The Holy Cluever - Father Mateo - Hard Difficulty

Mystics can be great at any task in the game but I was struggling to make a damage deck for Mateo that I really liked. It looked alright but I really like how this deck came together. The Holy Cluever has Rite of Seeking and Drawn to the Flame for getting clues quickly and he can also get to a 4/5 combo'd with a Flashlight. Unlike most feast or famine Mystic decks that I have built this one should be pretty consistent for clues.

The driving force for playing Father Mateo is my second play of The Forgotten Age later this month. He seems like a thematically appropriate choice to be called upon as a guide into some mysterious happenings in Mexico. He will be paired with Rita who doesn't have a thematic tie-in to Forgotten Age but should dominate the campaign (as much as any investigator can). I might even go against my better judgment and play on Hard difficulty. This deck should work in any campaign though. The only change I might make is including an extra evasion event since it is The Forgotten Age.

Goals For The Deck

I expect this deck to do quite well on Hard difficulty in most campaigns. It is setup to be Seeker Style with enough evasion and attack such that a full time watching him isn't needed. He will need to be paired with someone that can do more enemy management in 2p and I think Rita will do quite well in that role. He would also do great as flex in a 3-4p with a typical combo.

True solo might be an option but he only has 4 cards in the deck for enemy management so that would probably need to be increased because he might go several turns without drawing one of those cards. The deck would probably need a few small tweaks for True Solo.

Expansions Required

1. Core Set and Dunwich are required
2. Carcosa - David Renfield and Calling in Favors could be left out for other cards. St. Hubert's Key would be a big loss for the static boost though. Uncage the Soul could be swapped with Emergency Cache
3. The Forgotten Age - you need Mateo obviously. Mists of R'lyeh is necessary for playing TFA but a luxury for other campaigns.
4. Circle Undone only has a couple of cards and they can be swapped out easily.
5. Dreameaters - I don't have it but any of the events (Read the Signs - Ethereal Form - Spectral Razor) would fit in nicely as non Arcane slot options for those tasks.

Other Mystics Can Run This Deck

There isn't much in this deck that prevents other Mystics from running this deck. I might leave out St. Hubert's Key and [Alyssa Graham] for 2 investigators (/card/02232) and just use the Flashlight for 2 shrouds but that is the only big change.

DOOM

I have played Alyssa Graham previously in a Carolyn Fern deck (Doomed player weakness) and I really liked it. The doom is manageable with her and only added if she sees something awful. I have not played David Renfield and he needs to have doom on him to be useful. I am still terrified at this prospect but there are some scenarios with high doom count agendas so he will have his time.

Calling in Favors controls the doom on your ally and so does Forbidden Knowledge. Moonlight Ritual could be swapped for Calling in Favors.

Arcane Research

This should be a near auto include for every Mystic and Mateo would benefit since he has Shrivelling, Ward of Protection and Mists of R'lyeh that will remain in his deck and get stronger. The reason to not include it is that The Forgotten Age gives out a lot of XP and he will run out of things to add unless he goes after all of the most expensive Mystic cards. Same argument goes for Delve Too Deep in Forgotten Age.

Investigating

Mateo will have multiple paths to gain clues. Some combination of all of these should be available most scenarios.

1. Rite of Seeking is to get clues quickly.
2. Drawn to the Flame - also gets clues quickly but with some risk
3. boosts from Alyssa Graham St. Hubert's Key combined with shroud reduction from Flashlight

Note - I have chosen Rite of Seeking(2) over Sixth Sense since it comes with a boost to help pass tests. I have the L0 version of Sixth Sense but not the upgraded version. I would probably take L0 SS over L0 RoS and L4 SS over L4 RoS but L2 RoS is better than both L0 versions.

Combat and Evasion

Mateo won't have a lot of offensive or defensive cards in his deck but Shrivelling and Mists of R'lyeh are both very strong cards that should keep him safe. It will probably be worth it to add one of the Mystic evasion events for Forgotten Age since evasion is important in that campaign. It isn't necessary in other campaigns.

Economy

This isn't the cheapest deck to run but there are three big economy cards that should make The Holy Cluever rich.

1. Uncage the Soul can be played for the 3 Arcane spells or committed for extra icons.
2. Forbidden Knowledge provides an easy way to 'eliminate' the doom on Alyssa Graham or David Renfield.
3. David Renfield should be a very strong card but this is my first time playing him.

Concerns for the Deck

1. Difficulty in passing encounter tests
2. Not getting either of the 2 combat/evasion Arcane spells into play and needing a chaperone.
3. The Forgotten Age
4. Stupidly doing The Forgotten Age in Hard Mode - I am hoping that most of the tests that Mateo and Rita do are +4 or better since Rita will only test on purpose in Agility and Mateo will add +2 or +3 spells and be testing as a 6-10.

Other Directions That Father Mateo Could Deckbuild

The obvious direction that Father Mateo could go in is Chaos Bag manipulation. He could do The Chthonian Stone, Protective Incantation, Counterspell and/or Seal of the Seventh Sign. These are nice cards but they would come at the expense of other assets that he could put into play and the plan is for both Rita and Mateo to pass the tests for almost all of the tokens in the bag. It doesn't seem to make sense to take out 2+ tokens when it would increase his chances of failing a test since he was no longer getting static boosts from assets or the +2/3 from his Arcane spells.

With that being said Seal of the Seventh Sign could be really strong in combo with their decks since might be the only token in the bag that will fail Rita's tests for evasion or Ornate Bow.

Upgrades

1. Mists of R'lyeh and Shrivelling are needed ASAP to make every spell cast hits its target.
2. Seal of the Elder Sign is obviously great for Mateo
3. Fearless and Ward of Protection will be nice upgrades.
4. Crystalline Elder Sign is a likely upgrade with extra XP late in the campaign since there is still a +1 in the chaos bag in Hard.
5. Seal of the Seventh Sign is a possible upgrade but something needs to get dropped from an Arcane slot for room. This could have a pretty strong effect for Rita and Mateo at this point since they will be testing high enough that the only way to fail most tests will be .
6. Counterspell - seems like a Mateo card thematically but seems expensive. It is a reaction card so he would only play it after you fail which increases its value quite a bit. And it doesn't take an Arcane slot.

Cards Missing

1. Calling in Favors - great for removing doom from Alyssa Graham and David Renfield
2. The Chthonian Stone - there just isn't a lot of room for chaos bag manipulation
3. Premonition
4. Eldritch Inspiration - Mateo is running both RoS and Shrivelling so this could be beneficial
5. Song of the Dead or Shards of the Void - only room for two damage/evade Arcane spells in this deck