Yorick: Cut Him Assunder (Cut Harder)

Introduction

Chainsaw Yorick! This Yorick is meant to be the main moster-slayer, best paired with a good clue-getter. The idea is to cut down everything while your partner gets clues. Get the Chainsaw as quickly as possible, keep rotating it with Yorick's ability, pick up a few extra clues when possible. Worries are relatively slow card draw and resource crunches, although, in play, this has rarely been a problem except in scenarios that heavily tax cards and/or resources. Currently tested in RttFA on Standard with Amanda. Comments and advice welcome.

Key Cards

Assets

• Chainsaw -- 9 more or less guaranteed damage. Upgrade out of Meat Cleaver ASAP.
• Tetsuo Mori -- Some soak, plus an extra shot at the saw, preferably from the discard pile. He could also grab Cherished Keepsake or Track Shoes, if the saws are in hand. It's possible Yorick's ability will render him kind of unnecessary by mid-scenario, but a 2/2 soak for 3 resources is never a bad thing.
• Cherished Keepsake -- have you seen Yorick's Sanity?
• Well Prepared -- With the saw down, this is +3 to 1-2 tests/round. Playing RttFA, if you can get Veda Whitsley as an ally, she can also help boost the value of this card.
• .18 Derringer -- originally a cheap third weapon, this carried Yorick through an entire scenario (lots of Act of Desperation and replaying from discard), so it's a solid back up if you can't get the saw. It also has pretty much the same synergy with the deck's main plan, although with weaker damage potential.

Events

• Act of Desperation -- gets one last use out of the saw, and sets it up resources to play a second copy. I originally planned on switching to Emergency Cache (3), but Dai on the Drawn to the Flame Discord pointed out that it's not really more efficient (after doing some math, you get one more damage after "2 full uses" assuming you kill an enemy with your Act of Desperation or have a second saw in hand, and that's a lot of XP). Plus Act allows some shenanigans for juggling weapons back out of discard to reload them, and you can potentially replay the saw with no Attack of Opportunity.
• Oops! -- Makes the saw (ahem) more impactful, especially in crowded locations.

Skills

• Resourceful -- gets key components and useful cards back into hand. I have considered Scrounge for Supplies as a replacement, but it can't grab the saws and takes an action....

Mulligan

Obviously, you want a Chainsaw. Tetsuo Mori and Prepared for the Worst are there as "extra copies" in case you crap out. The Derringer is a surprisingly effective alternative, if you get the other combo pieces. A Cherished Keepsake would be nice.

Upgrades

Roughly in Order:

• 2 Meat Cleaver --> 2 Chainsaw -- This is meant to be the heart of the damage potential of the deck. Almost everything else gets the chainsaw, refills it, and generally adds to the mayhem potential.
• 2 Steadfast --> 2 Well Prepared -- The chainsaw has . That's 2 Steadfast on tap every turn the Chainsaw is out.
• Track Shoes --> Drawing Thin -- the shoes don't quite pull their weight, and the switch helps with both card draw and economy, which are problems with this deck. Consider swapping one of the Live and Learn if you want a second copy.
• 2 Oops!--> 2 Oops! (2)-- Makes the main attack more focused, as you can retarget your main enemy.
• 2 Grete Wagner --> 2 Aquinnah (3) -- Aquinnah's defense potential is great, especially in later scenarios. On the other hand, The Purifier really ups the deck's clue-getting potential substantially, so this is still very speculative.

At this point, we are running out of XP and things to obviously upgrade. Other possibilities:

• 2 Prepared for the Worst --> 2 Backpack (2) -- Same cost, deeper dig, can grab Cherished Keepsake as well as weapons. Drawback: this deck is very low on items for a Yorick deck, so the card is fairly likely to fail. The icons are slightly less useful. Suggested by DAAAN on an earlier version of the deck (along with Grete).
• .18 Derringer --> .18 Derringer (2) -- Honestly, it brings your damage curve down, but it has pretty much the same function in the deck as the saw, and carried one scenario for me, so it's not the worst use of 2 XP.
• 2 Winging It --> 2 "Look what I found!" (2)-- Yorick is not good at Investigating, so the chance at 3 clues for two token draws (at -1 shroud) and 2 resources vs essentially the same odds if you want 2 clues. Neither synergizes with Live and Learn, alas. I briefly considered Sharp Vision, but Yorick is just so bad at investigation, that the chance of getting 2 above for the extra clue is... unlikely.
• 2 Vicious Blow --> Brute Force -- With a 4, Yorick has a good chance of getting the extra 2 damage if he finds himself without a weapon or wants to fight something like Conglomeration of Spheres. Drawback: it can't add to the saw damage, and trading for Vicious Blow (2) works almost as good barehanded.

This has gotten me pretty far in RttFA, with some epic "Yorick holds off a swarm of enemies so Amanda can get that one last objective" moments. Try Chainsaw Yorick; he's not much use outside of combat, but he is the very devil in it.