote :((

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@mplain I was at work so i edited previous post. I hope that works better for ya. I didn’t want to lose my thoughts at the moment. Thanks for reading everyone.

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I disagree. Best Card. :wink:

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