Roland Banks takes a stop at the hotel

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HatfulBob · 141

This is my first ever deck that I built, to be tried for solo play with Murder at the Excelsior Hotel.

Needless to say, I got whooped. I feel like I'd probably have had better luck with a different investigator like Wendy Adams but for now I'd like some feedback on how to make this deck more... surviveable.

Roland's 5 sanity is crippling and I want to know what can be done to alleviate this shortcoming, as well as help with the scenario itself (I realise a large lack of and cards for skill tests but tricky to decide what to throw out and what to keep, really)

2 comments
Sep 15, 2021 Soul_Turtle · 406 The first thing that stands out to me is that you have a lot of 1-ofs. Generally this indicates a bit of a lack of focus in deckbuilding. Going card by card, Roland "only" has 4 Fight, so I think that you want to stick with weapons that give +Fight such as Machete and .45 Automatic instead of .32 Colt. I would remove both .32 Colts and add 1 copy more of .45 Automatic and Machete. Encyclopedia isn't amazing in solo, since you're only going to get the bonus from it for 2 actions (it's nice in multiplayer since you can use it to support your teammates for 3 full actions). It's also more of a Daisy card than a Roland one, so I would cut it because your hands are a bit overloaded. Magnifying Glass is good. Medical Texts isn't very good in general, but particularly not great in Roland. Roland has 9 Health, so you probably won't need the healing. Also, he's not the best at passing the Intellect test. Easy cut. Police Badge is fine. Beat Cop and Milan are both excellent. But you should probably either commit in one direction (focus on combat with 2x Beat Cop or focus on clues with 2x Milan) rather than one of each. Hyperawareness and Physical Training aren't amazing in general, and this deck won't have spare money to spend on them; most of your assets are pretty expensive. If you were running 2x Milan, I could see 2x Physical Training being ok. In this way you have Milan to shore up your Intellect and Physical Training as a way to make up for the missing Beat Cop (plus the Will boosts can be nice to protect your sanity). In the Know is very bad in solo, stay away. Most of the time, you will move into a location and take all the clues, then move to the next location, etc. It's rare to have locations far away from you that In the Know would be useful for, like you might in a multiplayer game where players split up. Roland doesn't need True Grit because he has 9 Health. Dodge is good. E-Cache is good. Evidence! is normally fine for Roland, but in solo it might be hard to use, because most locations only have 1 clue and Roland can already grab that clue with his ability. I would swap these for Perceptions; basically keeping the same nice double Intellect icons but on a more easy to use card. Sketches is fine, though it's never impressed me. Seeking Answers doesn't seem great in solo. For the same reason In the Know is not good in solo, Seeking Answers seems cumbersome. Deduction is sweet. Guts should probably be a 2-of for encounter deck protection. Ditto for Unexpected Courage. Steadfast is also good but I don't believe it is in your card pool based on this deck's contents. Vicious Blow should definitely be a 2-of, it's one of the best cards in the game period. This deck is very light on soak, which is why you're struggling with the 5 Sanity. You also don't have too many Willpower boosting cards/skills to help cover for that weakness. What I would recommend is to add more horror soak (Elder Sign Amulet, Charisma + more Allies such as Art Student, Something Worth Fighting For) and more Willpower skills (Guts, Steadfast, Unexpected Courage). That should help you not die early to horror damage. And don't forget that you get 19 points of XP to spend in standalone mode, not just 15! This deck is not really that far off from being quite good. I believe that your cardpool is 2x Core, Carcosa deluxe, Innsmouth Deluxe, and starter decks? Here is my take on it, maybe you can give it a try: arkhamdb.com I haven't actually tested it though, so y'know... no promises! Try getting Dunwich if you can, the lack of Charisma is always going to be a bit of a painpoint for your deckbuilding, it's such a great card. There's a bunch of staples in that cycle. Good luck with your future decks!
Sep 17, 2021 HatfulBob · 141 `@Soul_Turtle` Wow, I'm surprised at how fast someone managed to respond to my deck! To specify, I only own one core set (although I'm trying to solve this issue, considering how many good cards like Milan and Machete there are) and while I do own Dunwich Legacy, I do not own any of the cycles (having issues tracking them down) so Charisma and some other higher XP cards would be very good. Thank you very much for all the input and suggestions, really helps when I consider future decks, especially standalone higher level ones. Very much appreciate you giving a deck to try out too, seems very good in my eyes so look forward to trying it out or maybe modifying it a bit with whatever cards I manage to find in different cycles.

2 comments

Sep 15, 2021 Soul_Turtle · 406

The first thing that stands out to me is that you have a lot of 1-ofs. Generally this indicates a bit of a lack of focus in deckbuilding.

Going card by card,

Roland "only" has 4 Fight, so I think that you want to stick with weapons that give +Fight such as Machete and .45 Automatic instead of .32 Colt. I would remove both .32 Colts and add 1 copy more of .45 Automatic and Machete.
Encyclopedia isn't amazing in solo, since you're only going to get the bonus from it for 2 actions (it's nice in multiplayer since you can use it to support your teammates for 3 full actions). It's also more of a Daisy card than a Roland one, so I would cut it because your hands are a bit overloaded.
Magnifying Glass is good.
Medical Texts isn't very good in general, but particularly not great in Roland. Roland has 9 Health, so you probably won't need the healing. Also, he's not the best at passing the Intellect test. Easy cut.
Police Badge is fine.
Beat Cop and Milan are both excellent. But you should probably either commit in one direction (focus on combat with 2x Beat Cop or focus on clues with 2x Milan) rather than one of each.
Hyperawareness and Physical Training aren't amazing in general, and this deck won't have spare money to spend on them; most of your assets are pretty expensive. If you were running 2x Milan, I could see 2x Physical Training being ok. In this way you have Milan to shore up your Intellect and Physical Training as a way to make up for the missing Beat Cop (plus the Will boosts can be nice to protect your sanity).
In the Know is very bad in solo, stay away. Most of the time, you will move into a location and take all the clues, then move to the next location, etc. It's rare to have locations far away from you that In the Know would be useful for, like you might in a multiplayer game where players split up.
Roland doesn't need True Grit because he has 9 Health.
Dodge is good.
E-Cache is good.
Evidence! is normally fine for Roland, but in solo it might be hard to use, because most locations only have 1 clue and Roland can already grab that clue with his ability. I would swap these for Perceptions; basically keeping the same nice double Intellect icons but on a more easy to use card.
Sketches is fine, though it's never impressed me.
Seeking Answers doesn't seem great in solo. For the same reason In the Know is not good in solo, Seeking Answers seems cumbersome.
Deduction is sweet.
Guts should probably be a 2-of for encounter deck protection.
Ditto for Unexpected Courage. Steadfast is also good but I don't believe it is in your card pool based on this deck's contents.
Vicious Blow should definitely be a 2-of, it's one of the best cards in the game period.

This deck is very light on soak, which is why you're struggling with the 5 Sanity. You also don't have too many Willpower boosting cards/skills to help cover for that weakness. What I would recommend is to add more horror soak (Elder Sign Amulet, Charisma + more Allies such as Art Student, Something Worth Fighting For) and more Willpower skills (Guts, Steadfast, Unexpected Courage). That should help you not die early to horror damage. And don't forget that you get 19 points of XP to spend in standalone mode, not just 15!

This deck is not really that far off from being quite good. I believe that your cardpool is 2x Core, Carcosa deluxe, Innsmouth Deluxe, and starter decks? Here is my take on it, maybe you can give it a try: arkhamdb.com

I haven't actually tested it though, so y'know... no promises!

Try getting Dunwich if you can, the lack of Charisma is always going to be a bit of a painpoint for your deckbuilding, it's such a great card. There's a bunch of staples in that cycle.

Good luck with your future decks!

Sep 17, 2021 HatfulBob · 141

@Soul_Turtle Wow, I'm surprised at how fast someone managed to respond to my deck!

To specify, I only own one core set (although I'm trying to solve this issue, considering how many good cards like Milan and Machete there are) and while I do own Dunwich Legacy, I do not own any of the cycles (having issues tracking them down) so Charisma and some other higher XP cards would be very good.

Thank you very much for all the input and suggestions, really helps when I consider future decks, especially standalone higher level ones. Very much appreciate you giving a deck to try out too, seems very good in my eyes so look forward to trying it out or maybe modifying it a bit with whatever cards I manage to find in different cycles.