The Bounty Hunter hunts for clues (Solo & Multiplayer)

Introduction

This is a Tony Morgan build that I 've yet to try and like quite a bit. It's mostly teched for solo, but it's also good for multiplayer as a flex investigator, but probably not as good at higher player counts.

The main concept is that we use efficient weapons to deal with enemies while building up an engine that will allow us to investigate consistently and use testless-clue mechanics for the hard stuff, while being able to protect ourselves from treacheries efficiently and stay healthy.

The deck also uses the Taboo List, but it's not really necessary to play with it. You can definitely play without it and if you do, you can make some adjustments as stated in the description below.

The General Idea

The idea is that I wanted a Tony Morgan deck that can deal with enemies and get clues consistently, which created the main problem that led to the construction of this deck. And that problem is that we can't use Flashlight. Why? because we will usually occupy both our handslot with a weapon, namely .45 Thompson. Why use .45 Thompson in a flex-investigator build? Well, let's be honest, the other weapon options for Tony Morgan just suck. .45 Thompson is the only real weapon choice for Tony Morgan at 0 XP. So, since we 're using .45 Thompson and we want to get clues, we need to find other ways to boost our ...

...and we found them! We 're using a big-money build with Dario El-Amin, Lone Wolf and Well Connected. Dario El-Amin will increase both our and , both stats that definitely get used in solo. And with Well Connected, we can get greater boosts in order to get clues consistently. If you are at 10+ resources, you will have Dario El-Amin active and Well Connected will give you at least +2, which is where you want to be most of the time. Also note that Tony's permanent Bounty Contracts can help your economy reach at a desirable level faster.

Another feature of the deck is that we 're using this new interesting card, Crystallizer of Dreams. In fact, I have partly built the deck around this card. The thing is that Crystallizer of Dreams likes events with double icons and since this deck wants such events anyway, it seemed like a natural fit. Intel Report, Working a Hunch, Logical Reasoning, Coup de Grâce all have double icons, which makes the Crystallizer of Dreams great. The single-icon events are still good to use with the Crystallizer, but it really shines with events that have double icons. The Guardian of the Crystallizer weakness should also not be of great concern, as Tony Morgan is generally a good fighter and can deal with it easily.

By the way, I have chosen as my secondary class, because it seemed like the best option for solo and fitted great in the deck concept. We want testless clues, we want defense against treacheries, we like card draw and we can use the extra money. Also, regarding the Taboo List, I only use it because the deck doesn't necessarily need the cards that have been hit from it, but if you play without it, I suggest you get Streetwise as your first buy and swap Coup de Grâce with Sleight of Hand (which is a lot better).

Playing the Deck

So, regarding playing the deck, Tony Morgan is generally a good fighter, so as far as enemy handling is concerned, you just need to get a weapon down and you 're set. You have 4 weapons in the deck and all of them are good. Getting one in the mulligan shouldn't be too hard. For clues, you need to set-up your money engine first as fast as possible (with Dario El-Amin, Lone Wolf and Well Connected) and get to investigating. For the early game, you have Intel Report and Working a Hunch as testless-clue options, and Emergency Cache (or Hot Streak with XP) and Crack the Case can speed up the process of getting you to 10+ resources. After your engine is set up, Dario El-Amin will boost your to 4 and with Well Connected you can go as high as 6+ once a turn. Deduction helps a lot here as you can turn that once-per-turn-clue into 2 clues with it and later, the addition of High Roller will allow you to boost your a second time during the same turn. That said, we don't have Crystallizer of Dreams in our deck for nothing! Both Intel Report and Working a Hunch have double icons, so after you use them you can commit them to tests for further boosts, getting your even higher or allowing you to use more investigate actions during a single turn.

As far as dealing with treacheries is concerned, we have our ways. Horror-inflicting treacheries can be taken to the chin, as we have Logical Reasoning to heal up, which after we use will be sticked under Crystallizer of Dreams and can provide 2 icons for further defense. We also have Dario El-Amin who boosts our to 3 and Tennessee Sour Mash provides us with 2 uses of boosts. And combining these cards together, your Willpower can reach really high if there is a particularly hard test you need to pass. That, along with Money Talks should get you covered for most stuff regarding treacheries.

Generically speaking, the fight action on Tennessee Sour Mash and Coup de Grâce can help you conserve ammo, which is important, especially in solo. I was a little iffy on Coup de Grâce but I chose to include it mostly because of its double icons and its synergy with the Crystallizer. You can use Small Favor instead, which plays a similar role, but the latter is mostly useful in multiplayer. Or you can screw those events and simply go with Overpower for the solid card draw. Speaking of card draw, we do want to draw cards, as we rely on certain cards to do our job. We need certain assets and events that are key to our performance and Preposterous Sketches will get us those cards faster. I also considered to use No Stone Unturned instead in order to help find certain key cards early like the Crystallizer of Dreams, but I valued and the generic card draw more, as it's generally more solid. You can try No Stone Unturned as a 1-of if you want, but I don't really recommend it.

Upgrades

We generally don't need a lot of XP to work with. Just a few key cards and we 're set.

Core

1. 2x Emergency Cache --> 2x Hot Streak (2)

2. 2x Hot Streak (2) --> 2x Hot Streak (4)

3. 1x Perception --> 1x High Roller

4. 2x Another Day, Another Dollar

That's it! 16 XP total and we 're set! We only needed our core money build and we have enough things to work with. Whatever we get from now on will only make us stronger.

Optional

1. Streetwise: Even at 8 XP this is worth considering. Even though you don't necessarily need it, it can make your life a lot easier. It can help you to get clues early if you don't have the right cards, it can help you with tougher locations, but most importantly, it allows you to evade enemies, which is a very important thing in solo. You won't (and you shouldn't) use it a lot, but those few cases that you will need it can be gamechanging.

2. .45 Thompson --> Chicago Typewriter: This is a nice upgrade from .45 Thompson. Even though it has 1 fewer ammo, it deals 3 damage per attack, which can conserve ammo on the long run and save you actions. Definitely worth buying.

3. Tennessee Sour Mash --> Tennessee Sour Mash (3) : This is nice to have. Not a necessary upgrade but makes your life easier. The +3 boost can really help against treacheries and the fight action gets upgraded which is very relevant. Making it fast is also important for solo. Worth buying.

4. Money Talks --> Sure Gamble: Only buy this if you 're playing on higher difficulties. It's not worth it on lower difficulties, as there are not as many high modifiers there.

5. Coup de Grâce --> Contraband (2): More ammo for your guns is good. A little expensive, but it can do the job. Can also put more supplies on Tennessee Sour Mash if you really need them. The double icons also synergize with the Crystallizer. Only buy this as your last upgrade. I definitely don't recommend swaping out Sleight of Hand for this if you 're not using the Taboo List.

And... that's about it! Enjoy! :)