Catch Me If You Can! -- Use Your Enemies to Get Clues

“A con artist’s only weapon is his brain.” ― Frank W. Abagnale, Catch Me If You Can

Theme and Strategy: Some of the most famous informants have been former criminals, because they understand the mind of the crook and can run circles around them. This is exactly what this version of "Skids" O'Toole does. He doesn't have the patience to slog away his actions on fight or clue tests. He would rather exploit the weaknesses of his enemies to get test-less clues and automatic damage. The cornerstones of this strategy are Skids' built-in skill at evading due to his high agility and his special power to gain an action to get away faster, and the card Alice Luxley. Alice is perfect for this strategy because she helps Skids get clues and damage out faster and more easily. She allows Skids to either ignore enemies (with the help of Narrow Escape, Followed, On the Lam and Scene of the Crime) and let Alice attack while he investigates, or evade them, exploit them (Eavesdrop), and stab them in the back (with the test-less damage from Alice Luxley, augmented by Hatchet Man).

Investigation: Alice Luxley is key for the passive intellect boost. She allows Skids to reliably investigate locations with up to 3 shroud, so hard mulligan for her (keeping only Lone Wolf). The full suite of events that grab clues help Skids handle the higher shroud locations and adapt to any situation, while using evasion frequently will make sure you have enemies to get bonus clues from.

Combat: Skids is a boss at evading. So when you don't need to kill an enemy, just evade it, get the clues and move on. As noted above, sometimes spending 2 resources to activate his power and use the action to finish investigating a location and move away can be worth it to avoid having to evade the enemy again. But sometimes it's better to kill, and then Skids can take advantage of Alice together with Hatchet Man to get test-less damage. When you need more damage, he can use .35 Winchester and Enchanted Blade. The Winchester has a really nice cost to damage ratio, especially with higher combat enemies, dealing more average damage than any other level 0 weapon when attacking enemies with fight value matching your final combat value (try the math, factoring in the odds of missing, and you'll see it's true). The Winchester also benefits from Skids' flexibility and adaptability: you shoot once, and depending on whether you miss, hit or critical hit you can either evade, get a test-less damage with Alice, or shoot again. Enchanted Blade doesn't need much explanation but it's worth noting that it's often better to use it without the charge, especially if you only need 1 damage. There are 2 copies of Evidence! because this card can be used to do action-less damage with Alice Luxley when you are fighting 2 enemies. Finally, Skids pulls out the Dynamite Blast when enemies swarm (this happens more often when you evade often), and the previous damage from Alice and positioning with Warning Shot can ensure that the dynamite inflicts maximum death on his foes.

Economy: Skids is very resource-hungry, and this deck pushes the resources to the limit with several expensive assets and lots of events. So I've chosen the economy cards carefully to mitigate this. The strongest economy play is an early game Lone Wolf, but this isn't as good when drawn later. "Watch this!" should be used only when the odds are very good, sometimes used together with another skill card. Emergency Cache is like the inverse of "Skids" O'Toole power, trading an action and a card for 3 resources, which can later be converted back into an action when it is more useful. Finally, "You handle this one!" converts a card into a resource while allowing a more capable teammate to deal with a nasty treachery effect.

Treachery management: Speaking of treacheries, the ones that test willpower are a weak spot for Skid's, especially cards like Frozen in Fear that are hard for him to escape and can really tie him up. Save "You handle this one!" and Take the Initiative for these treacheries. He is also vulnerable to willpower tests that deal horror, and any treachery that can deal 3 horror is also a priority target for these cards.

Changes for solo games: I don't recommend this, because Skids is pretty vulnerable to treacheries that test willpower and you will have to give up "You handle this one!". But if you must, it is probably better to change the You Handle This One to something that heal or prevent horror, since cards that help him overcome his low willpower are too unreliable or too expensive. Examples of decent horror-mitigating effects would be Dodge (good for enemies that attack for 2 horror), Inspiring Presence (nice interaction with Alice) and Hallowed Mirror/Soothing Melody.

Upgrade path (not in order but these are my early choices):

• Manual Dexterity --> Stealth
• Hatchet Man --> Garrote Wire
• "Watch this!" --> Easy Mark or Hot Streak or Hot Streak
• Enchanted Blade --> Switchblade
• .35 Winchester --> Chicago Typewriter or Lockpicks depending on whether you need more combat or more investigating.
• Take the Initiative --> Tennessee Sour Mash