The city of Arkham is a dangerous place. Ghouls are tearing up the floorboards of your home, masked cultists plot behind closed doors and Deep Ones gather along the shore of the riverside. It can be daunting to build a deck that can overcome these challenges! Your collection offers you a lot of choices and it may be overwhelming knowing where to start. With an understanding of deckbuilding fundamentals (role, foundation, and economy), you can learn to build with confidence as you begin your fight against the Mythos.

When you first begin to form an idea for a deck to play, you must decide on what the goal of your deck is. Do you want your deck to fight enemies, gather clues, or do a little bit of both? These decisions determine your deck’s role, which defines what challenges you are responsible for solving in each scenario. Four major roles are available for an investigator to fill: the fighter, the clue-getter (or “cluever”), the flex, and the support. Knowing what role you are filling will help determine how you approach your deck’s construction from beginning to end.

When it comes to finding the right role for your deck, a lot of investigators provide you with some direction. Daisy Walker (Core Set, 2) has 5 Intellect, which means that she is naturally drawn to investigating and discovering clues. Michael McGlen (The Drowned City Investigator Expansion, 11) has 5 Combat and an ability that wants him constantly using Firearms, meaning that he will be drawn to fighting enemies. Other investigators may seem more naturally flexible: Roland Banks (Core Set, 1) has an ability that rewards you for defeating enemies and a signature weakness that calls for discovering clues, so he’ll naturally want to do a little bit of both. While most investigators can fit into any role, their cards will guide you to their specialty.

As you start deckbuilding and playing Arkham Horror: The Card Game, more focused roles will often lead to more success, but they are not without their weaknesses. Likewise, flexible roles can be very efficient, but they may lack the capabilities to solve the constant barrage of enemies and treacheries from the Mythos deck. This is one of the many reasons why there is no one hundred percent “right” way to build a deck, and why deckbuilding is open in this game. There are a lot of choices on what cards to put into your deck. To simplify those choices, start by looking at your deck’s foundation.

The foundation of your deck is the cards that best help you achieve your goal. Because of this, they are the first cards you want to add to your deck. This is the reason why the first decision for a deck is deciding a role, because knowing your role determines if a card helps achieve that role’s goal. The more cards that work towards strengthening your foundation—giving you consistency in fulfilling your role—the easier it will be for you to achieve your goal every turn.

The Fighter Role

The fighter’s primary goal is enemy management. This is usually done by utilizing weapons, events, and skills that do damage. In this role, the foundation of your deck starts with a very easy question: “What do I need to defeat enemies?” The number of cards to include can change depending on your deck’s size and other factors, but it is often good practice to include at least six weapons in a thirty-card deck. This means that twenty percent of the cards in your deck are a Weapon asset, and you can enhance this number by including cards that deal damage through other means. Knowing what to include can be daunting, but as you look through your card pool, ask yourself if a card helps deal enough damage for you to defeat an enemy every turn.

Roland Banks is looking to save Arkham from the rising ghoul threat, so he looks at the Weapon cards available to him. He finds a Machete, a .45 Automatic (Core Set, 16), and a Remington Model 1858 (The Drowned City IE, 22). These assets allow him to deal damage, but because two of these weapons use a limited form of ammo, he knows he wants more damage. Looking for other cards that deal damage, he also finds Beat Cop (Core Set, 18), Guard Dog (Core Set, 21), and Vicious Blow (Core Set, 25). He likes the damage that all of these cards provide, so he includes two copies of each in his deck. This batch of twelve cards will provide a solid foundation for him to build from.

The Cluever Role

The cluever’s primary goal is discovering clues and advancing the act. For the cluever, their foundation also starts with a very easy question: “What do I need to discover clues consistently?” While this isn’t an answer that is solved as easily as the fighter’s question, there are still aspects of a card that allow us to answer this. A cluever will be looking to find cards that easily boost their Intellect or allow them to gain additional clues during their actions.

Daisy Walker was called to Roland’s house to begin their investigation together. Daisy knows that she’s going to have to find clues, so she starts searching for cards that make investigation actions easier for her. The cards Magnifying Glass (Core Set, 30) and Dr. Milan Christopher (Core Set, 33), seem like strong inclusions, both of which increase her Intellect skill, allowing her more consistency for beating a location’s shroud value. She also flags Deduction (Core Set, 39), Drawn to the Flame (Core Set, 64), and Working a Hunch (Core Set, 37) as cards that allow her to get additional clues. Including two copies of each of these cards will help Daisy discover clues more consistently, meaning less time is required for her and Roland to draw Mythos cards.

The Flex Role

A flex investigator is a mix of a fighter and a cluever, solving whatever problems need to be solved at any given time, but at a less efficient rate. They excel at taking pressure off of other roles, and the question their foundation starts with is a mix of the fighter’s and cluever’s questions: “How can I always be ready to fight an enemy or discover a clue?” Because of this, you’d look for similar cards as both the fighter and cluever, but you wouldn’t specialize in either. Instead, you will try and find a balance between the two. This balance can be tricky, meaning that you may get a better understanding of a flex role after trying to build a specialized role.

The Support Role

The support role is very similar to the flex role where they will be looking at fighting enemies and discovering clues, but it isn’t the primary goal of the deck. Additionally, a support deck will seek to make life easier for the other players by providing healing, card draw, and helping the team pass challenging tests. While building a foundation, a support investigator must ask: “How am I making the game easier for my teammates?” This is the hardest question to answer, and support roles get better with more experience. If you are only providing support, you take that risk that you aren’t contributing enough to make up for the clues you aren’t discovering or the enemies you aren’t fighting. A balance between the three is a must and, like the flex role, this is a role that is harder to build than the others.

A solid foundation is key to a good deck; if a deck’s foundation isn’t solid, it’ll carry its weakness through every other aspect of deck construction. When you fire your last ammo from your .45 Automatic, you’ll want to ensure that you have another weapon ready for the next ghoul that is creeping around the corner. If you aren’t running enough weapons or cards that deal damage, you risk falling behind and that can cause you to get overwhelmed. This is why running multiple copies of the same card is important when you are learning deckbuilding. It may feel less exciting than including different cards, but redundancy means consistency, which means a better handle on the challenges awaiting you.

Economy

After solidifying your deck’s foundation, you can look at the other major deckbuilding fundamental: the economy of your deck. The economy of your deck consists of the cards that gain resources and draw cards. A deck’s economy is critical; without a solid economy, you won’t be able to keep up with the scenario. Drawing cards gives you more options for solving the scenario’s threats and gaining resources allows you to pay for those cards. One of the most common pitfalls is thinking you can get by on basic draw or resource actions and not including enough economy in your deck. While those actions can be helpful, they are less efficient than what player cards can provide. Support your strong foundation with a strong economy, searching your collection for options that draw cards and gain resources.

Taking advantage of neutral cards is a great way to do this. Every investigator has access to Emergency Cache (Core Set, 88), and that card is a good fit for almost any investigator. Additionally, the neutral skills of Guts (Core Set, 89), Perception (Core Set, 90), Overpower (Core Set, 91), and Manual Dexterity (Core Set, 92) are easy inclusions if you constantly test those skills. While these cards aren’t actual card draw, they replace themselves on a successful test, which draws you through your deck faster. Willpower is constantly tested by treacheries, making Guts a good inclusion in almost any deck because it turns your economy into protection.

Beyond neutral cards, look at cards within your investigator’s class pool. Class economy options provide interesting discoveries because some investigators can work with certain cards better than others. Agnes Baker (Core Set, 4) can utilize Forbidden Knowledge (Core Set, 58) in a way no other investigator can, turning her resource economy into damage. Daisy Walker’s ability allows her to turn Old Book of Lore (Core Set, 31) into a strong flow of card selection for herself and her teammates. These small interactions are numerous in the collection and too much to cover in detail. If you familiarize yourself with your investigator and their signature cards, you may discover some of these hidden synergies.

While a deck’s economy isn’t flashy, it is essential. Your economy gives your deck the tools it needs to remain functional. Beyond your initial deckbuilding, one thing to keep in mind while upgrading is not to replace your economy with the experienced cards you purchase. Upgrading your deck is its own challenge, but if you follow the idea of ensuring your foundation and economy stay strong, you will see more of an impact from your experienced cards.

The Remaining Pieces

With your foundation solidified and your economy built, you have the groundwork of a functional deck. Adding the remaining cards to your deck will fall a lot onto personal preference. This is where you will learn your style of play and where you’ll find the most enjoyable part of deckbuilding. Some players like assets, some like events, some like skills, and some like a balance of all three. Learning this will take time, so don’t rush it. When putting together the remaining half of your deck, consider a focus on survivability, flexibility, and fun.

Survivability is focused on additional defensive options, adding cards that take damage or horror for you (called “soak”), cards that heal, or cards that protect you against treachery cards ( Ward of Protection (Core Set, 65) and Lucky! (Core Set, 80) are two good examples of this). It may feel like you need numerous defensive options, but having too many can leave your offense lacking, meaning that you will ultimately spend more rounds drawing Mythos cards.

Cards that provide flexibility to your deck are cards that go outside of your role. A fighter that can grab a few clues (potentially with Evidence! (Core Set, 22)) or a cluever that can deal damage to a monster (like with “I’ve got a plan!” (The Dunwich Legacy Investigator Expansion, 107)) will give the entire team more consistency across the board. Being flexible across a team is good, but be aware that if you have a specialized role like a fighter or a cluever, you should keep your role the focus because that is what you are there to do.

Lastly, cards that are fun are some of the most important cards to add to your deck. They are the cards that you look at and want to play because you find them exciting. You may enjoy the flavor of wielding a Grotesque Statue (Core Set, 71) or throwing a stick of Dynamite (Core Set, 24) into a crowded room, and your deck should reflect that. As you build, you should always leave one or two slots in your deck for the cards you find fun.

If you focus on these aspects and master the fundamentals, you will find more success and understanding of deckbuilding. It is important to know why you would want to include which cards and when, and having this knowledge is key to looking at a card and assessing if it is worth it in your deck. As you build more decks, this will become more natural and you will begin to discover your play style. Armed with that, you will find more confidence in facing the onslaught of ghouls, the madness of Cthulhu, and the horrors of Arkham.

 

Written by Justin Cauti of PlayingBoardGames