Wendy Core

Wendy gets it done with 2 cores.

I really like Wendy's stats and ability and I think we'll find her to be one of the more powerful investigators to come back to with a larger card pool, but in Core she has a bit of a problem with staying power. Enemies inevitably pile up and she's a decent but not stellar clue hunter. Best she's paired up with someone not completely worthless in either combat or investigation.

Let's start with combat. She can evade like a champ but does not have many answers to follow up with, just events Backstab and Sneak Attack. I've decided against trying to make her hold her own in combat with a weapon, takes too many cards to bring her to merely average on a consistent basis, but to be fair if anyone can wield a Baseball Bat well it's Wendy. The main problem with that, though, is Wendy doesn't have any intellect boosters in Core and if she's not killing things she needs to be investigating, so I included Flashlight. If you're pairing up with a strong investigator you can get away with swapping that for a Bat, Dig Deep for Hard Knocks, and probably something for Overpower. You've also got Elusive and Cunning Distraction to get out of sticky situations. I vacillate between Elusive and Survival Instinct, but the Fast keyword won me over. The main problem I have with Elusive is that leaving enemies readied often is not overly helpful, whereas SI takes care of an enemy for a round. (And I've very rarely wanted to move more than 1 space away with Elusive.) And the deck is not inexpensive. Cunning Distraction is in there as much for the icons as it is its ability; with high base willpower and good sanity and Dig Deep we're not concerned enough about willpower tests to include Guts, but it's good to have a couple icons handy.

As far as investigation, she's pretty darn decent. A base intellect of 3 is an average starting point, and that's bolstered by lots of intellect icons, a Flashlight for the more difficult locations, Look what I Found, her token redraw ability, and Lucky. She doesn't exactly do it with a flourish but she gets the job done.

Other notes: Leo would obviously be great with anyone but I think is especially appreciated in Wendy, who can _almost_ do it all but often needs that extra action per turn to pull it all off. Especially when she needs to evade something and then do a thing. I've become a big fan of Stray Cat in Survivor decks that actually want other allies; if you get it early, great, ditch it when Leo shows up. If you get it late, it's a discard to Wendy's ability. Rabbit's Foot is also kind of essential to keep you flush with cards to ditch, but Wendy's Amulet trumps this for slots. I don't like Pickpocketing at a cost of 2, I'd sooner spend actions to draw, especially in a deck that is otherwise a bit costly. Manual Dex is in there for the tougher enemies and just to give you some breathing room. It's easy to say "well I can just use Wendy's ability if I draw badly" but obviously you can't sustain that for every or even the majority of tests.

No overwhelming mulligan priority. I'd look for a Leo or some combat events. If I draw her Amulet I'll probably keep the hand no matter what else is in it, but I also wouldn't mulligan an otherwise decent hand just to look for it. Upgrade priority is unquestionably Close Call, which I would probably drop Elusive for (and then consider swap Manual Dex for Survival Instinct). Then upgrade Lucky to keep you in cards, then an Ally. Which is probably cheaper (first-turn) Leo. That passive agility boost from Cat Burglar is super tempting and sometimes your extra Leo action is just to move after evading anyway, but Wendy likes to keep her options open.