Card draw simulator
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Minh for the WIN: Draw your deck! | 739 | 595 | 32 | 1.0 |
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The Sacred Voice · 8
Caveats
STANDARD DIFFICULTY
MULTIPLAYER ONLY (3-4 players)
MOSTLY ONE CORE FRIENDLY
You can probably make some small adjustments for two player; solo would likely be very questionable as is; the deck might be enough for harder difficulties but I've got very little experience of smaller player count and higher difficulty formats. For one core players the second Deduction is the biggest hit (it's powerful) but you can buy its better brother later on. Similarly, you can probably ride by without the extra Magnifying Glass by just buying the upgraded one (to give your deck two total) as your first XP. The extra Mind over Matter is relatively replaceable, maybe something like Survival Instinct at first or Unexpected Courage.
Summary
Heavily derived from Dreadreaper's Minh for the WIN deck - they've already made a lot of notes on the basic deck premise over on that page that are worth reading but in case you don't want to read that then the idea is: draw a lot of cards, use those to add to allies skill checks while doing your own clue hoovering job. The key design change is that 3-4 player games favour specialisation much more than two player where having a degree of flexibility to pitch in with fighting or investigating as necessary can be important. 3-4 player formats also give a bit more room for utility stuff to cover situations. With that in mind, the key changes are that I've cut some skill cards in favour of Lantern as this gives more baseline investigate power and protection/buffers your investigating against asset discard effects. I've also added a series of one-off situational cards for some flexiblity/utility as well as a support effect.
Detailed changes
Lantern in. Having played the primary clue gatherer in multiplayer games before, the most important thing is just having a high baseline of investigate to ensure that you can consistently be getting the clues in; it is your job in a group set up after all. Deduction, Inquiring Mind, Perception and Magnifying Glass are all there alongside Lantern to get you those clues, with some flexibility on the usage of Inquiring Mind in case others need some help with something. The fact that Lantern can also ping for one damage in a pinch can sometimes be relevant as well.
No Stone Unturned in. In 3-4 player, you have to expect that not everyone will get the draw they need, you'll also frequently be in locations with other people so this gives you the chance to give them a little hand with this card. Honestly, I think Daisy as a pure support for enabling other people's deck consistency is better because of her free use of Old Book of Lore but this card is a nice stop gap in that place. You could argue there's no need for this if people have built their deck's reasonably but you can always use it to look for Analytical Mind if you want or just throw it for the Wild skill icon but, if you really want me to boil this card choice down, personally I just like having cards that help/enable other players :-)
Less Strange Solution. The upgraded versions of Strange Solution are undeniably good but if you're playing 3-4 player and you need to take the damage one then someone in your group isn't fulfilling their primary combat duty at all; in 3-4 player games, your combat person (or people) should be swooping in to defend you when monsters pop up. No really, if they aren't doing this then you need to remind them of their job by being a total diva at the table: explain that your research notes can't be contaminated by monster blood or just let out screams any time a monster spawns so much as in the same location whether engaged with you, aloof or engaged with someone else. Minh may not be a sissy but the way you're piloting her should feel like it and you need to own that fact (Caveat: "I've got a plan!" below). Back to Strange Solution though... You probably want to keep it to upgrade to the evasion version for the times when a huge monster drops on you and you'd rather get away and get back to the clue gathering while the combat people sort it out. This saves you having to make two attack checks using the damage version (for the really big health monsters) when you can just make one evade and get back to your job. I'm only running one because this deck has tonnes of draw, other evasion options and I'd rather save the 4 XP on a second one if I can help it. Anyway, all this evasion nonsense brings me to...
Situational adds:
- 1x "I've got a plan!" - this card is way more situational than it appears (because you're often throwing away your clues to advance the agenda) but it can be insanely useful in boss fights when people just need you to load extra damage into that 20 health monster (3-4 player remember, bosses can have a LOT of health). Try and get anyone else that's collected any clues to pitch those in before yours when advancing the act just to maximise the ones you get to keep. In a pinch you can use it to kill something more trivial but I prefer evasion unless you doubt there's a boss fight at all.
- 1x Barricade - the icon spread on this is really handy for throwing onto a test and with Minh's ability that just makes it all the sweeter. The effect is actually really powerful on the odd occasion it becomes relevant as you can sometimes bottleneck monsters at a key location that holds the key link around the map so they can't get through so don't overlook that.
- 1x Cunning Distraction - alongside the evasion Strange Solution then sometimes you just NEED to be able to evade a monster. Maybe the risk of retaliation is too much for some fights or perhaps there's just something else you need to get done and you can't have half the party tied up. There're also a few monsters that have mechanics that are greatly lessened by them being exhausted. Cunning Distraction handles most of those overwhelming situations, it's expensive but you're not expecting to need it unless it's really crucial. If you're not sure about it as a slot then remember its icons are Will & Wild so not bad to throw on someone. I may cut it if the cost proves prohibitive. Mind over Matter works as a stop gap evade for you to get back to investigating in case you don't upgrade Strange Solution into the evasion one or before that point. I honestly cannot begin to stress the number of times I've been a primary clue hoover Daisy that just wanted to get on with investigating and have had a big monster sat on me while my primary combat person is too far away to effectively come and save me and we've had to bodge together a solution to get me out of trouble, which is why most people like the Strange Solution but I prefer the evasion one in 3-4 player because it saves time over multiple fight checks against big things.
Other thoughts
Emergency Cache, honestly don't know if I need it. I've compared the cost curve with Dreadreaper's deck and I've got a higher overall costing but a lot more situational stuff so that might not see play every game. This is awaiting testing but I suspect I might need at least one (but if you need one then you probably want two for consistency when it comes to your economy).
Really wanted to cram some Lucky! in but just couldn't find the cuts. If you really hated the evasion stuff then you squeeze it in there but Minh's got skill boosts for days so Lucky! might just be overkill really.
Upgrades
In a focused clue hoover deck you absolutely want to be getting the upgraded Deduction. The efficiency with which that card can clear locations with a lot of clues on is absolutely disgusting (remember this is 3-4 player so any locations that have 1 clue/investigator will have a tasty 3-4 on them). This is largely why this card wins out over things like Working a Hunch, because there are just so many more clues and your role is so much more focused that you should be able to competently tackle higher shroud locations and the icon boost from Deduction is perfect for that.
Magnifying Glass is a decent upgrade just to slim down the deck cost. Also helps if asset destruction is an issue as you can whip it back to hand (supported by your increased hand size from Laboratory Assistant. Honestly, I just like to think I'm getting not just an upgraded magnifying glass but a designer one
Cryptic Research helps replace Preposterous Sketches to eliminate the conditional clue requirement and cost (which might free you up to ditch an Emergency Cache further down the line).
After the above then you're basically free to do whatever but the following are some ideas:
In the Know is actually not a terrible include. It's limited use but can save a lot of walking and gets you round harmful location entry/leaving/constant effects. The biggest bonus is probably that it lets you continue to walk around with the other investigators and thus providing your character ability to them while still investigating places further afield. This, in turn, keeps you safe from monsters as you have people around to help. I'm not sure I'll be getting it but I might if I'm feeling XP flushed.
Expose Weakness can be really handy against specific monsters that could come up in the campaign with high fight. I've seen situations where it would've made a reasonable enough difference that I thought "Damn, if only I'd had that", but unfortunately it's still probably too situational and you should focus on clue gathering more.
Deciphered Reality I've not personally used it before but it does look kinda awesome to pull off. I'd recommend including if you just want to look like a boss every now and then.
If you stick to the evasion route, or someone else on your team is doing a lot of evasion and want to get spicy with your upgrade path then Close Call is pretty impressive when you get it to go off. Don't know what you'd cut though.
The upgraded Lucky! could be an okay include if you can find something to cut as it draws you a card as well as it's basic effect. Might become more obvious what you don't need after a few scenarios.
I would never recommend Higher Education for the same reasons as Dreadreaper's original post (can be costly, kind of unnecessary with Minh's power anyway) but also because I'm personally opposed to the power level of the card, even though it so obviously fits into Minh's heavy draw strategy. You can add it if you want.