Wendy Steals the Clues

Introduction

In my original NotZ run, I played Roland Banks and Wendy Adams. Immediately, Wendy was one of my favorites. Still, I had to wonder if it was Wendy being that good...or Roland perhaps not fitting my style.

I have since played several campaigns and characters through the Carcosa cycle. Wendy has continued to be my favorite. And after having 2 unsuccessful runs through Carcosa, I decided to revisit Wendy to see if she might change my luck. The concept was to use Lockpicks and Scavenging together. And little did I know that this time I would love her even more

Concept

The idea for this deck is, much like uses for all of its abilities...I want this Wendy deck to use and Evade to deal damage and gather clues. And much like investigators, I think this tends to act as a wildcard. So, you probably still want a monster-killer and a cluever. I teamed with Zoey Samaras and Minh Thi Phan.

A Note on Evade...

The more I play this game, the more I think that "Evader" is a role that is as important to your team as "Cluever" and "Creature-Killer". There are a number of reasons that I'm coming to think this...a number of advantages that evading provides to that investigator. For example, Wendy's play area always turned out to be more full than her team-mates. And part of the reason why is that, I would evade with one action, and then I can spend the remaining actions to play the other support cards in the deck. Now, if you're thinking that's very action intensive, that's a good point...but then when you think about Pickpocketing (2) and the actions that exhausting a Massive enemy can buy your team-members, evasion actions can become super-efficient. Anyway, with that in mind, let's talk Upgrade Path and Blueprint.

Upgrade Path

The First 5XP...

Lockpicks: Your base investigate is a 7 with Lockpicks. It is VERY rare to use a supply, which also means you will often activate Scavenging and/or Quick Thinking

Add Scrapper: So, by the 10XP threshold, when you upgrade Pickpocketing, you've got a constant source of resources, and a way to convert resources into clues and evasions. At 10XP, the deck is basically set-up.

Optional Add, Charon's Obol: With Wendy's evasion ability, the risk of the Obol is fairly low (especially given some of the Horror options this deck has), and the Obol is probable net of 14XP throughout the campaign, accelerating the deck's improvement, and adding additional options.

The Next 10XP, Focus on Card Draw...

Pickpocketing(2): Two things make the upgrade MUCH better than the 0XP version. The addition of the Resource Option is HUGE because of the (potential) ability to turn an evade action into 3 actions...but the addition of the Fast Keyword cannot be understated. You go from a 3-action equivalent--2 Resources and a plan--to get +1 card per evade, which breaks even on your 3rd evasion, to a 2-action equivalent--2 Resources and a Fast play--for potentially +1 card AND +1 Resource per evade, which potentially breaks even on your first evade...AND because it's fast you can wait to play Pickpocketing until that time comes.

Lucky! (2): Given how you want to use resources to ensure success of evasion and investigation (with Lockpicks), Lucky is HUGE, because you can typically hold back 2 resources with insurance that if you draw a -3 token, you can use the Lucky to succeed. And very often you won't have to, so it can net you more resources as you don't spend them.

Emergency Cache(2): Again, the extra card is huge. I'll get to why in a second...

A Note on Wendy's ability...

Wendy's ability basically nerfs the token. For one card, you cancel the token and re-draw. There is always the chance of the on the re-draw...but if you've gotten to that point, you were already losing the test, anyway...so you're really only out one card. But this is where the focus on card-draw comes in. Between the Lockpicks / Scavenging combo, Lucky!, Emergency Cache, and Pickpocketing, your hand and your resource pool will be pretty full, and that will allow you to kick the Chaos Bag in the teeth. Also, the card draw makes it MUCH more likely that you're going to hit Wendy's Amulet which, if you can manage LOTS of card draw, hits some ridiculous recursion at the end of the game.

Late Scenario XP Additions...

Will to Survive: Keying off that recursion comment, with Wendy's Amulet, it's actually pretty easy to set up an Emergency Cache + WTS combo at the end of the game so that, endgame, you basically CANNOT fail tests...and at the time of the game where you most need to NOT fail tests.

Peter Sylvestre(2): The +1 in addition to the +1 is very valuable. The extra point of Horror soak allows you to absorb more Horror. This has the added effect of making Liquid Courage basically act as a Horror solution for the entire team, because Wendy's too young to drink. (Sorry for the stupid joke...well, not that sorry!)

Switchblade: I never found this to be necessary because the evasion is so strong, but I did end up upgrading to a combat option, just to have it available. I liked the Fast of the Switchblade. Worst case, it's an Item so you can discard and scavenge.

Hot Streak: Because Resources. Wendy likes Resources.

Cherished Keepsake Elder Sign Amulet ... or Leather Coat Bulletproof Vest: Both are soak upgrades and better commits for skill tests. These were unnecessary, but they do provide increased options

Charisma + Leo De Luca: As I hopefully have shown, this deck generates lots of cards and lots of resources, so converting some of those resources into a steady stream of extra actions is potentially very good.

Mulligan For...

Lockpicks and Scavenging, primarily! Peter and Pickpocketing (2) are also good keeps.

In Summary...

Wendy has 3 primary advantages as an Investigator:

1) 4 + access to and card pools mean she's one of the best evaders in the game.

2) Wendy's ability greatly reduces the impact of the Chaos Bag

3) Wendy's Amulet is one of the best signature cards in the game and it sets up some ridiculous end-game situations.

With those thoughts in mind, I hope you try this deck out and enjoy it. I know I sure have. Please, feel free to make any suggestions...or ask questions...in the comments.