Roland and Alice do some Police work

Overview

I think this is probably needless to say, but it's good to point out that this is a deck that is meant to handle both enemies and clue gathering and it's a deck that represents a "flex" investigator (leaning a bit more on enemy handling) that can cover that spot in any group. While it should probably work well in solo too, I believe its true potential lies in a multiplayer group probably of 2 or 3 players.

As you probably already noticed, my choice of allies is a bit odd and unusual in a Roland Banks deck. Let's talk about them:

I haven't seen any serious deck that uses Alice Luxley so far, so my guess is that most people are down on her. On the contrary, I like her quite a bit and I 've been looking for a viable deck that can use her and I think this one might be just it.

So, what does Alice Luxley offer? She offers an boost and the ability to occasionally ping for 1 damage for free, given the right circumstances with the use of the proper cards and abilities. In my opinion, both of those traits are useful to Roland, if he builds his deck in the right way and, in fact, I think that out of all the investigators who have access to her, Roland gets the most benefit out of her.

So, to make Alice Luxley beneficial for Roland, he ideally needs a weapon on his one hand and a clueing tool on his other. Moreover, he needs these tools to have some durability. While the Machete is the obvious choice when you 're looking for a weapon with durability, when you want to keep your second handslot occupied with a clueing tool, it becomes a liability as you often will not want or be able to have a back-up weapon thus be in trouble when you get swarmed. These 2 issues are exactly what I'm covering with this deck. And I'm doing this with a recently released card that I haven't seen get used so far, but I believe is quite strong: Well-Maintained. With this card, Roland can recur his weapons and/or his Flashlights, thus acquire more options regarding enemy handling and clue-gathering, while minimizing the risk of not being able to deal with enemies effectively.

But wait a minute... isn't recurring assets an expensive habit? It is. And that's where our second ally comes in. Charles Ross, Esq. has the potential to greatly reduce the cost of all those Item assets you are going to play and recur through Well-Maintained. In fact, after Charles Ross, Esq. enters play, you are very likely to never pay for those assets for the rest of the scenario, like ever again! And that will let you accumulate resources for your clueing events and (later) to pay extensively for Keen Eye!

I'd like to talk more about Alice Luxley's ability. While it's not as easy to trigger and to greater extend, get value out of it when you trigger it, the deck has tools to make it work better. To begin with, Roland's ability triggers Alice Luxley's ability for free. That's a free ping to any other enemy at your location. But how often will that happen you might ask? It's true that this will not happen very often, and that is why we have Shortcut. Shortcut will let you move to another location while engaged with an enemy and ping another enemy after you kill the former, possibly helping out another investigator, or allowing you to kill the latter more easily.

So, aside Roland's ability, we have 4 cards in the deck that can fire Alice while engaged with an enemy. No introductions here and probably an obvious one, but I'm talking about Scene of the Crime and Working a Hunch. These cards can help you deal with a tough enemy while getting clues from your location, or just save you a few actions by killing the enemy faster and speeding up your pace. With Shortcut, you can also choose the location you 're discovering clues from.

Do note that even if you are able to fire Alice, you won't always be able to get value out of the ping. If, for example you pinged a 2-hp enemy and you intended to attack with your .45 Automatic anyway, it wouldn't make a difference. It would however make a difference if you intended to attack with Enchanted Blade, as it could potentially save you a charge! You could even throw a punch if it was a low-fight enemy! Generally speaking, you will usually get value out of the ping when you use it on odd-health enemies. Of course there are exceptions to this, like when a teammate is using Ornate Bow or Shrivelling (5).

One major part of the deck is its resource economy. As we said, Charles Ross, Esq. can save you a ton of money and you can use that money for your clueing events and for Keen Eye in order to kill some tough enemies and crack some shroud values (enter recurrable Flashlight here). With Charles Ross, Esq. and Crack the Case, you can even boost other investigators' economy!

So, other than that, the deck is just typical Roland killing stuff and getting clues. We just focus on how to do both as efficiently as possible and, as a bonus, we have the ability to occasionally support other investigators.

Upgrades (in priority)

• Charisma

We need both allies out. Enough said.

• 1x Crack the Case, 1x On the Hunt: 2x Well-Maintained

Core card of the deck, as we said in the description above. It allows you to recur your weapons and your Flashlights, never leaving you without an option either for fighting or for clueing. Remember that after Charles Ross, Esq. enters play, all these assets will probably be for free.

• Keen Eye

Use all this free cash for and boosts. Important upgrade.

• 2x Steadfast: 2x Quick Study

This card is just too good not to take in Roland. It allows clue manipulation, like help trigger Alice when there is no clue at your location, or deal with Cover Up more easily.

• 2x .45 Automatic: 2x .45 Automatic (2)

This can be bought later, but it's really helpful to get this early, as with it you will always have a weapon that gives at least +2 when you 're attacking, putting you at at least 6 and negating the disadvantage of not running a passive booster like Beat Cop or Ace of Swords.

• Stick to the Plan and 1x Ever Vigilant (replaces 1x Shortcut).

Stick Ever Vigilant, Shortcut and On the Hunt under Stick to the Plan. After you get Stick to the Plan and Ever Vigilant, setup will be real quick and you 'll be ready for action possibly even after turn 1! The disadvantage here is that you lose 1 copy of Shortcut, which is important, but you get one under Stick to the Plan for guarranteed usage. If you want both Shortcuts in your deck, you can cut 1x Take the Initiative or 1x Unexpected Courage. I personally feel uneasy playing with fewer skill cards, so I would advise against it.

• 2x Enchanted Blade: 2x Enchanted Blade (3)

God, I just love this card! The bonuses you get from this card when you kill an enemy (after you use a charge always) are just what a Guardian wants! Both the extra draw and the horror heal are very valuable for this deck, as you do need to draw cards and we (practically) don't have a lot of soak.

• 2x Emergency Cache: 2x Emergency Cache (2)

The extra draw is more than welcome for this deck.

• 2x Vicious Blow: 2x Vicious Blow (2)

More damage is always welcome.

Piloting notes

• Mulligan for any 1 weapon and your allies. If you have some of these, you can also consider keeping Flashlight. Mulligan away everything else except Emergency Cache. I'm not sure which one of your allies is the most important for the early game, but you do need to get Charles Ross, Esq. down as early as possible. He will provide you with all the economy you need. The extra economy cards can also cover the economy issue in case you don't see him early. Additionally, as I said above, after you get Stick to the Plan and Ever Vigilant, setup will be real quick and you will be good to go possibly as soon as turn 1!

• Spend actions to draw cards throughout the game. You want to keep your handsize healthy and you want to have options. You need to find your other weapons and your Flashlights. You want your Well-Maintaineds. You want your clueing events, your skill cards, your econ events. Generally, options.

• Your allies, unfortunately, are not expendable. This is one of the deck's downsides. Alice Luxley can soak 1 damage and 1 horror and Charles Ross, Esq. can soak 1 horror. That's it. That is, of course, unless you have the second copies in your hand. Alice is quite expensive to replace, but Charles Ross is definitely expendable if you have a second copy, unless you were about to play a heavily discounted Item asset.

And... that's about it! Thanks for reading and hope you liked the deck!! :)