Lonnie and Robes

I was looking for a reason to run Jim over the other mystics in my collection, Jacqueline Fine, Agnes Baker and Father Mateo, trying to see what he offers that the others don't. Ultimately, I settled on what I think is a pretty fun pair of combos.

The primary card in the deck, taking up two of his five flex slots, is Lonnie Ritter, one of my favourite new starter deck cards. The first use of this is the fight icon, bringing Jim's to a respectable 4. The second use is in a combo with Robes of Endless Night - this is arguably the card you want to use with Lonnie most of all, since it gets the most value from surviving the longest. With careful damage distribution, it's possible to get maximum value from this card.

The next two flex picks are for Machete, a card that gets use out of his now respectable , and can deal damage more consistently than any other weapon. This part of the combo is what separates him from Dexter Drake, who would have to rely on Rogue weapons if he wanted to make use of his equally good , and often might as well use spells with his superior . Though with access to certain Rogue tools, Dexter might still edge him out in this area. Either way, he's not in my collection. If you're using Taboo, it's probably best to take Fire Axe until you can upgrade to Machete.

The final slot is for Lone Wolf, excellent resource gain that pays for your once-per-turn Lonnie heal. Not much else to say here.

Spell selection is quite generic. Jim loves the new starter deck spells, since he can turn his into a and dodge the downside whenever it comes up. Even on the "+1" or "0" tokens, it's easy enough with the Lonnie soak to take the 1 Damage from Azure Flame or the 1 Horror from Clairvoyance. Mists of R'lyeh is in this deck because I like the free movement, but Ineffable Truth is at least as good. I haven't experimented with the spell ratios yet, but it might be beneficial to use more.

Backpack is a debateable card, and depends on whether you prefer searching for Jim's Trumpet, Holy Rosary, Machete, Robes of Endless Night and Emergency Cache, or use a more spell-based variant and want to search those with Arcane Initiate. It also competes for slots with the Robes, so might end up a little too slow.

Jim's Trumpet is of debateable use in this deck, which has no real way of fetching skulls. While it's out, it's a nice bonus, and you don't need the other hand slot unless you want to cut something for Scrying Mirror, another excellent Jacqueline card, or Flashlight if you want more clue gathering. Since you have good horror soak, it's generally better to use the trumpet to heal your fellow investigators when it is out. It's very good for icons if you can't find a window to play it, but with the deck as is it's more likely to get stuck in your Backpack.

Delve Too Deep is invaluable for campaigns, since this is a level 0 deck intended to be levelled through one. Arcane Research is included for the same reason. Drawn to the Flame is for generic clueing, and Ward of Protection for encounter protection.

Moonlight Ritual is there entirely for futureproofing reasons, since a priority upgrade for this deck is Blood Pact, allowing you to use it both for and the boost that most Mystics would miss out on. If you don't like this style of deckbuilding and would rather include them later, that's fine too.

Overpower is decent for fighting if you get your Machete out before a Lonnie. Otherwise, Fearless is just good horror healing. You could cut it for Guts if the trumpet and Lonnie are enough horror healing for you, but I always find it nice to have a little more.

The upgrade priorities are whichever spells you prefer through Arcane Research and a pair of Blood Pacts. Next, or even before, is level two Robes of Endless Night, which is a massive improvement on the unlevelled version, and allows you to play your Azure Flame while already engaged with an enemy if the Machete doesn't have enough punch. After that, upgrades are a matter of preference.

If you see a card that seems like it belongs here but isn't, it's probably because it's not in my collection, but I'd like to hear about any other fun options.

I haven't properly tested this deck yet, though I ran a levelled version through a two player Hotel and had a good time.