Izzy Barnes, Joe D's Compatriot

Here is a campaign roadmap. It leverages our house rule — a dual-class character with a Level-2 cap in one class can ignore that cap in one "specialization". Izzy is a "Gun Wizard", so she specializes in Spells. This house rule allows us to blow past Izzy's level 2 Mystic restriction, transforming her into a high-utility vanguard designed specifically to keep a flex Joe Diamond safe and moving.

(I built this deck to complement "Joe Diamond, Investie Bestie" — https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/63543/)

The Upgrade Pathway

1) The Stat Anchor & Encounter Sponge

BUY: 2x Peter Sylvestre (Level 2) — Cost: 4 XP

REPLACE: 2x Peter Sylvestre (Level 0)

Rationale: This is our absolute baseline. Peter Sylvestre (Level 0) only grants Agility. Upgrading to Level 2 gives Izzy a permanent, passive +1 Willpower buff. Paired with our Holy Rosary, this lifts our baseline Willpower to a formidable 6. Furthermore, his increased horror soak means he can vacuum up standard encounter deck trauma completely free of charge, leaving our personal sanity pool wide open to pay for our investigator ability.

2) The Direct Healing Loop

BUY: 2x Fearless (Level 2) — Cost: 4 XP

REPLACE: 2x Guts (Level 0)

Rationale: Once our baseline Willpower is secure, we buy our healing engine. When we take 1 direct horror to activate Izzy's recursion, we pluck Fearless (Level 2) from the graveyard and commit it to a spell test. Because our baseline Willpower is already heavily buffed by Peter, we will easily smash tests by 2 or more, triggering the maximum effect of Fearless (Level 2) to heal 2 direct horror off Izzy's card and erase the cost of our ability.

3) The Guardian Angel

BUY: 2x Ward of Protection (Level 2) — Cost: 4 XP

REPLACE: 2x Ward of Protection (Level 0)

Rationale: With our personal survival loop locked down, we secure our global shield for Joe. Level 2 allows us to stand anywhere on the map and completely delete a non-weakness treachery card drawn by Wally. When Joe inevitably pulls a game-ending Willpower test from the deck, we snap our fingers from three rooms away and make it disappear.

4) The Elite Monster Killer

BUY: 2x Cosmic Flame (Level 5) — Cost: 10 XP

REPLACE: 2x Cosmic Flame (Level 0)

Rationale: Bypassing Izzy's standard Mystic ceiling via our Spell specialization house rule allows us to slot this absolute powerhouse from the Core Set 2026. Cosmic Flame (Level 5) attacks using our elevated Willpower, deals 2 damage natively even when entirely empty of charges, and allows us to spend a charge to deal an extra point of damage that can be flexibly split among any enemies at our location.

5) The Clean-Up Crew

BUY: 2x Alter Fate (Level 3) — Cost: 6 XP

REPLACE: 2x Jumpsuit (Level 0)

Rationale: A 0-cost, Fast event that allows us to completely discard a non-weakness treachery card currently in play in any investigator's threat area. If Joe draws a persistent nightmare like Frozen in Fear that our Wards missed, we can instantly delete it from his play area during his turn without forcing him to waste actions testing his terrible stats.

6) The Card Velocity Tuning

BUY: 2x Lucky! (Level 2) — Cost: 4 XP

REPLACE: 2x Lucky! (Level 0)

Rationale: With our extended 32 XP limit, we upgrade both copies of Lucky!. It retains the classic "+2 to turn a failure into a success" safety net, but adds the crucial phrase: "Draw 1 card." This ensures our hand stays topped off with icons to keep our recursion loops running smoothly.

Campaign Strategy & Pilot Guide: The Guardian Angel Build

Playing as Izzy requires balancing on a razor-thin wire between absolute tactical dominance and sudden, violent elimination. With our fragile 5 Health, we treat our investigator sheet like a high-performance engine that runs best when redlining.

The Opening Hand (Mulligan Priority)

Whether it is Scenario 1 or the grand finale, our mulligan strategy remains identical. We are hunting exclusively for our core infrastructure.

Hard Mulligans: Peter Sylvestre and Holy Rosary. If we do not see Peter in our opening hand, toss everything else back to find him. He is the battery that powers our entire deck.

Secondary Keeps: Cosmic Flame or Uncage the Soul. We need a reliable way to fight using our Willpower before the first major monster spawns.

Toss Immediately: All skill cards, Drawn to the Flame, and situational armor. We want to draw into our skills naturally once our board state is secure.

Early-Campaign Playstyle (0–10 XP)

The Reluctant Bodyguard

At the start of the campaign, our primary job is to shadow Joe Diamond like a bodyguard. Joe moves fast and vacuums up clues, but his awful 2 Willpower makes him a massive liability during the Mythos phase.

Positioning: We stick to Joe's location. When Joe uses Pathfinder to jump into a high-shroud room, we walk in right behind him.

Clue Gathering: We completely ignore our low Intellect. When a room has a high shroud value that threatens to slow Joe down, we drop Drawn to the Flameto snatch two clues completely testlessly.

The Combat Loop: We use our baseline 4 Willpower to fire Cosmic Flame or commit Overpower to fire Isabelle's Twin .45s. Don't be afraid to use our investigator ability early to take a horror and pull Overpower or Guts straight back out of our discard pile to pass critical tests.

Mid-Campaign Playstyle (10–20 XP)

The Arcane Vanguard

Once we secure Peter Sylvestre (Level 2) and Cosmic Flame (Level 5), the deck shifts gears entirely. We stop reacting to the map and start controlling it.

The Peter Loop: Because Peter Sylvestre (Level 2) heals a horror every single round, our investigator ability becomes functionally free. Every single turn, we can intentionally take 1 horror to pull our best skill cards back to our hand. We can loop Resourceful to keep our Survivor events cycling, or loop Guts to ensure we never fail a Mythos test.

The Guardian Shield: With Ward of Protection (Level 2) active, we monitor Joe's draws. The second he pulls a devastating Revelation effect from across the map, we play it to wipe the treachery away before he has to test his weak stats.

Boss Melting: When an Elite monster spawns, Joe steps back and lets us work. With Cosmic Flame (Level 5), we are hitting at a base 8 or 9 Willpower when paired with the Rosary and Peter. We deal a baseline 2 damage, and we can spend charges to split extra damage across multiple targets to clean up the room in a single action.

Late-Campaign Playstyle (20–32 XP)

The Immortal Protector

At the 32 XP peak, we are the ultimate utility safety net for the team, moving in absolute lockstep with Joe.

Reactive Clean-Up: If a nasty, persistent encounter card like Frozen in Fear manages to slip past our Ward of Protection (Level 2), we don't panic. On Joe's turn, we play Alter Fate (Level 3) as a Fast action to instantly vaporize the card from his threat area without costing him a single action.

The Ultimate Entourage: Thanks to Charisma, we sit comfortably with both Peter Sylvestre (Level 2) and Aleksey Saburov on the table at the same time. Peter permanently manages our sanity, while Aleksey acts as a physical sponge for our health pool.

The Draw Engine: Our upgraded copies of Lucky! (Level 2) ensure our hand stays completely filled with card icons, feeding our ability to recur resources indefinitely.

​**Bend But Don't Break**

​Our signature weakness, [Breaking Point](/card/12015), is a literal ticking time bomb. Because it deals direct physical damage based on how much horror we currently have on our investigator sheet, it can cause us to instantly bleed out if we are careless.

​**Keep the Sheet Clean**: Never let horror sit directly on Izzy's investigator card. Always dump incoming horror onto Peter Sylvestre or our [Holy Rosary](/card/01059) first.

**​The Coat Buffer**: Always keep a [Leather Coat](/card/01072) or [Jumpsuit](/card/12075) deployed in our play area. If [Breaking Point](/card/12015) fires while we have a couple of horror on us, we want that damage soaking into our outerwear, not our 5-health baseline.