Keen Eye Leo, Boss Killer (Big Money, Big Actions)

1 Physical Trauma and 1 Mental Trauma. (Blanket / Bionoculars).

TheBlackHorror 1106 This deck capitalizes on Leo's unique access to (a) Keen Eye, and (b) Rogue's high resource generation and access to cards that give them additional actions. While this deck works pretty well at level 0, once it gets the first 7xp in upgrades, it becomes a force to be reckoned with. Leo will be able to do power turns with 5, 6, 7, even 8 actions at +3 or +4, a real boss-killer. You don't need 30 experience for this deck to run at full power--it runs on full blast with only 7 experience (Keen Eye, 2x Hot Streak)!

Let's talk about Keen Eye for a moment.

KEEN EYE

Keen Eye is not the best of stat buffers, especially compared to other permanents, due to the high resource cost. Keen Eye's value is that it lasts until the end of the phase. To maximize your bonuses, you obviously want to attempt the same type of test (Intellect/Combat) for all 3 actions. Keen Eye's value is drastically improved if Leo has more actions. With Leo (Anderson) & Leo De Luca, Keen Eye now allows you to fight or investigate on all 4 actions at an equivalent cost of 1/2 a resource per +1. Spending 4 resources will give Leo a +2 bonus to Fight or Investigate on four subsequent tests, which would cost another investigator 8 resources using something like Physical Training. Now, imagine the value if Leo had 5 actions, or 6--or even 8! But for Keen Eye to be effective, you need a way to generate lots of resources.

THE MONEY

Let's face it, Guardians are EXPENSIVE, and that usually leaves them broke. But not Keen Eye Leo. Sleight of Hand should help you reduce the costs of using those .45's and even Flashlights, while Lone Wolf will help generate an extra resource a turn. Leo's own unique ability reduces the cost of those expensive allies, and 2x Emergency Cache will help fund the rest. Watch This! is also an excellent resource generator, especially when paired with Double or Nothing. If you never play a Physical Training, the level 0 version of this deck will usually end the first scenario with a pile of resources (typically 12-15), a testament to its resource generating capability.

EDIT: With the new City of Archives pack, Keen Eye Leo has been given a new, powerful financing tool: Pay Day. With Leo DeLuca down, this will yield 4 resources if used on your last action, much like an improved Emergency Cache. However, use it on a turn in which Leo has taken 5, 6, or even 7 actions, and you've brought in a veritable windfall! Pay Day may be too situational a card for some people, but in the words of Keen Eye Leo himself, "Go Big or Go Home!"

THE ACTIONS

Leo De Luca gives Leo Anderson 4 actions a round, which can make a significant difference in gameplay. Throw in a Quick Thinking or two, add a Double or Nothing, and BAM! Leo now has up to 8 actions in a single round!

Double or Nothing Action Efficiency

Double or Nothing can make Leo's attacks highly efficient. Take the Ghoul Priest, for example. Since you know when and where it arrives, you can prepare for a highly efficient power turn.

Leo, armed with a Machete, fights at 5 versus the Ghoul Priest's 4. Toss a Double or Nothing to bring it to 6 vs 8, then 2x Vicious Blow to even it up at 8 vs 8. Not good odds. With Physical Training down and a few resources, you can easily pump this up to 13 vs 8 (at a cost of 5 resources), as sure a thing you can get in Standard. Barring a , you will deal a whopping 8 damage in one swing!

OR

If you are a little down on Resources and have Physical Training down, you can play a vanilla "Watch This!" (meaning no Double or Nothings or Quick Thinkings) to boost your fight to 6 vs 4. Maybe commit your extra Machete in hand or an Unexpected Courage to boost to 7 vs 4 or 8 vs 4. A success on this test will yield you up to 6 resources, which you can use to boost your next two tests by 3 for 8 vs 4. Those are good odds.

Once you get Keen Eye out in subsequent scenarios, those 6 Resources could be used to boost your or by +3 for 3 actions (4 with the other Leo in play), which is enough to clear quite a few clues (especially with a Flashlight) or dish out 6-8 damage with a Machete.

THE HOLY TRINITY: Watch This!, Double or Nothing, and Quick Thinking.

When used in conjunction, these 3 cards create a true power turn with a lot of resources and actions. Use them on an easy test, such as fighting a ghoul with 2. Leo with a Machete is already 5. Double or Nothing ups the difficult to 6 vs 4, but "Watch This!" and 2x Quick Thinking boost Leo up to 9 vs 4, a slam dunk on standard. A success will yield 9 additional resources (the 6 from Watch This, doubled by Double or Nothing to 12, minus the 3 you bet when you played it), 4 damage to the ghoul (probably overkill, but not the true goal of this combo), and 4 additional actions for a total of 8 actions! I highly recommend holding off from playing "Watch This!" or Quick Thinking until you can Double or Nothing it.

NOW FOR THE REAL SHOW TO START:

This deck really shows off once the first few upgrades are purchased: Keen Eye and Hot Streak(2) x2 for a total of 7xp, not an unreasonable sum from your first scenario. These are the core upgrades. The Hot Streaks can replace the Physical Trainings.

Other upgrades to get include:

Charisma: Lets Leo have both Leo de Luca and Beat Cop out in play at once. The more the merrier.

Adaptable: Adaptable is always versatile, but it might be a good idea to swap in Elusive or a Venturer.

Police Badge x2: What's better than 8 actions? What about 10? Police Badge works wonders to increase Keen Eye's value.

Some other upgrades include Leo De Luca (1), Beat Cop (2), .45 Automatic (2), Marksmanship (1), and any of the big guns you want. One of the nice things about this deck is that it functions at full power after only 1 or 2 scenarios worth of upgrades.

Also consider .41 Derringer to replace the .45 Automatics. With Keen Eye, Leo can easily pass a combat test by 3 or more, giving him yet another action boosted by Keen Eye.

EDIT: Boundary Beyond Player Card Upgrades

A few key player cards that came out in the recently released Boundary Beyond give this deck incredible explosive power at higher xp levels. Particularly, High Roller and Well Prepared. Neither of these are unique, which means you can have up to two of each out in play, and High Roller is a decent target for Double or Nothing, and even better when combined with "Watch This!".

I recommend acquiring 2x High Roller first, before 2x Well Prepared, and eventually 2x Shotgun. You could even consider grabbing 2x Physical Training and/or 2x Hard Knocks to bolster this uber shotgun build even further. The level 2 skill cards have great icons, are valid targets for Well Prepared, and allow Leo to boost more inexpensively for a single Shotgun blast.

And all of these cards build toward the inevitable Keen Eye Leo superweapon: Shotgun.

UBER SHOTGUN LEO

With these assets available to Leo, Shotgun becomes an incredible card, and Keen Eye can help him maximize his damage output each round.

Consider this: Sleight of Hand a Shotgun into play (fast action). Imagine Leo has a Beat Cop in play, so he is at 5 . A single Well Prepared could target Shotgun for +2 , and pay 3 resources to exhaust a single High Roller for another +3 , bringing his total to 13 total with the Shotgun's innate +3 . Not bad. Depending on the enemy, you are looking at the maximum of 5 damage easily. With Keen Eye in play, you can boost this by, say, +2 for the phase for 4 resources (bringing the total cost up to 7 resources and Leo up to 15 ). Just for fun, throw in a Watch This! (spend 3 more resources for a total of 10) and Double or Nothing, bringing Leo to 17 . Let's pick a juicy target like the Harbinger of Valusia, whose would now be 6. So 17 vs. 6. Say Leo draws a -2, bringing the end result to 15 vs 6, so the maximum 5 damage is doubled to 10. Not bad.

But WAIT, there's MORE! Double or Nothing also doubled Watch This, bringing in 12 resources, AND doubled High Roller, bringing in another 6. If Leo was flat broke, he would still be sitting on a pile of 18 resources.

Now action 2: Pump 18 resources into Keen Eye for +9 , bringing Leo up to +11 for the phase, which means he wields his Shotgun at a total of 19 (that's Leo's base of 4, +1 from Beat Cop, +11 from Keen Eye, and +3 from Shotgun). Shoot the Harbinger of Valusia again with the Shotgun for the next two actions at 19 vs 3 for a solid 5 damage each. Okay, that might be overkill, but you get the point.

That's 20 damage in a single turn. AND you get your Shotgun back.

Remember it is also possible to use Double or Nothing on a Shotgun blast, then toss in a pair of Vicious Blow(2) for an 18 damage wallop. Add Marksmanship to the mix and you can get a 20 damage sniper shot!

SET THE BAR HIGH - BOSS-KILLER M1918 BAR FIGHT LEO

EDIT: With the new City of Archives mythos pack, guardians have been given a new superweapon--one that obviously has Leo Anderson in mind. The M1918 BAR. Why? A simple illustration should explain everything.

Imagine this: Leo Anderson with his best buddy Leo De Luca uses Sleight of Hand to drop the M1918 BAR into play with 8 ammo for his first play. Sleight of Hand is fast, so he still has 4 actions left. Action #1, play Contraband to double the ammo from 8 to 16. He then uses Actions 2, 3, and 4 to blast a big baddie with three consecutive 5-ammo blasts at +5 and 5 Damage each. Throw in a leveled Vicious Blowand a Double or Nothing on one of those shots for a maximum of 14 damage in a single shot (5 from the BAR, +2 for Vicious Blow, and doubled from 7 to 14 with Double or Nothing)! A potential 5 + 5 + 14 damage in a single turn for 24 whopping damage!

Leo Anderson is the only guardian who is uniquely positioned to take advantage of Contraband, so don't hesitate to use it! You will also notice that this Sleight of Hand + Contraband combo costs the same as actually playing the M1918 BAR itself, except you get to actually keep the BAR in hand. If whatever you're fighting survived the first 15-24 damage. It probably won't last the next 8.

But wait, there's more! Why stop at the M1918 BAR? If you're packing Contraband, why not also have some .45 Automatic's or .41 Derringer's along for more fun? Toss in Marksmanship and you're ready to rumble!

SCENE OF THE CRIME & FLASHLIGHT

These cards make Leo into a pretty good clue-finder in 2 player. In 3-4 player where Scene of the Crime is less effective or in a group with better clue-finders, consider substituting in Elusive x2, which has saved Leo's bacon more than once, and has the potential to teleport Leo across the board to rescue a squishier investigator.

Physical Training or Hard Knocks?

If you are playing The Forgotten Age, You may want to opt for Hard Knocks instead of Physical Training. While Physical Training can help reduce the amount of horror Leo gets from cards like Rotting Remains, Hard Knocks might give him enough of an boost to to keep him from getting Poisoned.

I want to give some credit to zooeyglass who helped me refine the level 0 version of this deck.