Trish Scarborough: I Spy a Seeker | Chapter 2 Deck Guide

I Spy a Seeker

These are replacement decks for Chapter 2 investigators. All have been playtested in Chapter 2, and also extensively in Chapter 1. If you want to support my work, give it a like ❤︎ and a favorite ★ on here!

It's Chapter 2 time! Here Trish boasts strong enemy management, with 5 and the M1903 Hammerless, but also the ability to investigate at a 6 or 7 stat. What more could you ask for in a Seeker... Rogue, I mean Rogue!

NOTE: There is an error where decks containing newer versions of cards cannot be posted currently (e.g. Overpower vs. Overpower). I won't be able to change the deck retrospectively to the new Ch2 cards, so please click this link for a version of the deck with the Chapter 2 cards.

At a Glance

Stats
Clue-finding:	★★★★★
Consistency:	★★★★☆
Enemy Management:	★★★★☆
Encounter Defense:	★★☆☆☆
Survivability:	★★★☆☆
Simplicity:	★★★★☆

_{I thought I'd implement a Valentin-style rating system to make these guides more accessible. "Consistency" covers card draw and resource economy. In essence it's an outcome measure of "does the resource economy cover the costs of my asset engine and desirable events, and can I find my engine and play it?"}

Overview

• Green Seeker is best Seeker: With two Magnifying Glasses and Dorothy Simmons, Trish investigates at a 7 (or a 6 with Hammerless). There's 19 icons in this deck to commit to tests, as well as Breaking and Entering for a big boost, and Deduction plus Working a Hunch for extra clues. Trish's extra evade has the knock-on effect of often giving her more free actions to investigate - high intellect is good to capitalize on that.

• The spy who... shot me: This deck is rich enough to afford Olivier, who you can be played with Dorothy due to Charisma. Olivier gives you a +1 boost, ideal for shooting Black Chamber Operative with Hammerless or for general evading. The art thief's ability to move away from an enemy you just evaded or drag enemies around prior to evading is top notch. Out of Sight, Through the Cracks and an over-success on Breaking and Entering provide further enemy management options.

• Mo' money, mo' mentum: Another Day, Another Dollar provides free resources that don't eat actions. When you throw in Magnifying Glass and Prestidigitation, what at first looks like a large and expensive engine isn't anywhere near as bad in practice. With an idealized opening hand of Dorothy, Olivier, Magnifying Glass, Prestidigitation and Lucky Cigarette Case you can play all of these and still have Olivier's move and one action to spare. Even with a worse hand, setup is never disappointing.

• Card draw and free movement: Card draw is Lucky Cigarette Case and Covert Ops, with Perception and Manual Dexterity. Try and get LCC into play early if you can, as card draw dries up otherwise. Alternatively Covert Ops can provide a move action, with Olivier adding another. Further move (and disengage) actions come from Through the Cracks evading and Out of Sight, as well as your ability (you don't need to succeed to trigger it).

• Encounter management: With this deck having robust enemy management and clue-finding, the drawback is it's pressed for space. As such there's a modest 4 and 7 icons in the deck, which are your defense against willpower treacheries. Dorothy and Olivier are soak, kill them off when you need to - on occasion you can pay for a second copy.

_{Thank you: 5argon and their thumbnail tool; Valentin1331 for his support over the years; the community creators of ArkhamDB (kamalisk), Arkham.Build (Felix) and Arkham Cards (zzorba) - linking their Patreons!}

Explain Yourself!

I always knew I wanted Dorothy in this deck, as her card compression is just too good (she's a stat booster, a resource engine and emergency soak all rolled into one). The decision point is therefore whether to take Olivier and Charisma.

Another Day, Another Dollar plus Dorothy and Emergency Cache mean you can comfortably afford Olivier, and his move refunds the action you take to play him. As such, while he's expensive and another asset to play, I think the benefits overwhelmingly outweigh the costs.

In terms of what isn't here, no Thieves' Kit or Sticky Fingers as you make enough money anyway. I wasn't keen on Mysterious Grimoire, as hand slots are hotly contested and it can pull Black Chamber Operative. Gather Intel or Guts would be nice, but there just isn't space. With Fingerprint Kit it's very expensive and, with Hammerless already in the deck, again I didn't want hand slot competition. Sharp Rhetoric is an alright idea, but boosting is pricey and you can use the resource saving to replay Olivier or Dorothy.

New starter deck additions: As free horror healing for what you want to be doing already, Unflappable is a straight swap for Through the Cracks. Deduction •• is an obvious choice and I'd upgrade into it early. I'd swap Manual Dexterity for Out the Door (and later the upgraded version), and Emergency Cache for "Watch this!". Breaking and Entering becomes Caustic Reaction to help tackle Black Chamber Operative (as now upgraded Deduction supports big investigate actions, so B&E isn't as needed). I would swap Unexpected Courage for Quick Exit and then also upgrade Quick Exit.

This deck then has horror healing and more icons for events, with some splashy resource skills on top and a little more enemy management. Upgraded Caustic Reaction is probably your luxury upgrade here.

Campaign starter and planned progression

0 XP deck is below (and link here).

A recommended order of purchases/upgrades is:

• 1 x Another Day, Another Dollar

• 1 x Charisma

• 1 x Another Day, Another Dollar

• Through the Cracks → Through the Cracks ••

• Out of Sight → Out of Sight •••

The fully upgraded deck and starter deck play very similarly, with Charisma allowing you to run both Olivier and Dorothy and Another Day, Another Dollar easing setup. Through the Cracks is a lot nicer when upgraded, which is why it's picked before Out of Sight.

Final thoughts

This deck is absurdly good! Olivier and Trish mean if feels like you have 4 or 5 actions most turns, and then your is strong enough to hoover up clues at pace. The big downside is Black Chamber Operative, so pairing Trish with someone who can help deal with him is wise. Even so, this deck does an alright job of managing him solo. If Skids was considered one of the weakest investigators of the old core, then I'd say Trish here is easily the strongest.

Hope you like the deck and give it a try! May the Black Chamber Operative be forever at the bottom of your deck...