Stella Clark: "Behold, I Send My Messenger Before Thy Face"

Various problems fixed from the first version

This is a first stab at a modified Stella deck; it performed pretty well in Return to the Night of the Zealot, but I expect it will get some tinkering, especially in the upgrades, since three scenarios doesn't allow for much exploration, even with multiple plays. I mostly play on Easy and Standard, so it's built for that, and I've only run her True Solo. I also don't have an inordinate amount of experience with Survivor, tending to get my Survivor fix with investigators like Tommy Muldoon and Agnes Baker

What Got Removed and Added

Grimm's Fairy Tales -- It's nice, but soaking is better than healing, and Peter Sylvestre also gives a static bonus. At a higher difficulty, I might feel differently.

Mysterious Raven -- Not so keen on the horror cost, single use,and ally slot, plus, since you get the clue by discarding the raven, you don't even get a little soak out of it. In an out of the box play, I had to play over Granny Orne to get a recalcitrant clue late in the scenario, and that was a bitter pill. Nevermore! Winging It is a better clue option for the deck.

Scrapper -- This deck runs pretty lean on resources; I like the upgrades. Replaced it with Resourceful for some recursion.

Dumb Luck -- Track Shoes helped with movement and Evading. Getting rid of an enemy for a turn isn't attractive enough.

Will to Survive -- As I said, the deck is low on resources, and I'd rather get, say Granny Orne into play than pass one test. I replaced it with the old standby, Lucky! as a hedge against a vital test.

Walking the Postal Route Strengths -- The central idea of this deck is "go fast and do stuff quickly." Track Shoes and Peter Sylvestre are key components that you really want in your opening hand, along with something to help with clues. In "The Midnight Masks," this deck racks up a goodly number of Cultists and VP by being able to get places fast and make the most of Stella's limited clue and combat options. At 8 Health and Sanity, Stella is pretty sturdy, and her stat line is solid (maybe too solid; see below), allowing her to have a chance at soloing most scenarios. I do not worry about Stella's extra action too much; I see it as a way to ensure consistency. If it triggers, great, especially if there was some Survivor jankery involved, but getting three effective actions a round whether there's a failure or not is what she excels at.

Weaknesses -- At lower difficulties, it's sometimes hard to trigger the "fail to win" cards, especially once you get some XP. If you have Granny Orne (3) and Peter Sylvestre (2), and Track Shoes out, Stella is at 5/3/3/6, Which can struggle to fail at the right moment, especially if you are trying for the "fail in the Mythos Phase, get four actions during your turn" strategy. Investigation is her greatest weakness, so if you run through your clue options in solo, you can be in trouble. Similarly, Stella is only so-so in combat, running out of steam after about 4 or so 3-4 Health enemies in early solo (upgrading her derringers helps a bit, obviously). The desk is also slow on resources, which sometimes makes it difficult to ensure a steady flow of events and replacing assets. Lastly, I am not sure she is the best choice for a solo investigator; she does pretty well at everything, but risks running out of gas if the scenario goes on too long.

Upgrading

Likely

.18 Derringer -- costs less, shoots more with the same potential for shenanigans with Oops!.

Peter Sylvestre -- The boost and extra Sanity speak for themselves.

Granny Orne -- The boost i good for investigating, and her upgraded ability can help you pass (or fail) close tests rather than just adjusting failure.

"Look what I found!" -- The ability to get clues from two locations in Solo is much better than two clues at the same location, but this card can do wither.

Drawing Thin -- Helps with failing tests and economy, which are problems

Maybe

Jessica Hyde -- Instead of Peter Sylvestre, if you want to angle more toward combat. Getting a few more weapons would be wise, too.

Close Call is better for this deck than Dumb Luck (2), since you expect to evade.

A Test of Will (2) -- If you want better event control, and like gambling with XP.

Lucky! -- Even luckier, plus it replaces itself! Lucky! (2) might be a more reasonable purchase in all but the richest XP campaigns.

Quick Learner -- I like this a lot, and it would increase the chance of failure to power various effects, but 4/8 XP is a lot

Unlikely

Déjà Vu -- If you are going with this, you are going to want to stock up on Flare, Cherished Keepsake (1), A Test of Will (1), and so on, which is great, but not really what this deck does.

Scrapper (3+2) -- Since this deck runs cheap, "pay to win" is not a great strategy, and 5 XP is a lot, but I like it better than it's 0-level sibling

Chainsaw -- it is a great card and very flavorful, but maybe a little brutal for the civic-minded letter carrier, and 4/8 XP is probably too much for the XP budget, and 4 Resources is too much for the economy of the deck. Maybe skip upgrading the pistols if you want to play Stellash vs the Evil Dead?

In the all-Red spirit of the pack, I did not consider any Neutral cards, although obvious additions/substitutions like Flashlight for more cluing and Charisma for getting both allies out are obvious, I think. If I've missed something equally obvious, let me know. This a the work in progress.