Agnes Baker for Newbies (PlayingBoardGames)

In this guide, I'll be going over a basic Agnes build with two core sets, then talking about upgrade paths as well as talking about what cards to look for from each cycle, as an aid for newer players who may only have access to one or two cycles. If you do not have multiple core sets, I highly recommend either purchasing a second, or proxying the cards you are missing. All decks from this series will be ignoring mutations as well as the taboo list. I also won't be looking at the cards from the Return To expansions for this, as newer players really should look at picking up most of the cycles before delving into them.

Agnes basic core set only deck leaves a little to be desired. She's really stuck with Shrivelling and her reaction as her only consistent sources of damage, and "Look what I found!" and Drawn to the Flame as her only reasonable ways to get clues. That being said, Scrying and Arcane Initiate work to get that Shrivelling into play, and Forbidden Knowledge means you can access that sweet test-less damage when you need it. Agnes also has an acceptable 3 which she can use to take advantage of slowly pinging enemies to death with her ability. She also has access to some real powerhouse cards, namely Lucky! and Ward of Protection.

Agnes' core set upgrades are pretty good: Book of Shadows keeps charges on Shrivelling and Grotesque Statue is still one of the best experienced cards in the game. On the Survivor side of things, Lucky! is always solid and Aquinnah can do some cute things.

The Dunwich Legacy brings a couple of good additions to Agnes decks. Rite of Seeking, while risky, enables her to actually participate in clue finding. Peter Sylvestre is everything you could ever want, and more when he's upgraded. Smoking Pipe and Painkillers work together to move damage around where you want it while dinging nearby monsters. Defiance is another strong skill option. For upgrades you get Rite of Seeking for big clue plays as well as Jewel of Aureolus as an okay economy card. Fearless helps shrug off all that self-inflicted sanity damage. There's also two options for upgrading your Shrivelling.

The Path to Carcosa brings less exciting options than Dunwich, but still very powerful. Uncage the Soul helps shore up your economy, and Astral Travel can be a flexible mobility spell. David Renfield makes piles on piles of resources, just make sure you have a plan to deal with him. Storm of Spirits is quite handy for dealing with slogs of weak enemies. For a little experience you could have acesss to such classics as Ward of Protection or Arcane Initiate. A Test of Will does a good Ward impression, and for a big chunk of XP you could know the power of the Seal of the Elder Sign.

The Forgotten Age offers such hits as Take Heart to lessen the sting of failure, Premonition to see it coming, and Perseverance to mitigate the consequences. Olive McBride works well with many of the mystic spells, helping not only pass tests, but sometimes dodging the negative effects associated with the symbol chits. Arcane Research is very strong and well worth taking two copies of for the free experience it offers. Said experience comes in handy if you're looking to pick up copies of Seal of the Seventh Sign, Counterspell or Recall the Future. Shards of the Void really helps with consistency as extra copies of a combat spell.

You'd expect the cycle all about witches to offer some goodies to our Waitress, and you'd be right. Meat Cleaver and Enchanted Blade tempt the player with a possible focused build while Sixth Sense trends the deck towards clues. For a more traditional approach Wither is good for taking down smaller foes. You will never be disappointed in Deny Existence, nor in Drawing Thin. The experienced cards available are few in number but very powerful. Dayana Esperence offers repeatable Wards and Denies. Enchanted Blade is very good; it's a shame it's purple. Four of Cups is boring, but that extra willpower feels pretty good. Upgrades for Wither, Sixth Sense and Deny Existence all invoke feelings of power, and Fortune or Fate continues the trend of telling the game "No."

Placeholder for the Dreamlands Cycle

Hopefully this has helped some new players with their deck building and collection buying without being overbearing. I'll be looking at doing this for the rest of the core set investigators, as well as a less comprehensive deck building guide for the other investigators with only cards from two core sets and their respective cycles.

You can find our video discussing this deck here: https://youtu.be/fXhaCscUkng