Agnes Baker - The Blood Pact Adept

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Agnes Baker - survivor mystic going to the hotel. 0 0 0 1.0
Agnes Baker 2 2 0 2.0
The Agnes Baker's EXPERTise 2 1 0 6.0

ilu2112 · 1664

True solo Agnes Baker Deck taking advantage of her ability to transform taken horror into damage. Piloting is of medium difficulty. You just have to be careful with your sanity.

I always wanted to build viable solo mystic deck. With new cards from The Circle Undone, Blood Pact and Fearless I finally managed to do so.

Enjoy!


Upgrades

Do not rush with uprading spells because you want to get a maximum profit from Arcane Research.

Core non-spell upgrades:

  1. Blood Pact - 3 exp
  2. Peter Sylvestre (2) - 2 exp
  3. Peter Sylvestre (2) - 2 exp
  4. Charisma - 3 exp
  5. Fearless (2) - 2 exp
  6. Fearless (2) - 2 exp
  7. Arcane Initiate (3) - 3 exp
  8. Arcane Initiate (3) - 3 exp

Total exp needed: 20.

Core spell upgrades using Arcane Research:

  1. Shrivelling (3) - 1 exp
  2. Shrivelling (3) - 1 exp
  3. Shrivelling (5) - 0 exp
  4. Shrivelling (5) - 0 exp
  5. Rite of Seeking (2) - 0 exp
  6. Rite of Seeking (2) - 0 exp

Total exp needed: 2.

Next upgrades

Core deck can be finished with only 22 experience points. From here you have plenty options. You can rush with Ward of Protection (5), Flare, Sixth Sense (4). Everything depends on what your guts are telling you.

If you do not expect Rite of Seeking to be useful then you can swap it with Sixth Sense in core spell upgrades list. It's up to you. Anyway I don't think Rite of Seeking (4) is worth its price because you rarely have to gather more than 2 clues from any single location in a solo mode.


Synergies

Meat Cleaver + Blood Pact + Able Bodied + Fight or Flight

Meat Cleaver is nuts with Agnes but it has to be supported due to Agnes' low value. Able Bodied adds no matter what because you should keep only 1 item asset in play: Meat Cleaver.

Fight or Flight and Blood Pact are here for the same reason. Fight or Flight's effect persists for the entire turn what is even better for us.

When attacking with Meat Cleaver you can put 1 horror on Agnes dealing 1 damage from her ability and adding 1 damage to the Cleaver's attack. It results in 3 damage total and an ability to heal up 1 horror. Sounds crazy, right?

More: taking 1 horror can push you to 3 or less remaining sanity. It results in Cleaver's attack adding +2 .

You have many options to boost your and make a great use of Meat Cleaver.

Prophesy + Moonlight Ritual + Moonlight Ritual

Moonlight Ritual boosts your tests. More doom means better Prophesy. Moonlight Ritual cleans up mess after you're done with your stuff.

Forbidden Knowledge + Peter Sylvestre

Usually you should use Forbidden Knowledge to trigger Agnes' damaging ability. If you only need resources put 1 horror on Peter Sylvestre instead of on Agnes.

Rite of Seeking, Shrivelling, Sixth Sense + Arcane Initiate

Standard set spells empowered by Blood Pact and Peter Sylvestre (2). Rite and Sense are very important because you must overcome Agnes' low value.

Arcane Initiate makes it easier to find proper spells on time.

Peter Sylvestre (2)

The best card in the deck. It helps with soaking horror, boosts up your spells, makes it easier to pass treacheries. I have to idea why Peter didn't hit the taboo list...

Arcane Research + Fight or Flight, spells

Apart from its obvious use it also makes Fight or Flight usable since the very beginning of every scenario.

Drawn to the Flame

Agnes with Peter Sylvestre (2) has very good statistics to survive any treachery card as long as it's not an enemy. But even enemies are not that bad with our damaging options.

If you feel unsafe with Drawn you can always buy 1 or 2 Ward of Protection (5) to support it "just in case".

Fearless (2)

Agnes play a lot with horror. Fearless boosts spells, makes treacheries easier and heal up horror making Agnes capable of dealing more damage from her ability.


Opening hand

You should be able to deal damage and gather clues since the very beginning of the game. Aim for:

  1. Sixth Sense or Rite of Seeking
  2. Meat Cleaver or Shrivelling
  3. Peter Sylvestre
  4. Arcane Initiate
  5. Moonlight Ritual

General tips

  1. Do not overuse Blood Pact. Be aware of any Ancient Evils and similar effects.
  2. Blood Pact can be used freely if agenda is 1 doom away from progressing.
  3. You can have 2 Blood Pacts in play to boosts tests twice.
  4. Learn player windows. Agnes' ability can be used only once per phase. Proper timing of Forbidden Knowledge can be useful.
  5. Always assume that Rite of Seeking will end your turn. Be prepared.
  6. Do not trigger Forbidden Knowledge for damage if you plan to hit with Shrivelling. It is possible that Shrivelling will force you to take 1 horror.
  7. Save Shrivelling's charges if possible. Sometimes it's more efficient to evade an enemy.
  8. Fight or Flight can be used to boost multiple Meat Cleaver's attacks.
  9. Heirloom of Hyperborea seems to be too slow. Use it for skill icons.
  10. Have no fear of treacheries.
21 comments

Aug 25, 2019 StartWithTheName · 63539

I really like this. Ive been trying the get cleaver agnes working for a while but all my builds felt a bit convoluted. This looks really tight. Nice one.

Unless i missed it, you also have the a combo using Peter Sylvestre and Meat Cleaver to heal horror from agnes when dealing an odd number of damage. This opens up additional uses for Forbidden Knowledge later on. Its really nice with Fight or Flights turn long bonus. If you are fighting a 2 or 3 hp enemy, you could optionally chose not to take the horror on one or 2 swings to get a little extra healing in, save up s for another day!

Aug 25, 2019 StartWithTheName · 63539

Sorry - that should be to heal horror generally, and this also works on an odd number of damage for the Fight or Flight combo. I wish you could edit comments on here :)

Aug 25, 2019 ilu2112 · 1664

Yup, you're right. In fact there is even more synergy in this deck. For example Ward of Protection assigns horror. Horror means damage.

I wonder what could be improved here to make this deck even better. But for now it's fun, consistent and thematic ^^ Who doesn't love mad waitress with a cleaver? ^^

Aug 30, 2019 Django · 4854

We're currently playing agnes and carolyn. OAs are a good way to trigger agnes ability, if the enemy's damage and horror can be compensated. Painkillers is great for that and can trigger her ability as well, in a later phase. But i guess that leads to too much horror for solo agnes.

Aug 30, 2019 ilu2112 · 1664

@Django I had no problems with health during The Circle Undone Campaing on standard difficulty. However I guess Painkillers would be great in a different environment like The Forgotten Age for example. Thanks for a clue :-)

Sep 08, 2019 gustave154 · 1

Well this deck is absolute bonkers. Meat cleaver is just amazing

Sep 13, 2019 republiclifehuman · 48

Isn't Agnes + Arcane Initiate is dangerous? Dark Memory is a spell, so you are forced to draw it off an Arcane Initiate activation if there are no other spells, right?

Sep 13, 2019 ilu2112 · 1664

I think we cannot avoid card draw because of weaknesses. Am I right?

Sep 13, 2019 republiclifehuman · 48

You wrote a list of General Tips to playing the deck, but said nothing about how Agnes is the only mystic in the game that has to deal with the possibility of being forced to draw her weakness via an Arcane Initiate activation.

The fact that the deck only has 10 other spells in it (low for a deck running Arcane Initiate) exacerbates this problem. Even more than that, once a copy of Sixth Sense is found, the remaining copy becomes virtually useless, as do both copies of Rite of Seeking, so that's another factor to consider.

The point I'm making is that there has to be careful consideration as to when playing and activating Arcane Initiate is worth it because it's not a risk-free action as it is with every other investigator.

Sep 16, 2019 republiclifehuman · 48

I just finished playing this through Circle Undone Standard (I won, but only with some luck at the end of Before the Black Throne). Here are my thoughts:

  • I barely used Blood Pact, it was only really good in one scenario (Union and Disillusion for the multi stat tests). The timing always seemed to be bad or I didn't have Moonlight Ritual in hand.
  • I really had a hard time pulling clues early on in scenarios. Sometimes I would have killed for a Flashlight, there were a bunch of 2 or 1 shroud locations I could have made headway on early. Much of the time I was forced to waste actions trying to draw into clue cards.
  • I flat out lost one scenario because I couldn't draw Shrivelling or Meat Cleaver in over half the deck (Union and Disillusion), and wound up dying to a 2/2/2 witch right at the brink of success. It wasn't a persistent problem, but I did find myself relying on evades and Agnes' ability quite a bit, and that only takes you so far, especially without a persistent high value in agility.
  • I did face-plant into Dark Memory on turn 2 via Arcane Initiate in one scenario (At Death's Doorstep) but I won anyway (generally a low pressure start scenario and it was one of the few times I opened Sixth Sense).
  • There were a lot of times I really wanted the ability to heal horror off Agnes to continue using her ability. I'm thinking upgraded Deny Existence would be great, I'd consider running Deny Existence main instead of something, maybe Prophesy (it was good a couple of times, but inconsistent and the deck feels like it needs additional spells for Arcane Initiate to hit more often).

Sep 17, 2019 ilu2112 · 1664

Thanks guys for your comments. I clearly see your points. I will sum everything up and prepare 2.0 version of this deck for upcoming cycle :-)

Oct 06, 2019 OhTheHorror56 · 1

Honestly surprised not to see Waylay in a solo deck of Agnes's kind. Any reason why?

Oct 07, 2019 ilu2112 · 1664

I think Agnes has too low Agility compared to Will Power to use Waylay. More: Waylay requires 2 actions to be played (1 for evade and 1 for the event itself). It means we have to pass 2 agility tests with not-that-great agility stat. It gets better after Peter Sylvestre hits the table but still.

Compare it with Shrivelings. Multiple uses, 2 or 3 damage per hit, based on will power... :-)

Oct 24, 2019 The Lynx · 952

How does this deck play for resource cost? This looks like a really expensive deck where you can't pay to use your good cards. Perhaps Forbidden Knowledge makes up for it. I haven't played a Mystic deck with it included yet.

I am currently putting together my first Agnes deck and have gone some of this route but also have the Fire Axe/Dark Horse combo going (1 Core - Dunwich - Carcosa).

Oct 24, 2019 ilu2112 · 1664

@TWWaterfalls Forbidden Knowledge is there for resources and damage. I didn't feel to be limited by resources during my gaming sessions :-)

Oct 24, 2019 The Lynx · 952

I guess I am just surprised that you could keep up with the card costs (11 at 3+ R) with just Forbidden Knowledge. I just played Akachi and there were just too many 3+R cards in my deck. I had 2 ECache, 1 Alchemical Transmutation and 1 Uncage the Soul.

Of course, some of those cards are duplicates (or the heirloom) so they don't get played as much but I have become much more resource conscious when putting decks together.

Feb 12, 2020 Majere · 1

Sorry, but this deck has 35 cards, and the limit is supposed to be 30 cards + 2 investigator's specific + 1 basic weakness, so it is 33 total. Why? Thanks in advance.-

Feb 13, 2020 LeFricC'estChic · 86

@Majere Arcane Research is a Permanent card. That means that it doesn't count in deck size.

Feb 13, 2020 Majere · 1

Thanks LeFric! ;)

Nov 07, 2020 andyhaggis · 1

This deck is just awesome for true solo. Tested it twice in Curtain Call. No problem. I did quite well in The Last King as well. Excited to see how it escaldes from here :-) I see the synergy with Blood Pact and Prophecy, but I am thinking about replacing it with something else. We’ll see :-) Fight or Flight has been MVP in both scenarios so far. Great deck.

Jul 28, 2022 Morganism · 1

You may want to consider replacing Rite of Seeking with Clairvoyance as it has a chance to give you horror and trigger Agnes's reaction. That is preferrable to losing your actions yes?