Cornered/Yaotl Minh

Card draw simulator

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matt88 · 2968

This is a Minh Thi Phan deck gets clues by utilising a lot Archaic Glyphs: Guiding Stones, while being supported by the Yaotl/Cornered engine and many of the events and skills.

To begin with, there's no Dr. Milan Christopher and no Higher Education in the deck. That is because we will be getting boosts by other means, namely via pitching cards and using Yaotl, so we don't need Milan's +1, we don't need Higher Education and we don't need Milan's money as much. Plus we will be pitching cards, so it will be harder to use Higher Education.

The first thing one needs to notice about this deck is that many of the events and skills have double icons, which means that they are great to be used with Yaotl. These events (and skills) will mostly be used for their icons, rather than their regular effect. You will always have the option to use them for their regular effect, but using them for the icons will usually be plan A.

So, the general strategy is to pitch the cards that have double icons and after they get in your discard pile, use Yaotl to get the bonus from the icons again. You can do that in 2 different ways.

Either: 1) Commit one of these cards to a test to get +3 (you get +1 from Minh's ability) and then, use Yaotl to get +2 on your next test,

or: 2) Use Cornered to discard one of these cards to get +2 to an investigation test, then use Yaotl to get another +2 on the same test.

It's important to note here that when you commit a card, it does not go in your discard pile until the end of the test, so in case 1, you can't use Yaotl to get +5 on one test, which is the main reason we have Cornered in the deck.

So, having a lot of cards with double icons in the deck will make you easily achieve high numbers of regularly and that means you can put Archaic Glyphs: Guiding Stones into good use. Using this combination of cards, you can easily expect to be getting 3-4 clues in one action from 2-3-shroud locations on Easy and Standard.

Feed the Mind should work very well in this deck, as it will refill your hand whenever it starts to empty, allowing you to get more cards that will help you fuel your investigations. Because we don't have any passive boosts, it's important to commit cards or use Cornered or Yaotl to buff it in order to get good value out of it though, but since this deck is built around pitching cards, this shouldn't be a problem. You should be using Feed the Mind whenever you are at 2-3 cards and you should be expecting to draw 3-6 cards whenever you use it (on Easy/Standard).

Some specific card interactions:

  • You can use Cornered to discard Desperate Search, then use Yaotl to get +6 to one investigation test. This should be combined with a big Glyphs play.

  • You can use Cornered to discard Winging It from your hand because, hey, it's just better to use it this way! Obviously getting +2 to an investigation at no cost is better than spending 1 resource to get -1 shroud for your investigation unless you 're investigating a 1-shroud location, in which case it wouldn't make much sense to play Winging It anyway, right? Also note here that the earlier you use Winging It, the more times you will be using it throughout the scenario, so that's profit.

  • You can use "Look what I found!" to pick up 2 clues from a high-shroud location, then investigate using Yaotl to get +2 to the test and pick up 1 more clue, netting you 3 clues in 2 actions from a high-shroud location.

  • Likewise, with Working a Hunch, you can pick up a clue as a fast action, then investigate using Yaotl and pick up one more clue easily, netting you 2 easy clues in one action.

General Utility:

Emergency Cache is there to help you set up faster. It can easily be fed to Cornered if you don't draw it until late. No Stone Unturned will help you find your key assets and it can also help another teammate, or just get pitched for +2 to a test (either with Minh's ability or with Cornered). This is actually a flex slot and it can be any other card you like. With Truth from Fiction, you can recharge Feed the Mind if you need to, but its primary use will be to be pitched and be used with Yaotl. Mind over Matter is for some self-protection against enemies. Can also be fed to Cornered if you don't need it.

For the level 0 version of the deck, you can swap cards as suggested below:

Feed the Mind --> Preposterous Sketches

Archaic Glyphs: Guiding Stones --> Archaic Glyphs (0)

Yaotl --> Madame Labranche

Cornered --> Unexpected Courage

Upgrade priority should be: Yaotl --> Cornered --> Archaic Glyphs: Guiding Stones --> Feed the Mind.

Other upgrades include Deduction (2) to get more value out of those Glyphs plays and then, after that, it's up to you to get what fits the situation and your playstyle prioritising low-resource-cost cards, so as to keep the cost-curve of the deck relatively low. No Stone Unturned (5) is generally solid and Emergency Cache (2) is also a good choice, as you do want that card draw. If you 're playing in the Dunwich Legacy campaign, you 'll also want Forewarned or Devil's Luck as a defense against Beyond the Veil.

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