This deck has high amount of 12 Skill cards, plus 3x Honed Instinct which is a highly playable Fast Event, all thanks to Underworld Market that is able to off-load other type of cards into the market, and Customizable mechanics that are able to take XP without disrupting deck's card type ratio. Making half a deck of easy-to-play cards.

The another theme of this deck is using Tool Belt's unlimited storage to manage the dynamics between Pocket Multi Tool (exhausts), Magnifying Glass (sometimes doesn't work), Flashlight (3) (conserve), Thieves' Kit (main tool), and Grappling Hook (exhausts).

5 starting XP used for Underworld Market (4 XP) and Pocket Multi Tool : ☑ Pry Bar (1 XP)

► About "2 Packs Deck Guide"
　A series of decks made with the new distribution model in mind, requiring a Revised Core Set box + just 1 more Investigator Expansion box. ƴ character on the deck's name means the additional box it uses is The Scarlet Keys Investigator Expansion.
　It maximizes the chance of newcomers being able to build and learn to play the game, enjoying the story on Standard difficulty ASAP. They can then get into deck-building later if they wished to do so. See other decks in the "2 Packs Deck Guide" series here.

*This is the first and the only deck in 2 packs series of The Scarlet Keys for now. I am field testing the other decks to make sure they can perform in Standard difficulty, more to come later!

(View at arkham-starter.com)

✧ : Can skip in the case of solo or 2 players. In that case, you have 3 boxes left for ☑☑☑ Lucky Charm later when you want. (Max 8 boxes for Lv. 4 Tool limit.)

★ : The 3rd copy of Honed Instinct can be added for free together with Impulse Control customizable box checking. It is a special Customizable card rule.

Underworld Market : Shopping Guide

Underworld Market •• uses 4 XP out of your starting 5 XP. It can either tutor or skip a situational Illicit card at your liking. Search these 10 cards out of your big 40 cards deck at start of each game.

• 2x Thieves' Kit / Thieves' Kit ••• : Tutor. A Kymani's staple. On the first turn if you look at the market and found it, likely buying it for 1 resource and play it for 3 resources is the way to go. (That's 4 out of 5 starting resource!) Work on investigation to recoup the play cost.

  The 3 XP version let you get more than you paid for with Kymani's high chance of over-succeeding, a great transition to gather resources to play Leo De Luca/Leo De Luca (1) next.

• 2x Pickpocketing : Tutor. In my 8 scenarios playthrough, found it hard to decide to pay 1 resource to buy this from the market and play. But if you managed to do so, you are rewarded with tons of Skill cards when you are doing your Evade combo. 2 XP version would be really nice, but that card is in Carcosa Investigator Expansion. You may try upgrading if you have them.

• 2x Damning Testimony : (Highly) Situational. Skip if no interesting enemies. This is why we have them in the market, you can always let them pass. We get only ☑☑ Blackmail upgrade to make it has usable accuracy, but most of the time they are skipped. (Depends on enemy density and map layout of the campaign, I speak from my experience testing this deck in 4P Edge of the Earth and I can't use it as much as I wanted to.)

  Remember that you can choose your own location to get 2 clues, perhaps as a part of your Evade shenanigans combo and the enemy is still around (exhausted).

• 2x Hidden Pocket : Somewhat situational. Buy the pocket from the market only after you got Tool Belt (from the deck) equipped, otherwise let the market cycle. Then the most likely item that goes into the pocket would be Thieves' Kit (less likely Damning Testimony), or something modified by "I'll take that!". The real power of pocket is to always have a hand for Pocket Multi Tool's .

• 2x "I'll take that!" : Situational. Wait until you see Humanoid to Evade, wait for 1-2 shroud location + Thieves' Kit to get higher succeed value, and wait for high cost item such as Thieves' Kit, Pocket Multi Tool, or Grappling Hook. You will need to plan for 3 over-success to play most items for free. The market helps you wait for such low difficulty situation to "take that" appears, until then you can let the market cycles.

Notable Cards

• Opportunist : No more bullying this card. This is REALLY GOOD on the test that you are trying to get Kymani's to go off, and you keep getting it back for reuse. Many enemies will be discarded with the power of this card.

• Sneak Attack : Situational card and somewhat expensive. Most of the time if you get an exhaust, Kymani is confident in doing the to discard more than paying 2 for 2 damage. But sometimes you can't just get many over-success, in that case you can soften it up with this card. Removed to 1 copy on upgrades.

• Calculated Risk : This is the miracle card to get 4 HP discard on Kymani's ability. Generally, you are looking to do it on Leo De Luca's 4th action, or after you play with Grappling Hook which you performed 4 actions ( counts as 1, plus 3 that the hook performs.)

• Quick Getaway : Action saver to get an exhaust to follow up with Kymani's ability. For example you can investigate with Damning Testimony to get clues while engaged, provoking the attack to Evade at the same time.

• Kicking the Hornet's Nest : I had negative experience with this card, I never wanted to use it since I was so busy with everything else and I can get resources from working my ass off the Thieves' Kit. Also I feared I may not found any enemy. Still, I include this card because Kymani is on the artwork... (My newcomers friend that play Lily for the first time also bought 2x Defensive Stance and 2x Sweeping Kick because she is on the artwork. This thing is definitely important.)

• Leo De Luca • : I didn't think I need this upgrade but economy in this deck is weird. Kicking the Hornet's Nest is unreliable and a chunk would be gone to buying Thieves' Kit / Thieves' Kit (3) from the market, and play it, and use it, until you work back the resources. Combined with 1 resource you constantly pay the market to obtain things, a -1 discount is quite relevant. Still a really late upgrade.

Honing the instinct

Some moments to look for when having Honed Instinct on hand.

• After Act / Agenda advance : You have some protection against surprise enemy that spawns right when you are all out of actions that spawns on advance. On Act with complete control when to advance, you can tactically get an action when you want.

• 3 over-success : Kymani's is often the trigger that give you this criteria. However there is one more desperate play, you are at your final action but the enemy is not exhausted for play just yet. Evading it and it would just get readied again in Upkeep. You really wanted to discard it now. You can go for 3 over-success on regular Evade to get an extra action, get an action, then you can perform Kymani's Evade with the action obtained. You have to do the over-success evade 2 times this way, but sometimes it helps getting troublesome enemy off the board.

• ☑ Muscle Memory : Look for Magnifying Glass (1) and "I'll take that!" to make more use of this.

• ☑ Killer Instinct : Simply get an action immediately in Mythos Phase if you get an enemy, you can try Evade it so when its Investigation Phase, deciding turn order gets more flexible.

  Don't forget Kymani's Engage on exhausted enemy which would allow adding action with this card. After you used up all your 3 actions (Evade being the last one?), there is one more window that Kymani can Engage, and gain back an action with Honed Instinct, and perhaps try the Evade again to discard it.

Lastly, remember the 0 cost when you add ☑☑☑ Impulse Control.

Tools

Sometimes I feel like Doraemon playing this deck. So many tools in my 4D Pocket, only 2 hands!

Magnifying Glass

This asset often disappoint you on Thieves' Kit/Grappling Hook since replaced , or Kymani's which it is not an Investigate. The application is narrow but still has uses :

• Damning Testimony : Even after ☑☑ Blackmail customized, it needs some more help.
• Pocket Multi Tool ☑☑ Magnifying Lens : This got me so many extra clues on plain investigation when Thieves' Kit ran out. Plus it is funny that you use 2 glasses to find stuff.
• Flashlight (3) : When you want it to work as plain investigation helper. The glass adds more.
• Perception : Would let you do plain investigation more times and thins down your deck in the process. Don't sleep on the good old Perception!

Magnifying Glass •

Now it's the real deal, because the pull up ability and Fast play combo with Honed Instinct : ☑ Muscle Memory.

Flashlight •••

The change from to makes it combo with any other card's Investigate and Evade.

• Kymani Jones : When trying to to get more succeed-by.
• Damning Testimony : Investigate
• Quick Getaway : Evade
• Thieves' Kit : Investigate
• Grappling Hook : Evade, Investigate.
• "I'll take that!" : Evade Humanoid / Investigate and get more discount.

Pocket Multi Tool

• ☑ Pry Bar : Take advantage of Kymani's 3 to get to 5 on test. (So you have some chance vs. 4 on Standard.) Checked on starting the game. Remember that the on threat area treachery or Forced test like on Frozen in Fear is "a skill test on a treachery", not just one that lands on you in Mythos Phase.
• ☑ Detachable : Watch other players begging for your ☑ Pry Bar every Mythos Phase! With Tool Belt, you can then swap it out because it exhausts and became useless in Investigation Phase. Giving ☑ Pry Bar can also help other player fix sticky treachery on them in Investigation Phase.
• ☑☑ Signal Mirror : Useful when trying to use Kymani's to get more succeed-by. You can also hedge your risk by using the +2 for regular Evade instead, since Kymani would have an another +2 (from ) on the special evade.
• ☑☑ Magnifying Lens : Supports Damning Testimony since you cannot use to investigate for that one. Adds to Magnifying Glass on neutral investigation. Useful to give with ☑ Detachable. Also get more Perception to draw a card.