Dead Man Stroll

Stroll verb | /strōl/

1. to walk in a leisurely or idle manner
2. slang a soloist (playing a horn) strolls when he plays for a time with bass and drums only (or maybe the pianist strolls outside to have a smoke)
3. a victory or objective that is easily achieved

This is Dead Man Stroll, the jim-jam-jumpingest Jim deck this side of the Miskatonic. The purpose of this deck is to make the most of Jim's ability to make friends with the Skull token, whether this is by enhancing his already above average odds on as many tests as possible or by utilizing the effects Skulls have on Mystic cards, seeing as they are face tokens. This particular deck was designed for supporting a three handed game of Carcosa with a Guardian and a Seeker, so I went for an even split of combat, investigation, and support.

~Just add Skull tokens!~

Jim's Signature Ability Jim gets a bad rap for his ability not being interactive enough. While I will grant that his ability is subtle, there are a wealth of Mystic cards that take advantage of it. Nearly every card that has face token interactions is better on Jim than it is on anyone else because an Elder Sign is a third (or fourth!) skull in the bag for Jim. If you have enough assets that take advantage of this, you have a lot of benefits being granted all at once, all in the process of pulling tokens like you normally would. Keep in mind that the effects on cards like Jim's Trumpet, Jewel of Aureolus and Hypnotic Gaze favor being near allies, further emphasizing Jim's role as a supportive investigator.

Jim's Trumpet What can I say? The soothing jazz tones that emit at the misfortune (or would-be misfortune, if it's Jim pulling) of drawing a Skull act as bottomless, actionless horror healing. Just make sure your friends are close enough to hear it. If you draw this late game be sure to throw it at a big nasty monster for its icons.

Grotesque Statue Using Jim's ugly rocks is the lynchpin of this deck, which makes the most of his signature ability. In the latter half of our Carcosa campaign (Pallid Mask) on standard I'm at a whopping 90% chance of success when I'm testing two points above a skill test, or even 70% at one above. That's about 25% better compared to a normal investigator in the same circumstances! Using the statue also nearly doubles your odds of drawing a face token, which this deck is built to take advantage of.

Jewel of Aureolus The Homunculi's gift is by far the second biggest boon to Jim, giving him either card draw or economy any time he (or someone at his location) draws a face token, two things the deck sorely needs. I swapped these out for my Holy Rosaries and never looked back! Upgrading Shrivelling means you get plenty of for combat tests, and this deck has tons of icons anyway. Jim's signature ability and ugly rocks will cover the rest.

Shrivelling While Jim can use other weapons with his respectable 3 combat score (he has a mean left hook) and access to splash cards, Shrivelling is ultimately more consistent, and I opted to use my out of faction slots for more supportive cards. It's important to upgrade these to the 3exp version quickly so you can feel safe swapping out your Holy Rosaries for Jewels. Ironically, this, along with Recharge, and Rite of Seeking represent the only cards in the deck that penalize you for drawing face tokens. Luckily, Jim's ugly rocks both giveth and taketh away.

Hypnotic Gaze The Mystic's answer to the Guardian's Dodge, but it's a little pricier because of the face token effect. Jim's signature ability and ugly rocks will increase your odds of hitting an enemy with his own attack. Packing Uncage the Soul helps make this a little easier on the wallet, or you can just use your gifts from the Homunculi. Great card to have in hand when one of the stronger enemies is attacking you or a friend. EDIT: I've been informed that Uncage the Soul cannot be played when enemies attack. I've mistakenly done this at least once or twice in our Carcosa campign. How embarrassing! But I'm glad I learned from my mistake.

Song of the Dead Another card that is often overlooked, the Mystic's answer to the Guardian's Colt. This is designed to save charges on Shrivelling when attacking enemies with odd health totals (big or small), which it will help with whether you get the single damage from success or triple damage from the Skull. While you won't reliably trigger this effect, Jim's odds are better than anyone else's. And there's nothing more thematic than a card called Song of the Dead for a man who wakes corpses with his trumpet.

Torrent of Power This is a card I just started playing with, as I instantly recognized its synergy with Song of the Dead. Use some of those spare charges for this and bam, you now have a flexible de facto copy of either Guts or Unexpected Courage. This was an instant include in my deck.

Recharge This used to be a scavenging deck, until this baby came out. Use the last second to last charge of one of your ugly rocks on Recharge and double the odds of getting three more charges. This also works for Shrivelling, Rite of Seeking, or even Song of the Dead if you're feeling cheeky. This can save you resources and actions that you would spend playing another copy of these assets. This, along with a greater amount of targets and the double icons make this a far more sensible option than Scavenging.

Uncage the Soul Sure, it looks like the album art for an Evanescence single, but I strongly favor this card over Emergency Cache. This is an Asset-heavy deck and most of the pricier cards are spells, so this along with the jewel helps make ends meet. There is a nice bit of action compression in reducing a spell by three and playing the spell all in the same action (making it a bit faster than cache to make up for its spell target limitation). In the rare occasion you don't have a need for it, it can be pitched for double icons.

No Stone Unturned Since this is an Asset-heavy deck with a lot of set pieces, No Stone Unturned along with the draw power of the Jewel of Aureolus helps you get what you need in play. The rare times I don't have a target for it, I'll use it to help Zoey get her Lightning Gun or help Minh get Analytical Mind.

Emergency Aid I included Emergency Aid mainly to help in my role as the supportive investigator in our Carcosa run. The ability to heal health with this and horror with Jim's Trumpet means he'll keep his buddies going when the going gets tough.

Investigation Drawn to the Flame, Rite of Seeking, and Flashlights round out Jim's investigation abilities in this deck. Rite of Seeking and Flashlights benefit from Jim's ugly rocks, and packing a couple Wards will help you feel safe using Drawn to the Flame. Jim's respectable intellect score of 3 means he can help shoulder some of your Seeker's responsibility for winning the game.

In conclusion...

This deck has been remarkably successful for my playstyle and the composition of my group of 'gators in Carcosa. I hope you give Jim a shot. He may not be the fanciest investigator, but he's without a doubt the smoothest.