Dark Horse Fairmont with static buffers

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Dark Horse Fairmont with static buffers 1 0 6 1.0

matt88 · 3098

This is a Preston Fairmont deck designed for the Path to Carcosa campaign and meant to be played alongside Joe Diamond in a 2-player run. This doesn't mean though that this deck cannot work as a "flex" investigator in any group running through any campaign (maybe not Dunwich), but the thing is that I get a few "bonus" features by having Joe as my partner.

The Level 0 version of the deck

Combat: Combat will be done with Fire Axe. Backpack can fish for it. Dark Horse can also help a bit, but it's not really of a great-value card in the level 0 version of the deck.

Clues: Preston doesn't have access to level 0 buffers, so quite a lot of slots are dedicated to that end. Our primary tool is Flashlight (which can also be fished with Backpack). That, either alone, or in conjunction with other cards can get us clues from either 2-or-lower shroud locations, or from locations with higher shroud respectively. "Look what I found!" is a high-value card for the level-0 version, and Winging It can also get us clues in the same manner as Flashlight can. These cards can be used in combination with any or all of the skill cards (except Quick Thinking and Take Heart) to get your skill value high enough, so that you can grab the clues.

Defense: Peter Sylvestre will soak horror and boosts our (irrelevant for now, but will be relevant once we get some XP). Then "You handle this one!" can pass a bad treachery to your partner and as a bonus for my group, Joe Diamond will be running "Let me handle this!" and Logical Reasoning, both high-value cards for our setup in order to avoid nasty treacheries or heal horror.

The upgraded version of the deck

(A fully upgraded version of the deck can be seen here: https://arkhamdb.com/deck/view/340485)

Once we get some XP, Preston will start working better and will have more tools both to advance the scenario and to defend himself. With access to Streetwise, things become a lot easier and all these cards slots that are devoted to clue gathering can be freed. Fire Axe is also a little less important, as we can now deal with enemies through evasion.

The general plan is to stack the passive buffs from Peter Sylvestre (2), Dark Horse and Lola Santiago and be constantly at 3, 3, 2 and 4 . After these 3 cards hit the board we will always be denying the upkeep money and we will be getting boosts in the Mythos phase through Cornered, and/or through some of the skill cards. We also have Take Heart for card draw in order to get all these cards faster. In the meantime, "You handle this one!", or its "upgrade", A Test of Will, can protect us from a bad treachery while we 're trying to set up.

Lone Wolf is there to boost your income during the investigation phase, getting you to 5 resources from 4 which you normally get from Family Inheritance. This may seem unimportant at first glance, but it's very important because after your key cards hit the board, you will begin each round with 0 resources. So, getting from 4 resources to 5 is actually a boon, as it allows you to get an extra boost for Fire Axe, or to be able to play Cunning Distraction and Hot Streak (2), both of which cost 5. Hot Streak's main purpose in the deck is to give you a burst of resources so that you can deal with Lodge "Debts" easily, but it can also be combined with Quick Thinking, Lola Santiago and Streetwise for a "rush" turn in order to gather a lot of clues fast. In a pinch, Quick Thinking can also give you that extra action you need to finish off a foe with your Fire Axe. Both Quick Thinking and Hot Streak are situational cards in this deck and they can easily be fed to Cornered if the situation in which you might need them does not arise.

Upgrades (in suggested purchase order):

  1. Streetwise

  2. 2x Peter Sylvestre (2)

  3. 1x Hot Streak (2)

  4. 1x Cornered

  5. Charisma

  6. 2x Lola Santiago

  7. 1x Hot Streak (2)

  8. 2x A Test of Will

  9. 1x Key of Ys

Since this deck is meant for Carcosa, I'm limited to around 30 XP. But with more XP, you can get a second Cornered, and/or a second Key of Ys, which I strongly recommend. With the addition of Key of Ys, by the way, late in the campaign, I expect this deck to become very powerful. I will only have 1, but Backpack can also fish for it and, additionally, my partner Joe Diamond will probably have gotten a No Stone Unturned (5) by then.

And that's the general idea. I'd be happy to hear suggestions. We 're not going to be playing very soon, so there is still time make changes if necessary, be that for the greater good. Cheers. :)

12 comments

Mar 12, 2019 Django · 5070

Not sure Backpack really helps you with such a low number of items, i guess it'll fail alot, wasting the action to play. On the other hand it's pretty cool combined with Joey "The Rat" Vigil and an item based deck, as preston has the money to pay for joey as well and not wasting an action to move his inheritance this way.

Do you think Lucky Cigarette Case would work instead? It means you'd need to invest more ressources into Streetwise to succeed by 2 or more. I tried it myself once, but found it too expensive on the long run. But i also use Well Connected, so don't want to touch my normal ressource pool. In that game, card draw from 3x Take Heart (with Resourceful) was more than enough, anyway.

Mar 12, 2019 matt88 · 3098

I thought about Lucky Cigarette Case in this deck but I chose not to run it for 2 reasons:

1) Lucky Cigarette Case will be more consistent on triggering after I get my passive buffs on the board, which means that my key cards wil have already hit the table by then and that is when I will need it the least.

2) It conflicts with Key of Ys, as both of these cards occupy the same slot.

Additionally, Backpack will be very important in scenario 1, where Fire Axe and Flashlight will be the most important cards in the deck. It's true, though, that these cards will be a little less important later in the campaign, but they will still be useful, especially Fire Axe. As for the low number of items in the deck, that only makes it trickier to use and I can always feed it to Cornered if I don't need it. Late in the campaign, it can also get me my single copy of Key of Ys and I think that is important. I also have other means of card draw (via Take Heart).

Mar 12, 2019 matt88 · 3098

Thank you for your comment, by the way. :)

Mar 19, 2019 bits-in-a-ghoul-tummy · 32

@matt88Played this in S1 of carcosa. It repeatedly ate the singer for breakfast in a single turn, as well as the MITPM.

Mar 19, 2019 matt88 · 3098

@bits-in-a-ghoul-tummyYeah, I 've had the exact same experience! I almost did the whole work in that scenario! Scenario 2 was rough though. Some bad token pulls made things hard and we had to resign without making much progress. Thankfully, you can just burn those monsters in the end... xD

Mar 20, 2019 crayne · 3

I tried Lucky Cigarette Case but it's too expensive to trigger reliably when you need it. However Take Heart with Resourceful is pretty nice.

Mar 21, 2019 bits-in-a-ghoul-tummy · 32

@matt88 Playing this through Carcosa: The A Test of Will is a painful decision point: you have to forgo dark horse's benefit through the treachery to be able to afford it. It's even worse if you are the bearer of the Onyx Broach. We just finished Black Stars Rise.

That said, this deck is going great. We're repeatedly hitting near max XP.

Mar 21, 2019 bits-in-a-ghoul-tummy · 32

@matt88reference for where it is at pre-Dim Carcosa (spoiler for Roux-ga-Roux btw): arkhamdb.com

Mar 22, 2019 matt88 · 3098

@bits-in-a-ghoul-tummy I'm happy to hear that! It's nice to see that other people have good experiences of this deck! :)

A note on A Test of Will: You mostly need it while you 're setting up, before your Passive buffs hit the table. After that, you can feed it to Cornered. There can also be some corner cases where you need to take the resource from upkeep despite having Dark Horse and that's where a bad treachery might hit, so A Test of Will can cover you there.

Mar 22, 2019 Django · 5070

Once you have Streetwise ditching ressources to trigger Dark Horse is no problem. But A Test of Will is pretty good to counter treacheries like Ancient Evils (even for other ppl), so depending on the scenario it's good to have.

I've played Joe and Preston through the night of the zealot campaign. This was pretty good for protecting Joe from horror encounter cards after he ate Umôrdhoth's Wrath on turn 2 without any soaks out and only 1 card discarded.

Mar 22, 2019 matt88 · 3098

@Django I think you 're missing the point. The hard part is triggering Dark Horse during the Mythos phase, where Family Inheritance money is not available yet. This is what makes the decision hard of whether you want the extra resource for A Test of Will or deny it to keep Dark Horse active. But, as I said in my previous comment, you can feed it to Cornered if you have your passive buffs out. It's certainly good to hang around, but it will be less important once you 've got to that point. And yeah, I agree it's good for others as well; if the situation arises where a bad treachery hits your partner, you can certainly play it to preotect him if you can, but its primary purpose is to protect yourself.

Mar 22, 2019 matt88 · 3098

@bits-in-a-ghoul-tummy I didn't hit the link earlier, I saw your progress just now and I have to say I am amazed! You've managed to get double Key of Ys, that's fantastic!! And with the transformation from Rougarou this is looking really great! I must say you 've done a great job! This almost looks like a certain win for you! :)