Ashiquor · 1
This deck was inspired by Immortal Akachi 1.0, thank you Julio_R! It was great fun running through a few campaings with it, playing as a duo. The deck is built around the Spectral Shield + Bangle of Jinxes combo to prevent 2 damage from enemies, infinitely. Probably can be fine-tuned further or made cheaper, so feedback is always welcome!
The list describes the "final" version, usually achieved by the last 1-2 scenarios of the campaign (47 xp total, so...yeah), but you don't need all to have a solid and fun deck. Speed up the xp-inflow early with Delve Too Deep, Refine and of course The Great Work. I use Drawn to the Flame early as well to get the Archaic Glyphs up and running. You can start with In the Thick of It if you really want to hit the ground running!
Early days: In the first scenario the 10 changes on the Eyes of the Dreamer and the Runic Axe charges to prevent damage is enough and you can chop up the enemies before they start seriously hurting you. The deck can't do a lot of investigation at the beginning (except for the Drawn to the Flame clue gathering) but does decent fighting.
First steps: From the first handful of xp aim for the 2 Bangle of Jinxes, 1 Relic Hunter and the 2 upgraded Backpacks to build out the combo and create consistency fast. Then, it is up to you if you want to be able to do more (get the Clock), do things better (get the Key), get more clues (get the Glyphs) or protect your fellow investigators better (upgrading the Axe and the Wards). Having a relic early can be also very useful if you run into ghosts!
Usage details from experience:
The Red Clock: balance its charges around 2-3 so you can get extra actions each turn, or move 2 extra times next round.
Key of Ys: assign horror to it to get it to 3 horror, then in most scenarions you can keep it there. However if you run into high-horror enemies, consider evading them if you have no other option. With 6 Agility (3 base + 3 from the key) and ideally +4 from the 2 Jinxes, your chances are good to avoid loosing the key to spillover horror. Or throw in the Arcane Initiate for a one-time soak if nothing else works.
1 Damage/1 Horror enemies: if you already have 2 Jinxes out, these guys are your best cheerleaders. With every attack of opportunity they generate a charge on the Jinxes. Try to keep the 2 Jinxes' charges roughly equal to be able to get +4 boosts to skill tests. It is not unusual to run around with 10+ charges each. So don't kill these guys, unless you have to!
Backpack: you can chain backpacks! If you don't see both Jinxes in the top 12 cards, but you see a Backpack: take it, attach it, play the other 2 items then replace the backpack with another one and search again! And don't forget that you can have Refine in your backpack as well.
Storm of Spirits: as you don't want to kill your cheerleaders, use this wisely. It can help you out while you are still searching for all cards, and there are scenarios where you need to get rid of all enemies to progress the act, to enter a location or to save a fellow investigator. Aim at the easiest target, pull the trigger and boom!
Reverse mechanics: this deck turns the enemies mechanic of the game on its head - usually being attacked is a bad thing, but not here. And sometimes this creates strange synergies, so keep an eye out for them! E.g. in one scenario it was our goal to gather doom on the agenda - the faster, the better. Having a cultist enemy that puts a doom on the agenda every time it attacks is suddenly a great plus, generating 5 doom a turn from attacks of opportunity and the enemy phase. We finished that scenarion in 2 turns after that point.