Astronomy Class with Professor Norman | Deck Guide

Credit: Norman Withers: Magali Villeneuve, Divination: Adam S. Doyle, Ugly Charge Tokens: Meatbag Esq.

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Norman is going to divine the stars to pick up every last clue in a scenario. He has some light reading, some "brand"y, and more charges than he can possibly use.

When this deck gets online it can theoretically pick up 14 clues in a single round. This is completely unnecessary. Further, there is a lot of flexibility in the deck. There is a core set of about 22 cards (highlighted in a couple of decks linked below) and the remaining 8 can be flavored to taste your taste.

Note: This deck is most suitable for 3 and 4 player games where you don't need to do enemy management and can get a touch of support for your initial economy. Also, there aren't enough clues at lower player counts to justify this deck. Significant revising would likely be needed to get it combat focused enough for 2 player games.

Second Note: This deck was tested in standard mode but might be Hard/Expert viable. A typical investigate test with Divination•••• is 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 11. That means even a -8 token isn't a failure unless you're at a shroud 4+ location, and you have the icons to increase the test further to ensure you're successful unless you draw the . If you do try it out on higher difficult, drop a comment with how it went and what changes you made!

• Overview

• Main Strategy

• The Core Engine

• Manipulating Your Deck

• Staying Alive

• Other Cards

• Some Links to Some Decks

• Upgrade Path

• Final Thoughts

• Divination•••• starts in play.

• Keep your Divination•••• charged by playing and recurring Enraptured•• and Ghastly Possession.

• Load up your Astronomical Atlases with skills.

• Cry if an enemy looks at you funny and your teammates aren't around to rescue you (or perhaps Transmogrify them in a pinch).

This deck uses a single Divination•••• that starts in play due to Eldritch Brand, and keeps it charged with Ghastly Possession and the brand new upgraded Enraptured••. Astronomical Atlas, Norman's signature, and Practice Makes Perfect let you use your recharge cards multiple times each.

Whitton Greene is a workhorse in the deck because she can help you investigate, find your Atlases, and even fund your relatively expensive setup by digging for your Astounding Revelations.

Arcane Enlightenment is how you make the hand slots work. It's important enough to get into play that you want two copies. The second copy isn't wasted anyways, as two Willpower icons make it a fine card to commit.

You deck cycle enough that often it is better to throw away excess commits when your deck is empty to increase the time to finding your weaknesses. You don't want to waste your defensive skills like Promise of Power, but cards like Astounding Revelation, Eureka!, Fearless, Deduction, and even your charge engines are perfectly fine to cycle.

That all looks straightforward but there is a lot of decision making that happens the moment you upkeep at the end of the round. Yeah, yeah, there isn't an action window for a while, but trust me. Your group will thank you for not holding up the game doing a ton of deck manipulation the instant there is a player window, especially once both of your Atlases and Livre are in play.

Do what you can while people are resolving encounter cards, and even prepare your first non-determinative action (aka skill test) unless your teammates are sticklers. Obviously this assumes your turn doesn't depend on what your team is doing like, for example, rescuing you from an extremely scary Thrall, or Swamp Leech or some other dangerous enemy.

You should move cards to the zones you want them in until you are blocked. You can be blocked by 3 things:

• Running out of ways to manipulate the top of your deck,
• Finding or putting a card on top of your deck that you want to use Norman's ability on, and
• The Harbinger.

Moving cards "to the zones you want them in" can include:

• Moving a card you want to commit into an Atlas,
• Moving a card you want to play using Norman's ability to the top of your deck from your hand using Livre,
• Moving a card you want to put into an Atlas to the top of your deck from your hand using Livre,
• Moving a card that is blocking you because you cannot afford it to your hand using Livre
• Committing the top card of your deck using Livre,
• Moving The Harbinger to your discard pile by spending 2 actions, and
• Using an effect that shuffles your deck like Practice Makes Perfect or Whitton Greene to change the top card of your deck.

Cards you want to play from the top of the deck include all your assets, Practice Makes Perfect, and Crack the Case (until you are set up). Sometimes it is worth it to leave an Astounding Revelation on top, especially if you know you can play a Practice Makes Perfect, commit a Eureka!, or trigger a search with Whitton Greene.

Once you are set up there is no asset recursion unless something has gone horribly wrong, so you are basically just dumping commits onto your Atlases for use on whatever skill tests you happen to be performing. For the same reason, once you are set up, you basically do not need money anymore.

Next up are your defenses. This deck is not super sturdy on its own, and basically hopes to do zero combat tests. You can pull off couple of evades or even punches because Promise of Power's 4 wild () icons are so good. But ultimately you should be trying to save them and your Wards of Protection for treacheries that deal you damage. Once you are buying luxury cards and can get Deny Existence•••••, you are much more durable.

Horror you can clean up pretty efficiently with Fearless/Fearless••, especially because you can get multiple uses out of them with your Atlases. What do you commit them to? A Willpower () investigate using Divination•••• of course. You can't Deduction that test, but all of your charge restoration commits will work on it.

There isn't a critical accessory slot item for this deck. Tooth of Eztli works as decent encounter deck protection and some extra card draw, but there's not really any upgrades that make it worth removing from your deck. Grisly Totem isn't a terrible option because you will use it every turn with all your commits. However, your typical investigates are already unnecessarily high, and you can't upgrade it to the card draw version.

Transmogrify is your panic button when you are out of position and engaged with a monster. You even get a clue for it, but it can be hard to get them back unless there is some other incentive to kill whatever you turn into an abomination. At higher experience you can replace one with a Storm of Spirits••• to help if a crowd builds up. Just try not to kill yourself and your team.

• Fingerprint Kits are how you get clues while your Divination engine is offline. This means you need Arcane Enlightenments to make your hand slots work even at the start of a campaign, Also, your economy is a little tighter even on deck cycling because you might need to get your Kits back into play.

• Jewel of Aureolus and a Relic Hunter are a fun luxury upgrade once you've removed your Astounding Revelations to make up for the income.

• Deliverance is a fun card in the deck. You only need one copy because you deck cycle fast enough. Just make sure you're stable enough to handle the 4-5 encounter cards you're going to draw off of it. Promise of Power and Deny Existence••••• help a ton, especially because Ward of Protection•• doesn't work. Deliverance works best in campaigns with lots of aloof/spawn elsewhere enemies, and if you don't like it, you can do something else with the experience and card slot.

• In a three player campaign you can probably cut your Deductions once you get online. Shortcut? Stargazing? Ikiaq and Charisma?

• You can Transmogrify elite enemies. It won't attach, but you can evade them with your Intellect () in an emergency.

• The timing windows on the resolution of Divination••••, Ghastly Possession, and Enraptured•• are all "if you succeed" (step 7), so you get to decide their order. This means you don't need to think super hard about whether Divination has six charges, zero, or some weird number in between.

• Don't put your Delves into your Atlases. You can't get them out. Norman being able to see the top of his deck makes it safe to run them, when you normally would not do so in an Atlas deck.

• Level Zero Deck
• Level Zero Deck - Core Cards Only
• 22 Experience Deck
• 22 Experience Deck - Core Cards Only

I tossed together 2 versions of this deck for both a campaign starter and a standalone deck. The first version is my recommended build. The other version moves less critical cards to the sideboard so you can can flavor the deck to your taste.

That said, if you are playing a one shot using the 22 Experience Deck, strongly consider cutting the Eldritch Brand for a second Divination••••, two Enraptured••, and putting in both Research Librarians. You have 2 experience left over for whatever you like (a Ward of Protection••?), and a bunch of other flexible slots.

Depending on your experience earn rate, choosing when to pick up Eldritch Brand can be a little tough. You need at least Divination• in your deck, and you want a critical mass of 2-3 recharge skills, preferably Enraptured••'s because they work with Practice Makes Perfect. Anticipate banking 4-5 experience (or more) between scenarios to make the transition. Fortunately once you have the core cards (the "Tough Decisions" section below), your experience is basically all luxury.

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