Finn Gives Chicago Piano Lessons|30k Series|Deck Guide

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Finn Edwards -- El club de los martes -- La era olvidada 0 0 0 1.0

Valentin1331 · 55126

Finn goes out of the Underworld with his Piano to solve issues, the Dirty Way

FinnHenningLudwigsen.png

Credit: Henning Ludwigsen


Introduction

While discussing with the community, @HatfulBob mentioned the .45 Thompson being one of the only non- card available to Finn. As it had never clicked in my head before, I researched and couldn't find anything using it. With the new Dirty Fighting and Underworld Market, it seemed like all the ingredients were here for a Screenshot-2023-04-19-at-09-39-11.png


After the 20k Series and its success, this 30k Series will focus on the investigators that are much harder to solve. Expect some jank, some outside-of-the-box thinking and hopefully some love for the underdogs of this game.

Click here to see all the previous decks. I will keep releasing a new standalone-ready deck concept every week on Friday, so stay tuned and keep pressing the button if you want to see more!


Table of Contents:
  • Overview

  • Main Strategy

  • Get Ready in the Shadows

  • Enough with Stealth, Time to Grab your Piano and Get the Work Done

  • Leverage your Paycheck

  • Other Cards

  • Upgrade Path

  • Make Your Own Deck!


Overview:
 
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
Enemy Management: ★★★★☆
Clue-getting: ★★★☆☆
Encounter protection: ★★☆☆☆
Survivability: ★★★☆☆
Economy: ★★★★★
Card Drawing: ★★★★★

Main Strategy:

Get Ready in the Shadows:

Consulting the Underworld Market is a great way to get what you need.


Enough with Stealth, Time to Grab your Piano and Get the Work Done:
  • Once you are set up, enemies will be the fuel to your engine:

  • In case the enemy is engaged with another investigator at your location, you can try Breaking and Entering, which is either paid back by Pickpocketing or gets you 2 cards (since you automatically evade, you cannot "Succeed by 2 or more".

    • The rest of the sequence is the same.
  • Since your evade action is additional, it is often worth it to evade, trigger Pickpocketing (2), Dirty Fighting and Lucky Cigarette Case, and if the enemy is not dead yet, investigate at the location, and evade again next turn to benefit from another Dirty Fighting attack, most likely finishing the enemy, in a much more time-efficient manner.

  • Alternatively, it's always good to remind ourselves that not every enemy needs killing. Some can just be evaded and left behind.


Leverage your Paycheck:

You didn't come out of the shadows for nothing. Use your acquired Streetwise to search for clues.

  • Streetwise is the clue enabler of the deck.

    • With spending 2 resources, which will come easily with the amount of drip economy of the deck, you will investigate with 6 , using empty moments to move the game forward.
  • If you are playing in 3 or 4 , you can add Pilfer and its upgrade Pilfer (3) to the deck to get clues more efficiently with the resources generated.


Other Cards:
  • Talisman of Protection is here for 2 reasons:

  • Speaking of the devil, Peter Sylvestre is as relevant as ever. The static helps start the Evade waterfall effects, and the horror soak is more than appreciated.

  • Track Shoes bring the 6th . Being slotless makes them fantastic, and they can occasionally increase the tempo when you need to cover greater distances.

  • "You handle this one!" is another layer of protection for your 1 . Isn't there anything more than being rewarded for giving away your troubles to someone else?

  • Breaking and Entering, though not benefiting from Finn's additional action, is still great action compression. It is 3 actions in one: Engage, Evade, and Investigate.

  • Cheat the System is a fantastic mid to late scenario card that enables many clues with Streetwise.

  • Faustian Bargain is, on the other hand, the tool you need early on when you want to empty your Underworld Market as fast as possible.

    • While it is great to support, by doing the counter-intuitive action first to take Pickpocketing (2) out, you can take everything out of your Underworld Market without finding Faustian Bargain and without having to click for resources. It will just take a little bit longer to be able to pay for clues.

    • In campaign mode, Faustian Bargain is replaced by Embezzled Treasure, which stores unused late-game resources for the next one. This saves the action to play Faustian Bargain, the , and the need to even find it in your deck.

  • Kicking the Hornet's Nest is remarkable when you are running out of fuel to pay for Streetwise. Get an enemy to trigger your Evade loop, get resources to directly feed Streetwise, and a clue, all in one action! Because you rarely have these moments, one copy is more than enough.

  • Sleight of Hand is excellent in early games to pull out the .45 Thompson when you can't afford it yet, and still get enemies down. The ammo used payback for the Sleight of Hand, and if you shoot multiple times, it can even become cash positive!

  • Swift Reload is fast, so it can be played in the middle of a fight, and is cash positive in this deck: +2 resources (costs 3, gives 5 ammo which then turns into 5 resources).

  • "Watch this!" is an easy way to generate more income when evading/fighting an easier target.

  • Hatchet Man is your Vicious Blow, to deal with odd-health enemies.

  • Manual Dexterity, Overpower and Perception are all cantrips that helps the deck do its job.

  • Quick Thinking is the basic staple. Pro-move is to play it during another investigator's turn to use this action outside of your own turn.

  • Take Heart is another way to leverage your 1 and take advantage of tests that you will inevitably fail.

Later additions:

  • Lucky Cigarette Case (3), especially when there are 2 on the table, is an absolutely insane tutor.

  • Getting Counterespionage is a perfect way to turn late-campaign treacheries and excess cash into an advantage.

  • The permanent Streetwise (6) opens space in your deck, saves a play action, and boosts your stats more. What's not to like?

  • Moxie (3) finally is an easy way to get more soak while also gaining the possibility to pay for tests and gain a 7th passive . Since you cycle your deck quickly, 2 copies should always be enough to have it up.

  • To optimise Cheat the System, once we upgrade Take Heart out, we can purchase Shrewd Analysis for 1xp and get the last colour missing to the rainbow.

  • Finally, don't forget to upgrade your Embezzled Treasure before your last scenario, as you won't need it anymore!


Upgrade Path:

Disclaimer: This decklist is published in the version that I tested. The upgrade path is just one possible way to upgrade while maintaining the best experience and value of the deck. As these decks are made to be universally good, feel free to adapt them to your campaign and change the upgrade order around based on your experience.

Link to the 0xp deck


 Cost  Total
   In the Thick of It  →  Dirty Fighting •• 2 XP 2 XP
 
Underworld Market 2 XP
   Underworld Market ••  →  Pickpocketing 4 XP 6 XP
   Underworld Market ••  →  Pickpocketing 0 XP 6 XP
   Underworld Market ••  →  Sleight of Hand 0 XP 6 XP
   Underworld Market ••  →  Sleight of Hand 0 XP 6 XP
   Underworld Market ••  →  Breaking and Entering 0 XP 6 XP
   Underworld Market ••  →  Breaking and Entering 0 XP 6 XP
   Underworld Market ••  →  Kicking the Hornet's Nest 0 XP 6 XP
   Underworld Market ••  →  Hidden Pocket 0 XP 6 XP
   Underworld Market ••  →  Quick Thinking 0 XP 6 XP
   Underworld Market ••  →  Talisman of Protection 0 XP 6 XP
 
Core Upgrades 6 XP
   Pickpocketing    Pickpocketing •• 2 XP 8 XP
   Pickpocketing    Pickpocketing •• 2 XP 10 XP
   Mauser C96  →  .45 Thompson ••• 3 XP 13 XP
   Mauser C96  →  .45 Thompson ••• 3 XP 16 XP
   .25 Automatic  →  Swift Reload •• 2 XP 18 XP
   .25 Automatic  →  Swift Reload •• 2 XP 20 XP
   Take Heart  →  Cheat the System 1 XP 21 XP
   "You handle this one!"  →  Cheat the System 1 XP 22 XP
 
Luxury Upgrades 22 XP
    →  Shrewd Analysis 1 XP 23 XP
   Lucky Cigarette Case    Lucky Cigarette Case ••• 3 XP 26 XP
   Lucky Cigarette Case    Lucky Cigarette Case ••• 3 XP 29 XP
    →  Streetwise ••• ••• 6 XP 35 XP
   Streetwise  →  Moxie ••• 3 XP 38 XP
   Embezzled Treasure  →  Moxie ••• 3 XP 41 XP
   "You handle this one!"  →  Counterespionage 1 XP 42 XP

(View at arkham-starter.com)


Link to the full xp deck



To create your own guides, find the template I have created here

15 comments

May 19, 2023 chirubime · 25326

What are your thoughts on Stylish Coat as an enabler for Thompson and/or Pickpocketing?

May 19, 2023 Valentin1331 · 55126

@chirubime I tried with Stylish Coat and Lone Wolf to create more drip economy for Streetwise, but it just increased the number of turns spent playing assets when it was already more than enough econ the way it currently is. And we already have the Track Shoes to slap Hidden Pocket on.

I also tried with Well Connected/Well Connected (3), but it took too much time after setup to have enough resources to use it properly, and Streetwise can cover multiple tests a turn at level 0.

May 19, 2023 SpartanSkip · 1

I will definitely give this deck a try. Inhave played Finn onces with my girlfriend playing Ursula in the forgotten age but was not able to manage enough enemies so Zoe had to enter the party.

But I was going through the card list and the upgrades and I think their is an error. You choose the talisman of prot as the 10th illicit item for underworld market and it is not illicit. Is their a misreading within my thoughts?

Nevertheless thank you @Valentin1331for all the incredible deck ideas!

May 19, 2023 Valentin1331 · 55126

Hey @SpartanSkip, thanks for pointing it out!

I will look into clarifying this, but the list of cards in the upgrade path are not all illicit, actually only a few are, it is because these only cover the 10 additional card space available when you purchase the Underworld Market. The cards going in the Market itself are detailed in the Get Ready in the Shadows section of the guide.

May 20, 2023 Eggzavier · 1

Hidden pocket can only hold an illicit asset - don't think you can run a second lucky cigarette case? Unless I am missing something?

May 20, 2023 Valentin1331 · 55126

Hey @Eggzavier, you are right, it is not possible, unless...

The whole Trick is to play the 2nd Lucky Cigarette Case with "I'll take that!" to give it the Illicit trait, and all of a sudden it can go in your shoes! :)

May 20, 2023 dubcity566 · 108

Cool deck. I'm worried about being the main enemy handler for a campaign for scenario one on harder difficulties because your total combat will be pretty low but I may try something like it someday.

It seems really easy to fit in one more hidden pocket and lockpicks. For 1 XP you don't need to rely as much on streetwise. Your market will actually be over full which is usually hard to pull off but that seems better to me. Perhaps it's just hard for me to play Finn without lockpicks

May 21, 2023 Eggzavier · 1

@Valentin1331 What a great interaction, thanks for explaining!

Lovely deck -

May 21, 2023 Valentin1331 · 55126

@dubcity566, I understand your worry, it makes perfect sense, and you'd be relying a lot on Dirty Fighting, which there is only one copy of.

Something to remember, though, is that first scenarios often have mild enemies which can be killed with 5 , and above all, not every enemy needs killing. You can use your evasion to "disable" enemies the time that you find Dirty Fighting for the mini-boss if there is one. Also, no matter what, even if you fail a lot of fight actions, the enemy is still evaded, so the risk is mitigated.

In regards to Lockpicks instead of Streetwise, that is probably a bigger topic than you think, and that is a great opportunity to expand on the deck principle and compromise that had to be done. Let me explain:

  • The choice to use the .45 Thompson means that we prioritise resource generation over combat efficiency. The deck would have "killed" better with the .25 Automatic (2), and potentially Mauser C96 (0) (upgrading it later) on the other hand, or leaving a hand free for investigating.
  • So why would we, in a heavily fight-oriented build, decrease our fighting power? The only reason should be to make good use of all the resources generated and that it compensates in tempo for the decrease in fighting power. The proposal here is that we can use these resources to do a decent job moving the game forward with some clues.
  • The main disadvantage of Lockpicks to get clues is the same as Well Connected: it is only once per turn. Streetwise, on the other hand, can be spammed for as long as you have the resources to collect one clue per action over a series of turns if need be.
  • So the actual contender for another pocket is Thieves' Kit. I did not choose this path for a few reasons:
    • It requires 2 more deck slots than Streetwise
    • It takes more play actions (you want to refresh the Thieves' Kit when they are empty)
    • And it would actually make more sense to use the Thieves' Kit in parallel with the .25 Automatic (2) in a more flex build since the resource for the kit will finance the reload of the gun, but as you can see, it's a different build, and I wanted to stick to the .45 Thompson because I liked the Film Noir thematic of going out of the underworld with your Tommygun and embrace your inner-gangster to redeem the world of cultists and otherworldly creatures.

I hope that this comment brought a bit more depth into the reasons behind my choices and most importantly, will help you decide what to do if you want to build your own deck, using this one as a starting point :)

May 23, 2023 sedlak87 · 1

I don't understand the xp costs in the Upgrade Path - Underworld market section. Can you clarify that?

May 24, 2023 Kwaice · 7

@sedlak87

It's a bit weird the way it's displayed indeed but it checks out exp-wise, Underworld Market costs 4 exp, bringing the exp needed to 6 after buying it.

May 26, 2023 Valentin1331 · 55126

Thanks @Kwaice for answering earlier.

@sedlak87 I indeed re-ordered the cards in the market for better clarity after assigning the XP manually and forgot to update the XP, thanks for pointing it out :)
It is fixed now.

Jun 01, 2023 Kwaice · 7

The upgrade path suggests taking Talisman of Protection but this brings you over 6 survivor cards.

Jun 12, 2023 Eik · 1

Hey Valentin, thank you so much for this sweety and all your writings so far, i read everything with the greatest pleasure! Would you give me startup help/your idea to modify the list if played in a 4 player and there is already a main damage dealer (zoey with hammer)?

Jul 05, 2023 gouvader · 1

Hi i dont have innsmouth cycle, anyone have any suggestion for replace 2 Breaking and Entering and 2 Faustian Bargain ?

Im thinking about 3 Easy Mark and 1 blur.