Card draw simulator
| Derived from |
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| None. Self-made deck here. |
| Inspiration for |
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| None yet |
dinkleberg · 1
Introduction
Core 2026 for Chapter 2 is here, and much like Chapter 1, it shipped with investigator starter decks evenly split between their primary and secondary class. While this is great for getting broader exposure to the card pool, it also makes for less consistent and focused decks. Chapter 1 famously had a line of "Better Starter Decks" guides by Killbray, which offer an alternative deck structure closer to the theme embraced by the Standalone/Evergreen Investigator starter decks: two copies of a smaller selection of cards, to increase consistency.
These deck guides are provided in the same spirit for Chapter 2. You are encouraged to tweak them if you have multiple Chapter 2 Core sets, are playing with a low player count, or otherwise just want to put your own spin on them! Suggestions for some of the first items to consider will be described in the "Substitutions" section of the deck guide below.
Note
These deck guides are written assuming you desire to have a set of ready-to-play decks for each investigator in the Core Set, without having overlap or needing to proxy cards. The other decks in this series can be found at the following links:
Your Role and Your Cards
Izzie, being a Survivor with a mixed stat line, serves as a flexible fighter evader of enemies, with a trick or two up her sleeve for finding clues. Thus, the core of her kit revolves around supporting her team by doing a little bit of everything, while weathering the encounter deck with her high willpower, and mitigating or transforming the damage and horror she takes. While Broken Bottle can tide her over while you search for Isabelle's Twin .45s, the core of her deck, fighting or otherwise, revolves around recurring skills via her investigator ability. To supplement this, several of her cards create a damage and horror management minigame via Lucky Charm, Cloak of Resonance, Meat Cleaver, Bandages, and Aleksey Saburov. For example, Izzie might take 1 horror from Meat Cleaver to do 2 damage to a 3 health enemy. She can place that horror on Cloak of Resonance, dealing 1 damage to that enemy mid attack, thus potentially defeating it should her attack land (Overpower can help increase those odds!). Then, she can proceed to use Lucky Charm's to move that horror back off of Cloak of Resonance and onto Aleksey Saburov, simultaneously staging that horror to be healed away next turn while regaining a use of Cloak of Resonance!
For long-term sustainment, Izzie can mitigate a lot of damage and horror provided she receives it in a trickle, on average. Bandages can heal damage both from her and an already horror-loaded Aleksey Saburov. Meat Cleaver can help heal horror off once she has accrued a significant balance from the repeated use of her investigator ability to recur skills from her discard pile. Aleksey Saburov, of course, slowly heals over time, providing some regenerative soak. Izzie can even support her fellow investigators by sparing them a supply of Bandages or taking one damage or horror from one of their cards with Lucky Charm. Her high willpower makes her naturally resilient to the encounter deck, and Timely Intervention can act as a just-in-time Manual Dexterity or Guts (minus the card draw). She can also use Levelheaded to hedge against "for each point failed by" encounter card tests without breaking the bank.
Economically, Emergency Cache is Izzie's most reliable source of resources. Committing skills like Manual Dexterity and Overpower early serve to accelerate her card draw, especially when she subsequently recurs them via her investigator ability and returns them to her deck. Hunter's Instinct can also be used to return Emergency Cache to her hand once she has used it!
Every investigator should be able to pick up at least a couple clues, and have a plan for how they will handle enemies. In Izzie's case, judicious use of Hand-Crank Flashlight makes all the difference for clue finding. One the one hand, it's a great option to consume on 1 shroud locations, bringing them to 0 (and thus guaranteeing clue discovery on any token pull except the !). On the other, it can boost her intellect just enough to tee her up for failing by two or less, thus allowing her to play "Look what I found!" to snag multiple clues on higher shroud locations. If she needs to pick up more clues than usual due to team composition or circumstances, Hunter's Instinct can return "Look what I found!" to her hand as well! While Izzie's heavy skill count should help her make use of her weapons or empower her to evade, she can do a little of both via "Shove off!" if she needs the action compression based on the circumstances.
Izzie's deck is awash in skills, and for good reason. Slippery can shut down a particularly beefy or pesky enemy for multiple rounds, which also tees it up for other investigators who can do extra damage to exhausted enemies. Soul Link is applicable to any test, and can trigger Cloak of Resonance to boot. Manual Dexterity and Overpower should be committed early and often, and recurred as soon as possible. Timely Intervention can be held in reserve to ensure key tests are passed, and then can be recurred as budget Manual Dexteritys and Overpowers while you work to redraw their better halves from your deck.
Your Challenges
Izzie has to be comfortable with rolling with the punches. As such, she is vulnerable to sudden spikes of damage, either from large or Elite enemies, or from an unlucky on a "for each point failed by" encounter card. Try to keep her remaining health and sanity above 3 each to account for this.
In a related vein, try to position yourself and take tests in such a way that the consequences for failure are minor and allow you to react flexibly. She will struggle to pass tests, particularly in later scenarios, if she doesn't have an applicable skill card available in her hand or discard pile.
Isabelle's Twin .45s are tempting to save for unloading on the boss of the scenario, however unless you have stacked a large number of skill cards in your hand to augment each test, it is probably better to use them against moderately challenging beefy enemies like the Bat Horror.
Substitutions
A second copy of Soul Link, Meat Cleaver, or Bandages all fit in well. A second copy of Levelheaded is a reasonable choice depending on how you tend to play. Jumpsuit can return Isabelle's Twin .45s to your hand, lessening the pain of missed shots and extending the amount of hurt she can put onto smaller and mid-sized enemies. Premonition can help determine whether additional skill cards are needed for an important test, and the horror from Ward of Protection may occasionally be a better trade compared to the risk of failing a drawn encounter card, especially if Izzie's health and/or sanity is in the danger zone and her soaking pipeline is overwhelmed. Izzie also has enough base willpower to make a spell-slinging build possible, thus making Cosmic Flame, Second Sight, and Jim Culver all potentially attractive choices (especially considering Jim Culver also pairs well with Izzie's propensity to take small amounts of damage or horror regularly!).