Murdering Machine — Parallel Zoey Bless Template

32 XP · current taboo · multiplayer designated killer

Recommended songs

He told her that He had chosen her from among all the people of the world to be His agent.

• Killing in the Name and
• Red Right Hand are your job description. Take notes.
• Sinnerman (this is Smite the Wicked from the enemy's perspective) and
• God's Gonna Cut You Down for whatever wicked soul ends up in your way.

The design thesis

She would protect the innocent and punish the wicked. Since then, He comes to her in times of trouble, offering guidance and comfort.

Close-the-bless-loop and stomp things with it.

Parallel Zoey Samaras converts damage into and into damage; every other card in the deck feeds that circuit, recycles it, or converts kills into the three currencies the deck runs on — resources, cards, bag density. This deck is meant to be dropped into any campaign or standalone as the table's dedicated killer.

Scope: multiplayer. It carries no clue tech and no treachery cancellation. Both omissions are deliberate and addressed under the Flex section (just kidding — semi-MURDERING or MOST-OF-THE-TIME-MURDERING machine does not sound as cool).

The loop

When she isn't working, she stalks the night, guided by the Lord's voice.

Your job is to kill stuff. HARD. You need bless tokens to kill stuff.

Fortunately, killing stuff brings on more Bless.

Producers: Keep Faith, Hand of Fate, Ancestral Token ( equal to printed health per kill, max 5), and the investigator front — one per phase in which she deals damage, which with Counterattack and the Cross includes the enemy phase and, quite frequently depending on the campaign, the Mythos phase.

Consumers: the front's remove-3 (+1 damage), the Advanced Zoey's Cross remove-2 (an engage without an action), Holy Spear reloads, Rite of Sanctification seals.

Recycler: Nephthys. Bless that leave the bag during a skill test seal on her instead — revealed tokens, and per the Feb 2024 FAQ, even the 3 the front removes: the cost goes unsatisfied, so you forfeit the +1 damage, but the tokens land on her. That turns the front's fast into a transfer valve — bank 3 during any attack, then exhaust her for a testless 2-damage ping, which triggers the front's reaction and, on a kill, the entire payday stack. Take the +1 instead only when it crosses a breakpoint on the target in front of you. The Cross is the exception: its engages happen outside a test, so those 2 always drain to the pool. Once Nephthys is in play the loop is closed, and piloting reduces to keeping the float at 3 or more.

At my table, Nephthys is generally priced for her testless 2-damage ping and the recycler aspect is neglected. That does make sense if you already have Ancestral Token online — if you are pinging for 2 damage, that's (hopefully) a net-Bless-positive operation, BUT MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT RUN OUT OF BLESS TOKENS.

The swing

Wherever she finds wickedness, she strikes it down without remorse or hesitation.

The common line — Holy Spear's first (+2 , +1 damage) plus Enchant Weapon's ( added to the attack, +1 damage): 3 damage at skill 10, every turn, no fuel. The front's remove-3 makes it 4. And if a heavy line has left tokens sealed on the Spear, initiating this attack releases one back to the bag — the everyday swing refunds density instead of spending it.

The heavy line — the Spear's second (+4 , +2 damage, sealing 2 from the bag) plus Enchant Weapon, the front's remove 3, and Vicious Blow: 6 damage at skill 13, one action. UNFORTUNATELY, those are not sealed with your fellow huntress; nevertheless, IF you let Nephthys intercept them, it becomes a 5-damage swing that banks 3 on her — for a two-damage (and not +1 damage conditional to attack success) ping.

On Standard, you are failing on little besides the . On Expert, or when the hit absolutely must land, I have the following suggestions:

• Strong-Armed is the only card in this pool that answers the directly — cancel the revealed token, take 1 damage, reveal again, rinse, repeat. But those are one-offs;
• on the other hand, Blessing of Isis+2xFavor of the Sun is a dirty-one-straight-hit per turn (which, given your damage throughput, could be justifiable), although it is HEAVY on and XP.

Kills ARE the economy

Each defeat opens a window paying three currencies on one trigger:

• Resources come from Bounty (resources equal to printed health, max 6),
• Draw comes from Glory (2 cards), and
• Bless comes from Ancestral Token (equal to our latest late friend's printed health, max 5).

Setup cash is Faustian Bargain ×2; Rite of Sanctification discounts everything after. And Delve Too Deep pays the fourth currency — XP, for the whole table — because this is the only deck for which an encounter draw has positive expected value: an enemy drawn on Zoey's turn spawns engaged with the Spear.

Piloting

1. Mulligan for Holy Spear, Prepared for the Worst, or Backpack, plus one Faustian Bargain.
2. Seal Rite at 2–3, never 5. A maxed Rite empties the float: the front can't find 3, the Cross can't find 2, Nephthys has nothing to catch.
3. Radiant Smite softens; the Spear finishes. Smite's sealed tokens release to the bag on a miss and return to the pool on a kill.
4. The front's +1 damage is a purchase: 3 to the pool. Nephthys intercept by default for 2 testless damage, she is already charged and you need 3 damage (and not only +1) for the kill.
5. Cross engages happen outside a test — those 2 go to the pool, not to Nephthys, unfortunately. Spend them when they enable a Spear line.
6. Delve is there for the greedy players amongst us.

References

• Parallel Zoey — Killing In the Name — parallel Zoey bless build, Favor of the Sun / Ancient Covenant test-fixing variant.
• Bless My Heart and Hope You Die — 4P Expert parallel Zoey, per-phase bless generation.
• 100% Guaranteed | HC 1K Series — Zoey on Cyclopean Hammer, bless as support.
• Blessed Parallel Chef — same loop on Blessed Blade + Enchant Weapon.
• Zoey Samaras: The Stabbing Chef — the original designated-killer Zoey.