Jenny Barnes - Dark Roller

Overview

This is my "Resource Recursion" Jenny deck. It's designed for The Forgotten Age on standard difficulty, but there's no reason why it shouldn't work elsewhere (but, you know, use at your own risk).

The deck is presented at the 8 XP level, because that's where the central mechanic is active. To get the Zero-XP version, simply remove the Streetwise and Adaptable and exchange the two High Roller for two Hard Knocks and the two Lone Wolf for two Guts.

Piloting

There are a couple of interlocking systems to this deck. At it's core, it's a "succeed by two" deck that's backed up by a Dark Horse + boosters combo to get Jenny's skills high enough.

Opening Hand: If you don't have Streetwise yet, you are mostly concerned with investigation tools and something to handle enemies. After you get Streetwise, you are simply looking for assets. Dark Horse is nice, but don't sweat it if you don't get it immediately.

Money-juggling: The central engine of the deck works as follows:

1. Get Dark Horse and High Roller on the table (a "Watch this!" can substitute for the High Roller).
2. Be at three resources. If you have Lone Wolf in play, this should be your default income per round anyway.
3. Spend down to zero resources with High Roller or "Watch this!" to activate Dark Horse.
4. Use the resources you just got back to fuel another High Roller or Streetwise.
5. Profit and repeat.

If you don't yet have Dark Horse in play, you are simply playing a "standard" booster-deck. You might also not land at exactly three resources, so you won't always be able to activate Dark Horse anyway.

You can use Streetwise and Green Man Medallion to siphon off excess resources, so you should normally take the resources during upkeep.

General Play: The deck is set up to kill some smaller enemies and evade the big ones. As you get more XP you'll get access to better weapons, but evading will always be "plan A".

Between Flashlight (later Lockpicks), Perception, Streetwise and general boosting, investigation shouldn't be a problem.

You have to gauge when to use Opportunist. They are obviously most useful to activate one of your "succeed by two" cards, but don't be afraid to pitch them to simply succeed on an important test. Premonition is useful for key tests to help you make that judgement.

The lone Quantum Flux is useful for getting the two Opportunist (and other good cards you've discarded) back in the deck - especially if you play it before you draw the Sacrificial Beast, so you can reduce the chance of seeing that card.

The rest of the deck is mostly there to get you out of trouble (Elusive, Narrow Escape) or general tools (Flashlight, Perception, Unexpected Courage).

Upgrades

Your first 8 XP should go towards the upgrades I've already included. Begin with Streetwise.

After that, you simply start upgrading the general usefulness of the deck. Don't be afraid of three-cost cards, as you'll often be able to play them after using High Roller.

Here is my suggested upgrade order:

High Priority:

Cheap Shot Switchblade (2)

Flashlight Lockpicks

.41 Derringer .41 Derringer (2)

Weapons are especially important for Threads of Fate, as you might have to kill a lot of enemies in that scenario.

Medium Priority:

Opportunist Opportunist (2)

Narrow Escape Cat Burglar

Low Priority / Late campaign:

Perception All In

Whatever "bomb" cards you fancy. Suggestion, Cheat Death, The Skeleton Key and so on.

Variants

More survivability: This deck doesn't initially run any soak. In my experience, Jenny can usually do without, but if you think that it's too much of a gamble, I have the following suggestion:

Premonition Laboratory Assistant

Lucky Cigarette Case Daring Maneuver

This will give you a bit of soak from the two Laboratory Assistants while retaining a bit of card draw and luck mitigation.

No Sacrificial Beast: Green Man Medallion is extremely useful for this deck, but Sacrificial Beast can be equally damaging, if you draw it at the wrong time (it might also not matter too much, if you draw it very late in the scenario).

You can simply use Jenny's usual signature cards. They don't have as much synergy with the deck, but they also don't have as much anti-synergy.

Axe Carnage: Fire Axe works very well in this deck. If you want a bit more offensive power, try replacing the two Premonition.