Cookin' up a mess o' dough

Cookin' up a mess o' dough

This is a Fighter deck built to play two-handed with my "Walker, Arkham Ranger" deck. I call this one "Cookin' up a mess o' dough" because Zoey's a Chef and this deck builds up a lot of resources. The 19 (22) XP versions of these decks consistently get all of the Cultists and all of the VP in The Midnight Masks with plenty of time to spare, and I usually ended the scenario with 12+ resources even after spending some with Physical Training and Hyperawareness!

Upgrades: I built this deck first as a 19 (22) XP Standalone deck and then trimmed it back to 0 (3 with In the Thick of It which is used for a Tommy Gun) XP. What follows is the order in which I plan to upgrade (it will actually go to 24 XP because I made a few changes since I wasn't limited to 22):

Primary Upgrades:

• .45 Thompson >> .45 Thompson (3): This is Zoey's primary weapon because each shot turns into a resource, which is why I bought one with In the Thick of It and upgrade the second at the first opportunity.
• Both Safeguard >> Safeguard (2): Daisy gets to move around a lot with her deck, and the upgraded version lets you move at the same time as her (rather than after her) so that you can choose who engages any enemies on that location. With the level 0 version she would move and engage, then you'd move afterwards.
• Both Survival Knife >> Survival Knife (2): This is a backup weapon with a great ability!
• Both Stand Together >> Stand Together (3): I love seeing this in my opening hand because you'll start each scenario with both investigators at the same location! A great kickstart to both decks!
• Both Emergency Aid >> "I've had worse…" (2): You can prioritize this one higher if you like but I'm fine keeping Emergency Aid in for a while because I'll take 2 Physical Trauma with In the Thick of It, which Emergency Aid can heal.

After all of these upgrades are completed, I'd consider the following Secondary Upgrades.

Secondary Upgrades:

• Both Bandolier >> Bandolier (2): I'll never turn down a boost!
• .32 Colt >> .32 Colt (2): Another great backup weapon which you can return to your hand if you've found a Tommy Gun but not a Bandolier yet!
• Emergency Cache >> Emergency Cache (2) just for the draw
• Both Vicious Blow >> Vicious Blow (2)
• Physical Training >> Physical Training (2) >> Physical Training (4) (or directly to Physical Training (4))

A fun upgrade option:

One version of my 19XP deck used two copies of Well-Maintained. You can attach it to your tommy gun and when it's discarded (either because it was pushed out by another weapon or with Act of Desperation) it will come back to hand. A fun combo but since Tetsuo Mori can pull your tommy gun from the discard pile, it's not 100% necessary.

Card Swap:

This version uses two copies of Evidence! to grab some opportunistic clues, but you can swap one or both out for Glory if you prefer the card draw.

Economy:

This deck has several ways to "cook up some dough", which you can use to improve any test with Hyperawareness and Physical Training:

• Zoey's own ability gives you a resource when you engage an enemy
• .45 Thompson (3) turns ammo into resources
• Act of Desperation will turn an item (generally your Thompson) into money!
• "I've had worse…" (2) turns damage or horror into money
• Emergency Cache
• Stand Together gives resources (and cards after the upgrade) to both 'gators when they're at the same location.

Mulligans:

You REALLY want a .45 Thompson (3), so mulligan hard for it (but I would keep a Safeguard if you have it)! Even taking a resource action and then playing the Tommy Gun is fine, but you'd also like to see either E-Cache or Stand Together. You might also wait to play your Tommy Gun if you have a Sleight of Hand. Sleight it out when needed, turn a couple shots into money and get it back at the end of your turn.

As mentioned earlier, I like seeing Stand Together too, because both investigators will benefit from it, so I might hold onto one of those when I mulligan.