Crystallizer of Diamonds

Thanks to his hunch deck, Joe is often playing at least one event per turn as a baseline. This deck aims to take advantage of this. Using relic hunter, crystallizer of dreams (via versatile), and grisly totem, this deck attempts to extract maximum value out of every event played and then packs in as many events as it can to fully fuel the crystallizer engine.

Since the crystallizer is a central piece to our strategy, it’s important that we get it into play as quickly as possible. This could be tough with it as a one-off in a large deck, but between Dr. Elli, backpack, no stone, sketches, and deep knowledge, this is not a problem. If you’re lucky enough to find the crystallizer with Dr. Elli, you get the bonus of avoiding adding the guardian to your deck since you don’t have to pay any of the costs associated with playing the crystallizer. Eon chart and enchanted blade are solid backup relic options to attach to Elli if you whiff on finding the crystallizer. Usually it’s a good idea to reserve the ally slot for static boosts, but the skill icons gained from the crystallizer solves this issue for this deck.

The deck is built to be a flex, but leans slightly towards investigation, mainly due to the icon distribution of the events. Events with double-fist icons are very hard to come by, but double-intellect icons are very common on strong tempo events (ever vigilant, glory, working a hunch).

Hunch deck:

• 2x Delay the Inevitable
• 1x No Stone Unturned
• 2x Preposterous Sketches
• 2x Scene of the Crime
• 1x Seeking Answers (2)
• (Unsolved Case)
• 2x Working a Hunch

Future Upgrades

Michael Leigh or Beat Cop (2) (with charisma) are both good options to boost stats and damage and provide valuable soak. Once we have an ally with damage soak, scientific theory (3) can further boost stats and soak horror. Cryptic writings is a strong economy upgrade later on.

Deck Variants

Here are a couple deck variants on this deck (untested):

• Boxing gloves variant – this deck leans further into events and uses boxing gloves + spirit events to fight instead of weapons. Sleuth can be included to pay for and boost combat on tactic events, and can pay for grisly totems as well.

• Consistency variant – this variant is much less of a combo deck than the previous two. Instead of leaning into finding the crystallizer, this deck treats the crystallizer as just a bonus if you happen to draw it. It packs in a lot more skill cards to boost stats without the crystallizer.