Walker, Arkham Ranger

Walker, Arkham Ranger

This is a Cluever deck built to play two-handed with my "Cookin' up a mess o' dough" Zoey deck. I call this one "Walker, Arkham Ranger" because it's a play on the show "Walker, Texas Ranger" and this deck uses a lot of "free" movement. The 19 (22) XP versions of these decks consistently get all of the Cultists and all of the VP in The Midnight Masks with plenty of time to spare!

Upgrades: I built this deck first as a 19 (22) XP Standalone deck and then trimmed it back to 0 (3 with In the Thick of It which is used for Charisma) XP. What follows is the order in which I plan to upgrade (it will actually go to 25 XP because I made a few changes since I wasn't limited to 22):

Primary Upgrades:

• Both Grisly Totem >> Eon Chart (1)
• Both Old Book of Lore >> Old Book of Lore (3)
• One Fieldwork >> Pathfinder
• Both Deduction >> Deduction (2)
• Whitton Greene >> Whitton Greene (2)
• Both No Stone Unturned >> Seeking Answers (2)

After all of these upgrades are completed, I'd consider the following Secondary Upgrades.

Secondary Upgrades:

• Eon Chart (1) >> Eon Chart (4)
• Emergency Cache >> Emergency Cache (2)
• Ward of Protection >> Ward of Protection (2)

Additional & actions, and action compression:

• Daisy (obviously) gets an additional action each turn for Grim Memoir, Old Book of Lore or The Necronomicon
• Once upgraded, Old Book of Lore (3) gives you some action compression (and economy) by spending a secret to play the card found.
• Eon Charts give you three (or more) actions each and I typically use it for movement or to investigate for the last clue on a location.
• Whitton Greene and her upgrade let you search some of your deck (hopefully hitting an Astounding Revelation while doing so) just by revealing new locations.
• Once purchased, Pathfinder gives you a free move action each turn.
• Burning the Midnight Oil is 3 actions in one: Resource, Resource, Investigate
• Deduction and Deduction (2) are some of the best action compression cards in the game!
• Seeking Answers plus a Deduction (2) picks up 4 clues at once!
• Shortcut: More free move actions!

Why "free" movement is so useful in this deck:

Free movement is always good to preserve your precious actions, but this deck is meant to team up with my "Cookin' up a mess o' dough" Zoey deck, which uses Safeguard and Safeguard (2). So Wendy getting "free" move actions is (usually) giving Zoey "free" move actions as well!

Resource Economy:

While the 19 XP version of this deck did experience a "resource stall" a couple times, it really has a ton of economy to work with.

• Old Book of Lore (3) cost reduction
• Dr. Milan Christopher
• Astounding Revelation (Economy early and Secrets late)
• Burning the Midnight Oil
• Emergency Cache

Secret Economy:

Grim Memoir, Old Book of Lore (3) and Eon Chart all use Secrets, and while I'm generally fine letting them "run out", I am running some cards to "recharge" them. While I prefer to use this bonus Secret on Old Book of Lore (3) because of the aforementioned action compression and cost reduction it provides, keep in mind there's only one Grim Memoir:

• Astounding Revelation: You get to a point in this deck when you no longer need the resources (such as after a deck cycle), so you can start taking secrets instead.
• Enraptured doesn't seem like it's very good or even needed, but you're almost always going to be passing that Investigation, so you might as well put another secret on one of your additional or free action providers while you're at it. Committing it to a Grim Memoir test gets you to plus 3 , so you'll likely pass at 2 or more, meaning you can replace the Secret used AND draw a replacement for the Enraptured at the same time!

Mulligans:

I hate to mulligan more than one card in any deck which runs Astounding Revelation, but some times you have to and hope you get lucky enough to not draw it. Of course I've had times when I'd mulligan two or three and draw TWO Astounding Revelation :( Thankfully it has an icon so you can commit it, and this deck cycles pretty quickly so you can shuffle them back into your deck at least once per scenario.

The one card I always want to see in my opening hand is a Research Librarian because I can play it and it'll hit an Astounding Revelation which pays me back for playing him. I'll usually find Grim Memoir unless I've already upgraded to Old Book of Lore (3) which can give me a "free" search (additional action) which might hit another Astounding Revelation and let me play something at -2 cost like Eon Chart, Fieldwork or Pathfinder (but I'm fine playing Burning the Midnight Oil or Emergency Cache with it too)!