Originally published at: http://gomorragazette.com/2016/07/28/the-showstopper-a-gomorra-gazette-set-review/
by David Hogg
WARNING: This set review contains SPOILERS of the Showstopper saddlebag expansion that will be pre-released at Gencon on Thursday, August 4, 2016. Since some retailers already have Showstopper available for immediate purchase, the Gomorra Gazette is publishing a full set review along with card spoilers. Do not click or read this article unless you wish to view spoiled cards.
Shi Long Peng - The 108 open the pack with a zero upkeep stud dude plus influence, both of which make him a solid body for any deck. Starting Shi Long Peng now enables running Miracles out of the Bandits, which has been tricky before now. The Law Dogs for instance have longed for more starting posse quality Blessed dudes for ages. If Miracles aren’t your thing then Shi Long Peng can also throw some fancy Kung Fu moves around thanks to his trait making him count as having Kung Fu 1, and is at a nice value for Jade Rabbit Tao. As Techniques generally build around low values, and Miracles around high values, I doubt we’ll see many decks making use of his weird ‘dual skill’. As influence without upkeep he might show up in 108 slide, but for his cost there are bigger influence bombs available. 4/5
Seamus McCaffrey - Speaking of 108 slide, let’s look at their next dude. Seamus and his low cost two influence looks like he’d fit right at home in a 108 landslide deck. His upkeep bites into your economy, making him unsuitable for your early game. Benjamin could help out there, but you’ll need to get a couple of quick deeds while hoping that your opponent doesn’t contest them. Savvy players will usually figure out your game plan and take steps to beat it. His trait makes him great for a landslide mirror match or as a toolbox dude against slide as there will be plenty of locations for your dudes to camp at. The four-point control swing when he hits play really helps as a match draws close to time. If you bring enough locations and spread your dudes around he can also keep you in the game longer against static Fortress builds. Decks that can throw a spanner in the works of your movement game give Seamus a harder time, so best bring plenty of tricks if you anticipate facing off against blockades and horses. 3/5
Gene North Star - Gene joins the likes of Sarah Meoquanee and Zachary Deloria, the Eagle Wardens’ muscle that protect their influential dudes and powerful shamans. Combining Zachary’s studness and Sarah’s shamanism, he’s the most consistent of the three. He makes for a resilient bully dude with his access to Spirit tokens and Turtle’s Guard. To reflect this, he’s the most expensive of the trio. Gene brings nothing new to the Wardens, but he slots in nicely as another shootout-focused shaman. 3/5
Speaks-With-Earth - Speaks-with-Earth looks like a brilliant dude to have watching over a Spirit Fortress. Before you auto-include him, note that his two upkeep can slow your deck down if he shows up too early. He also shares Nic Whateley’s value, of which Fortresses usually include 2 or 3 copies. I’ve seen decks running three Nics and a Laughing Crow before. Speaks does more to reinforce the Warden’s game plan and costs less to play and keep around, thus rendering Crow more or less obsolete. Silver Pheasant’s Bounty nicely offsets the upkeep on Eagle Wardens dudes. Use the totem before using Speaks’ ability, and you gain even more ghost rock out of it. He also wrings more use out of The Pack Awakens or Mother Bear’s Rage should your opponent launch multiple assaults against Speaks’ location. Non-fortress totem decks will find Speaks a great defender of any key location. 3/5
Quimby R. Tuttlemeir - Quimby looks like a man of interesting tastes. Is that a plate full of rats, or something worse? Somebody get this dude a Rose, because he’s a real boon to Oddities Abomination decks. Bring in Bobo for a turn to run a job, and if he survives feed him to Quimby to keep the influence point around for the rest of the game. There are many ways to get Abominations back from the dead (sometimes even cost free), so to get a few more points of permanent influence on the board you could set Quimby up adjacent to the Town Square (or the Bunkhouse) and serve up your expendable freaks for dinner over and over again. That should put an end to an unlucky shootout round resulting in game over for Oddities, but it does create the problem of all your eggs being in one basket where influence is concerned. So you do need to keep Quimby safe. Outside of Oddities it’s a little harder to get influence points on your Abominations, so Quimby isn’t as likely to see play out of other homes. 4/5
Erin Knight - Law Dogs players have wished for a high skilled Blessed, and Lil’ Erin certainly delivers. Having her as your main caster opens up the range of values you can run while still succeeding your Miracle pulls, alleviating a major problem of Blessed decks. Any support casters still face their usual perils and challenges. Erin on her own isn’t much of a fighter, but she can certainly utilize Miracles such as Lay On Hands, Get Behind Me, Satan! (see below), and For A Time Such As This. If only so many support Miracles didn’t require booting your Blessed, we’d see an explosion of decks running them. Her skill level, cost, and two influence make her a lynchpin dude that needs protecting. Her ability helps out in that regard as long as you’ve got unbooted Deputies in play. You could also use her ability aggressively, but exercise caution before throwing her into shootouts. Her low value and lynchpin nature relegate her as a starter in decks that use her, but her high cost could prove problematic as the Law Dogs aren’t exactly blessed (!) with a wide range of low cost dudes to fill out your posse. 4/5
Nicholas Kramer - Morgan’s first zero upkeep stud comes in at a great value for the faction and specifically gadgets. His cost is also on the low side for a Morgan shooter. Gadget decks now set up a lot faster, so it won’t take long for Kramer’s bullet bonus to rocket up to four. Strap him into a Mechanical Skeleton and have fun! As his bullet bonus is a trait, he also resists Unprepared, which makes him a viable dude to use as a gadget Voltron. Note that he doesn’t need to carry the gadgets to gain the bonus, you just need to control them. This is great! You could theoretically take control of your opponent’s Secured Stockyard full of Cattle Feeders and it’d power him up. 5/5
Pancho Castillo (xp1) - The smoothest member of the Sloane gang gets an experienced upgrade. This doesn’t change Pancho’s already good bullets and influence, but gives a nice value bump and gives him a new control ability. He seems better suited to Desolation Row and Den of Thieves than the original home as he relies on in-play bounties. Take care with your timing when playing him in a Des Row deck as he moves bounties from dudes to himself, so could cost you some control points. With just one bounty his shootout ability could save your Allie or fend off a Gunslinger or Spirit token. The more bounty you have the better he gets, but he also becomes a bigger target for your opponent. Whether he’s worth running when you could just have inexperienced Pancho and Pistol Whips alongside other good cards for Sloane is the question. Tens have some useful cards for Sloane, but their dudes have never been amazing main deck material. If you’re not upgrading him his cost is high, but if Desolation Row or Den of Thieves are working they shouldn’t be struggling for ghost rock and if you’re running tens then Buried Treasure, Extortion, and Recruitment Drive could help with your economy. There’s also the option of running fives and one copy of this Pancho, playing the cheaper inexperienced version then upgrading when you see this guy and putting an on-value card back in your deck. While I’m interested to see where the story ends up going with the Sloane gang, I’m afraid I’m still not entirely sold on this version of Pancho. 2/5
The Grey Man - This fearsome fellow has an ability that’s similar to Pancho’s, but as a Noon play it allows for more flexibility and risk-free control. While bullets may not reach the highs of bounty, they’re easier to manipulate. With three base, you will usually have targets around for the Grey Man to menace. The Grey Man is cheap to get into play or recur via Soul Cage, and he helps more than just Abomination decks. Give him a LeMat, Pearl Handled Revolver, or Legendary Holster and he becomes a real thorn in your opponent’s side. You could even go full jank and run him in a Crusaders deck with Evanor and Sword of the Spirit to give him all the bullets. He will pop up in a lot of places once this saddlebag becomes tournament legal. 5/5
J.W. Byrne, P.I. - Normally I wouldn’t rate a four-for-two deed with a control point so low, but as a three J.W. Byrne, P.I. Is up against some strong competition for deck space. I think for most decks its ability is too fiddly and unreliable. Den of Thieves tends to run enough Grifters and/or Monte Banks to have a decent chance of using this. Increasing your chances of winning lowball is a very useful effect. Running this alongside The Extra Bet or out of Worldly Desires allows you to shape your lowball hand for the best chance of winning. Add Henry Moran to the mix and intentionally cheat and you can quickly cycle through your deck! As I understand it, Ol’ Howard retains his Grifter keyword when attached as a condition and this card doesn’t specify you have to boot a dude. So haunting J.W. Byrne’s could be one way to get more use out of it, but I’d check that on the rules forum before running off to build a deck if I were you. 2/5
Grimoires & More - A nice, cheap high value deed that’s sure to find a welcome home in hex control decks and landslide. Hex control decks don’t need to run many clubs, so the Experimental risk needn’t be too great and it’s on value with Testing Range for those of you not favored by lady luck. Grabbing a Soul Blast or Puppet from your discard pile both removes a low value from your deck and lets your huckster bring a powerful spell into play. Alternatively you could get that elusive Phantasm or Blood Curse that gets your evil plan moving or seals the game. 5/5
Knight’s Chasuble - With the Paralysis Mark errata, Condition Control hasn’t become a bothersome deck type. If it’s giving you trouble, then this card is sure to help. The Chasuble counters the influence and value hits of Blood Curse and The Sanatorium (you’ll still need a Peacemaker to protect your bullets). Aside from the rare Paralysis Mark still seeing play, the Chasuble prevents other annoying effects that boot dudes such as Leon Cavallo, Pistol Whip, The Grey Man (above), Red Horse’s Tail, and Xiong “Wendy” Cheng. One ghost rock for one influence is great value, and the traits and ability make this a solid card indeed. 5/5
Pedro - Free Sidekick horse? On eight, no less? Some people out there are going to be very happy! Being a stubborn mule, Pedro also can’t be moved which is a great trait on top of the other stuff. The downside is that you’re more vulnerable to effects that target value and grit so watch out for dudes toting Shotguns and hexslingers armed with Soul Blast, Festering Grasp, and Puppet. 5/5
Aetheric Shockwave Inducer - Forget the Mechanical Skeleton, give Kramer one of these! Better yet, give Jack O’Hara two! The shockwave inducer can give your dudes a massive shootout boost if it works properly, and a modest boost if it doesn’t. It isn’t too difficult to invent. To me it looks like the perfect weapon for any Law Dog gadgeteers out there as they have access to plenty of stud dudes who can always use a bigger gun. As it doesn’t need to boot to do anything it’s perfect for an Arsenal callout or Slight Modification. Difficulty six is reasonable and allows for a deck to pack some shooters, some scientists and plenty of shootout actions. 4/5
The Gambler’s Gun - This is a great card for bicycle format decks. It also allows decks that want to play a looser, more legal structure or near-bicycle decks to compete against the wider field. The downside is pretty bad. Don’t give this to one of your key influence dudes unless you know you won’t cheat, as even an illegal lowball hand could result in a discard if it gets punished. Combining this with Putting the Pieces Together or other rank manipulations could result in some massive hand rank boosts. Like most combos, this build remains vulnerable while setting up. The usual cards that help you avoid cheating in lowball help out decks following a more traditional Doomtown three value or straight flush structure. 3/5
Get Behind Me, Satan! With this and Onward Christian Soldiers the pieces appear to fall into place for a lower value Blessed deck running strong shootout cards with Miracle support. With Erin along with Reverend Perry and Félix Amador all reliably able to succeed pulls, Blessed Dogs may begin to see more play. This spell acts a bit like a Blessed equivalent to Turtle’s Guard, and if one of your higher skilled Blessed casts it you could emerge from a bad shootout round unscathed and have all your dudes ready to go for another round as opposed to booted at home. It also has a nice thematic anti-abomination effect to discourage abominable aggressors from sticking around in the fight. Without a decent skill rating, however, it won’t do an awful lot. Mixing in some Tlaloc’s Furies for the skill boost seems like a good way to go for low-value Blessed decks wanting to make the most of this Miracle. 4/5
Ghostly Communion - This looks like a Spirit equivalent to the awesome Walk the Path, only with movement limited to Holy Ground and adjacent locations. That will include the town square so it’s not bad at all. There are currently only four Holy Ground locations in the game. Half of them are on value with this, but the other two have low values that come with risks for spell decks. Fire of Nanahbozho gives any deed the Holy Ground keyword, including your opponent’s. The Fire also gives your Shaman a skill boost of two which helps alleviate the risks of running all four Holy Ground deeds in your deck. Hupirika Sue can use its movement effect to get a second effect she can react to, making any of your Shamans into effective fighters as long as there’s a sacred site nearby. 3/5
Calling the Cavalry - Horse decks have got quite a bit of nice support this arc. To keep up with all the hand rank modifying going on, horses have needed to either grab some off-value actions or pack things like LeMat Revolvers and Force Fields, diluting their focus. These goods unfortunately compete for slots with your horses. This card definitely helps them out. Of the two factions with horse tech, I think that Eagle Wardens fare better on sixes than Morgan.The cattle company still has access to several dudes if you run sixes as a main value. This also gives a nice alternative to Faster on the Draw for horsey straight flush decks. While FotD increases your chances of getting the SF in the first place, Calling the Cavalry can potentially turn a basic straight or flush into something nasty. Making your dude a stud helps out your chances of getting a better hand before you apply the rank bonus from your horses. 5/5
Rite of Profane Abstersion - This is an interesting card to build around. In addition to putting the hurt on token spam and sidekick decks, you can run this alongside a bunch of bullet and/or value reducers to single out a dude in a shootout by sending home all their backup. As it’s a Headline you can’t combo it with Nightmare at Noon. The likes of Sun in Yer Eyes, Faster on the Draw, Unprepared, along with hexes Corporeal Twist and Blood curse, and a few other cards all help get dudes to zero bullets. The problem with such an approach is that if your opponent has a Headline of their own they can play it first and ruin your plan as you’ll need a couple of actions to set up your combo. It’s nowhere near as easy to play as many of the other options on eights, but with eight being a strong value for so many deck types there’s a good chance that a copy of this will make its way in to decks as a one-of tech card against tokens. 3/5
Showboating - Ivor looks like he’s having fun. This card ramps up decks that want to quickly rack up the control points while simply doing their thing. Morgan Gadgeteers will like this as they have easy access to skilled Mad Scientists and the Wagner Memorial Ranch to make succeeding a test by five or more a trivial affair. They could also go all-in on Experimental Gadgets as there are now quite a few to choose from, which looks like the best approach for Law Dogs wanting to use this card. Sticking with Gadgets, if you can succeed at a Technological Exhibition then you will automatically succeed by five or more and might get another control point from the job. On the spells front, Shamans could take advantage of Fire of Nanahbozho to boost their skill. Meanwhile, any caster has access to Tlaloc’s Furies, Morgan Research Institute, and St. Anthony’s Chapel. Running this alongside hexes gives you access to the same-valued Forget, which only has a difficulty of five. Paralysis Mark and Sight Beyond Sight could offer similar easy opportunities for the low skilled Huckster. Ghostly Communion, Spirit Trail, and The Pack Awakens look like good bets for Shamans. Blessed can Showboat with Sword of the Spirit and Walk the Path. 5/5
All or Nothing- Perhaps you’re having trouble with Putting the Pieces Together, or your home has one too many copies of Inner Struggle or Fool Me Once… attached for your liking. Maybe your opponent has an Epidemic Laboratory secured with multiple Auto-Gatlings or a nascent Spirit Fortress. This answers all those cards that attach to locations. It also has an effect similar to but more powerful than Abram Grothe’s job versus a deed or the town square, so it isn’t a dead card against decks without attachments. As the card’s name suggests, this could be used as an all or nothing play to disrupt an opponent’s strong position when they’re close to winning the game, gaining you some ground if you manage to succeed (though it’s likely you’ll have a lot of dudes booted at home following the job). If things are a bit more open, you could use this for a targeted strike, luring potential defenders away from the mark. Then you can hit a location with some attachments before it becomes a massive problem, slowing down your opponent’s game plan. If you’re able to muster a strong posse against a Sloane bounty build or an Oddities deck, then this job could be game-winning if it succeeds. If your opponent hearts Chief Stephen Seven-Eagles, you can really ruin their day by running this as they’re about to hire him or just after he’s entered play. 4/5
