Please hold for Mr Renfield

Good deck! I think with a few tweaks it could become a solo-deck, too. An unconventional one, for sure, but an entertaining one. You'd need to add in some more support for when shrivelling can't be found, like "I've got a plan!" or Mind over Matter, but there's space to be found.

Really interesting that you're running 3 economy cards in Christopher, Renfield and Knowledge - there will definitely be games where this deck is swimming in resources and you'll wonder what to do with them. Oh for space for a cheeky Ross to share the wealth!

Why did you opt not to run Moonlight Ritual in the end? It would be a good safety valve for Renfield and allow you to push his resource-generation with more confidence if you hadn't seen Calling in Favors or FK? Or did you feel favours and ritual were mutually exclusive?

I'd second @zozo, those were my thoughts - no Moonlight Ritual or Mind over Matter?

Is this a true solo deck, or will it be used with investigators? I'd be worried that it lacks firepower. Might copy this and give a modified version a go...

Thanks for the comments folks! Aim is for Multiplayer, though as @zozo says you could likely modify it for solo... he's the expert there though!

Moonlight Ritual was certainly an idea... I think one could reasonably swap it in for D2D? I feel, though, with FK and Painkillers AND Calling In Favours (plus regular enemies) you should be able to finish Renfield off if you need to. The RItual has no other use beyond clearing Renfield which feels a bit of a waste... if you had a Mystic deck with Blood Pact and Arcane Initiate it might be a different beast?

I deliberately left out I've Got A Plan and Mind Over Matter as I was focusing on the theme stuff here more... I think you could easily put the latter in, maybe over Inquiring Mind (which leaves you very short on Skill cards!) or Shortcut?

Really like the deck. Have tried it solo (which I don’t have much experience playing) through first two scenarios of the core with a couple of changes.

For first scenario (before getting higher education and BoS) I swapped out the FKs for MoM. With the DtDs I got 8 exp and put in HE, Charisma and 2xBoS and dropped MoM. Didn’t do amazingly well at second scenario but got 3 cultists, 6 exp and translated the glyphs. Am thinking 2xSotD before upgraded glyphs to increase chance of pulling some fight early, doubling down on the resource pool with BoS dynamic, rather than IGaP etc. That said, not sure how I am dealing with remaining cultists in scenario three so might go the evade glyphs instead.

My thoughts so far are that the draw is excellent and even without FS it’s not hard to kill Renfield when needed, with through CiF, painkillers or just the encounter deck. Being able to play him free after using CiF on lab assistant is great.

It was early ageing style stress to manage the doom on Renfield with the encounter deck randomly spewing extra doom, but WoP helps control things a bit and even having him out for a short time is a significant resource bonus. Could be even better I suspect if I was more across the math.

HE works great with the resource pool from renfield and/or Milan and makes shrivelling really potent. The draw meant I didn’t even need research assistant to pull BoS to recharge it.

Downsides were definitely any agility or fight test. Grasping hands was punishing and a locked door just ended that location for me (though playing inquiring mind with better timing than I did would help). But there is a fair bit of damage soak and PK to take the edge off. I also suspect I would really have struggled if the encounter deck had pressured me with more enemies.

Have no plan on how to deal with scenario three yet but excited to try it! Will also be very interested to see any modified solo decks that those with more experience than I come up with.

Thanks for a cracking idea for a deck!

Wow @Barkash thank you for the detailed notes! Very interesting to read your experience, seems some parts are working as planned and others maybe need some more thought. You reckon the Milan/Renfield econ works well, then? Is it too heavy or about right? Could Milan maybe be dropped?

As stated, I designed the deck to work in multiplayer, but maybe we could look at Scientific Theory or Hyperawareness to give us a or boost? Also maybe we can move Archaic Glyphs (Prophecy Foretold) up the priority list to help us with any rogue enemies we can't Shrivel?

As for scenario 3... is there maybe something to be said for Storm of Spirits?! Clear out the path when the parasquad of cultists drops in?

Using Renfield and Milan to fuel Higher Education for Shrivelling and Guiding Stones seems like a really solid core. I'm more curious if you really need the calling in favors. Sure one resource to play a new ally at -2 cost while getting 2 cards is great, but you are cutting some really good cards to fit all the allies into your deck.

Running only two combat cards is not my cup of tea, and for the longer campaigns (Dunwich/Carcosa) it seems like a mistake to not use the power of the Acidic Ichor even if the cards in the first missions are going to be awkward.

Yes, apologies @unitled I know you intended it as multiplayer and I am sidetracking down a solo route (quickest way to try it out really!).

On multiplayer, I think it looks really powerful. With HE, a significant resource pool and BoS to recharge it, archaic glyphs (guiding stones) would allow Daisy to hoover up clues. It’s like a turbo charged Rex that can be maintained (action free) with BoS. I would have thought that with Milan down and at say a 2 shroud location, taking 4 clues for two resources and a single action wouldn’t be unrealistic.

No doubt that’s something that people have already built decks around, but renfield as you’ve built him into this deck gives a big resource pool to fuel HE and BoS.

Back on the solo side track, I haven’t found Renfield/Milan too heavy so far. Renfield’s output is variable (longer or shorter agenda, doom added by cards etc) so Milan adds consistency.

Hyper awareness and scientific theory would be worth trying out I reckon , though to me scientific theory seems fragile in a deck that can’t get it back again.

One other possibility I was considering was to go with archaic glyphs (guiding stones), then dump deduction for encyclopaedia. It makes a bit of a tussle for hand slots (bearing in mind necronomicon), free tome action but encyclopaedia help ease the fight and agility tests and can be drawn out with research librarian (though it competes with BoS for that as well).

For extra fight, thematically I still like the idea of putting SoTD in now for DtD but “I’ve got a plan” is probably just better. Fewer exp, should be affordable and can do big damage. With shrivelling ideally being recharged by BoS, it can be used to deal with little as well as larger enemies, so on reflection SotD is probably not needed.

I like storm of spirits for scenario three! Cracking idea and a card I really want to try out.

@ilza Fair Point about acidic ichor, though I think I have somewhat derailed the discussion on this by talking about solo. In multiplayer, I think shrivelling should be enough to see off those enemies that others can’t deal with.

However, in solo or multiplayer I think CiS is pretty crucial. The lower resource cost for an ally is a bonus but the key function is to get Renfield out of play before he loses you the scenario. Without CiF you’d be relying on enemies, PK or FS, which is not quite enough I don’t think given the stakes are potentially so high. For what it’s worth, I have found it crucial so far in my (albeit limited) play through the core.

Also, being able to put Renfield back in your hand (rather than the discard), means he is ready to go when the agenda finally ticks over which is another bonus.

@Barkash The easiest way for this deck to deal with Renfield seems to simply be play another ally and discard him. Sure, getting him to hand is a nice option, but even with Charisma getting Lab assistant or Research librarian in hand is of limited use since their icons are not great.

Lab Assistant and Research Librarian both have comes into play reaction abilities which gives you additional value for replaying them? You can also use CiF to trade an early Research Librarian into an Ally you didn't get in your opening hand (Milan or Renfield) to kickstart your economy.

Keeping Renfield (and in fact saving the value you spent on him) rather than overwriting him I feel gives you a better trade off. YMMV of course!

While Lab Assistant and Research Librarian certainly have comes into play effects, you're not certain to want several triggers form them. Especially the Research Librarian is great for the first trigger, but the second trigger is very mediocre. With Milan and Renfield out you might get stuck with those cards in hand for quite some time.

CiF is certainly not a bad card by any means, just interested in the discussion about including it.

Some other people have mentioned Moonlight Ritual in the same slot, I think CiF is straight up better as it has other uses at the same time.

I think those uses easily justify its place in the deck to be honest, as it comes with a host of potential benefits; trading up Allies, setting up early econ by tutoring for your money Allies, replaying those with comes into play effects, wiping Doom, 'healing' damage/horror they've soaked... To be honest I think there are far weaker cards in the deck, especially when you've picked up Charisma!

@ilzayeah my experience so far chimes with @unitled, but agree it’s an interesting discussion and if you give it a go minus CiF i’d be very interested to hear the results.

Really like the deck! Renfield+CiF+utility seeker allies is inspired. Have people found Forbidden Knowledge and Painkillers to be useful though? Forbidden Knowledge feels redundant with Renfield+Milan, and Painkillers with so many disposable allies feels medium. I understand that they can kill Renfield, but if you cut them, you still have 10(!) cards in your deck that do the job. I've been running him a bunch in Mystic, with far less card draw and only Moonlight Ritual and Ward of Protection as safety valves, and not found it to be problematic. In a pinch you can often find a way to take attacks of opportunity to kill Renfield, although that's less available if you are playing solo as fewer enemies will show up.

I don't think the deck really needs anything else to function, but using those four slots for any combination of I've Got A Plan, MoM, and Medical Texts would give you powerful situational options. Adding Charles Ross, Esq. and/or Strange Solution feels incredibly greedy, flavorful, and fun. Or maybe just skill cards to support your allies? If nothing else, FK/Painkillers surely seem like the first cuts as you add Book of Shadows/Cryptic Research/Pathfinder, etc.

Thanks @tomhorstmann, interesting feedback! I must admit, FK and Painkillers largely made the cut on theme alone, but you're right, on reflection I would hope the other cards are keeping you topped up enough with cash that you don't need yet another source of money.

Charles Ross absolutely looks like fun and could be a great way to dump yet more cash if your engine is really rolling, assuming you're in a higher player game. I think I'd like maybe even 2 Charisma before taking another unique Ally though?

Or, yeah, as you say, just cut it early to add some other stuff :)