Rex Murphy - Chapter 2 Core + Dunwich + Carcosa

What Is This?

This is a curated collection of 2-player deck pairs for Arkham Horror: The Card Game, built specifically around the following card pool:

No other products are used. Cards from The Circle Undone, The Forgotten Age, Edge of the Earth, The Scarlet Keys, etc. are not available and are not included in any deck.

Design Goals

1. Two-player focused. Every deck is designed as one half of a 2-player pair. Each pair has a clear role division: one fighter, one clue-finder. Solo play is noted where an investigator excels at it (Pete).

2. Core 2026 adapted. The 2026 Core Set replaced many classic cards. Decks are built around what actually exists — not legacy knowledge from old Core. Key losses (Dr. Milan Christopher, Flashlight, Lucky!, Beat Cop, Scavenging) are accounted for. Key gains (Fingerprint Kit, Scene of the Crime, Lesson Learned, Timely Intervention, Right Tool for the Job, Bodyguard) are fully utilized.

3. Chapter 2 starters integrated. The five Chapter 2 starter investigators (Tommy, Carolyn, André, Marie, Miguel) come with unique cards exclusive to their starters. These starters have restricted deckbuilding — Survivor+Neutral only, Seeker+Neutral only, etc. with no off-class splash. Decks built around them account for this limitation.

4. Campaign ready. Each deck includes an upgrade path for both Dunwich Legacy and Path to Carcosa campaigns. XP budgets are based on realistic campaign earnings (25-40 XP over 8 scenarios). Upgrades are ordered by priority, not by scenario.

Rex Murphy — Card Choice Breakdown

Clue Engine (4 cards)

2x Magnifying Glass — Fast +1 intellect. No play action needed. Two Magnifying Glasses put Rex at I6 permanently, making over-succeed-by-2 trivial on standard-difficulty (shroud 2-3) locations. The foundation of every Rex build since the game launched.

2x Fingerprint Kit — Core 2026's best Seeker tool. Exhaust + spend 1 supply: investigate at +1 intellect, and if you succeed, discover 1 additional clue. For Rex, this is game-breaking: base clue (1) + Fingerprint Kit bonus clue (1) + Rex's ability clue (1) = 3 clues per action on any succeed-by-2. With Deduction committed, that's 4. At I5 (I4 + Kit) or I7 (I4 + Kit + Magnifying Glass), you exceed shroud by 2+ routinely. This card single-handedly replaces old Flashlight AND Dr. Milan's clue acceleration. 3 supplies means 3 uses before needing to redraw it.

Card Draw & Economy (4 cards)

2x Laboratory Assistant — Draw 2 on entry + 2 hand size. Rex commits skills aggressively to reach succeed-by-2, so hand refill is critical. The +2 hand size means you hold 9-10 cards, letting you bank skills for multiple investigation rounds without running dry. Preferred over Dorothy Simmons because Rex needs volume of cards, not conditional resources.

1x Preposterous Sketches — Draw 3 cards if there's a clue at your location. Rex goes to clue-heavy locations, so the condition triggers consistently. Without Dr. Milan's repeatable draw, Rex needs event-based card engines. 2 resources is the cost of 3 cards (net +2), which is acceptable.

1x Lone Wolf (Rogue, OFF-CLASS) — 1 resource per turn if alone at your location. Rex frequently splits from Zoey to hoover clues at separate locations — Lone Wolf triggers on most of those turns. Over a 10-turn scenario, that's ~6-7 free resources. This is the primary economy engine replacing Dr. Milan's "gain 1 resource on investigate success." At 1 cost, it pays for itself turn 1.

Skill Boosting (2 cards)

2x Fieldwork (ptcp) — No slot. After moving to a location with 1+ clue, exhaust: +2 to your next skill test this phase. Rex moves constantly between clue locations, so Fieldwork triggers almost every turn. +2 intellect on top of Magnifying Glass means Rex investigates at I8 against shroud 3 = succeed by 5. This makes succeed-by-2 automatic rather than skill-commit dependent. At 2 cost and no slot, it's pure upside. This card didn't exist in old Core — it's from Path to Carcosa and is one of the best cards in the pool for Rex.

Rex's Combat Option (2 cards)

2x "I've got a plan!" (dwlp) — Fight using intellect instead of combat, with +1 damage if you have 1+ clue. Rex fights at I4 (or I6+ with Magnifying Glass) instead of C2, dealing 2 damage. This is Rex's ONLY combat option — he uses it when Zoey is elsewhere or for emergencies. Not efficient, not repeatable, but it can save your life against a 2-health enemy. Both copies are insurance, not a combat plan. Removed for Mysterious Grimoire (2) once Zoey handles all enemies mid-campaign.

Protection (4 cards)

2x Ward of Protection (Mystic, OFF-CLASS) — Cancel a revealed treachery card (take 1 horror). Rex has H6/S9 — decent sanity but poor health. Dunwich's encounter deck punishes low willpower (Rex is W3), so canceling the worst treachery each scenario is often the difference between survival and defeat. 2 copies ensure you see one in most scenarios.

2x Daring Maneuver (ptcp, Rogue, OFF-CLASS) — 0-cost, fast, play after you reveal a chaos token: get +2 to your skill value for this test. This card is Rex's secret weapon. You investigate at I6, reveal a -3 token on a shroud-3 location. You're at succeed-by-0 — ability doesn't trigger. Play Daring Maneuver → now succeed-by-2 → Rex's ability triggers → extra clue. It converts marginal successes into ability triggers with zero waste (you only play it when you need it). Wild icon for commits too. NOT a Fortune card (it's Gambit trait), so it's legal for Rex.

Movement (2 cards)

2x Shortcut (dwlp) — Fast, free move to a connecting location. No conflict with Zoey (she doesn't use Shortcut), so Rex gets both copies. Excellent tempo for reaching clue-heavy locations quickly.

Skills (10 cards)

2x Deduction — The single best Seeker skill. +1 clue on successful investigation. Combined with Rex's ability + Fingerprint Kit, this enables 4 clues in 1 action: base (1) + Deduction (1) + Fingerprint Kit (1) + Rex ability (1). This is the ceiling play that makes Rex the fastest clue-finder in the game at level 0.

2x Inquiring Mind (dwlp) — Gains wild icons equal to the number of clues at your location (max 3). At a 3-clue location, this is 3 wild icons for free — better than any other skill card. Rex goes to high-clue locations, so Inquiring Mind consistently provides 2-3 icons. The variance is the drawback (0 icons at a cleared location), but Rex plays around this naturally.

2x Eureka! (ptcp) — 1 intellect icon + search top 3 of your deck, add 1 to hand. Self-replacing commit that thins your deck and finds key cards. In a 30-card deck, searching top 3 is a 10% dig. Unlike Perception, it ALWAYS replaces itself (not dependent on success).

2x Perception — 2 intellect icons + draw a card on success. Rex succeeds at most investigate tests, so the draw is reliable. Pure efficiency.

2x Guts — 2 willpower icons + draw on success. W3 + 2 Guts = W5 for treachery tests. Rex's weakest stat is willpower — these 2 cards are your lifeline against Rotting Remains, Frozen in Fear, and similar encounter cards. Replaced by Studious (3) once Higher Education covers willpower pumping.

Rex Murphy — Dunwich Upgrades

Total: 20 XP core, 36 XP with luxury.