Jim 'Skullseeker' Culver

For everyone nice enough to look at my deck and wanting to make recommendations, this is my card collection at the moment:

• 2x coreset
• complete Dunwich
• complete Carcosa
• complete Circle Undone
• Deluxe Forgotten Age and Innsmouth (cycles to be added soon)
• Edge of the Earth investigator pack
• Stella Clark and Harvey Walters investigator packs.

I like the framework of the deck, but there are some things I would think about changing. (I am building a 2-handed Jim deck right now.) First, based on the exp cards you want, you can get rid of Rabbit Hole. "Upgrading" is only for going from a lower level to a higher level of the same card, which is a small section of purchasing cards. So Song of Dead, Gro Statue, etc would all cost 1 xp more with Rabbit Hole.

Sixth Sense is my go to solo mystic clue card. I like to have a couple more clue assets, Flashlight if I don't find another one that I want. Depending on campaign, I might run Drawn to the Flame. Some of the five off-class cards can help with clues, like seeker "tools" or survivor events. I like Lucky! as a fall back if I don't draw a skull and get a higher token than I was planning.

Shrivelling would be my first damage choice for this card pool. The Survival Knives seem a bit like a trap. They trigger off of taking damage, and while a Jim deck could build around tanking the damage, this deck only has the Initiates and Jim's 7 health. Also a little scenario dependent, as cultists and similar enemies might only deal horror.

I would probably go for a more reliable weapon, Fire Axe and Sword Cane come to mind. In solo, evasion can sometimes be just as good as killing something, and Sword Cane is good for the versatility that solo play likes having. Fire Axe is very dependent on resource generation, like Lone Wolf. I like having one/two copies of another spell for enemies, and I like Mists of Rlyeh, but then the spells are going against Jim drawing skulls. The events can also help, like Blinding Light. Storm of Spirits is an option, but has similar issues.

I like Ritual Candles and Dark Prophecy. You don't have an ally from one of the packs which really helps with token pulling, but there are enough other options to still function. Like the Gro Statue. Hypnotic Gaze is expensive for a defensive card, but might work if the resource generation is good. But it also only works off of damage, not horror.

I have yet to get Prophesy to work for me, I now just use Unexpected Courage. Manual Dexterity is iffy for only testing at a four. I would probably take Guts or Fearless to help boost the spell tests against high shrouds/fights/evades. The card draw would be more likely to fire, and the horror healing would be nice with skulls triggering Shrivelling self-horror.

Oh, and I need to get the Edge box to really learn and test the new cards, but the exp ally in there might be really good for Jim trying to get skull token draws.

At a glance, the following cards are questionable to me:

Ritual Candles - I just think this card is bad. You could play a card that gives you +1 to an important stat instead, and it would probably do other bonus stuff. (Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, Magnifying Glass, Beat Cop, Track Shoes... Not specifically recommending any of those, just giving examples.) Candles might be better than I give them credit for, it just doesn't seem like a good use of a card and a resource to me.

Survival Knife - You only get up to 4 when you're fighting normally (for only 1 damage), and you only get to attack back with the knife if the enemy actually hits you (during the enemy phase). So, you have to take damage to try attacking at 5 . Without investing more into your , I don't think this card makes sense in Jim. (Beat Cop is an option. I mention Lonnie Ritter below, but I know you don't have access to her.)

Arcane Initiate - You do have 16 spells in the deck, which is a good density, but as a character with access to every level 0 ally in the game, you might be able to do better.

Lone Wolf - I don't know how many people you're playing with, but if it's more than 1 I would almost certainly drop this card. Your cost curve is fairly low, and I don't think this is a good usage of Jim's precious 5 off-class cards. Especially if you don't have a way to dump the resources into useful things, like Arcane Studies or Physical Training.

Blinding Light - The value of this card depends a little on what campaign you're playing in, but spending a card and two resources to TEST to evade an enemy and possibly lose an action is a big ask. Compare it to something like Decoy.

Hypnotic Gaze - 3 resources is just too much for this effect. And you're encouraged to sink even more into the cost because "If I play Dark Prophecy here, I'll surely return their damage!" But you're already investing too much, and now you're thinking about investing even more... the card is just a trap.

Prepared for the Worst - You only have two weapon cards in your deck, so it's highly likely that this card fails to find one of them. It might be better to just include a card that can draw you more cards like Preposterous Sketches. (Deep Knowledge exists, too.)

Manual Dexterity and Perception are strange choices for skill cards. It seems like you're doing everything you can to avoid testing these skills, and getting up to only 5 or 4 usually will not give you great odds of passing a test.

Here are my suggestions:

Heavy Furs is a cute way to try re-rolling for tokens. It's a lot better if you have Lonnie Ritter, not sure if I'd play it without her.

Olive McBride is 100% more in line with what I think you're trying to do. If you're getting the rest of The Forgotten Age, I would pick her over Arcane Initiate every single time.

If you need to be fighting and getting clues, I would consider dedicating your arcane slots to one job and your hands and ally to the other. Example: Hawk-Eye Folding Camera in your hands and Alyssa Graham as your ally, with Shrivelling and Wither in your arcane slots. Or, Enchanted Blade (careful that it takes an arcane slot, but it gives +2 ) as your weapon and Beat Cop as your ally with Rite of Seeking and Sixth Sense as your arcane slots.

Sword Cane is a great card for mystics. It is way, way better than Blinding Light, and you can re-use it! If you're worried about being able to evade enemies, I think this is a good option.

It can definitely be seen as a trap, but Scavenging can allow you to pick up your used Grotesque Statues. And, Scavenging doesn't care 'how' you investigated, just if you succeeded by 2 or more. So, even if you're using a spell to investigate with , you can still trigger Scavenging.

Regarding skills, I think you either want to boost what you're good at (I.e. Guts and Overpower or Perception, depending which stat you're trying to use as number 2.) or looking for things like Promise of Power which help you all but guarantee you're going to pass a test. Prophesy can do this, but in some scenarios it legitimately cannot be better than Unexpected Courage, so I'd consider just going with that for consistency's sake.