Learning True Solo (#5) Sefina Rousseau - Carcosa/Dunwich

Today we're going to talk about building for an investigator's strengths.

Previous decks in the series (which you can find by following the derived by links) have stayed pretty close to a 10 asset / 10 event / 10 skill split which is a good generic starting point in True Solo (or in general, really). Even the "Zero-Setup Ashcan" at 6/12/12 was fairly balanced in terms of card type spread.

Today we're going to look at Sefina Rousseau, who wants a much different ratio of card types.

This deck was built limiting myself to Core + Dunwich + Carcosa, but for players with more complete collections, I mention other upgrades and alternatives in upgrades subsection (and for players with just Core and Path, please see the remarks at the end for suggested substitutions for the Dunwich Cards).

General playstyle

This is an focused Sefina which, unlike most of the other Solo Sefina takes I've seen, has a lean low-asset build. (which is why we are not running any arcane slot assets). So we're using Sefina's High Willpower mostly as defense against the Mythos and not offensively.

Investigating in scenarios after the first will rely primarily on Lockpicks (1) and testless clues; but for the level 0 deck, the objective is to use passive boosting assets like St. Hubert's Key, Dario El-Amin, and the trusty Flashlight to do our investigating. If you have the Winifred Starter investigator deck (which actually has a number of useful upgrades for this deck, mentioned below), you could use Lockpicks (0) for the first scenario. However, I think Flashlight is a little more consistent on low shroud, and we'll be packing Drawn to the Flame for high shroud locations in the first few scenarios anyway. If you are concerned about scenario 0 clueing, the two Quick Thinking could be Perception instead.

Note that Lockpicks (1) does not change the skill-type of the test, so while you can still boost with non-commit effects like Streetwise (3) or passive bonuses like Cat Burglar, you cannot commit -icon cards to the test.

Also, since we don't do anything else with our hands, feel free to put both into play in investigation heavy scenarios so you can take two buffed tests a round.

Combat will be handled entirely with -testing combat events, which we get away with because as a high agility solo we prefer to evade anyway, and because Sefina gets extra copies of these fight events thanks to her signature, The Painted World. In specific campaigns it may be necessary to bring a permanent asset due to high enemy density, some suggestions are mentioned further down.

Artistic license (to kill)

Sefina has a unique set-up rule, where she draws 13 and can tuck up to 5 events from that first hand under your investigator card. She still has a hand-size limit of 8 though. I'll skip all the actual math and just give the summary: you want approximately 45% of your non-weakness deck to be events (other than the painted world), or about 15 events minimum which gives you roughly an 80% chance of being able to finish set-up without having to discard any cards. You can put The Painted World underneath her, and that is preferable to discarding, but it will end up costing you an action later in the scenario probably to draw it.

So for consistency it's usually a good idea to have a couple more than 15, so we're going to start with 17. Sefina's other big advantage is that she sees 3 more cards in her opening hand than even a full 5 card mulligan would; so despite the slightly larger deck minimum she's incredibly consistent at setting up assets. This means we can rely on having specific assets in play on round 1 more than we usually could in other investigators.

Our First Turn set-up goal is to play a resource generating event and play lone wolf plus either an ally or your investigation asset, using the first action of turn 2 to put the other into play. The key can be played mid-scenario when you get a chance, or can replace whatever other asset you didn't draw in your opener.

Her Signature Events also let you get multiple uses out of the tucked cards, which lets you play certain effects more than any other investigator could: need to backstab 5 times? Sefina can.

Her Signature Weakness, Stars of Hyades is dangerous, but one of the ways we can limit its destructive power is to limit how often we actually choose to take an action to draw a tucked event; in fact, I'd recommend almost never choosing to take an action to draw a tucked event - that's a whole third of a doom! One copy of Quantum Flux also helps us limit the frequency with which we will draw Stars of Hyades in longer scenarios, by letting us refill our deck a bit. Another option is to include a copy of Deny Existence if you own The Circle Undone investigators expansion, but personally I don't find it necessary in this build, although it is pretty common to include it in Sefina in multiplayer, where you have more opportunities to take her draw action.

Of course, if it's do-or-die time and you need that tucked Cheap Shot now, you should draw it.

All of these events (and, eventually streetwise activations) cost money, so we run cards like Lone Wolf, "Watch This!" and later Hot Streak (4) to help pay for everything. St. Hubert's Key is mostly there to help in scenario 1 and provide some hardening against the mythos, but it could easily be Crystallizer of Dreams since we're throwing around so many event cards. (but note that Painted World's remove from game is a "Forced..." effect, so it takes precedence over optional reactions meaning you cannot choose to put it under Crystallizer instead.)

Dario El-Amin gives us value out of running "too much" resource generation in the 0XP version of the deck, which makes transitioning into a streetwise build smoother.

Finally, we run Daring Maneuver to help keep lockpicks (1) safe, and land the Quick Thinking and "Watch This!" over-success bonuses, but we could easily run any other event in this slot in the 0XP deck and use Adaptable (1) to swap into the Maneuvers once we have the Lockpicks. Delve Too Deep might be a good choice, if you are sure you'll have time in the first few scenarios to play it.

Movement on large maps

This Sefina build does not run much action compression, relying instead on high power actions that are likely to succeed thanks to boosts; For a campaign with very large maps buying a Charisma (3) plus a couple copies of Leo de Luca is alright.

But if you have a larger collection you might want to finesse it and only on the specific scenarios with the large maps, you could use Adaptable to swap into a movement compression event like Scout Ahead; Try Astral Travel or Open Gate if you are expecting to do a lot of backtracking - but Gate requires some explaining: if you use adaptable I believe you get a maximum of two copies (because adaptable says 'swap' and myriad keyword addresses purchase) however copies of the painted world duplicating Open Gate will stay Gates as long as they're in play because painted world's forced remove-from-game effect triggers when it would be discarded. So despite having only 2 copies of the real open gate, you still have up to 5 virtual copies assuming you can get one under your investigator.

If the entire campaign is large maps, consider upgrading St. Hubert's Key into Eon Chart (4); or actually running 3 copies of Open Gate from the beginning.

Side deck

In most campaigns you'll probably spend your initial XP with Sefina buying Streetwise (3), 2 copies of Lockpicks (1), and 2 copies of Cat Burglar (1). The exact order is up to you, but I think Streetwise (3) is better first if you can't afford everything because it boosts too. Replace Dario with Cat-Burglar and the Flashlights with the Lockpicks.

If you aren't playing blind, round out that list with Adaptable (1) and that represents a fully operational version of the deck (8 xp). If you want to see a full campaign's worth of upgrades, check down below for a spoiler free summary of what I took in the process of playing this deck through Path to Carcosa.

Cat Burglar (1) is particularly good in Sefina because he provides both a much desired passive boost as well as some health soak, while also being effective at helping us avoid enemies that we really would rather not deal with. Notably, he does not say "non-elite", so for scenarios with unkillable or otherwise almost inescapable hunter boss monsters, he take a lot of the pressure off.

Because this deck really wants 7 XP as soon as possible, if you know the first scenario won't involve much fighting, you could cut 2 of the combat events for 2 copies of Delve Too Deep and swap out of them sometime around scenario 2 or 3 with adaptable. Another option for getting more XP if you want to try to push for the luxury upgrades we're about to talk about is to take Charon's Obol (1) (note, it's exceptional, costs 2). If you take it after Scenario 1, you'll earn a total of 10 net extra XP going into scenario 8. While in True Solo there is no one to keep you honest about the penalty clause, I do suggest sticking to it if you do get defeated - it will make winning all the more satisfying when you do succeed on another try.

Playing Adaptable in this deck:

What you should swap with adaptable varies by scenario and campaign, swapping Fine Clothes for Sneak Attack in a scenario with more parley and less combat; or dropping a skill card for an "I'm Outta Here!" if you know you'll need to resign in a hurry, etc. Large map? Consider Scout Ahead, Know you'll need extra soak? Find room for Leather Jacket; Need extra enemy avoidance? fit in a couple copies of Think on Your Feet and so on.

Usually you will be removing one of the combat events or the Drawn to the Flames, depending on what you will need less of in the upcoming scenario. I talked about adaptable a bit before when we showcased a Wendy Adams Evasion-based true solo deck, but it's in my opinion indispensable when it comes to True Solo investigators because it gives you a little bit more edge for every scenario, so this won't be the last time it comes up in this series.

When to buy Charisma?

Similarly, whether or not you want an early Charisma (3) is campaign dependent: some campaigns will saddle you with Ally slot story assets, but Sefina really likes her cat burglar friend. In those campaigns you'll want to take Charisma so you can keep your burglar in play. If you end up XP rich, there are also several strong secondary allies you could consider pairing with charisma, including Chuck Fergus (5), Delilah O'Rourke (3), Gené Beauregard etc. but these are definitely luxury upgrades.

After covering any cards that are specifically needed for that campaign, I tend to spend the rest of my XP for the remainder of the campaign just buying increasingly powerful events; Hot Streak (4) is usually the first one I do, replacing E-cache, but after that it's kind of up to you: Do you want more consistency in succeeding at tests? Sure Gamble, need more punch? Backstab (3) (but note that painted world will not return to your hand if you copy backstab (3) - see the FAQ page for painted world for more details), Worried about possible defeat on a critical scenario that will kill you? Cheat Death! Want to have an Ace in the Hole for one explosive turn? Just remember that the painted world cannot copy exceptional events.

Boss hunting

Occasionally you'll get a campaign finale that takes more damage than an event focused rogue can normally dish out. In this situation you've got a few options, Backstab (3) as mentioned is repeatable if you can over-succeed, and thanks to up to 5 copies of Hot Streak (4) and Streetwise (3) you should be able to make this consistent.

If you'd prefer an asset solution, your options are somewhat more limited, Sefina is not a capable investigator, so you need to either rely on fight assets like Shrivelling or Sword Cane; or you need to rely on fight weapons, like the recently printed British Bulldog (2), an upgraded Hyperphysical Shotcaster or the slot-less Sharpshooter (3) which lets you then pick any of the usual weapons, although you will probably want a one-handed one due to lockpicks.

Ornate Bow is usually an option in high investigators, but since we're using a hand to actually investigate, Going with a two-handed weapon will necessitate reworking the deck quite a bit, and should be planned ahead from the beginning. This starts with using a spell asset for investigating, such as Sixth Sense. Investigating with flat really works better with at least 6 which means finding room for another passive boost besides the St. Hubert's Key, the best of which is probably Four of Cups in Sefina, at least outside of Circle Undone itself. (You really don't want the campaign weakness "The Tower • XVI" wrecking your day here.) You might also want a second copy of the Key for safety margin. Moxie (3) is also worth considering.

If you need "Magical" damage, I'd suggest a Hyperphysical Shotcaster late in the campaign, but you can always adaptable your way into Sword Cane, or find room for that Ornate Bow, all of which are relics. Shrivelling is obviously also an option since it's a spell.

What if I only own Core and Carcosa?

While I ultimately decided to include Dunwich cards as well for the indispensable Streetwise (3) this deck is more beginner friendly than the Ashcan Pete List I did for Deck #3.

Unfortunately the deck I designed here doesn't really function without Streetwise (3), although the rest of the Dunwich cards are largely optional. Quick Thinking could easily be two copies of Perception, and one could always run Burglary instead of Lone Wolf (although Burglary is much worse in true solo). Streetwise (3) is a permanent so it's easy to pay 3XP and pretend you have one, I give you permission to do this.

A "spoiler free" campaign log

This deck was built specifically with a Path to Carcosa Campaign in mind, in the interests of avoiding spoilers I won't go through the specifics. I did think it might be useful to set out the actual upgrade path I took in the end, though, since we're starting to reach more advanced topics now, and I thought it might be helpful to see how I think the deck should prioritize its upgrades. Going forward I will probably continue to build each example deck for the campaign the investigator debuted in.

I arrived at the final scenario with a total of 28 XP. ignoring adaptable swaps I made the following upgrades in this order:

Scenario 1: 4XP

• {Permanent} Streetwise (3)
• {Permanent} Adaptable (1)

Scenario 2: 4XP

• Dario El-Aminx2 Cat Burglar (1)x2
• Flashlightx2 Lockpicks (1)x2

Scenario 3: 2XP

• {No upgrades}

Scenario 4: 6XP (8 total)

• Emergency Cachex2 Hot Streak (4)x2

Scenario 5: 5XP

• "Watch This!"x1 Cheat Death (5)x1

Scenario 6: 2XP

• {No upgrades}

Scenario 7: 4XP (6 total)

• Daring Maneuverx1 Ace in the Hole (3)x1

Remarks

Veteran players will likely notice that a certain very popular (in Sefina) card is missing: Double, Double (4). I wanted to limit to just two expansions but Double, Double is obviously super good in Sefina, and could fit fine in this deck basically as is.

But, if you wanted to specifically build around it, I'd look at Valentin's excellent Campaign Breaker Sefina for ideas.

If you like the idea of Solo Sefina but want to rely more on her high instead, I suggest taking a look at Fitzz' Sefina Flex build as a starting point.

This largely concludes the topics I was originally planning on covering in this series. But I'm having fun and it seems to be getting some traction, so I'll probably keep going. Intermediate topics, maybe some more campaign specific builds, as well as making sure we've got examples for every faction in the series (for instance, we haven't done a seeker yet...). Also, I don't think I would be satisfied myself if I didn't eventually publish a true solo Trish Scarborough - so I think there's still more to go.

"Next Time" will probably be another Carcosa investigator, but I haven't decided which one yet.