Card draw simulator
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| None. Self-made deck here. |
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| None yet |
HungryColquhoun · 16952
A Faustian Bargain
This series provides 10 playtested decks using the Chapter 2 Core and new Starters, with each deck compatible for two player with at least 7 others (and working well at high player counts). If Mystics are about power at a price, then Faustian bargains don't come much more Faustian than Dread Curse of Azathoth! Here Dexter uses that and upgraded Cosmic Flame for some serious diabolic firepower - made all the more accessible with Arcane Initiate and "For my next trick...".
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At a Glance
Stats Clue-finding: ★★★☆☆ Consistency: ★★★★★ Enemy Management: ★★★★★ Encounter Defense: ★★★★★ Survivability: ★★★★☆ Simplicity: ★★★★☆
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Overview
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The Devil's righthand man: With the addition of Dread Curse of Azathoth, then combined with Cosmic Flame Dexter has some of the best damage dealing assets in Chapter 2. With Lucky Cigarette Case, Arcane Initiate and "For my next trick..." he's highly effective at getting these assets played early to fry enemies. Using Dexter's ability, it's also easy to slap down multiple cheap assets like Initiate and Curse for one fewer action (or bounce back Curse when it's getting doomy).
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Infernal luck: With the advent of Out the Door, the return of "Watch this!" and by being able to cash in on enemies with Spiritual Charm, Dexter is richer than the Devil himself! Using upgraded Spiritual Intuition you can turn this cash into boosts.
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Uncovering dark secrets: While enemy management is the focus here, Dexter does have reasonable clue-finding with Second Sight and Lockpicks. As Lockpicks are a backup, I don't recommend upgrading these. This will bite you from time to time but - unlike my previous Core box only deck - the addition of Arcane Initiate makes finding Second Sight substantially easier.
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Soak and encounter management: Horror soak is covered between Arcane Initiate and Cloak of Resonance, and your Initiate can soak a damage as well. Consume Life is a fun way to kill enemies to heal. Ward of Protection is your main encounter management, and it's tutorable with Initiate. Your Necronomicon can be a pain, especially as Spiritual Intuition can't be used against it. You do however have a lot of and symbols in the deck to help mitigate (with icons further combatting treacheries).
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Luxury upgrades: Moving beyong 19XP, Arcane Experience is the epitome of a superfluous upgrade, but it does mean that The Necronomicon never bumps a spell asset out of an Arcane slot - so I'm a fan. Upgraded Blood Curse is a fun time: you get a big boost, and you damage an enemy (assuming there's one at location). In higher XP campaigns I recommend both of these.
Thank you: 5argon and their thumbnail tool; Valentin1331 for his support over the years; the community creators of Arkham.Build (Felix), Arkham Cards (zzorba) and ArkhamDB (kamalisk) - linking their Patreons!
Campaign starter and planned progression
If you're not running Marie and want Jim Culver, then Consume Life is an easy trade (going from damage healing to damage soak, in essence). 0 XP deck is below (and link here):
A recommended order of purchases/upgrades is:
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1 x Spiritual Intuition → 1 x Spiritual Intuition •••
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1 x Guts → Dread Curse of Azathoth
Post-19 XP suggestions are:
Explain Yourself!
I know, I know - where's Jim? As I couldn't separate the entertainers, Jim went into Marie's deck. Without Jim's resource cost, it's easier to play things like Cloak of Resonance which allows you to do more damage. Upgraded Spiritual Intuition mostly offsets the need for persistent boosts, and the effective 7 test value when using your fight spells is nothing to sneeze. As Arcane Initiates are a very expendable ally, you can use them as cannon fodder much more than you would with Jim - suitable for the diabolical themeing of the deck!
Excepting Jim, there's no other Mystic deck in Marie's deck I'd think of including. The deck is plenty consistent with Arcane Initiate and Lucky Cigarette Case, so cantrips are a bit of a waste. The large sanity soak of Cloak of Resonance means stuff like Fearless feels pointless. Dexter is a suitable Dread Curse of Azathoth user by being able to bump it out with his ability, and the additional fight asset does lend itself to further consistency, so I like it in spite of the XP pricetag. Will of the Cosmos is nice, but then you have to persistently manage doom on assets by discarding them or bouncing them back - I like Dread Curse being the only consideration for this.
Compatability Matrix
Everyone likes a good matrix! Below are all the decks that are compatible at two player using one Chapter 2 Core and one 2026 Starter Deck set:
For higher player counts I've not 'compatabilized' the basic skills (Overpower, Manual Dexterity, Guts, Perception and Unexpected Courage). There are only 4 copies of each in the Chapter 2 core, enough for any two decks. If playing 3+ players and there's a clash, you can either:
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Swap with an appropriate level 0 class skill which that deck can use (e.g. On the Brink for Unexpected Courage).
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Swap with a class event or asset with matching or similar symbols (e.g. Working a Hunch for Perception).
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Swap with a different underused basic skill you still believe would be useful for the deck (e.g. Guts for Unexpected Courage).
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Proxy however you see fit (especially if you own Chapter 1 cards, just use the old school versions and remember the slight difference around who draws the card).
I empower you to do sensible things!
Final thoughts
I did originally have this deck as Mr. King Dice themed, but I'm not sure how many people have played Cuphead so that theming went away. Him and Dexter do look very similar...
Anyway! This deck presented an interesting challenge - could it be built without Jim Culver and Bloodstone and not suck? For me the answer is yes. As Dexter does have innately high Willpower he's not crying out for boosts as much as Marie is, and with him now generating resources through Rogue skills then splurging cash with Spiritual Intuition makes a lot of sense. This deck is also fun for finding a use for Dread Curse of Azathoth - while it's a lot of XP, with both it and Cosmic Flame there's no other investigator who can deal big damage so easily. For me this was like taking the idea behind OG Faustian Bargain and putting it in Chapter 2 deck form...
Any thoughts - drop them below!
| 7 comments |
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Apr 27, 2026 |
Apr 27, 2026
You do have very good options to find Second Sight (Arcane Initiate, Lucky Cigarette Case and "For my next trick...") so the amount of time you're waiting on a spell for clue-finding is fairly minimal. I'd rather have an asset that has a high test value and is easy to boost, rather than Hand-Crank Flashlight which will rarely hit on a 3 shroud location at all on standard difficulty (and is iffy with committed cards as well, so much so they're usually a waste of a commit - unlike Lockpicks where you're usually fine with a committed card short of bad luck). Of course, feel free to make the deck your own though and run Hand-Crank Flashlight in its place. It's an easy enough change to make. I think the 'returning assets' idea is a false economy in this case, as Cosmic Flame ••••• doesn't typically require you to use charges in the first place. |
Apr 28, 2026To elaborate a bit more, if we take Smoke and Mirrors with a standard difficulty bag (NB two have been added), then on a 3 shroud location without a card to commit you have 33% chance of success with Hand-Crank Flashlight (assuming = 0). With Lockpicks this is instead a 72% chance. When you do commit Unexpected Courage, you then have a 94% chance of success with Lockpicks (only fails you) and a 72% chance to retain the Lockpicks. Hand-Crank Flashlight meanwhile is a 72% chance for that one test, but then falls down to 33% chance for future tests (unless you have something else to commit, which you're unlikely to early on). You can see there's a much better chance of getting 2 clues with Lockpicks in your early rounds with a card to commit, which is what I'm aiming for (e.g. for Dexter to not be useless on the the investigating side while waiting for Second Sight), and for me this is worth the slightly elevated resource cost. It's playing the odds to more reliable outcomes, rather than banging your head against the wall with a Hand-Crank Flashlight. It's also worth saying, this is the least important aspect of the deck haha! I gave Dexter a 3 ★ rating for clues, he's not supposed to always hit the ground running in this regard (but builds to good capability with Second Sight). He is there as a fighter first and foremost, and does a very good job at this. |
Apr 29, 2026Hi Hungry, guys, Find below the link of a deck that I published that combines Marie and Dexter cards to try a real solo experience in chapter 2... Hope you like it!! |
Apr 29, 2026
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May 03, 2026Thank you so much for this deck. I've now played through the new Chapter 2 campaign several times, and it's really fun. Absolutely fantastic! |
May 03, 2026
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Lockpicks looks rough here, only testing at a base of 5 and needing to succeed by 2 or else break. You'd only really be ok using that on 1-2 shroud locations, 3 shroud alongside your Unexpected Courage's and Soul Link's. I would think you'd feel a lot better having a cheap hand slot like Hand-Crank Flashlight or Broken Bottle. Play one of them for 1 and use Dexter's to return an empty (or full of doom) spell back to your hand. Plus. the hand crank would be just about as good at investigating those 1-2 shroud locations. A lower success rate overall since it doesn't break during some of the success points you are taking fewer play actions to replace it.