Cops & Robbers

By kamacausey, in Call of Cthulhu Deck Construction

This past week I have decided to build 2 new decks. One based on cops(agency) and one based on robbers(syndicate). Below are the two decks. Feel free to chime in with comments and suggestions about the decks.

Cops

characters : 32

3 special agent clarkston

3 paul lemond

3 agency groundskeeper

3 repo man

3 trial judge

3 undercover security

3 governemnt exorcist

3 unorthodox psychologist

2 descendat of eibon

2 marshal greene

2 the captain

2 norman blackwood jr.

events : 9

3 catastrophic explosion

3 shotgun blast

3 flanking manuever

support : 9

3 beneath the burning sun

3 the rays of dawn

3 prize pistol

Robbers

characters : 36

3 degenerate gambler

3 clover club bouncer

3 clover club torch singer

3 clover club executive

3 smugglers

3 hard case

3 extorionist

3 triggerman

3 johnny v's dame

3 small time magician

3 tattoo artist

3 expendable muscle

events : 6

3 panic

3 low blow

support : 8

3 tear gas

3 gun runners club

2 the seventh house on the left

The idea was to have the agency go with the government theme and the syndicate go with the criminal theme. Both decks have ways to bring in their characters cheaper. The agency have special agent clarkston and the syndicate have johnny v's dame. Both decks are pretty fast rush decks. The criminals are faster but the agency have more staying power. I liked the theme behind each deck so I wanted to build them both. Anything in either one of these decks that I missed that should be in either deck?

Thanks,

-kamacausey

I know little about Agency at this point, but since you're bringing Beneath the Burning Sun you might want to look at Border Patrol Guard. Get a little more mileage out of it being Day.

Also, definitely read through the Syndicate thread we've got going - there are some good card recommendations in there.

If you have Jade Emperor I'd consider taking Forcing the Truth in your deck over Low Blow (or something else if you prefer, maybe Tear Gas?). It's a better card unless there are Ancient Ones about, and there won't be if you're just going against cops. Mr. David Pan from the same set also seems really good.

You've got a high percentage of characters in there, you may be able to trim down a little to fit in some other events/supports. I'd look at maybe Kidnapping 101 or Bound & Gagged as possibilities.

tear gas is already in my deck. how is forcing the truth better than low blow? low blow can actually exhaust an ancient one where forcing the truth cannot. i like mr david pan though.

Yeah, for Syndicate Kidnapping 101 and Bound & Gagged add more versatility, as they give more options besides the typical exhausting and skill reduction that sometimes aren't enough. Personally i'm also a big fan of that character with all icons, Freelance Occultist or whatever? Also, Tyler Scindere is pretty good character even if you don't use his ability, as he is much more serious threat overall than typical Syndicate dudes. About Forcing The Truth: With Low Blow you deal one heavy hit that has wide range and can be extremely effective in right situation. Forcing The Truth on the other hand gives more versatility to you later in the turn and can possibly combo with some characters, and for me Syndicate is all about versatile trickery and wide range of options.

If you want more speed for Agency, New Recruit is a decent 1 drop along with Terrible Old Man. Even though i haven't tested TOM (hah :D ) in games yet, he seems like a serious early threat able to shut down struggles in early game when domains are still low on resources and usually exhausted. Shotgun and Military Bike are also pretty good Suppor cards that work together nicely. But then again, Prize Pistol which you already have is pretty much the best weapon for Agency right now. T-Men, altough expensive, has proven itself pretty effective later in the game over here, but my deck was more focused on small characters with few heavy hitter for later game, so heavy resourcing on single story didn't effect the overall effectivenes of the deck much. Your deck seems more like a midrange beatdown, so T-Men might not be such a good idea as you need to spread reources more evenly.

Too bad i don't have my old decklists anymore for my mono-faction decks, as the Agency deck i built (along with Cthulhu) was extremely brutal if opponent didn't get to disrupt the first couple of turns heavily enough.

I'm not sure if the Syndicate deck stands a chance against the Agency deck as they are set up right now. Their slight early advantage will probably fizzle out before they're able to win the game. I've put together two similarly themed decks using CCG cards, although I used Agency/Miskatonic vs. Syndicate/Shub.

I had to remove some of the more powerful Agency cards before the decks were about equal.

At the very least you should give the Syndicate Night cards to counter Beneath a Burning Sun (or just remove it!). In combination with Shadow team, there's no way for them to survive any combat struggle.

But really, this is just theorizing, only a couple of playtests can show if the decks are about equal.

The good guys are always supposed to win in the end anyways right? gui%C3%B1o.gif And yes I played the decks against each other last night and the agency deck smoked the syndicate deck.