Rex Murphy - Higher Education Standard Seeker (Taboo)

Investigator Overview: Rex Murphy is probably one of the best clue gathering investigator in arkham horror lcg even though his ability got tabooed to be once per turn. Being able to gather additional clue is so strong especially in multiplayer games since it will save you bunch of actions you will have to spend otherwise investigating over and over again. Also average stats for the willpower and agility helps him fight against those treachery encounter card decently. However, Rex's signature card Search for the Truth is not that strong and his signature weakness Rex's Curse is very annoying weakness that discourage Rex from drawing too many cards from his deck since it will recur itself back into the deck.

Deck Overview: This deck focuses on using Rex's ability every single turn to gather maximum number of clues using permanent stat boost card Higher Education. Although Higher Education got tabooed to cost eight experiences, still very strong card especially when combined with Rex's ability to gather two clues in one investigation action. While Higher Education will cover willpower and intellect, other cards will help Rex fight against agility treachery card and enemies that Rex will eventually have to deal with until ally fighter investigator comes and help Rex. Also since Dr. Milan Christopher got tabooed to generate resources only once per turn, I try to maintain card cost curve as low as possible and included some additional way to generate resources to abuse Higher Education.

Card Comments:

Flashlight - Helpful neutral asset that significantly increase your chance of succeeding by two or more to take advantage of Rex's ability. However, once you get Higher Education, this card will get replaced by other cards because you can do same thing with three resources instead of paying two resources and spend action to play this card.

Magnifying Glass - Cheap and fast Seeker asset that helps you investigate better. Rex can really use high intellect for the investigation so it will never be wasted stat. Note that this card only boost your stat when you are investigating, so you will not be able to get bonus stat on your outside of investigation action.

Dr. Milan Christopher - Even though this card got nerfed to generate resource only once per turn, it is still great asset that boost your main stat and additional way to gain resources. Rex will need all the resources he can get especially playing with Higher Education to make sure he succeed by 2 or more on the investigation action.

Lucky Cigarette Case - succeeding by two or more synergies very well with Rex's ability. Also helpful to keep up with your hand size to use Higher Education. But later in the game, seekers usually does not need additional draw power and since Rex's signature weakness is recurring, you do not want to draw too many cards to thin your deck fast. However, this will depend on your play style and how you like to manage recurring weakness.

Strange Solution - later will get upgrade into Strange Solution which will allow Rex to fight better than many other fighters. It is cheap, strong, and efficient asset. Only downside will be expensive upgrade cost but still this card is the one of best options for seeker to fight to help out killing strong enemies.

Crack the Case - after Dr. Milan Christopher getting nerfed to generate resource only once per turn, Rex will need another way to generate resources to keep using Higher Education to fight against treachery and succeed investigation by two or more to trigger his ability. Usually, clue gatherer will be spending all his/her actions on getting clues and will not have any action to play card like Emergency Cache. Since Crack the Case is fast card, you will be able to generate resources without using your precious actions. Also having a option to give some resources to ally fighter to play those expensive assets will come in handy time to time.

Delve Too Deep - I believe this card is very good one of card because experience is very important in this game. Sometimes you will miss out second copy of Delve Too Deep, but many times, you will barely have time to play even one Delve Too Deep. Note that if you get greedy in this game, encounter deck will definitely punishes you with the worst possible treacheries and enemies to hit you from the back.

Emergency Cache - staple in almost any kind of deck because this will help you play important assets early in the game. Although this deck runs low asset counts and many assets have low cost, Rex can always take advantage of resources using his Higher Education. Only problem with Emergency Cache is that later in the scenario, Rex will be too busy getting clues that he will not have spare action to play this card and Emergency Cache does not have pipe so it will end up sitting in your hand waiting to be discarded.

Logical Reasoning - this card takes slot instead of Guts with same two willpower pipe. Although this will not allow you to draw additional card like Guts, as clue gatherer, you will almost always have clues and having option to heal two horror or discard nasty terror treachery card like Frozen in Fear comes in very handy. However, once you get Higher Education, you can gain two willpower for one resource, so this card will eventually get replaced by other upgraded cards.

Mind over Matter - cheap event that allow seeker to fight and evade enemies with their strong intellect stat. Also this card can be used to deal with treachery like Locked Door without waiting for your ally investigator to come and help you. Only downside is that this card can only be used during your turn, so you will need another way to deal with treachery card that test your agility, which this deck usually deal with them by boosting your with skill card or cancel the encounter card with card like Ward of Protection and Forewarned.

Search for the Truth - Rex's signature card that let you draw cards equal to the number of clues you have maximum to five cards. Not a bad signature card since it helps you keep up high hand size for Higher Education and also have two and one wild icons. However, seeker class usually does not need additional card draw due to fact that they will not have time to play card from hand once they are set up to start investigate and get those clues to progress act deck. Also once you are set up with all the important assets, you will not want to draw too many cards from your deck since that will increase your chance of keep drawing Rex's recurring weakness.

Ward of Protection - probably one of best wild card slot Rex can take. Since this deck is running low asset count, anti-asset treachery like Corrosion and Pushed into the Beyond can hurt really bad. Also helps you deal with agility test that can deal some serious damage if you fail.

Working a Hunch - pretty much staple seeker card for anyone who is interested in getting free clues for just two resources. Seekers tend to have some spare resources and this card also have two intellect pipes so you can use to boost stat if you are tight in resource.

Deduction - another staple seeker card that will grant you one additional clue if you succeed investigating. Combine with Rex's ability, you can get up to three clues in one investigation action. Very good card in solo or three player games; however, in two or four player games, upgrade version Deduction will be a lot more important for Rex compare to other seeker investigators because it will let him gather four clues in one investigation action, which can clear a location in just one investigation action.

Inquiring Mind - I feel this card is little bit limited due to fact that Rex is pretty fast at clearing a location and many times you will not have clue on your location to use this card. However, this card can be used to deal with agility treachery card very efficiently and also allows you to evade enemy if fighter investigator is busy dealing with other enemies. Also note that in the worst case, you can commit this card to investigation action which will significantly increase your chance of succeed by two or more.

Unexpected Courage - pretty much similiar to Inquiring Mind mentioned above. Helps you deal with agility treachery card and evade enemy when needed. Also this card does not require you to have clue on your location so can be used to evade enemy in many more situation. Note that both Inquiring Mind and Unexpected Courage are wild icon skill card and can be committed on your ally investigator's skill test as well.

Perception - last one of card. This card is pretty much filler for this deck. But until you get Higher Education, this card can boost your intellect to let you draw card and succeed investigation skill test by two or more. Once you get Higher Education, this card will be first card to get replaced since Higher Education can do same thing with just one resource and card draw is less important for seeker class.

Rex's Curse - Rex's signature weakness that forces you to pass skill test two times in a row. Very annoying weakness that recur itself and significantly increase your chance of getting screwed by auto-fail pull especially since you tend to over commit on investigation action to trigger Rex's ability. However, in the other hand, since you over commit many times, unless you draw auto-fail token, you are very unlikely to fail skill test even when you have to pull token two times in a row. If you are careful enough and keep thinking of possible chaos tokens you can pull to pass the test, you will just have this weakness in play area from start of game to end of game until you draw auto-fail as your second pull. But personally I do not like this weakness and annoys me very much because I have to pull tokens two times for every single skill test I perform throughout the scenario even when I know I will pass majority of time.

Upgrades(in somewhat order of upgrade priority):

Higher Education(8xp) - probably the most important card in this deck. Even with super high experience cost of eight, once you purchase it, you will be able to use this card from start of game to end of game as long as you have sufficient resources to pay for those stat boost. Although you should buy this card as your first upgrade if you can, eight experience cost will force you to play two scenarios without any upgraded card.

Perception x1 -> Pathfinder(1xp) x1 - upgraded asset that cost only one experience that let you move one location for free every single turn. Although you need to be not engaged with any enemy to trigger this ability, clue gatherer should avoid massing with enemy at all cost to focus on getting those clues anyway. Note that although Shortcut is great card and staple to many seeker decks, I did not include in this deck because Pathfinder will be the second if not the first upgrade that I will be purchasing and Pathfinder alone can generate enough free movement throughout the game. Usually if I know I can gain enough experience to purchase Higher Education after second scenario with some spare experience, I will purchase this card to let Rex to use all his actions on getting clues.

Strange Solution x2 -> Strange Solution(4xp) x2 - as already mentioned on Strange Solution comment section above, this is one of the best options that allow Seeker to actually fight enemies and kill them. Fighting with base six combat is pretty high and dealing total of three damage can kill those tricky three health enemies in one shot. Only downside is that upgrading both copies will require eight experience points and since Higher Education is more priority, you will be able to upgrade into this card little bit later in the campaign.

Deduction x2 -> Deduction(2xp) x2 - staple upgrade for many seekers; however this upgrade is more important for Rex especially if you are playing two or four player games because gathering three clues and gathering four clues will net you significantly different game pace. Being able to clear out locations that have four clues in one investigation action will let you progress act deck at least one or two turns faster than otherwise.

Delve Too Deep x1, Lucky Cigarette Case x1 -> Drawing Thin(3xp) x2 - although Drawing Thin is not upgraded card, it will cost you three experience points to put in your deck. Combining with Higher Education, Drawing Thin pretty much gives you free +2 to willpower and intellect skill test once every turn because test difficulty will increase by two and you can use two resources to gain plus four stat boost. Also this asset itself cost zero resource to play so you will have no problem playing this card and other assets like Dr. Milan Christopher at the start of scenario.