ARRR! - Astounding Revelation Relic Roland

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
ARRR! - Astounding Revelation Relic Roland - Path to Carcosa 0 0 0 1.0

Soloclue · 2587

YO HO HO MATEYS! Have you ever wanted to play an investigator who is a pirate? Well look no further than Silas Marsh Roland Banks. (Author's note: Roland Banks is not actually a pirate. It just happens that the acronym for this deck is ARRR and I thought it would be funny to pretend that made him a pirate. I apologize for anyone who is disappointed and actually expected a pirate.)

How does ARRR work?

The goals of ARRR are as follows:

-Use search effects to trigger Astounding Revelations, thinning our deck out and giving us a lot of resources. Practice Makes Perfect, Prepared for the Worst and Dr. Elli Horowitz are fantastic for this. This deck features 6 Practiced skill cards to go along with PMP.

-Use Dr. Elli to get Relics into play and use them to kill enemies (and by extension discover clues). Disc of Itzamna can kill 2 health enemies on spawn. Not only does this trigger Roland's special ability to gain a clue for no test and no action, it also creates a window for him to play Glory, drawing 2 cards. Enchanted Blade is also a great and flexible weapon for dealing 1 or 2 damage as needed. Because Elli is a search, she synergizes fantastically with our Researches.

-Guts, Take the Initiative, Hallowed Mirror, and Practice Makes Perfect (to find TTI) can all help you defend against Will treacheries and/or protect your 5 sanity.

-Perceptions help you investigate at 5 and can be found with PMP. If needed, Glory has 2 Int icons for an investigate as well.

ARRR with XP

-With XP, we want Stick to the Plan (to instantly trigger an AR and thin your deck more) and Segments of Onyx. The true goal of this deck is to be able to get Pendant of the Queen into play. With card draw throughout the deck (especially from Glory) you should be able to find the Segments fairly quickly.

-We also can opt into Surprising Find with XP. The main benefit of this is thinning our deck out even more to get our Segments and weapons out even faster.

-We also want upgraded Enchanted Blade for even more card draw and also horror healing. And naturally, Elli can hold onto this for us to save us time and money.

Overall, this is a deck that has damage, clues, resources, card draw, defensiveness... everything really! Give it a go in solo or multiplayer and let me know how ARRR works for you!

14 comments

Sep 06, 2020 chirubime · 27009

Lmao. The deck looked so familiar I had to figure out why that is. Turns out, it looked so similar to your Discount Joe Diamond deck that I favorited a while back xD

Sep 06, 2020 Sazed · 347

We need a machete for the pirate!

Sep 06, 2020 acotgreave · 842

Fantastic! Love the write up with more details on your blog.

Sep 07, 2020 Cyggie · 7

I love the deck! When you get a chance try slotting in Whitton Greene! She's done work in a Relic Joe deck I played recently.

Sep 07, 2020 Cyggie · 7

Her lvl 2 upgrade (Whitton Greene works really well with Segments (they're relics!), because they are fast and essentially immediately give you a stat boost if you have the cash.

If you find her early on any scenario her repeated search is strong. On certain missions where you add new locations and then later reveal them, she can be really powerful and help you reassemble the pendant multiple times!

Sep 07, 2020 Soloclue · 2587

@Cyggie Whitton is on the extended list of adjustments/upgrades! But, I would probably want Charisma first, because Elli is too important to me. Also, in that case, I'd want the upgraded Whitton versus taking her at level 0. So, it's a luxury upgrade to me, but a really good shout out.

Sep 07, 2020 Cyggie · 7

@Soloclue makes total sense. The new Disc of Itzamna is a great idea for this deck too.

Also thanks for being an awesome deck creater. I used your Discount Diamond deck as the starting point of my deck. Keep up the great work.

Sep 11, 2020 StyxTBeuford · 12985

Kind of surprised to not see Overpower in a deck with PMP. That seems like a natural fit. Deduction I can understand not being included, though with Whitton instead of Elli that could also work.

Sep 12, 2020 Soloclue · 2587

@StyxTBeuford I don't feel like this deck needs Overpower. Perception and Guts have saved me multiple times already in my playthroughs with this deck.

Sep 14, 2020 SgtWinter · 16

Very nice Deck, I think I will "borrow" it for my short list of a well balanced deck. :)

Since I play only 4 player I will exchange On the Hunt with First Watch and later upgrade Glory with Stand Together.

What do you replace Segments of Onyx with? 1x Prepared for the worse und 2x Crack the case?

Sep 15, 2020 Soloclue · 2587

@SgtWinter Based on my experience, that would likely work well for replacements.

Oct 28, 2020 Holmelund · 2

What would you remove to get room for the 3 Segments of Onyx? I see lots of things to add, but have a hard time removing things

Dec 03, 2020 dplucinski · 16

Half way through 4 player Carcosa with this deck and it's very fun, fairly effective. I took First Watch instead of On the Hunt since I find it more useful in 4 player. I luckily received Through the Gates as a random basic weakness which searches your whole deck, finding an Astounding Revelation and a Surprising Find in the process.

The upgrade path for this deck is fairly straight forward. Choosing what to remove is a bit more difficult. Carcosa does not have that many willpower tests, so Guts was nixed first, but your mileage may vary. I did not get much use out of .45 Automatic (expensive, enough weapons already, and doesn't really synergize), both Crack the Case and Glory can be replaced with Stand Together. Perception OR On the Hunt/First Watch can eventually be removed depending on the scenario. Both essentially do the same thing and give you a high shroud clue. I personally went the Perception route because there was no shortage of enemies in our 4 player campaign. A case could be made for taking Deduction instead, though.

All other cards in this deck synergize so well with each other I'd hate to take them out.

Segment of Onyx and Stick to the Plan are essential upgrades. Enchanted Blade gives much needed horror healing. Surprising Find helps thin your deck significantly. Timeworn Brand (only one copy necessary) saves you from wasting Enchanted Blade and gives much welcomed card draw. Stand Together is a fantastic addition that puts us at a comfortable card and resource advantage. One Dynamite Blast attached to Stick to the Plan ... just in case. Perception and Vicious Blow are obvious upgrades. Lastly, Relic Hunter prevents needing to discard an accessory when it's time to play Hallowed Mirror or Pendant of the Queen.

Piloting is pretty straight forward. Early-mid game bounce between high and low shroud rooms, fighting and investigating in each respectively. With the amount of cards that can be committed in this deck, Roland is a pretty decent cluer even with only 3 intellect. Eventually you'll find yourself with Pendant of the Queen. Remember that when all its charges are used, Segment of Onyx gets shuffled back into your deck which, at this point, is probably almost empty. It's very easy to get back to back Pendant of the Queen because of this. Use it mostly for free clues, but a teleport here and there is situationally very powerful.

Apr 13, 2021 manfromleng · 188

This deck is featured on the #AHLCG Game of the Day on the Whisperer in Darkness YouTube channel. bit.ly/2OPx3dI