Im sure everyone knows about the cursed skull/m.u. museum of natural history combo by now. I've recently built a deck trying to abuse the combo. Here is what I have been working with:

3 archealogy interns-card draw

3 obsessive insomniac-mmm more card draw

3 dr bartlett-turns into mu only invulnerable character when negotium is out

3 board of directors-searches out the museum

3 many angled thing-sacrifice on a stick!

3 flying polyps-more invulnerable

3 guardian of the key-protects the museum or skull

3 servants of glaaki-good 2 drop and makes glaaki cheaper to play

2 glaaki-end game finisher

3 initiation of glaaki-kills opponents dudes and can possibly get one or more of my dudes back

3 a single glimpse-cheap sacrifice

3 journey to the other side-digs deap into the deck to get what i need

3 unearthing the ancients-mmm card draw

3 eldrich nexus-helps set up multiple domains to get full effectiveness out of the combo

3 cursed skull-cheap sacrifice and part of the combo

3 m.u. museum of natural history-what makes the deck tick and the gift that keeps on giving

3 negotium-helps slow rush down and makes the dr invulnerable

So who else has tried making this deck in the past? Anyone tried making it recently? I've been tweaking and tuning the deck for the past week or so. Any cards or characters that should obviously be in the deck that I overlooked?

I haven't tried it personally.

So the idea is that you can repeatably sac an opposing character, with the cost per sac being two separate domains - one of which must contain a Yog resource? Also, you need a 2-cost Miskatonic support card in play to enable retrieving the Cursed Skull.

In general I'm not sure if the efficiency of using two domains is good enough. I don't mind a single Cursed Skull because I can pay half the cost whenever I have a spare domain (it will happen sometime) and then I have a 1-cost Sacrifice. For two domains, I don't know.

I think you are correct that the key to making this more viable is more domains and putting in cards like Eldritch Nexus. If you can add a domain then it's back to feeling more like a 1-cost Sacrifice once per turn.

Having more Sacs also makes sense because you often have to blast through someone's "weenie shield" of cheap characters before you can start saccing their good characters.

Anyway, I've been working on building a small library of deck lists from the forums to use on Lackey - I'll add this to the collection and if I get to try it out sometime post some feedback.

I agree with dboeren. The cost of two domains is just a bit high. The main counterpart to this deck is a Single Glimpse recursion, using The Large Man, and that only costs you one domain. Your deck has both, but it's just a lot cheaper bringing back Single Glimpse than it is to bring back the Skull.

Why not have both then? Find room for the Large Man and use whichever retrieve is available at the time.

To expand on that… You can use The Large Man as your primary when he's available, and whenever you have a spare 1-domain throw down a Skull. By using otherwise unused resources the card becomes more efficient.

good idea! i approve! keep up the ideas!

I was playing this deck last night and I was really digging it. I've already made some changes though. And although returning a single glimpse over and over is fun with the large man I didn't realize he had such a brutal forced response. It can really screw up my plans. He will probably end up coming out because I don't want to mill my own cards when I'm succeeding at stories.

Well, you're not going to mill yourself out of the game - it's only a few cards. The thing to do is to benefit from it. Have more cards in your deck that can bring stuff back out of the discard and let the milling work in your favor

So I gave your deck a go last night, with one small modification. I added 2xThe Large Man to it. I wasn't sure what to take out so I just let the deck be a little bigger. Some notes on the cards:

3 archealogy interns- drawn once, resourced

3 obsessive insomniac- useful, but being Loyal delayed his appearance

3 dr bartlett-used once, but didn't have a Conspiracy. He was basically there because I needed someone with Investigation

3 board of directors-never drew any of these

3 many angled thing-only drew one, but got played

3 flying polyps-wanted to keep him, but drew him too early so he ended up as a resource

3 guardian of the key-put into play, didn't have to use his guardian ability

3 servants of glaaki-had 1 in play, didn't draw any others

2 glaaki-never drew him, or came close to affording him

3 initiation of glaaki-Never had a Servant in the discard pile and had cheaper sacrificers so ended up resourcing 2 of these

3 a single glimpse-Resourced one, relied on Skulls

3 journey to the other side-used on the last turn of the game

3 unearthing the ancients-needed as an initial resource since my hand had very little MU in it

3 eldrich nexus-Only found 1 but it was very handy for skulls

3 cursed skull-Had two of them bouncing up and down

3 m.u. museum of natural history-Put one in play, didn't find any more but it was enough

3 negotium-Never drew one

2 the large man-Drew one in my initial hand, sadly resourced him later because I needed affordable characters

It's only one test, but we beat an Agency/Miskatonic deck. Once I had two sac's per turn and he happened not to draw any characters that turn he was about finished as his supply of replacements went dry for a moment and we cleaned up at the stories.

Elder Thing Scavenger is another possibility for the deck, he costs 4 but not only brings the Skull back but also puts it into play for you - with the catch being that you need to use it immediately or lose it. However, with the Skull this isn't a problem and it conserves a domain. The Museum is still useful for early game and to pre-pay for Skulls you intend to use another turn.

Yea i have already made some changes myself and they are much better. I took out the servants of glaaki and glaaki and put in master of myths and the red gloved man. I also took out the interns for randolph carter. It runs much better.

Hmm, I hadn't really looked at Randolph Carter much - his ability is pretty pricy even if you do get another token out of it. Also, he costs a fair bit to play as well if you don't have Anthropology Advisor to cheapen him. He does have Willpower though and a good skill. Probably a fair deal if you can afford him.

The closest cheaper thing would probably be Eryn Cochwyn, but she's not as buff as Randy and has a more negative impact from using her ability.

Im not sure if you understand randolph correctly. If he's unopposed and you use his ability then you win the story in one go. With this deck it's not too hard to keep the field clear. I figured if any deck could make good use of him it would be this one,

Ah, you're right I was just thinking about skill winning you one extra token and overlooking the additional token from unopposed.

Yes, that definitely makes him worth taking.

Oh, that's surprising to me, I wouldn't have guessed that you can use Randolph Carter this way. I thought that "determine success" is not interchangeable with "skill check". And you only get an additional token for being unopposed after being successful at a story, but Randolph Carter uses "skill check" and states to do that immediately after the initial check (which reads to me "before checking for being unopposed", but I might be completely wrong about that).

I can't find anything in the rules and FAQ to confirm or falsify that assumption about interchangeability… do you know of a rule answer from FFG about this topic?

I haven't been able to check the FAQ yet, but I glanced at the rulebook quickly over lunch and I think they are synonymous from that. Best thing to do is send the question to Damon. He should be back from Gencon now and be able to give a definitive ruling for you.

The rules link is on this page:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_npm_sec.asp?eidm=31&esem=2

As it turns out, kamacausey was actually playing a different deck at Gencon so the question didn't come up there.

Got an answer from Damon Stone. Randolph Carter can't win you a story in one go just by himself.

Q: Are the terms "determining success" and "skill check" completely interchangeable? Or does "skill check" not include the unchallenged-story-bonus? I'm wondering if an unopposed Randolph Carter can win a story in one go by paying 3…

A: The unopposed happens once as a separate check after the skill check.

thank you for the answer. well i guess hes going to be coming out