Call of the Sea

"My will to live is stronger than these tides could ever be..."

Note that this is a revision of Rise From the Deep. Check the 'derived from' section for the original deck. This deck is still experimental, so feedback is always appreciated! Changes from the previous version are after the write-up. Thanks to everyone that commented on that deck to help me further refine it!

Silas is, as of the time of this publishing, the latest promo investigator to be released. Conceptually, he's one of my favorites and the Survivor cardpool is extremely good. His unique ability made me curious of how lean I could run while still being able to pass skill checks because nothing is more 'survivor' than that to me.

This deck is intended for Normal. Silas in general, I think, is intended for normal if you are building around his ID. While you have some passive stats to get you to a respectable statline, your only source of pumping is your skill cards and you -will- eventually run out. You need to be very careful with overcommitment - even with Silas. Hard will truly be hard and require you to math things out.

Character-specific

Nautical Prowess is a pretty good, generic skill that works well when paired with a basic skill card on easy tests. Especially so on hard. Due to the wording on the card, I am assuming you can commit this to a test, get the card draw, then pull it back if you would otherwise pass it since it does not say the draw happens when the test ends. I would also venture to guess this is intentional due to his ID ability. This can be a good source of card draw early when you need to dig for more skills or your assets.

Dreams of the Deep is actually one of the easier weaknesses in the game to deal with. Pair with something with a bunch more icons, or use it during an easier skill test. There's also one interaction where this card is actually beneficial to you when used with Dumb Luck if you end up taking it instead of something else.

Skills

Last Chance is your insurance card for tests you absolutely cannot fail for whatever reason. I am on the fence about this card, but Silas will generally be running with a very lean hand size most of the game. More times than not, you will need to actually spend your cards so Last Chance's value will remain high. This is especially true on Hard where you'll be going through cards even faster. That said, if you're looking to cut cards for some else, I would start here.

Eureka! is in this deck for a variety of reasons. For a deck like this that doesn't have accelerated card draw outside of basic skill cards and Nautical Prowess, you want to see as many cards as you possibly can. It just so happens that Eureka is innate. This is especially important considering you generally want to see your assets sooner rather than later.

Inquiring Mind is far more useful solo than it is in a group in my opinion. You need fewer clues to push act decks, so you can afford to leave some on the ground for later skill tests using this card. It's also good for moderate shroud locations just to be able to pick up clues in the first place. If you're playing multiplayer, this might be worth cutting if you have a dedicated clue vacuum like Ursula or Rex.

Defiance is, essentially, a free The Chthonian Stone when used with Silas' ID ability. The effect fires on reveal; the same window that lets you pull back a card. It also is a ? card, so it can be used on any skill test. Of all of the cards in this deck, this is one of the biggest targets for Silas' ID ability. From a flavor point of view, it's incredibly fitting.

Resourceful's value is pretty obvious. You can recur more than half of the deck with it AND you can commit it safely since you can always pull it back with Silas' ID ability if it fails to go off. It's also a prime target for SIlas' trigger.

Assets

Fire Axe works extremely well with Dark Horse. You'll always get Fire Axe's damage bonus, and Silas' naturally strong Fight as well as the sheer amount of icons you can push into a check means you'll be able to do some consistently decent damage.

Baseball Bat is the second weapon in this deck for consistency's sake. Without something like Prepared for the Worst or other forms of super accelerated card draw, having four cards in your deck that let you bash things is extremely helpful. Feel free to replace it with any weapon (or Improvised Weapon) of your choice.

Peter Sylvestre is nearly mandatory. He is your only form of horror soak and Silas is Guardian-levels of sanity-squishy. The first upgrades should definitely go toward him; you need as much as you can get. The extra passive Willpower combined with Dark Horse puts your base well at 4 as well, giving you a good baseline for almost every Will treachery in the game so far.

Cherished Keepsake helps during scenarios where you're having trouble finding Pete or have to handle burst horror. It's free to plop down, and if you ever run into cards that require you to pitch an asset, it's a good target. It's a good recur target with Resourceful as well.

Events

"Look what I found!" is an obvious choice for a survivor with low Intellect. Save it for high shroud locations.

Lucky! is a good supplement to your skill-based deck. There are times where you don't want to overcommit to a test, especially early on, or when there are tests you absolutely can't fail. Silas' ability is also only good once per turn, and you may just not have the right cards in hand for a test. Lucky is another catch-all for these situations. It's also just a damned good card.

Piloting

This deck should be pretty easy to pilot. Toss cards at a skill and reel them back when you don't need them. You can only use this ability once per round, so in general, think about the test you're making and whether you are likely to use Silas' ID for that test. If you're committing something like Defiance to a test, that's the test you'll want to plan your ID ability around, for example. You need to preplan your ID uses with Silas far more than most investigators. Generally speaking, you'll be using his ID ability on easy skill tests, or on skill tests where you want to use Defiance or Nautical Prowess.

Upgrades

Your first stop should be Peter Sylvestre for sure. He's your most important asset. You can also potentially replace him with Aquinnah (and her subsequent upgrade) if you intend on grabbing Fearless 2 later, but this can be extremely dangerous for you since she doesn't prevent damage. You're running pretty unsafe as it is, so it wouldn't be something I would do.

After that, replace your Guts with Try and Try Again. It has fairly obvious synergy with this deck.

Those are the only true 'must-haves' for the deck. Everything else, I would recommend experimenting based on what you feel like you're lacking through each scenario and what you don't need from the base deck. This will likely change from campaign to campaign; possibly even scenario to scenario.

If you've generated some mental trauma to put Silas into Desperate range at the start of a scenario, swapping into the Desperate cards isn't a bad idea either. You're going to have a lot of xp to play with no matter which campaign you're playing. Use it to adapt as needed as a survivor is wont to do.

Fearless is also a very good candidate to replace something; possibly Last Chance. I would definitely not use Fearless 0 when building, though; it is worse than most of your other options.

Flex Slots

Baseball Bat can really be any weapon here. If you intend on picking up Flashlight for whatever reason, you'll probably want a one-handed weapon or even Improvised Weapon instead.

Last Chance can be anything if you really don't like its restrictions. You will be running lean and card-less fairly often with this deck, so Last Chance will retain its value, but the fact you can't commit other cards with it is definitely very restrictive.

Let me know what you think. All feedback is welcome!

Changes

-Rise to the Occasion: There was a good point made in the last deck's comments. Most checks are at about a (3) and that reduces the value of this card tremendously. More often than not, it will sit in your hand unused - clogging it and reducing the value of Last Chance. This was cut for Baseball Bat.

-Dumb Luck: Defiance mostly fills the same role here for free. $2 actually is pretty pricy for a Dark Horse deck and is very action inefficient. While you can't avoid an encounter card, Defiance does help with the skill checks you're trying to avoid in the first place.

-Quick Thinking: I still really like this card and I really want to try to find a way to fit it. Unfortunately, due to how thin Silas is going to run, there aren't going to be too many opportunities to overcommit cards to really make this go off. This was cut for Resourceful.

-Manual Dexterity: Silas' agility is already high, and I needed to cut a card for Cherished Keepsake for the extra sanity protection.