im either wanting to build a miskatonic/agency deck or a syndicate/agency deck. i want to rush to win the stories as soon as possible so im looking for resiliant guys that have investigation icons that can make it to the investigation struggle. i thought the idea of having undercover security and triggerman in the same deck was nice. here is what i threw together the other night:

characters: 36

3 paul lemond

3 undercover security

3 government exorcist

3 unorthodox psychologist

3 marshal greene

3 agency groundskeeper

3 syndicate liason

3 extortionsist

3 anarchist

3 hard case

3 triggerman

3 descendant of eibon

events: 12

3 low blow

3 intimidate

3 a small price to pay

3 shotgun blast

support: 2

2 snow graves

my idea was to find as many cheap guys with willpower so i can ignore the terror struggle and i also needed guys with investigation icons to help me win stories quicker. thats why i originally went with syndicate/agency because of the combo of undercover security and triggerman. i used agency for the kill cards and combat struggle boost and the syndicate for the exhaust effects. feel free to critique the deck and tell me what you think works and doesnt work and why. im all ears.

thanks,

-kamacausey

I'm not a fan of Unorthodox Psychologist, but the rest looks good.

why no unorthodox psychologist? is looking at an opponents hand not really worth it? also, are there any 1 drops i should be playing in this deck? or better yet are there any cards in general from either the syndicate or the agency that i should be playing but i missed?

Nothing wrong with Unorthodox Psychologist, just to me it is expensive to exhaust him to look at the opponent's hand. I'd rather do something that more directly helps me win stories, even if it is just committing to a story.

Intervention could be fun. Special Agent Clarkson might replace 1 of your Marshall Greene, since Marshall is Unique. Government Exorcist can be nice...

totally off subject here but in the case of repo man when he is committed to story you can never choose to wound somone right? you always have to choose to take an opponents support card even if there isnt one right?

Unorthodox Psychologist is the third best 2 cost Agency character (with Investigation) behind the Exorcist and Undercover Security. Even without considering the Investigation icon, he is still a decent choice when compared to the other two drops. The only others I would consider would be Femme Fatale, Museum Security, Peeler, Repo Man, and Confident Rookie (in the right deck). You might consider Diseased Sewer Rats in that slot... but then you'd have to drop Descendant... so stick with the Psych.

kamacausey said:

Yes that is correct. And that can be very useful against certain decks.

Random_Person said:

I keep wanting to figure out how to use Obsessive Detective (Combat, Combat, Investigation; 2 skill) effectively. And I kind-of like Blackwood File Clerk just because of the 3 skill (and she is an Investigator)

TheProfessor said:

Well, we know how you are with your Investigators.

Yes, she is a solid 2 because of her protection against the slew of skill-based effects. Also, with Burning Sun, she can hold her own.

Random_Person said:

i just noticed unlikely informant. he seems better then unorthodox psychologist...

kamacausey said:

I prefer to have icons over skill. That's just me.

Aside from the few "Skill 2 or less" cards that have removal, if you are playing any form of Agency rush and winning a story depends on a skill check, something is very wrong.

i can see where you're coming from but you have to spend the unorthodox psychologist where the unlikely informant you dont. well technically you do but you are spending to go to a story(which is what you want to be doing) whereas the unorthodox psychologist has to sit out of the fight to see your opponents hand.

kamacausey said:

Yeah, I'm completely ignoring the look at a hand thing. There are near zero times that ability would affect my decision.

so what are peoples thoughts on the syndicate in general? they seem to be the spend you and skill reducing faction. i dont really here anyone ever talk about them or really build decks around them. they seem to fit a rush strategy pretty well by getting big fatties out of your way to let you complete stories. what are the syndicate staples?

kamacausey said:

Besides skill reduction they're probably best known for their abilities to ready their own characters and exhausting their opponents. More recently they also got a lot of cards to manipulate decks and look at the opponent's hand. Imho, they're _the_ toolbox faction. The only faction with somewhat similar abilities is Yog-Sothoth with its manipulation of the discard pile.

I'm no expert, but I like them quite a bit and took them for the second faction in my Shub deck for Gencon. Besides, aren't mobsters just inherently more fun than cops anyway?

I think exhaustion effects get a bit of a bad rep because they don't "do as much" as wounding for example - they don't deal with the enemy character permanently. However, exhaustion also gets around things like Toughness, Invulnerability, etc... Also, it only really takes 1-2 turns to make a lot of progress towards winning so the difference between "one turn" versus "permanent" may be a little less in actual practice.

Besides exhaustion, you've got readying your own stuff, preventing characters from committing to stories, and uncommitting characters from stories. Basically, they're what I'd call a board control faction - you've got a lot to say about what people can and cannot do. Yeah, other folks might have more icons or more skill but what good are they if they can't actually get them to a struggle? "Yeah, sorry about your G-Man not showing up for the fight. He, uh, had an accident. People should be more careful..."

They seem a little combo-oriented too. Not as much as Silver Twilight, but when I browse through their cards there's a lot of "trade this for that" and effects which seem rather conditional but then there are other cards that give you more control over the conditions. For instance, there are some "name a card" effects that punish your opponent for having that card in their hand. OK, but what if I can't guess their hand? No problem, I can look at it or make them play with a revealed hand. Suddenly a LOT easier to leverage those "name a card effects", or maybe the ones that make them trade cards for new ones too.

Is it bad I didn't read the thread? Probably.

Did see that there was a pondering on Syndicate. Normally... I'm not much of a fan. Not enough destruction, murder, and removal for my taste. However... I do like their houses and draw power.

For reference,

The Seventh House on the Left
Safe House
Gun Runner's Club
Smugglers
Degenerate Gambler

The have a ton of other cool cards too *coughDutchCouragecough* but <insert generic mob voice impression> you gotta be smart see. gotta have goal see. ya thats the ticket. <end aweful texted based impression>

Sigh. Even I don't think I'm funny. When in the abyss is someone gonna start writing my jokes for me? This is embarrasing.