Monterey Jack

Wow, what a character. An absolute mad lad. I just ran him through innmouth conspiracy(solo) and he is absolutely bonkers. Many people have said it already, But I got to spend a minute to talk about him.

One of the most horrendous actions in this game, is moving. It's a necessary evil. You HAVE to move to another location. That's  why movement cards like short-cut, scout ahead, pathfinder, estocic atlas are of great value. Especially in campaigns with Huge maps, like innsmouth and edge of the earth. Spending 1 of your few action just to move always feels bad.

Now, what if I told you, that there was a gator, that, when he moves, he pays you for it?!? It's your boy, Monterey Jack. Now, rogues have always had the capital when it comes to resources, but this seeking rogue can NOT take those powerful resource cards. But he can still get by, with cards like lonewolf, or Faustian bargain, but it's nice nevertheless that he can innately get more resources for his move actions. Now what rogues aren't good at, is card draw. Barring lucky cigarette case,pickpocket,easy mark, 3 aces, and all in. Mosty they have powerful draw effects. But never any consistent card draws. But this rogueish seeker not only has access to the best seeker cards, but can innately draw cards with his move actions as well.

Not Many investigators have an ability that is so versatile. If you don't need resources, you can draw a card. If you don't need a card, you can gather a resource. You are completely flexible that way. If you start to add in those powerful movement cards as mentioned,(especially pathfinder and eon charts) his ability becomes crazy, with so much overflowing tempo.

All of those nice things said. He is heavily effected in multi-player, and clue heavy location. In single player. This is a nice balance, there is not many clues on many location, so his ability can run wild and free. But more players invites more clues, and with it. A deck building challenge to really clean up clues. You can totally manage it, with cards like pifer, fingerprint kit, deduction, archaic glyphs and what not. Hell, he CAN take the best of what the seekers can offer, so why not? I would advise a secondary seeker, or a good generalist in 3-4 players, but he can be a main cluever in duos, definitely.

Also, a special case, in horror in high gears, you are glued to the vehicle, and the vehicle is forced to move at the end of the investigation phase, but not the turn. Which means if I didn't force it. (The ability on the vehicle card) I would never use my ability. Which sucked! But anyways, let's look at his stats.

1 will

This Stat is never good. Although, rogues are used to low willpower anyways, so if your teamed, the usual suspect can help,(you handle this one, I'll handle this,  ward of protection.) You will need to soak horror, and you will have to iron out some ways to deal with important will test.... or just don't do them, I guess. I can suggest a few option, especially if your playing solo.

  • forewarned(1)- you are pretty good at getting clues, so it's not so bad, especially if the effect you are canceling  would make you worst off.

  • Higher education(3)- you bet your bottom dollar I'll spend 2-3 resources to save my behind in a important will test, you can have an abundance of resources, you can fill your hand easy, and can use both Stats. I would say it's not a priority upgrade. But if you have the spare exp. Why not?

  • Skill cards- you can totally save an unexpected courage, and a inquiring mind to pass a hard will test. Hell, with some spare exp, I bout eye of truth(5) which is already a stellar card. You won't be able to do this offen, so choose wisely.

Sadly, he has 6 sanity, which Will test usually revolve around horror, so I recommend Logical reasoning or logical reasoning(4) which in general is a good card, but on him it's pretty great, not many(if any) rogues can say they have played it.(The lvl 4 version of course).

4 Intellect

A pretty solid Stat, and with 1-5 seeker access, comes many ways in utilizing it. Stand out cards are mag glass(1) of course, Dr Milan, and death(1).you also have access to many seeker researched cards , and also the new archive of conduits. He can provide excellent seeker support, while utilizing his rogueish card pool. Fun cards including

  • Eon chart(1)(4) - an excellent enabler that allows him to do 3 different things that he is good at. You can keep it charged with ariadne's twine(3)! My favorite!

  • Gené Beauregard(3)- an decent multi-player card. Boost two stats he likes, and provides him additional ability when he moves, this asset pairs greatly with hiking boots(1)!

2 Fight.

It's just as bad as his will Stat. But it's not nearly as important. This Stat comes up mostly when you fight.... which with his ability to move and his high Agility, he usually just wants to Evade. His signature asset, his trusty bullwhip, is an excellent panic weapon, and allows him to take out small annoyances. He can fight bosses with this weapon in solo for sure. But he really isn't a main fighter. Your job is to Evade, Investigate and get out of dodge. Enemy management will be an issue sometimes, so try to be prepared. The rogue 0 cards like backstab, sneak attack, hell even hatchet man will do some work.

side note- you can use the ornate bow, he doesn't have the best pool, but since he likes evading, you can make great use of this.however,you will lose your handslots tho

5 Agility

Speaking of which, this is the rogues stock and trade! But sadly, he is the worst rogue for this. He can't use some of the best rogue cards, also he doesn't have many ways of boosting his Agility. That said. Seeker still has great support for this Stat, I actually stated some cards (gené,hiking boots) that co-exist to help him boost this Stat.

His Signature Card- Trusty Bullwhip- I've talk about it alittle, but what's not to like? It's cheap, fast, and tests with his best Stat. It has that same versatile nature that his ability has, extra damage? Or auto Evade? Or nether, than attack again? Your call.

His Signature Weakness- Buried Secrets-

One of the more tamer weakness I've seen. I mean, he is good at investigating, so if anything it's a waste of a action. Or maybe not, because it has the bold Investigate. You can use a card like eon chart to investigate with it (current taboo actually prevents this now). And if you fail, but you really have to move, you can alway shuffle it back into your deck for 2 horror, you'll see it again, but probably in better circumstances.

All in all, he is an excellent investigator. That allows for quick, fast pace games were he lives on the run, and profits the most from it. Truly, a fun time!

Working a Hunch

It's a testless clue, fast, for a reasonable price.

This card is flat amazing. Anybody who can afford the cost and doesn't emergently need to draw something more important will directly contribute to winning the game with this card. Doesn't care about shroud, doesn't care about enemies. This is an absolute staple.

If you are able to get a discount it gets even better so it's set for my hunch deck if I play Joe and also Norman will be happy if he find this card on top of his deck (except you are at a location without clues) — Tharzax · 1
it really comes down to the cost at the end of the day, some decks can't afford to spend two turns worth of money to get a single clue, but if you are running Milan and the deck isn't too expensive it is pretty nice. (a lot nicer in Trish) — Zerogrim · 295
Also scales poorly above 2p. — MrGoldbee · 1492
There's no drop-off at higher player counts because there's more players getting clues. Seeker economy makes affording this easy, and even if you can't afford playing it it's 2 book icons. — suika · 9506
Still takes a deck slot. — MrGoldbee · 1492
it's universally useful to use this card to clear up that last clue on an xp location — liwl0115 · 42
Fast, saves you an action AND a test. Probably one of the strongest cards in the game - even if you are a seeker and are pretty good at otherwise gathering clues. — Blackhaven · 9
Sea Change Harpoon

I’ll take an alternate view. This weapon and the accompanying net are just too complicated, expensive and action-intensive for the simple way I play Silas. Much prefer him with the costly but no fuss Timeworn Brand and cards that recur skills like Resourceful and True Survivor. Sure it’s more xp but Silas can run well with little Xp. Just Meat Cleaver and Sylvestre with Track Shoes, and maybe a couple copies of Brute Force, until you can afford the time-tested Brand.

Krysmopompas · 366
Something to consider - if you don't bother using the bounce ability, just leave this in play and focus on ensuring you always have skills to commit with those cards you mentioned - it's a cheaper Brand that you paid no exp for. — SSW · 217
Yes, this comparison does not make sense, imho. I would rather put the XP in some Chainsaws. If you get the Harpoon out before them, you can return it to your hand instead of discarding, once you want to play the chainsaw, together with all skills committed. Then, you can either replay the harpoon, once the chainsaw runs out of gas, or commit it for it's good icons! — Susumu · 381
To put it in more general words: If you plan to bounce back your harpoon all the times to get back the skills, then play it again, that's of course bad (played). But if you just plan on using it at most once per game, when you want to free up the hand slot for something else, then why not use the bounce back, to regain some cards (INCLUDING the harpoon)? It's just gravy. On top of that, the ability, that makes TB more flashy than a Machete is also a "once per game" thing. So, compared to the Harpoon it is severly overcosted, imho. The condition for the extra damage, to commit at least one skill, is something, Silas will always want to do anyway. +2 instead of +1 might be nice in cases, when he does not need to commit for the extra damage, but I don't think, that's enough. With just 4 base combat stat, Silas likely wants to commit most of the time at least a card even then. — Susumu · 381
If you commit quick thinking and then bounce the harpoon in your hand with the commited skills, you haven't lost an action. And for the resource cost you have Drawing thin + Take heart. — AlexP · 285
These still enable at most twice a game to recoup the expenses. And incents you to build your deck in a weird oversucceed AND fail style. Possible on paper, but I'm not sold on it. — Susumu · 381
Toe to Toe

Daniela can use Toe to Toe on health damage enemy to instantly obliterate it without touching the chaos bag, by having the additional cost go to her Guard Dog. Spilled horrors can go to Precious Memento (Former Life) and spilled damages on Daniela if enemy hits harder than 1 damage required for the dog. Dog bites for 1 damage. Dog is considered "you". She is angry her dog is hurt and auto-whack for 1 damage. Then this Toe to Toe fight deals 2 damages, to the total of 4 damages which should kill most annoying enemies. The dog gets Bandages. Memento can be restored perhaps with Relic Hunter + Bangle of Jinxes to help over-succeeding, which would got jinxed as a part of Toe to Toe. The test to over-succeed can be the next Fight or Earthly Serenity (4), which its difficulty is 0 vs Daniela's 4 , which would also restore some chip damages/horrors off Daniela taken while distributing leftovers from the dog and the stone. Handy!

(This combo also needs only 2 packs : Revised Core and EotE Investigator.)

5argon · 11277
toe to toe itself will also always oversucceed — OrionAnderson · 125
Precious Memento

These two cards are an interesting way to keep the Level 3 Composures in play -- particularly Moxie (3) for Rogues and Plucky (3) for Survivors (Carolyn can also take these and Combat Training, if that's the route you're going). The interesting thing about the Level 3 Composures over their older Level 1 counterparts is that they soak BOTH health and sanity, and in the case of the aforementioned cards, if you want to keep them in play you'll need to soak the lower numbered soak somewhere else. So, for Plucky, you'll need a reliable damage soak, and for Survivors this is another option to Jessica Hyde (although if you're a Survivor who wants to fail, take the other version instead).

For Moxie, you need a reliable sanity soak. Hopefully with that card in play you can spend some money to not TOTALLY fail on a Rotting Remains. You can put one or two points of horror on this card and then heal it back when you inevitably fail some other test. Conversely, this card is perfect for Sefina Rousseau paired with Moxie, as she regularly has other horror soak due to Mystic access, and the damage that she puts here instead is easily healed with Rogue succeed-by-two shenanigans.

dscarpac · 1229