Dreamy Djoe

Hunch Deck

Like the top review on Joe Diamond says, the hunch deck should be reserved for cards that are:

1. (Mostly) always playable
2. Useful for their effects, not their icons*
3. Useful during the Investigation phase
4. Exactly two cost**

*You can't commit cards from your Hunch deck, only play them.

** You can put Insights of any cost in, but the effectiveness is highest at 2 resources.

Bearing that in mind, a generic hunch deck is, in order of quality:

• 2x Working a Hunch
• 2x Scene of the Crime
• 2x Preposterous Sketches
• 2x No Stone Unturned
• 2x Delay the Inevitable OR 2x Emergency Aid

Working a Hunch: Joe sees clue, Joe takes clue. No actions, no resources. The only requisite condition here is to be at a spot with clues. Not a high bar.

Scene of the Crime: Joe sees clue, Joe spends 1 to take clue. Or two clues, if there's an enemy there. Most of the time, it's almost as good as Working a Hunch. Sometimes, it's a little better. In either case, testless, resourceless clues are always a win in my book, since you were gonna have to investigate anyway.

Preposterous Sketches: Spend one to draw three cards. 'Nuff said.

No Stone Unturned: One for someone at your location to tutor the top 6 cards of their deck. No matter what they're looking for, the odds of them finding something good are pretty high.

Delay the Inevitable: This is a great defensive card for when you know trouble is coming. Beyond the Veil, or a nasty attack from an enemy, or anything like that. The fact that it's Fast and exactly 2 resources means you don't have to spend anything to get it out there. The downside is that it's probably not a great draw early in the level when it's unclear who's going to need the shoring up.

Emergency Aid: Ordinarily, 2 resources and an to heal 2 health is just okay, but when it's free it becomes a lot more appealing. However, much like Delay the Inevitable, it's not a great card early in the game when people tend to be in better shape.

Note: This particular build is fond of Dream-Enhancing Serum for extra card draw (although it's not a cornerstone or anything), so I'm inclined to leave more doubles in the deck than otherwise. With that in mind, I recommend 2x Delay the Inevitable OR 2x Emergency Aid in the hunch deck, with the other card paired up in your main deck. My intuition is that Emergency Aid is a slightly better card for the hunch deck, since it's a little less situational. Of course, you can always leave Emergency Aid out and have your Hallowed Mirror do the healing work for you. I'll have to do more testing to be sure, however.

Key Cards

The assets that form the backbone of this deck are:

1. 2x Hawk-Eye Folding Camera
2. 2x Alice Luxley
3. 1x Dream-Enhancing Serum
4. 1x Hallowed Mirror

Hawk-Eye Folding Camera: The sooner this card hits the table, the better. It's a Tool, so there's an easy synergy with Joe's signature Detective's Colt 1911s.

Alice Luxley: Yes, she's pretty bad in most main-line decks, but Carolyn Fern and Joe are both big fans of the and the for damage. She's expensive, but worth it.

Dream-Enhancing Serum: A pleasant early-game card for the extra card draw. There's a reason that this deck is mostly doubles. I only run one, though; it doesn't synergize with itself and it's not so important that I'm scrambling to find it.

Hallowed Mirror: heal some damage or horror, draw a card. Not too expensive, and in my experience the relief that it provides in the mid- or late-game can be huge.

Upgrade Wishlist

Priorities:

• 1x Flashlight 1x Death • XIII (1)
• 1x Flashlight 1x Shortcut (2)
• Inquiring Mind Pathfinder (1): I love this card. More time to find clues. More time to repositon for Hawk-Eye Folding Camera. Etc.
• Deduction Deduction (2)
• Blackjack Blackjack (2): The latter is a vastly superior card, especially late-campaign. Help your fight off a bunch of nasties and still leave your hands free for gathering clues.

Other upgrades (in no particular order):

• No Stone Unturned No Stone Unturned (5): Free and tutor for any card in someone's deck. Outrageous.
• Preposterous Sketches Cryptic Research (4): You lose the discount but gain the and drop the clue requirement.
• Bandolier Bandolier (2): Detective's Colt 1911s, Blackjack, and Enchanted Blade are in the starting deck, so getting two hands on weapons isn't hard. Combined with Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, you have decent odds having respectable (even good!) by mid- to late-game.
• Enchanted Blade Enchanted Blade (3): Better boost, optional charge spending, card draw, horror healing. Need I say more?

Opening Hand

1. Clues: Hawk-Eye Folding Camera > Alice Luxley > Flashlight
2. Card draw: Dream-Enhancing Serum > Eureka! > Hallowed Mirror
3. Weapons*: Blackjack > Enchanted Blade

* This deck isn't supposed to be a killer, but taking some slack off of your is always a nice thing to be able to do.

Hawk-Eye Folding Camera and Dream-Enhancing Serum are better the earlier you get them.

Eureka! gives you a boost and lets you tutor, so it's a half-decent substitute for whatever card you were trying to get anyway.

Team Play

• Delay the Inevitable: Help keep someone alive for a touch longer.
• Logical Reasoning: It starts off in your main deck because you want to have it for nasty treacheries. Later, you can recycle it with Detective's Colt 1911s and your to use it for its horror-healing in the late-game.
• Emergency Aid: Similar to Logical Reasoning, this gets better in the later part of the game when people are hurting more.
• Hallowed Mirror: Help your Roland Banks or your Tony Morgan get back up to safe levels of sanity (and give yourself a free card while you're at it!).
• Blackjack: Meh at the beginning of the campaign, but Blackjack (2) will let you crush the hoardes your teammate is fending off while still letting you gather clues.