Learning True Solo #7 - Blessed for Success (TFA Campaign)

This Deck was built with TFA in mind, some minor mechanical spoilers (but no story spoilers) are mentioned in the description. There is also a recommended list of supplies to take, near the end.

If you have Print and Play, this concept can be easily ported to || Father Mateo, either straight up or mix&match (see the Variations section below for more information.)

Similar to #4 Winchester Jim I had a specific card I wanted to use and went from there.

This deck functions much better under Taboo, but technically can be played without it. Signum Crucis should probably just be Perception for scenario 1 in that case.

Father Mateo isn't the first investigator I think of when I think of "Efficiency", but it does turn out that if you just rarely fail tests you can be fast enough. (or if you can make progress despite failing, like Stella Clark)

So with "don't fail" as our motto, we will beat TFA with minimal Action compression (just his and the occasional trigger on Eye of the Djinn).

Mulligan

• Dig for: Investigate Assets (Flashlight, Sixth Sense (4)), Favor of the Sun (if not parallel-front)
• Keep: -generators, Prophetic, Sword Cane, Eye of the Djinn, Voice of Ra
• Pitch: All the Skills, other assets not mentioned (you can't afford them immediately, probably)

General Playstyle

Investigating is done using Sixth Sense (4), which has the added benefit in true solo of letting you get extra clues even when there's only 1 clue per location. For those 2 clue 1 Victory locations, there's the new Guided by Faith.

Enemy Management is mostly evade focused, using Sword Cane, and if necessary, boosted 5 via Eye of the Djinn

Ancient Covenant and Favor of the Sun are not new tech in Mateo, it's nearly the most obvious thing you can do with Blessed 0-3 access. Thing is, Most decks go into the pile of "Token Manipulation" cards, and in Solo there isn't really time to play out a large rig of assets like that. (Unless playing Cuherdir's Ultimatum of the Nightmare and need those tools to succeed at all.)

For regular difficulties, it's enough to just stuff the bag full of +2s and use the Ancient Covenant to stop the chain-reaction that often wipes the bag of and call it a day.

The deck as constructed has basically no way to deal more than 1 damage per action. If this bothers you, check Variations below for alternative card selections.

When to trigger Favor of the Sun

In playtesting I ended up using Favor of the Sun the most during the Mythos phase, I'd run up against a or testing treachery, be somewhere around +/-1 on the test, not want to risk the downside, and just decide to guarantee the pass. But don't be afraid to use it to secure a kill on a doom-laden cultist or to guarantee an evade before you move away.

Killing a 3-health enemy

You'll need to do it now and then, because your weakness, Serpents of Yig is a 3-health hunter.

Generally you'll want to chain effects together: Sword Cane, Eye of the Djinn naming , and using Favor of the Sun to force trigger Ancient Covenant can each help secure a success. I'd probably Sequence the Sword Cane last in-case you miss once - lets you choose Evade as your final action.

There aren't all that many enemies you want to kill in TFA, so it preferable to just Evade. Be careful about getting trapped on multiple enemies: Sword Cane exhausts. One of my Playtests ended on Scenario 2 because I got stuck on multiple enemies before I had enough tools to work my way out of that, if you're worried about that happening to you, cut an event for 2 copies of Spectral Razor and try to hold one in hand for the enemy dense scenarios like Doom of Etzli.

Variations

Do more Damage: Cyclopean Hammer is always an option, especially in TFA where it's easy to enter the final scenario with 50 or more XP. If you don't want to give up the Sword Cane evade option, there's also Radiant Smite (1) and Spectral Razor which could replace Guided By Faith and/or Hand of Fate. If you do both, maybe replace Purified with Prescient which can let you recur them (name symbol and exhaust Favor of the Sun to guarantee it.)

Go Parallel: If you mix&match, the original back lets you use his nice Sealing Bless front while retaining Sixth Sense (4). The parallel back would require downgrading to Sixth Sense (0) but gaining access to Blessed Blade (4) and Miracle Wish (5) which could be mix&matched with the original front to potentially give multiple activations of his . Full Parallel is always an option too.

Play Pokemon: You could rush Seal of the Elders (5), although in this case you'd probably want more -generating cards; beyond the ones we're already playing, Promise of Power is good, but also consider Spirit of Humanity, Accursed and Antediluvian Hymn which can all stack up the curses. Thanks to the FAQ ruling, Rod of Carnamagos will help make double activations of the Seal of the Elders reliable. TFA scenario 1+Interlude 1 has up to 12 XP in it, so you could have both copies of Seal of the Elders by Scenario 2. Consider Rite of Equilibrium as a follow-up to help heal your Servants and make charging the bag easier, although at that point you've put 16XP in and probably aren't really playing this deck anymore. (but check out Father Mateo Summons Pokemon for ideas if you like the idea of getting Keeper of the Key and Servant of Brass to do all the work.)

Upgrades / Side Deck

There's about 70XP up for grabs in TFA before the final scenario, it's reasonable to expect a successful attempt to acquire about 50 of them. Assuming you aren't forging your own path you'll probably want at least one Charisma, although in my playtesting I didn't end up prioritizing this since you don't want Priest of Two Faiths to stick around all that long.

In this case, I'd call about 36 XP worth of cards as "Core" upgrades, and here's a suggested upgrade order:

(View at arkham-starter.com)

Some other "nice to haves" which could be picked up with the excess XP you'll likely earn in this campaign:

Eucatastrophe (3) is another way to pass a test you might not otherwise, especially with a -5-token lurking even in Standard difficulty. Jacob Morrison (3) and Charisma is another way to succeed where you might otherwise fail.

Shield of Faith (2), useful tech in scenarios 7 and 8, also helps protect -tokens from untimely pulls. Note that it releases them back to the bag, not the token pool.

Alter Fate (3) if you're not playing TFA consider this anti-scenario tech. (in TFA there just aren't enough targets in my opinion.)

If you did get a lot of trauma, Providential (2) is probably more effective than Purified later in the campaign. Fearless over Guts is also an option to access some horror healing.

Key of Solomon (4) and Occult Reliquary are another option for handling Trauma if it stacks up on you in this campaign, providing a repeatable, reliable, fast source of healing both damage and horror that can also be committed for great icons. Under certain circumstances (e.g. Tempt Fate into an immediate Favor of the Sun) you can even use it to clean up some -tokens and generate a little spare cash.

Or, Token of Faith (3) and Occult Reliquary can help mitigate the -generating cards if you chose to play more than the default list does, perhaps because you decided to play pokemon.

Keep Faith (2), small thing, but the XP makes it free, helps with initial setup costs after you've cut the E-caches.

Finally, Crystal Pendulum - when you use favor of the sun with ancient covenant, you'll always know your success margin. Optional alternative accessory, or add a Relic Hunter and use both.

Campaign-Specific Suggestions (Minor Spoilers)

I'd recommend taking: Map, Torches, Compass, and Binoculars at supply point 1. (Just don't get poisoned, easy enough right?). If you're worried about Poison, Compass is probably the easiest to skip. For Supply Point 2, I'd do Pickaxe, Chalk, 2 Gasoline, and Compass if you didn't take it, otherwise Blanket (or more medicine if you need it.)

In terms of routing, I think Ichtaca is the more useful ally, but the added doom that her route's encounter sets have kind of hurt with the lack of action compression in this deck, so it's really up to personal preference, Forging your Own Path is an option too. For Boundary Beyond I'd aim to do most of the exploring at either Metropolitan Cathedral or Chapultepec Park to shred the treacheries, then probably Coyocan for the third location if you've got time. 3 is enough and it's difficult to get more solo.

We're bringing Sword Cane to help with evading to keep vengeance low. Anything under 10 is probably fine, but ideally you're at 5 after scenario 5.