Treachery in Sea of Blood Part 2

By Marximus, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

In the SoB campaign, is the overlord deck "reset" (i.e., all cards with treachery cost removed) after a dungeon has been completed? The non-campaign treachery rules in Well of Darkness/Tomb of Ice do say the overlord deck is reset but I was hoping the overlord could craft a more "treacherous" deck over time in the campaign.

Marximus said:

In the SoB campaign, is the overlord deck "reset" (i.e., all cards with treachery cost removed) after a dungeon has been completed? The non-campaign treachery rules in Well of Darkness/Tomb of Ice do say the overlord deck is reset but I was hoping the overlord could craft a more "treacherous" deck over time in the campaign.

Yes.
In the next dungeon you get to re-Treachery your deck. Unless your choices change between dungeons, you don't actually need physically to reset.

Yes, the deck is reset. However, the Treachery purchased is not permanently 'spent' to buy cards; rather, it is used again at the beginning of the next dungeon. Treachery is therefore accumulated to indeed make the Overlord more treacherous over the course of the campaign.

So, the first time the Overlord buys a point of Treachery, he can sub in a 1-point card at the beginning of the next dungeon. At the end of the dungeon, the deck is returned to its normal composition. At the start of the next dungeon, the Overlord can again sub in a 1-point card (or a 2-point card, if he has upgraded his Treachery since the last time).

In my experience, Monster upgrades are more powerful (and perhaps should be given priority over Treachery) but both are certainly worth the investment in a long game.

-pw

Corbon - Thanks for the response. Just to ensure I understand:

Before the heroes enter the dungeon levels at location "A," assume I purchased 1 point of treachery and used it to add Crushing Blow to my deck (swapping out a chest trap card from the basic deck). The heroes complete the dungeons at location "A" and then move on to the dungeons at location "B." Since I don't have to reset my deck, does this mean that I can use my 1 point of treachery to swap out another card - leaving the Crushing Blow card in the deck - so that I now have two cards with treachery cost in my deck?

If the above example is allowed under the rules, then I can build the deck over time (which is what I am hoping for).

Marximus said:

Corbon - Thanks for the response. Just to ensure I understand:

Before the heroes enter the dungeon levels at location "A," assume I purchased 1 point of treachery and used it to add Crushing Blow to my deck (swapping out a chest trap card from the basic deck). The heroes complete the dungeons at location "A" and then move on to the dungeons at location "B." Since I don't have to reset my deck, does this mean that I can use my 1 point of treachery to swap out another card - leaving the Crushing Blow card in the deck - so that I now have two cards with treachery cost in my deck?

If the above example is allowed under the rules, then I can build the deck over time (which is what I am hoping for).

No.

Note that I said if your choice doesn't change, then you don't need to physically reset the deck.

Note also that the question was if the deck was reset at the start of every dungeon (not accumulated) and the answer was yes (it is reset).


So before location A, you built your deck with 1 event treachery Card (Crushing Blow) replacing a chest trap. At the end of location A you theoretically put the chest trap back in and take the CB out. At location B you put in the CB and take out the chest trap. Since your choices didn't change, you didn't actually need to physically do all that deck fiddling. If you changed your choice, and decided to leave the chest trap in and take out a door trap instead, then you would have to do the deck fiddling thing.
I'm just basically describing a shortcut. In my current OL campaign I have 1 event treachery - that will always, without fail, be used for Crushing Blow. I will always, without fail, swap it out for a spider spawn (not upgrading beasts). So I don't bother to change my deck in between dungeons. The CB stays in, and the spider spawn stays out.

The only way to build the deck over time is to buy more treachery.

Thanks for the clarification. It wasn't the answer I wanted to hear (I really wanted to be able to accumulate cards) but your explanation makes sense. It does seem to dramatically lessen the power of treachery as introduced in the other expansions. Alas, my deck building dreams have been dashed...

Marximus said:

Thanks for the clarification. It wasn't the answer I wanted to hear (I really wanted to be able to accumulate cards) but your explanation makes sense. It does seem to dramatically lessen the power of treachery as introduced in the other expansions. Alas, my deck building dreams have been dashed...

You can buy more treachery points (by spending CT) if you want more treachery cards in your deck. You keep the points you bought and can accumulate more over time in that fashion. But you're not going to stuff for free.