COMMITMENT ISSUES
Dr. Carson x 3
Research Assistant x 3
Ya-Te-Veo x 3
Itinerant scholar x 3
The Forgotten explorer x 3
Dr. Mya Badry x 2
Binding Worm x 3
Arkham Inmate x 3
Thomas Olney x 2
Corrupted Midwife x 3
Grasping Chthonian x 2
Thunder in the East x 3
A Voros Hal’l Jon x 2
Dr. Carson’s Treatment x 2
Ia! Ia! Shudde M’ell x 2
Restless and Wary x 2
Shocking Transformation x 3
Arkham Asylum x 3
Disc of Itzamna x 3
Yes. A very strange deck. And probably not one to be taken seriously, and it’s only in a VERY rough prototype form, but from the single playtest that was performed during the nightly 3+hrs of lackey playing, its result was one I think you’ll find interesting and I thought I'd share. It certainly surprised me.
Somehow, it managed to come from 2 stories and 4 success tokens down, without a single 1 for myself, to winning the game. It was in an even rougher format then, so I’ve adjusted the deck to focus on the reason for this astounding turn around and try and speed up its appearance.
It really just involves one of those dreaded ‘combos’, that seem good on paper but fail on the field, but this one worked on this occasion, and I’m super keen to continue testing and refining it until I know if it’s repeatable and sustainable.
Enough blather though. Let’s get down to the explanation.
The main card is Binding Worm. The second piece to the puzzle is Arkham Inmate. The third any number of insanity restoring events or triggered effects of which there are 9. What occurs is that at the end of the opponents turn you drive Arkham Inmate insane. Upon restoring, you limit the opponents ability to commit to a story down to a single character. Of course this can’t be done with Binding Worm in place. That’s 1 uncontested story. Then you drive Arkham Inmate insane and restore and ready with either Dr. Carson, his Treatment, or Arkham Asylum, choosing another story to limit the opponent. That’s 2 uncontested stories. If you’re lucky and have the character numbers, you may even make it 3, but if this is possible it’s probably just best to do it again in your opponents round at a story they’ve almost won ( which is exactly the situation that happened last night ). From my initial thoughts, Dirk Sharpe should be the only character able to even enter these stories.
I’m not predicting it to be a possibility in every game, and again I stress that this is perhaps just an interesting idea. Combos are hard to maintain or even get functioning.
To try and get the Worm and Inmate into play I’ve got Shocking Transformation ( and some Misk weenies ) and A Voros Hal’l Jon, the prophecy which may let you search your deck for 2 cards ( and I’ll even Ya-Te-Veo a Research Assistant to make this happen if I have to ).
To keep them in play I’m trying to use Thomas Olney ( pay 2 to return a character from discard pile upon destruction ), Corrupted Midwife, and the Disc of Itzamna for the Binding Worm. Neither of them is unique though so multiples in play might also occur. Thunder in the East and Grasping Chthonian can help take care of any Snow Graves or text blanking attachments.
Itinerant Scholar is only really in there to see how effective a combo with Corrupted Midwife could be, but I’m thinking it may just be a project involving chasing ones own tail, and the skill throughout is low enough as it is, so I’m 99% sure he’ll go for something that holds the fort a little better until i can try and get things together, but I just wanna see before I ditch him.
There is a minor back up plan that involves nothing more than the Binding Worm and the cards Ia! Ia! Shudde M’ell and Restless and Wary, to make sure my side has the most readied characters and the capability to commit to more stories in pairs. This is a new addition so i have no idea of its functionality. i was previuosly messing around with Wolf Hunger and Ghoul Taint, but neither showed last night while the main attraction was revealing itself, and to begin with it was even a Shub / Hastur idea, but it proved too slow and got flattened 2 times before i thought to try the quicker, more insane repairing and investigation laden Miskatonic.
But last night quite blew me away when I managed to pick up a first and then commit uncontested to 2 stories 2 turns in succession to take the match, while a host of readied opponents could only look on. Cards like Open for Inspection included with this will finish a story in 1 turn and is quite likely to be explored.
Definitely a little out of field, fairly certain not stable enough to rely on, but I thought you might find it interesting. I will keep playtesting and refining over the next few nights and let you know how it goes !!