Harvey Walters 2.0

The goal of 2.0 investigator starter decks is to "make them better" only with core set and Dunwich set cards. Newer cards can be added after finishing the Dunwich campaign so one can explore new stories with new cards at the same pace as years ago, when we didn’t have such vast opportunities as we do now.

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Quite often I read that Harvey Walters should be played like "Big Hand Harvey". I don’t like this idea at all, because Harvey is a very curious professor. If it wasn’t for his damn curiosity... But there it is, Thrice-Damned Curiosity, right in your deck, and you have to play around it. Murphy's law says that if something can happen, it happens — which means that sooner or later you’ll draw Thrice-Damned Curiosity, and when you do, you want to be prepared. How? Don’t play Big Hand Harvey — just play Big Harvey.

In this build, you’re more than happy with 5–8 cards in your hand. Eight cards means 2 damage max from your weakness, and you still have plenty of options to deal with different situations — fighting included.

Fighting and evading is the biggest flaw of Harvey, but he is a seeker. He doesn’t have to fight — either he has some muscle guy as a partner, or he has a plan. Plan B is to get really angry and bring big occult guns to the table. Or just try to avoid fighting in the first place with cards like Disc of Itzamna or Shortcut.

See? Even the biggest downside of Harvey doesn’t have to be something unbearable. And now imagine how strong Harvey must be when he does what he was born to do — drawing cards with Strange Solution, Laboratory Assistant (aka meat shield — you may let her die without remorse), Vault of Knowledge, Preposterous Sketches, and Old Book of Lore (this helps your friends with worse draw engines too).

Card games are always about card advantage — and Harvey really thrives in that. Have I already told you about his passive ability? Yeah, another card draw.

Ok, you’ve got a lot of cards in your hand — now what? You’re prepared for some fights, but mostly, you want to investigate. And by investigate I mean INVESTIGATE! Extensive Research doesn’t ask — no tests, just pay for the card and you have two clues. Resources shouldn’t be a problem. Once you sacrifice Laboratory Assistant, you have room for Dr. Milan Christopher, and you can always study late at night while Burning the Midnight Oil or draw some Cryptic Writings during... yeah, drawing and drawing again.

Deduction is cheaper — you need to be successful while investigating, but as Harvey, your base intellect is set to 5 (5+1 passively with Dr. Milan Christopher), and you may get up to 9 with Encyclopedia and Higher Education. Overkill? Maybe. But Encyclopedia can also help others — and so can Medical Texts.

Two hand slots for three books are fine — and in case you’ve discarded one and now need it, just draw through your whole deck, shuffle your discard pile back, and read... I mean, go again. Win with books in your hands — or die trying.

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One funny thing — I’ve never played AH: LCG (actually I did, but it doesn’t really count). This is only theorycrafting based on information from ArkhamDB and my experience from other card/board games. Is this deck going to shine? I don’t know, but I’m somehow pretty sure that it’s at least much better than the preconstructed version. I’ve never ever seen a preconstructed deck that was really ready to play the moment you unpack it — such things simply don’t happen. True story. :-)