Norman vs The Universe

Norman Withers is an amazing investigator. One of my favorites.

PROS:

• With a 5 he is perfect for finding clues on high shroud locations.
• With a 4 he is suited to succeed at casting spells.
• Easy weakness - Vengeful Hound doesn't have hunter and only 2 health.
• Access to the top card of your deck essentially increases your hand-size by 1 and it also reduces its costs.

CONS:

• Split the Angle is a pretty bad card. It's best commited for a +2 or +2 on a skill test.
• His is on the weaker end.
• Fighting and Evading is an issue with his 2 and 1.
• No access to some core Seeker upgrade cards like Higher Education.

THIS DECK'S GOALS

Norman will be finding clues & preventing the chaos bag & Encounter deck from devastating the party. He can handle smaller monsters but will likely need to team-up for bigger threats.

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF NORMAN

• FAST: Use fast cards to maximize the benefit of the discounted top card. These cards offer a benefit without spending an action. Both Shortcut and Working a Hunch are essentially free actions that are useable in every scenario. Premonition, Crack the Case, Anatomical Diagrams and Mind over Matter are great situational effects. Ward of Protection and Time Warp will be added as you spend xp.

• CHEAP CARDS: If you can't have a fast card on top, a discounted card is the next best option. Include many 1 or 2 costing assets for events reduce the cost by 100% or 50%. Fine Clothes, Magnifying Glass, and Knife are free on top of your deck. Art Student and [No Stone Unturned] have great value for only spending 1 resource.

CLUE HUNTING

• Fingerprint Kit: This is a decent but probably not the best. it does help remove clues from high shroud locations.

• Magnifying Glass: this card is free when on the top of your deck. It makes investigations easier making most locations a breeze to investigate. However, I still replace one of them rather early with a Four of Cups.

• Art Student is 2 resources for 1 clue (1 resource while on top) and can soak damage! Once I have them in play, treat them as fodder. Their 2 sanity can be used to heal damage with Painkillers or they can take an attack of opportunity so I can put an asset like Shrivelling or move to a location with other foes for Storm of Spirits. When you have The Chthonian Stone in play, you will want to take less skill test. Art student is great to avoid an investigate check, especially on high shroud locations.

• Working a Hunch works on the same vein as Art Student, it's 2 resources for a clue, however this card is fast and doesn't use an action. When on the top of your deck, you can't beat the 1 resource for 1 clue trade!

FIGHTING ENEMIES

• Knife: The best of the worst starter options. These should be replaced for Shrivelling (2) ASAP. A 3 is enough to rival the lowest tier enemies.

• Storm of Spirits is real good. Dealing 4-6 damage with 1 action is quite powerful. Anatomical Diagrams, Guts, and Logical Reasoning can help secure success.

• Anatomical Diagrams is decent. It's fast and lowers a non-elite enemy's fight & Evade so you can actually do something. I upgrade rather early on for Protective Incantation or Ward of Protection.

• Mind over Matter is very powerful. You switch out Norman's worst traits for his best trait. It's fast and free when on the top of your deck.

PROTECTION

• ALLIES: I use my Art Students as meat shields. Dr. Milan Christopher is better alive then discarded.

• Fine Clothes offers a little protection.

• SEAL: The Chthonian Stone and later on Protective Incantation remove troublesome tokens from the chaos bag. Both are more powerful in multiplayer. Dr. Milan Christopher gives us ample resources to run this.

• Premonition can easily save 1 or 2 cards from being commited to a test. It's incredibly helpful when planning out the best course of action for your team.

• Logical Reasoning. This card can save investigators from terror effects, heal 2 horror from any investigator, or provide to a Shrivelling or Storm of Spirits skill test. Decent synergy with Painkillers.

OTHER CARDS

• No Stone Unturned is a great tutor for you or your teammates. It searches the top 6 for the best card. For 1 resource when on the top of your deck it can't be beat!

• Shortcut is a free move action. You're guaranteed to do it in a scenario, so I keep it in the deck.

• Guts mainly to increase a Shrivelling or Storm of Spirits skill test.

DECK BUILDING TRAPS

• MYSTIC 0 SLOTS: Don't waste one of your five precious Mystic-0 slots for something you'll into upgrade later. I see too many decks start with Shrivelling or Ward of Protection which you'll upgrade out of.

• SCRYING: Scrying has always under preformed. It seems good at first glance, but it's limited in charges and you either need to spend (1) Actions or (2) XP. There are better things to perform action on, and cards to upgrade into.

• ALYSSA GRAHAM: Alyssa Graham is really only good with Split the Angle and the chances of having both is slim. This card also competing with Dr. Milan Christopher for your ally slot.

NOTABLE OMISSIONS

• ARCANE INITIATE: Arcane Initiate I think this is strictly better than Scrying. It can consistently grab you a spell mid-late cycle. It's cheap. Doesn't take actions to perform. Replaces the top card of your deck. It's a decent replacement for Art Student if you can spare the Mystic-0 slots (or 3xp).

• CRACK THE CASE: Crack the Case: I do not own this card, but the added resources really let you keep chaos tokens sealed with Protective Incantation & The Chthonian Stone. Would likely replace my 2x Anatomical Diagrams.

• I GOT A PLAN "I've got a plan!" has under preformed the last few times I tried it. I have replaced it with Storm of Spirits. There are only a few monsters each scenario with 4 or more health & it requires you to have 3 clues to get the max out of it, which goes against most scenarios as saving clues is often punished. Instead, storm consistently does 4 damage across 2 monster, sometimes more. It also benefits from locking up chaos tokens.

UPGRADE BY PRIORITY

(6xp) 2x Knife -> 2x Shrivelling (2)

• Your knife sucks. Get rid of it ASAP for some something more reliable.

(1xp) 1x Magnifying Glass -> 1x Four of Cups

• Increases your Shrivelling & Storm of Spirits skill tests.

(2xp) 2x Anatomical Diagrams -> Protective Incantation

• Seal more chaos tokens!

(4xp) 1x Fingerprint Kit & Fine Clothes -> 2x Ward of Protection (2)

• Ward is some powerful negation on the encounter deck.

(10xp) 2x Guts -> 2x Seal of the Elder Sign

• What's better than ? a .

If there is more to spare...

(4xp) 2x No Stone Unturned -> 2x Time Warp

• redos. Stops from releasing the sealed token for The Chthonian Stone.

(6xp) 2x Ward of Protection (2) -> 2x Ward of Protection (5)