Dexter Drake - Wanna See a Magic Trick?

Before I dive into the deck concept, I want to note that I'm including the upgrade path on this initial list. Anywhere there is one non-experienced card and one experienced card, I’ll be starting with 2x the non-experienced card and upgrading over time. The deck will eventually include Haste (which doesn't have a 0 XP version and Robes of Endless Night (I'm not playing the 0-XP version).

The deck centers around my wonderful assistant, Molly Maxwell. My first thought when I saw this card was… what?!

My initial idea was to include assets that all have a unique trait, so I could use Molly to fish out the exact card I wanted four rounds in a row. Having never played Mystic, I didn't know if this was feasible. I was surprised at just how feasible it was after my first pass through all the cards available to Dexter. Below are the assets in the deck along with the trait to call in order for her to fetch them.

Wither (spell) Scroll of Secrets (tome) Sword Cane (relic) Haste (ritual) Lucky Cigarette Case (charm) Robes of Endless Night (clothing)
 David Renfield(patron) Leo De Luca (criminal) Switchblade and Liquid Courage (illicit) - I only have one Liquid Courage, so once I see it I can call illicit and know I'll see a Switchblade Lone Wolf (talent) and Showmanship (talent) - both one of cards, so once I call one out or draw one, I know what I'm getting

One of my favorite cards from my Zoey Samaras deck was Calling in Favors, so once I validated my asset plan this was the next card I thought of with Molly. It would let me use her ability up to three rounds in a row and then put a different ally into play. Insane value.

Of course, it also means I can replay Molly and repeat this process for another four rounds in a row if I want. Beyond this amazing synergy with her once she’s in play, it even helps me increase the odds of actually seeing Molly each game. Even if I don't draw her early, as long as I see any ally I can use Calling in Favors to go digging for this card.

Of course, building an entire deck around a single card - especially one you only can play one of - is a bit risky, so I also included two other cards to help make sure you are either seeing Molly or the cards you want anyway: Scroll of Secrets and Lucky Cigarette Case. Scroll of Secretes is particularly valuable in this deck, since I can use Dexter’s once per round ability with it after I've used all the charges from the card.

Beyond card draw (which is well handled through the assets), the deck generates cash with Dexter’s ability, Robes of Endless Night, Lone Wolf, and Faustian Bargain. I also included four cancels, Deny Existence and Ward of Protection, because those are always good. Just in case, I also included another favorite from previous decks, Intel Report, as having a sure way to grab clues is almost never bad.

For damage, which is the core role of this deck, I decided on Wither over Shrivelling. Wither is only capable of dealing a single damage at a time, but it also makes enemies weaker each time I pull a specific token. More importantly though, I’m playing two copies of Arcane Research, so the risk of Shriveling giving me horror along with the fact that it has a limited number of uses deterred me from it.

Another great one damage option in the deck is my trusty Sword Cane, which also gives me a decent way to evade in case things get questionable. I included Switchblade mostly to be able to fast action an asset into play to be able to use Dexter’s fast action ability. Without the added XP to it from the Taboo list, it’s actually also a decent way to upgrade into a two-damage asset. C'est la vie though, I suppose.

The biggest weak spot for the deck at this point was it’s ability to deal with swarms of enemies or to deal a lot of damage all at once. Haste will eventually help, since I could use the same fight action an additional time. To patch this issue though, I included Spectral Razor and Storm of Spirits.

When I first built this deck, I wasn’t considering a few important factors - like the fact that I was playing a clue heavy Trish Scarborough deck as my other Dream-eaters deck or that my teammate would be playing as Minh Thi Phan. Amazingly, the structure of the deck really didn’t have to change much to go from Dexter the clue gatherer to Dexter the murderous magician. I think you could swap out Wither for Sixth Sense, make a few minor changes, and it would change the deck to a clue gathering role really easily.

We streamed the first scenario of our Dream-eaters campaign a couple weeks ago and are streaming our playthrough of the first scenario of the 'awake investigators' tomorrow (January 25th), in which I'll use this deck! If you have any thoughts or ideas for the deck or other upgrade cards I should be considering, I'd love to hear about them in the comments.