Runic Roland · ArkhamDB

Card draw simulator

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Laaan · 326

Hey Roland, why are you using that giant axe as a flashlight?

Who knew that 6 years after his release, Roland would finally find the ultimate weapon to unlock his true potential: the Runic Axe! This deck leans into Roland’s shtick of hitting enemies and getting clues for it, and can repeatedly grab 5 clues in a single action. At first glance it looks like a pretty standard guardian decklist, but some important piloting points turn it into a monster flex deck.

Runic Axe

Although this is the big 10xp weapon of the deck, the runic axe is not really meant for enemy management in this deck. Instead, it will be used as a tool for getting clues. The idea is to spend as many charges as possible on the ‘Inscription of the Elders’ to get clues – up to 3 in one action thanks to Ancient Power. With a combination of the axe, Roland’s ability, and Grete Wagner, you can grab 5 clues in a single action.

Though Inscription of the Elders is undoubtedly the star of the show, Inscription of the Hunt is the hidden MVP here. Shortcut is an amazing card for Roland, and ‘Hunt’ can act as a shortcut on-tap for us. With it, we can drag an engaged enemy to a location with clues without taking an attack of opportunity – an invaluable ability for unlocking this deck.

Enchant Weapon

This is another key card in this deck. Adding +3 to our axe attacks is huge for ensuring we can properly over-succeed in order to get clues from the elders inscription. Most of our axe charges are being used for clue-finding, so we’ll rely on the simple but effective Machete for dealing with higher health enemies. We can attach the second Enchant Weapon to machete beef it up into a highly effective weapon.

Axe Flexibility

Though the main use is to get clues, the Axe with these upgrades offers incredible flexibility. ‘Inscription of Glory’ can add early-game card draw to help you get set up and can heal horror late-game if that becomes an issue. If clues become irrelevant late in the scenario, the axe can turn into a pure damage dealing machine against bosses, using ancient power to hit for up to 5 damage.

Other Notes

The rest of the deck features economy, skill cards to help early game and for high fight values or shroud values, and card draw. We want to reliably assemble our axe, machete, bandolier, and 2x enchant weapon as quickly as possible, so the draw is important.

When piloting this deck, you’ll have to decide how to spend your axe charges. You can gamble and dump 3 charges into a single attack to get the biggest clue output, but an autofail will hamper your ability to get clues for a turn or two.

For the opening mulligan, I recommend keeping any weapon, Scroll of Secrets, Empirical Hypothesis, Deep Knowledge, and enchant weapon.

This deck is excellent in a flex role. Most of the deck is built toward enemy management, but it will also grab a ton of clues. It should work well at any multiplayer count. I have not yet tested it solo.

Deck Progression

L0 Deck

			Cost	Total
	→	☑ Inscription of the Elders	1 XP	1 XP
	→	☑ Inscription of the Hunt	1 XP	2 XP
	→	☑☑☑ Saga	3 XP	5 XP
	→	☑ Field Research	1 XP	6 XP
Logical Reasoning	→	Enchant Weapon •••	3 XP	9 XP
Logical Reasoning	→	Enchant Weapon •••	3 XP	12 XP
	→	☑☑☑ Ancient Power	3 XP	15 XP
Deep Knowledge	→	Preposterous Sketches ••	2 XP	17 XP
Deep Knowledge	→	Preposterous Sketches ••	2 XP	19 XP
	→	☑ Inscription of Glory	1 XP	20 XP
	→	☑ Heirloom	1 XP	21 XP
Vicious Blow	→	Vicious Blow ••	2 XP	23 XP
Vicious Blow	→	Vicious Blow ••	2 XP	25 XP
Crack the Case	→	Stand Together •••	3 XP	28 XP
Emergency Cache	→	Stand Together •••	3 XP	31 XP
Overpower	→	Overpower ••	2 XP	33 XP
Overpower	→	Overpower ••	2 XP	35 XP
Emergency Cache	→	Cryptic Writings ••	2 XP	37 XP
Crack the Case	→	Cryptic Writings ••	2 XP	39 XP
Bandolier	→	Bandolier ••	2 XP	41 XP
Bandolier	→	Bandolier ••	2 XP	43 XP
Grete Wagner	→	Grete Wagner •••	3 XP	46 XP
Daring	→	Well Prepared ••	2 XP	48 XP
Grete Wagner	→	Grete Wagner •••	3 XP	51 XP

(View at arkham-starter.com)

2 comments
Jan 11, 2023 PJFrigate · 272 I really like this deck! I think you're onto something important: It may seem unintuitive, but this two-handed Guardian weapon is probably best used as a one-card toolkit rather than a primary damage dealer. I think the upgraded bandolier might bring real value: Four willpower is much better than three when facing down the mythos deck and holding onto your limited sanity points; you can use a Scroll that you don't draw until mid-game (to potentially discard weaknesses); and the boost makes Enchant Weapon even stronger. In any case, this looks fun to play!
Jan 11, 2023 Laaan · 326 That's a reasonable argument, and I do think bando (2) is good for this deck. I included it late in the upgrade path, just as a lower priority behind stuff to get set up faster. Certainly reasonable to add it earlier though!

2 comments

Jan 11, 2023 PJFrigate · 272

I really like this deck! I think you're onto something important: It may seem unintuitive, but this two-handed Guardian weapon is probably best used as a one-card toolkit rather than a primary damage dealer.

I think the upgraded bandolier might bring real value: Four willpower is much better than three when facing down the mythos deck and holding onto your limited sanity points; you can use a Scroll that you don't draw until mid-game (to potentially discard weaknesses); and the boost makes Enchant Weapon even stronger.

In any case, this looks fun to play!

Jan 11, 2023 Laaan · 326

That's a reasonable argument, and I do think bando (2) is good for this deck. I included it late in the upgrade path, just as a lower priority behind stuff to get set up faster. Certainly reasonable to add it earlier though!