108 Wordly Desires earned the infamous title of being the first card officially banned in tournament play for Doomtown Reloaded. What does this mean for the game?
First of all, it shows that Pine Box isn't afraid to make strong moves before their first set even comes out. AEG attempted to errata the card towards the end of their tenure with little visible tournament effect. To understand why the card was banned, we have to know a little more about this simple text. Was it really that good?
Simply put, yes. 108 was a very simple effect that had lasting ramifications. It was the first Repeat on an outfit that really mattered. Sorry Arsenal, you're still missing something. As long as you had the lowest ghost rock total in the game, you could trigger it. Surely, this was expected to be more of a limitation than it turned out to be. With plenty of cheap dudes and a few expensive ones, it was easy to spend the money you made each turn and not be worried about losing too much money during lowball.
Lowball was easy to win
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Lowball became very easy to win by one outfit. The extra card in your lowball hand meant you could run a 3x16 build and still win most of the time against another 3x16. Even better if you're building a little loosely, as you'd start to win nearly every lowball of the game. This makes your outfit behave more like it has 4 production and your opponent gets 2. You know how some of the worst games you've had start with, "I lost lowball pretty much every turn?" Yeah, it isn't fun. Next, it meant the 108 player always got the first action in a shootout. Many decks get a lot stronger when the know they go first. Why? Your main dude can't be hit by Unprepared before they use a Legendary Holster. Your Kung Fu dude can move in and kick out the meanest opponent before they can trigger their weapons or abilities. Or, when 108 decides to run a landslide, they get to play their Making the Smart Choice or Pistol Whips before you can find a way to lock them down. Headlines were pretty much useless knowing that the 108 player could pretty much always play first. |
Phantom Stud
If players actually did have a game plan that involved staying in shootouts, they could pretty much always have 2 stud in a shootout thanks to Longwei Fu. Even the simplest dude, like Xiaodan Li, could have a chance, especially when you have a few shootout actions like Sun In Yer Eyes to weaken even their best shooter.
What does all this mean for the game?
Now that 108 Wordly Desires doesn't always get the first shootout action, you can run Unprepared or your favorite Headline. You might actually get to go first now. Holster won't always get to go first. You have a chance of removing that dude from the shootout or shutting him down first. Landslide will just have to depend on their weak draw structure to get them Lowball wins. Kung Fu dudes might actually have to feel the wrath of shootout actions.
108 still has the phantom stud in Longwei, but they don't have 2 to work with anymore. 108 will get a new home eventually, promised by PBE. Until then, they will have to play with the basic movement effect, or their Drunken Masters home. Thankfully, 108 won't be dominating lowball anymore. I do hear there is a thing you can do with Ol' Howard and Byrne P.I., though.....
108 still has the phantom stud in Longwei, but they don't have 2 to work with anymore. 108 will get a new home eventually, promised by PBE. Until then, they will have to play with the basic movement effect, or their Drunken Masters home. Thankfully, 108 won't be dominating lowball anymore. I do hear there is a thing you can do with Ol' Howard and Byrne P.I., though.....