Requiem for a Gug - a HungryColquhoun deck

Requiem for a Gug

Overview

When it comes to Mystics, I like flexy decks with action economy. So long as you have Doom on your cards, Marie fits the bill for this. While putting Doom on your cards can be a risky prospect, with the recent addition of Elle Rubash one Doom on up to two asset cards can be ignored. The Elle-Marie combo I'm sure comes as a shock to no-one, and I suspect the reason why there's only a small amount of decks with it on here currently is people don't like to play Marie (but they should!).

Beyond action economy, a nice advantage of Marie is her passable - which means you can conserve charges on your clue compression assets (Divination, Clairvoyance) for when they're needed. With her extra action, you don't really need Sign Magick, and so Hawk-Eye Folding Camera plus Hallowed Chalice are very welcome - especially with the camera boosting first. The Chalice helps heal off horror from Shrivelling and Clairvoyance, plus it in part mitigates fusty old Baron Samedi.

A final selling point is Marie can pull off what I like to call Super Action Economy™. Mystifying Song, which is tutorable with Arcane Initiate, allows you to stall agenda advancement for a turn - giving a bunch of extra actions across the investigators you're playing with (scaling better with the more investigators you have, and making this deck firmly multiplayer). Basically for any investigator groups where you'd like The Gold Pocket Watch, you'll like this too.

In terms of Marie's fairly galling weakness, Charisma means you don't have to ditch Elle Rubash when Baron Samedi comes into play - and further he can be attached to Elle as an asset if it's early on in an Agenda and you do want to try and get rid of him (if you don't, then Hallowed Chalice can help as mentioned).

And, that's about it! While base 4 is on the average side for a Mystic, Marie's access to a whole extra action to cast spells makes up for this as does having decent (so you can clue-find reasonably without spell assets). Honestly I think Marie is very underrated as an investigator, give this deck a try and let me know what you think!

EDIT: Per the recent FAQ list, permanent cards can no longer be attached to assets like Elle - so of you're honouring the most recent update the combo with Blood Pact no longer applies.

Advanced Strategies

• A little doom here, a little doom there... Hallowed Chalice, Arcane Initiate and Ghastly Possession refusing to come out of your deck? Well have I got a solution for you! With Blood Pact getting a Doom on your cards couldn't be easier! It also provides a very easy way to add Doom after Agenda advancement clears it from your cards, and is attachable to Elle Rubash too. Equally when the Agenda is going to advance or you're fighting an Elder God and are not close to advancing, just go to town!

• Drinking makes you less crazy? Hallowed Chalice heals off horror from Shrivelling and Clairvoyance, plus extra damage caused by your friend Baron Samedi, and can add that precious doom as well - what's not to love?

• Postpone your problems! With Mystifying Song, you can buy yourself a whole extra turn at the low, low price of 3 resources. Better still, it allows you to go out of control with Blood Pact in these turns and you can tutor it out with Arcane Initiate to save it for when it's needed. Say "not today" to Agenda advancement!

What didn't make the cut

• David Renfield. Renfield is basically the perfect card for this deck, however with him now being on the taboo list he just ain't worth the price of admission in my opinion. If you're not using taboos, I would highly recommend!

• Enraptured. With Marie's decent , Enraptured was included in an earlier draft of this deck as an easy way to get charges back onto Shrivelling and Clairvoyance. However, I decided Calling in Favors should replace it to give a bit more consistency in getting Elle out, plus recharging spells is partly covered by Ghastly Possession anyway.

• Off-class spells. I think this is a classic case of just because you could, doesn't mean you should. While Marie is allowed to take off class spells, there's none that I'd pick over what is already included here, with the sole exception of Alter Fate which I've mentioned as a side-deck option (as much as I do want a good reason to take Fang of Tyr'thrha...).

Campaign starter and planned progression

While 42 XP may look steep with Arcane Research this is significantly less, and so it works fine with an approx 30 XP campaign. Starter deck is directly below (and link here):

Between campaign scenarios use Arcane Research to get XP breaks for the following (you need to purchase Divination • and Brand of Cthugha • first...):

• Shrivelling → Shrivelling ••• → Shrivelling •••••

• Clairvoyance → Clairvoyance ••• → Clairvoyance •••••

• Divination • → Divination ••••

• Brand of Cthugha • → Brand of Cthugha ••••

Otherwise, a recommended order of XP purchases/upgrades is as follows:

• 1 x Sixth Sense → 1 x Divination •

• 1 x Wither → 1 x Brand of Cthugha •

• 2 x Perception → 2 x Four of Cups

• 1 x Wither, 1 x Sixth Sense → 2 x Elle Rubash

• Charisma

• Blood Pact

• 2 x Guts → 2 x Ghastly Possession

Further upgrades and side deck

In terms of side deck options, St. Hubert's Key can be used instead of Holy Rosary - however it is a little pricier and more prone to exploding with horror (plus the boost doesn't feel crucial). One to think about is retaining Wither if you want combat options to be especially forthcoming. Personally, I paired this deck in multiplayer with more of a Guardian-type, so I think 3 good combat spells with Arcane Initiate to tutor them out is enough. A single copy of Leather Coat can also be included just for a bit more health soak (given Hallowed Chalice is your only other mitigation). Ward of Protection (any version) and/or Alter Fate are also always good for encounter deck management, however for me the soak/healing here eased bad encounter deck draws well enough.

For further upgrades in XP rich campaigns, another copy of Charisma is an obvious choice so you don't have to pick between Elle and the Arcane Initiate when Baron Samedi comes into play. You could also consider David Renfield as well if you do pick up another Charisma, but then again that now leaves you with a lot of assets you're trying to get out there.

Final thoughts

This deck was playtested through TSK (which I would say is a tough campaign), and it won. Personally I like investigators who get an extra action (e.g. Finn, Tony), and so a Mystic that has a free action to use on spells is tremendous! Obviously you need to get a Doom on your cards to activate this action, but Blood Pact takes care of that if you need it to, and Elle Rubash makes the problem of added Doom completely irrelevant. As Mystics already get great options for clue/damage compression, giving an extra action to compress in really does make a difference - more so I'd argue than having base 5 . Hope you enjoy Marie and this deck!