Stella Everfail | True Survivor (Guide)

Welcome to Stella. True Survivor.

I ran this through Edge of the Earth alongside a Bob Jenkins and a || Agnes using OG back. Stella was the main fighter, while Bob and Agnes were focused on clues. Bob provided some support in the way of some .18 Derringers of his own, but mostly Stella defended the group.

See the level 0 deck here!

The Fail Package:
The fail package has been around for some time now, but before crafting this deck, I'd overlooked additions that were integral to this deck's success that I should talk about.

Rabbit's Foot for consistent draw.
"Look what I found!" for dealing with hard-to-investigate places.
Take Heart for explosive draw combined with Rabbit's Foot and some much-needed economy.
Drawing Thin for... Absolute ridiculousness. This card is off the f#$#in' chain. Even at 3 experience each.

The Advent of Stella
Stella Clark's pack introduced a couple goodies that helped this deck hum.
.18 Derringer / .18 Derringer were a big reason why this deck could put out the damage it needed to keep three investigators in the arctic safe.
Dumb Luck is the first of the few cards I'd overlooked. This card over-performed and would be even better in a lower player count (as you might not ever even get to the end of the deck).

The Concept
This deck came to be because Bob, Agnes and I decided to make a pact to include 2 Heavy Furs each. We figured we could run heavy on items, so Bandages made all 3 lists as well as Schoffner's Catalogue, and we had just enough Track Shoes to keep everyone's feet warm.
My challenge then became: "How can a non-/an investigator without a 4 in be the main fighter in a 3-person group?

The Gear
Like stated before, I knew I was going .18 Derringer, as it is fantastic with Stella, but hadn't known what else I'd commit to. Chainsaw was the obvious choice, but I'm very familiar with it and wanted a change. This was why I landed on Old Hunting Rifle. A card I never considered putting in a deck. It's a cheaper resource cost, cheaper to upgrade into (you can start with one with a In the Thick of It!) and the combat bonus is better.
Why be scared of the when It's EotE (snow tokens) and when Heavy Furs and Live and Learn have your back? Anything is possible. Especially with the sweet, sweet "synergy" between Stella Clark and the rifle (Aka use the extra fail action to clear the jam, though I didn't have to do this too often).

The Tricks
This deck kicks @$$. It can do a ridiculous amount of damage-- even in the scope of one action. Here's why.

Oops! is ridiculously powerful with your firearms, especially combined with Live and Learn. These two cards are a major part of your ability to pump out consistent damage. One miss can turn into anywhere between 2 and 9 damage in a single action. This happened a few times due to the consistency given by Rabbit's Foot and Drawing Thin.
Dumb Luck can "bottom" problematic big health enemies when you have a bit too much on your plate. I could definitely see upping to two copies of this easily, but I wanted to be sure I'd have enough boosts before experimenting with this more.
Brute Force is a hell of a card. Your low base can be boosted with this and Neither Rain nor Snow to get up to a 9 with relative ease.
Dilemma: "But you just run out of gas, right? Committing a Neither Rain nor Snow and a Brute Force to a test just to do 3 damage is inefficient. Just play and git gud", one might say. To that, I reply: True Survivor + On Your Own. The namesake of the deck keeps this deck humming.

The Gas
Your Innate Cards: Resourceful, Brute Force, Take Heart and Neither Rain nor Snow are all Innate. Your ability to use True Survivor to grab back 2 innates (of your choice) + at least one Resourceful means you can use that same Resourceful to snatch your True Survivor back from the bin. Rinse and repeat.
"But you can't just rely on that, what if your Resourceful test fails? Lol gimmick build, git gud", your local power might say. Will to Survive takes care of this problem.
Both versions allow at least one test to automatically succeed and pull back your True Survivor. In addition, it can be used to take a turn where you never have to worry about your Old Hunting Rifle getting jammed due to never pulling a token in the first place.
Finally, On Your Own keeps this deck cheap, cheap, cheap. Most of your events cost 2 or more and Will to Survive and True Survivor carry a hefty price, but not when this card helps out. It makes chaining Oops! possible and does so much for this deck.

Opening Hand Priority
Number one priority early-on over all else is Rabbit's Foot. Once you get Drawing Thin, either work, but these need to be found early. At the very least, try to find a Take Heart.
A close second priority is a weapon of any kind. .18 Derringer or Old Hunting Rifles are necessary to keep your friends safe.
Other important things are: Take Heart, Live and Learn and Oops!-- though they aren't necessary. Dumb Luck can also be good to have early in case you get hit with an unfortunate Crypt Chill.
Note: If you get hit by Crypt Chill, NEVER sacrifice your Rabbit's Foot / Drawing Thin. If it's a choice between the two, prioritize saving your tempo/card draw over a gun. You can get that back later with a Resourceful and find more by digging further. There are circumstances where you might need to keep your gun (actively fighting enemies), but use your judgment. Sometimes in these situations, leveraging your good to keep an enemy at bay and drawing/Resourcefuling a weapon back from the trash can be better.
Note II: Nightmare Bauble + Relic Hunter could be worth getting earlier-on than last scenario. The is a nasty, nasty pull. Especially when you Live and Learn and expect to succeed, but get nothing but tentacles.
Note III: I should make note of how powerful Neither Rain nor Snow is. The ability to constantly recur it through True Survivor is invaluable. Rarely will you have a test you need to care about on mythos phase. You can even use it to help friends. For this reason, a big tip for once you have True Survivor in-hand is to use your Innates for anything and everything. You can recur them multiple times in a game. Get use out of them!

The Final Upgrade:
Ultimately, I ended up taking 2x A Test of Will, 2x Burn After Reading and 1x Fortune or Fate for the last scenario. These seem incredibly powerful as a last-scenario all-out exilestravaganza, but ended up... EotE Campaign Spoiler Not being great because of how doom works out in the final part of the final scenario. Wasn't able to find Fortune or Fate or Burn After Reading until after the first agenda advanced. Bummer.
Anyways. My other option was taking Relic Hunter + Nightmare Bauble. Recent experience with Calvin Wright + the bauble has uncovered how fantastic it is for (especially those who aren't Stella). They don't have much in the way of extra actions to make up for failing, so each of their 3 actions matter quite a bit when everyone is depending on you to deal with enemies.

Hope this guide helped! This deck helped me see why s can be so powerful and pushed me into exploring more options with them. Feel free to comment, share your Stella stories and give it a like if you enjoy this deck. Oh, also, if you like podcasts, check out my podcast Miskatonic University Radio. We love this game and make all kinds of content!
~ Sef