Phelpsb83 · 208
4th Player Decks:
4th Player Decks are a series of decks designed for a 4th player in a 4-player campaign -- especially one with three other strong decks. As such, they eschew any need to be self-sufficient in favor of a somewhat outlandish singular focus. They often rely on other player to survive and win scenarios -- and often to provide extra XP for the final build. But, as they approach their final build (both through xp in a campaign and through combo(s) in an individual mission, they can become dominant.
Note: Most of these are theory-crafted and draw-tested, as play-testing a 4 player campaign is, well, time-consuming.
This Preston deck leverages extra action cards and stat boosts for some mega-turns. If you stockpile them all, you can get 2 turns (see: Gold Pocket Watch) with 18 actions at skills level 6+!
The deck generally plays like this:
- Early game: Build combos by failing forward with Take Heart and Drawing Thin.
- Mid game: Take a number of 5 actions turns with recurring Trial by Fire (Resourceful, Scrounge for Supplies) or recurring The Red-Gloved Man (Calling Favors, A Chance Encounter)
Interlude: How do you get repeated 5 action turns, you might be wondering? Glad you asked! Obviously, Leo De Luca for +1. Also, the Haste/Borrowed Time combo can buy you one extra action a turn even while repeatedly banking 3 actions. On one turn, 1) cash in Borrowed time (mandatory) for 3 actions. You now have 6 actions. Use 2+Haste to reload it for 3, leaving you 4 actions (5 with Leo). Rinse and repeat turn after turn until you're read to simply use all those actions. Speaking of which.....
- Late game: Cash in Borrowed Time, Haste, Leo, Ace in the Hole, 2 x Swift Reflexes, and 2x Quick thinking, along with a Red-Gloved Man, Trial by Fire, or Fight or Flight for a high-skill 15 action turn! With Fire axe and some careful resource management, that could be 30 damage! As such, this makes a neat Blob deck for those short bursts of damage potential.
Using Gold Pocket Watch to skip the Mythos Phase gives you another 4-5 action turn of that Red-Gloved Man, too! (although that is an easily skippable 8 xp in this high xp deck).
Anyway, have fun with this. I'd love to see comments if anyone plays it and it pays off (especially for a 30+ damage blob turn).
Note: I experimented with a similar deck with Jenny Barnes, with a better weapon selection. However, she can't carry as much survival recurrence for consistency.