Card draw simulator
Derived from |
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None. Self-made deck here. |
Inspiration for | ||||
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Galakticon 2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
Valentin1331 · 65781
Calvin Charms death with his Talisman and ragged Fine Clothes
Credit: Anthony Devine
Introduction:
As I am always interested in underdogs, I thought I'd give one of the most exciting and atypical investigators in the game a bit of a revamp, especially with the re-packaging of The Forgotten Age lurking around.
This series is a celebration of the 20k points on ArkhamDB to thank you all for all the ♥ received.
I will release a new standalone-ready deck concept every week on Friday for the following months, so stay tuned and keep pressing the ♥ button if you want to see more!
Let me know which investigators you would like to see next in the comment!
Table of Contents:
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Overview
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Main Strategy
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Boost Your Stat Line
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Safety Nets
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Other Cards
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Upgrade Path
Overview:
Difficulty: | ★★★★★ |
Enemy Management: | ★★★★☆ |
Clue-getting: | ★★★★☆ |
Encounter protection: | ★★★★☆ |
Survivability: | ★★★★☆ |
Economy: | ★★★☆☆ |
Card Drawing: | ★★★☆☆ |
Main Strategy:
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Boost your stats to reach a 7-7-7-8 stat line and pass every test.
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Stay alive with Talisman of Protection and Fine Clothes.
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Gain tempo over the mythos with Fickle Fortune's direct damage and horror and Ice Pick (3)'s additional damage and clue.
Boost your statline:
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You should mulligan for Five of Pentacles to save 3 resources straight from the start. The only other card that you won't shuffle back is Scavenging (2).
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With 1 Five of Pentacles, you can already reach a solid 5-5-5-5 stat line quite safely.
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With Moon Pendant, you can add another Five of Pentacles for 6-6-6-6 and still have 2 health and 2 sanity left until you set up your safety nets.
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Later, you'll get Plucky (3) for an additional as well as some buffer sanity for the Meat Cleaver.
Safety Nets:
Playing Calvin is a nerve-wracking experience. Not only do you have to face the mythos, but you also have to do it on the edge of death and insanity at all times.
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Talisman of Protection is your best safety net as it also works with direct damage/horror that would kill you.
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It is fast, so you can play it at any point during your turn, when you have spare resources, and it is an Item, so it works with Scavenging, to always have its protection up.
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You can either play 2 on yourself to absorb the most significant blows, even a on a Rotting Remains; or play the second one on a teammate if they are at risk of being defeated too. It would then join your discard pile if discarded from another investigator's play area, directly ready for Scavenging.
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Fine Clothes is a cheap, Scavengeable Item that also soaks a horror. You can consider the Protective Gear if it is not enough.
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Peter Sylvestre absorbs horror, which is really convenient while using the Meat Cleaver.
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Until the End of Time can also be critical to absorbing unforeseen direct damage/horror. Plus, the art is too good not to have it on the table.
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Ward of Protection to keep you away from nasty treachery cards that would ruin your day like Curse of Yig, and the horror can go to Peter Sylvestre that just healed.
With all these safety nets, you should feel comfortable with only 1 health and 1 sanity.
If you do so, you'll have 7 at all your skills, 9 while using the Meat Cleaver, and 9 with the Ice Pick (3) and Plucky (3)
Other Cards:
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Fickle Fortune is a special case.
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The direct damage and horror are beneficial early in a scenario. If you find it later in the scenario, the direct damage and horror will be absorbed by Talisman of Protection as it would defeat you.
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If it is in your discard pile, you can use Resourceful to do it at any time. You can do this during the witching hour (the last round of an agenda) for free healing or to remove a doom at a critical time.
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If you want to heal your whole team, you can play the first ability and then use Resourceful immediately to remove the doom you just added for a net heal of 2 damage and 2 horrors for each investigator.
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Schoffner's Catalogue works with Scavenging and pays for the cycling of Ice Pick (3), Talisman of Protection, Fine Clothes and itself.
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Glory, Rabbit's Foot, Take Heart and At a Crossroads compensates for the poor draw.
- At a Crossroads is also a great way to gain actions once you are fully set up.
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Short Supply boosts the consistency, increasing your chances of getting your key cards early in the scenario. To access your essential cards from your discard pile, you have Scavenging, Resourceful and Scrounge for Supplies (later upgraded to Shrine of the Moirai).
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Shrine of the Moirai is especially good in Calvin as at the beginning, the encounter cards mean damage/horror that will boost you, and later in the scenario, they are no threat to you anymore.
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In the Thick of It is especially good in Calvin because the trauma is double benefits.
Yet it also means that you should be careful not to take too much trauma throughout a campaign.
You'd better get a bit of damage/horror at the beginning of a scenario while you are setting up rather than having to change investigator at the end of a campaign because you overshot the threshold of trauma Calvin can take. -
Fire Extinguisher (3) can be a good upgrade once you have 3+ sanity trauma so you can deal 2 damage even if you cannot take horror, before your Peter Sylvestre, Talisman of Protection and Fine Clothes are on the table.
Upgrade Path:
To create your own guides, find the template I have created here
19 comments |
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Dec 30, 2022 |
Dec 30, 2022I’m excited to try this on a Dream Eater run tomorrow, but is the Meat Cleaver as only combat option enough to deal with enemies in later scenarios? |
Dec 31, 2022I absolutely love how you well balanced maxing stats and keeping Calivn alive! So many safety nets while so many damagers at the same time! My biggest issue when playing Calvin is always efficiency - yeah, I'm passing tests most of the time, but just discovering one clue/dealing one damage isn't really too impressive. Ice Pick and meat clever help to a degree, but I wonder if you crack up enough action compensation? |
Dec 31, 2022
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Dec 31, 2022
Because there is really limited space for efficiency, the Ice Picks (3) are fantastic. We already use Scavenging for the Talisman of Protection and Fine Clothes anyways, and having 2 Vicious Blow on tap is really a huge boon. As a flex, dealing 6 damage in 2 actions is solid, and if you can scavenge them right after with your third action, you have them available at the end of each turn in case you draw an enemy. It is in my experience more than enough to carry your own weight. If you are leaning towards main fighter, then you can add Brute Force as |
Jan 04, 2023Love the use of the new Dilemma cards! Hadn't thought of them in this context. Personally, I'd upgrade out of Meat Clever once I have 3 or more Physical Trauma. Or at least add additional weapons. Fire Extinguisher (3) is a good option at that point, if you have Ice Pick (3). |
Jan 05, 2023Nice list i absolutly sure to try it my next game. Will you plan to do a decklist for core set investigatoras? |
Jan 05, 2023
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Jan 13, 2023Has anyone tried this build? It is interesting, but I have some fears before embarking on a new campaign.
This build is it strong enough for an entire campaign? Thank you for your answers ! |
Mar 02, 2023Upgrade for scavenging isn't really worth it as most of the items that are scavenged are already fast with ice picks and amulet of protection. |
May 29, 2023FYI, Talisman of Protection cannot be played anytime, as it can only be played on your turn, despite being fast. |
May 29, 2023
Fickle Fortune is a bit of a risk but is in my experience worth it if you have Resourceful in your deck. At best it’s pure value, at worth you spend a Resourceful on it yo cancel the doom, still giving heal to your whole team. For Scavenging, you are right. The reason why it works well in Calvin Wright is that by the time you draw it, play it, and find/play your other items, it is also the time it takes for you to boost your stats at the beginning of a campaign. Later in a campaign, you’ll have enough trauma to scavenge on turn one. For Dark Horse and Drawing Thin, these are good options but it’s a different deck overall :)
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Jun 25, 2023I'm playing this Calvin deck and it's very good and above all very fun. As my first Luxury Upgrade I put in Drawing Thin and swapped it for Glory. It's working great in my The Circle Undone campaign. |
Jul 12, 20241) Is Moon Pendant really interesting? To work, you must draw both Five of Pentacles and Moon during the same game. A three-card suit is unreliable. I would only put the two Five of Pentacles. 2) For Scavenging, is the level 2 necessary? Indeed “Ice Pick” and “Talisman of Protection” are already fast. Could the XP be invested elsewhere? 3) Since the February taboo, Scavenging costs two XP. Is Backpack (2) better (removing Short Supply)? The backpack (2) costs the same and immediately draws 3 cards. Scavenging seems difficult to run more than three times per mission. What do you think ? |
Jul 14, 2024
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Jul 16, 2024
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Jul 19, 2024
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Jul 19, 2024
I usually play the other way around, hard tokens and standard card, because I think that the symbol tokens in hard can be a bit too intense and opens the door to too much RNG, but a hard bag balances the game a little bit, bringing back this tension of early campaigns. Speaking of Monterey Jack, have you seen my deck for him? :D |
Jul 25, 2024
We did two missions from "The Feast of Hemlock Vale" on hard difficulty (but without the Recovery taboo). It was great! Unfortunately my Calvin didn't take any trauma during his two games (Voice of the Messenger was discarded by Short Supply both times). But I drew Dark Pact: it's a great card for Calvin! It's fun (and weird) to play to hoping get some damage ! ^_^ The cards I put in addition:
The cards in less:
I don't know if I'll upgrade Peter Sylvestre quickly: he's already good in his basic version for Calvin (who doesn't really need an extra +1 spirit). The rest is the same. I'll try Shrine of the Moirai and maybe Observed as a deluxe upgrade. |
Cool deck, as always! Would love to see a deck for my favorite investigator ever: Trish Scarborough