Tuesday May 04, 2021
Arkham Horror LCG - Harvey Walters Deck Tech
On this episode, we’re attending a lecture by one of Arkham’s oldest, most distinguished professors, Harvey Walters, an investigator for the Seeker class released in the Investigator Starter Deck product. I’ll share my thoughts on Harvey, explore his viability in the multiplayer and solo formats and examine some of the player cards that are included in his starter deck. By the end of this video, I hope that you’ll be better prepared to ace Harvey’s course on non-Euclidian mathematics at Miskatonic University. There are spoilers throughout if you care about that sort of thing. If you enjoy what you hear, like, comment and subscribe. Will Harvey’s lectures shed light on the nature of the Mythos or will they bore players to tears? Let’s find out!
Harvey Walters is among the oldest, if not the oldest, investigators in the history of Mythos-related gaming. Harvey originated in the 1st edition of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game in 1981, where he was a sample investigator used to illustrate the character creation process and the game’s mechanics. I first encountered Harvey and his unfortunate companion, Kurt, when I picked up the 4th edition of the roleplaying game in 1989, and Harvey has reprised his role as the sample investigator in every edition since, including the 7th edition of the game that was released in 2015. Harvey appeared in the original Arkham Horror boardgame, which was published by Chaosium in 1987, and every Arkham Horror Files product released by Fantasy Flight Games. Harvey is the original investigator, so I was looking forward to seeing how designer MJ Newman would interpret him for the Arkham Horror LCG. She did not disappoint.
Harvey Walters, The Professor, has 4 Willpower, 5 Intellect, 1 Combat and 2 Agility. He has the Miskatonic trait, 7 Health and 8 Sanity. Harvey has the following response: After an investigator at your location draws 1 or more cards from their deck during the investigation phase: That investigator draws 1 card (Limit once per round). Harvey’s Elder Sign effect is +1. Draw a card. Harvey Walter’s base skill values are typical of an intellectual Seeker whose goal is to investigate the Mythos from the safety of a university campus rather than the heart of a steamy jungle.
Harvey’s advanced age and experience have taught him a thing or two about controlling his fear, which is reflected by his above-average Willpower. Harvey has an advantage against common Willpower-based treacheries, such as Rotting Remains and Frozen in Fear from the Core set. Harvey lacks the mental discipline of a highly trained Mystic though, so he’ll still need to commit cards and/or resources to deal with treacheries such as Crypt Chill and The Yellow Sign from the Core set, Arcane Barrier and Visions of Futures Past from The Dunwich Legacy or Centuries of Secrets from The Circle Undone.
Willpower skill tests are required by some Parley actions and they also appear on Agenda and Act cards from time to time. Harvey’s above-average Willpower is helpful during these types of skill tests, although he’ll likely need to commit additional cards and resources to pass them consistently.
Fortunately for Harvey, his starter deck includes one card with multiple Willpower skill icons, Arcane Enlightenment, as well as cards, such as Celeano Fragments, Encyclopedia (0) and Higher Education (0), that can modify his base Willpower.
Harvey’s highest skill value happens to be in the most important skill in the game. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: playing an investigator with 5 Intellect is like playing an entirely different game of Arkham Horror LCG. An investigator with 5 Intellect has such a huge advantage that the rest of the card could be blank, and I’d probably still play them. Intellect skill tests during Investigate actions become a breeze at all but the highest-shroud locations, and you can often race through scenarios before the encounter deck has a chance to put up much of a defence. The question is not whether you’ll discover clues when you take an Investigate action, but how many clues you can discover with one Investigate action. Harvey’s starter deck includes several cards, such as Celaeno Fragments and Whitton Green, that can raise his Intellect to 6 or 7, while Extensive Research (0) and Deduction (0) can help him discover additional clues.
Intellect is critical to Investigate actions and it is also tested by many Parley actions. Harvey is gentleman and a scholar who will have little difficulty enlisting the aid of ‘Jazz’ Mulligan in Extracurricular Activity, gathering vital clues about the King in Yellow from Constance Dumaine in The Last King or persuading Ichtaca that he is not her enemy in The Untamed Wilds.
There aren’t that many treacheries that test an investigator’s Intellect, but Harvey is in a far better position than most investigators to deal with cards such as False Lead from the Core set, Ephemeral Exhibits from The Miskatonic Museum or Black Stars Rise from The Path to Carcosa.
Harvey’s experience and advanced age do wonders for his Willpower and Intellect. The same can’t be said for his Combat and Agility, both of which are below average. Below-average Combat and Agility aren’t a significant liability in multiplayer since there is usually at least one combat-orientated investigator at the table who will happily take enemies off Harvey’s frail hands.
However, enemy management can be a significant problem for Harvey during a solo campaign. Up until recently, Seekers have had very few options at Level 0 to deal with enemies. The situation has improved slightly with the release of cards such as Blood-Rite in the Before the Black Throne. Harvey’s starter deck contains two more enemy management options, Disc of Itzamna (0) and Occult Invocation. Encyclopedia (0) can also be helpful in a pinch, although it requires an action to trigger, which would open Harvey up to attacks of opportunity.
Unfortunately, Harvey’s below-average Combat and Agility skill values also make him vulnerable to several common encounter cards. A simple Locked Door from the Core set has the potential to become an impenetrable barrier for Harvey, while Grasping Hands has the potential to deal a significant amount of damage to him. Needless to say, escaping Entombed from The Forgotten Age will require a Herculean effort from our fragile professor.
Scenarios such as The Essex County Express, Undimensioned and Unseen and Curtain Call have all sorts of nastiness in store for Arkham’s less Agile investigators, and Harvey will be lucky indeed if he can make it through The Forgotten Age campaign without falling off a rope bridge or succumbing to a Snake Bite.
There is only one Parley action that tests either Combat or Agility, Nasht: Priest of the Dreamlands from Beyond the Gates of Sleep: however, it’s a difficult test for Harvey to pass unless he has a trick up his sleeve.
Harvey’s response isn’t as flashy as some of the other special abilities available on Seeker investigators, but it ranks among the most powerful in the game. Draw wins games, and Harvey’s ability to draw extra cards each turn is unmatched. In the multiplayer format, Harvey can use his response to help other investigators at the table dig that much deeper into their decks for the right tools for the job. Is the Guardian or Mystic in the group missing that key weapon or spell? Harvey lets them draw additional cards each turn so they can find it that much faster. The ability to draw extra cards isn’t that common outside the Seeker card pool, so having an investigator at the table who can feed card draw to other players from the word go gives a group an edge against the encounter deck.
If you’re playing Harvey in the solo format, then he gets to keep all that additional card draw for himself, which is fantastic. Harvey may trigger his ability in response to taking a vanilla draw action during his turn, but the ability also synergizes with a wealth of other cards in the Seeker card pool. For example, you may use in conjunction with assets, such as Dream-Enhancing Serum, Feed the Mind and Old Book of Lore; events, such as Blood-Rite, Cryptic Research and Preposterous Sketches; and skills, such as either level of Perception or Eureka! If Harvey uses any of these cards on his turn, he gets to draw an extra card, and all those extra cards means he has extra options to counter the machinations of the encounter deck.
Harvey is capable of drawing so many cards so quickly that he can exceed his maximum hand size if you’re not careful, forcing him to discard some of those hard-earned cards during the Upkeep phase. Fortunately, Harvey’s starter deck contains several cards that let him not only boost his maximum hand size into the double digits, but also reward him for maintaining a so-called Big Hand.
Big Hand decks are a relatively new concept in the Arkham Horror LCG since there weren’t than many cards to support the strategy until the Dream-Eaters cycle. The premise of the deck is simple: use cards, such as Vault of Knowledge, Laboratory Assistant and Dream-enhancing Serum to jack your hand size into double digits, and then draw like a madman, cycling through your draw deck rapidly while abusing powerful cards, such as Knowledge is Power.
A good example of this type of strategy is a Mandy Thompson deck built by Cuherdir, which is capable of cycling through the draw deck multiple times per turnonce it’s up and running. While this strategy is extremely effective in either solo or multiplayer, Cuherdir’s deck contains 45 XP worth of cards, so it’s the type of deck that you either play in standalone or a deck that you build towards, not something you play at the beginning of a campaign. It’s also worth noting that many of the cards in this deck are on the optional List of Taboos because the designers recognized that they were overpowered.
Harvey’s starter deck may not be capable of cycling itself several times per turn, but our professor is no slouch in the Big Hand department. Between his signature asset, Vault of Knowledge, Laboratory Assistant and Arcane Enlightenment, Harvey can have 10 plus cards in his hand during his turn. While testing Harvey, I added Dream-enhancing Serum from A Thousand Shapes of Horror to the mix, and I routinely had a 12-plus cards in my hand within a turn or two. I often had so many cards in my hand that I felt spoiled for choice how to respond to threats from the encounter deck. When you’ve got that many cards in your hand, you can start to feel nigh untouchable, whether you’re Investigating, Fighting or Evading.
Sadly, Harvey is not immune to danger once he amasses a fistful of cards, cycles his deck and begins abusing powerful events such as Knowledge is Power. Beyond the Veil, a common treachery from the Dunwich Legacy, can put the kibosh on those types of shenanigans very quickly. Harvey has a surprising amount of health for a fragile old man, but even he will be hard-pressed to mitigate 10 damage.
Cards such as Crypt Chill from the Core set can whittle away at Harvey’s key assets, while Laboratory Assistant is fragile at only one health. Even basic weaknesses, such as Amnesia from the Core set and Drawing the Sign from the Path to Carcosa, can spell trouble for Harvey, although he is in a better position than most investigators to recover from these types of setbacks. Harvey pings himself for a horror each time he cycles his deck, but that shouldn’t be much of a threat, given that he has 8 Sanity and access to plenty of high Sanity allies who can soak the horror for him.
The biggest difference between running a Big Hand strategy in Harvey and another Seeker investigator, such as Mandy Thompson, is his signature weakness, Thrice-Damned Curiosity. Mandy’s signature weakness, Shocking Discovery, forces her to draw an encounter card, which may or may not have an impact, when she cycles her deck. As we’ll see in a moment, that is not the case with Thrice-Damned Curiosity, which can easily kill Harvey if he cycles his deck too rapidly.
If Harvey didn’t draw enough cards with his response, his Elder Sign ability gives him a chance to draw even more. Remember that if Harvey pulls an Elder Sign during a skill test on his turn, he can trigger his response, too, drawing a second card. This didn’t happen all that often during my games with Harvey, but it’s a nice option if Harvey is preoccupied and can’t find the time to squeeze in some type of draw action.
Harvey gets +1 to his modified skill value if he pulls an Elder Sign, which is the same for all investigators in the starter decks. That’s not all that surprising, considering Harvey is primarily focused on discovering clues. Harvey has a base Intellect skill value of 5, which becomes a 6 or 7 with a few key assets in play, so it’s not like he needs a big boost from the Elder Sign during Investigate action. Unfortunately for Harvey, pulling an Elder Sign won’t be enough to save him if he can’t muster enough skill icons during more challenging Combat and Agility skill tests.
Harvey’s signature card is Vault of Knowledge. It’s a three-cost asset with Willpower, Agility and Wild skill icons and the Talent trait. It is Harvey Walters deck only. Your maximum hand size is increased by 2 while Vault of Knowledge in in play. It has the following game text: Response - After you successfully investigate, exhaust Vault of Knowledge and choose an investigator at your location: That investigator draws 1 card.
Vault of Knowledge is the type of signature asset that does everything that Harvey could ever want. First, it boosts Harvey’s hand size, providing a cushion for all those extra cards that he’s going to draw during a scenario. Cards that increase a player’s maximum hand size are few and far between, so this ability is a welcome one, especially if Harvey wants to lecture to allies other than Laboratory Assistant. If that isn’t enough, Vault of Knowledge rewards Harvey for doing what he does best, that is, investigating and discovering clues. Of course, this ability gives Harvey yet another opportunity to trigger his response and draw an additional card. The nice thing about Vault of Knowledge is that Harvey can share that draw with another investigator at his location, facilitating the development of their board states. Guardians, Rogues, Mystics and Survivors have received a few more ways to draw cards since the Core set days, but Seekers still monopolize the mechanic. Harvey is unique in that he can share some of that draw consistently with other investigators at the table, which makes him a valuable support investigator in addition to being a top-notch cluever.
Harvey Walter’s signature weakness is Thrice-Damned Curiosity. It has the Flaw trait and the following Revelation – For every 3 cards in your hand: Take 1 damage.
Harvey can draw a ton of cards, which is fantastic. The downside of all that draw is that he will also see any weaknesses that are lurking in his deck more frequently. Thrice-Damned Curiosity is the weakness that keeps Harvey honest. Harvey can draw so many cards so quickly that he has the potential to cycle through his deck multiple times during a scenario. Thrice-Damned Curiosity makes you think twice about doing that. Harvey has a lot of health compared with many of his Seeker counterparts, but he needs that extra health to absorb the blow from this weakness, which has the potential to kill him outright depending on the number of cards in his hand when it pops.
Now I was lucky while testing Harvey, and Thrice-Damned Curiosity rarely hit for more than one or two damage, but then I wasn’t necessarily trying to maximize Harvey’s hand size in every game either. Still, that one or two damage was enough to kill Harvey at least once, so Thrice-Damned Curiosity commands respect. If you pursue a Big Hand strategy, which the starter deck encourages you to do with cards such Vault of Knowledge, Arcane Enlightenment, Laboratory Assistant and Extensive Research, then Thrice-Damned Curiosity will likely tag you for anywhere from 3 to 5 damage, which is a significant chunk of Harvey’s health. If Harvey has 10+ plus in his hand while cycling his deck, Thrice-Damned Curiosity will almost certainly kill him unless he has a way to mitigate that damage. If Harvey is tackling scenarios such as The Essex County Express or Curtain Call, which can ping investigators for a significant amount of damage unless they’re extremely careful, the odds of Thrice-Damned Curiosity landing a lethal blow rise dramatically. Damage mitigation and/or healing is rare in the Seeker card pool, so Harvey’s best bet is to pawn off the damage from Thrice-Damned Curiosity on one of his unlucky allies from Miskatonic University.
Harvey’s starter deck includes one basic weakness that is designed to harass bookish investigators like him. Obsessive has the Flaw trait and the following Revelation – Place Obsessive in your threat area. Forced – When your turn begins: Discard 1 non-weakness card at random from your hand. You may take two actions to discard Obsessive.
Obsessive is a Jekyll and Hyde type of weakness. On the one hand, if you’re playing a Big Hand style of deck like Harvey, Obsessive is a relatively minor nuisance. On the other hand, if you’re playing a deck that doesn’t draw that many cards or struggles in the card draw department, it can be a dreadful brute that will shred your hand, leaving you battered and bloody in its wake. Let’s take a closer look at both sides of Obsessive.
If you draw Obsessive as your basic weakness when you’re playing a Big Hand deck, it’s somewhat irritating, but you could do far worse. When I was testing a Big Hand Harvey build with Vault of Knowledge, Laboratory Assistant and Dream-enhancing Serum, I had so many cards in my hand most of the time that randomly discarding one of them at the start of my turn to Obsessive simply didn’t matter all that much. Sure, Obsessive would discard something important from time to time, but it rarely posed a significant setback. If I had 10+ cards in hand after the random discard, then I usually had an answer to almost anything the encounter deck could throw at me. Sometimes I’d just let Obsessive sit in my threat area because I had better things to do than take two actions to discard it. If you’re drawing enough cards to turn after turn to neuter Obsessive’s random discard, one of the best ways to deal with it is to simply beat the scenario as fast as possible. Given Harvey’s 5 Intellect, he’s quite capable of doing just that.
If, on the other hand, your deck plays a lot of cards or commits them to skill tests as fast as you draw them, Obsessive is a huge pain in the ass. If your deck doesn’t have a good draw engine, then you’ll usually end up drawing Obsessive during the Upkeep phase, which is the worst time to see it. I hate when I draw a weakness rather than a card that could potentially help me next turn at the best of times, but Obsessive is doubly painful, because it will discard another card at random from your hand before you have a chance to deal with it. If you don’t have that many cards in your hand to begin with, the odds of Obsessive sniping something important rise dramatically. Lose the wrong card at the wrong time, and you could quickly find yourself in a no-win situation. But Obsessive isn’t done turning the screws, because you need to take two actions to discard it. If you don’t have two actions to spare because you’ve got more pressing matters to attend to, Obsessive will loiter in your threat area, ripping cards out of your hand turn after turn, which could be devastating. In this type of situation, Obsessive is a very nasty weakness. If you draw Obsessive as your basic weakness in this type of deck, my advice is to remove it from your threat area as quickly as possible. The fewer cards you discard at random, the better off you’ll be in the long run.
Now that we’ve analyzed Harvey’s strengths, weaknesses, and signature cards, let’s examine Harvey’s viability as a multiplayer and solo investigator and break down the contents of his starter deck.
If you’re new to the game and you picked up the Harvey starter deck to play with friends, I’ve got some good news for you: Harvey is a great multiplayer investigator, and his starter deck is perfectly suitable for your first campaign. I have a few nitpicks with the starter deck, namely the lack of support for Combat and Agility skill tests and the implementation of the Big-Hand strategy, but most of these issues are relatively easy to fix.
Much like the Nathaniel Cho starter deck, the Harvey Walters starter deck goes all in on its strategy of choice, in this case, Investigation, leaving him relatively defenceless against Combat and Agility skill tests prompted by enemies, treacheries or locations on the table. Harvey’s starter deck contains only 2 Combat, 3 Agility and 5 Wild skill icons, which will make it difficult if not impossible for Harvey to pass Combat and Agility skill tests with any consistency out of the box.
Unfortunately, Harvey’s starter deck is missing two Seeker staples, ‘I’ve got a plan!’ (0) and Mind over Matter (0), which would help him a lot in either multiplayer or solo formats. While I can understand the omission of ‘I’ve got a plan!’ (0), since the starter deck assumes that Harvey won’t be taking that many Fight actions in multiplayer, Mind over Matter (0) is sorely missed, because it would really help Harvey deal with not only the odd enemy, but also the occasional Combat or Agility skill test that occurs during his turn. I’m glad the deck includes ‘I’ve got a plan!’ (2) and Mind over Matter (2), which Harvey can purchase once he earns a few experience points, but they don’t do him much good at the beginning of a campaign. Besides, I’m not crazy about the idea of spending anywhere from four to eight experience on these upgrades when the Level 0 versions of ‘I’ve got a plan!’ and Mind over Matter usually suffice. Fortunately, Mind over Matter (0) is available in the Core set, and I wouldn’t hesitate to add one or two copies of it to the deck immediately. ‘I’ve got a plan!’ (0), which is in the Miskatonic Museum mythos pack, is a tougher call. If you are playing with two or three other investigators, or you are paired with a ruthless killing machine, such as Nathaniel Cho, you can probably get away without it. Otherwise, I would err on the side of caution and try to include it if at all possible.
The implementation of the Big Hand strategy in the starter deck is also somewhat problematic. Cards such as Vault of Knowledge, Arcane Enlightenment, Laboratory Assistant really encourage you to boost your hand size to double digits so that you can reap the rewards of cards such as Celeano Fragments, Forgotten Tome, Higher Education and Extensive Research and Farsight (4). A larger hand size also helps mitigate the drawbacks of Obsessive. However, in my experience, I’ve found the Big Hand strategy as presented in the starter deck to be somewhat slow, since you need to play a lot of assets to have at least 12+ cards in your hand. Moreover, I’m not entirely convinced the payoff for amassing 12+ cards in your hand is worth it. That leaves you with a couple of options. The first is to abandon the Big Hand strategy altogether. I’ve played Harvey with and without the strategy, and honestly, it’s easier to play the deck without obsessing over your hand size. Your second option is to improve the strategy’s consistency. Fortunately, there is a relatively easy fix. Dream-enhancing Serum, a Seeker asset from A Thousand Shapes of Horror, is a perfect for this deck. It has the potential to boost your hand size more than most of the cards in the deck, and it synergizes nicely with Harvey’s draw ability. I would highly recommend buying the mythos pack or borrowing a couple of copies the serum from a friend. I think you’ll find the deck runs much smoother.
While the Harvey Walters starter deck is perfectly suitable out of the box for multiplayer, I wouldn’t recommend playing it solo. It simply lacks the tools needed to protect poor Harvey from the dangers of the mythos. That said, once you expand your collection, Harvey’s 4 Willpower, 5 Intellect and draw ability make him a tremendous solo investigator. I have beaten some of the most difficult scenarios this game has to offer with Harvey in the solo format. There aren’t that many good enemy management tools in the Seeker card pool at Level 0, but once you gain a few experience points, there are some fantastic options whether you prefer to Fight or Evade.
The Harvey Walters starter deck contains a wealth of new Seeker cards that work well with not only Harvey, but also other Seeker and off-class Seeker investigators in the card pool. I’ve tested Harvey against a variety of scenarios as a solo investigator, so most of what I have to say here will focus on the viability of these cards in that format.
You can divide the Level 0 cards in Harvey’s starter deck into six groups: draw, hand size maximization, resource generation, clue discovery, tomes and cards that interact with tomes and enemy management tools. I’ll discuss potential purchases and upgrades later in this video.
The first group of cards support Harvey’s special ability, drawing cards. Forbidden Tome (0), Feed the Mind (0), Laboratory Assistant, either level of Whitton Greene, Vault of Knowledge and Preposterous Sketches provide Harvey with so many options to draw additional cards during his turn that he should rarely need to take a basic draw action to trigger his response. I’ll discuss Forbidden Tome and Whitton Greene a little later, and Preposterous Sketches has been around since Blood on the Altar, which leaves Feed the Mind (0).
Feed the Mind (0) is a downgrade for Feed the Mind (3) from the Depths of Yoth mythos pack. It’s a lot like its Level (3) counterpart, with the exception that it costs one more resource, the Intellect skill test is slightly more difficult, and the card draw is capped at three. The two cards are so similar that I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of player forgo the Level 3 version altogether. While the prospect of drawing 3+ cards with Feed the Mind is very tempting, it does require an action to play, an action to trigger and a successful skill test, which can and will go wrong from time to time. I went back and forth on this card for a long time before trimming it to one copy and, ultimately, cutting it from my deck altogether. In my experience during testing, Preposterous Sketches required fewer actions and resources and produced the same effect. If you’re interested in playing a Big Hand deck, I’d would recommend playing both cards to see which one you prefer. It’s entirely possible your answer will be one, both or neither depending on how you’ve constructed your deck.
The second group of cards help Harvey maximize his hand size. Harvey can amass a Big Hand of 10+ cards by playing a combination of Arcane Enlightenment, Laboratory Assistant and Vault of Knowledge. If Harvey happens to get all three assets on the table, he can have a maximum hand size of 14, one shy of the 15 required for the +1 Intellect bonus on Celeano Fragments.
I’ve already discussed the power of Vault of Knowledge, and Laboratory Assistant has been a staple since the Dunwich Legacy, which leaves Arcane Enlightenment. I consider this to be the weakest card of the bunch, and it’s the primary reason I recommend picking up Dream-enhancing Serum from the Thousand Shapes of Horror mythos pack. I like the 2 Willpower skill icons, since the starter deck lacks Guts, but I think the card is too slow and offers Harvey too little in the solo format. If I want to increase Harvey’s hand size, I’d much rather play Vault of Knowledge, Laboratory Assistant and Dream-enhancing Serum, which has the potential to ramp up your hand size far higher than Arcane Enlightenment. I cut Arcane Enlightenment for two copies of Dream-enhancing Serum, which made an immediate impact because it enables Harvey to have 10+ cards in his hand without Vault of Knowledge or Laboratory Assistant in play, and it gives him yet another way to trigger his response. Dream-enhancing Serum is such as perfect fit for Harvey that I’m surprised it wasn’t reprinted in his starter deck.
Arcane Enlightenment also provides an additional hand slot for a Tome, which is OK I guess if you’re playing the starter deck straight out of the box. Harvey does have plenty of tomes from which to choose. However, if I’m playing solo, I’m not all that interested in wasting a card, 2 resources and an action on a card that doesn’t have an immediate impact on the board state. Besides, if I want to play a deck based around tomes, I’ll just play Daisy or her parallel version, who can leverage tomes so much better than Harvey. Arcane Enlightenment may be worth playing in either of those investigators, since you can dump Daisy’s signature weakness, The Necronomicon, into that additional slot. I’d consider playing a copy of Arcane Enlightenment in Minh Thi Phan, since she could use a hand to hold the King in Yellow.
There are two cards in the Harvey’s starter deck that generate resources: Burning the Midnight Oil and Cryptic Writings. The cost curve of Harvey’s deck spikes at 2 resources, so the extra resource generation is appreciated. You’ll also need those extra resources if you’re planning to leverage Higher Education. It’s odd that Harvey’s starter deck actually contains more resource generation than the Rogue starter deck, but we’ll address that problem when I break down Winifred’s deck in a future deck tech.
Burning the Midnight Oil is similar to Clean Them Out and Sneak By from the Nathaniel Cho and Winifred Habbamock starter decks, respectively, in that it rewards Harvey for doing what Harvey does best, investigating. It goes without saying that Harvey is going to take a lot of Investigate actions in multiplayer or solo, and Burning the Midnight Oil simply hands you two resources for doing so. Piggybacking resource generation on another action is terrific and Burning the Midnight Oil has become a staple in many of my Seeker decks for that reason.
I have had an on-again-off-again relationship with Cryptic Writings and its Level 2 upgrade. Currently, we’re on the outs. Theoretically, Cryptic Writings works similarly to Burning the Midnight Oil, piggybacking resource generation on card draw. The problem is, I never seem to draw Cryptic Writings during my turn, even when I play an investigator like Harvey, who draws a ton of cards. Maybe I’ve just been unlucky, but Cryptic Writings’ inconsistency, coupled with the fact that I hate taking an action to play Cryptic Writings if I don’t draw it during my turn, really bugs me. Long story short, I haven’t been playing Cryptic Writings in my Seeker decks lately, but that could change.
The fourth group of cards help Harvey discover clues. Deduction has been around since the Core set, which leaves Extensive Research (0), a downgrade for Extensive Research (1) from the Dark Side of the Moon mythos pack. Extensive Research (0) is similar to Working a Hunch from the Core set, the obvious differences being that it’s not fast and its exorbitant cost is conditional on your hand size. If you have 12+ cards in your hand consistently, then Extensive Research will save you an action at a high-shroud location. Discovering two clues without making a skill test is also a great option at locations where Investigate actions have the potential to trigger dangerous effects (I’m looking at you, Haunted keyword from The Circle Undone) or tricksy locations, such as Arkham Woods: Cliffside or Arkham Woods: Tangled Thicket for The Devourer Below scenario, which force Harvey to investigate with Agility and Combat, respectively. Unfortunately, Extensive Research prices itself out of the market the moment your hand size falters. I’m not sure how much I’d be willing to pay for Extensive research to discover two clues, but I can’t imagine that it would be more than two or three unless the game was on the line. I took this card for a spin in the Harvey Walters deck I played during the Farkham Nights Ironman event, but I don’t think I ever played it. More often than not, my hand size would dip, and Extensive Research (0) was simply too expensive. Extensive Research (1) would have been a better option.
The fifth group of cards are tomes and cards that interact with tomes. The starter deck comes with three tomes: Celaeno Fragments, Encyclopedia (0), and Forbidden Tome (0). It also includes two cards that interact with tomes, namely Arcane Enlightenment and Whitton Greene. I am a little surprised that Harvey’s deck contains so many cards that focus on tomes, considering the Arkham Horror LCG already has one investigator who specializes in them, two if you count Daisy’s parallel version. Unfortunately, Harvey lacks Daisy’s special ability to trigger a tome for free each turn, so triggering tomes will eat away at his precious actions. Harvey might be able to make these tomes work in multiplayer, but most of them are too slow for solo play, and I quickly cut them during testing. Daisy, of course, has a much easier time leveraging these tomes.
Celaeno Fragments, Book of Books, is a cheap source of extra Intellect and Willpower icons if you’re playing a Big Hand-style of deck. While testing Harvey, I routinely had 10 plus cards in hand to qualify for the Intellect and Willpower skill bonuses. I was never able to hit 15 or more cards in hand for the extra +1 Intellect, though, and honestly, I’m not sure the payoff is worth risk, since Thrice-Damned Curiosity has the potential to hit you for a whopping 5 damage if you are holding that many cards in your hand. Celaeno Fragments role in the starter deck is like that of Magnifying Glass from the Core set. Personally, I prefer Magnifying Glass because its Fast and the +1 Intellect skill bonus is unconditional, but Celaeno Fragments is a perfectly acceptable option if you’re playing the starter deck out of the box.
Encyclopedia (0) is a downgrade for Encyclopedia (2) from the Core set. Encyclopedia (2) sees play in the multiplayer format, because an investigator like Daisy may trigger it with her free action to give herself or another investigator at her location +2 to a skill of their choice until the end of the phase. That bonus is fantastic whether that investigator is planning to Investigate, Fight or Evade. Encyclopedia (2) isn’t quite as good in the solo format since triggering it will provoke an attack of opportunity unless you use Knowledge is Power, which isn’t included in the starter deck and has since been added to the optional list of taboos. The other drawback of targeting yourself with Encyclopedia is that, in most circumstances, the skill bonus will apply for only two actions, not three if you target another investigator. Daisy, as always, is the exception.
The only significant difference between Encyclopedia (0) and its Level 2 counterpart is that it uses secrets, which limit how often you may trigger it. However, the card enters play with 5 secrets, which is quite generous, and Seekers have several ways of adding more secrets if necessary, including the ubiquitous Astounding Revelation from the Dream-Eaters deluxe expansion, so upgrading to Encyclopedia (2) isn’t that urgent.
Harvey’s starter deck includes one ‘untranslated’ asset, Forbidden Tome (0), and two upgrades for it, Forbidden Tome (Dark Knowledge) and Forbidden Tome (Secrets Revealed). I’m a big fan of the ‘untranslated’ assets. Most of them are relatively easy to identify or translate, and the upgrades for them tend to be well worth the effort. That said, I’m disappointed by Forbidden Tome (0). First, Forbidden Tome (0) and both its Level 3 upgrades are intended exclusively for a Big Hand style of deck. If you’re not playing that style of deck, then there’s no point to playing either level of Forbidden Tome.
Second, Forbidden Tome (0) takes a lot more actions to translate compared with the other unidentified assets. For example, identifying either Strange Solution or Ancient Stone takes only two actions: one to play the card and one to identify it. Interpreting the Dream Diary takes three actions, while translating the Archaic Glyphs takes four.
Forbidden Tome (0) is the most labour-intensive card of the bunch, since you need to take six actions to translate it. That’s a lot of work unless you’re playing Daisy, especially in the solo format where time is of the essence. Unfortunately, Harvey’s starter deck doesn’t include cards like Knowledge is Power from Union and Disillusion or Eldritch Sophist from In Too Deep, which could speed up the process significantly.
There is also a small chance that you can get ‘stuck’ while translating Forbidden Tome (0), since you can’t remove the last secret from it unless you’re certain that you’ll have at least 10 cards in hand after you draw. Now this shouldn’t be an issue if you’re playing a Big Hand deck; however, you could end up in a situation where your hand size dips, forcing you to draw without triggering the tome for fear of getting stuck.
Both upgrades for Forbidden Tome (0) are geared exclusively towards Big Hand decks. Unless you’re holding 12+ cards in your hand or you play Knowledge is Power, you’ve got to spend 2+ actions to trigger them, and neither effect is worth more than two actions, much less four, in most circumstances. Cards that force investigators to jump through a bunch of hoops before they become useful tend to be slow and cumbersome, and the upgrades for Forbidden Tome (0) are no exception.
Forbidden Tome (Dark Knowledge) lends itself to the multiplayer format. It gives Seeker investigators like Harvey a way to heal themselves or an ally while damaging an enemy at their location. There are some interesting tricks that you can pull with this tome in multiplayer. For example, if a Seeker is paired with a Guardian, they could trigger Forbidden Tome (Dark Knowledge) to move 1 damage from [SLIDE] Beat Cop (2) or Agency Backup (5) to an enemy at their location, then the Guardian could use the free-triggered ability on either card to deal another damage. Dealing 2 damage for the cost of one action is a good trade. If you need to discover clues rather than deal damage, the combination also works with either level of Grete Wagner from the Nathaniel Cho starter deck.
If a Seeker is paired with Sister Mary, they could move 1 damage from Sister Mary’s signature asset, Guardian Angel, to an enemy. Then Sister Mary could assign more damage to Guardian Angel, adding more Bless tokens to the chaos bag.
Don’t forget that you can use the tome to move damage to an enemy with the Aloof keyword, so it’s another weapon against those irritating Whippoorwills that flock to investigators during The Dunwich Legacy campaign or Union and Disillusion.
If my hand size dipped below 12, I’d be very hesitant to spend more than one action to trigger this effect in most situations, but never say never.
I’m not sold on Forbidden Tome (Dark Knowledge) in the solo format. There’s a good chance that Harvey will sustain some damage from his signature weakness, and it would be great to pawn some of it off on enemies. Unfortunately, unless the enemies at Harvey’s location are exhausted (which is highly unlikely given Harvey’s below-average Agility) or they have the Aloof keyword, triggering the tome will likely trigger attacks of opportunity. Harvey has quite a bit of health and sanity for an old fella but trading blows with enemies is not a position that I want to be in when I’m playing a Seeker.
Forbidden Tome (Secrets Revealed), on the other hand, is a good option in either solo or multiplayer if, and this is a big if, you’re playing the Big Hand deck that can maintain a 12+ card hand consistently. Spending one action to move to a connecting location and discover a clue there without making a skill test is a terrific effect that only gets better at high-shroud locations or locations with potentially dangerous effects, such as the Haunted keyword from The Circle Undone campaign. This tome has the potential to generate action advantage during a scenario since it’s not limited by a predetermined number of secrets or charges. As long as you can keep your hand size at 12, you can take two actions for the cost of one every turn, which is fantastic. If my hand size dropped below 12, I might even consider spending two actions to trigger this tome. I wouldn’t be happy about it, but I think there are certain situation where you could justify it because that ability to discover a clue without making a skill test is so powerful.
Harvey’s starter deck includes two cards that interact with tomes: Whitton Greene: Hunter of Rare Books and her Level 2 upgrade. I have a soft spot in my heart for Whitton, because she is such a powerhouse in the Call of Cthulhu LCG. That said, I haven’t found the right deck for her yet in the Arkham Horror LCG. There are a couple of problems with Whitton. First, she costs four resources, which is a lot considering her +1 Intellect bonus is conditional on controlling either a Tome or Relic. Now Whitton’s reaction helps you find those Tomes or Relics, but in terms of pure speed and efficiency, she simply can’t compete Dr. Milan Christopher from the Core Set, who gives you +1 Intellect unconditionally.
Whitton also comes up short against the other Seeker ally in the Core Set, Research Librarian, in the Tome hunt. Research Librarian cost half as much as Whitton and it fetches you any Tome in your deck the moment it hits the table. If you’d like to abuse the Necronomicon, easily the most powerful tome in the game, Research Librarian can fetch it for you on Turn 1, and you’ll still have the resources to pay for it. Sadly, the same can’t be said for Whitton.
The other problem with Whitton is that she doesn’t fit in very well with the Big Hand-style of deck, which Harvey’s starter encourages you to play. Laboratory Assistant is the ally of choice in that deck, which leaves poor Whitton on the outside looking in until you can purchase Miskatonic Archaeology Funding, which is included in the starter deck, or Charisma from The Essex County Express mythos pack.
Despite the strikes against Whitton, I haven’t given up hope of finding her a home. Either version of Daisy seems like the obvious choice to play Whitton, but there is undeniable chemistry between Luke Robinson and Whitton, too. Admittedly it’s an odd pairing, but Luke starts scenarios with a Relic in play, which mitigates Whitton’s tempo issues.
I’ve also considered ignoring Whitten (0) altogether in favour of her Level 2 upgrade, perhaps including her in a quote unquote nerdy deck built around Miskatonic Archaeology Funding. Unfortunately for Whitton, I haven’t pulled the trigger on that build yet because I still wince when I look at her resource cost. I’d happily pay 4 resources if Whitton’s Willpower and Intellect skill bonuses were unconditional; knowing that I need to draw and play a tome or relic before I get any sort of bonus is a tough sell.
The final groups of Level 0 cards that I’m going to look at are Harvey’s enemy management tools. If you needed any more evidence that the Investigator Starter Deck product was designed with the multiplayer format in mind, this is it. The Nathaniel Cho starter deck goes all in on combat at the expense of investigation because the designers expect you to pair him with an investigator who can discover the lion’s share of the clues. Harvey’s starter deck takes the opposite approach, going all in on investigation at the expense of combat. Again, it the designers expect you to pair Harvey with an investigator who can manage enemies, because he has only two options: Disc of Itzamna (0), a downgrade from its Level 2 counterpart in the Core set, and Occult Invocation.
I’m not a big fan of Disc of Itzamna (2) in solo. It’s a little pricey at 3 resources, and I feel like I’m taking a huge tempo hit whenever I spend an action to play it. All too often it seems, a dangerous enemy, such as a Yithian Observer, will spawn on top of you before you draw and/or play the Disc, at which point the Disc is basically useless. The Disc is also useless against enemies, such as the ubiquitous Acolyte from the Core set, that don’t spawn at your location. The Disc might have been more helpful in these situations if it had a better spread of skill icons, but a single Combat skill icon isn’t going to help Seekers like Harvey, who are notoriously weak in the Combat department.
Disc of Itzamna (0) suffers from the same drawbacks as its level 2 counterpart. It’s expensive and you’ve got to play it before the enemy spawns on you to be effective. Again, it’s no help if the enemy spawns elsewhere. Automatically evading an enemy or dealing 2 damage to it isn’t quite as powerful as discarding an enemy outright, but it can be functionally equivalent if the enemy has two or fewer health or it lacks the Hunter keyword.
As for Occult Invocation, I’ve played it in a variety of Seeker decks, and it’s a good alternative to ‘I’ve got a plan!’ (0) if you’ve got the card draw to support it. Spending 2 resources and discarding up to 2 cards from your hand isa steep price to pay, but Seekers don’t have that many options at Level 0 to deal damage, so beggars can’t be choosers. Occult Invocation tops out at 3 damage, which is fine for spot removal of run-of-the-mill enemies with two or three health. However, it comes up short against enemies with four or five health, such as the friendly neighbourhood Ghoul Priest from The Gathering. Unless you have a follow up in your hand – which would need to be a second copy of Occult Invocation if you’re playing the starter deck out of the box – then dealing those final two points of damage will be tough.
Before I wrap up this video, let’s talk about the upgrades that you can purchase once you earn some experience points. How you modify Harvey’s deck depends a lot on whether you’re playing multiplayer or solo and whether you have access to card pool at large or just the cards in the starter deck. If you’re interested in taking Harvey for a spin in the solo format and you have access to the card pool at large, your first order of business should be to upgrade Harvey’s enemy management tools. There are plenty of great options in the Seeker card pool, including Strange Solution: Acidic Ichor, Arcane Glyphs: Prophecy Foretold, Ancient Stone: Knowledge of the Elders, Pendant of the Queen and, last but not least, the Necronomicon.
If you prefer the multiplayer format, discovering clues as efficiently as possible takes priority. Again, if you have access to the Seeker card pool at large, there are great options, including Archaic Glyphs: Guiding Stones, Deciphered Reality, Pendant of the Queen and the Necronomicon.
If you are playing Harvey Walters out of the box and you’re restricted to upgrades from the starter deck, then you have a couple paths that you can follow. Let’s begin with the elephant in the room: The Necronomicon. The Necronomicon is the best tome in the game, period. Free-triggered abilities are amazing, and The Necronomicon gives you four that you can mix and match as you see fit. If you want to abuse the Necronomicon, purchase two copies of Library Docent (1), which can bounce the Necronomicon back to your hand so you can play it again fully recharged.
The Necronomicon is flat out busted when you have access to a larger card pool. If you ignore the optional list of taboos, you can unleash the Necronomicon’s terrible power repeatedly by playing it in combination with Knowledge is Power and two copies of Sleight of Hand, which Harvey can pick up by purchasing two copies of Versatile. Abiding by the list of taboos tones down the abuse a little by removing Sleight of Hand from the mix. The Necronomicon and Knowledge is Power also cost slightly more experience, which means it will take you a little longer to assemble the combination during a campaign. It does nothing to rein in its power, though. You know you’ve got a problem card on your hands when you can deal 9 damage to an enemy or discover 4 clues at any location without taking a single action, making a single skill test or spending any resources during your turn.
If you avoid the temptation to snap up the Necronomicon for 5 to 8 XP, depending on whether you are playing with the optional list of taboos, then you can explore some of the other options included in the starter deck.
One of the first upgrades that many players purchase is Charisma, a permanent from the Essex County Express that provides an extra ally slot. Charisma was not reprinted in the starter deck products, but Harvey’s deck includes an alternative in Miskatonic Archaeology Funding. It costs 1 more XP than Charisma but provides two additional ally slots as long as those slots are occupied by Miskatonic assets, such as Laboratory Assistant, Whitton Greene or Library Docent (1). The card’s Forced effect prevents you from assigning more than one damage or horror to those assets when you take damage or horror, but that was never much of a concern during testing. I haven’t tested a Seeker deck that assembles a small army of nerds to take on the mythos, but it seems like an interesting angle to explore. There are nearly a dozen allies with the Miskatonic trait, some of which rank among the most powerful allies in the game. I’d love to be able to work Peter Sylvestre into that build, but there aren’t that many Seekers who can play him without purchasing Versatile first.
If you prefer to focus on events rather than allies, Farsight (4) is a great option. As long as you have 8 or more cards in your hand, you can exhaust Farsight (4) to play events such as Cryptic Writings, Extensive Research, Occult Invocation, Preposterous Sketches, ‘I’ve got a plan!’ (2) and Seeking Answers (2) without taking an action. You must still pay the cost of that event mind you, but if you can get Farsight (4) down on the table early, it has the potential to generate a lot of action advantage during a scenario. There are plenty of powerful events in the Seeker card pool and beyond, so the value of Farsight (4) only gets better as your collection grows. You need at least 8 cards in your hand to trigger Farsight (4), but that’s a much lower bar to achieve than some of the other cards in the deck that reward the Big Hand strategy.
Each Investigator Starter deck comes with an upgrade for one of the Neutral skills included in the Core set. To nobody’s surprise, Harvey’s deck includes Perception (2). Perception is a very good option for Harvey decks, since drawing a card with it during your turn will trigger Harvey’s reaction, so he actually gets two cards. Perception (2) let’s Harvey draw three cards as long as he succeeds by 2 or more during a skill tests, which shouldn’t be difficult between Harvey’s 5 Intellect and the 3 Intellect skill icons on the skill card. Drawing 3 cards off a successful skill test is basically the equivalent of playing a Cryptic Research for half the experience points. That’s a pretty good deal. If Harvey plays Perception (2) in combination with Practice Makes Perfect, he has the potential to draw 5 or six cards using a single copy of the skill, which is amazing. Other Seeker and off-class Seeker investigators also have the potential to abuse this combination, making Perception (2) a valuable pickup if you’re playing Practice Makes Perfect and a few other skills with the Practice trait.
Seeking Answers (2) has the potential to be quite good depending on the scenario. First, Seeking Answers (2) let’s you discover at least 2 clues for a single action, which is great from a tempo perspective. Second, it can be extremely valuable in scenarios where you need to keep moving, whether to stay ahead of an enemy with the Hunter keyword or reach an objective across the map. The ability to move past a location but still pick up the clues there is very nice indeed if you need to put some distance between yourself and the enemy. Seeking Answers (2) also pairs well a card such as Barricade or Luke Robinson, who can barricade himself in his Dream Gate and investigate other locations to his heart’s content. To top it all off, Seeking Answers (2) has 2 Agility skill icons. Seekers tend to fall back on Agility rather than Combat if their enemy management options are running thin, so those 2 Agility skill icons can be invaluable.
Esoteric Atlas (2) is an upgrade for Esoteric Atlas (1), which was released in the Union and Disillusion mythos pack. Extra movement can be critical to completing scenarios; unfortunately for Esoteric Atlas (1) and (2), Seekers have some of the best movement cards in the game in Shortcut and Pathfinder. Esoteric Atlas (2) is certainly better than its Level 1 counterpart since the movement is more flexible (up to 3 connections away) and it doesn’t exhaust when you trigger it, so you can take a long, desperate lunge towards and objective if necessary. However, you’ve got to target a revealed location, which is only good if you’re backtracking, like in The Doom of Eztli, or running around in circles like in Midnight Masks or A Phantom of Truth. Unfortunately, Esoteric Atlas is Harvey’s only option out of the box, so do yourself a favour and purchase The Dunwich Legacy expansion and/or The Miskatonic Museum for Shortcut and Pathfinder, respectively.
The final card I’m going to look at in Harvey’s starter deck is Glimpse the Unthinkable (1). It’s a downgrade for Glimpse the Unthinkable (5), which was released in the Before the Black Throne mythos pack. I really quite like Glimpse the Unthinkable (1). If you purchase this for Harvey, he gets to draw at least 2 cards for free It also has fewer restrictions that a card like, says, Preposterous Sketches. Then Harvey gets to draw X more cards, depending how many cards from his hand he reshuffles into his deck. That has the potential to be quite powerful if you’re looking for answers buried deep in your draw deck Glimpse the Unthinkable (5) is probably a better option if you’re playing a Big Hand Harvey deck since he draws until he reaches his maximum hand size plus one, but 5 XP is quite a commitment when there are so many fantastic Seeker upgrades and purchases available. Besides, unlike its Level 5 counterpart, Glimpse the Unthinkable (1) isn’t removed from the game so Harvey has a chance to see it again if he draws through his deck. And before I forget, it also has the Insight trait, so you can pack it in Joe Diamond’s Hunch deck.
MFL
Comments (0)
To leave or reply to comments, please download free Podbean or
No Comments
To leave or reply to comments,
please download free Podbean App.