Silas Marsh, A Man Of Great Capability

This deck was influenced by many others'. It is a Dark Horse build, preparing the way for Key of Ys. It is assumed that you will at some point be using at least one Ornate Bow. At your peak, you will be running 8 7 8 9 (9 8 8 9 if you're connected to 4 locations).

Your weak spot is , but while you will struggle early (especially while soloing) you can reliably pick up clues from shroud 3, and even shroud 4 if you throw all your skill at it.

Upgrades

Prioritize according to party composition, but I like to get the permanents out of the way early, then the expensive stuff, then upgrade everything else.

If it has an upgrade, you'll want it. The following list is roughly prioritized:

• Grisly Totem
• Defiance
• Peter Sylvestre
• Tennessee Sour Mash
• Fearless
• Dig Deep

You're going to want Scrapper as a resource sink and Ornate Bow booster. And you will need Relic Hunter ×2 to accommodate Hemispheric Map and Key of Ys

• Flashlight ×1 → Hemispheric Map ×1
• Flashlight×1 → Key of Ys ×1
• Fire Axe ×2 → Ornate Bow ×2

The experience required should be 43XP. If you don't upgrade some combination of Dig Deep and Fearless, you can get it down to 39XP which, for the purpose of standalone scenarios, is only 3 additional weakness. Time and XP permitting, you could drop Dig Deep ×2 for a second copy of both Key of Ys and Hemispheric Map. Else, keep 1 Dig Deep and pick up the second Key of Ys for a standalone legal deck.

Gaining Resources

This deck is pretty cheap, with only Ornate Bow costing more than 3 resources. However, in order to make the most use of Dark Horse, you may find yourself going long stretches in the game where you won't be gaining resources during Upkeep but suddenly need some. This is where Drawing Thin comes into play. In the early scenarios, I use it as a poor man's Burglary — find a location with a shroud of 1 or 2 and throw an Unexpected Courage + Eureka! at it. You may occasionally find yourself spending 1 resource to get 2 back. This is also a good trick with low evasion enemies.

Resource and Horror Sinks

The utility of a Dark Horse build is predicated on having no resources at ST.5 Determine the Investigator's modified skill value (Rules Reference, p.26); Fire Axe similarly. You are going to want fast triggers that spend resources: Dig Deep does this while offering you the opportunity to boost your for all the various Treachery cards that will test you. (It also boosts , see Combat).

This deck is also built with the assumption that you will get Key of Ys, and for this you will want to manage your Horror. Peter Sylvestre is one such sink. There isn't room for another, which is why Fearless is Indispensable.

Combat

This build assumes that you will switch out at least one Fire Axe for an Ornate Bow, and this is the main reason why Improvised Weapon and both Dig Deep and Scrapper are in the deck. There is usually a danger in stocking unitaskers without commits, but in Silas' case you can easily accommodate Improvised Weapon (besides being awesomely thematic).

The Ornate Bow has advantages and disadvantages in Silas' hands. The advantage, of course, is that you don't need any ammo support cards in the deck. The downside is the odd action to load, and this is somewhat ameliorated with careful use of Quick Thinking. While you can totally stick with Fire Axe as your main weapon, for various reasons (especially while soloing certain scenarios) I like to have a ranged weapon.

Tricks

• Investigate a shroud 1-2 location using Flashlight. Exhaust Drawing Thin. Commit Unexpected Courage + Eureka!. Exhaust Grisly Totem and protect Eureka! for . If you succeed, gain 1 clue, 2 resources or 1 draw one card, and search the top 3 cards of your deck; if it fails trigger Silas' and Grisly Totem's to bring both cards back into your hand.

• Use Defiance (/card/04198) liberally.

• Do not use Dreams of the Deep on the round you draw it, Reveal and take 2 damage. Next round, use Painkillers placing the horror on Key of Ys. Repeat when convenient.

• Commit Dreams of the Deep + Unexpected Courage + Defiance, protecting either of the last two with Grisly Totem. If you succeed, discard the weakness; if you fail you protect both skills.

• Use Nautical Prowess with Defiance.

• Assuming you start the round with an arrow nocked: attack with Ornate Bow committing Quick Thinking and spending resources as necessary to succeed by 2 or more and trigger Dark Horse. Deal 3 damage, Return Quick Thinking to your hand, and use the bonus action to nock another arrow. Repeat, using Grisly Totem and commit Quick Thinking, using the bonus action to nock another arrow and discard the skills. Repeat a third time for a potential of 9 damage.