UPDATED - Parallel Version Skids: New Ability Combos

Update 16th August 2020

It looks like Arkham DB added the Parallel Version of Skids by now, so please find my streamlined New Skids Multiplayer list here (https://arkhamdb.com/deck/view/911015), and the deck guide/combo explanations further below on this page.

A New Shining Star

Welcome everyone! First of all: No, this is NOT an illegal deck, Skids is now actually able to use (some) specific Survivor cards, in addition to having access to a new super cool ability (his actual new decksize is also only 25 cards, but more on that below)! So what is this about? FFG (the company behind Arkham) has officially released a new "parallel version" of Skids which redesigned his deckbuilding requirements and abilities, and gave him a completely new playstyle (you can find all the news here)!

Upon hearing this, I have immediately started testing New Skids with great amazement and put together this list for you, which summarizes the most important cool new tricks that you can pull off with him! I have always loved the original Skids for his lore background (ex-police who turned into a kind-hearted criminal to be able to pay for his mother's hospital debts), and now with these amazing upgrades, he has finally become a really strong character that can be played all the way from Standard Solo to Expert Multiplayer!

A New Skids

If you haven't seen the news yet, please check out all the information on New Skids here: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2020/8/13/all-or-nothing/.

Tldr:

1. Skids' new ability allows you to spend 0-3 resources to initiate a base 3 test (that can be boosted by generic and evade icons) against the number of resources that you spent, and if successful, you're getting double that money back (e.g. if you spend 2 cash, you test a 3 on 2 test, and if successful, you gain 4 cash). This means that alongside Preston and Jenny (and Tony to some degree), Skids is now another Rogue who doesn't need to worry about money, and can thus make use of insane cards like Lola Santiago and great events like Intel Report and Small Favor. His elder sign also got replaced, and it now allows you to take a card worth 2xp or less from your graveyard back to your hand, effectively giving Skids one of the best elder signs in the game!

2. His new deckbuilding also drops the access to the Guardian pool that he traditionally had, and replaces it with full access to all 0-3xp Fortune and Gambit cards, the off-colors of which are predominantly from the Survivor pool. His deck size also got reduced to 25 cards (which is amazing because it makes it even easier to draw all his combo pieces), which means that you can cut 5 cards from this list as you see fit after reading through the deckguide below (my version of the deck that I played was this list here, minus 1x Belly of the Beast, 2x Think on Your Feet, and minus 2x Decoy). The reason I made this a 30-cards deck was that I was scared that if I upload a decklist which is apparently undersized AND contains apparently illegal cards (the Survivor cards), people will think it's a joke deck and not read the guide haha. Please also note that you can freely combine the old and new front- and backsides of Skids as you see fit (e.g. using his old Guardian deckbuilding but his new frontside abilities), even though after testing, I must say that I have a strong preference for the all-new Skids, both fun-wise/in terms of game experience, but also in terms of power level.

3. His unique signature card also got much better and turned into a really cool enemy management card that I find super well designed (making you untouchable for non-Elite attacks for 1 round and granting you 2 extra movements). His new signature weakness requires you to spend 9 cash across the duration of the game or lose 2 experience points, which I find very doable given his strong cash engines.

Deckbuilding & Base Version of the Deck

So what do we do with this new ability of Skids? There are basically two usages, one of which I'll call the "Cash Mode", where you use his ability to double your cash over time, thereby making him able to play expensive but incredibly strong cards like Leo De Luca, Lola Santiago, Small Favor, Decoy and Intel Report, which he can even loop back to his hand with his amazing new Elder Sign ability. For that same reason, we are also playing Eucatastrophe in Skids (a fortune card to which he now has access), which allows us to use his elder sign ability more often! In the 0xp-version of the deck, I had played Scrounge for Supplies (another Fortune card), which fulfils the same function. His large resource pool is further leveraged by the Lola-Flashlight combo, which often allows collecting 2 clues with one single action (in the 0xp-version of the deck, we play "Look what I found!" for that same reason).

The other usage of Skids' new ability is what I'll call the "Overachiever Mode", where you spend 0 cash on his ability, thereby triggering a 3 on 0 test that will not grant you any money, but which in turn can be used to profit enormously from cards that get stronger if you pass a test by a high number, cards like All In, Momentum, Quick Thinking, and the new Nimble card, which is soon released as part of the Rogue Starter Deck. So in theory, you could initiate a 3 on 0 test, then commit Manual Dexterity to it, as well as Quick Thinking, Momentum, All In and Nimble, thereby boosting your value to 9 on 0, and let's say you draw a -4 token, now you still succeeded the test by 5, and therefore draw 5 card from All In, another one from Manual Dexterity, gain an extra action this turn, move 3 locations, and reduce the difficulty of the next test you are attempting by 3 ... or you draw the autofail and throw your table out of the window. All of this madness just happened, and you didn't even use a single action in your turn yet, despite having gained enormous advantages. Note that you could also pull all of this off outside of your own turn in any of the fast action windows, and you could of course also split your investments across different rounds, not necessarily putting all into 1 test.

Taken together, the New Skids deck provides great flexibility due to the possibility of combining the Cash and Overachiever modes, thereby getting access to a vast resource pool, extra actions, card draw and other benefits. On top of that, Leo De Luca (who you can also upgrade if you have the spare xp) provides the deck with even more extra actions, the Lola-Flashlight-Lonewolf combo makes Skids a highly reliable Cluer in any team, and given all the Event cards that we are playing, Crystallizer of Dreams can be used highly effectively in this deck, allowing Skids to further boost his Overachiever tests or any other important test. Instead of the Crystallizer, you could also play the Lucky Cigarette Case, which can be well used for the Overachiever tests and will further accelerate Skids’ drawing power. Lucky! (and its upgraded version Lucky! 2.0) is just a great card in any deck, Think on Your Feet and Belly of the Beast (a Gambit card) are nice potential tech cards that provide the deck with additional speed, and as mentioned above, Eucatastrophe can be used to recycle cards from your graveyard and thereby start all these crazy combos again (side note: you definitely want to play 2x Eucatastrophe and 2x All In in this deck if you have the XP for it, I just didn't put them in this list because I was afraid that too-high XP cost of the deck would scare readers away).

Another cool new thing is that as part of Skids' new deckbuilding, he can upgrade a Fortune or Gambit card for full XP and keep the old version in the deck, meaning that he can have 2x Lucky! [0] and 2x Lucky! [2] in his deck at the same time, thereby having access to 4 Lucky simultaneously! With all that luck on Skids' side, let's hope that he'll also draw a lot of elder signs!

That's it! I hope you found this useful, and I wish you all the best and great fun with playing this New Skids and all his crazy Cash-Engine and Overachiever-Mode combos! Personally, I am a huge fan of this new Skids, and I think the company did a great job in re-designing him!