An (Un)likely Duet

Ladies and Gentleman,  humans and otherworldly creatures, welcome to first installment of the Duet Deck series!

As I mentioned in the introduction I play all my games in a two player setup with my lovely wife. Therefore we strive to create 2 matching decks. You can achieve this result in few different ways. The most straightforward one is to divide two main tasks of the game – investigating and fighting.

The specialization doesn’t necessarily have to be full. First of all, you have to split sometimes, so you need to be able to cover the other side of an investigator’s job, as well. Also, if your main assignment is suddenly not important (no skulls to crush around or maybe sudden appearance of a horrific being made picking up clues definitely a less urgent task) you need to be still useful, at least to a degree. Therefore price for full specialization might be hefty.

First duet to be presented to you might strike you as bit surprising. After all, Roland and Daisy share part of their deckbuilding options. However, for the base set they are pretty much the toughest fighter and the most curious mind. Additionally, as mentioned in my previous post neither of us cares deeply about Skids. 

Both decks are created with a certain balance in mind – with his ability and handful of investigation related cards Roland can pick up some clues (Ability and Evidence enable to gather some even in high shroud locations, read Roland’s part for some tricks). Daisy can dispatch minor enemies or offer some minor support with bosses as well, provided she draws some of the fight-related cards (more about drawing in the Daisy’s part).

Unfortunately, the decks cannot be created without 4(!) copies of Base Set (and also additional Shortcut from Dunwich Legacy) or some proxies, which is one of their major drawbacks.

Assets (13)	Events (8)	Skills (10)	Weaknesses (2)
1x Roland's .38 Special 2x .45 Automatic 2x Knife 2x Machete 2x Magnifying Glass 2x Beat Cop 2x Physical Training	2x Dodge 2x Emergency Cache 2x Evidence! 2x Shortcut	2x Deduction 2x Guts 2x Overpower 2x Unexpected Courage 2x Vicious Blow	1x Cover Up 1x Random Basic Weakness

Overview: Roland works as the main hitter, obviously. That’s why he gets 7 weapons (though 2 Knives are there just to ensure he gets a weapon of any kind and possibly work as a way of dealing damage without using ammo). He still manages clues very well.

Notable weaknesses: This deck is quite expansive, so you might find yourself struggling for resources. This explains some choices made with cards (read further to learn about some decisions I made). Obviously bad luck of draw can screw anyone, Roland suffers mostly if he fails to get a weapon, however this should be mitigatable with Daisy’s help.

Opening Hand: I'd heavily consider mulligan if I draw no weapon, as this makes the team way to vulnerable. 2 out of Beat Cop/Physical Training/Knife should be good enough, though - even more so as muliganing such a hand would hamper chances of drawing them at all. You shouldn’t be too concerned about not drawing any cards for investigating – Daisy should cover it well enough. 

Choices: You might be bit surprised with some selections I’ve made, particularly with the exclusions. Let’s consider them one by one. 

I gave up on Dr. Milan for 2 reasons – Beat Cop is crucial for the deck and while you might consider using both in solo decks or when tasked with picking up clues, here Roland’s main job is fighting. Also, as he is unique, it’d stop Daisy from using it. 

Flashlight was ditched to free a hand, in hopes that Magnifying Glass will prove to be good enough (and it mostly is – though 3^rd scenario complicates matters a bit).

I decided not to include Hyperawareness also for two reasons. First of all, Agility is not very useful for Roland. Secondly, Roland usually lacks resources, thus wouldn’t be able to spare some for boosting his Intellect. 

Dynamite Blast also missed the list due to its cost. I have also found it to be highly situational. You can’t use it to help Daisy with enemies engaged with her, as it’d cripple her health, too. You don’t want to use it on your location, neither. And it’s almost never worth to use it on single enemy, anyway.

Using it is not really a blast

Last, but not least, I chose Knife for the backup weapon instead of Kukri or a Blackjack. I did it mostly due to its second use. You can discard it before replacing with a better weapon/Magnifying Glass for a strong use. Also, if you’re unlucky enough to have to use it as your main weapon, you can always as a last resort throw it at your enemy and hope to get a new weapon soon. Blackjack’s only advantage of not damaging the teammate does not excite me too heavily, I wonder what your opinions are.

Tricks: My favorite trick is luring enemies on locations with clues. It can accomplish a variety of goals. Obviously, it allows you to use Roland’s ability. Moreover, it also enables play of Evidence (1 shot to kill the enemy AND get 2 clues!). Finally, you can use it to take full advantage of Roland's .38 Special. I do it on a regular basis in The Gathering – leaving just one clue to get an extra edge against Ghoul Priest. The clue is not even wasted – you pick it up upon killing him, securing location’s victory point! If you “just” aim for clues, you should obviously target high shroud location (or in other ways tougher to investigate as explained in post about Roland)

To spot this card's true potential I had to force myself
to put into into my deck for trying out

  While luring hunter enemies is easier (though comes at a price – they attack you upon meeting) you can very well use Shortcut to move when engaged at cost of 0 resources and 0 actions! It also doesn’t cause any Attacks of Opportunity. If needed, you can also move Daisy with the enemy engaged with her. Otherwise Shortcut provides a way to “store” an action and use it whenever necessary and turned out to be very effective, much more than I anticipated upon seeing the card.

Beat Cop can be used not only to finish off bigger fishes, but also to snipe out weak enemies without spending an action (especially the upgraded one).

Upgrades: First picks for me are 2 XP versions of Beat Cop, as it triples (!) the amount of damage you can deal with this card. For me, Police Badge comes in next; with a Will of 4 all regular encounter deck threats should be dealt with quite consistently.

Monsters devouring civilians? Not on my watch!

Upgraded Magnifying Glasses come very handy, too. Reduced cost is a plus, as with such an expensive deck every resource comes. Additionally, freeing hands whenever needed might provide you with a free slot for a weapon. Even if the hand won’t get free, you can commit the Magnifying Glass and gain some extra clues. Out of the low-cost cards Extra Ammunition is very useful for Roland, as he has 3 guns in his deck - I'd put it, removing Knife, or two.

You should definitely consider an Elder Sign Amulet, even before 2nd copy of Extra Ammo (if your experience allows it). It competes with the badge for a slot, but it's not a huge issue. Even if you happen to draw both, you’re not stuck with a dead card. You can either commit one of them (quite strong set of a Wild icon and a Will icon) or use Badge’s ability first. Roland’s sanity is on the lower end, the amulet comes handy especially if he suffers a mental trauma (due to a defeat or failing his terrible weakness). To make room for both badge and amulet, you can get rid of Guts.

Shotgun is hard to pull off, as it occupies both hands.

Assets (16)	Events (9)	Skills (6)	Weaknesses
1x Daisy's Tote Bag 2x Magnifying Glass 2x Medical Texts 2x Old Book of Lore 2x Shrivelling 2x Holy Rosary 2x Dr. Milan Christopher 1x Research Librarian 2x Arcane Studies	2x Blinding Light 2x Emergency Cache 2x Mind over Matter 1x Shortcut 2x Ward of Protection	2x Deduction 2x Guts 2x Unexpected Courage	1x Random Basic Weakness 1x The Necronomicon

Overview: Daisy’s deck is heavily focused on clue gathering and support. It’s filled with tomes, out of which Old Book of Lore is the key one, allowing picking up missing cards.

Notable weaknesses: Deck relies quite heavily on pulling Old Book of Lore early on. Once you have it, you can mitigate lack of luck for both you and Roland, but you need to get it first. Therefore…

Opening Hand: I almost always mulligan if I don’t get OBoL (Or Research Librarian) . If you draw an otherwise asset full hand and Roland was also lucky enough to secure a strong weapon, you might keep it. I’d still spend an action for drawing a card every now and then until one of above is secured.

Almost a custom made card for Daisy

 

Choices: I went with bit of a spellcasting thrown into the mix, hence Arcane Studies (truly for Will mostly, as Daisy consistently manages even shroud of 4, thanks to her other assets), Guts and Holy Rosary are added to ensure successful casting. Daisy’s Agility is very low, so I decided to give up on any Evade attempts (unless with Blinding Light) so no boosts for Agility are included (No Hyperawareness, Manual Dexterity etc.) You should be able to either draw some means of dealing with minor opponents or wait for Roland to come and help.

Guts in both decks can be used on either of Investigators, sometimes helping the other in need. I chose Guts over Fearless, as the extra icon comes in handy much more often (Daisy’s Sanity is high anyway). Being able to for sure pass the test for Shriveling is of higher importance.

I gave up on Drawn to the Flame, as it typically only saves one action (Daisy should be able to pick up clues using regular means anyway), only generating issues. Flashlight wasn’t included as with Daisy’s high Intellect it would have been an unnecessary overkill.

Tricks: Use Old Book of Lore at all times. Use it to secure Dr. Milan as early as possible, with his boost and the resources he provides you’ll be set-up for a whole scenario. Whenever possible, help Roland dig for weapons, Vicious Blows etc. 

Also ensure to have some means for dealing with enemies, also using OBoL.

Later on you can use Encyclopedia, even taking a hit for it, to boost your Combat and kill an enemy. If enemy-free, you might boost Roland’s Combat (if he’s face against a boss, or found himself without a weapon and surrounded by enemies or even Intellect (so you both will vacuum-clean all the clues lying around.

Quick look into the book and Daisy gets super strong for few minutes.

 

Research Librarian serves multiple purposes, increases chances of drawing OBoL, works as a Wild Card book to be summoned from the deck according to your needs and provides extra Stamina. Once he’s out, sacrifice him at the first opportunity, to make room for Dr. Milan.

You can play Shortcut to move into Roland’s location with impunity, even if engaged with an enemy.

Upgrades: First picks are 2 Encyclopedias. Upgraded Blinding Light is also a strong choice due to increased damage output. I wouldn’t consider taking 1 XP version of Magnifying Glass, it basically only reduces the cost, you’re going to run with it in your hand anyway.

Later on you have to choose between Cryptic Research and Bulletproof Vest. I’d pick at least one copy of each.

It’s not easy to give up on anything to make space for new cards. I ditched one copy of Medical Texts and Guts for Encyclopedias. To decide, what to get rid of next, you must check yourself, which cards didn’t prove useful enough (In my case it was Shortcut and later on the librarian, as Cryptic Research provides enough deck searching capabilities and he’s quite useless, if drawn after playing Dr. Milan, anyway).

Extra Notes:  On one hand Roland can benefit dearly of Daisy’s toms and Cryptic research. On the other, they are both versatile enough to manage even if split. Therefore you have 2 options of playing them and should adapt your approach based on what the current game status is. 

Teamwork and planning are the key!

 It is, surprisingly, the most efficient team we’ve used so far. Stay tuned for next ones, though! Should you decide to try them out, let me know the outcome! 

 All images are courtesy of cardgamedb.com and fantasyflightgames.com

Daisy Walker: The Librarian

There are many ways one can encounter beings from the Myths. Some are abruptly confronted with a horrific being. Others are plagued by dreadful dreams of eerie places and unimaginable phenomena. Daisy's first confrontation with the unhuman forces occurred through reading of blasphemous volumes. And no wonder, she's a librarian, after all. Books are not only her job, they are her calling.

Legacy: Unlike Roland, Daisy is quite an Arkham Files veteran. Her first appearance in the Arkham Horror already set her up to be a tome- related character, while also crafting her to be a spellcaster. This idea was beautifully continued in Eldritch Horror. One might argue that her ability to cast a spell or read a tome during rest action is almost directly translated into AH:TCG into her free tome action. With her high Intellect value she is also portrayed as a spell-based investigator. This aspect is still preserved in newest installment of Arkham Files, as she has access to all the Mystic spells so far. One might easily say, she's a well-executed idea from the very first Arkham Series game, until now.

Addendum: Daisy has been featured along with Roland in the preview of Omens of the Deep. I don’t like her character there, as she has nothing to do with tomes, at all. On the other hand, Elder Sign is rather a basic game, supposed to be fast-paced and straightforward, hence it has no means of introducing tomes in a consistent, interesting way.

Skill Values: Just as Agnes, Daisy is a very specialized investigator, with one skill at whooping value of 5 (Intellect) and two at merely 2. It clearly defines her area of focus – investigating. And she's extremely proficient at it, with a little help of an asset she can easily clear even high shroud location (so far highest shroud is 4 and I doubt it will ever get much higher, as it would hamper low - Intellect investigators too heavily). With a decent Will of 3 she can also use spells to some degree. Unfortunately she lacks a lot in the body – related skills. With a Combat of 2 she cannot hope to deal with the enemies through usual means and Agility of 2 adds to the trouble, as she cannot evade them too easily, neither. She needs to use some tricks not to let enemies end her mission too quickly.

What is more, she is quite feeble – her Stamina value of 5 points even more towards staying far from combat, whenever possible.

I like the new graphics for Daisy much more than the Arkham Horror one

It goes without saying, that her skills reflect the nature of a librarian – highly intelligent and observant, yet not a trained warrior or rogue of any kind. You really feel like a book worm, when pulling her character card for the game session. It also clearly indicates how to play her. Finally, since she lacks flexibility, she undoubtedly performs best in a pair/team – something I definitely enjoy and cherish.

Strength 

Theme

Special abilities: One could easily assume, that Daisy's abilities just one of many “extra actions” (see post about Roland). However, through this simple idea, a very strong result has been archived. So far effects of books are quite varied – card draw, healing, boost to skills (and extra spell charges, though this one is not available for Daisy). I expect us to be provided with quite a few interesting and creative book effects in the future.¹ Therefore it creates interesting options and choices for playing Daisy. And since each of the tomes can easily be used on fellow investigators, it adds to her team player role, making her an excellent support character. Not to mention, that this seemingly straightforward ability plays well into her theme.

As of now, especially before upgrading her deck, Old Book of Lore is a natural candidate to be used for free every turn. And since it's stronger if drawn early, I tend to strongly consider a mulligan, if I don't get it in my opening hand.

Daisy's Elder Sign effect is easily a top notch one too – while I feel slight disappointment drawing one as Roland or Agnes (you might eventually get tired, if I keep repeating it through all of the posts about investigators, huh?), it's almost always fun to get one when playing Daisy and draw a card or two.

Strength 

Theme

Signature cards: At the first sight Daisy's Tote Bag does not seem to very useful – after all there only few books so far, so it does not seem to help too often. However, we cannot forget that there are other things Daisy might want (or be forced to! Read further) to hold in her hands – Magnifying Glass or some basic weapon to deal with some easier enemies. The Bag allows for some “hands management” (if you allow me this neologism). And if my dreams come true¹, she might require 4 slots just to handle all the tomes in her deck. It definitely does not always come in handy nor adds a lot of strength, though. Please mind, this card does not deal with any threats by itself and before we see further expansions, it's hard to judge its full value.

Daisy's weakness is partially a task to complete. However it does not penalize for not meeting the goal at the end of scenario – it just comes in the way until we get rid of it. The Necronomicon cripples Daisy in two ways. Firstly, it takes up a hand slot. Secondly, it quite annoyingly turns a very cool Elder Sign token into automatic failure. Obviously, the earlier you draw it, the stronger you should consider getting rid of it. It comes at a cost though – 3 actions AND 3 sanity. Still not the worst (compare with task-related weaknesses, usually costing more and threatening a nasty penalty for not meeting their requirements).

Even a librarian can skip some of the publications, especially from the restricted collection of the library...

All in all, both Daisy's cards are somewhere in the middle – her bag is not too strong and her weakness (unless drawn very early) shouldn't hurt you too much. They are both very nicely tied both with her story (Librarian who stumbled upon the blasphemous Necronomicon) and general theme of the investigator (tomes). On a side note, have you wondered about a thematic explanation of changing Elder Sign into Auto-failure? I believe you can very nicely explain it. Instead of drawing inspiration from her useful tomes, Daisy delves into horrific content of the profane Necronomicon, which siphons her life force. Think about it, when the sacrilegious volume makes you fail an otherwise very successful skill check!

Strength 

Theme

Class/Deckbuilding options: Daisy has access to all the Seeker cards. They are more versatile, than one would imagine, especially the tomes, which makes her able to pull all sort of tricks. As mentioned before, they also turn her into a very potent support character, even more so through some of the Mystic cards (Scrying, Ward of Protection to an extent).

You can use the Encyclopedia in so many interesting ways

She is not a mere servant of others, though – Miskatonic’s Librarian investigates like no one else and can manage some easier monstrous threats with a help of Shrivelling, Mind over Matter or even a Knife. Mystic cards very nicely provide Daisy with what she might miss from her Seeker cards – fighting capabilities, as well as efficient ways to slightly boost her average Will to cast the spells proficiently (see: Holy Rosary).

Since both classes are heavily mind focused, they greatly preserve the nature of a calm, introvert scholar and not even once you lose the feel of dust and forgotten volumes.

Strength 

Theme

Daisy is by far the most thematic investigator. Not only because all aspect of her design perfectly align with the archetype of a Librarian, but also all of them nicely add together to form a clear game play idea. On top of that, they guide a player to use her as designed – give them incentives to use the books, keep her out of the heat of combat, play her in a team etc.

And she is also a very effective one. She has a niche of her own - investigating, where she outperforms everyone (well, probably Rex can beat her in this area, but not by much). But she does not limit herself to collect elements of the puzzles. She can arrange for card-draw or healing. Playing her always gives you many options and different paths to choose.

On the flaws side one must note, she is quite ill-suited for solo play (not a disadvantage for me)

Strength 

Theme

¹Getting more tome cards was on top of my wishlist for future expansions. I can only hope it will eventually be delivered, The Dunwich Legacy was a disappointment in this regard.

 All images are courtesy of cardgamedb.com and fantasyflightgames.com