Hi folks,

I'm pretty new to the game, I've played 6 games so far and have just bought the secrets of arkham.set.

What expansion is recommended after secrets of arkham? I've read others say to get a second core set but I'd rather have some variety.

Is there a minimum number of cards that can make up a starting deck?

Apologies if this is answered elsewhere but I couldn't see it.

If you don't want to get a second core set yet, the next best would be to get the 'Terror in Venice' deluxe set, since it has cards for every faction. It also reintroduces Day/Night cards and Conspiracies that are actually worth it.

Note, that TiV also contains six cards for the Silver Twilight faction which is just about enough to give them a test as a secondary faction.

I agree, Terror in Venice is the best next step if you don't want a second Core.

A deck must be at least 50 cards. There is no maximum size, but smaller is usually better in card games as it makes your deck a little more consistent. You don't have to be obsessive about it though, I took a 51 card deck to Gencon and Regionals and it's not a big deal. Jonathan Leske is another top player who went to Gencon with a 51 card deck.

For clarification, domain cards don't count towards the deck minimum, right? For example, a 50 card deck can include 3 extra cards for starting domains for a total of 53 cards, is that correct?

Correct. Domain cards are not part of your deck.

Domain covers don't even need to be cards. And, you don't need to use anything to cover your domains at all, since their contents are open information. People just use them to look nice.

Just to be clear though, you cannot select cards out of your deck to be your domain covers, using them as a sort of "sideboard" of what to remove in different match ups.