Disguised Trish's Testimony

The Scarlet Keys expansion brought us a boat load full of cool new cards and gimmicks. Rogue being my favorite class of the game, I tried to make a new deck with these cards and what comes next is the result of that effort. I haven't played this deck yet, so it's all theorycrafting here. If you have some nice suggestions and/or feedback, I'd love to hear it!

In the Thick of It upgrades:

• Blackmail on Damning Testimony
• Killer Instinct on Honed Instinct

This deck is all about drawing out enemies and evading them. At the same time we will be getting clues and resources to help along the scenario. It isn't very independent however, so you will probably need to pair this up with a Guardian that can handle enemies for you. Also, I'm still looking into some kind of Willpower protection to fit in here, but haven't quite figured it out yet.

First, the "evading so we can get clues and resources" strategy: Try to have Disguise in play ASAP and a Honed Instinct in hand before going for this.

Then, the way I read it, the following works

• Play Kicking the Hornets Nest at the time when you're ready for it. It reads: "Search the top 9 cards of the encounter deck for a non-elite enemy and spawn it engaged with you (instead of its normal spawn location"
• Now we have to play a Honed Instinct that has already been upgraded with Killer Instinct so it triggers on an enemy engagement. We can now take an extra action immediately.
• We want to evade the just engaged enemy immediately. Best case, you already have Disguise in play so you can evade easier and you keep the enemy at bay an extra round. Otherwise, you evade normally and can continue on. The extra Manual Dexterity's are there to help in case its needed.
• Now that it has been evaded and your immediate action has gone, continue on with the rest of the text of Kicking the Hornets Nest, which reads: "Then, discover 1 clue at your location and gain X resources, where X is that enemy's health value. Shuffle". This gives you an additional clue because of Trish's reaction ability.
• This gives us 2 clues, X resources and an enemy out of play for at least 2 rounds all for the cost of 1 card and 1 resource.
• If it has to be killed, we have 2 Sneak Attacks in case its needed.

Then, the "getting easy clues remotely" strategy:

For this, you'll want to have Leather Jacket in play already. Also Damning Testimony has been upgraded with Blackmail due to the XP from In the Thick of It.

• When you evade or investigate (which you'll definitely be doing with this deck) and succeed, play "I'll take that!" and make sure you succeed as high as possible. Daring Maneuver is there as a back up for this.
• Play the item asset Damning Testimony for (hopefully) free. Now you have a nice baseline for investigating.
• Attach Damning Testimony to your Leather Jacket with Hidden Pocket so your hands are free again. You don't need anything in your hands except additional Magnifying Glass's. Your investigating baseline is all set up now.
• Why all this trouble instead of playing Lockpicks? Because Damning Testimony let's us investigate one location, receive a clue there and at another location with an enemy. If you discover a clue at the enemy's location, you automatically evade the enemy there, which is also an answer to your weakness.

Last pieces: The rest of the deck is there to aid the first two strategies and to be switched out later for other ugpraded cards. Pickpocketing to find key cards sooner and Deduction, Inquiring Mind, Perception and Manual Dexterity are there to boost tests.

Upgrades: I haven't practically tested this deck out yet, but going on the theoretic idea of what I described, I would go for the following upgrades in no particular order:

• 2x Leather Jacket > 2x Hiking Boots(1). They provide an additional point in Agility and a nice free move.
• 2x Daring Maneuver > Daring Maneuver(3). More reliability and card draw added.
• 2x Pickpocketing > 2x Pickpocketing(2). You will probably evade by great margins, so getting both options is a nice way of generating extra resources.
• 2x Magnifying Glass > 2x Magnifying Glass(1). It's just cheaper now, not the most needed upgrade, but definitely welcome.
• 2x Perception > 2x Perception(2). Also a nice upgrade to have to increase odds and provide additional card draw.
• 2x Deduction > 2x Deduction(2). Additional icons and clues are always welcome.
• 1x Streetwise. We're mainly focusing on investigating and evading here, so Streetwise makes sense.
• I like to add Another Day, Another Dollar in a lot of Rogue decks since it just let's you set up faster, so maybe add this at some point.
• There might be some additional upgrades worth considering on Damning Testimony and Honed Instinct, but I guess it depends on personal taste. Damning Testimony: Fabricated Evidence and/or Surveil to make life easier for investigating, or consider Expose for dealing with enemies. Honed Instinct: Sharpened Talent to make evades even more guaranteed or Impulse Control for an additional card in your deck. I'd probably throw a Manual Dexterity out for it.

Total= 28xp (without customizable upgrades)

Alternative version that's more resource friendly. Switch out these cards:

• 1x Magnifying Glass > 1x Logical Reasoning
• 2x Hidden Pocket >2x Sneak By
• 2x Inquiring Mind > 2x Lone Wolf

Then, follow the following path:

• 2x Leather Jacket > 2x Stylish Coat(1)
• 1x Magnifying Glass > 1x Lola Santiago(3)
• 2x Pickpocketing > 2x Pickpocketing(2)
• 2x Manual Dexterity > 1x Lola Santiago(3) and a 3rd Honed Instinct(3)
• Another Day, Another Dollar(3)
• 2x Perception > 2x Perception
• 1x Deduction > 1x Deduction(2)

Total = 24XP

Thanks for reading through this. Hope it plays fun and happy to hear suggestions and/or feedback.