Carson: Desperate, But Not Serious

Carson always claims he brought his Winchester back from Little Bighorn, but it seems to be a dubious claim.

In any case, Carson starts In the Thick of It to give himself access to some Blessed tools and to get him close to "desperate" range. I just don't see him passing tests reliably enough otherwise, and I couldn't come up with a "testless" deck he could afford (a la Preston).

I realize it's risky to go with only two weapons and no item/weapon search tools, but utilizing the fail-forward skill cards, playing out the other assets, and donating actions to other investigators should keep him gainfully occupied in the early game.

Carson has many ways to add Bless tokens to the bag, and then Sacred Covenant and Favor of the Sun will help ensure he gets good value out of those tokens. With three "on demand" Bless tokens, two Reckless Assaults, and several combos off of Rise to the Occasion/Vicious Blow/Jury Rig, he has a fair shot at being a strong damage dealer in the mid- to late game.

It will be important to get one more horror on him, but with two Willpower that "problem" should take care of itself pretty early on.

It's a low-cost deck, so he shouldn't need any economy beyond the Take Hearts and Stand Togethers. Card draw could be a problem, but the two icons on the basic neutral skill cards only get him to a four in most cases and he only gets the draw from them if he succeeds.

This deck is also very action-efficient in that Carson can utilize every card in it using only nine total Play actions and that he will likely one-shot several 3- and 4-health enemies.

With only two weapons and one healing card, I acknowledge Carson is going to be walking a fine line using this deck. The tradeoff is that he should also be able to pass tests and deal real damage while donating at least one action per turn to his comrades.

I'd love to have been able to squeeze in a couple flashlights, but then I'd need to add bandoliers or toolbelts (or drop down to a much less effective weapon). I think Carson needs be built as a specialist.

Ideally, he'll pair up with another Bless-oriented investigator, like Mateo or Alt Wendy.

Please let me know what you think--I'll be grateful for all suggestions and feedback!