Bless is More (Taboo 2023-8-30)

Coming back to this deck a little bit older and a little bit wiser, Taboo 2023/08/29 breathed new life into one of my favorite archetypes making it all the better.

The goal of this deck is to rig the chaos bag in your favor through and sealing.

Bear in mind deck is tuned for Multiplayer gameplay. You aren't really gonna be fighting, you'll only be helping out with the clues, but your mostly there to make everyone else's lives easier. This concept might be usable in Solo with some tuning but it was not designed with that in mind.

#Blessed

In order to get the plan in motion it is important to fill the bag up with as quickly as possible. The producers are:

• Priest of Two Faiths

• Keep Faith

• Tempt Fate

Priest of Two Faiths is a cheap three added to the bag attached to an ally (which will become relevant in a moment).

Keep Faith is another nice producer with four on a fast window, meaning you can hold this right before a test or any other desired window.

Tempt Fate is a little bit weird. At first glance it looks like a straight up cantrip as it is fast, free, and LOOKS LIKE it sets the bag neutral. In reality math has been done and in most cases it is a net negative for the bag. This is one of the other cases. Sacred Covenant means while the will leave the bag after the first reveal, the bless is here to stay, meaning a positive return in the long run. With the errata to Ritual Candles, Tempt Fate actually ends up becoming a positive for you as now give +3 and only give -1, making it an even more attractive proposition to take.

Exorcise the Bag Demons

Sealing the bag is a tried-and-true method of swaying the odds to your favor. To accomplish that included are:

• The Chthonian Stone

• Nkosi Mabati

Tried and true, The The Chthonian Stone increases the chance of success by removing the unwanted tokens from the pool.

Nkosi Mabati is a great additional that works as a pseudo-lock. The goal is to get at least one into the bag and choose it as the sigil, effectively not just locking all the negative tokens with the exception of and but turning them into instead. The downside is the effect is once a round and is only for the owner’s location. Nkosi is the reason Priest of Two Faiths works in the deck so well, playing Priest for the and using Calling in Favors to hopefully tutor out Nkosi, effectively negating the drawback of Priest all together.

Taboo 2023/08/29

The new Taboo was a BLESSING for this build, expanding the scope of several cards in the game to include interactions with tokens.

• Ritual Candles

• Dark Prophecy

• Voice of Ra

Ritual Candles have always been a "suck less" card that made bad results into slightly less bad results. With the new Taboo Ritual Candles interact with all symbols, including and , changing dramatically their effectiveness. The big key here is the interaction with the fact [Ritual Candles](/card/02029) do not need to exhaust in order to supply their bonuses, this means you get the +1 EVERYTIME that a symbol is revealed, and guess what, and continue making you draw more potential symbols. This means that if in a test you drew Ritual Candles give you +3 to the skill check instead of just +1. The other big thing to note here is you keep the bonus even if you Sacred Covenant away the after the check, as the bonus is added when they are revealed, even if they are not used in the final results of the check.

Dark Prophecy was already a card that I liked for it's interaction with Nkosi Mabati, but could never really fit in prior to the errata. Now that Dark Prophecy can hit it is incredibly interactive with this deck. A bag with a healthy amount of all but guarantees that Dark Prophecy will hit a on activation. This allows you to confirm another off of pulling an initial at the start of a check, making Blessing of Isis startlingly consistent. With Nkosi Mabati in play you can also confirm or into this card for Blessing of Isis as well.

With Voice of Ra now hitting and as well the likelihood of getting a high payout has increased. This interacts amazingly with Tempt Fate as tempt puts 6 targets into the bag, making it very easy to get at least 5 resources.

The Rest

Sixth Sense and Read the Signs keep Mateo relevant by allowing him to be an effective clue hound. Mists of R'lyeh gets Mateo out of fights, which he should never be in.

Rite of Sanctification is a great resource engine for not just for Mateo himself but any characters at his location as well, only issue is that it temporarily removes the from the bag while being used for that sweet discount. Olive McBride is included for the eventual acquisition of Blessing of Isis, increasing the chances of getting that sweet double .

Mulligan

Always try to keep a generator in the opening hand. Keep Faith is a great standalone that can be kept in most cases. Tempt Fate should be kept if Voice of Ra is also in the opening hand, otherwise it is still a good keep. Priest of Two Faiths is a good keep that is made an always keep if Calling in Favors is also present. Rite of Sanctification is a great accelerator but can be a risky keep without a generator. This deck does not include spell tutors that are generally associated with Mystics so it can be worth holding onto Sixth Sense to have early clue gathering capabilities. As always, Four of Cups is always kept. The cards that should always be swapped are Olive McBride, Ward of Radiance, and Mists of R'lyeh.

Upgrade Priority

• Voice of Ra Blessing of Isis(3xp)

This is the main combo card for the deck. The reason Olive McBride is in this deck is to make the card more consistent. Drawing three tokens instead of one increases your chance of pulling two for this effect, which is great considering Mateo has one of the best "star sign" effect in the game. While I'd love to keep Voice of Ra in the deck the slots are too tight to warrant keeping more resource generation when you can probably get it from getting Mateo's through Blessing of Isis. I try to grab the second Blessing of Isis after Charisma most likely removing a Read the Signs.

• Charisma(3xp)

This card enables having Nkosi and Olive in play at the same time. With both Nkosi and Olive in play Blessing of Isis will be spitting out "star signs" like they are going out of style.

• Tempt Fate or Keep Faith Spirit of Humanity(2XP)

Recommended by Valentin1331 Adds another great engine that synergizes well with Priests. Can be used to squeeze extra bless out of Priests before being used for Calling in Favors. The healing option is something this list can not do otherwise. Tempt Fate and Keep Faith at this point are just slightly less versatile.

• Holy Rosary Jewel of Aureolus(3xp)

Jewel of Aureolus receives the same treatment as other Taboo 2023/08/30 to now activate on symbols instead. Father Mateo is already predisposed to follow other investigators around so they can also benefit from Blessing of Isis, Ward of Radiance, and Rite of Sanctification leaving him in prime position to see their reveals as well. If you are near another investigator it's quite rare that you don't activate Jewel of Aureolus once a turn, netting quite a few draws(which is rare for this deck outside ) and resources over the course of the game. The Holy Rosary could just be upgraded but I prefer the rewards for Jewel instead.

• Read the Signs Seal of the Seventh Sign(5xp)

Another seal is never a bad thing, even more so when it's on the big bad . Nkosi helps block the negative effect on this card helping it stay in play even longer. This a numbers game baby.

• Upgrade

Upgrade cards as needed. Choices include Sixth Sense(4 xp), upgrading or replacing Mists of R'lyeh(4xp) with Blur(4xp), The Chthonian Stone(3xp), or anything else.