Carson Sinclair in FHV (Hard)

This deck was created for a two-handed run of The Feast of Hemlock Vale, on Hard, alongside Jenny Barnes.

The partner deck can be found here, and the upgraded version (after five scenarios) can be found here.

The Jenny Barnes decklist contains more words, including some campaign notes, but, for some brief context, this is where we're going:

1. The Thing in the Depths.
2. The Twisted Hollow.
3. Hemlock House.
4. The Longest Night.

I held off on playing Carson when he was first released because he didn't seem that interesting to me, but having spent some time with him now I'm really surprised at how novel his playstyle is and how many subtly different lines of play you're constantly considering when compared to pretty much every other investigator in the game. It's been a fun ride!

Now for some card commentary:

I've iterated a bit less on this deck than Jenny's and there are a few card choices here that I haven't fully tested, but I'm confident that this is at least a solid foundation for a Seeker style Carson deck.

If you haven't read the Jenny article then I'll just mention here that I tailor my decks for the scenario at hand (and, in this case more than most, the partner investigator) so some of the choices here reflect that.

Also, you should probably know that Scrying Mirror is a key card in Jenny's deck, and that she's packing a bunch of parley events.

In the Thick of It: We take one physical and one mental trauma here. Carson's vitals are pretty low to begin with, but I'm still surprised at how much punishment he can absorb without breaking a sweat.

The Star • XVII: This boosts one of Carson's key functions, namely providing soak for himself and his allies.

Obsidian Bracelet: Carson will fail pretty much every treachery he attempts for the entire game, but it doesn't matter because he has this card! It's really amazing how much it can soak, and since his playstyle is to glue himself to his partner it's guaranteed to provide value for the whole game. Note that it can also absorb the horror hit from his weakness, Selfless to a Fault.

Guard Dog: Carson won't be passing any tests to deal damage, so the next best option is to rely on testless damage effects. This card is great for dealing with 1HP enemies, or 3HP enemies alongside Toe to Toe.

Toe to Toe: Technically, I suppose, Carson does pass this test to deal damage, but I'll go ahead and say it doesn't count. This is, again, a great way to deal with small enemies. You can commit skill cards to tests which automatically pass, but I took Vicious Blow out of the deck recently when I realized I was never using Practice Makes Perfect to find it, and also that it was only worthwhile to use it in conjunction with this card.

Tetsuo Mori: More soak plus the ability to find key Item assets for Carson or Jenny.

Motivational Speech: This card offsets the cost of playing our allies, but since it's a parley effect you can also play it safely while engaged with an enemy, which comes up more often on Carson than on other investigators I've played it in.

Safeguard: I started out with two copies of this, but FHV's maps are mostly pretty small and a lot of the time the investigators won't want to (or can't, in one particular case) move away from each other, so I dropped it back to one. When it gets upgraded to Safeguard the second copy is redundant as well and only serves to make it more likely you'll draw one, but it isn't quite good enough to justify that expense, at least in this campaign. Having said all that, it does provide a good effect and it opens up new lines of play.

Hallowed Mirror: I go back and forth on this card a lot. I don't like the action costs associated with playing the mirror itself and the bonded cards (Soothing Melody), and I don't like how it increases your deck size and makes it less likely you'll draw your good cards. I can't deny it's a good fit for Carson though, and it does translate into damage because he'll be keeping (and upgrading) his Guard Dog, and this campaign does like to throw some unavoidable damage and horror at your allies, including the Residents you probably don't want to lose.

Dodge: In The Thing in the Depths, The Thing in the Depths hits for two damage and two horror, and in my playtesting it often becomes Carson's responsibility to handle it. You need to juggle it for several turns while the mutant turtle makes its escape, and this is a good card for getting that done.

Dynamite Blast: I almost always pack one copy of this in every Guardian deck I make, as much for its thematic value as for its raw effectiveness. It's a good card in FHV in general with all the Aloof enemies plus a number of particularly inviting scenario mechanics.

Task Force: This is a stellar card for Carson. I could write volumes about the things you can do with this card. Suffice it to say, it gets work done. A lot of work. It synergizes well with his bonus action and with Safeguard.

Thorough Inquiry: Our other Double event lets one member of the team (usually Jenny) dig for the cards they need. Five cards is a lot.

Guidance: When you play as Carson you're tacitly acknowledging that your partner's actions are of a higher quality than your own. This card helps you fulfill your end of the bargain, and hopefully they fulfill theirs.

Practice Makes Perfect: For some reason I often feel mildly disappointed when I run this card, but then it hits hard and all is forgiven, for a time. It has its ups and downs and it's by no means an auto-include in any decklist, but it's by no means an underpowered card. I think this means it's designed well. Anyway, let's get into our Practiced suite...

"As you wish": You love to see it. Well, unless you only needed +1 test value to pass, I suppose (damn you, Practice Makes Perfect!) This is obviously a really solid card.

Deduction: This adds some much-needed clue compression for Jenny, though she does have to use her , which often won't be her highest stat for investigating (thanks to her Thieves' Kit).

Well-Dressed: So, Jenny has six parley events that begin tests, which is enough to justify running this card, and it turned out to work really well. The factors which prompted me to try it out in the first place were:

• Leadership just isn't very good because I would never reach for it in the Mythos phase with Practice Makes Perfect so its always went to waste, and at that point it's only one better than Well-Dressed, and only for Jenny. If Carson's partner actually cared about the story might be different, but as it stands it didn't prove itself to be worth the slot. Also, I would never have upgraded it because Jenny doesn't have a money problem.

• I already mentioned I removed Vicious Blow because it was only relevant for Carson, so we're fast running out of viable Practiced cards to include to meet my self-imposed minimum number of six to make Practice Makes Perfect worth running.

• Again with Practice Makes Perfect, having a means it will never whiff when you wanted a Deduction instead, and you can of course be selective with it by only playing PMP when you're targeting a parley action.

• Finally, it does allow Carson to pass some of the Resident parley tests himself during the Preludes, and even during scenarios. That's not nothing.

Self-Sacrifice: This is a also a recent addition, and it makes sense when you remember Jenny is running Scrying Mirror. Knowing you're going to fail means you can always claim the runner-up prize of two drawn cards.

Selfless to a Fault: This card cycles a lot and really puts a damper on Carson's draws, but its one point of horror is basically a drop in the ocean that is his soak.

Upgrades

This is the upgrade path I took in same run from the Jenny Barnes decklist, but of course the amount of XP you get from each scenario will vary so don't take it as a strict guide. I always choose upgrades with the next scenario in mind as well as the campaign as a whole, however in my most recent run with this deck I didn't actually replace any cards, I only upgraded existing ones.

I wanted to remove Dodge after the first scenario, and initially I was weighing up whether to even take it there because I really wanted to try out Scene of the Crime. I guess I'll try that in a future run, but Dodge is still pretty handy when you're at the same location as another investigator for most of the game.

Next Scenario: The Twisted Hollow

Charisma: This enables more utility and soak.

Guidance: Jenny will appreciate the +1 test value, especially as she takes Savant here as well.

Safeguard: Probably unnecessary for the upcoming scenario, but this is what I chose.

Next Scenario: Hemlock House

We replace Tetsuo Mori here.

Girish Kadakia: This guy is the king of soak. Words cannot describe how durable he is, and with The Star • XVII and Scrying Mirror to support him, he can take on anything.

Next Scenario: The Longest Night

Stick to the Plan: We place Practice Makes Perfect, Task Force, and Dynamite Blast under this.

Guard Dog: The upgraded dog is a star player in TLN. See the campaign notes in Jenny's decklist for more details.

Hallowed Mirror: Nothing fancy here, just increasing the lifespan of our new Guard Dogs, and also possibly allowing us to eat the three direct damage and three direct horror from the treachery that would otherwise remove one doom from the agenda or deal two damage to The Captives (both of those options are very bad for us).

That's all for now. Let me know if you have any questions!