A simpler 2 packs Norman deck than Norman the Miskatonic Tutor I made a year ago, that deck was complicated for newbies to understand due to Forced Learning and I also got better at making limited pack decks now.

This deck focus on purchasing many non-Skill cards with good icons to work with Written in the Stars, Astronomical Atlas, and Livre d'Eibon. At the end of upgrade, what you see on top of your deck is likely a double icons card, therefore you have more opportunities to pull off the Norman combo.

► About "2 Packs Deck Guide"
　A series of decks made with the new distribution model in mind, requiring a Revised Core Set box + just 1 more Investigator Expansion box. ❄ character on the deck's name means the additional box it uses is Edge of the Earth Investigator Expansion.
　It maximizes the chance of newcomers being able to build and learn to play the game, enjoying the story on Standard difficulty ASAP. They can then get into deck-building later if they wished to do so. See other decks in the "2 Packs Deck Guide" series here.

(View at arkham-starter.com)

The first 6 XP are like that because we have 2x Arcane Initiate and 2x Research Librarian to search up 1 copy of those cards added to the deck. This way we can get other non-searchable cards into the deck faster. So mulligan with this in mind in the 2nd scenario so you get to use your new XP card to farm more XP.

2x Grounded (3) is where it gets more comfortable, able to Blur at 6+ , Shrivelling at 5+ , and the Composure can take some beating against unlucky treachery.

With Scrying (3) added right after, you will be much less likely to randomly slip down any ice cliff again by arranging it to other players, or even skip it with Foresight.

When 2nd Astronomical Atlas added at the very end of 29 XP section, Research Librarian are all phased out, which may make you feel uneasy not able to search Livre d'Eibon like before.

But instead of drawing Research Librarian and having to pay 2 and an action to search then play the thing you searched, you will surely see other interesting cards to play for immediate benefit instead at this XP point. Even a humble Perception, that draws you a new card while you work and let you go towards Livre d'Eibon anyway. Besides Norman is fine without his signature. Research Librarian also has an irrelevant icon. I think it is best to remove all to make your endgame deck really concentrated with good icons.

2 Packs Team Compositions

2 Packs Deck Guide : Edge of the Earth series is now complete with the following decks :

• Daniela Reyes: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Burning Bruiser
• Daniela Reyes: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Tanking Cats and Dogs
• Norman Withers: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Double Icons in the Stars
• Norman Withers: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Norman the Miskatonic Tutor
• Monterey Jack: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : The Underworld Bullwhip
• Lily Chen: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Lily the WILL AGI Battle-Mage
• Bob Jenkins: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Short Supply Scavenging
• Roland Banks: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Roland the Real, Authentic Spy
• Daisy Walker: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Guns and Books
• "Skids" O'Toole: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Destiny Draw
• Agnes Baker: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Agnes the "Mahou Shoujo"
• Wendy Adams: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Wendy Lovecrafting

To help assembling a party made entirely from just 2 packs, I have a tool that let you browse team compositions for 2 players, 3 players, and 4 players, that has manageable amount of card overlaps or even none at all. The result is sorted from low to high overlaps. Click here to see all team comps.

Splash

These limited five Lv.0 cards represent what initially gets him to be interested in higher arcane. When purchasing in new Lv.1+ , we will be careful not to remove these cards.

• 2x Arcane Initiate : Get to your spells faster. Prioritize Blur (1) and Shrivelling which let you survive, then Rite of Seeking (2) which let you accelerate clues as your final action to end each turn. For Scrying (3), it has nice icon and you maybe able to get up to hand with Astronomical Atlas committing later.
• 2x Shrivelling : This will forever be your only offensive spell in the deck. The reason of not using Brand of Cthugha is because Shrivelling has better synergy with Winds of Power, which is a card with nice icons. We will "upgrade" this spell via Grounded.
• 1x Holy Rosary : I would like 2 copies of this if it is possible! But the other 4 cards are more important. Grounded (3) will take the boosting role of Holy Rosary in this deck, but together even better!

The icons

This deck is full of juicy icons that Livre d'Eibon, Written in the Stars, and Astronomical Atlas can use. Astronomical Atlas also act as a tutor card, double icons are more likely to get a pass in the test.

• Grounded ••• :
• Scrying ••• :
• Foresight • :
• Winds of Power • :
• Astronomical Atlas ••• :
• Working a Hunch : (All removed later)
• Perception :
• Guts : (All removed later)
• Unexpected Courage :

How to support your team

Teamplay is centered around Scrying •••, an often overlooked card in Revised Core Set.

• Use it on Encounter Deck and be surprised how much you can prepare, or even "game" against what you are getting, even without using Foresight combo to kill it. (But Foresight is a good idea to bypass enemy draw.) You will noticeably not draw the test that deal damage to you anymore, unlike earlier scenarios. This is important as he has 1 and the fail-by kind would destroy him. An enemy he can Blur away but test he hates it!
• Use it on other investigator's deck to tutor up to 3 cards deep, but that is not exciting, the real power is you can arrange clunky asset for Foresight (you name the correct card for sure when they draw in Upkeep or manually in their turn), gaining massive tempo for that investigator. (No action cost to play and even -2 resources!)
• The top of deck you are seeing may not be to your liking. Use it on your own deck to see 2 more cards under it, and try getting a good cards for Written in the Stars, Astronomical Atlas at the right moment, such as Deduction when you are standing on VP location.

There is Parallel Fates (2) with similar power and it looks deeper, but Scrying (3) is searchable with Arcane Initiate and icon is better to win games when play with commit techs, plus charges can be refilled with Winds of Power, which also has nice icons.

Card tips

• Heavy Furs : These are replaced with Grounded (3), following Grounded (3) purchases are cards which help avoiding treacheries. The role of Heavy Furs is to take those treachery damage head-on while you wait for better countermeasure. So recommended not to use the symbol redraw effect if possible and keep 2 health for tanking. No other Ally in this deck can take 2 damage.

• Rite of Seeking •• : Mystics with low like Agnes Baker maybe challenged to use it in 1st or 2nd action at risk of ending the turn early to get more than 2 clues, rather than using it only as a final action. But Norman has 5 to investigate normally on 1st and 2nd action. Even if he use this safely as the final action only, he gets average of 4 clues in a round. (Plus he can evade "for free" with Blur.)

• Grounded ••• : It is not just the to play with Astronomical Atlas or Written in the Stars. This card is unexpectedly tanky giving Norman 2 precious health. I'm sure 6 XP for 2 copies of this will be used. (That said, you should have Ally take damage/horror instead of breaking Composure.) It upgrades Shrivelling which had no boost, and makes Blur even more reliable against 4 . You can spend 1 resource to hit Shrivelling to 4 enemies.

• Winds of Power • : Since you see the top of your deck, you can always draw it to trigger . All spells are good target, even Shrivelling. If you don't need the charge, the icon is good with Livre d'Eibon / Astronomical Atlas.

• Foresight • : Other than the support play with Scrying (3) to help friends setup, you can use it on yourself since you already see the top card of your deck. Since Norman has -1 discount play from top deck once per round, this allow doing that once again in the same turn (this time at -2 discount) if you want to setup many cards.

• Medical Student : 1 copy, which is handy to heal the new Edge of the Earth Basic Weakness.