Finn Doubles Down

This is the Finn deck I've developed after a few plays of The Forgotten Age deluxe box. As such, there are some spoilers for the first 2 scenarios in my deck description.

I built this deck to play well with others, so I don't have common highly sought after allies, like Leo de Luca, Dr. Milan Christopher, and Peter Sylvestre. If you want to run them, feel free, but I found this deck does fine without them.

Due to Finn's high agility and the vengeance penalty for killing many of the enemies in these scenarios, I decided to completely forgo weapons. Your main method of dealing with enemies is your free evade action. This means you don't have any hand slot items and you don't have to spend much, if any, time setting up; you are free to start exploring right from the start.

Card justifications:

Double or Nothing: The lynchpin of the deck. Because we aren't running many assets that require resources, you will build up a significant stock that you can then use for some flashy turns with double or nothing. Doubling up Backstab (for boss fights or VP enemies), Eavesdrop/Deduction/Elder Sign for extra clues, Watch This for lots of cash, or Quick Thinking for extra actions are all common uses. I've even doubled up my parley action with Ichtaca to progress the act quicker. Great action economy!

Lone Wolf/Watch This: We don't have access to Hot Streak later, but these are sufficient given we aren't running a ton of assets. This steady stream of cash will let us easily spend on investigate and evade tests using Streetwise (initially Hyperawareness until we have XP). Money is what fuels our crazy doubled up turns.

Backstab: Even though we're evading most enemies, backstab is useful to clear out the odd enemy we want to kill. Double it up for boss/VP enemies or use its base to clear out non-vengeance enemies. Most of the stuff we want to kill is 3 HP, so it fits well with backstab. (This is also why we aren't running Sneak Attack yet; most enemies we want to kill are more than 2 HP)

Eavesdrop: I'm not convinced on this event yet, but it's had its uses. Useful to double up, but it can be hard to set up a way to use it because it requires an enemy to be at a location with clues. You can set it up by dragging an enemy from a location with no clues to a location with clues using Narrow Escape to cancel the AoO. Niche use, but good when you can use it.

Elusive: All around good.

Narrow Escape: Mostly here as a 2 pump. You'll replace this once you buy XP cards.

you handle this one/Guts/Unexpected Courage/Dr. William T. Maleson: These are to deal with nasty encounter cards that target Willpower. Send them to a teammate, put them back in the deck, or do your best with pumps. In the first scenario, hold on to Guts and Unexpected Courage for the first agenda flip. You'll need to pass a 3 Willpower check to avoid getting poisoned. I try to have both a Guts and an Unexpected Courage in hand as well as being in my teammates' location to potentially get some help from them for the test. Being poisoned sucks. I recommend taking along medicine because you will inconsistently be able to pass this check.

Dario El-Amin: Mainly here as an ally for health/sanity soak, but with the added bonus of stats and/or money. Because you don't spend money except through Hyperawareness/Streetwise, you could potentially build up quite the stock, so his stat boosts can be online. He will be replaced with Lola Santiago once you have some XP.

The Splash:

There are a lot of good Seeker/Survivor options available. I already mentioned Dr. Milan Christopher and Peter Sylvestre as worthy alternatives.

Hyperawareness: Absolutely necessary until you get Streetwise. Then Adaptable out of them. Because many of the locations are high shroud, you'll need to boost your intellect by 2-3 to reliably pass them. This is the most consistent way to do that.

Dr. Maleson: Good soak and encounter deck protection. Cheap and not often an ally that is fought over in groups.

Deduction: A must. Action compression is great and combos really well with Double or Nothing.

Other Options:

Logical Reasoning: I'd likely slot this in with adaptable for scenarios with Frozen in Fear.

Magnifying Glass: Good to boost your investigation, but largely unneccesary once you have lockpicks.

Dig Deep: If you prefer a Willpower pump over an intellect pump.

Look What I found: Nice way to get extra clues.

Lucky: Standard survivor event. Helps on the willpower tests that punish for how much you fail by.

Waylay: Useful in certain scenarios (Undimensioned and Unseen) but not really in TFA as of yet.

XP Options

Definitely start with Streetwise. I then add adaptable to take out Hyperawareness and replace it with other splash options.

Lockpicks shore up your investigation and allow you to easily pass Double or Nothing investigations.

Pickpocketing (lvl 2) is awesome with Finn turning his free evade action into money/cards/both.

Lola Santiago is a no-brainer once available and easily replaces Dario.

Eventually Lupara is a nice option given the number of 3 health enemies.

Generally I take out Narrow Escape & Guts after the first scenario.

I hope you like the deck. It works really well in the first few scenarios of TFA and can be really fun pulling off cool Double or Nothing turns.