Permanently Dark Darrell | HC 1K Series

Scoffers Catalog work best in dark horse for ressource generation.

Matchbox is a no slot item reducing by shroud for the whole turn.

@LucRivNor There's not that many targets for Schoffner's Catalogue in the deck realistically as it only pays for items, and the resource generation works well as it is (e.g. things like Burning the Midnight Oil give resources for an investigate action, so it's efficient).

Matchbox is good for sure but I like everything else better and wouldn't replace anything. Darrell isn't exactly crying out for -1 shroud to past tests. Thanks for the thoughts though.

It's such a great flavour because Darrel's quote says "The truth is darker than any of us know." But I think that Schoffner's Catalogue is good option to consider, as it is another card that can be searched by Backpack, but fact is that there are not many targets for it.

@Drostt Glad you like the flavor of the deck! From my earlier comment I still disagree on the point of Schoffner's Catalogue - as not only are there very few targets for it you also need 2 resources to play it in the first place. As this deck wants to be staying at zero (because Dark Horse is now there turn 1), then unless the Catalogue is in your opening hand this likely means taking a resource in upkeep (making you needlessly more vulnerable to the encounter deck) and likely another resource from Madame Labranche to play it. Or, if you did want to stay at 0 resources during the Mythos phase, you may end up taking an action to take a resource in lieu of other resource generating cards - which is grossly inefficient.

All the resource generation here allows for resource production and expenditure intra-turn so you're not vulnerable in the Mythos phase which, combined with the lack of targets for the Catalogue, makes it the superior setup. I think Schoffner's had more value when you needed to find and play level 0 Dark Horse, and so resource management was a bit more loosey-goosey. With the new permanent Dark Horse you can keep your resource management so much tighter which is a massive strength.

I did used to have a "What Didn't Make the Cut" section in my deck listings - but ultimately kept it out to keep it a shorter read. Rest assured I've thought about every angle with these decks, and in cases where I haven't I'll hold my hands up - but not including the Catalogue here was purposeful and very much not an oversight.

Where you could use it would be in a Madame Labranche and Dr. Milan Christopher Dark Horse deck with Charisma, as then you can generate two resources intra-turn, but then you're installing cards to install more cards - which is what I was very conscious to avoid with the design here as it's a tempo killer. As with all things though, do what you enjoy and what you think works best!

Hi! I love your decks. How would you spend additional XPs after fully upgrading the deck?

@DawnWraith Thanks - nice comments like yours do help to make it all feel worth it!

Survival Instinct •• is a nice one, as it evades rather than disengages each other enemy engaged with you on an evasion attempt before moving you to a different location, and it has an extra icon - so it's definitely nice value.

Upgrades on Empirical Hypothesis also aren't a bad idea if you're swimming in XP, especially as it's your main route towards evidence. Peer Review in particular means other investigators at your location can trigger it.

While it's much maligned, Emergency Cache •• is fine as a luxury upgrade only - more card draw is always better.

It's worth mentioning what I wouldn't upgrade is the Compass to Mariner's Compass ••. The deck isn't fail-forward like some Survivor decks, and so in essence you're getting very little out of the ready-on-failure feature - so it's 2 XP for a 1 resource discount. As Emergency Cache, Nothing Left to Lose and your starting resources can cover off the 3 resource price of a level 0 Compass (and Burning the Midnight Oil can with Madame Labranche) the extra discount - while nice - isn't worth 2XP IMHO. A pity it didn't get Fast like Fire Axe ••!

Thanks for another banger deck! Darrell is an investigating powerhouse and there's simply no helping it!

One upgrade I would consider is Scrapper (3), maybe before the At a Crossroads'es. Even though it doesn't help with Darrell's it is still a resource sink that's always available so you can safely take the resource during Upkeep in case you need that bit of extra boost against or tests.

@koaexe Thanks, I appreciate it!

And yeah that's not a bad idea, though I suppose what that will look like most often is taking a resource off Madame Labranche to fund a +1 boost, and 3 XP is a bit pricey for that. Personally I'd lean more towards a second copy of Hiking Boots in the first instance, even though they're one per investigator, just so they come out of the deck a bit more (but with the Backpack and card draw here I was happy how often they came out, considering your enemy management here will always be a bit more on the modest side).

I guess the big caveat to all of this is Darrell's ability can reduce the difficulty of tests, so thats a big catch-all which makes important tests easier - and lessens the need for more situational boosts.

Darrell invents night photography, I love it! I have to admit I'm a BIT nervous about Evidence after so many decks have ways to pile it on, but this is exciting! I'm so sad that so many of my old Survivor decks have lost steam with the Scav taboo, but it was needed. Thanks for a great starting point for a new round of decks that don't endlessly bring back a certain book and ice picks eternally!

@Nessmk2 Thanks, glad you like it! Yeah I was keen to put something out that was a bit different to Ice Pick/Schoffner's Catalogue/Scavenging and yet still strong and viable, so I pulled this together before the taboo landed. I think Darrell decks are always going to be a little similar (always with the hand assets!) but it's good to explore what that looks like with the new cards.

For me 2 copies of Empirical Hypothesis with the alright card draw and of course the Kodak was enough to have a reasonable stream of evidence. If you're more keen you can go for another hand asset for more, but then that means no double Mariner's Compass which I did definitely prefer! I guess you could Tool Belt to run more but it all gets a bit faffy and a lot of cards to play.

Awesome deck, Thank You I was thinking something like this one. Whats Your opinion about adding track shoes instead of hiking boots? Maybe with 1-2 drawing thin also for resources...Even a Key To Ys would be a nice addition, and maybe a Fire axe also, instead of evading Darrel could smash'em. (I'm NOT playing with the taboo rules).

@kriger Thanks, glad you like the deck! For Track Shoes over Hiking Boots, I think the 3 resource cost compared to the 2 is significant - and Hiking Boots' trigger is a bit more reliable IMHO. It's far from a bad alternative though.

If you're not doing taboos then definitely Key of Ys is excellent - it's easy enough to downgrade your Deduction •• and take In the Thick of It to afford a copy. For Fire Axe I wouldn't recommend it personally - even when setting Darrell up with the Key it's a lot to pull it all off (plus it's a hand slot so no dual Mariner's Compass). If you're set on a combat option, Hyperphysical Shotcaster is well worth it on Seeker's IMHO. Possibly take Crack the Case over an evade skill (Survey the Area maybe) to be able to afford it and start blasting. You should still try and evade some of the time to conserve ammo (aether), but combat options are always nice to take the pressure of Guardian team mates. Again it does come at the cost of not being able to dual use the Compass, but I wouldn't say it's a bad option at all if you do want more robust flex.

Thank You very much for Your kind and lightning fast answer! I'm also thinking about finding room for resourceful, and maybe cherished keepsake (that slot is free after all) and leather coat for extra protection...I haven't planned for wasting a precious hand slot for the axe, just a panic button at the end of scenarios where fight is inevitable with a baddie, to help out our friendly neighbourhood guardian instead of just picking a nose during a boss fight...can easily pull it out with two bacpacks or even from the resource pile with resourceful...

@kriger Yeah I can appreciate Fire Axe as a panic button, I've done the same with my recent Kymani deck (using British Bull Dog as a panic button, but expecting that you'll use Microscope and Thieves' Kit 99% of the time).

I did have Cherished Keepsake on an earlier version of this deck, but in the end decided on Madame Labranche as she provides soak in two directions and other benefits on top. The benefit of Cherished Keepsake and/or Leather Coat is it's another target for Backpack - however I found this deck especially tough in terms of deck space! I'd say if you find the means to add in other soak assets then Resourceful becomes more worth it.

Very interesting deck, I wonder if Empirical Hypothesis can spend evidence on darrell's Kodak to draw cards

@phargo Thanks! Re. Empirical Hypothesis I'm not sure, there's some discussion on the card's page about this but they never reached a conclusion. Possibly a good Q for FF.

In two player games, with the less clues around, I'm thinking about switching one compass to a hawk-eye folding camera... I think it would really suit Darrel...

Really enjoying my testing of this deck so far. I think I'm going to use it for our first-ever blind run of Scarlet Keys.

@kriger thanks for the comment and apologies for the slow response. Even in a two player game more clues means you progress faster most usually, so my personal tastes still lean towards double Mariner's Compass. Mouse Mask covers some of the ground already you get from Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, albeit the evidence you get on the Camera can be used more broadly with Darrell's ability.

@ChrisSF Glad you liked it! For a low maintenance deck I thought it worked a treat, the enemy management through evasion also felt just about good enough for me as well to not be deadweight in that regard.

Testing of this went great in Edge of the Earth. The extra movement from Pathfinder and Hiking Boots was insane. My only thought on tweaking the deck might be adding Crafty in place of either Burning the Midnight Oil or Emergency Cache to make it easier to play assets while maintaining the bonus from Dark Horse (5). I found that a lot of times, I was sitting with assets in hand and not enough actions to gain the resources I needed to play them while still progressing the game. It's really just icing on the cake though, because Darrell can usually do just fine with a single Mariner's Compass in play.