Roland Banks: Clueing without Sweating (Circle Undone)

—Roland Banks: Clueing without Sweating—

Campaign - The Circle Undone

Focus - Testless clues with enemy management

Partner - Agnes Baker (see my Agnes deck: Agnes Baker Mends the Circle)

———WARNING: Spoilers for The Circle Undone———

-Overview-

For my third run through of TCU, I decided to try a Roland build strategy that focused on testless clue gathering to neutralize the new, often punishing Haunted mechanic. Deck upgrading focused on strengthening combat while boosting economy to fund the somewhat expensive clue gathering. A sprinkling of testless damage (Beat Cop 2) reinforced his partner’s built-in testless damage to efficiently manage the myriad one health enemies.

-Key Pieces-

Art Student, Working on a Hunch, Scene of the Crime, Evidence, Mysteries Remain:

These are the core auto clue cards that supplement your base ability. Art Student also functions as a horror soak. If you have Evidence or Scene of the Crime in hand, you’ll always want to be sitting on a location with at least two clues, especially if you have On The Hunt in hand as well. If you draw an enemy, you can typically clear four clues in one turn with only a combat test(s). Art Student should typically be played as soon as you’re on a location with a clue to get the horror soak out. Working on a Hunch and Mysteries Remain can be typically saved until after you’ve seen a lot of enemies from the deck or if you need to move quickly. You’ll always generally want to get out of a VP location immediately after clearing it to avoid The Dirge of Reason dropping clues back on it.

Calling in Favors:

Use this to recur your Art Student. Bonus points if you get another ally out with it. I wish I could have fit two in the deck. But it worked fine with just one.

.45 Thompson (3), Crack the Case:

These will make up the majority of your economy that will fund your testless (and often actionless) clueing. The action compression of these is high as they don’t require additional actions to gain the resources. Crack the Case sometimes pays you back for the resources you spent getting clues or ends up being a nice windfall. Aim to use it on 3-4 shroud locations, but it’s still action efficient on a 2 shroud location. Emergency Cache is in there as well but will get tossed later for I’ve Had Worse for more actionless economy. In terms of combat, the Thompson is a steady, reliable damage dealer that is a touch better than the .45 Automatic (2) in terms of reliability as a weapon with the extra ammo.

Shortcut:

This helps you get in position to scoop up clues. Specifically, use Shortcut after drawing an enemy during Mythos to position yourself in a location with clues, preferably a high shroud location or one with many clues, especially if you have cards in hand to scoop many (Scene of the Crime, Evidence).

On the Hunt:

This serves primarily as a clue scooping card. The obvious combo is Scene of the Crime. Sit down on a location with clues and combine Scene of the Crime with Evidence, and you can clear a four clue location potentially with one action and a few resources. This also protects Roland from the Mythos treacheries, which can be unkind with only three willpower.

Beat Cop (2):

Testless, actionless damage with some horror soak and a combat boost. Enough said. But paired with Agnes, you can take out a two health enemy without actions or tests. TCU also has many aloof one and two health enemies, so Beat Cop saves many actions.

Hallowed Mirror:

This serves to help heal the fragile sanity of Roland. Likewise, it also comes in handy for healing damage off of Agnes. An even better use is to heal damage off of Beat Cop getting more uses of testless damage. In other words, it is somewhat like recurring Art Student with Calling in Favors. The uses for this card (well, Soothing Melody) are too versatile to leave out. You’ll always be pleased to find it.

-Upgrade Path by Priority-

2x .45 Automatic (or an Emergency Cache)—> 2x Thompson (3)

2x Beat Cop —> 2x Beat Cop (2)

Emergency Cache/Inquiring Mind/Crack the Case —> Well-Maintained

Charisma

2x Overpowered —> 2x Well-Prepared

Emergency Cache —> I’ve Had Worse (2)

Emergency Cache/Inquiring Mind/Crack the Case/Enchanted Blade —> Extra Ammunition

Stick to the Plan

The first two should be obvious. But Well-Maintained is a VIP card when paired with the Thompson. Get it as soon as you have a spare 1xp but after you have both Thompsons. The Thompson almost entire pays for the next one. If you can find a way to get a second copy in, consider it. But it’s probably unnecessary. Charisma lets you have out two of any combination of your allies. Critically, it lets you put out that Beat Cop right away without sacrificing being able to put out an Art Student.

Well-Prepared combos beautifully with the Thompson for +2 fight once or twice a round. Hallowed Mirror, Art Student, and Beat Cop could also boost one of your other stats by one in a pinch. I’ve Had Worse protects you against precious sanity loss while boosting your economy. Extra Ammunition is obvious and combos nicely with Stick to the Plan. I never got to purchase this before finishing the campaign. It might be worth getting earlier. I’d put Prepared for the Worst (to get both Thompsons in hand asap), Shortcut, and Extra Ammo on it.

-How it performed-

The deck performed as expected regarding the goals, if not better. I ended up taking the Silver Twilight route finishing (winning?) at Union and Disillusion. Other than the first scenario (and the infamous Wages of Sin), I easily got the best resolution of each scenario. The first scenario is a challenge for this deck given that there are relatively few enemies, and many of the clueing options rely on getting enemies. The deck ran out of tempo by the end. In this scenario, you’re reliant on your partner picking up the clue slack.

But for every scenario thereafter, Roland was easily able to carry his weight in clues and often better. I probably only traditionally investigated maybe 3 times the entire campaign. Although not a dedicated cluer and avoidant of traditional investigation, he could almost carry a two person team in gathering clues in addition to being a sufficient fighter.

He’s just so action efficient. There was more than one occasion where I’d be able to for one action clear four clues and gain 3-4 resources while also killing an enemy. For. One. Action.

-Considerations for the starting deck-

I would have loved to get a second copy of Calling in Favors and/or Shortcut into the deck. The trick is identifying what to cut. A possible candidate is Inquiring Mind. Though, that card has utility mainly as defense against treacheries or for the rare occasion you need to get a clue through normal investigation. However, probably no so critical as to be absolutely needed. It’s an easy cut when upgrading.