The Jenny Barnes of a Thousand (actually just 5) Masks

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
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Tùng Râu · 145

So......

I was running true solo with Jenny through TSK. And my first intent was to build a big money deck with Well Connected and all. But in my own experience, big money decks takes a lot of time and setups to come online and work properly; and in a true solo run, time is the one thing we don't have.

I needed some thing to let me work properly since turn 1 while slowly but surely let me build up my money tank.

That's when I realize that Jenny cand take all 5 of the Mask that came out with Hemlock Vale expasion. Each of those Mask lets you spend an offering during a skill test to get a +2 to a specific skill:

With a 3 across her stat line, any of those Mask can benefit her pretty well, raising her stats to a 5 without any commits. The draw back of those Mask is that I can have only 1 in play at a time. The text "Limit 1 Mask per investigator." stops me from playing any other Mask once one of them is already in play. Each of them has a different condition to refill their uses, whiches are not easy to fulfill at times. And then I thought: What if I add Joey "The Rat" Vigil and Scavenging into the mix?

Joey "The Rat" Vigil's ability lets you either discard an Item asset you control for 2 resources, or pay 1 resource to play an Item asset from you hand without spending an action. And the best part about him is that you don't need to exhaust him to trigger his abilities, and there are no limit to how many times he can be triggered.

So, after draining out the Mask that is currently in play for the stat boost, you can discard it for 2 resources with Joey "The Rat" Vigil, recur it back into your hand with Scavenging, and play any other Mask using the 2 resources you've just got from Joey "The Rat" Vigil (1 for Joey "The Rat" Vigil ability and 1 for the Mask itself). With Stylish Coat in play you actually get an extra resource for selling a Mask during your turn.

Also keep in mind that Joey "The Rat" Vigil's abilities can be triggered at any window: Let's say you are fighting an enemy:

  • During the window of the test, you spend the last use on Cat Mask for a +2
  • You can then use Joey "The Rat" Vigil's to discard the Cat Mask for 2 resources, trigger Stylish Coat for an extra resource if able.
  • Then use Joey "The Rat" Vigil's other to play the Wolf Mask from your hand, spending the 2 reources you've just got.
  • Spend a use of Wolf Mask for an extra +2. Since you are using 2 different Mask to get +2 to the same stats, you don't need to worry about the "Limit once per test" on them.

Opening hand: Hard mulligan for Joey "The Rat" Vigil, Scavenging and any of the Mask assets, also keep any card that lets you draw more card. This allow you to do some work at the earlier stage of the game, while building up your economy and enable the big money and Well Connected mechanic, which will carry you through the later stage of the game.

For level 0 deck: get In the Thick of It for Scavenging and Stylish Coat, go with Joey "The Rat" Vigil lvl0 and try to get yourself 3vp, that's all you need.

I've had a lot of fun with this deck going through TSK (eventhough it is not my favourite campaign). Hope you'll enjoy it like I do.

See you next idea!

8 comments

Sep 24, 2024 tcrudisi · 12

This is absolutely hilarious and I love it. Very creative and it looks like it would work decently well. Nowhere near broken, but still fun and effective enough.

I would have gone in a different direction. Perhaps not taking Underworld Support. Definitely fewer skills and include Friends in Low Places (item).

But I'm nitpicking. It looks incredibly fun!

Sep 24, 2024 PJFrigate · 329

I agree with @tcrudisi: Super fun deck idea! Less fun, but MAYBE more functional: 2x Cat Mask and 2x Fox Mask. That covers all four stats and saves you three splash slots. Friends in Low Places could also help you find Joey. In any case, two-ofs in a 30-card deck will be much easier to find than one-ofs in a 25 card deck, and you really need to find Joey for this concept to work.

Sep 25, 2024 Tùng Râu · 145

@tcrudisiyeah Friends in low place does make a lot of sense in this too. I just didn't think of that in my play through haha. Anyway I'm glad that you like the idea. Please feel free to try it out and give it any changes that you feel like. Thanks for your comment :)

Sep 25, 2024 Tùng Râu · 145

@PJFrigate Yep that does sound more functional :) my first thought was just to shove all 5 of the masks into the deck and go from there. I did struggle in "The Shade of Suffering" as Joey lies pretty deep down the bottom half of the deck. I did have "The Weeping Lady" to help me out a bit though, but in any other cases, having Joey out is important. Anyway thanks for your comment! I'm glad you like the idea! :)

Sep 26, 2024 Caolle · 1

The theme is amusing, but I would agree that it would probably be hard to pull of against the more high-difficulty Mythos? well, it's a theme deck, it does not actually need to (from my perspective). Also, while you're at it, how about playing the Carnevale of Horrors Side Story? After all, it rewards you with 4 more Masks: Bauta, Gilded Volto, Medico Della Peste, Pantalone. Though I question their use for jenny, just for completion's sake (after all, Carnevale of Horrors seem to be the original source of the mask cards)

Sep 26, 2024 Tùng Râu · 145

@Caolle I finished my run already, maybe another time :)

Oct 01, 2024 mattastrophic · 3203

I was about to say... this is a Gilded Volto and maybe even a Broken Diadem added on!

Oct 01, 2024 mattastrophic · 3203

Sorry... this is a concept that totally deserves a Gilded Volto and maybe even a Broken Diadem!