The Grim Adventures of Cursed Mandy

"Let me please introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste..."

Oh Mandy, you're a hoarder. Resources, cards, curses, clues... This deck aims to have them all, in big numbers, to score big tests and win the game elegantly, subtly and swiftly. Everything is pretty self explainatory: most cards are here to do one of three things: take advantage of Mandy's incredible ability; make economy; speedrunning clues like there's no tomorrow. Simple, fast, efficient. Costly? Yes, but this Mandy loves to party.

Questions you might ask:

Why ?

I wanted to go full on this Mandy, focusing on translating Cryptic as fast as I could and getting out -centric payoffs like Gaze of Ouraxsh, Blasphemous Covenant, Fey and the like. Also, Breaking and Entering and Slip Away are busted with Mandy (busted!!!).

Why In the Thick of It?

Again, I wanted to go full on this Mandy, and Stirring Up Trouble is an obscene card. Yes, I could have gone , taken Drawn to the Flame so on so forth but 1) Mandy manages curses way better than encounter cards and 2) how many times have we played DttF? Come on. Blasphemous Covenant is also nice to have when you add that many to the bag. Also, Mandy is absurd and 6-6 should have been her health-sanity pool by default.

Why Quick Thinking?

Mandy goes brrrrr.

Why Practice Makes Perfect, when you just have 4 eligible skills?

I thought a lot about this, and while I think 2 PMP may be too much, hear me out on this: Mandy does not give a clue about finding skills. She already has 5, she has many ways to get her investigation done, she doesn't need to find a skill out of PMP. So, why play it? Because it searches the deck. I calculated some odds and looking at 9 cards as a fast action before a skill test (12 if you activate Mandy's ability) should net you an Occult Evidence about 50% of the time (62% if looking at 12 cards). It's a fast, free clue for 1 resource, the extra skill is just gravy, and it gets better as the game progresses. I wouldn't clog the deck with 2 copies, but this neat trick justifies playing one in my opinion. Oh, and if we add up Astounding Revelation the chances of finding either one become 60%-82%, so it's almost never a miss. Gambling 1 resource and 1 card at 60%+ is a very thing and this Mandy is up for it.

Why would you want to taint the sacred bag with useless tokens when you could enjoy having the best stat line in the game?

I hate fun.

So, for the fun part: how are we going to level this cursed gal? The answer is pretty straightforward, following a scheme that prioritizes payoffs, then consistency, then utility. I know some of this progression route isn't 100% optimal (Deduction is one of the most busted cards in the game, I know) but this wouldn't be Cursed Mandy if I would follow a straight path to easy (read: boring!) victory. With that out of the way, let's get to the juice.

-1 Slip Away -> +1 Stirring Up Trouble

As soon as we get experience, so the engine is up and running.

-2 Cryptic Grimoire -> +2 Cryptic Grimoire

The first real payoff for generation. A good chunk of the deck is composed of insights, so being able to fire them off fast (the discount is seldom useful, but appreciated) is an outstanding action generation machine that matches the ish spirit of the deck.

-1 Slip Away, -1 Cryptic Writings -> +2 Favor of the Moon

Economy and payoff? Sign me in! This card is nuts in this deck, netting you a resource AND getting the bad bad tokens out exactly when you want them. Need a +1? Fire off Blasphemous Covenant. Need charges on Cryptic Grimoire? Pray the moon. I love this card, you might consider getting these before the second copy of Grimoire if you love comboing off as much as I do.

-1 Astounding Revelation -> +1 Gaze of Ouraxsh (x2)

At this point, our economy is so good we don't need 3 AR floating around our deck. I think this is the perfect moment to get the Gaze out there and start blasting off monsters. Again, Favor of the Moon is bonkers with this card. For the people that aren't sold on Gaze of Ouraxsh: if you have, let's say, 21 tokens in the bag, 6 of these are , you have almost a 50% chance at dealing 4 textless damage split among enemies at your location, 5 if you factor in Favor of the Moon, fast and free if Cryptic Grimoire is online. I can't, and I won't, look down on this. Ever.

This brings to three considerations:

Should you take a second Gaze of Ouraxsh? If you need damage output and protection, sure. Otherwise it can wait, or it can be replaced with a The Stygian Eye if you can afford it.

Regarding The Stygian Eye: I love the card, but I feel it's too janky to fit a real deck. Ok, it's basically Inquiring Mind x3, but you still have to take tests with a bag full of to make it worth it, and it soaks up 1.5 . Not a bad card, can be super useful, but sadly not my first choice. Love the art tho (Hastur is King).

Last consideration: Tempt Fate. My opinion is: never remove it from your deck. It's a cantrip, it mitigates having a 50 card deck, it is relevant, fast and ramps up production while making some for the weaklings. I simply don't think this Mandy wants to part with the card, ever, but it's just my opinion.

On with the build!

-2 Dream Diary -> +2 Dream Diary

Why the one? Because that's what I feel it's more relevant in this build. You don't want to actively fight anyone, and you dump your hand so fast that a 8-card hand is almost a dream in itself. Stick with a solid +4 if the location is pretty shroudy, you'll be the one investigating that location nonetheless.

-1 Logical Reasoning, -1 Followed -> +2 Fey / Skeptic

Listen, I love Followed in this deck and I think that Logical Reasoning is as solid as a level 0 support card can get. But Fey does wonders in this deck. It's basically Unexpected Courage with Favor of the Moon +1 (God I love Favor so much), it's never a dead card and can really help friends out of sticky situations. Even those sticky situations you set up for them with all your ! It's wonderful. If you can't stay away from the double-clue getting of Followed, then get a Breaking and Entering out of here. Or the second Cryptic Writings, you do you. I like being rich.

But I get it's not everyone's cup of tea. So, feel free to split it with Skeptic if you want to lean more on the safer side of things. Granted, Skeptic does not recur, but it should guarantee success after the curse machine starts spinning. Want both of them? Be my guest, but I think you should leave out some skills for that, 12/55 is what I feel comfortable with.

Upgrading Deduction and Old Book of Lore

This comes as no surprise. Hell, you could throw in Perception and Whitton Greene if you want, but I think they're a tad less useful. If you can spare the experience go wild and make the deck as consistent as you can, upgrading what you already have. This deck is already a monster, upping it's potential can make for truly incredible turns, like a fast Stirring Up Trouble off Cryptic Grimoire, Shortcut, Quick Thinking + Deduction for an investigation and you will have netted 5 clues before taking a proper action. Man, do I love this deck.

So here it is, folks. My personal take on one of the best girls in the game. Will she dethrone Sister Mary in my rankings? Who knows. If you want me to write a guide on Sister Mary feel free to ask, in the meantime stay hungry, stay , stay Mandy.

Much love.