Card draw simulator
| Derived from |
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| None. Self-made deck here. |
| Inspiration for |
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| None yet |
TheMrPaul · 1
Patrice Is Losing It
Patrice is unique for her ridiculous card cycling ability. Since it cycles whether or not she uses her cards, she heavily favors cheap, fast cards to get maximum value out of as many of them as possible each turn. After all she gets 5 cards per turn but only 3 actions to use them!
This deck takes this to the extreme, avoiding non-essential assets for the most part while taking only the best of the best, highest value skills, and building around them. That is to say, desperate skills.
Overview
Our focus for this deck is to make sure every card is always useful, so that no matter what we draw and when, we can always use it. To this end I heavily favor and , and even avoid some obvious choices like Run For Your Life because they have a good chance of being dead on draw.
This is an all-rounder deck but carries a heavy focus on clue-getting simply because there is a generally higher chance of having clues we can get vs. having enemies we can fight/evade
Core
To make these work we sacrifice our Sanity. We take St. Hubert's Key and 2x Arcane Research, putting our starting Sanity at a healthy 3.
Alongside these we take a curated, well-rounded list of very powerful additional skills, focusing on and .
Supporting Cards
Sanity
Now we've exposed a weakness in our Sanity we need to address. This man can handle it on his own. An upgrade even gives us , our most important attribute.
Consistency
For most decks consistency means card draw. That's not a thing for Patrice. In fact, some cards we only take 1 copy of because we can be so certain we will draw it. Patrice's problem is having options available when she needs them. Allow me to present:
We can be pretty confident they'll be drawn and discarded, meaning they'll be ready for a little versatility boost whenever we need it to get out of a sticky situation even if we have an unlucky draw.
Economy
This is all we need, our card draw mechanic basically ensures we draw it, and our array of skills allows us to succeed tests by outright absurd amounts if we want, so we get the full value out of it.
Upgrade Path
Essentials (8 - 14)
- Cornered (2 - 4)
An absolute staple for any Patrice deck. The upside is excellent and for patrice the downside doesn't exist. Can even get away with a single copy.
- Mind's Eye (2)
Absolute powerhouse that fills out our weak points while being a card that is easy to evacuate from our hand without actions. Should be saved for our somewhat weaker tests or even . We really shouldn't need the help for
An obvious upgrade. Makes him beefier and gives us another
- Relic Hunter + Moonstone (4)
Moonstone is excellent for Patrice. Unfortunately we need St. Hubert's Key in a non-negotiable sort of way, so we need to wait until we can get a Relic Hunter before we can include it. It's powerful, but I am somewhat unsure if it's worth the experience cost here.
Rounding it out (1 - 4)
- Plucky (1) (1)
A simply great card. An almost-free Sanity buffer that provides options to boost our favorite skills. Just take one copy, it's non-essential and Peter Sylvestre (2) will protect it.
- A Test of Will (0) - Not an upgrade, but worth addressing
- Alter Fate (3) (2)
- Ward of Protection (2) (0)
- Stargazing (1)
Some form of Encounter manipulation is always a powerful tool. They are all cheap and fast and some of these can even make use of Arcane Research! (listed costs assume you use this at full value and possibly put the base version in your starting deck)
My preferred choice is Alter Fate + Stargazing as they aren't so reliant on what you draw. Then again, you could just take all of them and cancel everything. Ward of Protection (2) + Stargazing is also situationally a good choice.
Nice to haves (4 - 12)
- Brute Force (2)
- Sharp Vision (2)
These provide nice options for added value while falling nicely into Patrice's preferred style of card (high commit skills). we tend to work with basic actions anyway and they synergize excellently with Resourceful.
I didn't list Expeditious Retreat for the same reason I don't take Run For Your Life. I want to avoid cards that are likely to be dead passing through my hand.
These ones are just upgrades to cards we already take for mildly improved value. I would only consider them if I was flooded with experience.
What To Replace
All the cards in the deck are good, but some don't quite fit perfectly and should be higher priority to be replaced when upgrading.
Live and Learn Likewise. If you already commited a bunch and failed, you aren't as likely to succeed the second time.
Lucky! is in a bit of a weird place since we aren't a deck that expects to fail too much, and if we don't fail it's a dead card that can't even be commited.
Knife is really just a filler card. More often than not is just a 2-action event.
Premonition is great and always gets value, but it lacks impact.
Prophesy is great but really fluctuates in value
Reckless Assault The deck seems kind of silly when its fundamental cards are the ones being removed, but after Mind's Eye is acquired, we can get by without this.
Cunning Distraction Definitely handy, a good panic button, but unlikely to be used as more than a commit.
Drawing Thin You can get by with a single copy, this may be a bit reckless though.
Impromptu Barrier /Evading is generally our least valued skill if we are desparate for more space.
How To Play
Draw cards. Look at cards. Play cards. In play, the deck is actually quite simple. Get your assets out as soon as possible.. Focus on achieving maximum value on any given turn while keeping weaknesses in check (especially ones that take up hand space).
Keep in mind Resourceful as well as cards that can be played from the discard, you have a cache of emergency options available there.
Honorable Mentions
An honest man would take Run For Your Life along with the other desperate cards. Instead, I opt for Cunning Distraction as it provides a bit more versatility and doesn't suffer from sometimes being a dead card. But feel free if you're feeling bold.
Miss Doyle is very good for Patrice due to her low base skills. We only skip her because Peter Sylvestre (2) in such a powerhouse that fills out our weaknesses perfectly. If you can find a way to lose Peter, or pick up a Charisma along the way, this little cat is a good choice
This deck was made using only expansions up to and including Dream Eaters. If you have Edge of the Earth Available to you, it would be well advised to take In the Thick of It instead of Arcane Research. We barely use the latter, and the former would allow you to start with Relic Hunter + Moonstone
Against All Odds seems good considering our low base stats. But realistically most of the time it's rather useless. You will often play expecting -3/-4 and after playing this in a good case you can now reasonably expect -1/-2. So it approximately equates to a Unexpected Courage while costing 2 resources and 2 experience, with a small bonus of being able to avoid . Maybe in some edge cases it could be very good, but with Patrice we can't play around with edge cases. Loses value once Mind's Eye is acquired as well.