The Clueless Reporter

To be honest, I didn't have a single clue about what I was writing about. Until I did.

Rex Murphy, on his article "Saving the Shoggoths"

Intro

Oh, Rex. Sweet, tabooed, broken Rex. I love him, I just love his efficiency, his dedication to clues, his thinking pose. What is he thinking about? Guess we'll never know.

So, I really shoulnd't be going on about why Rex is powerful, we've known that since what, 2016? What I'm here to tell you is what I think might be the next big thing: dropping clues.

We've all seen the sweet new cards that do absurd things when dropping clues, but I can hear a voice from the back screaming angrily "but isn't getting clues the whole point of the game?" to which I will answer "yes, yes it is" and then proceed to drop these precious clues on the ground. And laugh.

And then pick them up again. And again.

Gator

So, why Rex? Well, I could just tell you "why not" to this silly question, but since you've asked I might as well give you a proper answer. If Rex does his job nicely (let's say, succeeding by 2 or more), he grabs 2 clues (once per round, we respect the taboo bible in this house). So he's far and beyond the best Gator to drop clues with, as he has a built in action economy ability that makes it much more forgivable to do so.

Plan

So, why are we dropping these clues? At level 0, it's mainly obscene events and synergy. Bizarre Diagnosis lets us live a bit longer, Captivating Discovery features Rex on its art and lets us grab 2-6 cards from the top of our deck, Analysis is basically an auto-succeed on crucial tests and comboes off with the reason why I made this deck in the first place.

That's Research Notes, yeah. Wasn't it obvious? It's Research Notes. Card's incredible, yadda yadda. Let's move on with the combo.

Not only do the Notes grant us our clues back with a easy 0 test, not only do they give us double clues if we happen to have both copies out, but it comboes off fantastically with Analysis: you take the Notes test, you commit Analysis, you drop clues until you get a satisfying token, you put that many evidence on the Notes, you take the evidence out and take the clues back, plus some more. It's a win win. If you have the other Notes out you get so much value it skyrokets out of orbit.

Man, do I love Rex.

Other cards are manily there for finding the Notes (Whitton Greene, Research Librarian, Deep Knowledge, Eureka!, The Raven Quill), because they synergize fantastically with our ability (Quick Thinking, Lucky Cigarette Case), economy (Burning the Midnight Oil and Crack the Case) or grabbing even more clues (Connect the Dots and the obvious Deduction).

The deck is geared towards being the fastest and most efficient cluever around, so it lacks enemy management and mythos prevention. If you play this Rex you want to be the engine of the team, full steam to victory. No stops. Just clues.

Experience

So, for the juicy part: how should you spend your experience? Well, I divided your needs in different areas, and you could mix and match improvements as you see fit for your campaign. Go wild, go nuts, go Rex.

1) Clue Dropping Synergy

• Press Pass in, Lucky Cigarette Case out. That's a given, card's so good I could cry. It also works when spending clues for whatever reason! Enjoy your yellow Leo De Luca.

• Forewarned instead of Bizarre Diagnosis and any event you don't feel like playing. Why heal damage when you can avoid Encounters?

• Quick Study finally finds a home. Insane combo potential with both Notes out, particularly with 4 players.

• Studious has consistency written all over the card. People love the guy.

• Dr. William T. Maleson is I guy I am fond of, managing the Encouter Deck is very good and he tanks like a beast. Also, he makes for a nice connection to the next area, that is...

2) Miskatonic Team Asseble

• Miskatonic Archaeology Funding. Take this and go to town upgrading Whitton Greene, taking out both Research Librarian and going the Maleson way. Have fun with the academics while you cycle clues like the mad reporter you are. Speaking of clues...

3) Clue Gathering Efficiency

• Divination. Does not take up any important slot? Check. Takes up more clues than you can hold? Check. Powers up ? Check. This card is bonkers with Rex.

• Yeah this deck wants to level up Deduction.

• Death • XIII is a very nice card indeed. Anything to get more !

Obviously s have loads of ways to spend xp and get better at their job, but the way this Rex picks locations clean... It's a delight, both to behold and to play with. A real joy I say!

Style

But how does this Rex play? Your first turns should be focused on finding at least one Research Notes, making your deck as consistent as it gets. You have all the tools to investigate very well without it, so finding the Notes is key but not as essential as it might seem: you're still a great cluever without them, and all the clue dropping cards are still ok to awesome on their own. This is even more true after spending some xp on Clue Gathering Efficiency.

When you get both of the Notes out, well, that's when you go to town. Drop, gather, drop again. Let the clues flow freely. Investigate a low shroud location, drop the clues somewhere safe, use Notes on a high shroud or nasty place to investigate and pick them clean (The action on Notes is not an investigation so you suffer no ill effects such has Haunted if you fail!).

This Rex is way more efficient in some campaigns than others, so knowing beforehand what you're going to play can make this deck from valuable to god like. Innsmouth and The Circle Undone come to mind as wonderful, as they don't always that all the places you visit are picked clean and forgive you for dropping most of your clues on the ground. Same goes for The Dream Eaters, but most of its locations grants Victory so leaving clues on them is not ideal. Carcosa and Dunwich require you to drop and pick back up more than others, expecially in latter scenarios, but you will still have a blast playing this vacuum cleaner of a seeker, I promise.

Conclusions

Yeah maybe I'm biased, Rex is obviously OP but I can't seem to get bored toying with him. What Scarlet Keys gave me was a new way to look at him, something that happened with many investigators and the real reason I started posting decks in the first place.

I hope you'll like the deck as much as I did, as always any feedback is gladly appreciated! Now go on, cluevers, pick up your clues. And drop them. And pick them up again.

And again.