Tuesday May 04, 2021
Arkham Horror LCG - Nathaniel Cho Deck Tech
The stars are right, and that means it’s time for another episode of The Whisperer in Darkness. I am your host, the Manfromleng. Thank you very much for joining me today.
On this episode, we’re stepping into the ring with Arkham’s resident boxer, Nathaniel Cho, the Guardian investigators released in the Investigator Starter Deck product. I’ll share my first impressions of Nathaniel, 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 serve as Nathaniel’s corner man when he attempts to go 12 arounds against the agents of the Mythos. There are spoilers throughout if you care about that sort of thing. If you enjoy what you hear, like, comment and subscribe. Is Nathaniel the type of investigator who can stand toe to toe with the Mythos, or does he have a glass chin? Let’s find out!
Nathaniel Cho, The Boxer, has 3 Willpower, 2 Intellect, 5 Combat and 2 Agility. He has the Criminal and Warden traits, 9 Health and 6 Sanity. He has the following game text: Response – When you deal damage to an enemy by an event or a fight ability on an event: Deal 1 additional damage (Limit once per phase). His Elder Sign effect is +1, and if this skill check is successful during an attack, return an event from your discard pile to your hand.
Nathaniel Cho’s base skill values are typical of a combat-orientated Guardian. Nathaniel’s average Willpower skill value will make it challenging for him to deal with common treacheries, such as Crypt Chill, Frozen in Fear and Rotting Remains from the Core set, without committing additional cards and/or resources to the skill test. He will also need help to pass important Willpower tests on Agenda cards, such as Agenda 1B – The Serpents Attack! in The Untamed Wilds scenario. Fortunately for Nathaniel, the Guardian card pool and the upgrades in Nathaniel’s starter deck are chalk full of extra Willpower skill icons. Nathaniel will need every Willpower icon he can muster in a Willpower intensive campaign, such as The Circle Undone, but at least he doesn’t have to overcome a significant Willpower deficit like his Rogue counterpart, Winifred Habbamock.
Nathaniel’s below average Intellect is fine if you are playing in a three- or four-player game, where he can count on other investigators to discover the lion’s share of the clues. However, it’s much more problematic if you want to play Nathaniel solo or partner him with an investigator who doesn’t specialize in discovering clues, either. It will be extremely difficult for Nathaniel to discover clues using Investigate actions at a typical three-shroud location, and common obstacles, such as Obscuring Fog, can all but lock him out of a location for the duration of a scenario.
Nathaniel needs to leverage cards such as Evidence, Flashlight, Perception, Grete Wagner, Lesson Learned and Scene of the Crime either to reduce the shroud value of locations or discover clues without taking Investigate actions. Unfortunately, Nathaniel’s starter deck comes up short in the Investigation department. While the deck includes Grete Wagner (0) and (3), Evidence (1) and Lesson Learned, it lacks Evidence (0), Scene of the Crime, Flashlight and Perception. If you want to play Nathaniel Cho solo, you will need to tinker with the starter deck to improve its viability in that format.
Nathaniel Cho is the type of investigator who prefers to let his fists do the talking, so he will also struggle on Parley tests that use the Intellect skill. If Nathaniel wants to recruit Jazz Mulligan in Extracurricular Activity or sweet talk Constance Dumaine in The Last King, he’ll need to exchange his boxing trunks for some Fine Clothes.
Poltergeist, an enemy from The Path to Carcosa campaign and the nemesis of Guardians everywhere, is particularly dangerous to Nathaniel since it’s immune to his damage bonuses and his odds of parleying with it successfully are low. If you’re taking Nathaniel through The Path to Carcosa, you should consider bringing an Enchanted Blade along just in case.
Nathaniel is only the second Guardian investigator with a Combat skill value of 5, which means there are very few enemies that can stand toe-to-toe with him. Between his base skill value and his special ability, Nathaniel is a combat monster who can knock many enemies to the canvas in one or two action. Nathaniel is an excellent combatant for one simple reason. While traditional Guardians usually need to draw and play a weapon to improve the efficiency of their Fight actions, Nathaniel can start throwing punches as soon as he draws an event that deals damage or has a fight ability, which are plentiful in his starter deck. If Nathaniel draws enough events, he can leave a trail of battered and bloodied enemies in his wake without resorting to gun or knives.
Treacheries that require Combat skill tests are relatively rare, but it’s nice to know that common obstacles, such as Locked Door from the Core set or Overgrowth and Entombed from The Forgotten Age, won’t pose much of a problem for Nathaniel.
Finally, we come to Nathaniel’s below-average Agility. Nathaniel stings like a bee, but he sure as hell doesn’t float like a butterfly. Nathaniel’s odds of evading an enemy that he can’t or won’t knock out are slim. Agility skill tests are common on treacheries, so Nathaniel is vulnerable to things like Grasping Hands and On Wings of Darkness from the Core set and Snake Bite from The Forgotten Age. If you are playing The Forgotten Age, odds are that Nathaniel will end up poisoned at some point during the campaign, so don’t forget to bring along some Medicine. Some Agenda and Act decks also have surprises in store for Arkham’s less agile investigators. The Essex County Express, Undimensioned and Unseen and Curtain Call, for example, punish investigators who are unable to pass Agility skill test.
Unfortunately, Agility skill icons are few and far between in the Guardian card pool and the Nathaniel Cho starter deck, so it will be difficult for Nathaniel to muster enough of them to pass these types of skill tests consistently. There are several cards that can improve Nathaniel’s odds, although none of them are in starter deck. Unexpected Courage from the Core set is helpful whether Nathaniel is attempting to evade an enemy or pass an Agility skill test, while Daring, a Guardian skill from the Search for Kadath is useful whether Nathaniel is throwing haymakers or using the rope-a-dope defence to buy some time. Take the Initiative, a Guardian skill from The Boundary Beyond, is a great addition to a Nathaniel Cho deck in either multiplayer or solo. It’s a fantastic defence against Agility skill checks on treachery cards and provides a great bonus during the Investigation phase as long as Nathaniel takes the first turn.
Nathaniel’s response makes him a force to be reckoned with in the Combat department. Between his response and events cards such as Monster Slayer (0) and One-Two Punch (0), Nathaniel can easily deal three or four damage to an enemy in one action, which is extremely efficient for a Combat-orientated investigator. Throw in cards such as Clean Them Out (0) and Vicious Blow and Nathaniel can knock out an enemy and generate resources in a single action, which is fantastic.
Nathaniel’s response is limit once per phase, though, so finding ways to trigger it in as many phases as possible will maximize his effectiveness. Nathaniel’s starter deck includes several cards that can help him do this. Counterpunch (0) and Counterpunch (2), for example, let Nathaniel trigger his response when he is attacked, which usually occurs during the enemy phase. Nathaniel could use Heroic Rescue (0) from Echoes of the Past or Heroic Rescue (2) from Point of No Return to pull off a similar trick during the enemy phase. Unfortunately, neither card is included in Nathaniel’s starter deck.
Get over Here!’ (2) may be played during any free-triggered ability window, which means Nathaniel can play it during the Mythos, Investigation, Enemy and Upkeep phases. Ambush, a Guardian event from The Unspeakable Oath, doesn’t see much play, but Nathaniel could use it to trigger his response when an enemy spawns at his location, which typically occurs during the Mythos phase. With the right combination of events, Nathaniel could trigger his response four times in one round, which would make short work of most enemies the solo format and put a significant dent in the health total of most bosses in multiplayer.
Nathaniel’s starter deck is packed with a lot of great events with fight abilities to trigger his response. The trick is drawing enough of them to trigger his response turn after turn. That’s where Boxing Gloves comes in.
Boxing Gloves is one of the most important - if not the most important - card in the Nathaniel Cho starter deck. Weapon assets are the hallmark of Guardian and off-class Guardian investigators, but few of those assets define an investigator as much as Boxing Gloves. Nathaniel isn’t really Nathaniel without them and getting Boxing Gloves down on the table should be your No. 1 priority in most scenarios. The passive +1 Combat skill bonus is great, since it plays to Nathaniel’s strengths, but it’s the card’s response that is key his staying power during a long bout against the agents of the Mythos. The ability to search the top 6 cards of your deck for a Spirit event and add it to your hand after you defeat an enemy is critical to how Nathaniel’s deck’s function. Nathaniel’s starter deck contains a lot of events with the Spirit trait, so odds are that you’ll find something to refill your hand and let Nathaniel maintain a flurry of blows.
There are several cool tricks that you can pull off with Boxing Gloves. For example, if Nathaniel is confronted by multiple enemies, he can defeat one of them, then trigger Boxing Gloves to fetch an event such as Counterpunch, which he can play during the enemy phase to trigger his response for a second time in the round.
There are also several events, such as Glory (0) and Evidence (0), that trigger after you defeat an enemy. If you defeat an enemy with Boxing Gloves, you can trigger the response to fetch Glory, which you can trigger to draw two more cards. If one of those cards happens to be Evidence, you can trigger it to discover a clue, too. These types of tricks take Combat to a whole new level.
Boxing Gloves may be one of the most important cards in the Nathaniel Cho starter deck, but it presents something of a problem in solo play since it takes up both hand slots. Nathaniel can’t wear the gloves and wield a Flashlight at the same time, so you need to give some thought to how you will discover clues. Nathaniel has a couple of options here. The first is to forego Flashlight entirely and rely on cards such as Evidence, Grete Wagner, Lesson Learned and Scene of the Crime to discover clues.
The second option is to play Bandolier (0) from The Essex County Express so Nathaniel can play Flashlight in addition to cards such as Evidence, Grete Wagner, Lesson Learned and Scene of the Crime. I’ve tested both approaches, and I think I prefer the latter. Nathaniel can make do without a Flashlight, but he’s got to be extremely careful how he uses Grete, Evidence and Scene of the Crime because there is a chance that he’ll run out of options to discover clues at high-shroud locations before the end of a scenario. Locations with more than one clue per investigator can also be problematic until Nathaniel upgrades to Evidence (1) or purchases Lesson Learned. The Flashlight/Bandolier combo is a more card intensive, but Flashlight is great for sniping clues at 1- and 2-shroud locations, allowing Nathaniel to save Evidence, Grete Wagner and Scene of the Crime for the 3+ shroud locations. Discovering clues with a 2-Intellect investigator in solo is always going to be challenge, so it doesn’t hurt to err on the side of caution and pack a Flashlight, too. Besides, Bandolier (2) from Return to the Dunwich Legacy is a decent upgrade for Nathaniel since it gives him a passive +1 Willpower bonus if he has Boxing Gloves equipped.
Nathaniel’s Elder Sign ability supports his style of deck and his response, both of which are based around events. Nathaniel receives +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 Nathaniel is primarily focused on defeating enemies. Nathaniel has a base Combat skill value of 5, 6 or 7 if he has a couple of key assets in play, so it’s not like he needs a big boost from the Elder Sign during Fight actions.
If Nathaniel’s in Hail Mary territory, that is, his modified skill value is one less than the difficulty of the skill test before you pull a chaos token from the bag, an Elder Sign will save him from time to time. The odds of that happening on standard difficulty aren’t very good at the outset of a campaign, but I’d rather have two +1s in the bag rather than just one. Unfortunately, an Elder Sign won’t enough to save Nathaniel if he can’t muster enough skill icons against more difficult skill tests, such as the Willpower (5) skill tests on Visions of Futures Past from the Dunwich Legacy or Centuries of Secrets from The Circle Undone. At that point, it’s not a question of whether Nathaniel will fail the skill test, but how badly he will fail.
Nathaniel should not need the skill value bonus from the Elder Sign if he’s taking Fight actions, but the ability to return an event from his discard pile to his hand during an attack is excellent. It’s worth noting that Nathaniel can return any event to his hand, not just events with the Spirit trait, and his starter deck contains good options for a variety of situations. If you’ve got an important bout against an agent of the Mythos coming up, you can return Counterpunch, Monster Slayer or One-Two Punch to your hand. If you want a little extra prize money, then Clean them Out is just the ticket. If you need to draw cards, then you can go for Glory. If you’ve tinkered with the starter deck to play solo and you’re afraid you’ll come up short on clues, Evidence and Scene of the Crime are great options. Nathaniel needs to keep his hand stocked with events to be an effective investigator, so the ability to return an event to your hand from the discard pile from time to time is vital. Nathaniel doesn’t have access to any sort of meaningful chaos bag manipulation, though, so Lady Luck will need to be in his corner if he hopes to pull a lot of Elder Signs while attacking enemies.
Nathaniel’s signature asset is Randall Cho: Concerned Brother. It’s a two-cost asset with Willpower, Intellect and Wild skill icons and the Ally and Medic traits. Randall Cho takes up an ally slot and has the following free-triggered ability: After Randall Cho enters play: Heal 3 damage or search your deck or discard pile for a Weapon asset, play it (paying its cost), and shuffle your deck.
There’s a lot to like about Randall Cho. First, he’s a bargain at two resources. Second, he has 1 Willpower, 1 Intellect and 1 Wild skill icon. Nathaniel’s Willpower and Intellect skill values aren’t exactly stellar, so Randall has the potential to save your ass during a critical skill test. Third, Randall is the type of ally who is useful whether he enters play at the beginning of a scenario or at the end. If you can get him down on the table early, Randall has a Prepared for the Worst effect that can not only fetch Nathaniel’s Boxing Gloves from either the draw deck or discard pile, but also play them (paying its cost). Boxing Gloves cost 3 resources (2 if you have upgraded them), so you can play Randall Cho and Boxing Gloves on Turn 1 and still have two actions left over. You can’t get much better than that in terms of action efficiency.
If you play Randall towards the end of a scenario, he can either fetch his brother’s Boxing Gloves or heal 3 damage on him. Randall Cho is a little fragile after his unfortunate ‘accident’ at the hands of the O’Bannion gang, but his mind is sound. Nathaniel has only 6 Sanity and he is somewhat vulnerable to Willpower treacheries, so Randall’s 3 Sanity is always welcome, especially toward the end of a scenario.
Unfortunately, like most signature cards, Randall Cho is a singleton, so drawing him consistently is a challenge. Nathaniel’s starter deck contains a few tools that can help. The response on Boxing Gloves will thin out your deck a little if you can kill enough enemies, while Glory (0) will draw you two cards for doing what Nathaniel does best. Once you’ve earned a few experience points, you can purchase Overpower (2), which provides additional card draw. When I was testing various Nathaniel Cho builds, I tended to play Grete Wagner towards the beginning of scenarios to pump my Combat skill and discover clues. Once Grete had done her job, I’d drop Randall Cho to heal some of the damage that Nathaniel had taken and provide a nice Sanity cushion.
Nathaniel Cho’s signature weakness is Tommy Malloy. Tommy has 2 Fight, 3 Health and 3 Evade. He has the Humanoid, Criminal and Syndicate traits. His prey is Nathaniel Cho only. He has the Hunter keyword and the following Forced effect – When Tommy Malloy would take any amount of damage: Reduce that amount to 1. Tommy Malloy deals 2 damage.
Honestly, I’m disappointed by the art FFG chose for Tommy Malloy. Patrick McEvoy did a great job depicting the pivotal bout between Nathaniel and Tommy, so I was expecting something more along those lines for Tommy. Unfortunately, FFG decided to re-use a piece of art from the Call of Cthulhu LCG, which doesn’t capture the character portrayed on the other cards in the starter deck.
As far as signature weaknesses go, Tommy is a bit of a lightweight. He has a Fight value of only 2, which means Nathaniel won’t have much trouble dispatching him in most scenarios. Nathaniel’s base skill value is already three greater than Tommy’s Fight value before he pulls from the chaos bag, four if he has Grete or Boxing Gloves down, so the bout with Tommy is a formality. The Hunter keyword is largely irrelevant in solo play, since its highly unlikely that Nathaniel will evade Tommy in that format. I could see another investigator taking Tommy off Nathaniel’s hands in multiplayer, though, especially if Nathaniel has more pressing matters to deal with during his turn. Tommy hits hard but I don’t expect his punches to land very often. Besides Nathaniel has 9 health, so he can absorb a significant amount of punishment.
Like many signature weaknesses, Tommy isn’t so much a threat as a time-consuming speedbump that will tie up Nathaniel for a turn. Tommy’s forced effect is annoying since Nathaniel will need to take at least three actions to deal with him. One-two punch (0) can help Nathaniel speed up the bout if necessary. Counterpunch (0) and Counterpunch (2) can also help Nathaniel land a quick blow on Tommy if he’s willing to take an attack of opportunity or one of his punches fails to connect during the Investigation phase. I didn’t run into Tommy all that often while testing Nathaniel, but he didn’t pose much of a challenge when I did. All things considered, there are far worse signature weaknesses out there.
Nathaniel’s starter deck includes one basic weakness that is designed to harass combat-orientated investigators like him. Self-Destructive has the Flaw trait and the following game text: Revelation – Put Self-Destructive into play in your threat area. Forced – When you deal 1 or more damage to an enemy: Take 1 damage. An investigator may spend two actions to discard Self-Destructive.
Self-Destructive has the potential to punish Nathaniel severely if he draws it in the heat of a battle. Nathaniel has 9 health, so he can afford to take a damage here or there, but trading blows with a swarm of enemies or a boss with a ton of health with Self-Destructive in his threat area is a situation best avoided. As with many basic weaknesses, Self-Destructive taxes an investigator’s actions but doesn’t necessarily punish them if they don’t deal with it immediately. If you’re feeling lucky, you can let Self-Destructive linger in your threat area for a few turns while you find the right time to deal with it. It’s worth noting that Self-Destructive has absolutely no impact unless you damage an enemy, so investigators who specialize in Investigation or Evasion will be happy indeed to draw it as their basic weakness. Self-Destructive is so ineffective against these types of investigators that I would consider re-drawing my basic weakness if I pulled Self-Destructive in multiplayer, where decks tend to specialize a lot more. The Arkham Horror LCG is a challenging game, and players should seize every advantage they can get, but I feel a basic weakness should have some effect on an investigator.
Now that we’ve analyzed Nathaniel Cho’s strengths and weaknesses and examined his signature cards, let’s turn our attention to the deck itself and how it performs. I’ve tested Nathaniel against a variety of scenarios as a solo investigator, so most of what follows will focus on his viability in that format, but I do have a few thoughts on the starter deck in multiplayer.
If you’re playing Nathaniel in a three- or four-player game, where he can focus exclusively on defeating enemies, then the starter deck is, well, a good starting point. Between Boxing Gloves, his response and the suite of events that deal damage or have fight abilities, Nathaniel can dominate the squared circle, knocking out enemies with a ruthless efficiency that will make other investigators at the table envious.
‘Get over here!’ has a taunt-like effect combined with a fight ability, which is great for pulling enemies away from other investigators and triggering Nathaniel’s response. It’s also an efficient way to deal with enemies with the Aloof keyword since you can engage and fight them with one action rather than two. Unfortunately, ‘Get over here!’ is restricted to non-Elite enemies, so you can’t use it to pull most bosses or annoying enemies, such as the Man in the Pallid Mask from the Path to Carcosa campaign. To do that, you’ll need to import Taunt from the Dunwich Legacy or purchase Taunt (3) in the starter deck.
Clean Them Out is an amazing card that generates resources and has a Fight ability that triggers Nathaniel’s response, while Monster Slayer is a great way to remove three-health enemies from the board. Clean Them Out also happens to have the Tactic trait, so you can stack it on Stick to the Plan.
One-Two Punch is useful against enemies with greater than 2 Health; however, it’s also vulnerable to being countered by a bad pull from the chaos bag. If you play One-Two Punch, remember that you don’t get the second punch unless the first punch connects, so it can be worth overcommitting to the first Combat skill test to make damn sure that it lands. I’ve had that first punch miss a couple times, and it can put Nathaniel in an awkward position since he expected the action to end with the enemy lying flat on the mat. Now the enemy is still standing, and Nathaniel didn’t get to trigger Boxing Gloves to search for an event to continue the fight. If Nathaniel doesn’t have a second event in his hand, he’s the one who might end up going down for a 10 count.
Counterpunch is helpful in the event you need to take an attack of opportunity or an enemy lives long enough to counterattack during the enemy phase. Counterpunch is the only way Nathaniel can trigger his response during the enemy phase until he upgrades to ‘Get over here!’ (2) or Dynamite Blast (3). It’s also one of only three cards in the deck with an Agility skill icon, the other two being Dodge and Relentless.
Dodge, Glory and Stand Together round out Nathaniel’s events package, providing damage mitigation, card draw and resource generation, respectively.
Nathaniel’s asset package is a mix of essential and non-essential tools. I discussed Boxing Gloves at length earlier in this video, so I won’t dwell on it here. Needless to say, it’s the engine that keeps Nathaniel in fighting shape.
Safeguard (0) is an amazing card in the multiplayer format that can generate a tremendous amount of action advantage during a scenario. It’s not quite as busted as Safeguard (2) from Dark Side of the Moon, but it’s damn close. Unfortunately, Safeguard (2) is not included in the starter deck. However, if you can play both copies of Safeguard (0), you can use all those action that you would spend moving around the board to fight enemies.
Grete Wagner provides Nathaniel with a passive Combat skill boost and she can soak 3 damage and 2 horror for him. She also happens to be the only card in the deck that can help Nathaniel discover clues at the opening of a campaign, which is one of the deck’s glaring weaknesses. Grete Wagner (3) is also very nice, throwing in a passive Intellect bonus, soaking even more damage and allowing you to discover clues at connecting locations. Unfortunately, Grete is quite expensive at five resources. The cost curve of Nathaniel’s deck isn’t that steep, but his resource pool will take a significant hit if he plays Grete.
The final three assets in the deck are Flesh Ward, Physical Training and Relentless. Honestly, I don’t much experience with these cards since I pulled most of them from the deck relatively early during testing. Flesh Ward provides Nathaniel with another source of damage and horror mitigation, and it uses an Arcane slot, which is uncontested. It’s also has 1 Health and 1 Sanity, which is somewhat unusual for an asset of this type. However, you can only trigger it in response to taking damage or horror from an enemy attack. Nathaniel seems to take more damage and horror from treacheries, given his proficiency in the ring, so Flesh Ward isn’t as useful as it appears. It’s also a little pricey at three resources.
Relentless provides Nathaniel with another way to generate resources, but I never felt the need to play it during testing. The price is right, and the card has great potential if Nathaniel can arrange a bout with a lowly Swarm of Rats. I also like the fact that gaining the resources on Relentless is free-triggered ability. However, in my experience most combat-oriented investigators tend to deal just enough damage to enemies rather than excess damage. Relentless might payoff eventually, but resources tend to be in short supply at the beginning of a scenario and plentiful in the late game. I would prefer to spend the card and the action on something else. Besides, with 10 cards that cost zero resources, the cost curve of Nathaniel’s deck is not that steep.
Finally, there are two copies of Physical Training, which seems excessive. Nathaniel has a modified Combat skill value of 7 with Boxing Gloves and Grete Wagner in play, so I doubt that he would need to spend resources to boost it during Fight actions all that often. It would come in handy during Willpower skill tests, though, so I would consider playing one copy. I don’t consider playing it a top priority, though, unless I expect to face a lot of treacheries that prompt Willpower skill tests.
Nathaniel’s skill package is just one card, Vicious Blow, which is standard issue in most Guardian decks. I’m surprised the deck doesn’t include two copies of Unexpected Courage or Take the Initiative to give Nathaniel more options to counter treacheries or pull off a cheeky Investigate or Evade action.
That brings me to my chief complaint about Nathaniel’s starter deck: it focuses almost exclusively on defeating enemies at the expense of everything else. Don’t get me wrong, Nathaniel’s single-minded determination to become king of the ring has its advantages. I suspect the deck is fine in a three- or four-player setting, and it’s a good way to introduce new players to the game because it provides them with a clearly defined goal, that is, kill all the enemies.
However, if you are playing Nathaniel solo or in a two-player game where he is expected to chip in and discover a few clues or pass the occasional Agility skill test, the starter deck simply isn’t viable. Two copies of Evidence (0) would go a long way to fixing Nathaniel’s inability to discover clues; however, the designers decided against including basic tools, such as Evidence (0), in favour of upgrades, such as Evidence (1), or entirely new options, such as Lesson Learned (2). This is a problem with all the starter decks, not just Nathaniel’s. I can understand why the designers took this approach. There are only so many cards that you can stuff into a $15 starter deck, and I think most veteran players would prefer to get new cards such as Evidence (1), ‘I’ve got a plan! (2) and Mind Over Matter (2) rather than reprints of their Level 0 counterparts.
Unfortunately, excluding the Level 0 versions of staples, such as Evidence has a negative impact on the starter decks’ overall performance, especially at the beginning of a campaign, which is when new players are going to form their first impressions of the game.
Fantasy Flight Games makes it pretty clear in the product description that Investigator Starter Decks are an ideal entry point for new players. As long as you’ve got a friend who has a collection of Arkham Horror: The Card Game, you don’t even need to buy your own Core set or deluxe expansion. Simply pick up your favourite investigator starter deck and start playing immediately! However, if your friend shows up to a two-player game with a Nathaniel Cho starter deck and they get crushed because they can’t discover clues or they take one too many treacheries to the face because they don’t have any skill cards to counter them, they could leave the table with a very bad first impression of the game. And I wouldn’t blame them, because FFG promises these decks are perfect for getting started on their first campaign, when they are clearly lacking in a few key areas of the game. I don’t envy the designers having to make the choice between including essential, albeit somewhat boring, staples such as Evidence (0), Flashlight and Unexpected Courage and flashy new toys that will appeal to veteran players. However, I think I would have erred on the side of well-rounded decks rather than hyper-focused builds that excel at one and only one aspect of the game.
Brief rant aside, what’s done is done. Nathaniel Cho and the other Investigator Starter Decks are in the hands of new and veteran players alike. The question is: how do we modify them to make them enjoyable to play in multiplayer and solo formats?
Well, if you’re playing in a three- or four-player game, Nathaniel’s deck could benefit from a few changes, but it doesn’t require a total overhaul. First, I’d consider swapping Grete Wagner for Beat Cop or Guard Dog from the Core set. Both are slightly cheaper than Grete and give Nathaniel the option to ping an enemy damage, which can be invaluable.
I would also consider adding a few more skill cards, such as Guts, Steadfast, Take the Initiative and/or Unexpected Courage, depending on your card pool, to give him a fighting chance against a broader range of treacheries and buff the occasional skill test.
It’s tempting to add a secondary weapon to the deck, but I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary unless you’re worried about a particular enemy, such as Avian Thrall from the Dunwich Legacy, Poltergeist from the Path to Carcosa or Wraith from The Circle Undone.
Nathaniel leans heavily on his events to get the job done, so there aren’t that many deck slots for superfluous assets and skills. Nathaniel’s event package is pretty tight, but you may want to consider adding a copy Prepared for the Worst to find Boxing Gloves quickly. Other viable events in multiplayer include ‘Let me handle this!’, First Watch, Heroic Rescue and On the Hunt.
If you’re preparing for a two-player game or you prefer to play solo like me, then you’ve got more work to do to make the deck viable. Shoring up Nathaniel’s ability to discover clues should be your first priority. Flashlight, Grete Wagner, Evidence (0), Scene of the Crime are a good starting point. Discovering additional clues is going to be a challenge until Nathaniel can upgrade to cards such as Evidence (1) and Lesson Learned, but that’s to be expected for a combat-orientated Guardian. If you go the Flashlight route, then Bandolier is worth a look to avoid a slot conflict with the Boxing Gloves. I haven’t been playing Perception in my solo build, since Evidence (0) and Glory double up on Intellect skill icons, but the card draw is nice perk.
If deck slots are tight, I’d drop Perception in favour of Steadfast, Unexpected Courage and/or Take Initiative. I’ve been playing one copy of Prepared for the Worst, but you could also try Tetsuo Mori, a fantastic Guardian ally from A Thousand Shapes of Horror. If you’re looking for cards to cut from your solo build, Safeguard and Stand Together are the obvious choice. I also axed Flesh Ward, Relentless and at least one copy of Physical Training. My current build cut both copies of Physical Training because I found myself never wanting to play it.
You may want to consider making other changes to the deck depending on your playstyle and the nature of the campaign. If you expect Nathaniel to encounter a lot of parley tests, for example, a copy of two of Fine Clothes works wonders. If Nathaniel is stepping into the ring with the Man in the Pallid Mask, Taunt can be invaluable.
Before I wrap up this deck tech episode, a word on upgrading Nathaniel’s deck during a campaign. Nathaniel’s event-centric combat mechanic is unique among Guardians, so traditional Guardian purchases, such as beefier weapons, don’t necessarily hold true. If you’re sticking to the upgrades included in the starter deck, then you’ll probably spend the first six experience points you earn upgrading to Boxing Gloves (3). The starter deck includes upgrades for many of Nathaniel’s key events so you will probably want to upgrade those too, since enemies tend to get tougher as a campaign progresses. If Nathaniel needs to pull his weight in the clue department, then you’ve got Evidence (1), Lesson Learned (1) and Grete Wagner (3). If you need more card draw, Overpower (2) is an option. If you need more direct damage, then you’ve got Mano a Mano (2).
Nathaniel’s starter deck doesn’t include that many new upgrades and purchases, but there are two worth mentioning. Galvanize is a two-cost event that costs one experience point. It has two Willpower skill icons and the Spirit trait. It has the Fast keyword, and you may play it only during your turn to ready a Guardian asset you control. You may also take an additional action during your turn, which can only be used to fight.
I quite like Galvanize. Any card that is Fast and provides an additional action is worth a long hard look when you’re upgrading a deck. Nathaniel can use Galvanize to ready Boxing Gloves, so he has the potential to search his deck twice in one turn for Spirit events to keep the combat train rolling. Galvanize also provides an additional Fight action, which Nathaniel can use to play those events.
It’s worth noting that Galvanize also works with Grete Wagner, enabling Nathaniel to discover multiple clues at one location. It also synergizes with Well Prepared from the Boundary Beyond. Playing Galvanize in combination with Well Prepared and a Guardian asset with a lot of skill icons, such as either upgrade for Physical Training, is worth exploring in any Guardian deck, not just Nathaniel.
Lesson Learned is a one-cost event that costs one experience point. It has one Willpower and two Intellect skill icons and the Insight and Spirit traits. It’s Fast, and you may play it after you take damage from an enemy attack to discover 2 clues at your location.
I haven’t had a chance to test this card yet, but it seems strong. Discovering a clue without making a skill test is a great ability. Discovering two clues without making a skill test is amazing, especially for an investigator like Nathaniel, who doesn’t have that many ways of discovering more than one clue at a time. Nathaniel needs to take damage from an enemy attack before he can play Lesson Learned, but that’s easy to arrange in most scenarios.
If you’re a veteran player with access to a larger card pool, then you can take several different approaches to upgrading Nathaniel’s deck. Upgrading Boxing Gloves and several of Nathaniel’s key events is still a top priority. Many of Nathaniel’s key events have the Tactic trait, so Stick to the Plan is an option. Ace of Swords provides another passive boost the Nathaniel’s already impressive Combat skill, while Agency Backup can help Nathaniel damage enemies or discover clues, depending on the circumstances. Bandolier (2) is worth a look since it synergizes with Boxing Gloves. There are plenty of other great upgrades and purchase, including Police Badge (3), Safeguard (2), either level of ‘I’ve had worse …’ and, of course, Vicious Blow (2).
That’s going to do it for my look at Nathaniel Cho, the Boxer. I’ve had a lot of fun playing Nathaniel over the past couple months. I had to make quite a few changes to the starter deck to make it more suitable for solo play, but the deck has performed extremely well against a variety of scenarios. I don’t get to play multiplayer all that often, but I suspect the starter deck would work well at higher player counts, where decks can afford to specialize in Combat, Investigation or Evasion. I wouldn’t recommend playing the starter deck in a one- or two-player game, though. The deck is a little too focused on combat for its own good, and it’s missing a few staples would make the deck more flexible and resilient. Most of those cards are in the Core set though, so if you’re a new player who purchased a starter deck, the Core set is a logical next step.
Nathaniel’s event-centric combat mechanics are fresh, exciting and, perhaps most importantly, ruthlessly efficient. The first time I played Curtain Call, for example, I killed the Royal Emissary five times. The only reason I didn’t win that game was my inability to discover clues, which I fixed in a later iteration of the deck. Nathaniel may have only two Intellect, but the addition of cards like Scene of the Crime to the Guardian card pool have made it a lot easier to play a low-Intellect Guardian in the solo format. You’ve already got the Combat angle covered. If you can solve the investigation problem, then you’re going to be in great shape.
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