Taken to Pax Unplugged in 2022 I forgot about it until now, this deck performed extremely well in the epic multiplayer Blob scenario pumping out consistent damage with high test values. It worked well in testing as well, though it requires exp to be efficient, at low exp its more questionable.

General Concept

This is a Preston that can fight with huge numbers lending him a consistency only seen from the likes of 5 fist investigators. It requires a little setup so dumping the red clock for a lucky cigarette case would not be unwarranted. It uses the sledgehammer as a consistent damage option, and the double action can be used early in the scenario when you lack the other tools to really take advantage of the single action.

At its core, the sledgehammer provides the first +2 , the high roller gives us another +2 and hard knocks provides another 1 or 2 depending on the test. Jury rig and well connected can provide supporting numbers when needed as well. Preston is gambling with Daddy's money so he can afford to keep throwing money at high roller, losing is not as devastating as other builds and that floating extra resource can come in handy. This gives the deck the ability to get fist up to a respectable 5 or 6 without going big on the setup step. Once it is setup fully it can sky rocket to just silly numbers.

Extra Actions Extra Juice

Leo de Luca and Haste pull double duty giving Preston the ability to fight an extra time in the turn or get that extra cash on his card for more well connected power. Leo provides that needed extra action to make the double action on sledgehammer twice a turn, providing 6 damage a turn on a fairly consistent basis. Haste gives an extra action to do the standard 1 action swing which early in the build are rather weak but later on can be just as reliable as our 2 action swings.

The red clock provides another layer of consistency mainly to get the +3 to make another fight action strong but as mention it can be removed for the lucky cigarette case or even friends in low places to find the talents. Or if there is lull in combat you can sneak in an extra action or move to get to the enemies.

Our skills and events are just there to provide some extra consistency to the whole affair or help out on the random mythos test that might arise. The baseball bat is just a consistency option though you can lose it it provides enough value before it gets replaced by a sledgehammer. The backpack just tutors them out and stores them should you lose an item to the mythos deck or some similar effect.

Big Bucks Big Hits

With enough cash stored from saving using high roller and leo's extra action you should amass a sizable fortune during most games, while Blob is extra long and thus skews the results in all my playtest games I netted a cool 15-20. This can provide some insurance during tricky tests or to protect from the mythos, and depending on the math might be the best option for boosting during a test.

Of note is that as the game progresses you might stop using high roller since it 3 resources for a +2 and instead just drop the 3 resources on hard knocks. However, the recurring nature of high roller adds a great level of risk free number gain.

Why not Tony?

Great question, and the answer is frankly because it is much funnier to make Preston take out his foes with a sledgehammer. At the end of the day I was surprised at how well this deck can work and more or less just wanted to share it so others can enjoy it. The highlight was taking 7 attack actions due the red clock lining up with a quick thinking during the heart being exposed which was 14 damage in one go.

Level Zero?

Level Zero is not great you lose high roller and hard knocks(4) for the rotating money that you can always throw in and have to be much more judicious with regular hard knocks and well connected. No haste limits it but it can work just a little, the experience in this deck is mainly spent on making everything more consistent and over the top. So if you want to give that a go just downgrade everything and instead of high roller you take a second hard knocks and two lucky cigarette cases for the haste and red clock.