Card draw simulator
| Derived from |
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| None. Self-made deck here. |
| Inspiration for |
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| None yet |
Pinchers · 128
This is a taboo-compliant concept clue/support deck that's meant to be paired with a fighter who will capitalize on a bag full of tokens. I'm running it with Holy Headshots.
OVERVIEW
Mateo is a beast early in the campaign due to his 5 bonus experience, but if you don't watch out, he loses a lot of steam as the story progresses. We're seven cycles in, and he still has the strongest ability. I doubt that will ever change. So, any Mateo deck worth its salt is going to focus on getting that elder sign out of the bag as much as possible. Olive McBride is a natural ally, and the mechanic gives you continued chances to fish out the blue token.
STARTING XP
I've used my starting XP on Sacred Covenant to make sure the tokens don't get wasted. I'm also a fan of the upgraded Holy Rosary; I find it super effective at pumping the bag while protecting you from the Mythos deck. Lastly, the improved version Eldritch Inspiration is there to protect you from an errant moment of Clairvoyance, or to double down on an effective use of Sixth Sense.
OPENING HAND
You're looking for Olive McBride (or possibly David Renfield, who is an excellent early-game economy card), your upgraded Rosary, an investigation spell, and a Keep Faith with Rite of Sanctification doesn't hurt either. That combo can really help the whole team install their important assets over the first few turns.
PILOTING
Mateo won't be doing much fighting. Mists of R'lyeh helps him get around the board safely, and Sixth Sense allows him to pick up clues at locations he's left, or that are guarded by monsters. This is NOT a solo deck; your teammate(s) will have the responsibility of killing enemies, preferably with weapons like Blessed Blade or .35 Winchester that capitalize on the mechanic. You will be contributing to enemy management by stranding non-hunter enemies at empty locations, and keeping the tougher monsters exhausted.
A FEW OTHER FINE POINTS
Predestined is a terrific card. Throw it on a treachery with a test that you have no hope of passing. Before you reveal tokens, play Tempt Fate and hope that you draw one of those tokens. After failing, remember that curses hurt more than blesses help, so take the other two out of the bag.
This deck should have pretty good card draw; lots of cantrips, and Mateo's ability, mean that you're definitely going to be seeing Serpents of Yig at some point. Spectral Razor will make short work of them.
UPGRADE PATH
Sixth Sense is a priority. You need the ability to pick up multiple clues per action, and running Olive will help you find the skulls to trigger the spell's special ability consistently.
Custom Ammunition. Yup, the Mateo card that's not a Mateo card. This leans in to his support role for the Holy Headshots deck. Obviously if your teammate isn't using firearms, skip this one.
A Watchful Peace: If you're interested in completely trivializing the game and making every scenario almost impossible to lose, consider picking this up.
Recall the Future and Grotesque Statue: Complements our token manipulation very nicely.
If you do want a weapon, which isn't such a bad idea, I'd look at Enchanted Blade...although it does use a highly contested arcane slot. It provides a heavy boost to Mateo's weak , and packs quite a punch.
Seal of the Elder Sign: The ultimate Father Mateo card. Enough said.
Honorable mention goes to Jewel of Aureolus, although you'd have to pick up Relic Hunter as well. I think it's worth it.
| 3 comments |
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Apr 26, 2021 |
Apr 26, 2021This is personal preference, but I tried Blessing of Isis with Sister Mary and didn't like it. It almost never triggered, even with a fully pumped chaos bag. Favor of the Sun would certainly help, but that's a 3-card combo...costs a whopping six resources to get out, tricky to assemble--and none of them are spells, so you can't search for them as easily. Compared to Seal of the Elder Sign, which is only one card, a resource-free silver bullet that you can keep in your hand for just the right time. (And from a technical standpoint, my above-mentioned Tommy Muldoon deck is running .35 Winchester, so he gets dibs on the Favor of the Sun.) Also, let's not forget that Eucatastrophe is available to Mateo. >:-) |
Apr 26, 2021There are certainly many ways for Mateo to get his Elder Sign out. When I've played Isis, I tend to trigger Favor when a Blessing is drawn naturally. If you're playing for this combo, you clearly have enough Blessing generation, so that is not extremely uncommon to pull a random Bless (unless you're running 3+ Sealing cards). That makes it a 2 card combo. I don't think Isis + Favor is better than SotES or Eucat (and agree that Isis is not strong on its own). I was just pointing it out as an option for Blessing Mateo. It has more setup, but can be used more than once per game/deck cycle, which might be worth the effort. |
If you want to force his Elder Sign more, Blessing of Isis and Favor of the Sun combo well to let him force the Elder Sign while keeping in the bag. If you have 2x Favors at once, you can force an auto success on one test a turn for up to three turns. This setup costs as much xp as Seal of the Elder Sign, but can trigger naturally and does not RFG after use, so cycling or Quantum Flux can let you replay the Favors.