There's one thing I haven't quite understood. Do you use Gate Box liberally or do you save it for specific circumstances? Do you care about the enemy protection it offers or do you just use it when you want to move? One thing I like about Luke is that through Gate Box he has innate enemy protection and you seem like you don't care about that part as much (but it's your choice, I see that).

Also, what do you think about Enraptured instead of Eureka!? One more free move with Gate Box or 2 (or 3) more clues with Rite of Seeking.

Cheers @matt88

I tend to kill the enemies in this build so i use the box mainly for movement, but i do tend to keep 1 charge back for panic moments. By the time youve used the weakness and 2 charges youve often had 1 to recharge a little. Still either are fine choices.

I have at least tried Enraptured and i found i couldnt land it. This was in a build with St. Hubert's Key too. But i found the on Hawk-Eye Folding Camera came in too late to be useful. Might be fine on standard however. Still the Eureka and flux slots are flexible if you wanted to try it out. At very least if you wanted it for the charges on gate box it could upgrade to Seal of the Elder Sign. One guarenteed rite of seeking without the turn ending too which is nice.

@StartWithTheName Oh, I'm dump! I forgot Enraptured has an Intellect icon so it doesn't quite fit in the build...

"But I was going to go to General's to pick up some silver emulsions!" "You can waste time with your friends when your clues are done."

What do you think of upgrading something with Eidetic Memory? Seems good on the paper, because it recycles cards like KIP, Dttf and Quantum Flux.

yeah @matt88, it always feels like it should have a single will pip too, but i guess its possibly meant as a bonus for seekers looking to use mystic splash like daisy or some mandy builds.

@The King in Yellow Sadly he cant take Eidetic Memory, its seeker lvl 3.

One more thing. (Do you now the serie)
What do you think about the interaction with Hawk-Eye Folding Camera and his ability, with what about Working a Hunch. The Eye says it reacts with the discovery of the last clue on YOUR location.
I now you are not such a "rule guru", but we had a little discussion on this topic in arkhamdb.com

@The King in Yellow

There is a joke in my local group that Luke will soon have his own page in the FAQ. I would read it as being fine, but the truth is i have no idea. My source of rules clarifications tends to be the folk on Mythos Busters Discord.

I suppose in this deck it would rarely matter since we are primarilly interested in the first bonus from the camera (), which in most circumastances has come from my actual own location due to the location camping thing. If someone was running a more driven deck I would likely matter much more as it takes time to get 2 resources on there.

@The King in YellowPretty sure it triggers the reaction on the camera. The Event is played as though you were at that connecting location, thus it's considered your location.

also @The King in Yellow - Missed your reference. The late great Columbo himslef ofc. Falk was such a great actor.

Have you had the issue of drawing astounding revelations before seeing rook or renfield+CiF? It seems a bit risky when you can easily end up with your tutor options buried and 10% of your deck otherwise being a dead draw

That was someting i was worrid might be an issue at first @Difrakt, and in part that is the reason for the cautious mulligan.

If you hard muligan for Rook alone, you have about a 50% chance of seeing him. Ive not done the maths to incorporate the Renfield/CiF alternative, but this should only add to the odds. This means that in practice you occasionally get 1 revelation early, but rarely more than that. The biggest risk is that you see no Allies then Mulligan into several Revelations.

Thankfully even if you do get them the Quantum Flux lets you reset. Just Rook it out when you see it. Rook and particularly being able to reload Rook with CiF gives you so much draw you have plenty to compensate for any occasional accidental revelation that makes it into hand once youve found him. The other massive benefit of Revs being 10% of the deck, is the deck thinning it adds when you do Rook/CiF/Eureka them out. This makes rook even more effective for finding the right cards on subsequent searches since the deck shrinks.

So a few comments. I think you are missing the most potent interaction Luke can have namely going into your gate box during the upkeep or enemy phase. This allows you to discard enemies you draw in the mythos phase and mostly ignore any treachery that attaches to your location. To make this effective the most important card you need is Pathfinder as it allows you to move to any revealed location without an action after you start your turn in Dream-Gate.

Scrying is also very powerful card for Luke as you can give yourself enemies and then disappear into your Dream-Gate when it's time to draw them.

That's the main thing you are missing but a few other options for your consideration:

Sixth Sense is probably better than Rite of Seeking in Luke if you take advantage of the high mobility you have from Dream-Gate and Patfhinder it's easy to reveal a pile of locations without significant action cost and in higher player count I think being able to play one spell to investigate for the entire game for 1.3 clues an action is more valuable than the burst of Rite of Seeking. Though that being said I still say keep both as you need consistency of drawing one and Rite is better with Knowledge is Power so I just advocate for swapping the 2/1 split. Also this encourages playing Olive McBride as an ally which helps you crit fish to keep your Gate Box charged.

Deny Existence it's boring generic goodstuff but you have 5 health.

Seal of the Elder Sign I think is a medium priority upgrade for Luke as it's an actionless way to keep Gate Box Charged that also helps progress game state. I considered recharge for the same effect but I think actionless, reliable and otherwise useful wins out and should give you enough charges to make it through a game anyway,

Crack the Case is easier to use econ than some of what you have it's actionless and can be used with Luke's ability.

Eldritch Inspiration not a card I'm a fan of myself but if you want to lean more into Rite and care enough to get Counterspell it's worth considering at level 0.

Shortcut is great movement for level 0 and even has a cheesy little trick where you can play it as if you were at an unrevealed location to leapfrog over that location without revealing it.

@The King in YellowThat doesn't work as if is meant to be interpreted as narrowly as possible. So reactions to at your location things don't work with any current effects that as if you to a location.

Hi @Blind Dragon, thanks for your thoughts.

I actually completely agree with pretty much all your points, though i think they probably fit into a slightly different playstyle. There was a great deck a few weeks back that i saw while i was testing this one by @monorico List and guide here for anyone who is interested that uses many of the combos you talk about and looks like a ton of fun.

I did infact run several of the cards you describe at different points in refining and if id played into that aspect of the deck more I can imagine it turning out closer to Monoricos. I love playing fast and aggressively and I guess this deck was born out of a love of fast abilities, free actions and the potential to have a high consistency mystic at last. For years i shyed away from mystic for being a bit too binary. They either find the right tool early and excel, or theyre can be slow to get rolling. Rook basically overcomes this and the combo with his weakness and revs/CiF/Renfield was just a lot of fun. Though hypothetically theres no reason you couldnt import that in part into sort of hybrid deck.

To give a few of my own experiences and thoughts with the things you raise:

Pathfinder and Shortcut dropped out the deck (to my surprise) as i didnt need to move often with the location camping strategy. Pathfinder competes to heavilly for early cash so i was playing it too late in the game. And I usually was fine using a simple move action with Rite of Seeking doing 2 clues a pop. The thing is this woudlnt be the case in monoricos deck where you are more mobile.

re Sixth Sense vs Rite of Seeking. I can see the 2:1 split going either way depending on playstyle and team composition. Ofc because were tutoring aggressively with rook, its easy to grab a 1x with revs thinning the deck out. So if you want to play into Sixth sense you can. You can also have both in play and use rite last action and sixthsense on any preceding action if you want. The price being that you then dont have a free arcane slot for Shrivelling, so you have to rely on Storm of Spirits or firing shriv from hand with Knowledge is Power. I used Sign Magick for a bit but i found i rarely wanted it over another Camera will boost. I eventually settled on 2 rite for my own uses as it saved me importing extra supports like Oliveve/Dark Proph. Rite also has a lot of benefit 2p where most locations are 1i. While ive given it limited testing, at 3p, Rite (4) should be outstanding, and at 4p, well things get mathsy i guess. The definate bonus clue when using Knowledge is Power was the clincher for me. Its the control over when the extra clue occurs that I like I think.

re Deny Existence i just couldnt find space and i found with recurring soaks and Ward of Protection i was fine. Same thing with Eldritch Inspiration. Its better than it looks as it lets you play more aggressively. But losing an action here and there was fine with so many "bonus" actions gained from fast cards/Gate Box Moves. Ive not tried Seal of the Elder Sign, its the xp priority there that gets in the way for me relative to + spells. If the gate charges were that big we could bring Enraptured & St. Hubert's Key instead at level 0, though the auto pass part is always a massive appeal for me.

Crack the Case is an interesting one. I ran 2x as just "good stuff" for ages. The option to play it on another location when a comrade clears somewhere was fun, but I found the deck was cash heavy later game (Renfield) but cash hungry early game. Those allies and spells arnt cheap and you need the cash to put them in play BEFORE you get the clues. So it was just sitting in hand until the need for it had passed unless another player did the clueing.

Scrying lost out to arcane slots for me. I love shenanigans in general, but i also like flexibility, and i was happy just killing enemies the old fashioned way (especially when they have vp). It also competes for xp. but as i say above ive not taken this deck into high xp enough times to comment there. An option could be to bring in a late Book of Shadows or Sign Magick and grab Scrying too. The biggest problem here for me is that it undermines the "do or do not there is no scry" pun, which if im honest is a deal breaker here. Im already distort about not getting a Lightsaber in there!

Sorry for the dumb question, but could someone explain for me the "using Storm of Spirits to hit enemies engaged with you, but as if you were at an adjacent location so you hit more things (yes it works)"?

If you are in location A and are engaged with enemies, then you may play Storm of Spirits as if you are on connecting location B, but I assume that since there are no enemies in location B the spell will do nothing. Where am I wrong?

Hi @Yury1975

You can play Storm of Spirits to target an enemy you are engaged with with the fight action, but as if you were at another location do the “splash” damage aspect hits the alternative location sort of hitting one more target than you would have if it ignored your engaged targets.

I’ve also heard ppl say that because all enemies engaged with you are considered to be at your location, storm could technically hit several targets engaged with you rather than just one that’s been targeted. While I lack the rules foo to dispute the latter of these I personally don’t play with it as it feels like it’s unintentional if true. It’s probably possible to make the same “glitching” argument about the single extra target use being unintentional too. Tho it’s a much less impactful interaction, and costs you the option about which enemy to attack at least so feels to me like it’s more balanced.

With Luke badly needing a FAQ just now it’s not possible for me to be sure, but I’ve been asking a lot if the usual gurus on the mythos busters discord and there was little discussion about it when I did. They seemed satisfied that there was little Uncertainty and when playing the deck this option doesn’t come up that often in practice at least.

@StartWithTheName, so you mean that I may play SoS to attack enemy engaged with me (in location A), but apply all splash damage to enemies in another location (location B), correct?

I assume that in this case all damage “go” to another location and no damage is applied to my fight target (enemy engaged with Luke), besides any additional damage.

Hi @Yury1975

Essentially its because targets engaged with you are at your location. I personally have a feeling this will be FAQ`d to be less potent and im playing a less potent variant where it only effects 1 target. But my understanding is that SoS will hit all enemies at your chosen location, which will then include the ones engaged with you who were at the previous location. As i say this feels a little like glitching it to me so im not entirely comfortable using it until its been verified by FFG in some way.

I'm gunnu be running Luke Robinson in my groups Dream Eaters campaign and I'm surprised you're not using more events that can be used at a distance. One event I've really got my eye on is Open Gate. Theres a lot of use there to help improve movement across the board

Hi @KJGriffin11

Incase it helps clarify, there are 6 ranged events in the deck:

• 2x Storm of Spirits
• 2x Drawn to the Flame
• 2x Knowledge is Power (MVP)
  • can be clues when used via Rite of Seeking/Sixth Sense
  • can be combat when used via Shrivelling

Thats 20% of the 30 card deck, ok technically its slightly lower due to weaknesses but since were rooking these and the Astounding Revelations out early, we will be thin the deck quite aggressively which actually improves the effective %age. They also go a lot further than it looks when you can Rook them out on demand, and indeed Flux them back in later on to rook them out again and reuse.

But there is always room to tweak decks to bring in personal preferences ofc. If you are looking for space, Eureka! and to some degree Quantum Flux are the flex slots. Other options to free up space would be swapping out a Camera or Holy Rosary after youve added a few spells with built in + bonuses, or after youve swapped a Holy Rosary for a Four of Cups - since you can then have both in play (ie you can still get up to +3 or 4 passive bonus from assets) if you want to do it earlier. If you want to do it with a lvl0 card you could just risk the first sc with one less camera or rosary with the intention of grabbing Four of Cups early since its just 1xp. Another option if you are in a group with either a dedicted cluer or killer, is that you could trade out some of the combat/clue tools for something more to youre tastes since the party as a whole may have ways to compensate.

Hope that helps!

@StartWithTheNameSo I want to start by saying I appreciate the in depth description as well as the deck. Just a couple of thoughts. I built a variation of this deck I kept the scry functionality of the deck but made it a bit more combat oriented. What are youre thoughts on adding Occult Lexicon as it helps with combat, a bit of draw, as well as discarding any Astounding Revelation's that happen to be drawn. Also in terms of upgrade path instead of Jewel of Aureolus getting Hemispheric Map and Relic Hunter possibly x2 if its not overkill as Hemispheric Map will almost always add a +2 after using Gate Box.

Also forgot to mention Hemispheric Map could also help you investigate Dream-Gate pointless reality if you really cant take the horror. Although that would not be its intended function.

Thanks @jparks172

I used Occult Lexicon for a bit and found i preferred the boost from Hawk-Eye Folding Camera more, but its a 1 of anyway, so by all means slot it in if you like it. Because im not using the , I find Hemispheric Map to usually be 1 most of the time, which didnt feel worth it relative to Four of Cups or Holy Rosary. If you are playing events from your Gate Box, then you`ll always have the extra +1 ofc, though that will only help you a few times a game. With even sniping, you can position well to use it at least and other builds which play into the event spam stuff more will get more use. The suite of event spells which have been released since this deck was published (Spectral Razor, Read the Signs & Ethereal Form) would get some advantage form them. When i was testing/writing this however that would have only really effected Storm of Spirits since Drawn to the Flame is automatic and the spells Knowledge is Power activate have huge will boosts already built in basically.

just a heads up too if you are using to clue a bit, Hemispheric Map wont help on the bad 6 Shroud Dream-Gate (whos link doenst work on ABD), since it is not connected to any location sadly.

Oh no! The update of 15.10.20 changed FAQ definition of "as if" and new taboo chaines Mr Rook +4 xp and Knowledge is power +2 xp ... What now?

hehe - Dont worry @wardentim, rook going on the taboo list is for the best for the game. Its important to note that while these cards cost extra xp to take, they still count as level 0 cards for deck building restrictions. Ie Luke can still take rook so long as he pays the xp. And thats still worth it if you want to do the a research build like this.

A few (untested) ideas to plug the gap before you have the xp for rook:

• Could use Whitton Greene, then upgrade her into Rook later on. Lukes Gate Box is a relic so she always has the bonus stats, and you`ll be triggering that on her every time you use a charge (you just put a location into play), giving you plenty of chances to trigger Astounding Revelations.
• Read the Signs/Spectral Razor can go in the Knowledge is Power slots for a bit. Possibly xp over some non spell cards like the Quantum Flux. This would alternatively let you use Arcane Initiates for pre rook draw. They can also trigger revs though they dont search very deep. Still. its just a stopgap until you get some xp in.

I`ll be honest, i still need to look over the new "as if" rules so im not entirely sure what it changes yet. Ive never been amazing at nuanced rules and I usually end up checking with the gurus on the mythos busters discord when something weird comes up.

Though tbh the way i play this deck im usually emptying out safe but high shroud locations then teleporting away so these issues are usually straightforward and sort of "non-glitchy" plays. I personally dislike trying to circumvent the intended design and balance of the game as it can undermine the challenge and sense of achievement (though i recognise other people enjoy looking for/using loopholes - and the theory crafting on that sort of thing can be fun. And maybe using a given trick once is funny. Its just dissatisfying in the long term for me).

I really like Whitton in Luke, especially if you have something like the Pendant (which is still worth it’s new xp cost imo) to always have targets for her to find.
Another funny thing with Pendant is also that it completely nullifies your weakness, because the flipped Dream-Gate doesn’t say you can’t leave it, just that it’s not connected to other locations

yeah @Lord Triloth its an extremely strong card in any deck. I used it when it first came out alongside this deck then avoided using it ever after as it (and quite a few other tricks in the deck) felt far too strong ended up trivialising too much of the game. It was really good fun for a game or two, then the novelty wore off really quickly. By the last few maps we were just going through the motions, which begged the question about whether this was a worthwhile use of a rare and precious evening with mates relative to playing something else basically. Sorry to be so down on it. It was an experience that put me off seeker so badly ive not really played them in over a year, and has probably put me off expert mode for life since a lot of the strategies it encourages involve circumventing the game in a similar way...

Still to try to be a bit more upbeat - with the new taboo`s research nerf it may be balanced now hopefully. It may at least be fun if it feels earned, and I may have been unfairly put off it as it was alongside too many other similar fast auto success effects. Interestingly the way I use the weakness in this specific build as a bonus move action means i actually wouldnt then want to spend a pendent charge to move as well unless i was severely wounded (why not have both!). Remote sniping clues and remote enemy management however is very much in the luke meta strategy so i can imagine it fitting in well in the broad scheme.

Hello @StartWithTheName! I've been playing with your list on "The Circle Undone" campaign in normal difficulty and I loved the results! Even though I'm quite new to the game, I have some thoughts about the upgrades I've made, which I'm quite satisfied with. The campaign let me put The Black Book on the deck and I was able to remove one of the Holy Rosaries, also one of the Calling in Favors to put two copies of Seal of the Elder Sign. The Seal not only cheapens the cost table, but also allows you to put secrets on both Gate Box and Mr. "Rook", which seemed quite enough to cover the absence of one of the callings. Another good thing is that with the lower general cost of cards, Dayana Esperence becomes a bit more viable with the second copy of carisma aquired. The deck is quite XP hungry in general, but I was able to gather enough to try this upgrade path and I am happy with the result. Thanks for this list and for all the others you've made. I'm a big fan!

Hello! I'm going to play Luke with your deckbuild but one of my friend choose Mandy. Mr. "Rook", this unique card, will her key ally. I'm trying to aviod this conflict and leave Mr. "Rook" out of my deck. I think the combo of Mr."Rook", David, Calling in favors, even astounding revelation will be all moved out. In that case, is there any alternative suggestion? Hope I presented my thought clearly. Sorry for my terrible English. I'm not a native speaker.