Jacob Lynch

"''The deed is everything, the glory nothing." ''
 * Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, Faust, Part II

Playstyle
The owner of the "Honeypot Casino" is a semi-fragile, excellent support, setup-assassin who focuses on card drawing and explosive damage via his free Henchman/Totem The Hungering Darkness. He is essentially a glass-cannon

Choose Jacob Lynch if you:
 * Want some of the best Card Managment Mechanics in the game
 * Love announcing to your enemy who you are going to kill this Turn
 * Enjoy the theme the Totem is running your crew; the Master is simply along for the ride

Activate Late for Card Support
As a support, Lynch should try to activate late as his (0) Pay Up improves with each enemy afflicted with Brilliance (which usually lasts till the turn ends) which The Depleted, The Hungering Darkness, and The Illuminated can cause. Jacob can even increase this number himself via '(1) Play for Blood ' (which auto-triggers Brilliance onto the target if successful) so use it before (0) Pay Up to maximise the card draw.

The upgrade Woke Up with a Hand further encourages delaying Lynch's activation (see builds below).

Activate Early for Assassination
As a ranged support-assassin, Lynch should activate early to afflict targets with Brilliance (again assured via '(1) Play for Blood ') so they become vulnerable to the attacks of The Hungering Darkness and The Illuminated.

The downsides of doing this are: If playing aggressive over suppotive, use (0) Mulligan before anything else as its unlikely you will get any extra cards for that turn. Thus you may as well trade the 3 low cards you drew for this round in hopes of something better.
 * you are essentially announcing to your opponent who you are hunting that round (as Brilliance fades at the end of the turn).
 * you give up the profit of (0) Pay up in exchange for damaging the enemy crew

Keep Your Aces
The wording on Ace in the Hole this is slightly unclear but was clarified by the FAQ. Anytime an Ally (not Lynch) discards an ace from your deck OR HAND, Jacob draws it to his crew's hand.

This offers cards to swap with Muligan (0), or to deal incredible damage with the upgrades Want to See a Trick and/or Woke Up With a Hand (see builds).

NOTE: this ace-cycling only applies to Lynch's crew. If Lynch flips/discards the ace, they stay in the discard pile.

Kill; Don't Capture
Lynch typically spams '(1) Play for Blood ' to spread Brilliance for either card drawing or setting up targets for his crew to remove, but don't get caught in doing so if it means near-dead enemy stays alive.

Always keep in mind Lynch's '(1) Holdout Pistol '

Don't Cheat the Cheater
Jacob doesn't have any special survival tricks, but his card-drawing will often give a decent number of cards to cheat to his defense/ willpower flips. Furthermore, his trigger for both these stats act as a deterrent to any attacker. Should a foe cheat to try and secure a hit on Lynch, it will suffer damage - regardless of if the blow lands or not.

This becomes even more potent with the upgrade Expert Cheater as your foe will never know what card you cheat fate with when protecting Lynch - meaning its possible to use an Ace and make the enemy loose a high card from their hand in addition to getting hurt. Thus its always wise to play with smug confidence as Lynch so your enemy thinks you hand is strong (even if its all Aces).

Builds
Jacob's upgrades appear expensive, but their price isn't unreasonable when you realize you get a free Henchman (the Hungering Darkness). Given they typically value around 8-ss minimum, you're usually making a saving of 3-ss.

Limited Upgrades
Both of Jacob's Limited upgrades don't affect him, but rather empower the Hungering Darkness while Jacob lives. For details on The Rising Sun and Endless Hunger, see the Hungering Darkness builds. Jacob will usually take at least one of his limited upgrade to empower the Darkness, and choose his remaining two from his exclusive upgrades.

Aces High (Wanna See a Trick + Woke Up with a Hand)
This build encourages card drawing and supports it with high damage output. Consider the following: At the minimum (not considering Armor) this deals at least 4 damage even without aces (-2 from Pay for Blood, -2 from Woke Up With a Hand) while, with 4 Aces in Hand, this increases to 14 damage (-2 from Pay for Blood, -4 from Woke Up With a Hand, -8 from 52 Pickup)!!
 * Act LAST to draw +2 cards
 * Use Pay Up to add some extra Mask cards to your hand.
 * Use Woke Up With a Hand on your target deal damage equal to your hand size.
 * Use 52 Pickup to discard all Aces from your hand, dealing even more damage to the target.

This build gains effectiveness with crew members who can increase your card drawing - such as Sue.

Infilitrate
Infiltrate Darkness really only comes into play if he is a Ten Thunders Master. It allows him to always hire the following: While Mr Tannen and Mr Graves are Darkness models as well, their Dual Factions match Lynch and are always available to him.
 * Beckoners - have incredible synergy with Lynch; able to lure victims and afflict targets with Brilliance at range. He is rarely seen without one, if not both.
 * The Depleted - very affordable durable tar-pits. Fantastic for slowing down enemies.
 * The Illuminated - decently durable and capable of doing incredible damage to Brilliance targets
 * Stitched Together - offers cover VS ranged focused crews, great card-drawing mechanics, and

Scheme Runners

 * The Terror Tots gain HUGE mobility from the combination of their (1) Sprint, Lynch's Ace in the Hole, and the Ace of Masks card. Sprint allows them to cheat to get a double walk action if they flip/ cheat with a mask. If they discard the Ace of Masks, they automatically succeed AND the card is cycled back to the crew's hand via Ace in the Hole (since it wasn't Lynch who used it). Essentially, once this is setup, consider all your Tots to have a walk of 10" for the game! Use this ludicrus speed to dash around and drop scheme markers as needed, or get them enegaged where they can bleed on enemies.

Further, the Tots do have synergy with Mr Graves and Mr Tannen who are both Nephilim (and thus benefit from the Tot's Brood for extra mobility if needed).
 * Gupps can perform a similar role to the Tots as their (0) Leap works in a same synergetic mechanic (cheap with an Ace of Maks for a free Leap). While slower overall (they can only do 17" of move a turn, compared to the tot's 20"), they are faster if moving to drop Schemes (i.e.: can move 12" and interact, opposed to the tot's 10").

Their compartive durability is debatable. Tots have higher DF, WP, and Black Blood (melee attack deterant) while the Gupps are more resilient to Shooting with Perfect Camouflage and Silent, and can also 'fully heal' by killing an enemy and triggering their Adult Hood to become a Silurid. This ability to constantly recycle an Ace produces great synergy forces who benefit from discarding a card - such as Fuhatsu, Hans, The Lone Swordsman, Rail Workers, Sidir Alchibal, Tengu, Ten Thunders Brothers, Wastrels.

Neverborn
Can't go wrong with The Illuminated here. Good offense and defense allows you to kill Brilliance Afflicted foes while staying alive; giving good control of the mid-field. The Depleted also help being cheap, durable, and dealing damage when they die.

Reconnoiter
Neverborn

Line in the Sand
The default scheme isn't desirable for Lynch due to his low crew-count, though the durability of your forces can let you push forward to the midline.

Beloved Schemes
Lynch is an executioner and his crew typically focus on the enemy, so schemes that work to that will benefit them. If the following appear, take them:
 * Assassinate, Make them Suffer, Murder Protege, Vendetta are great options. Use Beckoner's and Mr Graves to get your target into Lynch's kill range.
 * Bodyguard works with the upgrade The Rising Sun. It will make Lynch a big target, but even if he dies Huggy is quite durable when timed right. Entourage can also work for this.
 * Deliver a Message, Frame for Murder, Plant Explosives, Take Prisoner and Spring the Trap are easily achieved again with Beckoners, Mr Graves, and even the Hungering Darkness with its Head My Voice to get your target into location.

Desired Schemes
Despite being a Neverborn crew (be it dual-faction), Lynch's crew is less swift and more durable. They still suffer from being outnumbered, thus their focus beyond the enemy crew is usually on the mid-field.
 * Breakthrough and Plant Evidence don't usually work for Lynch's forces, though Terror Tots with the Ace of Masks can get to the end zone fast to start dropping scheme markers to make this happen.
 * Protect Territory and Power Ritual can work since Lynch's forces prefer to stay on their side of the field, pulling enemies to them, though limited numbers can hurt in needing to commit AP to drop schemes. Again, Terror Tots mobility can come in handy here.

Undesired Schemes

 * Distract - can use non-Peons to distract targets. Gain 1 VP every turn at least two enemies are Distracted
 * Cursed Object - gain 1 VP if you removed Cursed Object condition from an enemy model at the end of a turn
 * Outflank - gain 1 VP at the end of the game if you have a non-peon on the centerline within 3" of the boad edge.

How to Counter
Jacob likes to delay his activation so his crew can give him cards and take the Black-Joker hit. He will hide behind his forces since he lacks any significant defenses, though if attacked he will try to force you to cheat to injure his assailant with his trigger. Don't let it discourage you - he is a glass cannon. Try to create an opening to apply preasure to make him act early and loose some of his strength.

His crew aren't very focused on Scheme markers, so pay attention to Schemes that target your crew as its likely he will be choosing those.