Preston Unchained

A beast of a cluever Preston deck made possible by the new taboo list.

This is the 19xp version, but it is totally possible to start a campaign with it and hit the ground running thanks to In the Thick of It. Use your xp to buy Streetwise and make all other xp cards their level 0 versions.

Main Strategy:

Use your Family Inheritance to fund Streetwise every turn for a big 7+ skill investigate every turn. Use Streetwise for evasion if in danger.

Combine with a plethora of clue accelerators (Mariner's Compass, "Look what I found!", Intel Report, Fortuitous Discovery, Winging It) to get and maintain tempo.

Use Scavenging after your big investigate to actionlessly set up your discarded items and recycle Gravedigger's Shovel for a endless buffet of testless clues.

Short Supply dumps scavaging targets in your discard and enables Winging It and Fortuitous Discovery. Resourceful and Scrounge for Supplies supplement it beautifully and pull combo pieces from the discard.

Lucky Cigarette Case in tandem with your big investigate will give you some amazing filtered draw to keep the train rolling.

Big turn example:

1st action - Discard Gravedigger's Shovel for a free clue.

2nd action - Investigate via Mariner's Compass. Spend your Family Inheritance or resources for a +6 boost and extra clue.

Free action - Scavenging to put Gravedigger's Shovel into play.

3rd action - Discard shovel for free clue.

That is 4 clues (2 testless) in one turn. Endlessly repeatable and easy(ish) to set up.

Other Cards:

Dark Horse and Madame Labranche- not key parts of the deck, but they synergize with Fire Axe and Mariner's Compass. Its really easy to spend all your resources via items or Streetwise and you will be getting most of your $ from the inheritance. Most of the time I just take the resource anyway and spend it.

Backpack - amazing tutor to find your shovels, cigs, compass and axe. Can also be scavenged.

Fire Axe - another enemy management tool/allows you to contribute something to the boss fights.

Leather Jacket - a bit of soak to make up for In the Thick of It

"You handle this one!" - Pass off enemies and nasty will treacheries to your friends.

Upgrades:

Precious Memento and Relic Hunter if you want some soak. Also a scavenging target.

Lola Santiago is always a beast and boosts the two stats you use. Testless clues are never bad.

Moxie gives an outlet to pump will, which is a weakness of this deck