Cap-Bin America! (Deck Guide)

-

-

I think we all knew what needed to happen when we saw the art on Improvised Shield. Unfortunately 2 copies of Act of Desperation isnt really enough to base a deck concept around, and you cant inherently attack with The Shield unlike our Hammer Throwing Friends in this deck

Well! With The Art of War, you can now reuse Act of Desperations indefinitely! And not only can William Yorick reload The art of war by replaying it from the discard, but its also at least a bit funny just beat someone over the head with it...

While this specific deck hasnt had any testing, it is partially derived from a number of Marion decks I have ran so im hoping its at least viable. It is obviously not intended to be a strong version of Yorick, it makes a lot of compromises for theme. It's intended more as a fun playstyle. As with almost all my lists, feel free to swap things about. I am only really trying to describe a broad archetype so people can experiment for themselves. There are a few suggestions for tweaks in the blurb below if you are looking for inspiration.

Finally, please keep your comments friendly. Any toxicity will be met with general incredulity. In particular if you are looking to critique the deck strength, you may have missed the point.

This is shown with a little xp (19xp + In the Thick of It) for a standalone version). To reset to a campaign starter:

• Reset the XP tactic cards to their lvl0 version (Counterpunch, Heroic Rescue, and Improvised Weapon)
• Swap Sound Support and Ace of Swords for an ally with a combat boost on it, or take In the Thick of It to get Sound Support.
• Swap Hunter's Mark and "I've had worse…" for similar temp boosts/econ (Stand Together/Daring are thematic options)

-

-

BEFORE WE GET STARTED, DOES ANYONE WANT TO GET OUT? (TL:DR / Elevator Pitch)

SLOTS:

• Hands ............. SHIELD! / Art of War
• Accessory ...... Unused
• Body ............... Unused
• Arcane Slots .. Unused
• Tarot ............... Ace of Swords
• Allies ............... Youre tougher than that!

Recreate everyone's favourite human pinball with this "in your face", defensive brawler!

Stand your ground with plenty of thematic & recurable soaks (Improvised Shield, Something Worth Fighting For, Sound Support, "I've had worse…" (2)). Intercept damage and horror for others, and charge headlong into the fray skipping risks in encounter phases to single out enemies with On the Hunt (also tactic traited for Book of War).

A suite of up front and personal tactic traited damage events (Counterpunch, Heroic Rescue, Imp Weapon, Act of Desperation) can be recurred by via Book of War. Just keep shouting I can do this all day! as your comrades roll their eyes.

Burst damage and boosts and are available from Vicious Blow, Long Shot, Hunter's Mark, Ace of Swords, Your obligatory helmet, and Hunter's Mark.

Once the The book runs out, smash it over someones head to reload it with Act of Desperation and Your ability.

.....and of course dont forget the signature Shield Throw that can returned to hand (slot) by your ability.

-

-

ASSEMBLE! (Setup & Muligan)

MULLIGAN:

Priorities: These will depend what is available in the discard pile after Short Supply. You are looking for access to:

• Some sort of boost. ie Ace of Swords or Wolf Mask.
• The Book of War, and
• A fight event or two (usually to get things out of the discard).
• After that - some sort of economy to get set up with

The boost is critical to landing blows if you are throwing the shield (+1 for a base 5 which isnt amazing on its own). The other combat events give +2s so a base of 6, which usually is reliable on enemies with up to 3, or 4 at campaign start (standard or hard mode).

Note that Resourceful is there in case both Act of Desperations start in the bin. Otherwise they let you reuse Long Shots

-

-

I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY! (Combat & Silliness)

Generally speaking, in standard mode you want to be 2 above on most tests for reliablility early campaign and 3 above late. On hard this is 3 above then 4 above. This means we are looking for 6 to cover upto 4 enemies early on and 7-8 later (depending on mode and campaign stage). With a printed 4, that means we want +2 to +4 total among passive boosts and boosts built into attacks.

DAMAGE:

• All the damage events here are all cheap, making them practical to recur, and either offer +2 or deal automatic damage. The unfortunate exception being using Act of Desperation on Improvised Shield which is +1.
• Ace of Swords, and Wolf Mask give passive/reusable boosts.
• Hunter's Mark, Vicious Blow, Resourceful, and Long Shot give temporary +1s and/or +1 damage to help with 3+hp enemies.

RECURSION:

• Counterpunch, Heroic Rescue, Act of Desperation are all tactic based damage events recurrable by The Book of War. Technically so is Improvised Weapon, though that self recurs. Before you ask, I dont believe you can return it to hand instead of shuffling it into your deck.
• Use Schoffner's Catalogue to pay for Improvised Shieldand Book of War when using them for Act of Desperation. This lets you bank the money from Act of Desperation effectively generating cash from Shield throws. The Catalogue can be replayed by your as needed.

TANKING:

• Several events here react to being attacked. Soak the hits on Improvised Shield, Sound Support, "I've had worse…" and Something Worth Fighting For.
• Variants may want to use Guard Dogs and/or Hunter's Armor with the Armour of Thorns upgrade if you want to lean further into reactive damage. I prefer the armour here for theme and Item trait (ie payable from Catalogue money.)

-

-

I UNDERSTOOD THAT REFERENCE (Clues)

The build shown doesnt really clue much. It also makes a lot of compromises for theme (e.g. no allies). If looking to bring clues in take a look at:

• Grete Wagner (+) can replace Wolf Mask and/or Ace of Swords - Shes expensive, but recurable via Yoricks ability. You`ll need more economy to do this well.
• Breach the Door - This is tactic traited. And I would need a rules lawyer to tell me if Book of War would detatch and return it to hand it at the end of your turn to be reusable. But even if not its enough to clear a location if you fully zero the shroud.
• Lesson Learned - Thematic. Some synergies with Heroic Rescue and Counterpunch.
• Evidence! - Thematic one use Grete Wagner effect.
• Eucatastrophe. Turn a -2 into a +2 to cover any shroud upto a 4, then recover a discarded card with your .

-

-

YOU GET HURT, HURT THEM BACK. YOU GET KILLED ... WALK IT OFF (Encounter Protection)

The build shown is vulnerable to treachery cards, especially checks (which frequently cause horror).

• Soak as much as you can via Improvised Shield, Sound Support, "I've had worse…" and Something Worth Fighting For. Then just recur them later. Remember you are more vulnerable to horror than damage here when deciding when to use "I've had worse…"/Sound Support.
• Wolf Masks option is a way of going to 5 on tests, though often test failure only costs health on treacheries, which is what the Shield does best.
• On the Hunt - Means you dont draw treacheries until the turn you dont find an enemy, and is replayable by The Book of War . It also reduces the enemies available in the deck for the rest of the team to draw. Doing so will exhaust The Book of War though preventing you from retaining an attack event. Use it when you have Improvised Weapon available, or enough attacks in hand to spare a few. Or of course if you know there are easier 1hp enemies in the deck, just use basic fight actions.
• Something Worth Fighting For is an expensive thematic pick that should probably be Cherished Keepsake or Plucky with xp. I just couldnt bring myself to give Cpt Rogers a teddy bear.

-

-

BRAVE NEW WORLD (Investigator Variants and Ideas)

PLEASE NOTE: At time of writing, I have not yet seen Brave New World, please dont spoil. Though if anyone has any non spoilery ideas on how to add wings to this build I would love to hear them.

I chose Yorick to spare actions on replaying Improvised Shield, get easy Book of war reloads, and for card pool access, but a number of other IDs can do similar things.

Some general ideas:

• Anyone with guardian lvl1 access can use Well-Maintained on The art of war. It will run out after some uses, but will go quite far. With 2 copies of each you could get up to 12 uses here, which will be most of a scenario...
• Any lvl3+ guardian use On the Hunt (3), which is tactic traited and can start on Stick to the Plan. This is one of the best Guardian Econ cards in the game as well as guaranteeing skipping a treachery so long as there is at least 1 enemy in the encounter deck... If you are not going for Improvised Shield throws, this is could be a good option for someone like Zoey Samaras or Mark Harrigan. Pair it with a The Hungering Blade/Empty Vessel build and theres a real engine there.

Other Investigators:

• Daniela Reyes - Plenty of survivor access. Lean harder on soak/heals/cancels then use her for extra damage. Note that the level0 versions a of lot of the guardian tactic event listed are fine here.
• Marion Tavares - The original inspiration but sadly cant have a shield.... I wont lie. If you make a Marion deck using this archtype it may just be a normal Marion deck. Surely theres a Bucky Barns to be made though!
• Tommy Muldoon - Loves taking damage/horror and can additionally recur The art of war via Scavenging (2). If you lean into it, he can investigate fine. Just bring boosts like Perception/or Well Prepared (Scavenging(2) has pips which puts him at 5).

-

-