Luke Robinson: Curse Him That Curseth Thee

Introduction

Built for a 2-player Standard run through TIC with Tony as a fighter with occasional clues and Luke as a clue-getter with some fight ability. The pairing is built on both investigators getting Curses into the bag, the Luke pulling them out and putting them to work. It has worked out pretty well. As always, comments and suggestions welcome.

Notable Cards

Assets

• Gate Box -- a better signature than many, since you don't need to dig for it, and it is very useful in TIC, with all the movement challenges that campaign brings to bear
• Hawk-Eye Folding Camera -- great if it comes out early, although some TIC scenarios aren't great for it (Horror in High Gear comes to mind)
• Occult Lexicon -- card draw and some damage potential. Especially useful for aloof enemies and high-health enemies engaged with someone else
• Armageddon/Eye of Chaos -- the deck is built around getting them out and managing Curse tokens for fun and profit
• Favor of the Moon -- gets Curses out of the bag and generates a small trickle of resources
• Blasphemous Covenant -- it's a +3 swing on drawing a Curse; it makes the two cursed spell assets work

Events

• Crack the Case -- this is not a cheap or fast deck; resources are always welcome

Skills

• Enraptured -- can recharge the Gate Box, which is nice, but it's also available for replaceing by other cards as the deck matures

Piloting

Luke takes a while to set up. Like most investigators, he needs actions and resources to get his rig on the table and struggles a bit until that happens. Once he is set up, he is a juggernaut. Since TIC has a lot of large maps that often reward back-tracking or complicated movement, thinking really hard about when to use the Gate Box is paramount. You will appreciate draws.Otherwise, clear areas of clues and keep moving. The deck has enough combat options that Luke can get out of scrapes, but the pressure from engaging with Deep Ones will wear him down. Don't be afraid to use the Gate box to escape from multiple enemies.

Mulligan Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, Holy Rosary, and an ally are good. Some way of grabbing clues is also a bonus. Crack the Case is also good to have early, since the rig is so expensive.

Upgrades

In rough order:

• Emergency Cache --> Favor of the Moon
• Blasphemous Covenant
• David Renfield --> Whitton Greene (2) -- Whitton is awesome in Luke, since her bonuses are almost always on
• Drawn to the Flame --> Stirring Up Trouble -- more Curses, fewer encounters
• Armageddon --> Armageddon (4) -- the extra is very useful
• Eye of Chaos --> Eye of Chaos (4) -- the extra is very useful
• Storm of Spirits --> Gaze of Ouraxsh or Storm of Spirits (3)
• Deduction --> Fey or Deduction (2)
• Holy Rosary --> Hemispheric Map -- no soak, but the effect is somethimes much better (especially if Luke is in the Gate Box)
• Enraptured --> Robes of Endless Night (2) -- helps with spell costs and Luke can use the soak. Being able to play a spell with no Attack of Opportunity can save your bacon

Maybe:

• Enraptured --> Spirit Athame -- it's good for killing low-health enemies, finishing off odd-health enemies, and boosting a spell by +2 every round is nice.