I hate you, Carson (AUTOGRIEF MULTIPLAYER DECK)

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
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ruderep · 524

Couldn't they have just reprinted Trench Knife four times?

Carson is terrible. Awful stats, awful health/sanity, restrictive deckbuilding... I tend to think that an empty seat at the table would be better than having the butler on your team.

But. If there's one thing that Carson Sinclair is good for - and there is a maximum of one thing - then it's being the punching bag. The canary in the coalmine. The one who suffers.

This is an autogrief (i.e. self-grieving or sadomasochistic) deck that is, obviously, only for multiplayer. Your aim as the Carson "I have drawn the shortest of short straws" Sinclair player? Take all the damage, all the horror, and then die horribly. It's only slightly more than he deserves.

I hate you, Carson. So let's do this thing.

What am I supposed to do with these lousy cards?

Ugh. You've got some cards. I suppose you might as well play them. (Sadly there is officially no 'pass' action in Arkham Horror. EDIT: Turns out you can just burn your turn instead of taking actions, so fill your boots, Carson player, because that tea isn't going to make itself.)

  • Fighting Lessons, Leadership, and "As you wish" let Carson help other investigators pass tests, because goodness knows Carson is never going to do that.
  • Self-Sacrifice and "Let me handle this!" are important cards here because they allow Carson to be wounded and or take horror, which is all you really want to be doing. If he hasn't been hurt during a given round, you have failed. Beg your fellow players to throw everything at Carson and let the Mythos phase continually punch his stupid face (look at it - it's almost as if he understands).
  • Tetsuo Mori, True Grit, Solemn Vow, Hallowed Mirror: all of these try to address Carson's 6/6 health/sanity, which, if you keep letting him take a well-deserved kicking, are not going to last long. Either pile on the soak or heal as needed. (Tetsuo - a kindred spirit to CS, because all he wants to do is bite the dust - can find the Mirror for you.)
  • Perseverance. What is more fulfilling than watching Carson Sinclair die? Bringing him back from the brink with Perseverance, and then watching him die.
  • Safeguard. Carson may well draw Frozen in Fear or something in Mythos, which may limit how many actions he can take (oh no). Safeguard can let other players drag him along, letting him commit icons to their tests and generally take the punishment for them.
  • Take Heart, because you are going to be failing so many tests.
  • Last Chance, because you will be committing so many cards.
  • Runic Axe and Makeshift Trap: I thought long and hard about putting cards in this deck that might actually let Carson do something useful, but ultimately the axe is there to give him a slim chance of maybe dealing with a low-health enemy if he has to (spend two charges to go 5 and do +1 damage is still not great) and the trap lets him pin down or weaken enemies for other people to take out, before, ideally, having it blow up in his face (after customizing it for that purpose, naturally) EDIT: I realized Carson can't customize the trap to make it blow up, because of course he can't.
  • Thermos! Take trauma whenever you can. Because why else are you playing this deck?

Wait, we got XP?

Carson Sinclair doesn't really deserve to spend XP, so the most baller option is to simply hoard the XP and never do anything with it. But if you really, really have to upgrade your deck, then I suppose consider cards like:

  • Martyr's Vambrace, Nature of the Beast: allows Carson to take on ever more pain on behalf of the rest of the team.
  • Taunt (any): likewise, pull the enemies to you - not so that you can kill them (because you won't), but because everyone else can then wail on them without issue.
  • Bestow Resolve: helps everyone else pass more tests. Not you though.
  • Customize Runic Axe or Makeshift Trap if you want, but not if it makes you actually good at anything. That wouldn't be cricket.

Worst butler ever

Look, the only way you're going to experience any glimmer of joy while playing as Carson Sinclair is by accepting that his fate must be a horrible one.

Therefore let him grant those free actions to the other investigators, so that they can do their thing, while the Mythos takes an absolute pounding on the scrawny old pillock, and you get your popcorn out.

17 comments

Oct 23, 2022 Monotone · 304

Can’t wait to take Carson through a campaign and really make him hurt.

Oct 23, 2022 ruderep · 524

@Monotone YES.

Oct 24, 2022 snacc · 946

Just fyi - although there isn't a "pass action", you can pass your turn, losing all remaining unspent actions.

But yes I agree - Carson looks absolutely dreadful, and a deck like this at least looks like a remotely fun way to play him.

Oct 24, 2022 Wittebaard · 293

poor guy..... he had it coming!

Oct 24, 2022 unitled · 2228

You're all going on the list.

Oct 24, 2022 DavidRyanAndersson · 53

XD I actually think Carson seems like he has a fun niche, but this still cracked me up.

Oct 24, 2022 Innsmouth Conspirator · 56

May I suggest "I'm outta here!" to bail on your sacred duties as a dignified butler and leave all of your companions behind to the mythos to save your own wrinkled skin? :)

Oct 24, 2022 Soloclue · 2499

Not sure if this is satire, you can pass actions in Arkham Horror.

Oct 25, 2022 ruderep · 524

@unitled List of cool people, right?

@Wittebaard It's what Carson was destined for.

@snacc, @Soloclue You're right, of course, thank you.

@DavidRyanAndersson If by 'fun niche' you mean 'pit of doom in the ground that I push him into for fun', then hard agree.

@Innsmouth Conspirator Carson can't take Rogue cards, so he can't take "I'm outta here!" - unless he upgrades into Versatile to buy it, which would be so Carson.

Oct 25, 2022 Innsmouth Conspirator · 56

@ruderep I forgot that Carson can't take Rogue cards. But a Versatile butler is certainly consistent for the character! :)

Oct 25, 2022 Innsmouth Conspirator · 56

@snacc @ruderep Couldn't you also spend an action to either gain a resource or draw a card? With Teamwork, you can then trade or exchange your accumulated resources with other investigators before you eat a grenade with "I'll see you in hell!" :)

Oct 25, 2022 snacc · 946

@Innsmouth Conspirator Yes you can do something more productive so it's mostly a waste to pass your turn. However there are rare circumstances where it's better to pass: when you are engaged with an alert/retaliate enemy and are waiting for someone/something to bail you out on a following round. In that case, you don't want to take AoOs and you if your skill value is low then you don't want to risk the alert/retaliate. It's a rare and terrible position to be in, but it can happen :)

Oct 25, 2022 Innsmouth Conspirator · 56

@snacc I see, got it! Now that I think about it, perhaps @ruderep is trying to make a pure grief deck, so he wouldn't want the turns to be useful, such as spending actions on resources that can be traded.

Oct 27, 2022 5argon · 7546

You should try to be more like this Carson from The Carsoning while playing this deck.

Dec 01, 2022 steinerp · 51

Im not sure if you are serious or not. Deck looks fun but carson is also quite good on his own.

Dec 26, 2023 Vanesko · 1

This deck looks fun, but I don’t have some cards from Innsmouth and dream eaters. Can you please give me an advise how I can change:

  1. Tetsuo Mori
  2. Solemn Vow
  3. Self-Sacrifice

Dec 26, 2023 steinerp · 51

Mori is probably the easiest to replace. Another ally like Peter Sylvester or Rita (once you get xp) would work. Obsidan bracket would alsonbe a pretty direct replacement.

Self sacrifice is easily replaced by almost anything. Depending on the replacement for Mori adding a survivor dilemma would fit the deck theme.

Solemn Vow not existing is the real killer as it is the most consistent way to get damage and horror off allies. The horror equivalent of true grit and/or obsidan bracelet would be closest. Honestly though i would consider proxy this. (Note i have not played the deck but i have played similar Calvin decks)