Fever dreams of slaying

Card draw simulator

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becxabillion · 511

This was a deck I designed sleep deprived at the end of a night shift. It is either a work of genius or madness. Anyway...

Zoey's signature Zoey's Cross is amazing, right? We want to draw it ASAP, so Backpack lets us dig 12 cards, and Stick to the Plan thins our deck by four thanks to Astounding Revelation triggering for free. How else can we get it early? Boxing Gloves won't draw it, but will thin the deck rapidly and help pull Glory, which can.

Filling out targets for Boxing Gloves we have efficient cards that don't cost an action to use, "Get over here!", Counterpunch, Heroic Rescue. "Let me handle this!" is a flex slot, I think.

What else is a good target for backpack? Empty Vessel, that's what. You should get it out reliably early and then it's just great all scenario. Next is Crystallizer of Dreams. We have loads of events to feed it, tech to help draw it, and if we draw the Guardian of the Crystallizer, then we are well placed to just kill it and feed it to Wish Eater. Also, Bandolier is more or less a necessity to run alongside boxing gloves and is fetchable too.

We want our deck to be even more reliable, apparently, because we have Dr. Elli Horowitz, who can search for Crystallizer of Dreams, Empty Vessel, and Enchanted Blade. Even better, if she's holding enchanted blade she's effectively a Bandolier.

Our actual weapons are Survival Knife and Enchanted Blade. Blade 3 is just incredible, really. You'll never waste a charge, and probably get to draw 3 off it, which is ridiculous and feeds back into the heavy draw the deck runs. With cross and blade out you auto kill 1hp enemies, kill 2hp enemies without spending a charge, 3hp with one charge, and 4hp with two actions and one charge. That's an incredible level of efficiency even ignoring all the damage events we have.

Stick to the Plan Has Ever Vigilant as amazing acceleration, Prepared for the Worst as yet another search if needed, and Dodge because the deck is somewhat lacking in soak (but has heal from Wish Eater and Enchanted Blade).

3 comments

Nov 13, 2020 Trinity_ · 201

This is an absolutely inspired concept for a Zoey decklist. Going all in on card selection in a character with one of the most powerful specials in the game is promising, and in general I think tutors in Arkham Horror are very powerful for any character in dire need of certain cards such as weapons.

I have to wonder if there's some optimisation to be done regarding the Spirit traited events in this deck. Heroic Rescue and Counterpunch are I think the weakest even with their combined synergy, and you might do well to find space for Stand Together. I'd even be willing to cut one of the Relic Hunters for Stand Together (3) and be happy to concede to not always playing both Empty Vessel and Crystallizer of Dreams - after all, each is a lot weaker when played later in a scenario, and sometimes (often if the deck thinning really is that good!) you'll luck out with Elli. "I've had worse..." is also a good possibility if you can spare even more experience.

I also feel the need to compliment your write-up for this decklist. This may have been more a product of your sleep deprivation than a deliberate stylistic choice, but it very much does read like hearing the slightly off-kilter plan of your weird chef who you swear sometimes talks to herself. Great work!

Nov 13, 2020 jaunt · 20

I'm afraid in my opinion it's neither genius or madness, and it'll take some more polish to get to either.

First, I question the choice of crystallizer for two reasons. You're not running anything that benefits from having enemies around (Scene of the Crime, Evidence, etc). Further, you're also not running a lot of double icons. The doubles you do have are books, which isn't that this deck wants to do and nor are there a whole lot of book treacheries out there.

Secondly, Boxing Gloves looks like a solution in search of a problem. You have to pay the bandolier tax, unfortunately. Then, you have 10 spirit cards, which is great, but you don't have 10 GOOD spirit cards. Heroic Rescue in particular means you need a hunter enemy that you don't engage on your turn, or else it means you forced someone else to take a turn without pulling the monster off them. Then you take the full damage/horror in exchange for doing 1 damage. Counterpunch to get a basic fight action for the cost of eating an attack isn't great, since if you're not forced to eat an attack, doing so optionally just kills your efficiency. A lot of Cho's deck just doesn't work without Cho.

What I do like: the hilarious Dr. Eli relic package, the slot efficiency (less boxing gloves/bandolier), the fairly low curve, the high quality search engines, Astounding Revelation.

Upgrading Survival Knife could be pretty sweet.

Nov 13, 2020 Secutor145 · 3

I've also been using Dr. Elli Horowitz on Zoey lately. Her carrying Enchanted Blade and Empty Vessel for you is just fantastic. Sadly Zoey's Cross isn't a relic, which makes no sense to me.

I'm not so sure about Boxing Gloves, though. Sure searching is good, but lacking bonus damage and the need of Bandolier feels quiet inconvenient.