This deck focused on getting the Trusty Bullwhip as fast as possible since it can keep him moving even when enemy spawns, in turn let him continue doing the job and pumping his resource + draw passive uninterrupted.

In true solo play, whip is especially critical because there is no one else to take engagement from high low enemy, he might die on the spot without the whip!

Underworld Support reducing deck size is a simple way to see the whip more often, ideally on hard mulliganing. Other than this, you can say "even" when playing Jeremiah Kirby. Lost whip for whatever reason has a chance of coming back via Professor William Webb in the upgrade.

The other star of this deck is Michael Leigh as opposed to more popular Gené Beauregard. Allowing the accurate whip to deal a very "useful" 3 damages in one action, hopefully instantly free him from enemy draws and continue his job for the remaining actions while the whip and Michael both exhausted for the rest of this turn.

► About "2 Packs Deck Guide"
　A series of decks made with the new distribution model in mind, requiring a Revised Core Set box + just 1 more Investigator Expansion box. ❄ character on the deck's name means the additional box it uses is Edge of the Earth Investigator Expansion.
　It maximizes the chance of newcomers being able to build and learn to play the game, enjoying the story on Standard difficulty ASAP. They can then get into deck-building later if they wished to do so. See other decks in the "2 Packs Deck Guide" series here.

2 Packs Team Compositions

2 Packs Deck Guide : Edge of the Earth series is now complete with the following decks :

• Daniela Reyes: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Burning Bruiser
• Daniela Reyes: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Tanking Cats and Dogs
• Norman Withers: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Double Icons in the Stars
• Norman Withers: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Norman the Miskatonic Tutor
• Monterey Jack: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : The Underworld Bullwhip
• Lily Chen: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Lily the WILL AGI Battle-Mage
• Bob Jenkins: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Short Supply Scavenging
• Roland Banks: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Roland the Real, Authentic Spy
• Daisy Walker: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Guns and Books
• "Skids" O'Toole: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Destiny Draw
• Agnes Baker: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Agnes the "Mahou Shoujo"
• Wendy Adams: ❄ 2 Packs Deck Guide : Wendy Lovecrafting

To help assembling a party made entirely from just 2 packs, I have a tool that let you browse team compositions for 2 players, 3 players, and 4 players, that has manageable amount of card overlaps or even none at all. The result is sorted from low to high overlaps. Click here to see all team comps.

Upgrade guide

I almost ran out of card to fill 25 1x criteria for Underworld Support with 2 packs I have. In effect, we have got a lot of junks that would be quickly replaced on upgrades.

(View at arkham-starter.com)

Ally set

You will be delighted when you purchase Michael Leigh. Since this is an Underworld Support deck, even 1 purchase is enough to see him often. Making your 5 XP very worthwhile.

This is his source of +1 damage other than the single whip exhaust he has each turn. Michael Leigh do not exhaust when refilling evidence, but do exhaust to use +1 damage.

You can deal 3 damages in 1 action now by using the whip's +1 damage and Michael's evidence. You will soon realize how 3 HP enemy instantly dies is so useful to keep him moving. No more auto-evade when you can just kill it.

When using +1 damage, you must exhaust Michael Leigh on attack's initiation, not after it succeed. If you misses, you still lose the evidence.

Charisma is critical to improve flexibility should you get Jeremiah Kirby before or after Leo De Luca. Likely you want to keep Michael Leigh static, and try to have the other one Leo De Luca to pump resource and cards from Monterey's ability.

Though if you do get Jeremiah Kirby before Leo De Luca, utilize +1 he has and use him to search for Trusty Bullwhip. It is best if you get Buried Secrets while having him.

Equipments set

We keep .41 Derringer since our card collection don't have any other suitable weapon. (Not even the 2 XP version is usable with him.) With Michael Leigh passive buff and Ice Pick, he can sometimes dispose 2 HP low combat enemy faster with the gun without spending Michael Leigh's evidence. Overpower helps getting +1 damage from the gun.

Have to keep in mind Monterey has exhaust condition on +1 damage in everything, both whip and Michael Leigh. Gun can be clutch to fix enemy swarm because it could fire multiple times.

Also even with Underworld Support sometimes the whip is buried down below, discarded from play by scenario effect, or a monster telling you to discard from top of deck rapidly and the whip is gone. It is just too risky in true solo for that to be your only lifeline. (Do try to use Professor William Webb you will add later to get back the whip if you can.)

Hiking Boots is great when you start the turn with multiple unfinished clues. Trying to drain the clue and move to retain passive bonus may cause him to be too behind in term of gearing up. With the boots, you can immediately move for free then use your extra action to gear up. It also allows you to use your final action to pick up the final clue, then move to still activate Monterey's bonus. +1 also improves Trusty Bullwhip's accuracy without costing any equipment slot. Very good asset!

Pickpocketing despite looking like it has synergy with whip auto-evade, Monterey already has good draw option by moving. I found it not so useful.

Research set

Skip if you haven't completed your research yet. Choose any version you like but I would choose "Acheron" for multiplayer, and "Aldebaran" for solo.

Survival accessories set

Improve horror survivability with Elder Sign Amulet. After upgrading Ice Pick, we immediately get Professor William Webb (3) which is able to revive Elder Sign Amulet, further reduce the chance of dying by horror.

This set closes out with Disc of Itzamna, which Professor William Webb (3) can also get back after triggering its 1-use abililty. Professor can also get back discarded Ice Pick (3) to accelerate clue works.

In my opinion, Relic Hunter is not needed here, as the disc is likely short lived. With some management it should cycle with Elder Sign Amulet just fine.

At this point we have 4 Ally, luckily Monterey that walks a lot should be able to afford and replace them, preferably stabilizing at Leo De Luca + Michael Leigh.

Ice Pick (3) is yet another rare +1 damage that Monterey additionally has, a pseudo Vicious Blow if you will. He is now able to one-shot 4 HP enemy together with Michael Leigh's evidence and whip's exhaust +1 hit, at high accuracy when wearing Hiking Boots.

It can be clutch in true solo to have Professor William Webb recurse .41 Derringer or Ice Pick (3) if you happened to draw a lot of enemies that you cannot continue the scenario. Also if your Trusty Bullwhip is gone because of supernatural reasons (there are a lot), this professor here can help restoring your whip.. you will want to take him to dinner after all these are over.

Extra relic set

Before this set you would have used 23 XP, which is an average end game XP. You may not able to afford this set.

If you can't managed to finish the Archive of Conduits research and haven't spent that 4 XP upgrade yet, and you are nearing the end, it is time to give up the research and replace it with Eon Chart. Otherwise if you finished the research, remove Scout Ahead instead.

Monterey's puzzle

His ability will give you a constant puzzle each turn : "How could I move every turn?" Because you will receive the reward once you say you end your turn if you do so.

This puzzle looks simple, until you draw some enemies and you tangle yourself several turns later.

• Sometimes you are desperate to move and can move, but there is nothing to do at the destination. Maybe you can fix this by not draining all the clues in one go?
• Sometimes you made mistake how many locations away from mixture of exhausted, engaged, or ready enemies all over the map, should you stop each turn. Simulating Hunter enemy's movement carefully and you will be rewarded with resource and draws, while appearing to be slippery. Each Enemy Phase, the game will give you evaluation whether you made the right choice or not.
• Sometimes you are not sure should you move 1 and 1 again the next turn, or 2 this turn?
• Adding to the fun and headache, we have Leo De Luca, Scout Ahead, Elusive, Archive of Conduits that help you with the movement.
• We have Pocket Telescope that let you virtually extend your movement range.
• We have Trusty Bullwhip to help you ensure 1 evade to continue moving even when enemies are in the way.

If you love pathfinding and ahead of time calculation similar to when playing Chess, you will love the brainteaser of this character!

How to use Trusty Bullwhip

• Exhaust does not cause the text box to become blank. You can still Fight again and again, just that exhaustion is the cost of auto-evade/+1 damage, you cannot do that multiple times. (Therefore, there is no incentive to normal-whip first then finish with auto-evade/+1 damage on your final whip in the turn.)
• The decision to exhaust comes after a successful hit. You can retry as many times as you like to get the hit and proc either auto-evade or +1 damage. (On the contrary, Michael Leigh in this deck must declare +1 damage and spend evidence before the attack.)
• Remember the Fast keyword.
  • It does not cost any action to equip (just the resources)
  • It also allows you to equip after drawing an enemy without getting AoO. Seeker often has multiple tools on hand and it is hard when to gear up for fight. With Fast, he can gear up after enemy is engaged with him and continue investigating freely with full 2-handed tooling.
  • Allows you to pull out sick combo following weapons running out of its limited use, as if you always have a whip "under" any hand equipment as the 3rd slot. (It is trusty after all!)
  • For example, use Knife throw or shooting with .41 Derringer on its last ammo, while an another hand having Ice Pick to boost or Flashlight/Pocket Telescope planned to continue using after the fight, on the 2nd action. If that didn't defeat the monster, use Fast to play Trusty Bullwhip bumping out 0 ammo .41 Derringer or into the vacant slot from the Knife, then use either whip +1 damage or whip-evade to survive an another turn.
• Monster usually either have high or high , but not both. An another way to read the auto-evade hit is that you can evade by using your against the monster's low and even deal 1 damage. If monster have low and high instead, then you perform a regular Evade. With the whip, you can handle any enemy equally! (Without the whip, high low enemy would be the worst for him to engage.)
• Always think about moving even in a turn you are fighting with the whip. Resource gain or card draw makes a big difference sometimes. Therefore, Evade has extra value for Monterey as it allows him to exercise a bit for resource/draw and rejoin the fight next turn. Whip's auto-evade Fight was made for this.
• If some unfortunate events cause it to be in discard pile, remember that Professor William Webb included in this deck can still recover it back.
• Hyperawareness can boost accuracy because it uses instead of . Auto-evade hit works even with Elite enemy. Using pump cards maybe critical to winning the scenario! (Especially that Monterey can get a lot of resources by moving.)

Delay fighting

It maybe your instinct that after drawing an enemy :

• You have to finish it before continuing the investigation.
• At least evade so you can fight it longer without taking damage.

With Monterey, sometimes both are wrong!

You can evade and move away, then resume your job even when that enemy is Hunter. (Also applies to true solo play, where there is no one else to take the enemy other than you.)

Remember that evade will exhaust the enemy and it won't move, just readies. So you can do your job on the nearby location safely. However if it is a disengage (e.g. Elusive or Archive of Conduits (Aldebaran)) you may want to move away one more time since it would follow you.

When it closes in, you evade again (preferably with your Trusty Bullwhip) and walk to do job in the other way. Monterey has advantage of gaining tempo while doing this with his ability. If the other clue gatherer try to do this, too much would be wasted on moving around.

Leo De Luca's additional action for movement is critical to pull off this sort of thing.

Say NO to all optional cards!

Since this is an Underworld Support deck where we benefit from smaller deck size, if the campaign optionally offer some cards, donate them all to the other investigator no matter how good it looks. You will be in pain when Trusty Bullwhip is not trusty and Michael Leigh is nowhere to be found!

Staying on the move with Leo De Luca

Monterey has special synergy with Leo De Luca's extra action. Leo is great when the extra action does not require any chaos bag pull. He should mainly use it to move to trigger his passive resource + card pump.

In no time, you will make back Leo De Luca's cost!

Fighting

It is discouraged to stay at the same location and fight + evade to survive until the enemy dies since you will lose out on your passive skill for multiple turns, even though evade saved you from damages.

You must stay on the move. Therefore, evade is critical not only you don't take damage, but so you can move afterwards and still consistently getting resource or draw bonus. The destination should have clues so he can get work done while wearing down the enemy slowly.

To do this, you should use the Trusty Bullwhip's auto-evade exhaust when you can't finish it this hit, then move away to get the bonus. The next turn, you can move to close in, whip-exhaust-auto-evade, then move out, preferably to the other side so you get both draw and 1 resource. When the enemy has 2 HP left, use the +1 damage whip exhaust to finish it off.

This kind of heavy movement play is only possible with Leo De Luca. So save up resources for him!

Investigating

Try to investigate multiple locations at once by moving back and forth as you drain clues simultaneously to get his bonus. Leo De Luca make this not too action hungry.

With Pocket Telescope you can dance around location even while trying to drain multiple clues off one location and there is no more on nearby location.

Michael Leigh guide

The other ally we aim to use Charisma is Michael Leigh.

This character makes the deck solo play compatible. Trusty Bullwhip is very accurate but has limited +1 damage hit. With Michael Leigh, we can get both accuracy and +1 damage for one more time.

The most useful is to use Trusty Bullwhip's +1 damage hit and use evidence together, dealing 3 damages in one hit. The key to prevent enemy piling up is to dispose it in the fewest actions as possible, so you can relocate with your remaining actions. 3 HP enemies will no longer be your obstacle that much.

Keep in mind you have to commit his evidence before the attack, but whip's exhaust +1 damage can be decided after it does hit. If you fail, whip does not exhaust, but Michael loses evidence.

Refilling Michael Leigh's evidence is natural for Monterey as he investigates and refilling does not exhaust, only +1 damage does.

He also gives +1 so .41 Derringer became somewhat usable. Note that in the 2 packs we have, this base .41 Derringer is the only non-signature weapon he can equip. It is a fail-safe just in case you can't get a hand on the whip.

Lastly, in early scenario (even before you get Charisma) you will be glad to have his 3 horrors soak. Later we will add Elder Sign Amulet to help taking horror hits instead of him.

Jeremiah Kirby guide

If the deck didn't grant Leo De Luca for you and you are ended up with Michael Leigh + Jeremiah Kirby, that is fine! Don't forget he gives +1 permanently as well. In effect, you will be more prepared to fix Buried Secrets should you stand at difficult location.

More importantly, should you say even or odd?

• If still missing Trusty Bullwhip, say "even".
• If you just want a lot of draws, perhaps for commits, say "even". Majority of this deck is "even".
• Inversely, if you want less hits for some odd reason, say "odd". Or you are looking for the following cards : .41 Derringer, Ice Pick, Professor William Webb, Backstab, Scout Ahead.

He can often fish out Archive of Conduits to begin your pilgrimage early enough in the scenario. This card is difficult since it seems to come mid or late part in a scenario, and you have already done your job for many locations, making you give up and have to try again the next scenario. Soon, you will run out of scenario to research!