Dreams of a Madman: Therapy in the Field

Card draw simulator

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NightgauntTaxiService · 338

Wherever her patients might be, Carolyn Fern is there for them.

TREATMENT PLAN

Use Field Agent's to discover clues, then Ancient Stone, Soothing Melody, Medical Student, and Inspiring Presence to keep them alive.
- You aren't actually built to be a support: this deck is almost completely focused on getting Field Agent in play and keeping them there to enable you to testlessly discover clues.
Mulligan targets, in order of priority: Field Agent, Backpack, Ancient Stone, Grim Memoir.
Stick to the Plan targets: Ever Vigilant, Toe to Toe, "I've got a plan!".
In the Thick of It: 2 mental trauma.

INTRODUCTION TO THE CLIENT

Turn 1, your priority is either to get Field Agent out or to get into a position to get it out soon.
If you don't have the Agent in hand, Deep Knowledge can dig for them. The tokens aren't that big of a deal for us as we'll hopefully be discovering most of our clues with Field Agent.
Additionally, you can drop a Medical Student to heal 1 horror from yourself (gaining you a resource), then use Calling in Favors to try to find the Agent.
Once you have at least 1 Field Agent in play, your goal shifts to finding a way to keep them in play. You have several options; Inspiring Presence can heal them so you can get a second trigger on the same turn, Soothing Melody is the gold standard for healing, Ancient Stone can be triggered by Grim Memoir assuming you succeed by 2, and Medical Student can serve as an emergency patch job.

KEEPING YOUR CLIENT ON TRACK

Your ideal game state is a Grim Memoir in one hand, an Ancient Stone in the other, 2 Field Agents in play, and Safeguard to save you move actions. Drop Soothing Melodies, Medical Students, and Stone refills whenever you need them, making use of the investigate actions Field Agent saves you.
Aside from your insane clue-gathering, you do offer some support (Hypnotic Therapy, committing cards to other investigators' tests) as well as two power attacks per cycle (Toe to Toe and "I've got a plan!").

ADJUSTING TREATMENT PLANS

Potential cards to cut: Backpack (switching to the level 0 version would make the first turn more expensive and make it less likely to find Ancient Stone, but 4 XP is a bit high for an already very XP-greedy deck), Charisma (gaining Medical Student as a healing option is good, but I'm unsure if it's "3 XP" good).
Potential cards to add: Pathfinder (replacement for Safeguard that doesn't rely on other players), Stand Together (card draw and resources are always useful).

Let me know what you think in the comments. Hope you enjoy!

2 comments
Aug 15, 2023 arkham-becons · 50 Always upvote Carolyn Fern decks. I have been tinkering with Carolyn myself lately. Here are some thoughts you might find useful: Access to non-guardian cards is precious and limited. In your case I'd probably replace "I've got a plan!" with one more Toe to Toe. Carolyn is an average cluever with restricted seeker access if there is no horror around to be healed. Healing horror from allies (except Peter Sylvestre) is much more difficult than healing horror from investigators. To this end I enjoy Forbidden Knowledge when playing her. A Carolyn deck needs a strong focus to feel impactful. Just "playing good cards" as many seekers can do does not suffice due to her limited seeker access. I like your gameplan centering around Field Agent to get testless clues and recursive horror to heal. However, the deck might be a little too inconsistent just hinging on those two cards. For a more consistent "testless clues" Carolyn deck I'd probably modify the deck as follows: Replace Medical Student with First Aid for multiple instances of horror healing on a single card. Consider including Alice Luxley or Death • XIII for additional boosts. Include Forbidden Knowledge for controlled horror damage to heal with Ancient Stone Replace Calling in Favors and some other events of your choice with clue-gathering events such as Scene of the Crime, Working a Hunch, Read the Signs, Drawn to the Flame, etc. On second thought, Carolyn has access to many great clue events and her excellent economy can support this playstyle very well. I hope you find some of these tips useful. I'll definitely build a "testless-clues" Carolyn deck and see how it performs now!
Aug 15, 2023 NightgauntTaxiService · 338 Hey, thanks for the feedback! Regarding your first points: The reason for "I've got a plan!" instead of a second Toe to Toe is so that Stick to the Plan can take it. This is less of a Carolyn Fern deck than one that attempts to weaponize Field Agent, which Carolyn's deckbuilding just happens to enable. That's why there's no Peter Sylvestre or Forbidden Knowledge; they don't support the core of the deck, which is the Field Agent engine. I understand your concerns about consistency, though. While Backpack is an amazing Item finder, Carolyn Fern doesn't have access to comparable Ally search effects (like Friends in Low Places). However, I believe that between Deep Knowledge, Scroll of Secrets, and Grim Memoir, you have enough card draw to have a good chance of finding Field Agent, and Grim Memoir should give you enough investigative firepower to pull your weight until you find the Agent. Regarding your proposed modifications, I think they could be good, though they would divert the deck's attention away from its core (play Field Agent, heal Field Agent, laugh at shroud values). This isn't to say your proposals would make a bad deck, just a different one. An event-focused Carolyn Fern, with Empirical Hypothesis upgraded with Trial and Error to trigger it with Forbidden Knowledge, would be very interesting to see. With this deck, though, I was trying to see just how ridiculous it would be to push Field Agent to its limit.

2 comments

Aug 15, 2023 arkham-becons · 50

Always upvote Carolyn Fern decks.

I have been tinkering with Carolyn myself lately. Here are some thoughts you might find useful:

Access to non-guardian cards is precious and limited. In your case I'd probably replace "I've got a plan!" with one more Toe to Toe.
Carolyn is an average cluever with restricted seeker access if there is no horror around to be healed. Healing horror from allies (except Peter Sylvestre) is much more difficult than healing horror from investigators. To this end I enjoy Forbidden Knowledge when playing her.
A Carolyn deck needs a strong focus to feel impactful. Just "playing good cards" as many seekers can do does not suffice due to her limited seeker access.

I like your gameplan centering around Field Agent to get testless clues and recursive horror to heal. However, the deck might be a little too inconsistent just hinging on those two cards.

For a more consistent "testless clues" Carolyn deck I'd probably modify the deck as follows:

Replace Medical Student with First Aid for multiple instances of horror healing on a single card. Consider including Alice Luxley or Death • XIII for additional boosts.
Include Forbidden Knowledge for controlled horror damage to heal with Ancient Stone
Replace Calling in Favors and some other events of your choice with clue-gathering events such as Scene of the Crime, Working a Hunch, Read the Signs, Drawn to the Flame, etc. On second thought, Carolyn has access to many great clue events and her excellent economy can support this playstyle very well.

I hope you find some of these tips useful. I'll definitely build a "testless-clues" Carolyn deck and see how it performs now!

Aug 15, 2023 NightgauntTaxiService · 338

Hey, thanks for the feedback! Regarding your first points:

The reason for "I've got a plan!" instead of a second Toe to Toe is so that Stick to the Plan can take it.
This is less of a Carolyn Fern deck than one that attempts to weaponize Field Agent, which Carolyn's deckbuilding just happens to enable. That's why there's no Peter Sylvestre or Forbidden Knowledge; they don't support the core of the deck, which is the Field Agent engine.

I understand your concerns about consistency, though. While Backpack is an amazing Item finder, Carolyn Fern doesn't have access to comparable Ally search effects (like Friends in Low Places). However, I believe that between Deep Knowledge, Scroll of Secrets, and Grim Memoir, you have enough card draw to have a good chance of finding Field Agent, and Grim Memoir should give you enough investigative firepower to pull your weight until you find the Agent.

Regarding your proposed modifications, I think they could be good, though they would divert the deck's attention away from its core (play Field Agent, heal Field Agent, laugh at shroud values). This isn't to say your proposals would make a bad deck, just a different one. An event-focused Carolyn Fern, with Empirical Hypothesis upgraded with Trial and Error to trigger it with Forbidden Knowledge, would be very interesting to see. With this deck, though, I was trying to see just how ridiculous it would be to push Field Agent to its limit.