Wanna know a secret about Norman?

The concept: Conventional wisdom leans towards playing Mind's Eye only in 5-Willpower Mystics (if at all), and Forbidden Knowledge and Truth from Fiction don't get a lot of love. But Norman gets a lot of mileage out of this deck!

You can start with a few level-zero spell assets and then upgrade into Mind's Eye and the Four of Cups, or use In the Thick of It to start with a little momentum.

How it works:
This deck is powered by secrets. Use Eldritch Sophist, Forbidden Knowledge, and Truth from Fiction to add secrets to Mind's Eye and, later, to Dayana Esperence.

Holy Rosary, Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, and Four of Cups boost your Willpower, which drives Mind's Eye.

Mind's Eye practically ensures you'll pass Fight and Evade tests. Norman's innate Intellect can handle all but the toughest investigations and can be boosted by Hawk-Eye Folding Camera and Dayana Esperence.

Economy:
Two Crack the Case and, ideally, the Livre d'Eibon. There are numerous 0 to 1 cost cards, but you might find cashflow to be an occasional issue. In a pinch, you can use the fast action on Forbidden Knowledge as you have more horror soak than you'll probably ever need. If you upgrade into enough spell events (especially those with skill tests) to justify it, Prophetic gives you tons of flexibility.

Efficiency:
This deck likely takes a bit more time to set up than some Seekers, but it probably gets off the line faster than most Mystics. It doesn't have much action compression, so you'll want to consider that in your upgrade decisions.

Mulligan:
First priority is Eldrich Sophist. #Four of Cups would be great, but chances are you'll end up with Hawk-Eye Folding Camera or Holy Rosary. Ideally, you'll also start out with a Mind's Eye, but it you'll need a boost or two to really make it sing. You probably also want to hold onto at least one damage-dealing event. Definitely mulligan away Forbidden Knowledge, Painkillers, and your second/third copies of Mind's Eye as you're bound to redraw those soon enough.

If you draw both Hawk-Eye Folding Cameras early, you might consider playing out the second, too. The Livre d'Eibon is wonderful, but as a singleton you just can't count on drawing it. I don't think it's important enough to justify adding Whitton Greene or Research Librarian.

You probably don't pay to play Four of Cups unless you're really unlucky with your Holy Rosarys and Hawk-Eye Folding Cameras. Unless it's in your opening hand, it probably becomes discard fodder for Occult Invocation.

Upgrades (in suggested priority order): Add 1x Charisma and 1x Dayana Esperence, drop 1x Painkillers. You start with four spell event cards, but you'll probably upgrade into more. Dayana Esperence gives you the damage soak Painkillers were providing. Add a second Dayana Esperence for consistency, drop either a Hawk-Eye Folding Camera or a Seeker spell event. Add 1x Prophetic, drop 1x Crack the Case. Replace Seeker events with Mystic spell events And it's tempting to replace one of the Holy Rosary with a second Four of Cups--you'll feel great when you find the latter in your opening hand!

You might find that you make few if any other changes to the Asset side of the ledger.