Pres-ton of money Fair(ish)mont!

This I think is a fine Preston Fairmont deck that plays to his wealth and privilege but without using the cards from Circle Undone which require Preston to keep drawing on his inheritance to keep increasing those stats and keeping those palms greasy.

The first things to mention about this build are the cards that require cash (resources) to power their abilities; hard knocks might seem tempting for the fight but dig deep gives you evade and will and fire axes can be fuelled from Preston’s family inheritance, trust me it’s sweet when you land a couple of 7 fight, 2 damage attacks. The knive are for dealing with rats and the like. Speaking of rats, for once Joey “The Rat” Vigil makes a lot of sense with this build as both a meat shield and an economy card for Preston who can exploit the free actions to get his weapons or his flashlights out for free. Whilst we are on Allies - Leo De Luca is a must in this build as is a Charisma upgrade at first opportunity. Leo and Joey are unique Allies and through RTDL Preston hasn’t minded killing off either Joey once he’s served his purpose or one of the scenario’s other acumilated allies. There’s an argument for Aquinnah but I’ve not yet found the card I want to give up for her, but in another campaign maybe I would?

Ok let’s talk Survivor cards! Preston is a perfect candidate for Rise To The Occasion as this works off his BASE stats so for any skills test of 3 or more. This will always put you one over a 3 skill value test so for will and evasion tests to get two over for standard mode would merely take one of your many resources, just throw some cash at it. RTTO also works well with Flashlights. I would swap elusive for some Lockpicks as my second upgrade to exploit dig deeps resources for evasion mechanic. If your not yet in business with your build i’s useful to have a lucky rabbits foot about for the extra card draw and because you can pay a measly 2 resources to play it without using an action if Joey is about. Superstition seems to be a card that Preston prefers to play close to his chest and I would consider upgrading to a lucky dice to continue this theme. The elephant in the drawing room here is cunning distraction, too expensive for most cash strapped survivors but our Preston is a survivor that has his cloth cut, and tailored, a bit differently. What does it matter if it costs 5 resources to evade even one enemy, there’s plent more in the bank.

Now how does a silver palmed, gold plated bachelor go about dispatching his enemies when he’s no fireaxe to hand? With more money of course! Ok I haven’t done the maths, I have an accountant for that, but with Backstab and Cheap shot being easily payed for through digging deep into your very, very deep pockets, if you’ve managed to evade your examines why not do a a good old fashioned sneak attack! I would definitely consider upgrading Back Stab for multiplayer games, or for dealing with Whiperwills!

Now we all know Preston is a high roller but he has no problems putting all his chips on red and going double or nothing when using his fire axes or with a quick thinking backstab to rise to the occasion and really do something spectacular - just don’t pull a tentacle, please god, nooo! In all seriousness you can pretty much guarantee when your going to succeed so taking quick thinking makes so much sense.

I just want to end by illustrating that Preston Fairmont magic for you with this - this happened to me. Imaging you already have Joey in play, you get down an item for free, you also play Leo De Luca then Investigate using rise to the occasion and quick thinking knowing only the tentacles can stop you, you succeed effectively giving you a 6 action turn, only a gold pocket watch could do that normally. This Preston build is fun to play.