Tony Morgan Will Pay You Back (FHV Hard) - Deck Guide/Report

This deck was created for The Feast of Hemlock Vale on Hard. It's designed to support a Wilson Richards cluever deck by handling enemies and sharing resources.

The partner deck can be found here.

If you want to skip to the final version of this deck, it can be found here.

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This is the path I took through FHV:

1. Hemlock House.
2. The Twisted Hollow.
3. The Lost Sister.
4. The Longest Night.
5. The Thing in the Depths.
6. Fate of the Vale.

I chose Hemlock House first because it can be a clue-intensive scenario so it would be a good test of Wilson's capabilities, and because I wanted him to have William Hemlock's passive boost for the later scenarios.

I chose The Lost Sister because I'd already started building up Gideon Mizrah's reputation by doing Hemlock House first, and he also has the best codex ability in The Longest Night, which is the premier challenge for this campaign. This scenario is also probably the easiest one in the campaign.

Finally, I chose The Thing in the Depths because these decks aren't really built to survive all the damage and/or horror Written in Rock and The Silent Heath can throw at you, and the titular Thing in the depths is no match for Tony Morgan on Day Three.

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The Deck

This was the first time I'd tried building a Tony Morgan deck. I was aware of his popular archetypes like High Roller, Well Connected, Big Money Tony, but that one wouldn't work here because he would be giving away his resources with "I'll Pay You Back!" and Bank Job. Also, his standard weapon, the Switchblade, is not a great fit for the Hard token bag, so I knew I'd have to experiment with the Rogue gun suite.

The next decision was whether to pick Guardian or Survivor for his subclass (Seeker was never a consideration because I wanted him to be a combat specialist) and I decided pretty early on that Survivor was the best option. Guardian has more raw firepower but Survivor has some key utility pieces and support options that make it a better fit for both this campaign and this duo.

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The Cards

"I'll Pay You Back!": This card lets Tony give all his money to Wilson, though you have to plan ahead since the transfer only happens at the end of the round. Wilson needs the resources because he's running Keen Eye, and in most cases it isn't particularly time critical for him to get them so the one round delay isn't an issue.

The typical usage pattern here is for Wilson to go first if he wants to use any resources in his pool, then Tony has his turn and initiates the transfer of funds so that Wilson will have money for his next turn.

If Wilson has a heap of resources he doesn't want to burn on Keen Eye and he still wants to satisfy the empty pool condition on Mariner's Compass then Tony can go first and take all his resources. Tony can also use this card to spend Wilson's money if he needs to make a high value play and he can't afford it.

It may be a niche pick but it's actually a pretty interesting and flexible card. I'll admit it might be harder to use in an actual multiplayer game though where you don't have complete knowledge and control over the contents of each player's hand and deck.

Bank Job: This is the other main way for Tony to share his resources with Wilson. If you don't need any resources in the near future you can give all of them away, but most of the time you'll probably split them up.

Tony's .38 Long Colt: Tony's guns aren't great but they compare pretty favourably to level zero Rogue guns since they provide an unconditional +1 damage boost. In this campaign they're important for killing the boss in Hemlock House but afterwards they're only used for their icons.

Mauser C96: This is possibly the best level zero Rogue gun, again because it provides an unconditional +1 damage boost, but the exhaust cost is a notable drawback.

British Bull Dog: The deck needs more weapons and out of the remaining options this one is the best. The .41 Derringer and .25 Automatic have unreliable conditionals, and Knuckleduster is an acceptable alternative but its retaliate clause is occasionally relevant. The Bull Dog has the edge despite its ammo requirement, and its higher cost makes it better for Act of Desperation.

Act of Desperation: Speaking of which, this is a great card both mechanically and thematically. When you run out of ammo you can throw your gun at the enemy or you can make use of a spare gun in your hand, perhaps if you want to save ammo on your two-hander. It also has great icons.

Pushed to the Limit: I had this card in Wilson's deck for a while but it never seemed worth playing. Turns out it's a good card for Tony, especially later on when he gets a couple of strong XP weapons. You can use it with Act of Desperation and it provides some mitigation against all the discard treacheries in most of the scenarios.

Lucky Cigarette Case: An excellent source of card draw, especially for investigators with a five in one of their base stats.

Lonnie Ritter, Heavy Furs: Lonnie and her trusty furs can absorb a huge amount of damage and horror over the course of a scenario, and Lonnie's 1 boost is good against the Hard token bag.

Tony needs some kind of soak and this is easily the best option in the Rogue card pool at level zero. The furs aren't really worth the slots by themselves but a couple of scenarios feature tokens that basically double as auto-fails so being able to reroll them is quite useful.

Intel Report: When Tony isn't fighting he can make himself useful by grabbing some clues. This card is particularly good for dealing with high shroud locations.

Kicking the Hornet's Nest: This card is often used to enable other Rogue cards that require an enemy in play but in this deck it's simply a quick way to grab a clue. Any resources gained are a bonus.

Contraband: Every FHV scenario has a boss fight and most of them happen at the end. This means you can generally plan for these encounters and you can expect to have a particular weapon in play and/or support cards in hand for them when the time comes. Contraband is an expensive card but it provides a valuable consistency boost for important encounters.

Stunning Blow: While on the topic of boss fights, this card allows you to effectively "tank" any enemy you can't kill in a single turn. It's also good for deactivating the retaliate keyword on your first attack; you may be able to expend enough resources on at least one attack to guarantee its success (outside the auto-fail) but you won't necessarily be able to cover the worst token on every single attack for that turn.

You can also use it to run away from an enemy you don't want to expend all your resources to kill if it makes sense to do so, such as when you're a turn or two away from the end of the game, or when a scenario mechanic will remove the enemy for you.

Take Heart: Tony will fail just about every and test during the Mythos phase, so this card helps him claw back some tempo from whatever negative effects he just experienced. Wilson will also fail pretty much everything so it also provides another way for Tony to share his resources.

Fence: This is one of the cards purchased with the XP from In the Thick of It (from which Tony takes two physical trauma). It's a really great support card for the deck because it gives you a safe way to play a weapon while you're engaged with an enemy, and it makes Bank Job a much better deal. It also works on Contraband along with one more support card we'll add during the campaign, and it's simply good action compression.

Charon's Obol: I pretty much always play this card in my Rogue decks and I'm familiar enough with FHV for the death clause to not be an issue. Written in Rock is about the only scenario that can kill you out of nowhere and even then I've taken a Rogue or two through it without issue, though those decks were designed with it in mind.

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The Campaign

When building new decks I like to repeat each scenario and test out different cards, the goal being to come up with a pair of decks that can consistently get through the campaign with the most XP and the best rewards. I'll then run it through from start to finish to see how the final lists fared.

The XP totals here are from that final run. I'll go over the card upgrades for each scenario and end the report with some comments about how Tony performed throughout the campaign.

For this section I'll just mention some notes specific to Tony's game plan. Wilson's report here includes some more general comments about each scenario and the overall campaign.

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Scenario One: Hemlock House

Tony's main job here, as in most scenarios, is to support Wilson by taking enemies off him and use his own actions to remove in-play treacheries and other obstacles.

• It's best to hang out on the bottom floor at the start, at least until you have a weapon (and preferably Lonnie) in play so that you can handle the Grappling Spawn. The Swarm of Rats is generally not worth spending a bullet on.

• The Parlor is a good location for Intel Report since it has a high shroud and provides VP. Later on, Intel Report is good for for bypassing a Locked Door but it's not really worth saving it for that reason. Grabbing as many clues as quickly as possible and getting ahead on seals is the best strategy.

• Speaking of which, you can use your actions instead of Wilson's to seal a location after he picks up enough clues.

• You only need to seal seven locations before the boss spawns, at which point you should put three bounties on it. Try to have one of your Tony's .38 Long Colts in play and use Contraband on it, then begin your boss-killing turn at the Foyer.

  You can move into the Shapeless Cellar using its free action and then perform four attacks against it with a base strength of 9 (with Lonnie), and if you have a Stunning Blow in hand you won't have to worry about taking a hit during the enemy phase.

Hemlock House: 9XP gained.

Upgrades

Removed:

2 x Mauser C96: It's time to grab a couple of two-handed weapons, so these ones have to go. They are slightly better in play than the British Bull Dog but from this point on you will rarely play a one-handed gun and the Mauser can't be committed to an attack because it doesn't have a icon.

Added:

1 x Beretta M1918: This is a boss-killer. I started out with the Chicago Typewriter but it needs a bit more support than the Beretta and there aren't really enough spare slots in this deck to go down that path.

1 x .45 Thompson: And this is a trash-killer. In the next scenario it will be pretty common to find multiple enemies at the same location, and the same is true for The Lost Sister and The Longest Night. This gun also lets you get around Aloof, Retaliate, and Elusive, though it does chew through the ammo to do so. But that's what Contraband is for.

2 x Adaptable: This is one of my all-time favourite cards. It feels very rewarding to tune a deck for Hard, and Adaptable doubles down on this by giving you even finer control over your deck's contents between scenarios.

Adaptable:

2 x Intel Report -> 2 x Small Favor: The next scenario features the annoying Forest Watcher enemy, which spawns at an adjacent location. This card offers an efficient way to deal with it (albeit at the cost of 4-6 resources) because it ignores Aloof. It also has double icons, which makes it useful during the boss fight.

2 x Kicking the Hornet's Nest -> 2 x End of the Road: It's counter-productive to draw enemies from the deck in the next scenario, and End of the Road's condition applies throughout the whole game.

End of the Road is an interesting card. The fact that it's fast and replaces itself means you can think of it as reducing your deck size by one (when you draw it). Putting two copies into your deck does cost two slots though, but if the average value of the remaining cards in your deck is higher than whatever other cards you would use instead of EotR then it's probably worth taking it. And it does, of course, provide some extra value in the form of a resource and an action.

9XP spent, 0XP left.

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Scenario Two: The Twisted Hollow

During the first act the only enemy that enters play is the Forest Watcher (though Tony's Quarry can also appear and make things very awkward) so you have time to find one of your big guns for the boss encounter at the end.

• It's often better for you to reveal a new location rather than Wilson as there can be three Crooked Paths which don't require him to use the lantern. If you enter a "safe" location you can return to your starting one and he can then go in a different direction to find either a Lair or a two-clue location, which is generally more efficient to investigate.

• The Stalking Hybrid has the "Prey - investigator with the lantern only" clause, which means if it doesn't spawn at the same location as the investigator holding the lantern, it won't engage (and if you get into a situation where neither investigator is holding the lantern, any newly spawned Hybrids won't engage anyone). This can be particularly important during the final act when you need to roam around the forest looking for the Resign location.

• Hopefully by the time you need to fight the bear boss you'll have one of your two-handed weapons and/or Contraband to boost it. The deck has eight double icon cards you can commit to this battle so you should be in a good position to brute force it.

• During the final act the .45 Thompson is your best friend if you need to pass through a location where you dumped multiple enemies from the back of the agenda effect.

The Twisted Hollow: 9XP gained (from now on, XP totals will include any from the previous prelude, where applicable).

Upgrades

Removed:

1 x British Bull Dog: Making room for another two-hander.

Added:

1 x .45 Thompson: A second copy. If I had one more point of XP I probably would have grabbed the second Beretta instead, but this gun has a useful tech in the next scenario and the other two upgrades here are too important to postpone.

2 x Another Day, Another Dollar: This is an excellent card. I could go over the ways but suffice it to say that resources are rarely worth more than in the first turn of the game and that getting them without having to spend an action or a card is a very, very good effect.

Adaptable:

2 x Small Favor -> 2 x Intel Report: You have a fair bit of downtime at the start of the next scenario, and you will want to have at least two clues going into the boss fight.

2 x End of the Road -> 2 x Unexpected Courage: The next scenario also has a critical codex test and it involves , which is neither investigator's strong suit. This will help Wilson pass the test and it can also be used as a regular combat boost.

Also, in the prelude before that scenario it's extremely beneficial if you can pass Mother Rachel's test. If you do you can get the Corn Husk Doll (because she saved us from the bear) which is great to have because in the next two scenarios the token can build up to nigh-uncounterable levels (and in The Lost Sister the token is a -1).

You also get Gideon Mizrah for the next two scenarios, who gives you a second accessory slot, so you can have both the doll and your Lucky Cigarette Case in play at the same time.

9XP spent, 0XP left.

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Scenario Three: The Lost Sister

Much like the previous scenario, you generally only need to fight at the end (apart from the Crustacean Hybrid [day] who shows up early on). This means you can take the time to set up a gun with Contraband again.

• To avoid getting a second Elite crab you can use the parley ability on Akwan. Returning to it one or two times can be worth it depending upon what other actions you would be taking.

• Assign any early damage and horror to Helen Peters because she will disappear when you advance to the final act.

• You need to talk to Theo Peters twice to initiate the 4 test to claim a 3XP bonus. It's usually better for you to discard cards to Theo and for Wilson to actually perform the test. Hopefully you have an Unexpected Courage in hand and your Corn Husk Doll in play to help him pass.

• It can be useful to have a few Cavern Moss attached to unimportant assets (either yours or Wilson's) when you face the boss so that you can target them with his .45 Thompson to avoid triggering its Elusive ability. This is the tech I mentioned in the upgrade section. My usual strategy was to pull the Limulus Hybrid [day] into the light and then start shooting the moss attached to my Lucky Cigarette Case.

The Lost Sister: 15XP gained.

Upgrades

Removed:

2 x Unexpected Courage: It served its purpose and now it's time to replace it.

2 x Take Heart: This was a tough choice but you can only have ten Survivor cards in your deck.

1 x British Bull Dog: Getting rid of the second copy.

Added:

1 x Beretta M1918: The other copy.

1 x Contraband: This upgrade makes the card better in the situation where you draw it after your gun is nearly empty, and it's also cheaper. It offers slightly more than Swift Reload for the .45 Thompson but it does need Fence in play to match that card's zero action cost.

2 x Dirty Deeds: This is the tutoring card I chose for the deck. It works very well with the Beretta, letting you skip the exhaust and ammo costs for one attack. It's very important to find a weapon on your first turn so that you can start at the same location as the Ursine Hybrid and kill it quickly. With two copies of Dirty Deeds and four two-handed weapons you have a good chance of being able to play a gun on your first turn.

The alternative tutoring option was the eternally-useful Lucky Cigarette Case, however it can't be used in the same way Dirty Deeds can on the first turn to guarantee a weapon draw. Tony's main job in this campaign is to shoot enemies so by far the most important cards in his deck are his guns, and Dirty Deeds being a full deck search simply can't be beaten.

It's also a superior choice for the finale where you need to start generating high test scores right away, and it has good synergy with both Fence and Pushed to the Limit. You can also use it to pull Fence out of your deck, which honestly is not a crazy play.

I will say though that one nice advantage the Lucky Cigarette Case has for Tony is that it can neutralize your weakness, Tony's Quarry. If you search your deck on a turn before the agenda advances you can deliberately pick your quarry and thus prevent its doom from having an effect.

2 x Alter Fate: There's no getting around it: Tony and Wilson are both helpless in the face of Frozen in Fear. For consistency's sake this card simply must be taken (as my numerous test runs can attest to).

Adaptable:

2 x Intel Report -> 2 x Long Shot: Clues are useful in the next scenario but not as useful as saving an action when fighting enemies like the Molting Hybrid or Equine Hybrid. They have effects which reduce any amount of damage done to them to one point but, unlike Vicious Blow, Long Shot deals its damage separately to your attack so it effectively lets you ping the enemy twice for one action.

2 x Stunning Blow -> 2 x End of the Road: End of the Road is once again playable for the entire scenario, and Stunning Blow was probably the best card to replace because the most troublesome enemies are Aloof so they would disengage after your attack and require an extra action to engage again.

14XP spent, 1XP left.

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Scenario Four: The Longest Night

Both decks have been tuned with this scenario in mind as it's the hardest one in the campaign (at least if you want to end it with zero damage on The Captives).

• If you can play a gun on your first turn it's best to start at the western Outer Fields location so you can attack the Ursine Hybrid while it's exhausted. Ideally, you can land two 3-point shots from your Beretta M1918 and kill it at the start of your next turn.

• If you can't play a gun right away then begin at the farm location adjacent to the bear, which is where I place the starting trap. You can then lure the bear into two traps by hanging out at the Farmhouse and hopefully you'll have a way to kill it before the next turn.

  Note that when you kite it around, its "Prey - lead investigator" ability only affects who it chases if each investigator is equidistant from it. It will still chase you if you're closer to it than Wilson (who is the lead investigator).

• Unless you know an enemy will definitely die in a fire, it's best to place a bounty on every enemy that appears until you run out. Actions gained in the early game are more valuable as they can contribute towards a snowballing effect that makes the later part of the game easier.

The Longest Night: 10XP gained (including 1XP left over).

Upgrades

Removed:

2 x Alter Fate: It may seem odd to replace cards that cost XP but there isn't any target left in the campaign that warrants the use of Alter Fate so it was pretty much always a dead draw in testing.

Added:

2 x Sure Gamble: This card is here more for the finale than for the next scenario but it's a very useful card in general. It lets you pass pretty much any test where you don't draw the auto-fail. The gamble part is that if you draw a -1 token it might not be enough to get all the succeed-by effects you were hoping for.

Adaptable:

2 x End of the Road -> 2 x Take Heart: End of the Road is no longer worth taking.

2 x Long Shot -> 2 x Intel Report: In the next scenario, Wilson needs to clear up to three VP locations and they may end up with high shroud values. Tony's primary job is to kill the boss but he usually has to wait for Wilson before dealing the death blow so he has time to use Intel Report (and he doesn't need the extra damage from Long Shot).

6XP spent, 4XP left (I didn't want to drop any other slots at this point and the next scenario isn't very challenging anyway).

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Scenario Five: The Thing in the Depths

This one is a refreshing change of pace. All Tony needs to do is to kill The Thing in the Depths, but not until Wilson has cleared all the VP locations and escorted River Hawthorne for the bonus XP.

• The boss spawns in the middle location so you can lie in wait for it, but it's Elusive so you will have to chase it the first time you land an attack each turn. This means you'll inevitably have to move into a few Open Water locations, but it shouldn't slow you down too much.

• There's really not much more to say. As soon as the boss dies the scenario ends.

The Thing in the Depths: 21XP gained (including 4XP left over and 4XP from the final prelude following this scenario).

Upgrades

Removed:

2 x Intel Report: Tony has no further use for clues.

2 x Bank Job: Making room for a greater source of cash, and a trinket.

Added:

2 x All In: In Act One of the finale your stats depend upon your hand size (up to five), the encounter deck is full of discard effects, and you need to generate the biggest test scores you can (so committing cards is particularly useful). Taken together, these things make card draw the most powerful effect you can add to your deck at this point.

1 x Unscrupulous Loan: Since this is the last scenario in the campaign Tony doesn't have to worry about the fine print. It's unlikely he will need to use all of this money himself so he can still share it with Wilson, and with the added card draw from All In he has a decent chance of finding it at some point during the game.

1 x The Gold Pocket Watch: This is one of the most powerful cards in the game and I often buy it on my Rogues late into a campaign when they've amassed a heap of XP and don't have many free slots to replace.

Adaptable:

2 x Pushed to the Limit -> 2 x Will to Survive: I feel like I've been waiting my whole Arkham-playing life to find a good use for the level zero Will to Survive, and this is it. In Fate of the Vale you don't just have to pass tests, you have to pass tests with the highest scores you can possibly reach, and for that task there's no better card available to Tony than this one. As a bonus, it also stops the boss mobs from interfering with your tests when you draw their symbol tokens.

21XP spent, 0XP left.

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Scenario Six: Fate of the Vale

Tony has one job here: shoot everything!

• In Act One, use Sure Gamble or Will to Survive to generate big combat scores so you can find both investigator cards as quickly as possible.

• In Act Two, Wilson will spend time in the cave locations grabbing clues. You can either keep shooting the Mirror Nests to find more caves, or join him since they're relatively safe locations. If you draw a Will to Survive save it for later.

• In Act Three, use Will to Survive along with every commit you have to empty The Abyss. I think my record is a 17-point attack.

• You need to survive one turn at The Abyss with the four boss mobs beating on you. Between both investigators it shouldn't be a problem since you have cards like Lonnie Ritter and Girish Kadakia, but if you still have The Gold Pocket Watch you can use it to simply skip the enemy phase altogether.

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Final Thoughts

I mentioned at the start that this was my first time playing Tony Morgan, and I can easily see why he's regarded as one of the strongest combat specialists in the game.

The first version of this deck was more of an extra-action, Chicago Typewriter archetype with Borrowed Time and Haste. It didn't prove to be a good fit for the order of challenges in this campaign though, at least with the path I took. The Typewriter is a strong gun but it needs a suite of bonus action support cards to really shine, while the Beretta comes out of the gate with a higher base power.

I would've liked to have taken Haste in this version of the deck but I could never find a good time to add it. It probably made the most sense in the finale when you really can just stand in one spot and shoot over and over again without having to worry about any annoying keywords.

Also, regarding extra actions, I didn't feel the need to add any generic ones like Quick Thinking to the deck because Tony's extra bounty action felt like all the extra actions I needed. It's a really solid ability.

Tony is fun to play but when it comes to fighters I can't go past a good Guardian. It's always been my favourite class.