Agnes Baker: Two Flavours of Evasion

An evasion and support focused deck, useful for 3-4 player games and in campaigns where evasion has become more relevant (this deck has been field-tested in a The Forgotten Age campaign, but should also shine in TCU and TDE).

This is also the last core set investigator I've published a deck for. Boy has it been in development for a while. Publishing mystic decks runs into the issues of either being too generic to warrant sharing or too unreliable to perform to a satisfactory degree.

It doesn't help that early mystics bore the most limiting deck-building restrictions; for a while, the only mystics available were Agnes Baker, Jim Culver, Akachi Onyele, and Father Mateo, and three out of four of those mystics had severely restricted choice for out of class cards.

Fortunately, the first ever mystic has more freedom in her card choice, and I intended to take full advantage of it when formulating this deck, utilising non-mystic boosts, discard synergy, and evasion synergy.

A Moonlit Sports-Field

Survivors have quite a few boosts available to them, but the most intriguing were Peter Sylvestre (2) and Moonstone, for they boost as well. With a stat-line like Agnes Baker, you get amazing value out of any card that substitutes // with . However, such substitutions usually have a limited number of uses, and worse, can only be used on specific actions (i.e. fight/investigate/ evade actions) that leave you vulnerable to generic tests (usually found on treachery cards like Grasping Hands or Locked Door).

Boosting and at the same time, alleviates these problems somewhat. With a 7/2/2/5 stat-line before commits, Agnes has a decent chance at succeeding at basic evade actions without the need of a substitute, but when facing off against the highest evade enemies (or enemies that punish failing evasion), you can use cards like Mists of R'lyeh and Blinding Light for a still significant boost in your odds of success.

The downside of all this is that your putting all your eggs into the evasion basket, leaving Agnes Baker woefully unable to fight/investigate at all. But any mystic can stuff a diversified bunch of spells that do everything into their deck, and honestly, Akachi Onyele gets better results doing just that than Agnes could. And there are other advantages to specializing that I'll go into further down this essay.

My Soul for Power? Would A Stone Do?

Of course, taking Moonstone isn't as simple as liking its stats. It's a pretty finicky card to get out of your hand and into your play-area. Survivors have a few ways of discarding cards on demand, but what about mystics?

Well duh, of course they do. It's not like the mystic class is all about power for a price, that price being paid in everything from horror incursion, to our particular interest, card discard.

Enter Scroll of Prophecies and Mists of R'lyeh. Mists was already going into this evasion focused deck, so the bonus that it might help us play Moonstone is icing on the cake. And Scroll of Prophecies by itself is a desirable card, by merit of being one of only three lvl 0 options for card-draw for mystics (as of the release of the investigator starting decks, the other two options being Arcane Initiate, and Crystal Pendulum).

Scroll of Prophecies also marks the first card that reveals the support side of this deck, not just the evasion part.

Service with A Smile

Evasion leaves a lot of downtime in one's schedule, and since we're not fighting or investigating, we'll have plenty of windows of opportunity to support our team in various ways. Providing card-draw through Scroll of Prophecies is only the beginning; let's add some horror healing with Clarity of Mind. Granted, these cards are first and foremost for your own usage, to discard Moonstone and undo to horror incursion your voluntarily taking to trigger Agnes's ability, but the option is always there to lend a helping hand.

Now let's add some encounter deck manipulation with Scrying. Again, Scrying is primarily for your benefit, but this time, the usage you get only comes with the upgraded scrying, that I'll go into later. For now, with high /, and Ward of Protection, you'll have an answer for most of whatever an encounter deck can throw at you. So send the worst the mythos has to offer your way, and send everyone else what they're likely to be able to deal with, or failing that, what disadvantages them the least.

High / also allow you a rather unique means of supporting your team. 90% of treachery card tests involve those two attributes, and any persistent treachery cards that you can spend actions to test / to discard are your domain. Running around and discarding debilitating terror treacheries is a valuable use of your time, especially since you have so much of it, giving you're not fighting or investigating.

On A Knife's Edge

But not fighting doesn't mean not managing enemies, which you can do, both through evading them, and through Agnes's ability. And the best way to manage enemies with this deck is to set them up for your resident guardian to knock them down with ease.

Especially useful is to leave enemies at the amount of health that your guardian's current weapon can finish them off with one action. Any fighter can attest to the annoyance of 3-health enemies while wielding a .45 Automatic or equivalent. High attack, one-health enemies are also a pain for similar reasons, and that's yet another pain your party will be spared with the wonderful waitress (and her damage drip) at their side.

Of course, that's if you can deliberately incur horror, a la Forbidden Knowledge and Ward of Protection, and if you can heal it off when it gets too much, a la Clarity of Mind, and Fearless. Peter Sylvestre Also helps in this regards; Agnes's ability only triggers once per phase, so unloading excess horror unto him maximises the number of triggers of her ability you can get per scenario (especially useful when Dark Memory is in your hand). And also, he's your buffer against defeat by sanity, when you invariably bite one too many times from the forbidden fruit.

Agility Supplements

The final four cards that round out this deck are: Dumb Luck, Belly of the Beast, "Not without a fight!", and Manual Dexterity. All of which are there to take Agnes's to the next level:

You would be mistaken for thinking Dumb Luck's effect is a temporary reprieve from an enemy at best. The best way to think about it is slows down the encounter deck by making the next card you draw from it one that you've already seen. The first encounter card you would've drawn before playing Dumb Luck now becomes the second, the second becomes the third, and so on. Essentially, you've cancelled an encounter card, not unlike Ward of Protection, but for an action and a condition to meet.

You could even become devious and make the player that draws from the encounter deck first (i.e. the lead investigator), the resident guardian of the group, so that Dumb Luck guarantees an enemy will be drawn instead of a treachery card. Failing that, it's just nice as insurance for evading at a mediocre value, and comes with two icons.

Manual Dexterity made the cut over Survival Instinct because the extra icon is needed for Agnes Baker to have a decent chance of evading without any other boosts. Survival Instinct (2) remains the card to upgrade into, however, as it doesn't have that issue.

"Not without a fight!" holds the distinction of boosting as well as when engaged with enemies, which is good for every type of evade Agnes might wish to perform.

And finally, Belly of the Beast takes advantage of the sheer number of evades she'll be doing to sneak in a clue-grab or two. But to be candid, Belly of the Beast is the 30th card added this deck, and the first one to be upgraded out. It's replaceable with any other card you fancy.

Deck Weaknesses

Damage. That's pretty much it. With no damage soak and only a 6 damage threshold, you're are risk of unpreventable sources of damage or just bad luck in terms of rolls when trying to prevent source of damage. Granted, you're very resilient to treachery cards, and will almost always have an answer to enemies, but still, you'll likely be playing it close with this deck.

Upgrade Path

Now, what I did not expect when making this deck is the sheer versatility that it allowed you while upgrading it. Indeed, after the first two mandatory upgrades, totalling 8xp, the choices after that are numerous and don't need to happen in any specific order. You can be entirely reactionary it your upgrades; not committing to anything until you see the outcomes of scenarios. Or you can just go with whatever upgrade path you think would be most fun/interesting.

So, outlined below are various 'modules' that specify directions you can take this deck once you have xp. You're not obligated to complete a module; it's just a guideline to follow when deciding what you want the deck to do. You won't get enough xp is most if not all campaigns to buy out every module, so choose modules with that in mind.

Of note are places where I've put '???'. These represent times when you'll have to choose what card to replace with the specified upgrade card. Belly of the Beast (if you haven't replaced it with another card more to your liking) should always be the first '???' choice. After that, pick lvl 0 cards that show up in modules you're not likely to get, and start replacing those.

So without further ado, let me present the nine modules of this deck:

The Mandatory Core Module

Upgrades:

• Peter Sylvestre Peter Sylvestre (2)
• Ward of Protection Ward of Protection (2)

Total xp cost: 8xp

Notes:

Peter Sylvestre (2) needs no introduction; he's one-half of the keystone of this deck. Ward of Protection (2) is mainly to give you more windows of opportunity to take a horror while an enemy is at your location, but it's such a staple card that it also finds itself in The Mandatory Core Module.

A Horrifying Reality

Upgrades:

• Scrying Scrying (3)
• Blinding Light Blinding Light (2)

Total xp cost: 10xp

Notes:

If your party's horror healing is up to snuff (like, say, because you have a Carolyn Fern in your party) then it's time to maximise the value of Agnes's special ability. And to do that, we take upgraded versions of cards that add horror incursion as a potential drawback to using them, which we consider a benefit, not a detriment. Remember to use Scrying (3) only when there's an enemy to dink with a damage, and try to use it in the mythos or upkeep phase for maximum damage output.

A Soothing Reality

Upgrades:

• Clarity of Mind Clarity of Mind (3)
• Fearless Fearless (2)

Total xp cost: 10xp

Notes:

If the opposite is true, and your team is woefully un-equipped to deal with horror and/or mental trauma is starting to rack up, it's prudent to improve your own horror healing to compensate. If current levels of horror are manageable, you might still be inclined to take this module in combination with the A Horrifying Reality module to maintain that delicate balance.

Cancelation Fees

Upgrades:

• ??? A Test of Will (2)
• ??? Alter Fate

Total xp cost: 6xp

Notes:

Who would've thought that survivors would be able to rival mystics in the field of encounter-hate? This puts Agnes is a distinct position to give Diana Stanley a run for her money in taming the encounter deck. The recently released A Test of Will (2) is particularly good on her, as she has a shoe-in to pass the test of on A Test of Will(power) even without a single boost. Of course, if you get this module late into the campaign (i.e. scenario 7 or 8), A Test of Will (1) will suffice, as the lost xp is irrelevant that late.

Bouncer

Upgrades:

• ??? Close Call
• Dumb Luck Dumb Luck (2)

Total xp cost: 8xp

Notes:

The module for the player that wants to turn evasion into a permanent solution. Sure those enemies are coming back, but as detailed when discussing Dumb Luck, each enemy sent back it another encounter card not drawn by your team.

Mass-Evasion

Upgrades:

• Manual Dexterity Survival Instinct
• ??? Lure (2)

Total xp cost: 8xp

Notes:

While Bouncer provides permanent solutions to enemies, Mass-Evasion takes the current benefits of evasion and makes they apply to every enemy on the field, even elite enemies, which the Bouncer module cannot deal with. Mists of R'lyeh tends to group enemies together, so getting the conditions met to make the most of the Mass-Evasion module is made manifest in multiple moments.

Moon-Touched

Upgrades:

• Relic Hunter
• Relic Hunter

Total xp cost: 6xp

Notes:

Is 7/5 not enough? Are you playing on harder difficulties? If so, you should probably consider getting two Moonstones in play to take your stat-line to the next level. And while you're at it, while Heirloom of Hyperborea is universally panned, it's still a source of reliable card draw that rivals Scroll of Prophecies, and you will occasionally find both of your copies of it in the bottom half of your deck, so a third source of card-draw is sometimes warranted.

All Bases Covered

Upgrades:

• Charisma
• ??? A Chance Encounter (2)
• ??? Summoned Hound

Total xp cost: 9xp

Notes:

Thank you for @HereticPriest and his review detailing the A Chance Encounter/Summoned Hound cheese. For those who are unaware, if you "put into play" Summoned Hound from your discard pile vis a vis A Chance Encounter, you are not paying for it, so you do perform the additional cost of shuffling Unbound Beast into your deck. Voila, a risk-free nightmare doggo. The only issue was getting it into your discard pile without playing it in the first place, but it's not like this deck is all about discarding specific cards.

And once Summoned Hound and your other assets are in play, your stat-line line looks like 7/5/5/5 (eat your heart out Ashcan), and you've got a good damage soak, which shores up the most pressing weakness of this deck. All in all, if there was a way to modify this deck to work solo or in two-player, this module would absolutely be part of that modification.

Special Module: I Want it All!

Upgrades:

• None. Instead, take two Arcane Researches

Total xp cost: 0xp

Notes:

Ok, if all the above sounds amazing, and you can't decide which modules you must part ways with, then I tentatively offer a solution to your problems.

Arcane Research is a double-edged sword for the eponymous Agnes Baker. While it does permanently reduce the maximum number of times you can trigger her ability by two, it also allows her two get Clarity of Mind (3) much faster, so it's a trade-off from your late-game potential to bolster your mid-game potential, in the horror aspect at least.

And in the xp aspect? Well you'll have plenty of choice for xp discounts. In addition to Clarity of Mind, you have Blinding Light, Scrying, and Ward of Protection as candidates for Arcane Research's discounts, perhaps even Mists of R'lyeh, through this deck somewhat minimises the benefits of extra and evasion spell charges.

And it might be prudent to take Thermos instead of Belly of the Beast, if you decide to go down this path. It pairs well with double Arcane Research, and has a bit of damage healing to boot, though it is prohibitively expensive, so be warned.

With those xp discounts, you might be able to buy out all the upgrades in every module. I do not promise anything though. I can vouch for An Agnes unfettered by Arcane Research, but for you die-hards and dare-devils out there, I bid you good luck; you'll need it! Muahahahahahaha!!!!

Theming and Conclusion

If the Heirloom of Hyperborea was her first step into the mythos, then Moonstone is her second. Her minor scrying abilities are now burgeoning into writing out full-fledged prophecies. Wards and soothing incantations are giving way to more destructive spells from ever more damning origins. Dark memories are re-surfacing at an accelerated rate, and Agnes herself can feel the onset of her prior life, and she is fearful, though even that human emotion is slowly slipping away.

She does have an anchor though. Peter Sylvestre, lifelong friend, is always there to pull her head into the here and now. Together, they're dealing with one an Arkham's many terrible, hidden truths, and where else but right in the middle of it. Their survival is dependant on a bit of pre-planning, a bit of skill, a bit of luck, and a lot of gumption.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my take of Agnes Baker of Arkham Horror LCG. I hope you enjoyed it, and see you around for the next deck-publishing.