Paladin Mary is on a One-Track Mission

Introduction

The deck poses Mary as a paladin on a one-track mission from heaven: Beat the good word into every foe in sight. It may be simple, but its simplicity makes it consistent and effective.

Make no mistake: one-track really means one-track. It's all combat with no clue discovery whatsoever. As such, it's meant for multiplayer only and best complements a Seeker or other clue-gathering investigators.

It also explores the pure fighter archetype for Mary on a limited card pool. Do you only have two Core sets and The Innsmouth Conspiracy? Or do you just want to test yourself with a limited build? Give the deck a try!

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Main Strategy
• The Ten Commandments
• Mulligan Strategy
• Other Notes
• Upgrade Path
• Decks

Overview

Main Strategy

The deck essentially goes all-in on Mary's higher 4 stat in lieu of her 3 , so it will be the foundation of your strategy. Play boosters like Holy Rosary so you can build up from there.

As such, you'll use -based combat cards, such as Armageddon and Shrivelling, to destroy your foes.

With all your might, you'll protect your fellow investigators and clear their path of all enemies, so they can focus on discovering clues.

The Ten Commandments

1. Have faith in thy strength of will.

To boost the essential stat, playing a Holy Rosary (and Nephthys after you upgrade) will be one of your top priorities. Sword Cane, Armageddon, and Shrivelling, as well as the Enchant Weapon and Radiant Smite upgrades, all depend on , so don't skip the boosters.

2. Seek out and smite the unholy.

You are a holy warrior and vanquishing foes is your calling. Since handling enemies and dealing damage are the cornerstone of the deck, you'll want to play Armageddon or Shrivelling as early as you can. Once you have a means of dealing damage ready, make a beeline to any enemy that pops up and do what you were called to do.

The only enemies you may want to avoid at 0 XP are those with 5+ health, especially if you run into more than one in a single scenario. Use Sword Cane to evade them if you must. After you upgrade to Nephthys, Holy Spear, and Enchant Weapon, you should be able to make short work of even these high-health baddies.

3. Defend thy neighbors and aid them on their journey.

As a single-minded fighter, it's your job to protect your fellow investigators, especially if they're your primary clue seekers. If they have to spend fewer actions dealing with enemies, they'll have more actions to spend doing what they do best: discovering clues and progressing the game.

4. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's clues.

Again, as a single-minded fighter, don't waste actions investigating for clues. Even if you have some actions to spare during downtime between enemy encounters, you're better off using your actions to play cards to improve your setup or to move around the map.

5. Count thy blessings and maintain thy faith.

With a card pool limited to the Core and Innsmouth sets, the deck doesn't have access to Deny Existence, which makes Mary's Crisis of Faith weakness a serious threat. But fear not! Even without Deny Existence, you can play around your weakness by liberally using cards that seal tokens. At 0 XP, you'll just have Rite of Sanctification, but after a few upgrades, you'll also have options like Nephthys, Holy Spear, and Favor of the Sun to bank tokens until the threat of Crisis of Faith is firmly behind you. And remember, you don't have to completely drain the chaos bag of tokens--a few tokens in the chaos bag from Crisis of Faith aren't a huge deal, and Mary's high sanity stat means you can afford to absorb some horror as well.

6. Always ready thyself for treachery, and respond with divine intervention.

A nice side effect of being a -based fighter is that you're already fairly well shielded against the encounter deck. Hold on to your Ward of Protection and Ward of Radiance, though; you'll need them for those last-ditch, must-pass treacheries, especially those that test your weaker stats. Remember, you also have Promise of Power to help pass any non- test that you'd normally fail.

7. Sanctify thyself and thy neighbor.

Between Emergency Cache and Rite of Sanctification, the deck has plenty of economy. And if you can get the full 5 tokens sealed on Rite of Sanctification, you'll have enough economy to spare to accelerate other investigators' setups as well. Keep in mind, too, that Mary starts the game with 2 tokens in the chaos bag, so you can play Tempt Fate to play a fully-loaded Rite of Sanctification as early as turn one.

8. Thou shalt not stand still or idle. Venture forth, explore, and uncover the path ahead.

During the lull between enemy encounters, you should be the vanguard who delves in the dark depths of the map. Spend your first few turns setting up, then start taking move actions as often as you can. While the deck doesn't have any action compression for movement, you'll have actions freed up by not having to investigate. So be sure to spend your downtime wisely by taking the opportunity to move around and keep up with faster investigators.

9. Thou shalt not fear learning new skills.

With a lack of card draw acceleration, the deck instead relies on redundancy to function. But even with multiple types of vital damage-dealing cards, boosters, and economy cards, sometimes you'll still have trouble drawing one of them, especially within the first few turns. During downtime between fighting enemies, take some draw actions to manually find what you need.

10. Seek respite in thine allies.

One of Mary's toughest aspects to deal with is her low 5 health. Play Guard Dog or Nephthys as soon as possible to help soak up some damage and survive in the long term. If you can draw it, Mary's signature Guardian Angel helps just as well.

Mulligan Strategy

1. Hard mulligan for your boosters.

Holy Rosary is the ideal first-turn play. And after you upgrade, Nephthys will be even better. The deck's combat cards rely heavily on , so naturally your boosters are the foundation for their success.

2. Damage-dealing cards are your secondary mulligan.

At 0 XP, you're looking for Armageddon, Shrivelling, or Sword Cane. Once you've upgraded to Holy Spear and Enchant Weapon, look for any of your weapon cards.

3. Look lastly for your economy cards.

If your opening hand already has the above two priorities covered, either Emergency Cache or Rite of Sanctification are great to have in the early game to help pay for your setup.

Other Notes

• For the first few scenarios, you won't need Blessed Blade very often because Armageddon and Shrivelling are better options for combat. It's included as preparation for later upgrades, particularly after you purchase Enchant Weapon and Favor of the Sun, both of which make the weapon stronger and more reliable.

• Similar to Blessed Blade, Vicious Blow is included more for the upgraded deck. Once you get Holy Spear and Enchant Weapon, you'll have more opportunities to actually use Mary's stat, making Vicious Blow's +1 damage a nice trick to have at the ready.

• Use Tempt Fate as a quick way to add 3 tokens to the chaos bag just before you play Rite of Sanctification. In the upgraded deck, it only gets better, as it'll also come in handy for Holy Spear, Favor of the Sun, and Radiant Smite.

  • Keep in mind that Nephthys can also release 3 tokens back to the bag (instead of dealing 2 damage) for the same purpose.

Upgrade Path

1. 2x Guard Dog → 2x Nephthys ••••

Nephthys is such a perfect match for Mary that she should always be your top priority upgrade. Her +1 boost alone is great, as it supports your main means of dealing damage with Sword Cane, Armageddon, and Shrivelling, as well as the Enchant Weapon and Radiant Smite upgrades later on. Even better, her ability to synergize with tokens in order to deal testless damage is a godsend that gives the deck an immediate level up.

2. 1x Armageddon → 1x Holy Spear •••••

3. 1x Armageddon → 1x Enchant Weapon •••

4. 1x Shrivelling → 1x Holy Spear •••••

5. 1x Shrivelling → 1x Enchant Weapon •••

Your next set of upgrades will be Holy Spear and Enchant Weapon, both of which strenghen the deck's fighting foundation and generally improves its consistency. Considering the high XP requirement for Holy Spear, you may want to thread its upgrade purchase order with Enchant Weapon as shown above.

Sooner or later in the campaign, high-health fiends will start testing you, and Holy Spear will be your divine retribution. Supported by the deck's various means of token generation, its powerful second attack comes in clutch as not only a reliable source of 3 damage, but also a reusable one. Instead of outright replacing Sword Cane and Blessed Blade, it rounds out your arsenal to make sure you can consistently draw a weapon, particularly so Enchant Weapon will have a target.

Once you have Enchant Weapon in tow, Mary finally turns into a true paladin powerhouse. Attached to either Blessed Blade or Holy Spear, Enchant Weapon ensures you have a fight action with at least 8 skill value for +1 damage per turn. In the absolute best case scenario, you'd also have Holy Rosary and Nephthys in play, then activate Enchant Weapon, and pile on two Vicious Blow commits to make Holy Spear's second fight action test for 15 to deal a whopping 6 damage! Not bad for a limited card pool.

6. 2x Guts → 2x Favor of the Sun •

By making token draws more consistent, Favor of the Sun synergizes well with Nephthys, and charges her up so you can use her 2-damage ability more often. It also ensures Blessed Blade hits its +1 damage, further boosting your damage output and generally makes the weapon more viable if you have trouble finding Enchant Weapon.

7. 2x Unexpected Courage → 2x Radiant Smite •

In the early game, Radiant Smite is a nice way of managing the pesky high-health, tough enemies that pop up while you're still setting up. Later on, it's always handy to have for burst damage against Elite enemies and bosses.

8. 2x Holy Rosary → 2x Holy Rosary ••

If you have XP to spare, the level 2 Holy Rosary is a nice luxury upgrade that'll help improve token generation.

Decks

Link to the 0 XP deck

Link to the full XP deck

This deck guide's template was adapted from Valentin1331's original template. Click here to view the original template.