Forced It (0xp)

"Oh, come on. I put all of that effort in making someone work with Forced Learning, and you just make it that easy?"

Overview

0 XP, Taboo 24-10-23

• Clue: ★★★★☆
• Enemy Management: ★★★☆☆
• Resilience: ★★★☆☆
• Support: ★★☆☆☆
• Consistency: ★★★★☆

Summary

I've done a bit of testing, and as it turns out, someone who can effectively get two bonus cards with low effort every round is pretty good. What's that? George Barnaby can do that just by running Forced Learning, putting one skill to commit underneath and drawing a card to make up for it every round? And then he can get even more, because his ability is once per phase? And the main downside is a small hand limit, when you can often discard cards or commit more skills? Shocking.

While I had a preliminary version of this deck (https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/53096/forced-it-0xp-pre-release-1.0), this version takes full advantage of new cards. This is a more well-rounded version of George which was built for a two investigator game, making him reasonably capable of fighting. It's possible to do a harder pivot towards pure investigation without much trouble - just switch most of the damaging options with more skills, since you can't really go wrong with them.

Strategy

Get plenty of skills. Use plenty of skills. If the draw lines up, optionally use the Dark Horse package to add a bit more consistency.

Details

• In general, keep the more unusual tools you might need - Fire Axe and any ally are helpful for being able to fight, though Hand Hook can work in a pinch. All of the allies will be helpful in any initial economy you need.
• Every turn, Forced Learning will come up. Try to discard a skill if possible, since these have the best effect when played with George. If you need the hand size, you can avoid using them. Remember that if your hand limit is small, you'll have two instances to discard every upkeep - one from Forced Learning, and one during the Hand Size Check. Only use your during the first instance if you're fine with potentially discarding the card you draw. And remember, don't use your reaction on Improvised Weapon or Winging It - it'll be a struggle to get those into the right place after.
• This still runs the usual Dark Horse package, so feel free to fight with Fire Axe or discover clues with Mariner's Compass. In those cases, just treat Hand Hook and Nautical Charts as bonus skills that happen to get your cards into the right place.
• Remember that your ability is per phase. As a result, feel free to use Idol of Xanatos during the Mythos/Enemy Phase and Hand Hook/Nautical Charts/Blood-Rite during the investigator phase. Artistic Inspiration will be useful during any other gap as well - and sometimes, its effect is a free mini-Lucky.

Mulligan

Always Keep:

• Dr. Milan Christopher/Lawrence Carlisle/Madame Labranche: At least one ally is very helpful, both as early soak and as an early economy boost to help play all of your cards.
• Dark Horse: Dark Horse is one of the only things that's hard to find a substitute for.
• Fire Axe: If you plan at fighting at all, Fire Axe remains a very powerful tool for doing so. It works best with Madame Labranche, but sometimes, you just need one good swing.
• Artistic Inspiration: This is the most reliable method you have of discarding something at any time. You want to be discarding things during every phase if possible.

Sometimes keep:

• One enemy management tool: If you don't have Fire Axe, Hand Hook, Occult Lexicon, or even a good evasion commit such as Last Chance or Unexpected Courage can help give a little security until you're able to draw into it.
• Nautical Charts: If you're good on combat or have someone else for combat, this is a great way to both pick up extra clues and get George's ability rolling.
• Skills: If you have enough important cards, you can keep any leftover skills with the intention of putting them under.

Never keep:

• Improvised Weapon/Winging It. These are meant for either Forced Learning discards, Short Supply discards, or other miscellaneous discards.

Upgrades

Remember, the deck size from Forced Learning means the consistency of your deck is a little off. You're likely to see a lot of your cards throughout the game, but none are guaranteed to come early. As a result, if you're making any high-XP purchases, they should be permanent or worth it.

High Priority

• Cornered: Before Artistic Inspiration, this was the best discard enabler available at a low cost. Now, it's still very good for hitting the investigator phase. A +2 to put a skill under you and draw a card to make up for it? And you can still do whatever you want with the skill? Yes, please.
• Dark Horse (5): Consistency and effective free cash in a deck which really wants it.
• Sharp Vision/Brute Force: Depending on what you need, these are still very good general cards for squeezing out extra effect.

Lower Priority

• Scrapper (3): Sometimes, you just want a way to make sure Dark Horse is active when you need it. While Fire Axe will always be preferable, this is a fairly low cost for a little bit more flexibility.
• Charisma: This runs three allies for consistency, but they're all useful.
• Gift of Nodens: Yes, it's a very good card. However, it's a 5 XP card in a 50 card deck, so you'll want to be careful about whether or not you can get it out.
• Scavenging: Curse that taboo. You don't really need the upgraded version, though - Hand Hook and Nautical Charts both work fine when you have more fuel in your hand.

Thanks

Thanks for reading, and for joining me on my pause between experimenting on Forced Learning decks that don't work for one that works far too easily. Thoughts and comments are appreciated!