Card draw simulator
| Derived from |
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| None. Self-made deck here. |
| Inspiration for |
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| None yet |
HungryColquhoun · 4341
Savvy Streetwise Kymani
Overview
The idea here is to play to Kymani's strengths, using both for enemy management (via their ability) and for clue finding. A benefit of Kynami that cannot be understated is that they can run Streetwise from scenario 1 (accessible if you're using the current taboo list with In the Thick of It), giving huge momentum at the beginning of a campaign as with enough resources there's nothing you can't crack. Speaking of resource generation, the new Thieves' Kit is excellent for this, as is Easy Mark which you can also run from scenario 1, alongside Faustian Bargain, Emergency Cache and Another Day, Another Dollar.
Kymani comes with very good innate enemy management through their ability, allowing you to discard most enemies within two actions, and using Stealth this is condensed into just one action through (as it doesn't exhaust enemies, you use it for the second evade-to-discard on an already exhausted enemy). This helps discard Agent Fletcher, too.
For clue finding, Kymani does pretty well. Upgraded Pilfer with the slew of boosting cards means that you can recur this and find 3 clues with ease. Both Thieves' Kit and Grappling Hook also allow you to use for clue finding, with Thieves' Kit giving you money while you're at it. On top of all of this, Streetwise allows you to muscle through a lot of checks (even plain ol' investigating if your clue finding cards aren't forthcoming) with relative ease.
Card draw is dealt with through cantrips such as Manual Dexterity and Easy Mark, as well as assets like Pickpocketing. The deck provides some protection against the encounter deck with "You handle this one!", but overall unlike most rogues Kymani's statline is quite good against warding off nasty effects. This deck is also action-rich, with Honed Instinct, Leo De Luca and Quick Thinking giving you good action economy - and Grappling Hook further assisting with this.
In terms of where this deck isn't so good, it's on Elite enemy management - as they can't be discarded with your ability. With some campaigns this isn't so much of a problem (e.g. exhaust the Elite, and then you can still find clues to progress) however with others there can be a lot of unwieldy Elite enemies in play at once. Personally I think, as the enemy management of non-Elites is so good, this is more something to be aware of when pairing with other investigators rather than a deal breaker.
Advanced Strategies
I feel like the first strategy below is well know about, but for people unfamiliar with Kymani:
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Fast Stealthy Discard. Stealth looks like an odd pick on Kymani at first glance, as it doesn't exhaust enemies (and enemies need to be exhausted for the second evade-to-discard to work). However, the important point here is that you can use it for that second evade attempt: first evade an engaged enemy, then engage with the exhausted enemy as with your ability, then evade as with Stealth. What's more, Stealth gives -2 to the enemy's evade value, and your ability allows you to add to evade attempts against exhausted enemies - which makes an over-success very likely allowing you to trigger both effects on Pickpocketing.
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Turn 1 Powerhouse. There's nothing really advanced about this strategy, but it's just a note to say that you have Streetwise, you start with more resources from Another Day, Another Dollar, and you're extremely likely to have one of Faustian Bargain, Emergency Cache and/or Easy Mark in your opening hand. Use this combo to steamroll early on!
What didn't make the cut
I settled for a very clean focused deck, but here are some other directions it could be taken and some potentially noteworthy absences:
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Underworld Market is a new card that's seen as a bit of a darling on here, but I didn't have enough illicit cards to make it worthwhile and otherwise it pads your deck.
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Delilah O'Rourke and other damage cards. Delilah O'Rourke is a bit of an investment and she's arguably redundant against non-Elite enemies where you'll be using your ability anyway.
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Dirty Fighting. This boosts your evade-to-discard ability and also provides some means to do damage. It's nice, but is a little costly in terms of XP, and again do you really need to do damage to enemies when you're discarding them most of the time? Plus, as you get a natural boost on the evade-to-discard actions against exhausted enemies, more of a boost seems like overkill.
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Lucky Cigarette Case. I found card draw strong enough with the various cantrips and Pickpocketing, and I'm always adverse to padding decks with unnecessary assets.
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Mo' money, e.g. Hot Streak or Pay Day. The resource generation worked great for me here between Pickpocketing, Another Day, Another Dollar, Thieves' Kit and the many resource generating events - so I really didn't see a need for more.
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Tools. Most of these were too situational for me - a Thieves' Kit and the Grappling Hook are all the tools you need!
Campaign starter and planned progression
As you're starting with 8XP due to In the Thick of It, this is actually a 30XP deck. Assuming that you're playing with the most recent taboo list, Streetwise, The Moon • XVIII and Easy Mark (remembering that you get all copies for 1XP with the latter) are the picks for 8XP. If you're not playing with taboos, snag Another Day, Another Dollar as well. Starter deck as follows (and link here):
The recommended order of upgrades is directly below. I think prioritising Another Day, Another Dollar is handy when paired with Streetwise, and it allows you to get Leo De Luca out turn 1, so it's very high on the priority list. Less high are the nice-to-haves, e.g. the upgraded Thieves' Kit:
Further upgrades and side deck
This nice thing about new Customizable cards is you can pimp them out further should you get more XP. Adding Force of Habit to Honed Instinct gives you even more actions with it, so it's never going to be a bad choice! Otherwise Daring Maneuver makes it even easier to over-succeed when you want to (e.g. on upgraded Pilfer), and a second copy Another Day, Another Dollar is another nice to have (better than say upgrading Leo De Luca, as it gives you more than the resource difference back).
Final Thoughts
I think this is my favorite Rogue deck I've ever played, with solid enemy management courtesy of Kymani's ability, good clue-finding with some clue compression from Pilfer, good card draw, strong resource generation and the ability to bust through tests from scenario 1 with Streetwise (which I haven't seen in any top-rated Kymani decks, oddly enough). It feels like what a Rogue should be, generating money and making everything about . There is a bit of blind spot with Elite enemy management, but that's much less of a problem in some campaigns compared to others and you can pair Kymani with someone to tackle that. All in all I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed designing it - it makes for a very good pure Rogue experience!