Carson Sinclair, Promising Power

Love the idea of bestow resolve and the desperate cards. Will try to build a similar deck based on it.

I LOVE THIS TOO! Desperate + Bestow is super super cool. I need to try this

And this is SUPER standalone friendly. OKAY. Everything about this deck is perfect.

Ooh. This looks like a wonderful solution to the Carlson puzzle!

Fun deck! I want to make sure I'm reading Bestow Resolve correctly.

If I spend a charge from Bestow Resolve and pick Desperate Search from my hand, does Desperate Search go to the discard pile after the skill test is resolved or does it stay in my hand?

I assume it was commited like any other card and goes to the discard pile, but the wording is tripping me up for some reason.

Loving the concept here. @acotgreave hits the nail on the head here. Just seeing this sheds a lot of light on how Carson looks like he should play. Great job.

I have a rules question that I can't seem to answer on my own. Does the "commit a non-weakness card from your hand" effect from Bestow Resolve allow you to cheat the "commit to a skill test only if ..." from the Desperate skill cards? The text does not say you "cannot" commit, so it makes me think that it is a restriction that other cards could circumvent... Any thoughts on this?

@Dr.Macaquito Let me know how it goes!

@chirubime Let me know if you try it! Note that the deck is a point of xp short for standalone, so you can put a point on runic axe or hunters armor before you try it as is!

@acotgreave Thanks! I think it probably still needs some help to make it work because it's really dependent on bestow resolve, really need to hard mulligan for that. Also, I didn't include other skills to be consistent with the theme, but probably it could work better with a little bit of draw (overpower, guts) and even Enraptured (but I'll deny it). Actually lvl 2 overpower turned into 3 wilds sounds quite good also.

@Calprinicus I would say that it gets discarded, of course. It would be wild if it didn't. Note that cards like Practice makes perfect, that lets you commit a card, specifies add the card to your hand if it succesful. Bestow resolve doesn't say anything, so it goes to the discard. But what I do think Bestow Resolve can do is that it lets you commit an extra card to the test of another investigator (one commited as normal, and the extra one with Bestow Resolve)

@StartWithTheName Thanks!! I'm honored! I think the deck it's really dependent on finding the key card Bestow Resolve so I think it may still need some support some times from a friendly seeker if the mulligan goes badly (support the support).

@agktmte I don't think it lets you circumvent that restriction, and the deck is build with that in mind. It would be pretty bonkers if it would, but I hope someone knowledgable on the rules can clarify. If it does circumvent it, you could cut in the thick of it and some of the soak maybe in favor of some cards to try to make the deck more consistent.

This deck made me instantly like Carson, good job. Love the write-up

@Bernat

This deck is awesome! Thank you for making it! :)

One way to solve the mental trauma problem is to also purchase Arcane Research during deck creation. With In the Thick of It, that is 3 mental trauma to start the game. It will also give an XP discount when upgrading into Winds of Power and Occult Theory.

Oops, just realized you can't actually buy Arcane Research because Carson can only use off-class skills and events. Darn!

Well, you can argue 14 if you play both Bestow Resolve and Winds of Power + the regular 2 Promises that don't require charges. Afterwards, it's 6 Promises of Power per cycle, both Winds for 2 each and the regular Promises...

The real challenge of building Bestow Decks is keeping the charges flowing!

If only it were to be a Spell :(

Now we're stuck with power-drawing through Winds of Power which is really expensive or you have to keep replaying it which isn't that easy without powerdraw either (I can see a nice Yorick deck there, at least that's what I was theorycrafting) or just regular old Eldritch Sophist shenanigans

You can start with 3 mental trauma by taking Arcane Research.

Terribly sorry, disregard, I just caught the limits. What a pity.

Why not combine In the Thick of It with Versatile to get Arcane Research? There are a few decent options like Written in the Stars from the other classes as well.

@Redsnabba You're right! I'm not sure why I didn't think of that, since Versatile is one of my favorite cards. I don't see why that wouldn't work!

@Redsnabba While your solution does indeed work, I suppose I hesitate at committing 2XP to Versatile to acquire a card (Arcane Research) that functionally does nothing for Carson's deck other than inflict him with mental trauma.

My proposal is to actually drive Carson insane on the first scenario. Maybe overabuse Painkillers. Then he can suffer 1 mental trauma and have 3 mental trauma for the rest of the campaign.

@Redsnabba Yeah I agree with @Innsmouth Conspirator

Keep in mind that this deck does not have a lot of draw and it's really dependant on Bestow Resolve. Adding 5 cards will make it quite harder to find it in the mulligan.

Very cool !

How about Steadfast ? It starts with 6 icons (if you're not in "desperate" range yet), and goes down to 4 icons quickly to fit with the theme...

@Bernat `@Innsmouth Conspirator Versatile does more than just letting you get Arcane Research though. You can take run that card and get 4 more cards. I don't know how likely you are to succeed with Carson on skill tests but keep in mind that you do have the option to run stuff like Feed the Mind, Occult Lexicon, Tooth of Eztli, Rabbit's Foot, Lucky Cigarette Case, Take Heart, Pickpocketing, Empirical Hypothesis or the taboo version of Scroll of Secrets which could actually turn the downside of having 5 more cards into an upside.

You can even combine Scavenging with Scroll of Prophecies, Bandolier and a weird Placeholder if you really want. You would have to drop Arcane Research to include Scroll of Prophecies. Although because Carson is such a good pal to everyone maybe some is willing to pay back the favor instead?

If you don't run with the taboo list you could also fix the 3 wild symbols by making it 4!

It will make the mulligan less likely to draw Bestow Resolve but honestly the odds that one of the two cards is in those first 10 out of 34 cards aren't all that great and going through your deck quicker is quite important when there's currently no way to get said card back otherwise.

@Redsnabba You can definitely try all those out. Versatile always makes for an interesting deck. For me, though, Versatile seems like a luxury upgrade that can be considered after the main upgrades have been purchased. I would focus my first couple of XPs to getting both copies of Bestow (which is the main engine of the deck), and then prioritize XP upgrades to defensive cards like an upgraded Hunter's Armor for survivability.

I would also think about Teamwork for this deck. Carson isn't very strong at investigating, so when there are no enemies on the board, he can be idle and spending his actions on either resource or card draw. Teamwork allows you to give those extra resources to your teammate, as well as allow them to give you an item you normally wouldn't have access to (maybe a card drawing or investigating item).

Just want to say that I've ran it together Ursula and Silas through Innsmouth on standard. It was a blast, we got all the memories and most of the VP throughout the campaign. As for upgrades, I've opted for Ancient power/Saga/Heirloom/Elders/Glory and ofc Hunt for Axe and for Armor I opted for Protective Runes/Durable/Hallowed/Hex Drinker and Enchanted (this one is optional since it takes your Bestow Resolve slot but you don't need 2 anyways). Only thing I've noticed is that setup cost is a bit on a heavier side, but you don't need everything in front of you from the start and if your teammates help you out with odd resource here and there you are good to go, you gonna boost their start so much with your commits and Girish/soak so it will pay off for them to invest in you a bit.

One little synergy I've noticed is Call of the Unknown with your additional action, helped Ursula quite a bit with that one to position her wherever she wants before starting her turn. Also she played Archaic Glyphs and The Red Clock with Eldritch Sophist so from time to time I got few charges on Axe/Bestow Resolve myself which was pretty nice. For return she almost always got 4 icon commits on her Archaic Glyphs tests without much commits from herself.

Other than that, giving your main fighter additional action when there's a bunch of stuff on the board is insanely powerful as you may imagine, and if that's not enough you can land some strong hits once you get Ancient Power (imbue same inscription up to 3 times). Of course for you most important one is Hunt (gets you to move/engage up to 3 times before fighting) which helps with positioning a lot.

I was struggling (like many) on how to play Carson. I love the idea of this deck! I and 2 others are going to start a 3 player campaign of Circle Undone, it might be fun to try this one.

This is a cool deck! Since you have the room for more Mystic events, what about Ward of Protection as a way to take the additional horror to activate your Desperate suite?

@Bernat Hi Bernat! Is there a 0XP version of this?

@waynebo6 I agree! WoP would be a good idea. Not sure which card it will replace, though.

@Bernat Final form of this deck needs Keys of Ys for the skill buff and horror soak.

@Bernat Thanks again for this awesome deck! I made my own variant, but moved away from Mystic / Promise of Power and instead used Survivor class for survivability. I also used first 2XP for Versatile and added St. Huberts Key into the deck. If you're lucky enough to get it opening hand, it can immediately satisfy the sanity condition of the Carcosa skill cards, plus it gives you insurance if you're defeated by horror.

I also added Monstrous Transformation in my deck, and made Carson a werewolf butler. :)

Really fun idea, but after doing some Hand Draws, half the time I did not get Bestow resolve in the first 5 turns. That seems like a massive problem considering the deck is basically non-functional without it. Any ideas on how to make it more reliable?

@Folomo I made my own deck variant. In my estimation, Carson is only really playable with Monstrous Transformation (similar to Calvin). It doesn't solve the immediate problem, but having him be able to be a 2/2/5/5 investigator with +1 attack is a lot better than his default stats.

You won't be really doing a lot of beautiful or complicated turns with Carson, mainly support. I have found Stand Together, Safeguard, Let Me Handle This, Ward of Protection, Delve Too Deep, and Hunter's Armor to be really strong in him. Again, tempering expectations is really the key. With monstrous transformation, he is a competent enemy management investigator with above-average support feature.

O, just some extra details. Versatile + St. Hubert's Key will allow you to trigger his Carcosa cycle skill cards that have sanity conditions to play. Also, he is best partnered with an overpowered investigator (I'm running him with big hand Amanda Sharpe with no issues). Lastly, he can use his skill cards on himself. With Bestow, he can routinely investigate each turn at book 6. With Monstrous Transformation, that effectively makes him 2/6/5/5.

Made a 2XP variant to get investigators started in this road to power: arkhamdb.com

I'm playing a deck inspired by this one in Scarlet Keys. I've dropped the axe since we have a great fighter and a great cluever, so I am focusing on encounters by taking damage (with vambrace and bracelet) and just utility supporting. And i have to say, it's a pretty fun deck to play, I was not expecting such a performance on this investigator. A lot, and I do mean A LOT of issues with hard tests or annoying encounter can solved by sticking a +4 to it. Thanks for the inspiration.

P.S. The description is top notch.