Luke "Leave Me Alone" Robinson

UPDATE - A Thousand Shapes of Horror: I've added a small section about Versatile.

UPDATE - The Search for Kadath: I've replaced Ritual Candles with Read the Signs.

Investigating the Dream-Gate

The idea behind this deck was to utilize Gate Box to its maximum potential. The goal is to have Luke Robinson discover clues almost exclusively from the Dream-Gate. It's probably not the most effective way to grab clues, but it's bound to be fun almost completely disregarding how things are supposed to be done and investigating with a shroud of 1 or 0. Plus you're safe from enemies while you do so! (err... well let me check the rules again ...)

With Luke comes a lot of rule clarifications. I mean a LOT. I'll bring up any questions as they pertain to each card I talk about but be ready to make some house rulings for him or hope for an extremely detailed FAQ from FFG.

To be fair, as much as I love this game, I don't get to play it very often. So feel free to tear up my interpretations of the rules or how useful certain cards may be.

Let's talk about cards:

Gate Box: The VIP for this deck. My favorite card printed so far. There are so many things you can do with this card and I'm sure other people have found unique interactions that I haven't. Exhausting it and removing a charge allows Luke to teleport into his own personal location, safe from enemies and connected to any revealed location. By the time you run out of charges, you should be buffed up enough to take on investigation outside of Dream-Gate. I will talk about Dream-Gate as its own card for organization purposes even if they are linked in usage.

First, let's talk about how Gate Box can be used during any player window. Remember, the bonded location Dream-Gate doesn't leave play until the end of the Investigation Phase. This is huge. Not only can you use it on your turn to hop around the map or protect yourself during your turn, you can use it after a hunter enemy moves to your location and engages you. You can move enemies away from you team and immediately retreat to safety. Worried about drawing an encounter card that references the type of location you are in? Afraid you might draw an enemy? Gate Box has you covered (though you may have to use it preemptively - the rules about player windows during the 'draw an encounter card confuses me). And best of all, you can utilize this location throughout the next Investigation Phase! I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, but I think this deck could actually make excellent use of Hemispheric Map. Finally, it starts the game in play. Maybe I'm just too excited, but what other signature asset has this kind of versatility and creativity built into it?

Dream-Gate: Ahh the muse for this deck. I want to do silly things and Luke and his dream-gate let me do them. Dream-Gate is connected to every other revealed location making it the perfect place to utilize Luke Robinson's special ability. No enemies can spawn or move here, but neither can any investigators hence the nickname "Leave Me Alone". The shroud value for this location is 1 meaning you can pull off some silly interactions and combos here. When grabbing clues, we have Sixth Sense, Seeking Answers, and Vantage Point to help investigate from this location, but there are a few other options to help you out as well. Plus, with Enraptured, and Olive McBride, you should get at least 3 - 4 extra charges on your box so you can conceivably move here every other turn or so.

Hawk-Eye Folding Camera: I have more rule questions for this one. While this card take a little while to build up, I think the cost is less than most other seekers who might take it. With Vantage Point, you can gather from your own Dream-Gate with a shroud of 0 to get your first piece of evidence almost certainly. That's 1 easy point for it, but what about Sixth Sense, and Luke Robinson's special ability? If you investigate as though you are somewhere else, can you trigger the reaction ability to on the camera? I want to say yes because the reaction happens during "Apply skill test results" (ST.7), but I am no authority. If that's the case, then you can also apply this to Drawn to the Flame with Luke's ability. Grab the clues from a high shroud location from the safety of your Dream-Gate, then snag a piece of evidence to go along with it!

Ritual Candles: I don't love this card in the deck, but since we're playing Olive McBride, Dark Prophecy, and Sixth Sense, you're often drawing or even playing on purpose. I've replaced this with the new card Read the Signs.

Sixth Sense: I chose not to include Rite of Seeking mostly because it's expensive and I really wanted to emphasize playing in Dream-Gate. This card lets you investigate locations with a shroud of 1 or even 0 if you draw tokens right. It fits right in with the theme of this deck and it helps you stop running out of steam if you play all or most of your clue events. Remember for the level 0 version if you choose to investigate at another location you will not get any clues from the location you are on.

St. Hubert's Key: I think this card is great for the raw stats it provides, but the cost is pretty steep. I can see you swapping this with Holy Rosary to start off, but ideally you'll be buying Hemispheric Map fairly quickly.

Mr. "Rook": Since we only have 2 copies of Sixth Sense and no other assets with functions like it, Mr. "Rook" is here to help us dig and grab what we need. Sure, he can grab our weakness, but that's not always a bad thing. If you're worried about taking an attack during the Enemy Phase, you can exhaust him to purposely find Detached from Reality so that you're disengaged and safe. Just be sure you're ready to take 2 horror or hope that you've had enough time to setup for the 6 shroud challenge.

Olive McBride: Olive is here for 2 main purposes. The first is to help trigger your Sixth Sense and investigate other locations easily. The second is to help you see the more often, thus granting you free charges on your Gate Box. Plus, if your shroud is at 0, then you can't fail if you use Olive. If you see the , then you just select the other 2 options and you cannot go below a score of 0. If you have Sixth Sense out, then you're usually better off replacing Mr. "Rook" with Olive.

Crack the Case: I really like this card on Luke. It can help you get some quick resources or help out an ally. Since Luke's ability is once per turn and not phase you can hang out in your Dream-Gate and if another investigator cleans up a location you have this ready to spread the wealth. Additionally, if the rules line up like I mentioned for Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, then you should be able to use this after using Drawn to the Flame on a connecting, high-shroud location.

Dark Prophecy: A staple in this deck since you want to be drawing most of the time. Not much else to say here.

Deny Existence: This card is just too good.

Drawn to the Flame: An exceptional card for Luke. Play it at a connecting location from Dream-Gate and if you draw and enemy with no Spawn, Aloof, or Massive, then you simply get to discard it. Plus it help you trigger things that rely on discovering the last clues at a location.

Premonition: A decent card in the deck, but not a super necessary one. I would probably use this one before choosing which investigator acts first just to see if Sixth Sense will be active.

Read the Signs: A new strong addition to the theme of this deck. While it ups the overall cost curve, it allows for 2 more investigation attempts using Luke's ability and increases your skill test to 7 before any other stat bonuses you might have while grabbing an additional clue. it's also another great target for De Vermis Mysteriis if you choose to go that route.

Seeking Answers: An important card for the theme of the deck. When you don't have Sixth Sense, or you know you won't draw a , then you can play this card to achieve the same effect.

Vantage Point: This card really shines with Luke! Take a clue from any difficult location, even if you aren't there, and place it on Dream-Gate. Plus it sets the shroud to 0 for the rest of the turn. That practically guarantees a turn of easy clue gathering. If you already have Sixth Sense out, be sure to use the 0 shroud Dream Gate to pick off a high shroud clue if you can.

Enraptured: One of the few ways to recharge your Gate Box so make sure it works when you use it!

Deduction: This is nearly an exclusive clue setup so Deduction fits right in.

Cards to consider

Shortcut: Am I selfish for not playing this? Probably. It's only even better with Luke and his ability. Plus it has the really confusing interaction with unrevealed locations since his ability doesn't require the location to be revealed. Can he move himself past a location this way? Maybe, but I wouldn't want to break the game that much.

Arcane Initiate: It can help you dig for your Sixth Sense, but doesn't have too many other targets. I'm also very doom averse so I don't play this too often.

Barricade: I understand why so many people love this card on Luke. You can play it on a connecting location ad it will never get discard so long as no one else leaves that location. It's fun, but I don't know the scenarios enough to feel comfortable taking this and knowing it will be useful.

Connect the Dots: I really like this card on Luke if the ruling I mentioned for Hawk-Eye Folding Camera is correct. You can Drawn to the Flame a location, or use the trigger on Sixth Sense to then play this card on a super high shroud location. The cost is a bit high though so I'm not sure if I want to include this in the base deck.

Holy Rosary: A nice alternative to St. Hubert's Key and it helps keep the overall cost of the deck lower, but I valued the on the key a bit higher for the early scenarios. Either way, I expect these cards to be replaced with Hemispheric Map.

Magnifying Glass: For those of you who don't want the buildup for Hawk-Eye Folding Camera. Or perhaps to swap with Ritual Candles.

Occult Lexicon/Blood-Rite: I think this could be a fun card to use on Luke given his ability to play Blood-Rite on a connecting location and deal damage to enemies.

Open Gate: Useful for backtracking with your team to save actions or charges on your Gate Box. I love the idea of this card but cutting 3 other cards is a tough call. This might be a good choice if you want to take Versatile though.

Eldritch Inspiration: I didn't include this in the base deck because I don't believe it works with the Level 0 version of Sixth Sense. However, if you end up including more spells in the deck instead of a silly clue-only version like this it could be useful.

Perception: You're here to gather clues and occasionally you might have to do it from outside your Dream-Gate. This can help you get the bump you need and it draws a card as well.

Ritual Candles: This was originally included in the main deck because it has good synergy with purposefully drawing tokens. It's still a decent pick, but I would normally replace this quickly anyway.

Should Luke use Arcane Research?

I like Arcane Research and it could be pretty beneficial, but this base deck only has 4 copies of spells that can be upgraded. It might be good to run 1 or 2 of this card still, but maybe adding an additional spell or two would be best. Perhaps try these:

Blinding Light

Rite of Seeking

Shrivelling

Storm of Spirits

Ward of Protection

Wither

Knowledge is Power: With the addition of more spell assets, this card can hit many more targets and allows Luke to activate assets on a connecting location.

Let's talk about upgrades:

Arcane Initiate: Not really a great pick here since you don't have many targets to hit, but if you play a more spell heavy Arcane Research deck it could be a good alternative.

Bulletproof Vest: Luke has low health so this could be a decent pick if you're worried about a bunch of damage tests or other unavoidable damage.

De Vermis Mysteriis: I want to want this card, but I'm so doom averse that I probably wouldn't end up buying it. Still, 10 of your events are targets for this card. I believe you can still use Luke Robinson's special ability when play this way as well.

Death • XIII: I want to like the Tarot cards and having bonus is always a good thing. A bit pricey to play from hand and I doubt you'll see this in your opening hand more than twice per campaign.

Four of Cups: See above.

Grotesque Statue: A stellar grab for this deck since you always want to be drawing with Sixth Sense.

Hemispheric Map: With Dream-Gate you'll almost certainly be connected with 2 locations and have a very good chance of being connected to 4 locations. Remember you can use Gate Box to be inside the Dream-Gate during the Encounter and Mythos phases.

Jewel of Aureolus: Since you want to be drawing anyways this could be a great purchase, but I'd rather have Hemispheric Map.

Pathfinder: Always a great purchase on any character.

Recall the Future: Especially useful when not investigating on Dream-Gate or when using Olive McBride.

Recharge: Excellent for adding charges to your Gate Box or Grotesque Statue. The downside being you normally want to draw and this has a negative effect when doing so.

Seal of the Elder Sign: Another great card for Luke because it practically guarantees a success while also giving you a charge on Gate Box. Rightfully expensive, but a good choice nonetheless.

Sixth Sense: This can really help with action consolidation, allowing you to grab more than 1 clue per investigate fairly often. Since it works best after you're setup and not when you're in Dream-Gate, it might be a later upgrade than I first thought.

Time Warp: I always love this card and it's even more incredible with Luke able to play it for any investigator while he's at his Dream-Gate.

Versatile: This could be an interesting addition to play with Luke's special ability. You'll probably want to add more card draw if you use this. Here are some of the more interesting choices for the off-class card:

• [Burglary](/card/01045) - Easy resources in your [Dream-Gate](/card/06015a).
• [Crystallizer of Dreams](/card/06024) - Plenty of events to commit and you're already very elusive to enemies.
• [Drawing Thin](/card/05159) - Works well with your low shroud [Dream-Gate](/card/06015a).
• [First Watch](/card/06110) - Take all enemies while in the [Dream-Gate](/card/06015a) and discard them all.
• [Hallowed Mirror](/card/05313) - Ranged heals.
• [Lone Wolf](/card/02188) - You'll likely be starting your turn in [Dream-Gate](/card/06015a) often.
• ["Look what I found!"](/card/01079) - This might work with Luke's ability. Fail a test and play this as if you were at a connecting location.
• [Scene of the Crime](/card/04103) - More ranged clues.
• [Scrounge for Supplies](/card/06165) - Return one of your many clue gathering events.
• [Teamwork](/card/02018) - Trading cards via telepathy?
• [Winging It](/card/04272) - Investigation event that you can play from the discard pile.

Upgrade paths

To be honest, I had a really difficult time figuring out what I wanted to swap for upgrades. Here's some quick thoughts on what I might work:

St. Hubert's Key → Hemispheric Map

Dark Prophecy/Hawk-Eye Folding Camera → Grotesque Statue

Ritual Candles Deny Existence/Olive McBride → Seal of the Elder Sign

Premonition → Time Warp

Crack the Case → Recharge

Sixth Sense → Sixth Sense