William Yorick Spoiling for a Fight

Guardians run the risk of standing around doing nothing if no enemies are generated by the scenario. And many of the best ones have weak , so they're not able to help gather clues.

Enter Yorick, stage left!

This deck features a few ways to get clues without resorting to skill tests, often by defeating an enemy first. To make that happen reliably there are a myriad of ways to seek out enemies from the encounter deck. Remember that Yorick never goes far without his loyal fanbase in tow, affording another opportunity for bloodshed. And of course, what would a Shakespeare play be without lots of pointy stabbing things?

Without further ado, on with the show!

These are Times When a Gravedigger Has to Make His Own Corpses

• Trigger combats by messing with the Encounter Deck: "Let Me Handle This!", First Watch, and On the Hunt

• Win those fights with Meat Cleaver (+damage), Survival Knife (- actions), Lucky!, Overpower, Resourceful, and Stunning Blow

Why Interrogate When You Can Get the Evidence From Their Cold, Dead Bodies?

• Grete Wagner finds testless clues after combat

• Evidence! does the same, is fast, and can stack with Grete

• Mysterious Raven grants a fast, testless clue and doesn't require an enemy

"Oh, the Horror!"

• Mysterious Raven incurs horror for fast testless clues.

• Meat Cleaver incurs horror to deal extra damage, and can remove it!

• Fine Clothes soaks and can be recurred efficiently with Yorick's innate power

• Flesh Ward adds a versatile second layer of protection that can also be recycled

Because You've Seen This Scene Before

• Beyond soak assets, Yorick's power can also recur the clue-finding Mysterious Raven and Grete Wagner

• As long as you can find targets to kill, you'd prefer to use Yorick's innate power to Play assets. It's more efficient than wasting the actions to play them from your hand. I can imagine maxing out my hand size in some situations!

• Short Supply starts you off with 10 cards in your discard pile. All are targets for Resourceful and Yorick's innnate ability. It effectively "tutors" 36% of your deck for the rest of scenario. Not to mention possibly discarding weaknesses...

XP-anding Your Repetoire

• Charisma (3) lets you have both allies out at the same time

• Key of Ys (10) is made for this deck, since the Raven and Cleaver are there to self-inflict horror required to trigger it. Your stat line can quickly reach 6 | 5 | 7 | 6 . Swap out the Cherished Keepsake.

• Backpack (2) if for when the powerful Key is hiding at the bottom of your draw pile. Plus it helps thin out your deck, reduces drawing duplicate weapons.

• Replace a Meat Cleaver with Timeworn Brand (5). This removes a source of self-inflicted horror (Ravens can still pitch in) and gains a powerful Relic weapon in the bargain.

• Safeguard (2), Vicious Blow (2), and Lucky! (2) all increase the quantity of good cards in the deck. They let you stab things with a bit more style.

• "I've Had Worse!" has the resource earning power of Glory but also cancels damage. Devil's Luck (1) could be even better at the end of campaign, when the exile factor is moot. YMMV

• Survival Knife (2) is probably worth a late upgrade, even if it sometimes would interfere with triggering the Key of Ys

Left on the Editing Room Floor

• various ammunition-using weapons got cut. But Act of Desperation remains. It's grants free resources for discarding a weapon from your HAND that you immediately return to play

• Scene of the Crime is pricey and costs an action, though this deck sets it up pretty well

• Peter Sylvestre's awesome horror soak would require multiple Charismas, and his stat bonuses pale in comparison to the Key

• I've never found the Desperate skills (Run For Your Life, Reckless Assault, etc) worth it

I'd love to get input on other ideas for this, please comment!