Diamond-Edged Katana

People have been saying “Skids is the best user of the Katana…but it’s still not good in him. It’s just a bad card.” But Katana is a potential one-action solution to any 1-, 2-, 3-, or 4-health enemy, so let's find a way to make it work!

I think Joe is actually the best user of it, and in him it can be…okay. Steady-Handed is his secret ingredient.

This deck would work well for solo or flex but you could lean more into fighting if you drop some some clue tech for more weapon options to use while you prepare your board for a Katana.

Learning to love the Katana:

Steady-Handed is essential because it gives Katana a range of three consecutive values (e.g., -2, -3, -4) for which it will inflict 3 damage. For every fight action, you’ll need to consider:

• How much damage do I need to do this turn? You may only need to do 2 damage to an enemy, which means maybe you can take a simple swing with the Katana and, if you don’t get lucky with a 3-damage hit, you can fire the fast action on it and just boost your Agility. If it’s a 5-fight, 7-health boss, you might plan on two boosted Combat swings and then a quick poke with Agility.

• What three-value Chaos Token range encompasses the most tokens? For example, if three Skulls are -3, two Cultists are -2, the Tablet is -5, and the bag also has +1, 0, 0, -1, -1, -1, -2,-2, -3, -4, and Joe’s Elder Sign gives you +1, you’re most likely to draw a token with a modifier in the range of -1 to -3. In most scenarios, the symbols will change value as you progress, so you’ll probably want to lay out a spare set of Chaos Tokens next to your play area to more easily visualize your odds of drawing each token value.

• What is the total value of your base Combat (i.e., 4 for Joe) plus “mandatory” boosts (e.g., Katana’s innate +2, [Dissection Tools]'s(/card/09043) +1, and/or Reliable's +1)?

• What is the enemy’s fight value?

• Comparing these last two values, what cards (if any) do you need to commit to make hitting the middle number of your target range most likely? In the above example, you’ll want to attack at 4-over (i.e., to end up at exactly +2, and knowing you’re most likely to draw a token in the -1 to -3 range, you’ll want your boosted attack value to be 4 higher than the enemy’s fight value).

Mulligan and setup:

Ideally, you’ll start with the Detective's Colt 1911s, and quickly add one Dissection Tools and the Magnifying Glass. Geared Up and the Backpacks make this surprisingly likely to happen. (On most difficulties, I think two Dissection Tools and/or Reliable could be overkill and probably push you past the high end of your target range for triggering the first action on Katana.)

Play a Steady-Handed in preparation for the Katana. And a second if you’re able!

Pop a Tinker onto each tool so you don’t run out of hand slots, then overwrite the Detective's Colt 1911s with a Katana.

Play a Wolf Mask at your convenience.

Bonus:

Triggering Steady-Handed addresses Joe’s Achilles’ heel by healing sanity. This is important because you’ll fail against more than a few Treacheries.

Other cards of note:

Wolf Mask: Save these charges to boost your Agility on Katana’s optional second action.

Relentless is good here—really! On occasion, you’ll “accidentally” hit the sweet spot with the Katana and do three damage when you only meant to do one.

Analysis gives you additional chances to hit that sweet spot when you desperately need to do maximum damage.

The skill cards are all Practiced and you might want to target Fighting Lessons when using Practice Makes Perfect for its valuable Agility boosts.

Reliable gives you +1 on both types of Katana tests…nice.

Dr. Milan Christopher and the Magnifying Glass have you investigating at 6.

The Hunches cover healing, card draw, and testless clues.

Note on the Hunch Deck:

Tinker and Crack the Case are in your normal deck. The other ten Insights comprise the Hunch Deck. You might want to replace some healing with more draw and search options.

Upgrades of note:

Upgraded Vicious Blow works as a consolation prize for when you blow past your target range in that you miss out on Katana’s damage bonus but committing this card means you’ll still do two or three damage on most draws.

Upgraded Overpower is also a bit of a consolation prize in that it gets max value when you substantially over-succeed. And, again: Relentless does some work in this deck!

More targeted search and card draw would be ideal.