"Ashcan" Pete - Structure Deck Series ( Dunwich Legacy )

Uncle George the Farmer · 38615

Hello Fellow investigators

Welcome to my structure deck series!

Concept

We finished with the core set and we decided to buy the whole Dunwich Cycle to feel the Arkham experience. We 'll discuss the new cards we added in our deck and which upgrade choices we take in solo and multiplayer.

I will focus on 19 XP upgrade routes since this is pretty much average in my Dunwich runs. I will also create decks of the Dunwich investigators and I will upgrade everyone setting as the final cycle The Forgotten Age. In the Circle Undone, Taboo List was introduced and I think you will already know the advantages/disadvantages of your favorite investigator in order to create your unique deck.

Let start with the show, shall we?

Pete Pros and Cons

Our new survivor and his loyal friend are looking for some trouble! Pete can be considered one of the strongest solo investigators and the reason is his loyal dog Duke. Also, he is one of the few investigators who can play around Dark Horse and this deck focuses on it.

His biggest advantages are:

1)Duke. His companion is the reason that makes Pete great in solo. Right from the start Duke is in play without paying his cost and it doesn't cost an ally spot. Both of his abilities are great but the 2nd one is two actions in one. While it is a good shield for Pete you don't want to lose him since your deckbuilding focus around him and Dark Horse.

2) His ability and his elder sign focus around Duke. Try to use the ability for investigating rather than fighting. That's why we focus more on a combat-oriented deck in order to keep the for search and move. That way you move around pretty quick collecting those clues.

3) He has a pretty nice (4) and an average (3). These stats can be boosted with Dark Horse and other various cards to deal with the treacheries cards. As for your low and you dont really care much with Duke but also your can be boosted with many cards in your deck.

His biggest disadvantages are:

1) His low Health and Sanity. While Duke is there to guard you, you don't wanna lose him by applying too much horror and damage to him. Some good allies can help you overcome this problem and we will discuss them below.

2) Wracked by Nightmares. This card can really cost you a whole round depending on the circumstances. There isn't any way to play around it and the only thing you can do is to accept it. The only positive is that in multiplayer any investigator on the same location with you can pay the two actions and discard this weakness.

Gameplay

Before we start mention/suggest cards lets talk about the new deckbuilding options the Dunwich investigators have and what criteria you should use to determine your card choices.

First and foremost the Dunwich Investigators have access to all classes and they can choose 5 cards from them. The criteria you should use are:

1) The most important is that you should choose cards that will impact your gameplay until the end of your campaign. You won't change them so better use their full potential.

2) Are you playing solo or Multiplayer? Some cards are great for solo, others for Multiplayer, and some play well with specific investigator combinations.

3) Try to close the gap or neutralize your weaknesses/disadvantages as an investigator. Specific cards can help you with your low sanity or health or even boost greatly your signature ability where cards from your class cant.

Saying these let's talk about which cards I recommend for Pete. Unlike previous investigators, I won't split him into two categories since with the current pool Pete will play almost the same in Multiplayer and solo.

1) 1x Magnifying Glass. This card combos well with Duke and is a good addition in Pete's deck since it is fast and doesn't cost you an action. You can play with two copies with another card addition that I will explain later.

2) 2x Beat Cop. Pete's main weakness is his low health and sanity. He needs a lot of allies to soak the damage and horror from him and his dog. We focus on a charisma upgrade and both Peter Sylvestre and Beat Cop offer to Pete a nice shield to rely on. Furthermore, both of these cards provide a passive +1 to 3 of his 4 stats (with the upgraded Peter Sylvestre) making them a 2nd Dark Horse on the play. Until we get Madame Labranche Beat Cop works pretty fine with Pete.

3) 2x Vicious Blow can help with the high Health Foes. You really don't want to find yourself in a tricky situation so better finish them fast and this card will help you both in solo and multiplayer.

Honorable Mentions:

1) Liquid Courage. If you feel that Peter Sylvestre can take all the damage and Magnifying Glass is more important then add 2 copies of it and take 1 copy of this card instead of Beat Cop. It's cheap and you can heal some horror from you or from another investigator ( is a good choice if you have a teammate playing Agnes Baker ). The willpower test is not a big deal for Pete since he has a good solid stat and even if he fails his deck theme is to discard cards so it won't matter so much. This card becomes better with the addition of Madame Labranche.

2) Ward of Protection. A Great card overall especially in multiplayer. You can use it in multiplayer since you will have more of a hybrid role than a specified one.

3) Double or Nothing Another great card for multiplayer. This deck is skill heavy and with specific investigator choices and builds this card can do wonders.

4) Lone Wolf. This card can be a consistent bonus for Scrapper and Fire Axe. But in order to make Dark Horse work completely, you will need to add Arcane Studies with this card. This Card Duo is weaker than your other choices but you can test it out.

5) Laboratory Assistant With the current card pool Pete has a few options to refill his hand. If you learn to play around Pete's ability and don't play recklessly you will find out that Beat Cop is a better choice overall.

Our main combo is between three cards: Dark Horse - Fire Axe and Scrapper later on. Usually, you will have 1-3 recourses to play around. Use Fire Axe to spend them and get the benefits of Dark Horse.

Rabbit's Foot is your way to refill your hand. Also, it combos well with "Look what I found!" and Oops!. Leather Coat is a nice cheap asset to boost your health.

Peter Sylvestre, as I mentioned above, helps you soak horror mainly. +1 is great for Pete if you want to evade an enemy and go search for a clue instead of fighting. Later on, with Charisma you can have him along with Beat Cop making a good pair for Pete.

"Look what I found!" except his normal use you can toss it for Pete's ability. Lucky! is a staple and self-explanatory. Oops! is pretty situational and rarely you will play it for its actual use. Either toss it for Pete's ability or for these 2x test icons that works like a weaker version of Overpower. Usually, play these cards if you have no resources to spend for Fire Axe and you really need to boost your skill.

Last but not least after you set your core cards in play, any duplicate discard them in order to use Pete's Ability. We got a skill heavy deck so we pretty much have many options to toss away.

Upgrade Route

Since you create your main theme from the start ( Dark Horse ) you really need only a few changes to support it more. We have two main allies and Charisma is really important here to have them both in the field.

1x Charisma

2x Peter Sylvestre Peter Sylvestre

1x Scrapper

These cards are your priority. Then there are two main paths you can upgrade:

The first one is the safe route that you upgrade already existing cards that add draw power to your engine minimizing that way the discarding from your ability.

2x Lucky! 2x Lucky!

2x Emergency Cache 2x Emergency Cache

and for last the exiled card Flare where you can play it to deal some serious damage or to straight put your allies into play.

The second one is about Aquinnah in multiplayer. If your teammates ask you to take this route then you should get her along with the upgraded Peter Sylvestre and add one more Charisma.

Honorable mention: Survival Instinct. I don't fancy the LVL 0 version but this one is pretty good and you have better chances to actually succeed on the evasion. You can swap 2x Oops! for this card if you feel like it especially in solo where I would take this upgrade instead of Emergency Cache

Finally, in a Dark Horse Deck, I wouldn't go for Will to Survive unless if you have specific combo pieces that work with it like Double or Nothing, Backstab or Resourceful in later campaigns. Since you don't have this kind of synergy in your deck don't spend your XP on this card.

Summary

You will enjoy Pete in solo rather than in multiplayer. He and his doggo are a great duo and they don't need more company. His gameplay focuses on his main ability and Dark Horse so it could be a little tricky and strange for newer players being low in resources and cards all the time. Other than that everyone loves the loyal Hound! Who cares about Pete? We are here for the Doggo!

I hope you liked this guide and we 'll continue with Jenny Barnes deck concept.

To be continued..

17 comments

Apr 27, 2020 Antarctic · 1

You made the assumption that your readers have bought two core decks, which is an entry barrier for beginners, the audience you seek to please. Could you provide alternatives with only one core set or remove the "Beginners" tag from your deck series ?

Apr 28, 2020 Uncle George the Farmer · 38615

@Antarctic hello my friend! We can make the same assumption that people won't buy the whole cycle but only specific scenarios. The beginners' tag is there for the gameplay so newer players learn how to build around their deck and how to upgrade it. You don't have to copy-paste this deck but rather have a sense of direction on how you will play your investigator with your current card pool. According to that, i chose to have a complete set of cards cycle by cycle. Hope it helps :)

Apr 29, 2020 Django · 4855

Or proxy the cards you’re missing.

May 06, 2020 Antarctic · 1

Fair enough @Uncle George the Farmer. I took your advice @Django. Thanks

May 18, 2020 Pancakes · 1

Very good work, thank you !

Jul 30, 2020 skami · 1

This is really working deck. Thanks!

Oct 27, 2020 shenaniganz11 · 28

Why is no one talking about how amazing Lone Wolf must be with this kind of Dark Horse setup?

  • You can easily get 2 resources to play 2-cost assets.
  • you get to have 0 resources for Dark Horse during the mythos phase but still have one resource at the beginning to play a 1-cost asset, or to deal with a spawned enemy by fueling fire axe, or Scrapper for evasion, or Scrapper to attack before you get dark horse out

Oct 27, 2020 shenaniganz11 · 28

I haven't tried this out yet in practice, but it looks amazing on paper!

Oct 27, 2020 shenaniganz11 · 28

above, i meant to say "before you get fire axe out". Also

  • should you see it coming, you can get two resources to really fuel fuel fire axe.
  • you can fuel scrapper heaps while you're still looking for dark horse

Nov 21, 2020 otlebro · 1

Which cards do you replace with Charisma and Scrappy when you upgrade? I tend to remove both copies of Oops from the deck as the card seems too situational, but maybe you guys use other cards?

Nov 21, 2020 Django · 4855

Permanent cards dont count against your decksize, so you dont need to remove anythig for Charisma or Scrapper.

Nov 21, 2020 otlebro · 1

Thanks! This will teach me to read the rulebook... I thought "permanent" only meant that the cards could not be discarded after being played, but I see it's much more than that. Makes both cards even better than I thought!

Nov 21, 2020 Django · 4855

To clarify, there's a permanent version of Scrapper for 3 XP and a non perma version for 0 XP. Obviously, the non perma one DOES count against your decksize.

Sep 03, 2021 Haddock · 7

Just completed NotZ campaign with this deck as solo. Crushed it! Revelation #1 on last scenario :)

Oct 10, 2022 Smagby · 1

Hi! When you say solo, do you mean two-handed? I plan on using this deck with your Zoey deck to play a two-handed solo. Will that be ok?

Mar 16, 2024 Lizrdwizrd · 1

which cards would i drop to be able to add charisma and scrapper?

Mar 16, 2024 Lizrdwizrd · 1

nevermind, i should have read the comments :)