CRANK DAT JANK UP: Old Lady Patrice

As part of the CRANK DAT JANK UP series, there's enough jank already to deal with, no need to worry about taboo compliance. There's no question it is a suboptimal deck.

Headcannon:

It is 1965. The years have not been kind to her. She's grateful to be alive, don't get her wrong, but in the line of work where the world is at stake, one can survive for only so long. She used to be among the stars of Arkham Investigators, back in the glory days when everything was based in that quiant Miskatonic town. Nowadays it's a covert organisation called Delta Grey or something, and her old friend Wendy is there as a mentor. Madam Patrice Hathaway? She's in retirement.

Old lady Patrice spends her days in the quiet of her manor, living out the rest of her days, trying to forget her days fighting the Mythos. Aside from her house servants, she enjoys the company of her furry friends: Miss Doyle (who hasn't aged a bit, strangely), and other cats. The memories of her fallen comrades hurt her so. Ashcan Pete gave the ultimate sacrifice, and handed Duke & his buddy Bark to her keep. But the two dogs were not the same after that incident. She has to perform dark magics for them to join her. And from time to time, their dark sides might cause them failure to distinguish friends.

She's determined that she's no longer of any use to the cause. But once in a blue gibbous moon, situations could be dire enough to rouse the madam from her retirement. Other investigators might question her usefulness, being frail and brittle in bone. But she has not idled her days, she hast taught her furry allies to do what the uninitiated cannot. They are a force to be reckoned with. And when she rolls up her sleeves, the young ones will do well to watch. She will take the center stage when her experience comes back to her. She may be old, and it may take a try or two, but they will know what it takes for a lady to have survived the Mythos to such a silver age.

DECK

Patrice has 2x Quick Learner so her first action is ALWAYS likely going to fail, being +2 difficulty. However, her 3rd onwards has -2 difficulty, and this deck tries to leverage that benefit. Do take note that Quick Learner does not affect the Mythos phase test skills, so often she will be testing at 4 . Anything that tests "at the end of your turn", is also not affected by Quick Learner's -2 difficulty ie. Frozen in Fear. However, cards that state "When your turn ends" are indeed affected by -2 ie. Realm of Torment.

Mulligan

This deck is larger than a typical sized Patrice, so some crucial pieces are needed. Mulligan for Drawing Thin, Rabbit's Foot, Patrice's Violin, to control the card draw. 4th priority is for Miss Doyle so you can start her long cat setup. Try to maintain for an accelerated card draw, so that you can have your key pieces in play. Old Lady Patrice is pretty frail without her minions.

There's 3 main power pieces of investigating/fighting: Miss Doyle's cats, Summoned Hound, and Cryptographic Cipher. Her allies allow her to do an or with a base of 5. The summoned hound is a and should usually be activated on 3rd onwards. When she needs to investigate herself, she can use the Cryptographic Cipher as a on 3rd onwards for a +1 difficulty from cipher | -2 from quick learner so = -1 difficulty. Cryptographic Cipher can also be used as a normal on action 3, giving -4 shroud at 2 investigate, not too shabby! Before you're set up, your other pets can can help you do work so play them when you can.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE

Order for Summoned Hound

Set up is crucial for Patrice. If Summoned Hound is drawn early, commit it to her test. Then when A Chance Encounter is drawn, put Summoned Hound into play, negating the added cost of shuffling Unbound Beast in. It is risky to play Flare while the deck is big, because you might just net the stray cat. However if you are towards the end of your deck, try to retrieve Flare to place Summoned Hound into play. Unless you know what you are doing well enough, that Unbound Beast is definitely coming back to bite you if you simply play it as it is. When Unbound Beast enters drawn, your Summoned Hound is put out of play, and unable to be retrieved for the remained of the scenario. In other words, you really want to put it in play via A Chance Encounter.

The Pet mechanics

It would be beneficial to familiarize yourself with the mechanics of Summoned Hound. Same goes for Miss Doyle's cats (don't forget they can enter play fast), and sometimes you play a cat from the discard. For example: If there is a high shroud clue location, you might discard Augur to be automatically successful. Then when you draw Zeal or Hope, play it, so that when you next use them, you can:

1) Discard for automatic success

(2) Shuffle back into deck

(3) Put Augur back into play. Great recursion!

Ditto for Hope and Zeal. You may choose to discard for automatic success and to replace the Doyle cat. A base investigate of 5, with -2 difficulty should get you to most places, so use wisely. Example: In defense you can have Hope out, with Augur in discard. Then you can use Hope on the 1st , discard for automatic success, then shuffle back to put Augur in play, then use Augur for the subsequent . Like this you can use multiple cats in a turn.

Player windows

You will need to familiarise yourself with player windows. These are crucial in when to exhaust your puppies or cipher . The order of actions you slot them between your actions is the difference between victory and crushing defeat.

In short:

+2 difficulty

1st +2 difficuly

normal

2nd normal

normal

3rd -2 difficulty

-2 difficulty

Resource generation

Between Drawing Thin, Rabbit's Foot, Patrice's Violin, and Take Heart, Old Lady Patrice can be a pretty serious resource generator. In desperate times I've activated the hound at the start of my turn, failed for 4 resources and 3 cards, parleyed the Mob Enforcer for 1st , because the rest of my actions were so tight. The cipher can also sneak a quick test if you need to activate drawing thin for resources in a pickle. Parley is a good 1st if it doesn't take any tests.

OTHER CARDS

Resourceful

Resourceful should be used most importantly for: A Chance Encounter, but also can be for Stray Cat or Lucky! if you need them in a pinch, or there is space on your board. But the Hound or cats is going to give you the largest mileage. You will need to play Resourceful on 1 or 2 otherwise you won't have an action to play or use your drawn card.

Trial by Fire, Ethereal Form

An expensive desperate move, Trial by Fire is for possibly when you need to boost , or heavily investigate a location so pump the . Use sparingly, but it's precisely why to keep your resources up, so that you have options. Ethereal Form is also a great Last minute desperation, as you only need one success to buy you a round of damage degation. But at that point you may be running out of options. Variant includes swapping one of these out for Impromptu Barrier or Cunning Distraction, but I've yet to test them. As it is, Trial by Fire and Ethereal Form have saved my bacon quite a few times, and the resource generation so far has been enough.

CHALLENGES

Q: So if she fails on her first action, isn't that a waste? And if she has no spells, isn't her 2nd action also a waste? A: No! There's plenty she can do on her first and second action: Play assets, Move, Parley, Intentionally fail tests, or A Chance Encounter. Try to keep her stocked with resources, so that she can keep up with her dynamic asset board. Included are Take Heart and Drawing Thin if she needs more said resources. With Grit Your Teeth she can strengthen her last to a differential of 3! (You may need a piece of paper to write down the ACTUAL numbers of the tests at that point). Try to take a test that has low consequences of failure if you need to activate these events.

This deck is suboptimal in relation to the USUAL formula: Evade -> Move -> Investigate | OR Kill -> Investigate. This deck is very powerful back, and weak front. It's a different experience, and you need to manage how you use your . You may sometimes spend it for a test to FAIL so you can activate drawing thing and take heart. Nonetheless, you have to turn the idea of a typical Arkham investigation round upside down! If you are hit with enemies, make sure to play out your options right. Stray Cat can help you to evade then get out of there. But the Doyle cats and hounds can do some decent damage round to round. This is not a strong Evade deck. It's not a bad idea to swing Old Lady Patrice towards combat. A variant might be to take out Spectral Razor and sub in Read the Signs, going heavier into Perception rather than Overpower.

There's a few pieces of Watcher/Enemy mitigation included, such as Ethereal Form, Trial by Fire, Promise of Power, and Deny Existence, Spectral Razor, Flare in case all fails. Remember that Stray Cat cannot evade the watcher until after it has attacked you. The good thing about the watcher is you can leave it for the 3rd , to make use of Double Quick Learner Zeal attack, Hope evade, or Summoned Hound attack.

The Dream

At her finest, She can have 2 Summoned Hounds out, Doyle cat, and Cryptographic Cipher, all out in full force. That's possibly 3 actions that have -2 difficulty, 1 of testing with a base of 5. If done on 3 then it gets -2 difficulty. The more she can take tests after the 3rd her normal stats basically 4 but slightly advantageous (because a test at 2 becomes 0 is almost always a pass). That is not a set up to sleep on. Also note any encounter cards that ask her to take tests at the end of her turn also will get the bonus.

Old Lady Patrice

It feels JANKY and very different, potentially cause she's OLDER now, but when the gloves come off she can really get things done. She's not necessarily a Quick Learner, but a good recaller. And a BEAST once she's set up. Every hand brings new opportunities to the situation, and she makes you rethink everything you know about Arkham. It is a wild ride to play pilot this deck and heaps of fun.