How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

First thoughts on a Mark deck: Oh you PTSD-riddled veteran. We are going to make some terrible choices together. There are some really interesting synergies here, which someone so entirely geared towards punching everything (including themselves) can make use of. His special ability is taking a card for each damage dealt to any card he controls. Along with Sophie, this immediately suggests some interesting combinations.


Essential cards, and why?

Smoking Pipe and Emergency Aid can get 3 and 2 more uses out of Sophie respectively. The Assets Beat Cop, Guard Dog, and True Grit are obvious choices for damage/horror soaks, both of which are useful for not-dying as long as possible. True Grit in particular can help your investigators stay alive, too. Remember: Damage soaks can trigger the as well!

The obvious weapons for Mark are the reliable Machete with its +1 to and damage. It's a more obvious include in multiplayer, where your fellow investigators can pull mobs off you if necessary so that you can get the damage boost. The economical .32 Colt solves two problems that you'd face with the Machete alone: Higher chance of pulling a weapon, and better damage when getting swarmed. Prepared for the Worst helps you pull a weapon (and will be extra useful when upgrading into a Shotgun later).

A clue or two? Flashlight can help out in low shroud locations. Evidence! will pick up a clue upon killing an enemy, which you will be doing a lot.

Shortcut should be generally taken, if possible. You're always moving, so it'll save you an action at a minimum, and be super useful in the right situation.

Emergency Cache. I did consider cutting this, but as this is the best way for Mark to afford his allies, I strongly recommend keeping it.

Other useful cards for improving things Mark Harrigan already does well are:

Vicious Blow will help him kill mobs a little faster. Heroic Rescue will give you more actions to spend on killing, and will hopefully trigger your card draw. Dodge can either be used to avoid that deadly horror, or to help your fellow investigators avoid damage.


Sometimes, Mark Harrigan is going to need help. He's going to be taking some serious sanity hits with the weakness Shell Shock and its interplay with Sophie. Even if he wasn't going to be constantly battling enemies, his mental health would be a concern. In addition, he has a lot of reasonably expensive cards, and will need the money to heal himself and go through ablative armor. On other detectives:

Shortcut will help him get to the mobs quickly.

Charles Ross, Esq. will help him afford all of the flak.

The bulk of the investigation will be done by other investigators, so general investigation ability is going to be anything from useful to critical in getting through this.

Probably also a hug. Someone give the man a hug.


What was dropped?

"If it bleeds..." can mitigate horror when you're killing an enemy... which you will be doing at every opportunity, being a trigger-happy vet. Dropped, as too situational

"Let me handle this!" is a good card already, but especially on Mark Harrigan for shifting damage and enemies away from other investigators. Dropped, as my fellow investigators can handle themselves dodge-wise, and I don't want to be taking any willpower tests / horror risks

The most prominent of middle fingers to enemies present themselves in the curious range of cards Mark Harrigan can take: Guardian, Neutral, and Tactic cards? Delicious. Elusive not only works as a quick getaway, but also as a Dynamite Blast setup. If your comrades are getting swamped with more enemies than they know what to do with, you can absolutely save their sorry asses with a combination of Cunning Distraction to pull all the enemies onto you and Taunt to make them all exhausted. Then throwing a Dynamite Blast into the location once everyone's got away is gonna be pretty sweet. Unlikely, but with two copies of each card, and any combination of those four cards being pretty useful on their own, it's well worth including. I still love this combo, but it's too expensive for Mark


Stats: The average cost of Mark's deck is 1.76 per card, the most expensive ones being the allies and damage/horror mitigation cards. Not horrendously expensive, but not cheap, so watch out.


How to play:

Mulligan hard for a weapon, any weapon. The best way to cope with damage is not to take any. After that, you want an ally as a horror soak. Then it's always nice to have one of your horror mitigation cards on hand. Finally, Emergency Cache in general, but the final two priorities are likely to shift from scenario to scenario.

Make use of Mark and Sophie's abilities wherever possible, while staying below the magical 3 damage if Shell Shock is still in your deck. Needless to say, keep a very close eye on upcoming horror if you're wounded and Shell Shock is around.

Upgrades! Delicious.

Shotgun is perfect for Mark's , especially if you throw in his special skill The Home Front. It is also boosted nicely by Vicious Blow. Draw with Prepared for the Worst. Swap one with the .32 Colt or the Machete, depending on what you expect to face.

Extra Ammunition puts more bullets in your shotgun for more shredding. Take it.

Upgraded Vicious Blow with its extra and damage will work nicely with any attack, but beautifully with Shotgun.

Lightning Gun is nice, but Shotgun costs fewer XP, takes fewer resources to play, and is better for Mark Harrigan.

Upgraded Beat Cop can be dealt a damage at will to deal a damage. This is incredibly useful on any , but Mark Harrigan's can be activated once per phase. This means that Beat Cop can trigger the during phases other than the investigator phase.

Brother Xavier is expensive to play, but is a good sanity soak for you and a good health soak for your fellow investigators. Again, him taking damage triggers Mark Harrigan's card draw. My only hesitation is how expensive he is to play. Swap for Guard Dog, as you have no difficulty dealing damage.

"I've had worse…" is neat for cancelling horror and getting resources - I've personally had many life-saving experiences with this card. It's expensive, but by the time you can afford it you'll be fighting some chunky enemies. Swap for a Dodge.

We have a lot of assets. They make up half of Mark Harrigan's deck. He's not rich. Enter Ever Vigilant! Cheap at twice the price, he is absolutely going to find this incredibly useful for getting his assets out quickly and cheaply. Swap for an Emergency Cache.


Thoughts on generally useful but not recommended cards:

Monster Slayer is a solid choice if you have more exp than you know what to do with. At 5 exp it's not cheap, and it will help you quickly defeat non-elites. Shotgun and its associated synergies will do the same job with more versatility.

Mark Harrigan has seen too much. Moment of Respite costs 3 to play, and heals 3 horror. Smoking Pipe does the same job better, and with more versatility.

Upgraded Emergency Cache lets you draw a card? Babe, you can do that anyway.

Police Badge costs 3 to play and gives an additional until it is discarded to give an investigator two extra actions. I'm not sold as it doesn't have an obvious interaction, though it is neat.


Final notes:

I have the packs up to The Unspeakable Oath. With different packs, you may have different optimal combinations.

Comments? Queries? Anything I've missed? Leave me a comment below :)

With thanks to @Erathiaz for pointing out the obvious and not-so-obvious.