Beatus es iustus

Beatus es iustus (Blessed are the righteous)

In addition to his primary tasks of sealing chaos tokens and supporting his fellow investigators with judicious uses of Scrying and Ward of Protection, Father Mateo is capable of limited Fight and/or Investigate actions.

Arcane Initiate should be his primary mulligan target as this Ally will allow him to search for Spell cards as well as give him a necessary (albeit minor) health and sanity boost. Next, would be St. Hubert's Key (and later: Crystalline Elder Sign) as this will give him a much needed boost to his and . Finally, an opening hand with either Scrying or Shrivelling would just be gravy if the former two cards were already in hand.

Keep in mind that because two copies of Arcane Research have been taken which means that Father Mateo will start with base stats of 6 health and 6 sanity. Playing St. Hubert's Key will further bring down his starting sanity to 4, which makes for an interesting start—at least until they're upgraded to Crystalline Elder Sign.

NOTE: If your multi-player group of investigators does not warrant the inclusion of the Custom Ammunition ••• card, then in the initial starting deck swap out 1x of St. Hubert's Key card for the Crystalline Elder Sign ••• (Blessed) card instead.

Card Upgrades

Over the course of a campaign, the primary non-Spell card upgrades for this deck are:

1. St. Hubert's Key » Crystalline Elder Sign ••• @ 3/6 XP
2. Protective Incantation • » Seal of the Seventh Sign ••••• @ 5 XP [x1]

Other non-Spell card upgrades can be taken as desired and as dictated by the campaign as well as his fellow investigators:

• Emergency Cache » Emergency Cache •• @ 2/4 XP
• Fearless » Fearless •• @ 2/4 XP
• Premonition » Counterspell •• @ 2/4 XP
• Arcane Initiate » Arcane Initiate ••• @ 3/6 XP
• Clarity of Mind • » Book of Shadows ••• or Moment of Respite ••• @ 3 XP [x1]
• Drawn to the Flame (or Manual Dexterity) » Alter Fate ••• @ 3/6 XP
• Manual Dexterity » Seal of the Elder Sign ••••• @ 5/10 XP

However, Spell cards should be upgraded one at a time after every scenario in a standard 8-scenario campaign. The 2x copies of Arcane Research decrease the required XP as follows:

1. Scrying » Scrying ••• @ 1 XP (instead of 3 XP)
2. Scrying » Scrying ••• @ 1 XP (instead of 3 XP)
3. Ward of Protection » Ward of Protection •• @ 0 XP (instead of 2 XP) [x1]
4. Shrivelling » Shrivelling ••• @ 1 XP (instead of 3 XP)
5. Ward of Protection •• » Ward of Protection ••••• @ 1 XP (instead of 3 XP)
6. Shrivelling » Shrivelling ••• @ 1 XP (instead of 3 XP)
7. Ward of Protection •• » Ward of Protection ••••• @ 1 XP (instead of 3 XP)

...although one (1) Spell upgrade should be taken at full XP cost sometime prior to the start of the 2nd half of the campaign:

• Ward of Protection » Ward of Protection •• @ 2 XP [1 of 2, see above]

Other possible Spell card upgrades, based campaign specific necessity, are:

• Rite of Seeking » Rite of Seeking •••• @ 2 XP (instead of 4 XP)
• Shrivelling ••• » Shrivelling ••••• @ 0 XP (instead of 2 XP)
• Shrivelling ••• » Shrivelling ••••• @ 0 XP (instead of 2 XP)