So I proxied two new decks and went to play them with my friends.
I played Shamans vs. Law Dogs Miracles and Morgan Gadgets, and Kung Fu vs. Shamans and @gozik’s 6+8+10 Clowns.
Shamans - Deckbuilder · DoomtownDB
Eagle Wardens
Starting with 4 wealth, 2 income and 5 influence
Draw structure: 15-14-14
Spades (* starting posse) (12)
1x 3 Mazatl *
1x 6 Lydia Bear-Hands *
1x 10 Max Baine (Exp.1) *
1x 10 Angela Payne
1x 10 Bloody Teeth
1x 10 Three-Eyed Hawk
1x J Clint Ramsey
1x J Sarah Meoquanee
1x J Smiling Frog
1x Q Eve Henry
1x Q Laughing Crow
1x K Chief Stephen Seven-Eagles
Clubs (12)
4x 10 Unprepared
4x J Flight of the Lepus
4x Q Takin’ Ya With Me
Diamonds (13)
2x 10 Baird’s Build and Loan
1x 10 Carter’s Bounties
1x 10 The Union Casino
3x J Huntsmen’s Society
1x J Jackson’s Strike
2x Q General Store
1x Q St. Anthony’s Chapel
1x Q The Pharmacy
1x K The Whateley Estate
Hearts (15)
4x 8 Spirit Dance
4x 10 Spirit Trail
3x J Buffalo Rifle
4x Q The Pack Awakens
The Shamans deck looks pretty straightforward: you attach The Pack Awakens to your home, Mazatl camps there with a Buffalo Rifle, Lydia gets some Spirit Dances and stays in the town square to use the outfit ability, Max Baine brings in dudes for cheap, Huntsmen’s Society lowers their upkeep.
Actually playing the deck was a little bit different from what was expected.
First, I really struggled for money: bought spells, brought in dudes to defend the town square, and somehow had very few deeds on the board. Lost upkeep often. I think I need to water down the structure somewhat, get more off-value deeds.
Second, the shaman camping at home with Buffalo Rifle and several spirits and totems doesn’t just cover the town square and two deeds adjacent to home - he also covers any three deeds that you put Spirit Trail on, provided that there’s one at your home.
I really like the idea of shooting a rifle loaded with ancestral and wolf spirits through a portal all the way into another part of town!
Moreover, using this network of Spirit Trails and Mazatl’s innate ability is really irritating for the opponent - he just can’t catch your shamans, they keep running around town, driving him crazy! And when he finally corners one, suddenly a portal opens through which spirits start swarming. Oh, and of course, if any of the spirits dies, they Take Ya With Them!
Runnig around town seems much more interesting than camping in town square, so maybe the way to go with this faction is to attach The Pack Awakens not to your home but to deeds, yours and your opponent’s. Fighting there would also make your tokens Harrowed as an added bonus.
One important thing is that neither the Law Dogs Miracles deck nor the Morgan Gadgets deck that I playtested against played Unprepared or Pistol Whips. I think that these two cards would really ruin my day by negating the camper shaman with a Buffalo Rifle. Next time I’ll make sure to playtest against those cards, and I’ll also try a version of this deck that runs Many Speak As One and Idol of Tlazolteotl in place of Buffalo Rifle.
Kung Fu - Deckbuilder · DoomtownDB
The 108 Righteous Bandits
Starting with 4 wealth, 1 income and 4 influence
Draw structure: 12-11-13
1x A Benjamin Washington *
1x 2 Xiaodan Li *
1x 4 Xui Yin Chen *
1x 5 Hamshanks *
1x 7 Yunxu Jiang *
2x A Daomei Wang
1x A Jake Smiley
1x 2 Olivia Jenks
1x 2 Randall
1x 3 Longwei Fu
1x 3 Ramiro Mendoza
1x 4 Natalya
1x 8 Abuelita Espinoza
1x 9 Bai Yang Chen
4x A Shifu Speaks
4x 2 Zhu’s Ferocity
4x 3 Raking Dragons
2x 4 Rabbit’s Lunar Leap
2x 6 Hot Lead Flyin’
2x J Zhu’s Reward
1x A Bank of California
1x A Pony Express
1x A The Mayor’s Office
1x 2 Gomorra Parish
2x 2 Pettigrew’s Pawnshop
1x 3 Hustings
1x 3 Yan Li’s Tailoring
1x 3 1st Baptist Church
2x A Pair of Six-Shooters
2x 2 Peacemaker
2x 3 Nunchucks
2x 3 Shotgun
2x Q Legendary Holster
First I playtested this deck against my own Shamans deck, and guess what - it has a perfect counter to tokens in form of Zhu’s Reward. Even if the opponent has a million 2-stud harrowed spirits, all I need is any of my kung fu dudes to play Zhu’s Ferocity into Zhu’s Reward to send them all away from the shootout, leaving the soft shaman bodies exposed. Shotguns help against tokes too =_=
The starting posse is kinda crazy in that Xui Yin Chen (the Anime Chick) turns everyone in the posse into studs, but not only that, they also get +1 influence each, which is enough to gain control of any deed, and then Yunxu Jiang (the Braided Guy) gives every other dude +1 bullet and +1 value, while Hamshanks (the Red Devil) protects them from harm - and that is you drawing 11 cards for the shootout with your starting posse only! Add to that some guns and Techniques, and you’re looking at a number higher than that, while having a couple dudes stay outside of the shootout as backup. Really, fighting a full posse of kung fu dudes is suicide!
But it’s also really hard to outmaneuver them, because with the outfit ability, Daomei Wang (the Transient), and Rabbit’s Lunar Leap, those king fu dudes keep popping up where you don’t expect them!
On to the deck and individual cards:
Daomei Wang is really really great, 2-stud with influence for 2 gr, keep him or discard him, but his enters-play ability is very powerful - it’s a surprice even nastier than Steven Wiles!
Natalya proved to be very useful, send her to Jackson’s Strike or Blake Ranch (or any in-town deed if they can’t catch her this turn), and even if both players go down to zero gr by the end of this turn, lowball will be in your favor in any case - either you win it and gain 2 gr, or you lose it and gain that deed’s production - even if you don’t control it! I’ll definitely need to try a starting posse including Natalya and Abuelita Espinoza to completely mess with my opponent’s game plan. Next I’ll build a deck focused less of shootouts and more or movement and economic denial.
Hamshanks is very useful if you’re careful about moving him around, he can protect the Anime Chick from Unprepared or Paralysis Mark, I most definitely feel safer when he’s around. Very important for the matchup vs. Clowns!
Shifu Speaks - I did not find this card particularly useful, mostly played it to fill my discard pile with Tao Techniques for combo. I guess it would be pretty handy if my main kung fu dudess goes down and I’m left with small kung fu 1 dudes, and it can also be used to take control of a deed until after sundown and push for the win, but it didn’t do these thing for me during the games I played today. I’ll test it some more, but in my next iteration of this deck I want to shift from A’s to 4’s for some Coachwhips and cheaper deeds.
Zhu’s Ferocity and Raking Dragons are very nice by themselves, they activate Zhu’s Reward, and let me kill big dudes with Shotguns (this last part I really like, I think a build with 4x Shotguns would be very viable and scary). Although the exact proportion between these cards and Bottom Dealin’ and Sun In Yer Eyes remains an open question. Dropping all Techniques would probably still be a viable approach, as the outfit ability and the starting posse are very strong even without the kung fu shenanigans.
Rabbit’s Lunar Leap and Zhu’s Reward are two cards that I like having 2x in my deck, even off-value. They work well together, and Lunar Leap helps to keep the Anime Chick where she’s needed, unbooted.
Nunchucks - didn’t get much use out of these, they didn’t help me in the matchup against Clowns at all, because they don’t stop Paralysis Mark, Shadow Walk, Phantasm, or Blood Curse during noon. The only hex they’re really good at blocking is Soul Blast, I suppose, but I’m not sure it’s worth playing them over more Shotguns. Need more testing.
Overall, I really enjoyed playing new factions. I think I am still far from uncovering their full potential, because they both offer many opportunities for jumping around town and playing the chess game, which is generally more interesting that the “camp in the town square” strategy I had in mind when I built these two decks.
Many thanks to the Design Team for making Doomtown fresh for me again, I am no longer thinking about dropping this game in favor of AGOT 2.0! 
