Good Stuff Joe

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Fast Joe 0 0 0 1.0
Fast Joe 0 0 0 2.0
Good Stuff Joe 7 xp 0 0 0 1.0
Reluctant Mentor Joe 0 0 0 1.0
Joe Diamond, Revolvestigator 0 0 0 1.0

duke_loves_biscuits · 1250

"Maybe the neckbeard was right, maybe there really was more to this 'witch' stuff than a couple of frustrated fraternity kooks playin' dress-up. Heck, maybe this even tied to that damn unsolved case, though Joe figured he would go to his grave before he got to the bottom of that.

Joe reached across his desk for his rolodex, figuring he would call Jimmy at the precinct, but thinking again about the bodies, the locked doors and all the weird shit, changed his mind. Jimmy would want to knock on doors politely, get a warrant and other boy-scout stuff. Ain't got time for that.

'This isn't something the cops can deal-with', he muttered to himself. 'This calls for ol'Joe Diamond. This calls for the good stuff.'"

A standard Joe Diamond deck that focuses on investigation, efficiency and consistency.

I've written about the Hunch Deck in Joe Diamond reviews. We are picking cards that bring value and consistency. Here we are rocking, Delay the Inevitable, No Stone Unturned, Preposterous Sketches, Scene of the Crime and Working a Hunch. Logical Reasoning and Shortcut go in the main deck.

Your primary goal is to get clues, and you have a lot of tools here for both power and speed. For pure strength, Dr. Milan Christopher, Magnifying Glass and Perception help make up for his 4-intellect (no slouch, but no Daisy). For speed, you have the full suite of Deduction, Scene of the Crime, Working a Hunch, Fingerprint Kit that should almost equal Rex in terms of clue-gathering clues per action.

After clues, comes combat, but you are a pinch-hitter here, not a primary Guardian. That said, Machete, Vicious Blow, Overpower should be able to take out a lot of enemies before you need backup. And of course you have your trusty Detective's Colt 1911s. All these weapons and tools take up a lot of hand slots, so Joe packs a Bandolier, a card I think will be a staple in Joe decks.

You're only running 3 weapons, but your strong card draw with your free No Stone Unturned, Preposterous Sketches as well as cantrips and Prepared for the Worst should enable you to get at least one reliably, and will often get your preferred Colts. Even with all the discounts, Joe likes money, and Emergency Cache helps pay for all this good stuff. Sandbagging a Cache is a good way to prepare for Unsolved Case if you don't want to always save 2 resources.

Lastly we have defence. With 2-willpower and 2-agility, Joe isn't really a defence-kinda guy ("Maam, I have found that in times like these, I prefer to punch first and ask questions later"), but with only 6 sanity, you can't afford to just completely ignore defense. Delay the Inevitable and Logical Reasoning soak some damage, and Take the Initiative can help a little, but you should expect to take a bit of a beating from the Encounter deck before you find what you're looking for. It's the Joe Diamond way.

13 comments

Feb 01, 2019 acotgreave · 836

Great deck. Why not use Emergency Aid instead of Logical Reasoning? The former doesn't require you to have a clue so might be more likely to be playable from the Hunch deck when it appears?

Feb 01, 2019 Redgurr · 59

@acotgreaveThe first paragraph duke explained that Logical Reasoning and Shortcut aren't part of the 11 card hunch deck, so that hiccup won't occur. With all those linked card names took me a few rereads to catch the period in there.

Feb 02, 2019 icarodx · 26

Thanks for sharing. I don't see why you would have Delay the Inevitable in the hunch deck over Shortcut. Actually, Shortcut is one of the best insights for the hunch deck. Am I missing something? I would also play another set of weapons for the sake of redundancy. Other than that solid list.

Feb 02, 2019 Alziel · 13

Great deck and I gave this a test drive through The Witching Hour - unfortunately I found myself overwhelmed by Will based Treacheries. I'd suggest dropping Overpower for Guts and maybe look at seeing if there are any more cards with Will icons available to tech in for scenarios with a lot of cards that test that stat. Also - Delay the Inevitable works great when used at the right time - I'm becoming a fan!

Feb 03, 2019 soakman · 25

@icarodxI would think it's partly due to the fact that shortcut is a 0 cost card. Then hunch deck makes higher cost cards more likely to see play, so it would almost be a shame to waste it on a 0 cost shortcut.

Feb 03, 2019 ArkhamDio · 650

You want to save the shortcut in your hand until you need it for some reason. If you draw an enemy, you can use shortcut to combo off evidence, scene of the crime, working a hunch and a bunch of other situational hunches. Its a lot better in your hand than in the hunch deck. After using it though, its one of the best targets for Joes signature or his elder sign effect.

Feb 03, 2019 Django · 5063

When upgrading, how about Venturer or Extra Ammunition to get more uses out of his colts?

Feb 03, 2019 duke_loves_biscuits · 1250

Thanks for all the comments. I haven't written an upgrade guide, as this is a pretty flexible base for Joe that he could take in any number of ways. In all cases, he probably wants Higher Education to shore up his Will (as well as the usual reasons).

After that, he could go standard Seeker Good Stuff with Pathfinder, Deduction (2), Shortcut (2), Cryptic Research, or even No Stone Unturned (5) to ensure Milan.

Or he could lean more into fighting with Charisma, into Beat Cop (2), Reliable or even Timeworn Brand. As you say, Venturer/Extra Ammunition/.45 Automatic works too (though I'm less keen on this without Stick to the Plan).

But there are many other ways to take him, and it probably depends upon your group as well as your campaign challenges.

Feb 03, 2019 programswithwolves · 1

I tried this build out for Return to Night of the Zealot, paired with Carolyn. I only swapped out Logical Reasoning for Emergency Aid last second, and only because we were sharing a cardpool. That ended up being a poor choice, as Joe swept up clues before Carolyn had a chance to effectively use it.

The hunch deck is strong. Even though Shortcut isn't in the starting hunch deck, I managed to throw it in a couple times with the 1911s. I almost always went for Working a Hunch though if it was available.

I had my doubts about Delay the Inevitable, but it actually ended up being a great silver bullet against my Dark Pact weakness. Otherwise, it's effectively a free preparatory Dodge if needed.

I never had Milan at the right time in all three scenarios, so I had to choose between a weapon or Fingerprint Kit early on due to cashflow.

Overall, this was a fun deck. As stated, it's very much a seeker deck that can pack a couple punches. I'd love to see him get more consistent fighting power, but for a clue-gathering role this is great.

Feb 05, 2019 Django · 5063

@duke_loves_biscuits I didn't mean upgrades in general, just if you think his signature weapon is worth to include more support for.

Both classes have lots of upgrades that work well with his stats and can be tailored, depending on focus (more or )

Mar 23, 2019 CSerpent · 126

Really enjoying this deck. I'm taking it through original recipe Dunwich with a fighting Marie (she's not an ideal fighter but I wanted to play her, and she's actually doing alright). I just added Eidetic Memory -- it's weird to have to pay for an Insight, but it's still a good choice for him.

Dec 30, 2021 FistsoFiore · 1

I'd like to note that there are 4 main deck and 2 hunches that let you search your deck. Astounding Revelation might be a viable sub for Emergency Cache, with a practically guaranteed trigger if you upgrade into No Stone Unturned. If we hadn't agreed that I was gonna be the designated clue finder (with Diana being the more focused on monsters), I might have picked Tetsuo Mori over Milan, to help setup my 1911s with Bandolier and an offhand weapon.