Card draw simulator
| Derived from |
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| None. Self-made deck here. |
| Inspiration for |
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| None yet |
eliwood_sain · 78
So we uncover the insidious plot centered at the Lair of Dagon and with it, the tricks to empower a weapon magically. And no weapon type benefits more from this enchantment than Shotguns. The downside to them, though, is their relatively limited ammo.
Enter Leo and his Bandana!
This deck relies on the Rogue tendency to oversucceed on tests, in this case on fight tests, to make just about any threat in the game a One-Hit KO and reap additional benefits outside of monster kills.
Key Pieces
This deck is designed to make sure that the Shotgun NEVER runs out of ammo to maximize the benefit it receives from Enchant Weapon. To do that, we take advantage of the following facts:
Venturer starts with twice the ammo that Shotgun does, but holds them as supplies.
Emergency Cache (3) can add additional supplies to Venturer, who can spit them out as ammo.
Contraband (2) will double the number of supplies or ammo on a card, namely our Venturer who will hopefully be laden with at least 7 supplies.
The Plan
Prepared for the Worst (to help dig out the Shotgun)
The Opening Hand
We'd really like to see the following cards in our opening hand. Hard mulligan for these to get the combo online ASAP, in the following order of importance.
Stand Together (Because this is an expensive combo)
The Plan will help fill the Venturer and can dig for the Shotgun if we can't find it initially. Should you fail to find the Venturer but you found a Beat Cop, consider digging for Calling in Favors. Both Stand Together and Calling in Favors can be used later on to re-up the combo should it exhaust or fall apart.
The Payoffs
The primary payoff of this deck is the ability to one-shot just about anything that's not a X-health enemy. With just the enchanted Shotgun and no other modifiers, we're looking at a base of 11 doing damage equal to the amount we succeed by plus one to a maximum of 6 total. However, against some particularly high-powered foes, we have some additional tricks we can use to send the skill value higher either before the token draw or after it. We run both Overpower (2) and Daring to boost to 14 if the bag is filled with particularly impactful tokens that might drop the skill too low to one-shot a foe. Both also have the advantage of drawing cards, which can help us find replacements should key pieces go missing or other payoff elements. Daring Maneuver (2) also adds 3 to the skill value with a draw, but does so after the test to ensure precision in damage output.
We're also packing a Lucky Cigarette Case and Glory to assist with draws where we don't commit to keep cycling the deck through. Lots of key pieces to the deck, and we want to make sure we have ways to keep the damage going.
The final payoff is in Relentless to convert the "wasted" damage from overkilling weaker enemies into resources later. Guardian decks are generally expensive (this one included), and this helps to recoup some of the costs later.
The Recovery
Asset combo decks can REALLY fall apart if the wrong piece gets hit. Our combo relies on two pieces staying in play: Shotgun and Venturer, and we have some ways to help keep them in play.
Cards like Crypt Chill pop up often and could remove either card from play. Thankfully, we pack a few extra assets to pad things. While Relentless and LCC are great pieces, they may have to be sacrificed to keep Shotgun and Venturer out.
Bought in Blood, Leo's signature, is contained by the fact that we are also packing some Beat Cops. They also have the additional benefit of boosting our a little higher (since Mitch Brown can keep a Venturer and Beat Cop in play).
The First Form and Other Alterations
The overkill version of this deck relies on a combo that takes at least 10 XP to run (one Shotgun, one Enchant, one ECache 3), so a start could involve just about any weapon of your choosing. Your starting fight is functional enough, and the deck does run a few fight skills early on to maintain damage output. Consider taking a Vicious Blow initially that will convert into the Enchant Weapon. Contraband can start as its Level 0 Version and still works albeit at a higher cost. I would suggest also including Stand Together (0) and Emergency Cache (0) just for their extra resources.
I don't want to suggest too many high-XP alterations since the deck currently runs over 40 XP, but swapping out Glory for Evidence! could help generate a couple of clues. If you are suffering too much horror from effects, also consider swapping in Kerosene or more will-buffer cards like Guts. You could also add in something like Inspiring Presence to get an extra ammo moved over from Venturer and heal some from him. I also considered Ever Vigilant, but it actually got edged out of the Plan stack seeing as generating as much ammunition as possible seemed more critical to the deck goal. Plus, this deck depends on fewer assets than Ever Vigilant could justify in my view.
In my experience with other decks, Physical Training goes a REALLY long way if played early. If you find you have some excess resources floating around, starting with the L0 version (or swapping it in with Adaptable) can give you a way to work on those tests more.
| 8 comments |
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Apr 16, 2021 |
Apr 16, 2021A lot of the need for Inspiring Presence depends on how many enemies come out at once and how big. If we're talking just an Acolyte, then a basic fight action with a commit could do fine and give us another shell on Shotgun. Implicit in the design is that we move over one shell every round, whether or not we fire. So in the rounds with fewer, smaller enemies, we can stockpile ammo moves. Custom Ammo is something I considered but it's SO situational on campaigns. In something like Circle with more humanoids and fewer monsters, its mileage plummets. It's also another 3xp in a deck already hungry for XP. And it adds one ammo which, in the grand scheme, isn't a lot. |
Apr 16, 2021will be good to have another weapon for backup. If a treachery or mythos revelation make you to discard shotgun and/ or copies you will be in a trouble. |
Apr 16, 2021I could see replacing one or both Beat Cops with a Tetsuo Mori as a Shotgun recovery option? But Eli also is running a bunch of other sacrificial assets that could take the blow from something like Crypt Chill. If it's an encounter that specifically targets your most expensive asset though...that could hurt. |
Apr 16, 2021And that's part of the intention behind what I consider to be the rapid draw pacing of the deck. If a critical pieces gets hit, you can get its replacement back out rapidly. |
Apr 28, 2021Cool deck, I will be trying a version of this. I still don't understand the preference of Contraband over Extra Ammunition, but I appear to be in the minority in regard to that particular decision. I'm also not too hot on venturer, but I suppose if the shotgun is the only weapon you're using, then it makes sense. Either way, very cool deck and I think I'm going to give it a try. Thank you |
Apr 28, 2021So we do all the ammo stacking on Venturer. E Cache adds supplies to him, then Contraband doubles both the basic supply count and E Cache’s. Venturer then spits these out as ammo on the Shotgun. Extra Ammo doesn’t make as much in the end as multiplying ammo directly starts at a lower point. |
Apr 28, 2021
Ah, that makes more sense. Thanks for clarifying. |
This seems like a really, really fun deck! I've always loved Shotgun but had trouble identifying how to make it a primary weapon, and you seem to have done so with aplomb.
I've done a lot with Inspiring Presence, and I think that it definitely merits a slot here. Probably more so even than CiF, if I had to pick a card to cut. Otherwise you'll be limited to one shotgun blast per turn, which as the primary fighter in higher player counts simply won't be enough to kill all the enemies the deck is dumping on your team. Inspiring Presence gives you a couple chances to dump extra ammo on the gun, even if you only have one Venturer in play, as well as increasing your soak.
Also, I think you could (and should) run Custom Ammunition. It can be part of the Plan, so you only need one copy in the deck, and it would boost both your ammo and your damage (against the biggest monsters, at least).
Other than that the deck looks really tight and really fun, and I love hoarding the ammo on your assistant and letting him hand you shells as your shotgun-toting old-timer reloads and keeps blasting away. I can't wait to see this in action in a campaign!