Redefining Normanity

By day, he's a mild-mannered astronomer. But when night falls...

What happens when you give Dr Norman Withers a huge sword and let him loose on the hapless monstrosities of Arkham? This deck aims to find out!

Piloting the deck

Built for solo play but fine for multiplayer, this deck assumes Norman will have no problems grabbing clues the old-fashioned way; instead many of the cards in this deck lean into making him competent in fighting. Enchanted Blade can put Norman at 4 and dealing +1 damage, which is fine, but there are other ways here to boost his strength:

• Fieldwork gives him a bonus when he runs into a new location to fight an enemy!
• Promise of Power and Inquiring Mind give him silly bonuses, and using Practice Makes Perfect to seek out Overpower or a well-timed Plan of Action puts him at a respectable 6. Commit cards often and repeatedly!
• Grisly Totem should come out ASAP so that you make the most of your committed cards.
• Anatomical Diagrams can be played for free if you see it on the top of your deck, and it makes Norman's chance of hitting things considerably better.

If your blade runs out of charges, you can use Enraptured to give it another charge, but you can also call on "I've got a plan!" and Mind over Matter to help you out in a pinch. Occult Lexicon gives you access to Blood-Rite, which is probably best used for damage-dealing. If you need to evade enemies, then you won't find it easy, but committing cards like Promise of Power to such tests is probably your best option.

Your ally, William Maleson, is not only excellent cheap soak, but his ability to cancel encounter cards makes up for the lack of protective spells in this deck (and also sets up Inquiring Mind).

Norman's 5 means that getting clues shouldn't be a problem, but you have a lot of relevant icons to commit if you need to. There is also a singleton Deduction here for those multi-clue locations. If you were to play multiplayer with this deck, you may want to bring in a second copy of Deduction and maybe another way of getting multiple clues efficiently (e.g. Fingerprint Kit).

The challenge facing any Norman deck is: how do I deal with the doggie? The answer in this case is very simple: stab it, stab it with swords.

Economy and card advantage

This deck runs pretty cheap, so apart from Crack the Case and Norman's discount ability there isn't much need for pure resource economy here, though keep a coin or two spare for your Blood-Rites.

Norman's ability helps you access the cards you need faster and cheaper, and Scroll of Secrets is a great way to (effectively) tutor out those key cards. There's a cheeky Deep Knowledge in here too, for when you just want an influx of cards for no money.

Upgrading the deck

Of course, given Norman's 4 and access to high-level Mystic cards, you could upgrade his deck into spell assets that help Norman investigate and fight even better. But if you want to double-down on the theme of the level 0 deck rather than going for those usual spells, here are some suggestions for cards to spend those experience on:

• The upgraded Enchanted Blade(3) is an obvious early purchase, with a better combat boost and making it easier for Norman to deal with 3-health enemies.
• Likewise the upgraded Scroll of Secrets(3) gives you greater flexibility over both your deck and the encounter deck, letting you either seek out or avoid enemies and specific treacheries, or draw into the player card you need.
• Crystalline Elder Sign is generally great in solo, and for Norman bringing him up to a base 3 makes him much happier fighting. It will take the Grisly Totem's slot though, so either become a Relic Hunter or swap them.
• Recharge(2) and Recharge(4) are ways to keep your Enchanted Blade full of juice for longer.
• Empower Self can boost your and other non- stats. In particular, the opportunity to get +2 is appealing. They are costly, though.
• Mind's Eye is a way to capitalize on Norman's good , but be aware that it takes up two arcane slots, which clashes with the Enchanted Blade.
• Blood Pact(3) comes with risks, but it gives a +3 to two stats Norman (in this deck) really likes.
• Ward of Protection(5), Ward of Protection(2) and Deny Existence(5) are powerful ways to deal with the mythos, and make up for the absence of those cards in the level 0 version of this deck.
• Versatile into Hard Knocks or Physical Training, because why not give yourself more ways to boost those stats?
• Stargazing is just thematically perfect, and might save Norman's bacon.

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

No, this isn't the most potent Norman deck. But if you are looking for a fun change of pace, and fancy seeing Norman becoming a mage knight bringing death to the eldritch hordes, then give this deck a try! In a weird new world, this is your new Norman.