Illicit Investigator (with Zoey)

I built this deck to take through Path to Carcosa with this Zoey. I feel I have this deck down to pretty well, but Zoey's deck needs a bit more work.
My objective was to have two investigators that can get through Carcosa without a seeker.

We have been successful in completing Carcosa with this pair twice. Once when we started off with Finn + Roland, but Roland got killed in the asylum, and was replaced by Zoey. Finn and Zoey managed to beatLord of Carcosa, even though she had very little experience. And the second time beating the King in Yellow.

Card choices:

• Flashlight: Being the main clue gatherer means Finn needs all the help he can get with gathering clues.

• Lucky Cigarette case: One of the few cards I'm unsure of, as we didn't get to use it. It gets promptly replaced by lucky dice.

• Fine clothes: Excellent in both the first and second scenario of Carcosa. Allows for an easier time to deal with Poltergeists in the first scenario, and parley with all the party guests in the second. After which they get removed. You could actually keep them in until after The Pallid Mask, as you face Poltergeists there as well, and they did give us hell.

• Dr. Millan Christopher: Should be fairly self explanatory. Also combos well with using streetwise for investigating at 8.

• Leo De Luca: Just too good a card, and worth the 3 XP it forces us to spend on Charisma.

• Lone wolf: Just a single copy. It's nice extra economy, but I really don't want to draw a second one.

• "You handle this one!": Because of Finn's single point of , there are a number of encounter cards he just can't deal with, the most annoying one being Frozen in Fear, but also allows Finn to pass an enemy to Zoey.

• BackStab: This card is meant to be useful in the first 2-3 scenarios and then replaced as Zoey gets more consistent in combat and Finn becomes more specialized.

• Elusive: Just an amazing card, but like Lone Wolf, you hardly ever want two.

• Logical Reasoning: Another way to deal with Frozen in Fear (yes, it's that annoying), also in Dim Carcosa you can really appreciate some sanity healing. It's very rarely a good idea to use it for the icons.

• Sneak Attack: Finn is going to be evading, sometimes throwing 2 testless damage can really turn things around.

• Waylay: There are some big enemies in Carcosa that are not Elite, specifically Agent of the King, that can be easily defeated by Waylay. Bonus is it doesn't discard the enemy, so you still get the Victory Display.

• Hatchet Man: Combos nicely with evading and then sneak attack for 3-4 health monsters, or evading and allowing Zoey to finish the job.

• Manual Dexterity: Finn is going to be evading, and in some scenarios, evading is a key way to keep safe and finish the scenario. the Phantom Menace and Dim Carcosa specifically. This will hardly ever be a dead card, and if it is, just throw it on an easy evade and replace it.

• Preception: Finn is going to be investigating, lots. On occasion, against very high shroud values.

• Quick Thinking: Throw it onto a lockpics test and you're nearly guarenteed a free action. Try not to use it on very difficult tests, but rather when you need the extra action, put it on an easy test.

• Unexpected Courage: Just generally useful, especially to help Zoey out if she needs it.

Mulligan:

• Curtain Call: You want to basically throw away anything that isn't Milan or Flahslight, as you're the only one that can get clues reliably.
• The Last King: The most important card in this scenario is Fine Clothes, but you should keep Milan or Leo if you draw them, or both if you already have Charisma
• Echoes of the Past onward: By this point you should have Lockpicks, so keep that on top of the usual Flahslight, Milan and Leo. If you have 1-2 investigating tools in your opening hand, you should also keep Logical Reasoning or "You handle this one!" if you have them, they're key to keep you functioning in the face of will tests.

Upgrades:

• After Curtain Call:
  Charon's Obol(2) - I know it's scary, but it's worth 10 xp over the course of the campaign. More if you embark on side quests. Finn's Sanity and Health are well balanced, and you have a fair amount of protection in form of allies. Just be careful.
  Charisma (3) - A single copy is all you need. Allows for both Milan and Leo to be in play, and really pushes Finn into powerhouse mode.
  If you didn't get 5 XP, I'd get the Charon's Obol and save the rest.

• After the Last King:
  2x Fine clothes -> 2x Lockpicks (2) - Since we don't have Magnifying Glass this is very important for consistency, and the Fine clothes won't be useful again before The Pallid mask.
  Even if you get 0 XP from the scenario, you'll have 2 from Charon's Obol, but you'll undoubtedly have XP for Charisma now, especially with Zoey running Delve too Deep. In any case, this is now a priority, you need those Lockpicks to be a reliable clue gatherer.

• Next, you'll want those, roughly in this order:
  First pick up Charisma if you haven't yet.
  Streetwise (3) - Spend 2 resources to get while investigating, get one back from Milan, or use it when you need to evade tough monsters.
  If you're high on XP, and can grab two copies Key of Ys don't bother with Lucky Dice, as it's going to compete for the Accessory slot. But if you're low, it's a decent choice Lucky Dice (4) - Very strong if you have a good economy.
  2x Key of Ys (10) depending on how well you're doing with XP. Key of Ys is actually extremely overpowered, and we're playing it that you have to place at least one Horror on it whenever you take Horror rather than whenever you place it on your investigator, Much more balanced this way, and still very powerful.
  2x Leo De Luca (2) - Usually just buy it if you have leftover single XP. It's nice to be able to play Leo turn 1 without spending an action to take a resource. 2x High Roller (4) - I find this card to be really strong. If you pass by less than 2, it was worth paying the three resources, if you passed by more than 2, you get the money back. Use it to bring your tests up to a point where they only fail on .
  2x Pickpocketing(https://arkhamdb.com/card/03195) (4) - I don't really like level 0 Pickpocketing, but the level 2 one is great for extra economy.
  2x Sure Gamble(6) - Very powerful, can even make Finn beat tests.
  Ace in the Hole (6) - Super powerful, but pricey, so take it just at the end when you've upgraded pretty much everything else.

• Cards you can take out: Lucky Cigarette Case - Take it out when you get your second copy of Key of Ys for other Accessory slots.
  Unexpected Courage - Take it out for High Roller or Sure Gamble.
  Manual Dexterity and Perception - Can be taken out once you have Streetwise for whatever you need to put in.