Then she thought of the curse's form as told by the Indians. She wouldn't be killed—just turned to a spotted snake. Ugh! So she would be like those things she had glimpsed on the floor—those things which Yig had sent to get her and enroll her among their number!
- H. P. Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop, The Curse of Yig

It’s a popular tactic, especially among Shub-Niggurath baddies, to disguise themselves as people. While humans are inconsequential in the vast scope of the universe if you’re, say, a Mi-Go visitor, sometimes you’ll need to blend in a little to get your job done. Time to put on that man-suit. If there is any trouble you are only one Shocking Transformation (Core Set, F140) away from revealing your true nature and sending any onlookers away screaming.

Now that Yig (Screams from Within, F85) and his cursed serpents have joined Cthulhu’s cause, this practice has become a lot more common. Every cultist can be a Disguised Threat (The Cacophony, 104). The serpents themselves are very malleable, flexible characters with their ability to turn their terror icons into other advantages. But this is only one side of the story.

A Fear of Snakes

In a slight twist on the Serpent ability, Disguised Serpent Man (Perilous Trials, F24) can actually generate terror icons almost at will. Three combat icons on a three cost character is reasonable enough. Having potential terror icons is often enough to scare other characters away, or to force them to band together so your Ravager from the Deep (Core Set, F46) can mob them up.

If you want to go for a serpent theme deck, he’ll add some nice icon variety and with bonuses from cards like Yig or Stygian Idol (The Spoken Covenant, F45) he is automatically protected from insanity effects while keeping his full combat abilities. Serpents really like their terror icons, so Sword of Y'ha-tallo (Core Set, F54) isn’t far out of place and pushes the Serpent Man to 4 combat.

Even without all the subtype boosting, there is little competition in your combat needs for Cthulhu decks, cheap-character wise. Often, the combat heavy characters in this faction are Deep Ones, and they come with only two combat. Only Ravenous Piranhas (Murmurs of Evil, F24) betters the Disguised Serpent Man, though they have to do without protection from insanity. Be careful of thinly veiled disguises!