He's all about investing in the long term. Your initial starting relic can give you a slight leg up on Act 1 elite fights; he also has a few strength synergies in his cards. Many of his cards give him gold so he can take advantage of every shop he comes across. A lot of his cards exhaust allowing you to have a slim deck after the shuffle. And then he has a few cards which give you free damage every turn.

But he starts off very weak so don't feel bad if you struggle in Act 1.