Scarboro Solo

Trish is obviously great in solo:

• An ability that gives you action compression on the turns you need it (when an enemy spawns on top of you)
• Testless evasion
• 4 for reasonable clue gathering from the get-go

The investigators she most closely resembles are Finn and Ursula:

• Finn: Trish's ability and stat line are almost universally better than Finn's (sorry Finn!).
  • Although Finn's ability doesn't require a clue, it's usually not difficult to engineer your actions to end your turn on a location with clues (or just Shortcut there), and also Trish's evade is testless which Finn's is not.
  • As for the stat line, you don't really want to be fighting with 3 , so the difference between 3 and 2 is mostly pointless, while the difference between 1 and 2 is still relevant to save a point of horror here or there.
  • Finn's only saving graces are his 7/7 health/sanity, and his access to survivor cards, but that almost certainly doesn't make up for Trish's access to any number of level 0-2 seeker cards.
• Ursula: This contest is a lot closer!
  • Ursula's ability will trigger almost every turn: that's a hell of a lot of free actions! However, Trish's ability will trigger on the turns where it's most important, and gives a testless evade (with the right preparation). Accidentally getting saddled with an enemy for a turn with some bad luck can ruin solo runs, so Trish's variance reduction is a really big plus.
  • Ursula's stat line is basically strictly better than Trish's, along with her 7/7 health/sanity.
  • ...However, Trish gets access to some rogue goodies. Lola Santiago, Sneak Attack, and Streetwise all give a lot of variance mitigation that Ursula isn't able to take.

Playing the deck

Pick up clues and win the scenario before it even realises you were there.

Mulligan aggressively to find Lola Santiago (if you have her) and Dr. William T. Maleson. Lola Santiago is vital enemy management, and boosts both of Trish's relevant stats. Dr. William T. Maleson is vital for avoiding hunter enemies spawning on you early in a scenario.

Try and end your turn on a location with clues so you can use Trish's ability to evade any enemies you draw. If you have a spare action because you want to wait until next turn, spend it on Faustian Bargain and Deep Knowledge.

Pretty much only use Dr. William T. Maleson on hunter enemies: they're the ones that waste all your time — you'll barely ever go back to locations as you'll usually just hoover up the clues and move on. For any hunter enemies that manage to slip through, consider carefully whether you can just outpace them, or if you should spend a Backstab or Sneak Attack on taking it out.

Remember that Trish's ability can also let you pick up an extra clue when you have an enemy with you: it's usually not relevant, but keep an eye out for aloof enemies, or right as you're about to finish a scenario (in which case you can just eat some attacks of opportunity).

Upgrades

Lola Santiago and Charisma are the most important cards to take. Lola -> Charisma -> second Lola. Replace the Obfuscations with her, and mulligan aggressively to find her and Dr. William T. Maleson.

Blasphemous Covenant turns one curse a turn from Deep Knowledge and Faustian Bargain into mini-blesses, and they suddenly become highly efficient economy cards.

After those important upgrades, we look to increase the deck's power and consistency:

• Perception (2)
• All In — don't forget you can also just use it for the icons to pass an important scenario test!
• Pathfinder
• Forewarned — can be fun, but is probably campaign-dependent
• Hot Streak (4) — unlike other rush decks, you have a consistent resource sink in Lola Santiago, so resources really pay off
• Another Day, Another Dollar
• Streetwise — gives you just a bit more consistency
• Gaze of Ouraxsh — testless damage for those nasty hunter enemies! Is at least 2 damage about 85% of the time with 2 curses! Figure the rest out yourself.
• Manipulate Destiny — testless damage for those nasty hunter enemies! Hits 75% of the time with 2 curses, and 83% of the time with 4 curses!

Card choices

Logical Reasoning? You're not shrugging off Frozen in Fear without help, and the is super relevant in scenarios where you don't need to remove a terror.

Narrow Escape? You don't really need it. Lola Santiago will be enough for every turn, and Working a Hunch can cover you as well. If you have neither, a single attack of opportunity here or there isn't the end of the world.

"Watch this!"? You actually don't want to be spending an action to evade very much because Trish's ability is much safer. And you're not realistically passing or tests that much. For the same reason, we start with only one Manual Dexterity.

Cryptographic Cypher? Too slow — it requires a down payment of an action and three resources, and also adds to the shroud when you want to get the free action?

Lockpicks? I haven't actually tested this yet! It has a hefty price-tag, might run out on you, and can only be used once a turn. However, with a combined 8 on the skill test (and +2 from Lola), it might take a while to run out, and if you ever need two clues in a turn, Lola has you covered.

Magnifying Glass, Celaeno Fragments, or Hawk-Eye Folding Camera? I honestly don't know. I suspect it's probably Hawk-Eye Folding Camera (if it's not Lockpicks!).

• Magnifying Glass is fast: the action for playing the other options definitely matters! Scenarios are won and lost those small edges.
• Celaeno Fragments starts with +1 that's not just for investigating: how important non-investigating is campaign-dependent. The requirement to have 5 cards in hand is definitely awkward sometimes though! (And in some scenarios hilariously easy thanks to hidden cards)
• Hawk-Eye Folding Camera won't disappear on you: eventually gives +1 and +1 sanity too, and once you've charged it up, it's not going away... but charging it up isn't trivial, it costs one more resource, and if you get it too late, it's a instead of a . Even if you get it late, though, you can sometimes luck into something you want to use Dr. William T. Maleson on and get a trigger off a location that's out of clues.

True love of mine

This deck is so much fun to play! It's not as fragile as an Ursula deck can be due to testless evasion as Trish's ability, but it still needs to go as fast as it can in order to beat the encounter deck. Scenarios move by with blazing speed, but you feel in control the whole time.

:chef-kiss: