Norman Withers: Dr. Knifey-Punchy.

Hello everyone! This is my very fun Norman Withers deck, built for both solo and multiplayer play.

TL:DR. This deck makes use of Norman Withers ability to churn through a deck quickly to dependably play Mind over Matter and Anatomical Diagrams as a way to survive and thrive as a fighty-.

This deck is was published at the dawn of The Circle Unbound campaign and benefits from the ideal for Norman new card, Fingerprint Kit.

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First off, lets make one thing clear, Norman Withers ranks among the fastest draw engines in the game. Whenever you play a card from his deck it effectively doubles as a card draw, this means that I lent extra credence to fast cards that can be played straight from the deck whenever possible to maximize the number of cards you will see each game.

It is important to take advantage of this because Norman is rather slow for a since he has no access to the movement upgrades that make characters so powerful down the line, every action saved and gained is important for such a seeker.

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First I'll explain the main combo, then I'll explain the unique card decisions.

The initial objective when the scenario starts is to try to establish a baseline +8 on investigation checks, that'll require a combination of Dr. Milan Christopher, St. Hubert's Key, Magnifying Glass and Fingerprint Kit. Prioritize the raw + if possible, it will help you fight things down the line, the only tricky decision you might face is not finding Milan early enough and having to choose between the kit or the key.

Get a Knife on the table immediately when possible.

Once you've built your the fun can begin, by playing Mind over Matter this old bookworm dusts off his karate skills and can deliver the beat down on pretty much anything. Smaller enemies will be at your mercy and using the Knife you can securely deliver 3-4 points of damage. Anatomical diagrams tell a similar story, especially if the target is a 2 or 3 fight foe, a little bit of stabby stabby or some kung-fu and the threat is gone. The reason I think Norman Withers is uniquely synergistic with these card is his ability to rapidly delve into his deck and playing fast cards from the top.

Obviously it's not all about the memes, 7 is a great starting point for a "I've got a plan!" attack, not to mention the very efficient clue gathering.

As you gain XP and transition towards cards, your combat power will only grow, your investigation ability will remain largely unchanged throughout the campaign however so do not cut the clue and + cards carelessly.

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A breakdown of the 0-XP card choices, note the large number of fast cards and/or cards that cost 1 resource, these can be played quickly and often for free, straight from the deck.

Assets:

• 2x Fingerprint Kit. Faster clue-gathering is important for this otherwise slow .

• 2x Knife. Your main weapon, I prefer this to Kukri because the Knife can do 4 damage in a round.

• 2x Magnifying Glass. Filler that can be played for free from the deck and is useful to hit investigation checks of +8/+9.

• 1x Shrivelling. Another source of consistent combat. Only one copy for now because we have limited space for 0xp cards and the upgraded version will be among our first upgrades.

• 2x Dr. Milan Christopher. + and pays for your many 3 and 4 cost cards, when everything is on the table Arcane Studies will be using the excess later.

• 1x Dr. William T. Maleson. A 1-cost card with lots of tank. Very good for when you dont find Milan or get desperate for tank, the ability is great too. Can be played free from the deck. You can swap him for a set of Fine Clothes, you never know when they come in useful and they wont block an ally slot.

Events:

• 2x "I've got a plan!". another source of 4-damage, this combined with your combos means that you can deal with a lot of enemies on your own.

• 2x Anatomical Diagrams. This card lets you kill off smaller enemies reliably via Knife or fist, this card alone allows you to deal with your weakness outright.

• 2x Emergency Cache. This deck does cost a tidy sum and this helps if you cannot find Milan, Arcane Studies will put the resources to use at higher levels. If you play it from the deck that's the equivalent to Emergency Cache(2).

• 2x Mind over Matter. The bomb card that lets you pretend you're a for a round. Stay aware that + boosts do not apply while you're using to fight, such as the +1 and +2 on Knife, + boost however do apply, for example from Arcane Studies.

• 2x Premonition. Fast and free straight from your deck, a great way to land the Fingerprint Kit or "I've got a plan!" or in the mythos phase to help protect yourself or a buddy. Why not Ward of Protection? Because we'll be getting the 2xp version soon.

• 2x Shortcut. Bonus move, play free and fast from your deck.

• 2x Working a Hunch. Play it fast and cheap from the deck, the saved action is absolutely worth 1 resource even on low difficulty spots.

Skills:

(You can only -play- cards from the deck, not commit, therefore skills basically dud your ability.)

• 2x Deduction. Classic and terrific, the bonus clue saves an action.

• 2x Guts. Defensive buff and a +hit bonus for Shrivelling, worth the slot for now.

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Mulligan strategy:

• As a general rule you can go-for-broke after Dr. Milan Christopher or St. Hubert's Key.

• Hold onto Magnifying Glass if you see no other +, you need to be able to secure clues and one of these is way better then nothing.

• In solo you should stick with one of the (non plan) fighty cards if you see one. Feel free to mulligan it if you have a fight buddy. In multiplayer the only fight card worth keeping is Mind over Matter and only if you're not missing the big + assets.

• Never hold onto the other events, you really want to play them from your deck rather then hand whenever possible.

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This deck is balanced for both solo and multiplayer, but it can be pushed a bit more into solo territory or adjusted a bit to suit specific campaigns and scenarios, all of these are just options with one exception:

Solo:

• 2x Fingerprint Kit 2x Kukri. The double clues are a bit less likely to be useful and the boosted weapon access makes your life a bit safer.

• 2x Guts 2x Unexpected Courage. Flexibility is important in solo.

Carcosa and Forgotten age:

• 1x Dr. William T. Maleson & 1x Guts 2x Fine Clothes. You probably know why.

Forgotten age:

• 1x Magnifying Glass 1x Dr. William T. Maleson. More beef for the grinder.

• 2x Magnifying Glass 2x Persuasion. This event is great in this campaign. Snake people are very reasonable.

Dunwich:

• 2x Premonition 2x Deny Existence. This new event is a terrific way to protect yourself from a rather notorious Dunwich mythos card. This change is not really an option, you need this card.

Other adjustments:

• 1x Magnifying Glass or Fingerprint Kit Dr. William T. Maleson or Fine Clothes. This deck has 6 hand slot items which is a bit too much, this change buffs your survivability a bit instead.

• 1-2x Magnifying Glass or Fingerprint Kit 1-2x Hawk-Eye Folding Camera. The raw + and is much more useful than conventional investigation boosts, it will slow you down a lot though.

• 2x Fingerprint Kit 2x Kukri, this gives you a lot more self-sufficiency and consistency when combat gets tough, go for this when your teammates are clue-competent. Also note the importance of this in solo.

• 2x Guts 2x Eureka!. Skills dud Norman's ability, eureka digs into and then shuffles your deck, giving you 2 chances to dig out useful cards.

• 2x Dr. Milan Christopher 2x Mr. "Rook". This guy is just awesome, sacrificing a bit of maximum intellect is worth the ability to very consistently dig out key cards whenever you need them. Consider teching in the camera to regain the lost .

• 1x Dr. William T. Maleson & 1x Emergency Cache + 2x Knowledge is Power. An amazing card, especially once you get Shrivelling, suddenly dealing 12 points of damage in a round is something you can do with relative ease. Who needs friends anyway? This card isn't very helpful at 0-XP so seriously shelling out XP for it mid-campaign. .........................................................................................................

Finally, the XP options:

First priority, cards you really need or are irrefutably good, these arent in any specific order but 2x Shrivelling(3) should be your very first set of upgrades:

• Shrivelling & 1xAnatomical Diagrams 2x Shrivelling(3) 2x Shrivelling(5). More efficient combat, the fully upgraded version makes playing Anatomical Diagrams harder.

• 2x Guts 2 Arcane Studies. Another opportunity to play free from the deck and you gain emergency boosting for any and all of your stats via Mind over Matter.

• 1x Anatomical Diagrams & 1x Dr. William T. Maleson 2x Ward of Protection(2) 2x Ward of Protection(5). Again a card that makes Anatomical Diagrams harder to play so it's a natural replacement, and as a purely defensive improvement Dr. William T. Maleson is a safe replacement. The 5xp variant is not mandatory but very useful, especially solo.

First priority total: 18 XP.

Second priority, cards that might be useful but aren't strictly necessary, cards that might push old strategies out, these are in no particular order and some are mutually exclusive, synergistic or anti-synergistic:

• Magnifying Glass Seal of the Seventh Sign. This is a terrific spell for Norman since he generally doesn't require Rite of Seeking. You might try to slot the second copy by cutting a second Magnifying Glass or one of the Knives. Alternatively you can drop both Knives.

• 2x Kukri 2x Enchanted Blade. This is for the Normen who go all out for combat. This sword is outright brutal, take this thing and go spank a The Rougarou. If you go this route then grab this upgrade inbetween or before the Shrivelling levels.

• 2x Knife 2x Mists of R'lyeh. At 30+ XP you just dont have deckspace left for Mind over Matter and Knives, its time to go full and stop pretending you're a jack-of-all-trades. If the Knives are cut already, you can drop Mind over Matter instead. This is only viable in multiplayer.

• 2x Emergency Cache 2x Emergency Cache(3). Dramatically resupplies Fingerprint Kit. A Great choice in 3 or 4 player where locations are absolutely loaded with clues and it takes even the quickest a while to finish a location.

• Blood Pact. This is not the best card in the game, but don't underestimate free buffs even if its just for 2 rounds per scenario (sometimes a lot more, Essex county Express much?). At least this upgrade does not infringe on your strategy.

• 2x Fingerprint Kit 2x Rite of Seeking(2). This is a sidegrade, not an upgrade, but it frees up a hand slot.

• 2x Knife 2x Blinding Light. Another sidegrade, an effective defense mechanism in multiplayer once Arcane Studies is in your deck. Frees up hand slots to go full on clue-mad with Fingerprint Kit and Magnifying Glass.

All in all, I've had great fun crafting this deck and I've been very pleased with it after surviving through several campaigns now and just barely loosing the true solo run battling it out with This fellow.