The Violinist Deckguide (Expert)

This is my deckguide for Patrice. As a recently released investigator, I don't have the same level of experience with Patrice compared to an investigator who I've played consistently for several months. However, since her release, I have successfully completed two campaigns with Patrice on multiplayer expert (Carcosa and TCU) and I believe that she is one of the strongest investigators in the game due to her incredible card draw.

Core principles concerning Patrice (Personal Opinion)

1) Patrice's greatest strength is how much card draw she generates. If you go into upkeep with one card left in your hand and draw up to five, you've gained a 4 card advantage, compared to the 1 card of everyone else. This is massive.

2) A very positive side effect of Patrice's massive amounts of innate card draw is how quickly she cycles through her deck. If you have two copies of a card in your deck and you don't get it in your opening hand, you have a 75% chance of getting that card within 4 turns, since you will have drawn through 20 out of your 40 cards by that point (provided your weakness doesn't slow you down) without having to waste a single action on drawing cards. This is consistency which other investigators would kill for.

3) Card draw/card cycle is not very good on Patrice. The first reason for this is because if you draw cards during your turn, you'll have a harder time effectively dumping your hand, and since you lose your hand during upkeep, it heavily mutes the value you would get in the first place. The second reason is that if you draw/cycle into an important asset when you're no long in a position to play that asset (ex: you cycle after you've already taken your turn, you cycle towards the end of your turn when you no longer have the actions to get it out), losing that asset in upkeep can be a hefty blow.

4) Cornered is one of the most important cards in the deck and should be purchased as soon as possible. Converting any card into a +2 for a skill check is incredibly good on a character who is trying to dump their hand each turn.

5) As an extension to the above point, it's often fine running somewhat situational cards on Patrice because even if you can't use their effect on the turn that you draw them, you can still put them to effective use as Cornered fodder as soon as you're able to play it. However...

6) ...you want to be wary of spending xp towards situational cards such as Time Warp. Even though these cards are very high value when they can be used, using an event that you spent 2 or 3xp on for a skill commit or Cornered fodder feels much worse then a card that you didn't spend xp on.

Why I prefer Rite of Seeking over Sixth Sense for Patrice on multiplayer

In my opinion Sixth Sense is better then Rite of Seeking if you are playing a spellcaster who is going to regularly want to spend actions on their spell asset, even if they only get one clue per action, while Rite of Seeking is better if you are playing an investigator who isn't going to want to use their spell asset as consistently. I think Patrice very much falls into the second category. On any given turn, you are very likely to want to spend your actions into playing assets or helping to deal with enemies, which often means that you won't have the actions to get to a location with clues and investigate it, then when you actually do get around to getting those clues, you're likely to have Drawn to the Flame/"Look what I found!"/Winging it/Augur as more appealing alternatives to Sixth Sense. In essence, Patrice has so many tools in the toolkit when getting clues that when deciding between these two spells, I believe the more powerful, less consistent option to be superior to the less powerful, more consistent one.

Cards in the given deck

Patrice's Violin - Very nice card since it helps you to dump your hand more effectively. Can occasionally be used for drawing yourself if you're digging for a very specific card, but you're mostly going to be using this go gain quick resources or to help your teammates.

Watcher from Another Dimension - Annoying weakness, even though it's largely because it takes up a hand size slot. If you want it out of your hand but don't have an effective way of dealing with it, you can opt to intentionally fail a fight/evade check against it as your last action so that an ally can kill it for you. A large part of the reason why Miss Doyle is so good on Patrice is because Zeal and Hope are so effective at shutting this card down.

Flashlight- Since you will be cycling into "Look what I found!" on a fairly regular basis, this card has a lot of synergy with it for getting 2 easy clues off of a 3/4 shroud location. Can also effectively guarantee clues off of 1/2 shroud locations. Good card.

Shrivelling- Core combat card for spellcasters and much better then Wither.

Rite of Seeking - I went over the rationale for running this card over Sixth Sense in the above section, and this is an excellent card.

Mists of R'lyeh - I like this card because it gives you another tool when dealing with enemies. Can be cut for Sixth Sense if you really do just want more options for getting clues.

Holy Rosary - I prefer this over St. Hubert's Key and it's a solid card in general.

Fine Clothes - Helps with those parley tests which are all too common in the early scenarios. Worth cutting later on, even though it's situational nature isn't as bad on Patrice since it can make effective Cornered fodder.

Stray Cat - Decent starting ally since it can get you out of a tight spot with a free evade, even though there are better allies to upgrade into.

"Look what I found!" - Combos very nicely with flashlight to give you guaranteed clues off of a 3/4 shroud location and can also get you quick clues off of 1/2 shroud locations. Also nice as a double intellect commit.

Cunning Distraction - A card I cut fairly quickly since it's so expensive. However, it's very nice skill pips makes it much more appealing and it does give you another option to help with your weakness prior to Miss Doyle.

Deny Existence - If you can use it effectively during the mythos phase, great. If not, it's still a wild commit which can turn into cornered fodder as soon as it comes out.

Ward of Protection - See Deny Existence.

Drawn to the Flame - Really strong card for it's ability to get you instant clues.

Emergency Cache - You cycle so fast with Patrice that you really do need those extra resources. Additionally, if it turns out your resource economy is doing fine or you're approaching the end of the scenario, it works just as well as any other card as Cornered fodder.

Live and Learn - Getting a second chance if you fail an important skill check during your turn is still really good, and even if you don't end up using it, it's still a wild commit.

Lucky! - Even though you sadly can't hold this card over between turns, while this card is in your hand, it is effectively like you have +2 to all skills since you can play it whenever it matters. As such, it's still such a good card that you should still probably run it on Patrice, even if it isn't quite as insane on her as it is with other investigators.

Premonition - Really good for Patrice since you often have the tools necessary to raise your skill value if needed, and knowing that you don't need to commit anything if you draw a strong token is also very useful. Also has great synergy with Recall the Future, which is another strong card for Patrice.

Uncage the Soul - Very high value if you draw it along with a spell, and if you don't, it's still a double will commit. Good card.

Winging It - As soon as it's discarded, it gives you a high value backpocket option for getting clues which you can use whenever the time is right and when you have cards like Last Chance to help with an intellect check. I also believe it to be the best of the three improvised events.

Fearless - Helps to keep you sane during the early scenarios of a campaign, even though it isn't necessary should you get Peter.

Last Chance - Really high value skill since you are trying to dump your hand, making it easy to use this card for 3-5 pips worth of a commit. Excellent card for Patrice.

Unexpected Courage - Not as important once you get cornered, but still very effective as a commit to other investigators.

Upgrades

My preferred upgrade path (in order):

-Cornered

-Miss Doyle (one of)

-Charisma

-Peter Sylvestre

-Recall the Future

-Stargazing

-Alter Fate

-Ward of Protection(2)

-Rite of Seeking(2)

-Gravedigger's Shovel(2)

-Fortune or Fate (one of)

-A Test of Will

-Stroke of Luck

I usually cut cards in this order:

-Fearless

-Cunning Distraction

-Stray Cat (For Peter Sylvestre)

-Fine Clothes

-Unexpected Courage

-Uncage the Soul

-"Look what I found!"/Flashlight (For Gravedigger's Shovel(2) and something else)

-Mists of R'lyeh

All of this can be changed of course based off of personal preference and team comp.

Highest Priority Upgrades

Cornered - I went over this card above, but the important part is that this is ridiculously good on Patrice and should be rushed asap.

Miss Doyle - Another super good card. Patrice has a really easy time drawing into the different cats. Augur gives Patrice another effective way of getting clues, Hope is really good for securing evades against enemies like The Harbinger in FA and The Watcher in TCU and both Hope and Zeal can shut down your weakness. Incredibly good.

High Priority Upgrades

Charisma - As a spell caster, Peter Sylvestre(2) is a very strong ally which you want the extra slot for. Still good even if you only have the xp for both charisma and Peter since it lets you play Stray Cat even if Miss Doyle is in play.

Peter Sylvestre - +1 will and an incredible amount of horror soaking is always going to be super good for a spell caster.

Recall the Future - I really like this card on Patrice. First of all, since you are likely going to be making intellect checks with Winging It and Augur, as well as potentially needing to do agility checks in a pinch, having a card that boosts your probability of passing skill checks regardless of type is really useful. Second of all, getting out strong assets is really good for Patrice since you don't risk not being able to effectively play the card, which is an issue with a lot of the xp events (see point 6 of my principles for Patrice). Thirdly, this card synergies strongly with Premonition, which is another very solid card for Patrice.

Medium Priority Upgrades

Stargazing - Even though it's less good on TCU where you're constantly discarding cards from the encounter deck, this is a very high value card since it will eventually refund the initial cost of playing the card while also blocking an encounter. Very nice.

Alter Fate - Even though there is a chance that you'll draw this when there aren't any encounter cards in play and you'll be very sad, in a lot of campaigns, there is usually going to be at least one treachery card in play at any given time, and getting rid of a terror or power or hex or a Spire of Carcosa or an Entombed or a Terror in the Night can be extremely high value, making it worth the risk.

Ward of Protection - Makes Ward of Protection more likely to block a treachery, giving it a lot more consistency.

Rite of Seeking - Patrice doesn't need help with spell casting as much as other mystics since she has an easier time boosting her will through Cornered and will commits. However, boosting your spell casting is still very good, making this worth taking.

Gravedigger's Shovel - You're usually just going to remove this card from the game to get 2 clues. A card, a resource and two actions for two clues is very high value, making it worth while.

Exile Cards

Fortune or Fate - High value card which you're almost always going to get value out of.

A Test of Will - Another way of blocking treacheries for yourself/allies is always good. Additionally, even if you are unable to block any treacheries with this card on the turn that you draw it, it's usually fine since it only costs 1xp and doesn't exile if it doesn't get played.

Stroke of Luck - Probably not quite as good as the other two exile cards, but being able to effectively guarantee a skill check is still very nice to put in towards the end of a campaign.

Other options

Delve Too Deep - Mostly a personal preference card.

Drawing Thin - This decklist assumes that you are playing with the list of taboos and this card probably isn't worth the 3xp. Worth running if you aren't playing with the list of taboos.

The Chthonian Stone - Typically not worth the cost + the hand slot, but might be necessary for the first two scenarios of FA.

Fight or Flight - Perfectly fine card to include as an evasion option, but has the potential of being a dead card if you don't have any horror on you, and it isn't as good if you don't have a weapon to potentially abuse the +fight.

Meat Cleaver - You shouldn't need another combat option since Shriveling/Mists will likely have you covered when dealing with enemies. Also suffers from competing with Patrice's Violin and flashlight for the hand slots. Worth considering though if you are running Fight or Flight.

St. Hubert's Key - A perfectly fine option since the extra point of intellect is nice. However, since resource management can be tricky for Patrice, I largely prefer Holy Rosary just because it is 2 resources cheaper, which is a big deal.

Sixth Sense - This got it's own section an the top. You can still run if you want that extra source of clue generation, I just think Rite of Seeking is better on Patrice and running both of these cards is overkill.

Take Heart - Can work as a support card for other investigators, even though it's much less good to use personally for Patrice since she generally doesn't care about card draw.

Improvised Weapon/Impromptu Barrier - Other options to go alongside Winging It. However, I think that Impromptu Barrier has a very niche effect which hurts it's usefulness, while Improvised Weapon doesn't have the same value as Winging it, in addition to Patrice having a harder time committing to fight checks compared to intellect checks.

Why not...

Time Warp/Counterspell/Eucatastrophe - Pretty much the same reason for all of these, which is while they are all very powerful cards, there is a high chance you won't be able to effectively play them on the turn that you draw them, and not being able to properly use that card that you spent 2 or 3 xp on feels very bad.

Guts/Manual Dexterity/Overpower/Perception - All of these cards suffer from being cycle cards, which I simply think is much weaker on Patrice then with other investigators. If you need extra help with your skill checks, Cornered has you covered as soon as you get it.

Desperation Skills - Worth considering since they are effective should your sanity drop to 3 or lower. However, getting your sanity down to that level can be quite inconsistent (St. Hubert's Key does help with this) and the cards are completely dead if you don't have low sanity and you don't have cornered out yet. Note that I think that the desperation skills + St. Hubert's Key + Arcane Research is a cool deck idea, even though I wouldn't personally run it.

Fortuitous Discovery - Winging it is simply much better for Patrice since it has a very similar effect while not requiring you to have a copy in your hand.

Open Gate - The fact that you can't hold on to this card hurts it's effectiveness significantly with Patrice, since it makes it very hard to place the gates at important spots instead of wherever you happen to be when you draw it.