For the companion article to this decklist, complete with short fiction and more character depth, go here: https://strengthinnumbersarkham.wordpress.com/2025/01/21/arkham-champion-jericho/

And for an index of all the Champions, go here: https://strengthinnumbersarkham.wordpress.com/2022/04/22/the-index-of-arkham-champions/

Intro

Insightful, aloof, and lethally rational, Joe Diamond is an experienced sleuth with the scars–physical and emotional–to prove it. But that's nothing compared to the honed edge his intellect takes on when he dons his mask and stalks the streets as the precise and deadly Jericho, capable of finding the weaknesses in any person, place, or plan, and bringing them down with a single, surgical strike.

Deck Breakdown

Well now, it's been a minute, hasn't it? But I am thrilled to welcome you back to the Arkham Champions series, my attempt to mix and match genres to create superhero characters for the Lovecraftian 1920s!

Today I'd like to introduce you to Joe Diamond, a.k.a. Jericho. He's a loner, a cynic, and a bit of a poor team player–but he makes up for that with a brilliant strategic mind that helps the Champions orchestrate their operations all across the city, and deduces exactly where to hit their enemies in order to make it hurt the most.

As with all Champions, the core of the deck is Jericho's mask, in this case the wizened Pantalone. Certainly in the running for the most powerful of the original Carnevale Masks, Pantalone draws you a whopping two cards every time it enters play–so, perhaps unsurprisingly, Jericho's deck includes as many ways to play and replay the card as possible.

For starters, we've got Well-Maintained, which can be attached to the Pantalone at fast speed. Then, once we've used Pantalone to handle any test of our choice with Jericho's razor-sharp intellect, it returns to our hand to be played again. For boosted efficiency, Markings of Isis lets us grab a clue as the same action we replay the Pantalone (and with Knowledge is Power, the whole process can even be actionless). Knowledge truly is power, after all, especially with a mind like Jericho's. And as an added boost, Professor William Webb (a frequent supporting cast member to the Champions) returns to help Joe trigger his mask's brainstorm a few extra times before he needs to cycle. If you're playing alongside Eulogy and the ghoulish hero manages to snag him first, of course, you can always turn to the experienced P.I. Michael Leigh or just rely exclusively on friendly forensic tech Delphinia Bell.

Speaking of cycling, it may come as no surprise that a deck built around repeatable card draw proves to be a cycler. But that indeed is how Jericho generates most of his power, as the faster his mind moves (in other words, the faster he cycles) the more damage he can deal and clues he can gather.

His main cycling payoff is Counterpunch, allowing him to provoke enemies into attacks of opportunity and then immediately take them down as they give him an opening. For enemies with a bit more bulk, he can play both Counterpunches at once, and if they're somehow still standing, he can finish them off with his Colt 1911s, which he keeps permanently loaded via One in the Chamber.

As for investigation, his hunch deck is full of fast, high-efficiency cards that can enter his cycle after the first time they're played, gaining him clues, resources, and actions every time he loops his deck!

In Action

Like Eulogy and Nevermore, Jericho is a flex investigator who uses his strong stats (and relevant boosts) to take a lot of basic investigates early on in the scenario. Then, as he gathers information and plays out his assets, he is able to increasingly optimize his own performance, cycling more and more rapidly to get the most use out of his fast events. The mythos better take him down quickly, because he only gets stronger the longer the scenario goes on!

As for Jericho's nemesis weakness, well, that honor goes to Roland Banks, a.k.a. the Stubborn Detective. Once Jericho's partner at the Bureau of Investigation, Roland is now a perpetual thorn in his side as he doggedly investigates the mysteries of Arkham–mysteries Jericho is now as much involved in as anyone. While he's around, Jericho's normal hyper-logical thought becomes flustered, preventing him from accessing his Hunch deck; and furthermore, in order to avoid detection the rest of the heroes on Jericho's team have to avoid using their superpowers (or in other words, their abilities and Elder Signs) too openly, for fear of Roland realizing they're the Champions and trying to bring them to justice for their vigilantism.

Conclusion

I think Joe is one of the most interesting and fun characters in all of Arkham (as my discord profile picture presumably indicates), with a tremendously diverse array of potential decks, so I'm always excited to try a new approach to him. Rapid cycling as a primary mechanic is also something that's pretty hard to do in most characters who can actually take guardian cards, so it's especially fun to get to throw Counterpunch and I've Had Worse around willy-nilly.

If you do bring Jericho, or another cycler Joe, out into the streets of Arkham, I'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!