Finn's Long Term Investments

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Finn Edwards at The Circle Undone 0 0 0 1.0

Ric · 908

Introduction

2022 was a good year to be Finn Edwards and, in my opinion, a good year for rogues in general, really. I always enjoyed Finn's loadout and found that he had decent wiggle-room, despite his very flawed and inability to chase most level 4-5 goods. Fortunately for Finn, despite his constant fleeing from authority, he has an incentive to dabble in heavy investing, namely with the Underworld Market. With all the stealing he pulls, day-to-day, he's now moving onto insuring that he stays relevant in this crooked line of work.

Correction: I just realized that I slotted two "You owe me one!"s when I meant to slot two "You handle this one!"s. Really wish we had a means to edit the decks and not just the write-ups for goofs like that.

Role & Composition Assumptions

Finn's role in my listed setup is going to be a jack-of-all-trades. He'll make and put resources to use, keep enemies at bay and/or dead, and snag some clues. While that doesn't really make for heavy-impact plays compared to someone committing to combat or clue-seeking, it helps a lot for Finn to be someone who can do whatever is needed more in any particular moment. Combat-heavy scenario? He'll be expected to crowd-control and blast (something he will be very good at once he has access to his core cards. Minimal enemies but heavy clues? He'll struggle until he gets Lola Santiago, but then he'll have decent consistency, given his expected cash-flow.

Composition-wise, having at least 2 investigators committed to clues or combat will help take pressure off of Finn. You will never want him to be the main combat/clue guy, here. He doesn't roll that way. In fact, just between you and I, reader, you probably didn't know this, but.. Finn's very much a dirty thief who isn't afraid to scream "I'm outta here!" when the going gets bad. Fortunately for his team, they'll be glad whenever he does this. Fun fact, when I gave this set a test-spin, I didn't tell my team-mates I was bringing that card until I assured them that yes, I could handle four enemies at once after Mythos while they were escaping. It's very on-brand for Finn, too.

Early Game Highlights

So this section is going to be harder than usual to discuss, because quite frankly? Scenario one will be the roughest for Finn, since all the fun stuff will come afterward. The SOUL of this setup revolves around Underworld Market, so much so that we really needed In the Thick of It and Charon's Obol to get the accumulation fast.

At the very least, I will highlight that, with Flashlights for 2-shroud zones and Track Shoes + Trench Coat for evading, it will be very easy to make early-game resources via two strong 2022 events. "I'll take that!", which is just an awesome action/resource-economy card and Hit and Run to be used with our boy Gregory Gry. I'm also a fan of Investments if we can yank it out early (plus it fits our theme), and Lone Wolf is an easy given, since Finn's not too afraid of being isolated. His free evades makes the thought of being surrounded less daunting.

By the way, "I'm outta here!" wasn't a meme-pick. Few of my games with this setup ended with Finn sitting with 3-4 enemies in the location with him while everyone else took off, and hot-damned, is that a great situation to be in when you have that card available, especially given the risk you run with Charon's Obol. It also gives you a good incentive to push for aggro-management when the scenario has the option to resign.

Once we complete the first scenario, Finn's going to realize, "Holy crap, I'm not cut out for this, I need contacts." Fortunately for Finn, he knows people. Your Underworld Market allows you to expand your deck to 10, with the condition that you must slot 10 Illicits under it. Here is my breakdown of the ten cards you should slot. Please note that a lot of these are placeholders until you upgrade:

We will also add two Lucky Cigarette Cases and one Nimble to our main deck since we are only at 7 out of 10 newly added cards.

I want to emphasize that the two Embezzled Treasures are a lot of fun to invest in. They will be very easy to fish out, and since you will have leftover cash, you'll find yourself filling them up rather quickly. The fact that you can equip and dump into both means acquiring 5-10 starting resources won't be hard. The cool thing is that effectively creates a snowball effect where you'll have an easy start nearly every time, so long as you stay on top of your embezzling.

Eventually, this will be the setup to shoot for after core-completion is achieved:

If you're going for maximum achievement and somehow snag everything from the Late Game section, your Market will be:

The beauty of the Underworld Market, to me, is that, with the exception of the guns and embezzlement, you really don't need more than one copy of these. By turn five, you will have had the opportunity to pick 5 of what is needed most in your hand. Combat-wise, considering the monstrous combo that is Finn's free evade + THREE free attacks via Dirty Fighting, .25 Automatic, and Quickdraw Holster, knowing that you can set this up within the first 5 rounds is pretty exciting. It also means mulligans are far more interesting. Speaking of...

Mulligan Needs

For scenario one? Shoot for your clue/evasion assets to help you tolerate that first rough run. You will feel weak on this first run, but stick with this. After you get Underworld Market, your priorities will be all about the money, baby: Go for Investments, Lone Wolf, "I'll take that!", and Sneak By. Bonus points if you can score Gregory Gry + Hit and Run for easy pay-outs if you happen to be in a 2-shroud location to spam Flashlight with.

Core Upgrades (24 xp)

Since the build order is going to be a bit of a mess with the 10-card addition after mission one, your mileage will vary on how we steer this rickety ride Finn's driving. This is my order, but I feel inclined to state that you should ultimately be in control of the order, because you may find that you just need certain cards sooner than later, especially if the campaign you're playing calls for specific utilities more (ie if you need clues faster, get the post-market core goods sooner than later). Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with how much we accomplish for the price of 24 xp. Enjoy:

  • Underworld Market (4xp) - I mean. We mentioned this card so many times that it's obviously the first pick.
  • Dirty Fighting (2xp) - This card is pretty amazing for Finn, and the fact that it combos very well with his guns makes this a no-brainer, especially after your free evade lands. With all of his guns, he's sitting on a 7 against evaded targets. Not shabby at all, really.
  • Fence + one .25 Automatic (3xp) - I put these together, because Fence is dirt-cheap and you're going to make lots of XP, so why not jump-start our Illicit buyer by making the upgraded .25 more attractive than it already was for our setup?
  • Quickdraw Holster (4xp) - With any of our guns, this is a beastly upgrade, both for the storage, and the free-action utility. In this order, we now have our 3-free-attacks-combo.
  • Pickpocketing (2xp) - Easy upgrade to make a good card great.

I prioritized getting all the Market stuff taken care of, first, so now the rest will go towards regular deck-integration.

  • Lola Santiago x 2 (6xp) - The +1 and suit Mister Edwards very well. You won't need Charisma since Gregory Gry is a temporary side-kick, even more-so with the help of Hit and Run. Also, please do not forget the amazing combo that is 2-shroud location + Flashlight + Lola's Exhaust = Free clue. Even without that combo, Finn won't be on a shortage of cash if you've been doing a good job managing your embezzlements.
  • Flashlight (3xp) - What an awesome upgrade, really. I can't believe we waited six years to see this evolution of the classic Flashlight. Not only does it give Finn an outrageous advantageous when evading, but I'd like to point out that, while you're welcome to upgrade both, you can double-tap an upgraded and non-upgraded one, since the upgraded uses a rather than an . -4 Shroud when you really need to succeed? Not bad. Especially since we still make good use of Scavenging for returns.

Late Game Recommendations

So you've kitted yourself well-enough, but wait: You're only half-way through your campaign after all that? Now it's time to really get greedy. Finn is very greedy, you know. These are not listed in the side deck, because I consider all of these to be luxury cards that you will add based on your needs, strictly:

  • Lucky Cigarette Case (3xp) - Overkill, but still pretty great when you just want to show-off how easy you can fish what you need.
  • Garrote Wire (2xp) - Wait, we didn't take Relic Hunter, where are we fitting - oh WAIT! You mean Hidden Pocket wasn't just illicit filler? Nope! Thanks to "I'll take that!", we can achieve this setup by forcing this fun tool to be Illicit (you can also apply this to your cigarettes if you happen to find those before finding the wire). And the best part is it's a very easy slot to fill, so surprise-surprise: You've now got FOUR free attacks, and you can deal with those pesky odd-numbered opponents with relative ease.
  • The Black Fan (6xp) - I thought on this one for a while, and while we spend our resources a lot, we're also far enough in the campaign that it'll still be worth whipping out if you happen to see it in your hand.
  • Pay Day (1xp) - This is pretty great, because with our newly acquired Black Fan, we're looking at 4-8 resources, assuming we've also taken advantage of our three extra attacks (9 if we can somehow squeeze a garotte-attack with the other three, but that's insanely unlikely unless we're fighting an odd-numbered boss).
  • Another Day, Another Dollar x 2 (6xp) - The power of Charon's Obol giving us excess is now letting us continue to show off our pilfering wealth.
  • Well Connected (3xp) - I mean, why not? You're likely going to be rolling in dough by the last two scenarios. Let's show everyone that you're not afraid of the Mythos tests.

Conclusion

Finn Edwards was a lot of fun to revisit, this year. I highly recommend giving this playthrough a go. I have a feeling that Underworld Market is going to be a card I see in future s I run, but I figured that if I was going to give it a spin, it would be on Mister Illicit, himself. On the real, though, even on other rogues, that card really changes the way you view your Mulligans. No more stressing over getting the gadgets you need, when you know that your best tools are already safely tucked in your market. Give it a run, sometime, and have fun!

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