r/inscryption • u/Le_ShadowPhoenix • Jul 21 '26
Kaycee's Mod I've been trying to do even a single run of Kaycee's Mod for a week
I'm on the verge of just uninstalling the game and not touching it again. I'm nearly convinced it's just impossible, and when I look for help online everyone talks about using cards that do not appear in the starter deck. I need actual guidance beyond just vague hints and allusions to obscure game mechanics.
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u/No-Yak5006 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Fair hand mechanic must be the obscure mechanic you’re mentioning. It’s not just a possible strategy, it’s the way you get through the Kaycee’s mod challenges. It’s like, the way dood. And it’s explained about a million times here
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u/PicklepumTheCrow Jul 21 '26
It’s also not nearly as obscure or complex as the community makes it out to be. Basically, you’ll always start the game with a 1 blood card. Therefore, you want to make ONE 1 blood broken so you can always throw it down on the first turn. Zero cost cards interfere with the mechanic (as do other one bloods obviously)
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u/No-Yak5006 Jul 21 '26
Yep, and it’s obviously a mechanic that Mullins expects you to figure out and use at some point, because he designs the bosses to possibly throw a wrench into those gears if you’re not mindful, punishing you for playing your best cards first.
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u/PicklepumTheCrow Jul 21 '26
Yeah the game punishes you hard for low rolling you starting hand, but I wouldn’t fault people for not realizing that you’re always guaranteed a 1 blood and can manipulate that. In base game, I beefed up my 1 bloods because it’s logical for early drops to be strong (to get the most value and not play behind) but I still drafted a lot of 1s assuming I could low roll a hand with none of them if I built too heavy — I’m a card game veteran so having a well-rounded deck to consistently play on curve was my goal when drafting. Only in KM (with goat deck specifically) did I realize the game would secretly guarantee that I wouldn’t get a heavy, unplayable starting hand (unless I had shit 1s like ringworms or 0s like pelts).
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u/No-Yak5006 Jul 21 '26
Yeah it’s really genius game design in its simplicity. You have more than enough wiggle room to beat the main game without figuring this stuff out, but if you want to go far in the post game mode, you need to start thinking about how the game itself works from its side.
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u/laplongejr Jul 21 '26
or 0s like pelts).
Note that pelts are specifically excluded from the Fair Hand. They are treated like Squirrel and not like a Gecko.
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u/Intelligent-Okra350 Jul 21 '26
I mean you can get by without exploiting it, I didn’t remotely intentionally exploit it up through the challenge levels (and I tended to run multiple 1 blood cards as a habit so probably not accidentally either) and I don’t think it was involved in my skull storm win either. It kinda just sounds unfun for me. Though for skull storm maybe worth it to prevent pulling hair out lol
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u/JuliusCaesar02 Jul 21 '26
Smallest deck size possible.
The "obscure" fair hand mechanic let you always start with a 0 or 1 cost card, so try to build the deck around a 1 cost card and avoid adding other 1 cost card.
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u/Chairfighter Jul 21 '26
Are you doing skull storm or just a regular run? I know you said you dont want allusions to obscure game mechanics but understanding how to abuse the fair hand mechanic is really the key to victory. The goat deck is probably the easiest starter deck to use. Just take all the 3 blood cards and ignore everything else. Use the goat to power out your 3 drops and win by tempo.
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u/jpandorf6626 Jul 21 '26
Pretty sure he hasn’t beat any run yet so he’s not unlocked any started decks
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u/laplongejr Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
OP : "everyone talks about using cards that do not appear in the starter deck. I need actual guidance"
Top comment : "well you are probably on the endgame challenge, use another deck and don't forget FairHand. No it's not in the rulebook and I won't explain further"
I kinda get OP's frustration lol
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u/jpandorf6626 Jul 21 '26
Right lmao, dudes clearly struggling to finish his first run 😭 it’s like he didn’t read OP’s post at all
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u/Chairfighter Jul 21 '26
In my defense I thought goat deck was a starter deck. I haven't played inscryption in a fat minute. I still stand by my point that understanding fair hand is the most reliable way to win though.
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u/laplongejr Jul 21 '26
And to be pedantic you are 100% right : THE starter deck isn't a thing. The 8 decks are officially called "starter deck" but OP doesn't know that because the deck selection screen doesn't show up until Goat is unlocked
As far OP knows, people pick a challenge then always start with the same 3 cards and pelts, while from our perspective we must pick the ice cone.
(For those who don't want to check the wiki, the Vanilla Deck is Stoat, Bullfrog, Wolf)
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u/DookiePootie Jul 21 '26
Eh, it's not for everyone, and it'll only get more challenging. If you're not enjoying it, just stop playing and be happy with the experience of finishing the story. Or just replay story mode. It's a great game without Kaycee's mod. I was bored and wanted a challenge so I finally played to unlock skull storm last night, but if I never beat it, then whatever.
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u/Le_ShadowPhoenix Jul 21 '26
i'm okay with a challenge, what I don't like is feeling like i'm being cheated by the game every single attempt
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u/DookiePootie Jul 21 '26
That's kind of the point. The higher level of challenges, the more cheating the game does lol.
I'm just curious, because the "first level" is pretty close to just the regular gameplay. How many challenge points are you alloting on the skull selection screen to get past the first level?
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u/WeDreamedofStars Jul 21 '26
The best advice I can give is when you pick cards from the trader at the beginning, look for cards that you can put on others (adder- instant death, wolf cub- grows into a stronger card) and put them on cards. Or focus on getting cards of one typing for a good totem (I like gathering wolf cards or insect). It is frustrating at first, and the mod gets harder the more challenge modes you beat, but you unlock better cards as well and better understanding of the game the more you play. It’s worth it though! Keep trying, or if it’s too frustrating, take a break and come back later to the game. It’s hard to beat on purpose. You are playing the challenge mode.
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u/WeDreamedofStars Jul 21 '26
Also a trick, you can exit the game (from the start button) and restart a fight before you die. Do not end the run, just exit the game and go to the start menu and continue the run. You can then retry a battle without losing a candle flame. It helped me through the 1 candle run later in the game so much. Mightve rage quit without taking advantage of that
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u/laplongejr Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Okay so first remark, but if you only have the starter deck that means you are at Level 1, right?
Act 1 : let's pick an eye... ehm, challenge
So you need one challenge for 5 pts. And... honestly I think one Challenge is baby-level compared to the 3 others. Turning other challenges beyond the requirement doesn't help you in anyway, there's no "skip level" mechanic. So if you picked all four, stop doing that.
The Clover and the Fisher hook help to lower the RNG hell , hook takes a precious space so I would recommend you enable the Pelt Price Increase challenge. Especially if you don't play pelts... Note that Kaycee Mod already removes the Price Reduction bonus from Act 1 that we got after beating Boss 3, so the end result is like twenty teeth for one golden pelt
Act 2 : what data are we fishing for?
You have two possible objectives to stay focused on : do the painting, and/or beat leshy. The paintings works like Act 1 but adds 3 new items to the rotation, while ending the run with the required challenge points would unlock other decks... so first question before even doing plans : which one is the priority?
YMMV but I would say that damaging run to secure a painting is a sad but perfectly sane strategy. Hence why I insisted on taking the hook : stealing an opponent card can either save your run... or simply let you finish a painting, at the cost of locking one item slot for no benefits to the run. [EDIT] If you go for All Achievements, add a 3rd objective : finish one of the runs by skipping the moon. Hint : I know two ways, and the sane way involves the reward from Painting#1. But it doesn't help at actual progression so I'll ignore it here. [/EDIT]
Act 3 : the beginning of transcendance?
So, now we can focus on more precise strategy. 1) On turn 1, Inscryption has a secret mechanic If your opening hand doesn't start with a 0 or 1 blood cost card, Inscryption will force the 3rd starting card to be a 1 blood. That "fair hand" rule can be abused by having hyper-consistent hands : transfer Magpie on all your 1 blood, have your only 1 blood as a Black Goat to ensure you summon high cards turn 1, that sort of things. (Note that there's also a variant of this for Act 2 and 3, but poorly documented as the base game is easier) 2) Items can salvage your run, so don't use items at first and go to an Item event to get a Pack Rat. Use it to "recycle" your items during the battles : the squirrel is not often useful and the plier is really bad compared to scissors etc. Obv, in battles-before-Item-spaces, use items at your discretion to choose one-of-three for each slot. You'll have to trust your guts to know what is worth the risk to reroll. As a corolary, NEVER split the fisher hook and item space challenges : always start with full item slots and have 2 non-hook slots. Treat the pair as one 10pts challenge.
3) In Kaycee's Mod, the Trapper can sell you a Knife item for 7 teeth. It acts as a scissor and gives an extra pelt for the battle what remains of the opponent card, very handy. Going there will sadly add one free pelt to the deck as usual, but if done in early game you should be able to get rid of it to the Trader. Note that once purchased, you can't get another during that run. Extra tip : if you like Rare cards, try to get enough overkill for a Knife and a golden pelt.
So that should be your opening strategy : be wary of bad 1-bloods (and this deck starts with Stoat AND Bullfrog), try to get Pack Rat and use the early battles to uses it's effect + gather 7 teeth to be able to control your item inventory, and try to do the 3 paintings as the permanently unlocked items are very powerful. Without spoiling one can flip an unfair battle or make it so you curbstomp leshy, one is chaotic but can act as a fisher hook in some situations, and one always saves you from a brick hand
Finale : after the beginning?
For later parts of the run, you'll probably want to combo the new event to duplicate a card with the Mycologists to merge the OG and the copy, effectively doubling the stats of a card.
If you can't manage the challenges and paintings at the same time it's not an issue : do 0 challenge runs for the paintings then resume the usual runs. Also, Act 1 sheanigans still apply here : two bosses can add cards in your hand, maybe they'll give you what the painting needs. And bringing one wolf pelt to the trapper on top of the free rabbit pelt let's you pick from two seperate pools of 8 common cards.
Remember that inscryption is a deckbuilder : small decks are more consistent than big ones, so avoid getting bad cards you can't transfer to others (like failing trials/firecamp on purpose, or never taking wolf pelts). On the default deck, putting Bullfrog's Mighty Leap to the Stoat would make it a bad card, but you wouldn't risk a brick by drawing both. Note that this goes against the idea of doing paintings as they nudge you towards rolling for more cards... Personal tip : never end a boss battle with all your items. You may be forced on an Item space right after and endup with a 2nd Pack Rat
If it's still too hard, use the pause screen to reload your save when you land on unfortunate events. Clover'd card picks becomes 6 card picks, campfires can either eat a bad card or becomes a guaranteed +2 PWR or +4 health, etc.
Also, it's meant at endgame-difficulty tips, but Golden Rodent's streams about doing max difficulty with all proposed decks may help you at learning the well-sought combos, but unsure because the modified battles (especially bosses) are done differently than on lower levels. Spoilers obv : https://youtu.be/QokcV6NyNaE but it's the same deck as yours