Note: Asterisks indicate recommended decks.
Introduction: Ironically, the only Tomes you need to Save the World! are one-spell capacity Tomes. Also, see comments for Two-Adventure Decks.
Sets: Limited Edition. MSGS is useful to provide additional Arkham and Providence Locations.
Summary: Save the World Deck. Tricky. Tome / Artifact deck. Providence, Arkham, South Pacific.
Munchkin cards: Any. Yithian Mental Contact prevents loss of cards that you need to play other cards (eg. Events needed to play an Outer God, or an Artifact needed to play an Ally from the Past). Aldeberan Moves in the Sky removes Storms preventing play of a required Travel by Sea card, and Phobias that can make sea travel Sanity-consuming..
Investigator: Any.
Adventures:
Save the World!
Comments: Arkham's only included because (so far) no Sub-Region has more than one Corrupt Cultist from the Past, and because Arkham has a Sanitarium. (Brown Jenkin is Arkham's second Corrupt Cultist from the Past, but cannot be played unless Keziah Mason, Arkham's other Corrupt Cultist from the Past, is played, so doesn't, IMO, count.) You could, of course, simply use a Surprise Meeting to meet another Corrupt Cultist from the Past.
Two Interesting Shop cards are in this deck because it must be played before Save the World, and two copies of the card will increase the likelihood of your drawing it towards the top of the deck. Jeff Okamoto uses the Cruise as the Mythos Experience needed for Save the World.
The Interesting Shop
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck. All of this Adventure's requirements overlap those of the other Adventures. When building this deck, remember to include as many different Locations as you can.
Introduction: This deck centers around the Kitab Al-Azif, which allows you to play Monsters as Allies. Normally, Adventures which require Monsters are difficult to play. Monsters cannot be played into the Play Area, so cannot be saved for "the next Adventure you're working on". But the Kitab allows you to play them as Allies. As a result, the strategy of this deck is to play your Monsters as Allies as you work on The Dunwich Horror. Then, when you've scored the Dunwich Horror, use Call Power of Nyambe to sacrifice your Monster Allies to the Story Deck, then score Knee-Deep in Doom. If you use all the spells I recommend, you'll have to balance out some three icons of spells: Octopus, Question, and Eye. Also, see comments for Two-Adventure Decks.
Sets: Limited Edition
Summary: Dunwich Deck. Tricky and Broken. Tome deck. Dunwich (Country), Arkham.
Munchkin Cards:
Investigator: Any Investigator that speaks Arabic (ie. The Brilliant Egyptian Archaeologist)
Adventures:
The Dunwich Horror:
Comments: See Comments in The Dunwich Horror.
Knee-Deep in Doom
Comments: The Byhakees and Shantaks thus have two purposes in this deck. If you can't play them as Allies (say, because you haven't drawn the Kitab yet), you can always use them to Travel from one Country Location to another. See Travel by Monster.
Seeking Everlasting Life I
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck. Almost of this Adventure's requirements overlap those of The Dunwich Horror.
Introduction: I normally detest Seeking Everlasting Life I as a broken card, but the Soul Singing Spell, a Skull Icon spell (that can be placed in a Tome with a Skull Icon, which Seeking requires), requires a Full Moon, and The Dunwich Horror is the only Adventure requiring a Full Moon. There are some other combos resulting from the cards used in Dunwich Horror which make this deck pretty obnoxious in play -- not to mention that once you play The Dunwich Horror, you'll easily have the requirements to satisfy Seeking Everlasting Life I, and thus can score twenty points in only two turns. Also, see comments for Two-Adventure Decks.
Sets: Limited Edition
Summary: Dunwich Deck. Broken. Tome deck. Artifacts optional. Dunwich (Country), Arkham.
Munchkin cards: Seeking Everlasting Life I.
Investigator: Any Latin Investigator
Adventures:
The Dunwich Horror:
Comments: See Comments for The Dunwich Horror. In addition, try these combos:
Seeking Everlasting Life I
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck. Almost of this Adventure's requirements overlap those of The Dunwich Horror.
Introduction: This deck combines the best two dual-Region Adventures, The Strange Case of Charles Fort, and The Auction. There are quite a few Events for these Adventures, all mildly obnoxious and at least disruptive. Also see comments for Two-Adventure Decks.
Sets: Limited Edition
Summary: Dual-Region Deck. Tome deck. Dunwich, Arkham.
Munchkin cards: Aldeberan Moves in the Sky. This Event is required for The Strange Case.
Investigator: Any Investigator, preferably one who can read Tomes costing two Sanity
Adventures:
The Auction
Comments: My deck has a Latin Investigator and several Tomes costing two Sanity, plus their spells, for this deck. Arkham has many Tome Locations, so such a deck isn't too hard to play. By playing as many Tomes and Spells as possible in your first Adventure, you will have a smaller deck to start off your next (last) Adventure with.
The Strange Case of Charles Fort
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck. One drawback about this deck is that there is only one Ally in this deck, so Monsters will have no problems attacking you. However, four Sanitariums (two in Lovecraft Country, two in Europe) are something of a compensation. Many of these Events will bury Day and Night cards, typically needed as a required card to play another card (eg. a GOO).
Introduction: Make Money Fast! is definitely a difficult Adventure. It has three Unique cards, and Cthulhu requires an Island as a requirement. It includes Surprise Meeting, but the deck (can be constructed so that it) doesn't need it. Nonetheless, its absurdity makes it a deck worth playing.
Sets: Limited Edition
Summary: Arkham Deck. Artifact / Tome deck.
Munchkin cards: Seeking Everlasting Life I. Make Money Fast needs as much help as it can get...
Investigator: Arabic Investigator
Adventures:
Make Money Fast!
Comments: Cthulhu is summoned with the Waxing Moon and the Shining Trapezohedron, which replaces Cthulhu's Island requirement. This Adventure also has many Unique cards, so you will probably cycle through the deck before playing this Adventure; you can also play most of the Unique cards before starting to work on this Adventure. Surprise Meeting is actually a drawback in this deck because all of the Allies can be encountered in Arkham. Use it to encounter Zadok, or an Arkham Ally while at a Sanitarium (Zadok may also be played without the Surprise Meeting).
Seeking Everlasting Life I
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck.
The Interesting Shop
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck.
Introduction: Summon Great Cthulhu is a tricky Adventure to play. Not only must you play R'Lyeh and bring out Cthulhu, you must keep Cthulhu in play to score Summon Great Cthulhu. (R'Lyeh is difficult to play because it is a Unique card, requires all three fragments (cards) of the Disk of R'Lyeh (each Unique) in play, and can only be reached by Travel by Sea. Cthulhu is a GOO that requires an Island and Waxing Moon in play.) Still, you just have to summon Cthulhu, don't you? (Note: Per the errata, Summon Great Cthulhu is +13 points, not +7.)
Here's a Stupid Combo you can use for this deck:
Sets: Limited Edition
Summary: Summon Great Cthulhu deck. Tricky. Artifact / Tome. Boston.
Investigator: Any non-English speaking Investigator, such as the Inquisitive Chinese Intellectual. The Secrets of the Silver Twilight requires you to play a Tome in a Language your Investigator does not speak. Since most Allies speak English, the easiest such Tome to play is one in English. The R'Lyeh Text, a Chinese Tome, fits the theme of this deck (and has some minor play value), so the Inquisitive Chinese Intellectual, who speaks Chinese but not English, can be used in this deck.
Munchkin Cards:
Adventures
Summon Great Cthulhu
Comments: I have two versions of this deck, one with the Greek Necronomicon (Question and Octopus icons), and the other with the Chinese Seven Cryptical Books of H'San (Question and Diamond icons). Both allow you to draw an additional card at the beginning of a Round. The Greek Necronomicon is not in a language the Chinese Investigator speaks, and is translated by John Scott or Carl Stanford (see Secrets of the Silver Twilight). The Seven Cryptical Books of H'San does not overlap in any icons with the R'Lyeh Text and takes a little work to put into this deck; it's only here because it's nowhere else. Needless to say, with so many different icons, the Voorish Sign (which allows you to move spells among your deck and Allies who can cast spells) is part of this deck.
Secrets of the Silver Twilight
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck. John Scott and Carl Stanford can also be used for the Three Allies requirement. Star Spawn of Cthulhu are suggested since they fit the theme of the deck.
Seeking Everlasting Life I
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck.
Introduction: You don't actually need Dholes in this deck (any Greater Monster that Joins will do), but this is the only deck of mine that has them. (Dholes are best used with Underground Locations, and there aren't enough Underground Locations to support a deck, other than perhaps Kingsport.) Boston also has fewer Locations and Allies than other Cities, so this is also my only Boston-only deck.
Only two Adventures, totalling 14 Adventure Points, are obviously suited for Boston: Secrets of the Silver Twilight (+8), and The Curious Parcel (+6). At one time, this deck had The Temple (+7) and Seeking Everlasting Life I (+5) instead of The Theron Marks Society (+6).
Sets: Limited Edition
Summary: Boston Deck. Artifact / Tome deck.
Munchkin cards:
Investigator: Any Non-English Investigator
Adventures:
The Curious Parcel
Comments:
Secrets of the Silver Twilight
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck. John Scott and Carl Stanford can also be used for the Three Allies requirement. A non-English speaking Investigator who speaks a non-English language is a reasonable choice for an Investigator, since it fulfills the requirements for both The Curious Parcel and Secrets of the Silver Twilight.
The Theron Marks Society
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck.
Introduction: A somewhat mundane deck, here's another example of a deck using The Dunwich Horror. This deck has many extra card "slots", so you can customize it. Despite the high card overlap between its two Adventures, I've had a hard time playing this deck. If you play Locations to fulfill The Dunwich Horror, then find yourself able to play The Theron Marks Society, you've "wasted" the many many turns you spent playing the Locations for The Dunwich Horror. Finally, see comments for Two-Adventure Decks.
Sets: Limited Edition
Summary: Dunwich Deck. Artifact / Tome deck. Dunwich (Country), Arkham.
Munchkin cards: Yithian Mental Contact, Unexpected Calamity. Yithian prevents a card from discarding a Unique card you need. Unexpected Calamity ends a Round quickly so you can cycle through your deck faster.
Investigator: Any Latin or Greek Investigator
Adventures:
The Dunwich Horror:
Comments: See the Comments for The Dunwich Horror.
The Theron Marks Society
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck. Note the high card overlap with The Dunwich Horror. The Voola Ritual will allow you to summon a Greater Servitor if you need to play it in the same Round that you complete this Adventure. Scotophobia is fear of Night, and is a minor combo with Dunwich Horror's Full Moon. Many Dunwich Locations feature the Artifact Attribute, so playing the Weapons shouldn't be difficult.
It's not easy, but if you score The Dunwich Horror first, try to set up this Adventure by having the Weapons in play, the Remote Whately Farmhouse on the top of the story deck, and both the Greater Servitor and Scotophobia in your hand. (The Whateley's ability to increase your hand size shouldn't make this impossible.) Score The Dunwich Horror, play Scotophobia, summon the Greater Servitor with the Voola Ritual, then score The Theron Marks Society. That's twenty points of Adventures in four turns.
Introduction: Europe is a difficult Region to create a deck for. Simon Orne is the only European Corrupt Cultist, costing Sanity. Without another Corrupt Cultist, or another Ally costing Sanity, several Adventures violate the guideline of "Two cards for every requirement" and so can't really be placed in this deck. (Olas Wormius is a Corrupt Cultist that costs Sanity, but he can only be encountered in the Past. The effort of doing this isn't worth it.)
Simon Orne is also the only Corrupt Ally in Europe. Another can be made with the Mist Project (Weapon, Artifact), or by including the Dreamland's Richard Upton Pickman (Corrupt Friend, Any Cemetary).
This deck can easily be modified to include Lost in the Catacombs, by adding two copies of Samuel Winsor, but I wouldn't buy two copies of MSGS just because there's no Church in Europe.)
Sets: Limited Edition
Summary: Europe Deck. Straightforward. Tome deck.
Munchkin cards: Seeking Everlasting Life I.
Investigator: Any French Investigator who does not speak English
Adventures:
The Curious Parcel
Comments:
The Theron Marks Society
Comments: If you play a "weak" Phobia on an opponent, it will stay in play longer than if you play a Phobia your opponent wishes to remove. Thus, you can play a "weak" Phobia, score an Adventure, and reasonably count on that Phobia staying in play long enough to fulfill a requirement of an Adventure.
Seeking Everlasting Life I
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck.
The Interesting Shop
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck. All of this Adventure's requirements overlap those of the other Adventures.
Introduction: This deck was originally just The Expedition (+11) and The Great Epidemic (+9). It was easily altered to add The Interesting Shop (+5) and Seeking Everlasting Life I (+5), and any of the Adventures except The Expedition can be removed to keep this deck above the 20-point minimum.
Sets: Limited Edition
Summary: Arkham Deck. Tome deck.
Munchkin cards: Seeking Everlasting Life I. This deck is also a single-City deck, the fastest sort of deck to play.
Investigator: Any
Adventures:
The Expedition
Comments: Brackets indicate cards used in other Adventures in the deck. The Orne Library is suggested, since it's the only Miskatonic University Location with the Tome Attribute. The Tramp Steamer is the only Travel by Sea Event that allows you to return to the same Region you left from. You can use it to return to a Sanitarium (the alternative is to Walk to a Sanitarium, thus giving your opponents an opportunity to play an anti-Location card against you). Living Dead Join, so it's not difficult to play three Monster cards at once. If you aren't playing The Great Epidemic, you can use any four Joining Monsters, plus two Albino Penguins.
The Great Epidemic
Comments: Dr. Allen Halsey is an Uncommon, so it's difficult to collect four of him. However, with Herbert West being Unique, you may need to draw your entire deck before completing this Adventure, so three or two Halseys are acceptable in this deck. The Reporters plays a minor role by lowering your hand size by one, to hopefully draw the necessary cards. To kill off Halsey is unexpectedly difficult. He's immune to epidemics, and if no one attacks you, he can stay alive for quite awhile. The Arkham Asylum and Greenburg Asylums require you to draw a card; if the card is a Monster, it attacks, you can defend with Halsey. Alternately, various spells will turn an Ally into a Monster, and these can be used to put Halsey into your Story deck.
Also, a single Zombie will return to your Threat if any Ally was lost in Combat, so you can't assume a single Zombie you played to your Threat will end up in your Story deck. With Seeking Everlasting Life I, you will have Skull icons tomes, so can use the Command the Dead, a Skull icon spell, to summon a Zombie during your turn, have it go to your Story Deck, and play the Great Epidemic. Also, Dawn of a New Day buries Zombies when revealed, so you could use that spell to bury a lone Zombie.
Seeking Everlasting Life I
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck.
The Interesting Shop
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck. All of this Adventure's requirements overlap those of the other Adventures. The Interesting Shop isn't necessary for this deck, but the deck requires almost no modification to include this Adventure.
Introduction: Innsmouth's strengths are its Tome Locations, and its number of Corrupt Cultists (only Innsmouth and Providence have more than two Corrupt Cultists). Innsmouth has few Artifact Locations, and only the only Innsmouth Steadfast Ally is Abigail Winthrop Marsh. This deck shows off these strengths and weaknesses. With its Corrupt Cultists, Steadfast Allies, and Tome requirements, this deck can easily accomodate Seeking Everlasting Life I.
Sets: Limited Edition
Summary: Innsmouth Deck. Tome / Artifacts deck.
Munchkin cards: In the Nick ofTime. Nick allows you to cancel a pass and play another card. This deck is also a single-City deck, the fastest sort of deck to play.
Investigator: Any Investigator
Adventures:
Stand Against the Order
Comments: None of the Locations needed for this Adventure have the Artifact Attribute (needed for Dynamite)! Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck. Dynamite is discarded when used in combat (so can't be used for this Adventure if used), and tends to be a target for cards which cause Allies to attack your Allies or your Investigator.
One possible combo is to use the MSGS Dust of Suleiman and the Innsmouth Look together. Innsmouth Look turns your opponent's Ally (preferably one with Dynamite, of course) into a Lesser Independent in your opponent's Threat, then Dust of Suleiman allows you to control it. Another combo is that after you've scored this Adventure, you can use Become Spectral Hunter to turn your Ally with Dynamite into a Ally with an Enchanted Weapon. In either case, Boom. Finally, after using the Innsmouth Look, the MSGS Blaphemous Obeisance returns a card in a Directed Threat to a player's hand; you can potentially send back an Ally and his Weapon necessary to score an Adventure back to a player's hand, making his discarding at the end of a Round difficult.
The Outsider
Comments: If you wish to be really obnoxious, don't play Townsfolk Riot until you have two of them in your hand. Play one after another against an opponent as soon as he arrives at a Location. If he doesn't expect the two Riots, he'll use up his "best" Locations for the Round (and so can't play the Tomes, Artifacts, and Allies from his hand), and may even take the Riot's Sanity loss.
The Interesting Shop
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck. All of this Adventure's requirements overlap those of the other Adventures.
Introduction: Innsmouth is a great place to find Tomes, and a poor place to find Artifacts and Steadfast Allies -- which this deck needs. It's not one of my favorite decks, especially since I dislike Weapons. When playing this, I've noticed that many of these cards cause Sanity loss, so place three Sanitariums in this deck. With its Corrupt Cultists, Steadfast Allies, and Tome requirements, this deck can easily accomodate Seeking Everlasting Life I.
Sets: Limited Edition
Summary: Innsmouth Deck. Weapons / Tome deck.
Munchkin cards: This deck is a single-City deck, the fastest sort of deck to play.
Investigator: Any Investigator
Adventures:
The Unspeakable Oath
Comments: The problem with Weapons is that you need to play Allies first, and each Ally can only hold one Weapon. This isn't impossible, but compared to playing Tomes and Spells, playing Weapons is relatively more difficult, and there are more cards which bury Allies and Weapons than Tomes and Spells. In addition, because Innsmouth has so few Artifact Locations, you'll need to use duplicates. Furthermore, you can't use the "Serpent People Joins with Weapons" trick, because few Innsmouth Artifact Locations also have a Gate. If you have any Warhorses (from Dreamlands), use them for this deck; an Ally with a Warhorse may carry one additional Weapon. Finally, if none of your opponents have Weapons, you'll need to use Catastrophic Failure on your own Allies(!); Catastrophic Failure discards the Weapon, so you can't even apply the Weapon towards the Adventure.
Stand Against the Order
Comments: None of the Locations needed for this Adventure have the Artifact Attribute (needed for Dynamite)! Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck. Dynamite is discarded when used in combat (so can't be used for this Adventure if used), and tends to be a target for cards which cause Allies to attack your Allies or your Investigator.
One possible combo is to use the MSGS Dust of Suleiman and the Innsmouth Look together. Innsmouth Look turns your opponent's Ally (preferably one with Dynamite, of course) into a Lesser Independent in your opponent's Threat, then Dust of Suleiman allows you to control it. Another combo is that after you've scored this Adventure, you can use Become Spectral Hunter to turn your Ally with Dynamite into a Ally with an Enchanted Weapon. In either case, Boom. Finally, after using the Innsmouth Look, the MSGS Blaphemous Obeisance returns a card in a Directed Threat to a player's hand; you can potentially send back an Ally and his Weapon necessary to score an Adventure back to a player's hand, making his discarding at the end of a Round difficult.
The Interesting Shop
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck. All of this Adventure's requirements overlap those of the other Adventures.
Introduction: This deck is the Penguin Hunting In The Middle East deck without the Great Menagerie cards.
Introduction: I have trouble imagining the Whateleys piling into a U-Boat, but there you are. Anyway, the drawback of The Lost Temple is that the Lost Temple of Atlantis, a required card, is Unique, so you normally don't know where it is in the deck. But The Dunwich Horror's Unique cards almost guarantee that you will cycle through the entire deck before completing it, so you will draw the Lost Temple of Atlantis; keep it in your hand until you need it for The Temple Adventure. Also see comments for Two-Adventure Decks.
Sets: Limited Edition
Summary: Dunwich Deck. Tome deck. Dunwich, Arkham.
Munchkin cards:
Investigator: Any Latin or Greek Investigator, preferably with a high Maximum (to hold the Lost Temple of Atlantis if it is drawn early)
Adventures:
The Dunwich Horror
Comments: As said, if you draw the Lost Temple of Atlantis, do not discard it! Some Whateleys increase your hand size, so hoarding Lost Temple cards isn't too difficult.
The Temple
Comments: Most Dunwich Locations have the Artifact Attribute, so playing the Lost Temple Artifacts will not be a problem. You may wish to have a second The Temple Adventure in your deck, so you don't need to hold onto the Adventure if you draw it early in the game.
Introduction: A somewhat mundane deck, here's an example of a deck using The Dunwich Horror. See comments for Two-Adventure Decks. If you use a Latin Investigator and the Latin Edition of the Necronomicon, which is a Skull icon Tome, it's not difficult to add Seeking Everlasting Life I to this deck.
Sets: Limited Edition
Summary: Dunwich Deck. Tome deck. Dunwich, Arkham.
Munchkin cards: In the Nick of Time.
Investigator: Any Latin or Greek Investigator
Adventures:
The Dunwich Horror
Comments: See Comments for The Dunwich Horror.
Seeking Everlasting Life I
Comments: Brackets indicate a card used in another Adventure for this deck. Almost of this Adventure's requirements overlap those of The Dunwich Horror.
The Outsider
Comments: This Adventure can be completed in Arkham, once you have the Dunwich Corrupt Cultists in play. The number of Events necessary for this Adventure makes it unlikely you can quickly play this Adventure after completing The Dunwich Horror.
If you wish to be really obnoxious, don't play Townsfolk Riot until you have two of them in your hand. Play one after another against an opponent as soon as he arrives at a Location. If he doesn't expect the two Riots, he'll use up his "best" Locations for the Round (and so can't play the Tomes, Artifacts, and Allies from his hand), and may even take the Riot's Sanity loss.