Mavwick · 32
Jinkies!
Ashcan Pete as a beater. Scooby Duke goes hard and requires no setup to start fighting or investigating.
Some red cards are actually fantastic for a combat-focused character. Lucky! is a great backup plan for a combat-heavy character. Duke and Fire Axe make consistent 2-damage attacks that can be buffed by Vicious Blow. Oops! is a new addition that helps when you're swarmed or provides +2 to a fight check. Rabbit's Foot provides a little draw engine for Scooby Duke's discards. Duke investigates or fail it and play "Look what I found!" followed by Rabbit's Foot.
I still believe in taking a lot of the "+2 Skill" cards until the card pool gets bigger. Ditch Manual Dexterity once you start adding cards to the deck.
Throw money into the Fire Axe and it's more efficient than the Skill assets. A lot of the cards here can be tossed into skill checks for more combat or to ready Scooby Duke, so redundancy is key.
Iffy card choices at the moment:
Baseball Bat - This is there in case the Axes aren't drawn early enough or if something takes away the Axes. I considered a Baseball Bat/Scavenging build for when the bat breaks, but I'd hate to rely on Scavenging when enemies need to be killed.
Guard Dog - There are no red allies I wanted and 2 card slots were available. I tested Beat Cops but they were too expensive to ever discard for their ability. Guard Dogs provide some extra damage that helps against odd-numbered HP enemies.
Ward of Protection - I think this is a solid 1-of card for anyone who can take level zero cards. Cancel the events you can't pass and ones that would likely deal 1+ horror anyway.
Upgrades to consider:
Will to Survive - Get this first. Consistent combat or investigating on demand. This is a signature card for the deck.
Elder Sign Amulet - Needed for longer campaigns or scenarios where horror is hard to avoid.
Lucky! - Lucky2 will always get use.
Aquinnah - Could be amazing if enough enemies arrive.
This deck survived Rougarou, with a second player using a magical jazz man.
Additional (spoiler-free) Rougarou info: I took two copies of Will to Survive and the Elder Sign Amulet. The Chaos bag is incredibly swingy in Rougarou and Will to Survive helped guarantee some actions.
With how well the Guard Dog soaks up some hits, I think I would ditch the Leather Coats once you're looking at upgrades.