Jim Culver | The Beyond [Taboo 2024-10-23]

Card draw simulator

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Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.

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aboutindy · 75

Context

I played the Edge of the Earth campaign using Jim Culver (Laid to Rest) because I was curious about The Beyond and also because there aren’t many decklists featuring him—and I found his playstyle really fun.

On top of that, he’s one of the strongest investigators I’ve ever played. He truly excels at gathering clues, but he can also auto-pass tests, heal allies, get multiple actions per turn, and more.

He’s an investigator who needs some time to get online due to setup, but once you get his assets in play, he really starts to shine and can do pretty much anything necessary to help the team.

Additionally, playing alongside me were:

McGlenn as the main damage dealer using Firearms, Lola Hayes using Transfiguration to become Marion Tavares and act as a hybrid support, and Norman Withers using Astronomical Atlas to commit cards for clue gathering.

Jim Culver and The Beyond explanations

For those who have never played with Parallel Jim, he gains a new reaction with the following effect:

"After you reveal 1 or more skull or curse tokens during a skill test you are performing: Replenish 1 charge on an asset you control. (Limit once per round.)"

Based on this, I tried building a deck that maximizes the use of curse tokens to take full advantage of this reaction, which in my opinion is very consistent. I’ll explain the combos I used during the campaign further below.

Additionally, he gains a new permanent card called The Beyond. The mechanics of The Beyond make the experience truly unique, as it essentially allows him to put allies into play at no cost and use their abilities as needed. You must assemble a separate deck called the Spirit Deck, which contains 10 cards: 9 different allies from any class (level 0-2) and Vengeful Shade.

At the start of your turn, you put the top card of the spirit deck in play without occupying any slot — it loses its ally traits, health, etc., keeping only its effects.

When you put the fourth spirit into play, you must flip The Beyond and resolve its mechanics to determine whether you discard the allies or not, along with some additional effects.

Important note: The Beyond's mechanic is not a skill test, so you can't easily manipulate the revealed tokens to force a favorable outcome.

Considering The Beyond's mechanic and the 3-spirit limit in play before its forced effect triggers, there are some allies you can use that have their own discard effects, allowing you to keep playing without needing to trigger the forced effect.

Based on all this information, I tried building a deck that could make the most of all these mechanics, and I was genuinely surprised by how powerful it turned out to be.

In The Thick of It (3)

(1) Summoned Hound X1

(1) Priest of Two Faiths X1

(1) Four of Cups

Core deck (29)

(2) Close the Circle X2 > Sixth Sense X2

Close the Circle is a card that becomes significantly stronger due to the class diversity of the Spirit Deck cards. Since it uses charges, playing it at the right moment (with around 3 different-class cards in play) lets you consistently gain an extra action every round. This works because whenever you reveal a curse or skull token during a skill test, you can use Jim's reaction to replenish charges on Close the Circle.

Moreover, Close the Circle is a card that can be used during a player window, allowing all tests performed while using the card to be made with Willpower - which will be our highest stat. In this sense, you can find many opportunities to force skill tests on location cards, among other situations, using Willpower. It's also a way to act before your turn begins, which helps manage the Spirit Deck if you want to take some action before putting another Spirit into play.

(6) Living Ink

(3) Vibrancy. Living Ink grants an additional +1 to the chosen skills and -1 to each other skill.
(3) Macabre Depiction. Living Ink gains: " After you reveal a chaos token with a symbol, exhaust Living Ink: Place 1 charge on it."

Living Ink is a card that gives us a Willpower boost - the attribute we'll use most for investigating - and it also uses charges, which synergizes with our reaction ability. However, this card can become self-sufficient over time in this deck because it has the ability to place charges on itself when you reveal a symbol token during a skill test. So with some XP investment, you can get a +2 Willpower boost from a card that can maintain itself in play, at the cost of -1 to all other attributes. Since you have ways to automatically pass other types of tests, the card's downside isn't so bad, especially considering the other cards in your deck that will help you pass tests.

(2) Favor of the Moon X2 > Delve Too Deep X2

(2) Favor of the Sun X2 > Refine X1 Ritual Candles X1

(2) Paradoxical Covenant

Favors and Paradoxical Covenant have insane synergy and turns you into someone who can force success on tests that will completely impact the scenario. All auto-success effects are extremely powerful, especially when playing on Expert difficulty - even more so when playing with an investigator who struggles with non-Willpower skill tests.

Hold a Tempt Fate card for when you have both Favors in hand, then play it and afterwards play the Favors which are Fast.

Now you have a combo that will make you pass one test per turn, give you one resource, trigger your reaction (since it reveals a curse token), and works exceptionally well with The Eye of Chaos and Living Ink - all without affecting the chaos bag because you sealed the tokens you put in the bag.

When using this 3-card combo during an investigation with The Eye of Chaos, you can get up to 3 clues, place a charge on Living Ink, and replenish a charge on an asset you control. If you already have Close the Circle in play, you can use The Eye of Chaos effect to replenish itself and replenish a charge on Close the Circle. All this in just one skill test where you'll have an automatic success.

(4) Eye of the Djinn X1 > Ritual Candles X1

This card synergizes perfectly with the combo above, because it gives you an extra action and unexhausts itself since the test reveals a curse and a bless token, so it opens the possibility for you to use it another time in the turn if you use it with the Favors-Paradoxical combo.

(4) The Key of Solomon X1 > Ritual Candles X1

An consistent way to manipulate the chaos bag to generate resources or heal damage/horror. In my group, another investigator take Sacred Covenant to help keep more bless tokens in the bag.

(3) Relic Hunter X1

(1) Binder's Jar X1 > Holy Rosary X1

This is one way to deal with Vengeful Shade if you're finding it difficult to handle. However, in my experience, if there's someone in the group who can consistently deal 2 damage, it becomes a very manageable weakness when it appears.

(4) Ward of Protection X2 > Ward of Protection X2

An upgrade to help you and other investigators deal with the mythos phase.

(3) Occult Reliquary X1

If you want to get all your assets into play, having an extra hand slot will be essential - this card works really well for that. In my run I got the Vow of Drzytelech weakness, so it became absolutely necessary for me to be able to use The Eye of Chaos and Close the Circle simultaneously without risking losing one of the assets when drawing the weakness.

29XP

I tried building the spirit deck to consistently use two cards for as long as possible: Summoned Hound and Leo De Luca. So I focused on including only three allies without self-discard effects in the deck, partly due to limited options, but feel free to add any ally you think might be more useful.