Luke BREAKS Space and Time (Deck Guide)

Luke BREAKS Space and Time
(Deck Guide)

"Luke held his breath as he watched the dark silhouette approach with a sinister sound, too subtle and terrifying to be described. He quietly reached for the small box that always carried with him, trying not to make a sound, struggling to control his fingers. He knew going down to that place was a mistake, but some mysteries are too terrible to be resisted by curious minds. That is how he got to know the Dreamlands in the first place..."

Hi, welcome to this Luke Robinson solo deck! Don't let the pajamas fool you, Luke is an intrepid veteran dreamer capable of sorting out all kinds of horrors. His Gate Box and special ability make him incredibly versatile and resourceful, breezing through scenarios most investigators find very difficult to deal with. But more importantly, it makes him really fun to play! Playing with Luke is a completely different experience, breaking the rules of space to pull out plays otherwise impossible. Feels awesome.

What This Deck Is
This is a true-solo deck I've refined and tested on The Dunwich Legacy ('Return to' version) and The Forgotten Age, getting victories for the investigator on both campaigns. I may keep updating it as I play more campaigns. I'm so impressed with how well it works, that after checking for other published Luke decks I felt compelled to share it because I think it's different. The events/skills/assets balance is the key.
I have achieved some results on some scenarios that I'm very impressed with, I'm sharing those things at the end after a "spoilers ahead" warning. But I'm confident the deck is versatile enough to perform well in any campaign or scenario, as it is not constructed to beat anything in particular.
I didn't test it on multiplayer and that's why I'm tagging it just as solo, but I think it could be adaptable making some changes.

How it Works
This deck is thought out for a fast-paced style of play, it has very few assets and a lot of events and skill cards that will allow doing that. Avoiding enemies, picking up clues fast, and using Gate Box to help us with both things are the heart of this deck.

• DEALING WITH ENEMIES (Run, you fool!)
You don't want to fight at all, believe me, you don't need to! You will evade and avoid enemies as much as possible, leaving them confused and frustrated when they almost had you in their claws (or tentacles). You have some fighting spells, but that's just for desperate cases or when defeating a bad guy is a scenario objective.
How many resources and actions do you need to defeat an enemy? The answer is A LOT. Enemies are by far the worst kind of encounter cards, and if you want to fight them you have to spend a big amount of resources and actions. Plus, they usually have a higher fight than evade value and Retaliate more often than Alert. The problem for investigators that rely on evading are hunter enemies, especially when they start to pile up. This is where Luke shines and makes a huge difference. Because luring one enemy or ten to one end of the map and then moving to the other side it's exactly the same. Just keep moving doing what you are supposed to, finding clues and advancing the act deck. Suddenly you'll realize you are way ahead of the doom clock because you haven't been wasting actions dealing with enemy after enemy.

• GETTING CLUES (Time Space is relative)
For picking up clues you'll rely on a mix of base 3 , boosting it with skill cards and the always reliable Hawk-Eye Folding Camera and St. Hubert's Key. On top of that, you count with some powerful events that combined with Dream-Gate allow you to pick and manipulate clues from high shroud locations from anywhere on the map. If there is a high shroud location you can't deal with at the moment, don't be afraid to just keep moving forward. You can use Seeking Answers or Vantage Point to pick those clues later on from other locations or the Dream Gate itself. Read the Signs is really powerful, and it's the only one I think you should save for the right moment. Playing solo you won't see too many high-shrouds multiple-clues locations, but if there is one, Read the Signs will make your day. It is also great for avoiding some nasty locations effects while investigating or discovering clues of course.

• RESOURCES (Broke, but Ok)
As usually happens with mystics, you may find yourself resource-starved at some point, having to pick playing one thing or the other. Don't worry about it and use it as an incentive to keep moving and picking up clues, instead of using actions to get perfectly set up from the get-go. If you really need to, don't hesitate about using an action to get one extra resource. I know it is inefficient and usually regarded as the worst possible thing to do... But with this deck, you'll be usually so far ahead of the doom clock that it's not really a big deal. All that said, if being low on resources bothers you too much, I'm listing some alternatives to solve that below.

• GATE BOX & SPECIAL ABILITY (Where the magic lies)
As you already know, Gate Box is the heart of this deck, even more than Luke's ability. In fact, you won't be using his ability that much, both because it's not necessary and to avoid endless debates and googling regarding the always confusing "As If" ruling. When necessary, you'll use it to pick up clues or attack enemies from the Gate Box or nearby locations (whenever I face an unclear situation I always grim-rule just in case anyway).
What you will be using a lot is the Gate Box, and you'll exploit it as much as possible. The most basic and obvious use of the Gate Box is to disengage from enemies during your turn when caught off-guard with no other means of evading. However, you should try to avoid doing that, try to always have an answer for evading enemies at hand, and save the box charges for more strategic plays.
One of my favorite moves is using it in the Enemy Phase, during the player window right after hunter enemies move but before they attack. This is insanely good to lure hunters to your location at one end of the map, then avoid being attacked at the very last second and move to the other side in the next turn, buying you precious time. It also gives you the benefit of being at the Dream-Gate during the Mythos Phase, which is a lot safer than being in any other place: Enemies that would spawn at your location will get discarded, treacheries attached to your location will be gone by the end of your turn, and treacheries that play with shroud value will be a lot easier to handle.
Doesn't matter the case, whenever you are using the gate box you will try to use the opportunity to pick up clues from high-shroud, or far-away locations, which you left there precisely for that moment.

Cards Overview

• Hawk-Eye Folding Camera & St. Hubert's Key
You need to boost two stats for this deck to work: Willpower and Intellect . You'll not be using almost exclusively as in some other Mystic decks, but both stats equally. These two assets allow us to do so, even if progressively or at a high cost. So that's why I don't recommend swapping any of them in favor of Holy Rosary, Crystal Pendulum or similar cards.

• Enraptured & Practice Makes Perfect
This is a key combo for this deck. You should try to use Practice Makes Perfect to target Enraptured whenever you have a high chance of succeeding at an investigation test. Do not gamble in this case, a successful investigation will land you a charge on the Gate Box and keep Enraptured in your hand for another charge. With this combo you can potentially place 4 charges on the Gate Box, adding up to any elder signs you may pull off the bag. Enough to keep your box running until the very end. But, just in case you don't find Enraptured among your first 9 cards, you also have Perception and Prophesy to make sure that Practice Makes Perfect never goes to waste.

• Dr. William T. Maleson
Even disregarding his ability (which can be awesome in the right situation), our dear Dr. Maleson offers a lot of soaking for just 1 resource, and some damage soaking is key for Luke.

• Mists of R'lyeh
Evade and move using just one action? Yes, please. Even more, if it comes at a cost of just 2 resources with 4 charges. And the potential downside is not that bad all things considered. As mentioned, evading and staying away from enemies is key for this deck since we don't aim to fight, so this is a key asset.

• Shortcut
Shortcut is a nice card to pull off some tricks and high-efficiency turns. But don't try to get too fancy with it, just use it when you see a good opportunity. It's there basically as a placeholder, to get some help with movement until replacing it when upgrading the deck.

• Arcane Research
Arcane Research will allow you to upgrade your Mists of R'lyeh and Shrivelling at almost zero cost. I would recommend upgrading your Mists first, from the basic version to Mists of R'lyeh (2), and then to Mists of R'lyeh (4) . This way by the fifth scenario you'll have two Mists of R'lyeh (4) regardless of what you do with your XP, making sure you can evade virtually anything. Or you can upgrade your Shrivelling in between to Shrivelling (3) version investing 1xp, and then to Shrivelling (5) version for free if the campaign you are playing requires you to kill a big enemy.

• Prophesy, Manual Dexterity and Unexpected Courage
They make the deck more versatile and allow you to pass tests while you get your assets in place, whether it is finding clues or evading enemies. They also provide a layer of security against treacheries.

Alternatives and Options

• David Renfield
You can use David in case you find the economy to be too slow, it will provide the same 2 damage soaking as Dr. William T. Maleson plus a nice +1 and an economy boost. Playing with this deck I have found to be significantly ahead of the doom clock most of the time, so David's downside may not be that bad.

• Drawn to the Flame
You can use it in place of Read the Signs, it may work even better in some cases. Especially if you play it from the Dream-Gate where a lot of encounter cards are mitigated. But Read the Signs can be an absolute beast ignoring some location-triggered effects, to the point of breaking scenarios, so keep that in mind.

• Working a Hunch
You can use it if you don't have some of the other clue-getting events, it's nice that it's fast. Its 2 resources price may seem cheap but when you are on a budget it hurts anyway.

• Deduction
It is another Practiced skill you can use to target with Practice Makes Perfect. You could use it in place of the other skill cards, I just like the other ones better because they make the deck more versatile. But Deduction can make wonders at the right moment of course.

• Ineffable Truth, Ethereal Form, Blinding Light, Shroud of Shadows, Sword Cane
You may use some other assets or events in place of Mists of R'lyeh if you don't have it. I think it's the best one in terms of price/value ratio, but some of those others might work as well.

Upgrade Path

• Pathfinder
This is the first card you should buy with your XP (replacing Shortcut), whether you are using the Taboo version or not. Even paying 3xp per copy it's a great deal as it will essentially give you one extra action per turn. Since you'll be using your Gate Box a lot, it allows you to get out of the Dream-Gate without spending an action, so you can just teleport anywhere and still have all your actions available. Since you don't want to fight with this deck, it works great to keep moving ahead of hunters.

• Crystalline Elder Sign
This is also a great addition, substitute St. Hubert's Key with it. It's cheaper and on top of the and boost, it will give you a handy +1 to help evading, passing treachery tests and making you more versatile all around, which playing solo is absolutely key.

• Mists of R'lyeh (2) and Mists of R'lyeh (4)
As mentioned before, I suggest using Arcane Research as a way of upgrading your mists for free. The idea is to go (0) -> (2) -> (4) for each one.

• Shrivelling (3) and Shrivelling (5)
I'd say in some campaigns you don't even need to include shrivelling in your deck, let alone upgrading it. But, since I haven't tested the deck in all campaigns and I want to make it as versatile as possible I think it should be included. You can go from the basic version (0) to the (5) one just spending 1xp if you have two Arcane Research.

• Seal of the Elder Sign
Seal of the Elder Sign is a great addition to this deck. If you gain enough XP replace both Manual Dexterity with it. The paired with Luke's +1 effect makes sure pass almost any test and at the same time gives you a charge on your most important asset: Gate Box.

• Seeking Answers (2)
This is another great way to get double clues from just one investigate action, and on top of that from two different locations at the same time. It is specially good when use from the Dream-Gate of course. If you have enough XP after other more pressing upgrades go for it.

• Campaign Assets
All campaigns offer you the possibility of adding assets to your deck. You should definitely include some of them, if they check one or more of these boxes:
• Give you damage soaking for cheap
• Boost or
• Boost your economy

Detailed Piloting

Early-Game
You should mulligan hard to try and get assets in hand, events and skills will eventually come around since you have a lot of them, but getting some assets in play early on it's key. Of course, you may not have enough resources to play them all in your first or second turn, but being able to choose what to play is important. Don't worry if getting set up takes some turns, just keep moving, revealing locations, and picking up clues.
You may have to use skills cards in those first turns to be able to investigate, use them to build up your Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, and clean locations. As mentioned, if you come around a high-shroud location you can just skip it and take care of it later on from the Dream-Gate.
You should try to get a Mists of R'lyeh in play as soon as possible, to have an answer for enemies that don't require using Gate Box charges. Plus, if you have Manual Dexterity, Prophesy, or Unexpected Courage in your hand you can manage to evade with high chances of success as well.
Using Spectral Razor or Shrivelling is for situations when defeating an enemy is key for a scenario objective, but that's more of a late-game situation, so get rid of them via mulligan if you can. If you end with one of them in your hand anyway, you can use them to one-shot an especially annoying enemy.
Of course, there will be that one time when you don't draw anything at all to handle enemies, and on top of that, the very first card of the encounter deck will be a hideous monster. Luckily, Gate Box is there to save you, but you need to make sure to move and reveal some location other than the initial one in your first turn to have escape options. Also, if you didn't draw any of the mentioned cards, you probably draw Dr. William T. Maleson, so you can try to pick up a clue on your first turn to shuffle a nasty enemy back into the encounter deck if needed.

Mid-game
By this point you should have your assets in play and your and boosted, so picking up clues should be easier.
There should also be some enemies on the map. If there is more than one hunter always try to group them together, if they are all in the same location it's easier to avoid them using the Gate Box, and it doesn't matter if it's just one or there are ten, it's the same. The best way to do that is by getting them to chase you to a strategic point, then using the Gate Box in the Enemy Phase when they enter your location after the hunter enemies move, but before they attack. That way you will be still at the Dream-Gate at the beginning of the next turn and can exit anywhere you want. Depends on the map size, but this usually gives you several turns to keep advancing the scenario until they catch up. You should also try to get clues from other locations with your clue-picking events at that moment.
Of course, you can't be using the Box all the time, so use it strategically combining it with evade actions to group enemies together and then use Pathfinder and the map layout to your advantage. All of these moves pay off especially well in big maps, where solo investigators tend to struggle because having to move so much. This way you avoid enemies and save move actions at the same time, making you incredibly efficient. Space becomes trivial and it works to your advantage!

Late-game
This is when the Gate Box shines the most. Of course, it takes special planning and strategic use of the box charges to get to this point with enough of them. But if you managed to do that it will make your life a lot easier to finish off scenarios, when things get really tight.
One of the advantages of having Box charges to spare is preemptively retreating to the Dream-Gate when you are in the final steps of the scenario, when you just CAN'T afford to draw an enemy in the final location or get a treachery attached to it. Use the Box after your turn and before the Mythos Phase, this way you'll be a lot safer, not to mention you may pick up clues from other locations for VP's or even to help you with the requisite number of clues for advancing that final act.
You can also drop somewhere else for a turn to delay hunter enemies that may be getting close to the final location and buy some time. By this point, you may also want to play a Spectral Razor or Shrivelling if you can advance the act by killing an enemy or want to get some extra VP's.
Of course, Gate Box makes a lot of scenarios where you need to escape to the initial location trivial, in those scenarios Luke is the king of crunch time.

Some Scenario Outcomes (Spoilers)

I have achieved some results using this deck that I find impressive given my previous true-solo experiences, so I'd like to share some of them. I hope this doesn't come across as showing off or anything like that, it's just to show the deck potential. There may be minor spoilers for some Dunwich Legacy and TFA scenarios if you keep reading, so keep that in mind.

• Completed the 3 Act decks in Threads of Fate
• Completed the Boundary Beyond Act Deck
• Completed Blood on the Altar with just 1 sacrifice ('Return to' version)
• Completed Undimensioned and Unseen Act deck defeating all 5 Broods ('Return to' version)
• Completed Lost in Time and Space with just 1 doom on agenda 3a. ('Return to' version)