Roland Banks - Sleuth Enforcer

Level 0 cooperative Guardian / Seeker deck for 2 Investigators that relies on Discovering Clues by Defeating Enemies rather than by Investigating Locations, which means both protecting the other Investigator while also contributing to advance the Act deck.

Ideal Coop partners: Survivors and Mystics : Agnes, Jim, Wendy and Pete.

Current version 8.0

Check out the most recent 15.0 version

Requires 2x Core Sets, The Dunwich Legacy Deluxe Expansion, The Miskatonic Museum Mythos Pack and the Essex County Express Mythos Pack.

Deck composition :

• The 5x Weapon Assets in the deck: 1x Roland's .38 Special, 2x .45 Automatic, and 2x Machete, means Drawing one in the opening hand and / or in the subsequent Draws is very likely. As such, Mulliganing for one is recommended. This high firepower, coupled with Roland Banks's signature Ability and the 2x Evidence! Events, means that Discovering Clues is a very fast affair.

• In case no Enemies are around, or in case Discovering Clues by Investigating Locations is inevitable, the 2x Flashlight Assets and the 1x Deduction Skill are here to make it easier. In case Clues are desperately needed, the 2x Working a Hunch Events will make sure that there is no need to rely on the luck of the Chaos Bag, especially in Locations with high Shroud values.

• The 2x Vicious Blow, 2x Guts, 1x Overpower, 1x Perception and 2x Unexpected Courage Skills can be used when the proper situations arise, and the 2x Dodge Events will come in handy in case a hard hitting Enemy needs to be tanked for a turn or two.

• The 2x Emergency Cache Events are also included in the deck to quickly get extra Resources, since all those powerful Guardian Assets are quite costly.

• The 2x Shortcut Events will help a lot with mobility, allowing Movement while engaged to Enemies without causing Attacks of Opportunity.

• Roland Banks's biggest weakness is his low Sanity value, but it can be somewhat compensated with the Sanity provided by the various included Ally Assets: The 2x Beat Cop soak up Damage, Horror, provide a Combat () bonus, and can be discarded to deal a bit of damage in a pinch. The 1x Laboratory Assistant not only soaks up Horror, but also guarantee a double card Draw, making it extremely efficient for its low cost in Resource. In contrast, the new 1x Art Student has the same stats and costs, but Discovers a Clue instead of Drawing two cards. Apart from the Ally Assets, the 1x Smoking Pipe Asset will also go a long way, by converting up to three Health into three Sanity, for only one Resource and the one Action it takes to equip it.

General Mulligan guide :

• If no Weapon Asset was Drawn in the opening hand Mulligan the entire hand.

Exception to this rule: you can keep a Laboratory Assistant, as equipping it will make you Draw two cards, effectively raising your chances of drawing a Weapon.

• If multiple Weapon Assets were Drawn in the opening hand Mulligan them all except one.

Best Weapon Asset to keep in order Roland's .38 Special > Machete > .45 Automatic.

• Great cards to have in the opening hand alongside a Weapon Asset Flashlight, Laboratory Assistant, Art Student.
• Good cards to have in the opening hand alongside a Weapon Asset Emergency Cache, Beat Cop, Unexpected Courage.
• Opening hand combos that should be kept Flashlight + Deduction | Vicious Blow + any Weapon Asset | Evidence! + any Weapon Asset.

Example great starting hand [1] Machete, Flashlight, Laboratory Assistant, Deduction and Unexpected Courage.

Example great starting hand [2] .45 Automatic, Beat Cop, Vicious Blow, Evidence! and Emergency Cache.

General playstyle guide :

Roland Banks is a very straightforward Investigator to play, and the general strategy of this deck is: Defeat Enemies Discover Clues .

• At the start of a Scenario, assuming you have a good starting hand, the first Actions to take should generally be equipping one or two Assets, ideally a Weapon, and then Moving towards a Location with Clues.

If you did not Draw a Weapon even after Mulliganing, prioritise Drawing one rather than Moving.

• Always try to end your turn on a Location with Clues, ideally one with a high Shroud value, with the hope of Drawing an Enemy from the Encounter deck. That way, you'll be able to Defeat the Enemy using your Weapon, and Discover a Clue thanks to Roland Banks's signature Ability (only ONE Clue per round).

Play the Evidence! Event after Defeating an Enemy to Discover TWO Clues from your Location.

• Only Investigate Locations if you did not Draw an Enemy from the Encounter deck, ideally with a Flashlight Asset equipped.

Commit the Deduction Skill to the Intellect () test while Investigating a Location to have a chance of Discovering TWO Clues.

• Manage your Resources carefully, try not to go down to zero so you can still play Fast cards like the Dodge and Evidence! Events when needed.
• Plan when to use the Emergency Cache Event in advance.

Gaining a Resource should generally be the lowest priority Action, so only do it when there is nothing else to do.

• Drawing a Card is generally not as good as Moving, Fighting or Investigating, but it's generally better than Gaining a Resource.

If you ever need to Draw a card, make sure it is the first Action of your turn.

• Keep a close eye on Roland Banks's Sanity, as it is quite low. Equip your Ally Assets to use them as Horror shields, and use the Smoking Pipe to convert Health into Sanity.

The Laboratory Assistant's Ability is irrelevant in this deck, Play the Ally for the double card Draw and don't be afraid to assign Horror to it, discard it, and make room for the next Ally Asset.

Try to equip the Art Student when in a Location with a high Shroud value.

• Stay close to your partner, try to not find yourselves on the opposite ends of the Scenario map, especially if they are bad at Fighting Enemies.

If you need to Defeat an Enemy Engaged to your partner, it is generally better to Engage it first, especially if you have a Machete Weapon Asset equipped.

• Take the time to PLAN your turns, every Action counts.
• Seeing as every Scenario is different, adapt your strategy accordingly.

The deck is quite cheap when it comes to Actions, as about half of the playable cards are Fast, which makes it quite adaptable.

General upgrade guide :

• -1x .45 Automatic +1x Shotgun •••• : More firepower is always good.

• -2x Flashlight +2x Magnifying Glass • : Provides a smaller bonus while Investigating Locations, but is two Resources cheaper, Fast, has unlimited uses and puts less stress on the Hand Slot.

• -1x Beat Cop +1x Beat Cop •• : Same Resource cost, one extra Health, and a much stronger Ability.

• -1x Beat Cop +1x Brother Xavier • : Costs one extra resource for a very efficient way to soak up Damage and Horror from any Investigator in his Location, with an Ability that can be triggered strategically. Also substitutes a +1 Combat () increase for a +1 Willpower () increase.

• -1x Smoking Pipe +1x Elder Sign Amulet ••• : Great Horror shield, and takes advantage of the Accessory Slot. Provides more Sanity than the Smoking Pipe without sacrificing Health.

• -2x Emergency Cache +2x Stand Together ••• : A massive improvement over the neutral Event, since it offers card draw and is also beneficial to your coop partner, but costly in experience so should not be a priority.

• -1x Shortcut +1x Pathfinder • : Amazing Talent Asset that might seem costly at first, but will end up paying for itself throughout the Scenario, as it effectively provides one free Action per turn in almost all cases.

• -1x Deduction +1x Deduction •• : A clear upgrade, one more Intellect () test icon, and one more Discovered Clue while Investigating a Location.

• -1x Overpower +1x Extra Ammunition • : More Weapon charges, should be saved for either the Shotgun or Roland's .38 Special Weapon Assets.

• -1x Perception +1x Deduction •• : A no brainer upgrade, as both cards have the same amount of Intellect () icons, but the effect of the Deduction Skill is just superior.

• +1x Charisma ••• : With four Ally Assets competing for the one Ally slot available, this Permanent Asset will allow you to equip TWO Ally Assets simultaneously, greatly relieving the pressure. Best of all, it doesn't count towards your deck size, and your start a Scenario with it already in play! Awesome!

Deck weaknesses :

• Roland Banks's personal Cover Up Weakness, one of the most difficult to resolve in the game Mitigated by all the cards that help with Discovering Clues from Locations, and by the presence of your Coop partner, that can also contribute Clues to resolve the Weakness.

• Roland Banks's extremely low Sanity value Mitigated by the Ally Assets that help soak up Horror and the Smoking Pipe Asset.

• Roland Banks's low Agility () stat Mitigated by his very high Health value. It is therefore generally better to Fight Enemies rather than Evade them.

• Roland Banks's lacklustre mobility Mitigated by the Shortcut Event.

Card alternatives :

Depending on the Scenario or your own preference, it is possible to shift Roland Banks's focus more towards Investigating Locations rather than Defeating Enemies, by replacing the following cards:

• -2x Beat Cop +2x Dr. Milan Christopher
• -2x Evidence! +2x Seeking Answers
• -1x Overpower +1x Perception
• -1x Vicious Blow +1x "I've got a plan!"

Situational "tech" cards that might be worth including in between Scenarios:

• Dynamite Blast
• Barricade
• Emergency Aid
• Overpower <|> Perception <|> Manual Dexterity

The Laboratory Assistant and Art Student Ally Assets are both excellent includes in this deck, as they provide a good stat line and great abilities for great value. As such, Including two copies of one or the other instead of one of each, is also perfectly fine.

Solo Experience :

It is perfectly possible to play this deck solo with great performance. Roland Banks can Defeat Enemies and Discover Clues like a champ, and he has tools available to deal with his low Sanity. However, the reasons why this deck fares better with two players, are Willpower () tests and Cover Up:

Even with the two best tools available to Roland Banks included in the deck against Willpower () tests (Unexpected Courage and Guts), sometimes you will just not draw them.

• A Coop partner would be able to commit cards to your Willpower () tests, giving you better chances to pass them. they could also be the ones drawing those nasty Encounters cards that make you test Willpower () instead of you, either by luck or by using cards like Scrying to manipulate the draw, or even Ward of Protection to counter them.

The same principle applies with Cover Up, some Scenarios you might not see it at all or draw it from the very beginning, but other times you might get REALLY unlucky and draw it at the very end of the Scenario, which is almost impossible to counter.

• Having a Coop partner to help you deal with the weakness whenever it pops up, will significantly lower the chances of you stacking up Mental Trauma caused by bad luck when drawing across the Scenarios.

In short, while being a great deck even when played Solo, it is more consistent with a partner to have your back when it comes to mitigating your weaknesses (Willpower () tests and Cover Up) and unpredictable bad drawing luck that comes with deck building card games.

When playing solo, it becomes more essential to know what a Scenario brings so you can adapt to it than in Coop, so keep that in mind! (see previous section for alternatives and tech cards).

Missing expansions :

Missing The Mistaktonic Museum:

• -1x Smoking Pipe +1x Deduction

Missing The Dunwich Legacy:

• -2x Shortcut +1x Overpower, +1x Perception
• -1x Laboratory Assistant +1x Guard Dog

Missing The Essex County Express:

• -1x Art Student +1x Guard Dog

Changes from previous versions :

• Removed the 2x Hyperawareness and 2x Physical Training Talent Assets, as they have both shown themselves to be too slow and / or too costly in Resources and Actions to be worth it, seeing as the deck already includes other costly Assets.

• Removed 2x Dynamite Blast Events which proved to be too slow, too expensive and too situational to be worth it.

• Removed 2x First Aid Assets, as they ended up being too slow. Equipping Ally Assets is much more cost and time effective, as their Health and Sanity values effectively add up to Roland Banks's, all for ONE Action.

• Replaced 2x Guard Dog Ally Assets by 2x Beat Cop Ally Assets, as they have more Sanity, which makes them more valuable to Roland Banks.

• Added 1x Deduction Skills to accelerate Clue Discovery by Investigating Locations.

• Added 1x Overpower, 1x Perception and 2x Unexpected Courage Events, which allow for a higher chance of succeeding Tests and Drawing Cards.

• Added 1x Laboratory Assistant Ally Asset from The Dunwich Legacy Deluxe Expansion to help with Roland Banks's poor Sanity stat and to add card Draw.

• Added 2x Shortcut Events from The Dunwich Legacy Deluxe Expansion to help with Roland Banks's poor mobility.

• Added 1x Smoking Pipe Asset from The Miskatonic Museum Mythos Pack to help further with Roland Banks's low Sanity stat.

• Added 1x Art Student Ally Asset from The Essex County Express Mythos Pack to help with Roland Banks's poor Sanity stat and to add yet another way to Discover Clues.