The Gravedigger's Encore

Card pool: Revised Core Set and The Path to Carcosa cycle (Investigator Expansion and Mythos Packs) only. None of the cards in this deck are affected by the List of Taboos (2026-02-19, published in FAQ v2.5). Two cards that Yorick would otherwise like, Scavenging and Eucatastrophe, are on that list, and the deck does not use them.

Contents

• Introduction
• Core cards and why
• Rest of the deck and why
• Useful cards
• Upgrades with XP
• Gameplay
  • Initial hand & mulligan strategy
  • Managing the discard pile
  • Early game
  • Mid game
  • Late game
• Final notes
• Summary of cards

  Introduction

  William Yorick is a gravedigger with 4 , 3 , 3 and only 2 , 8 health and 6 sanity. His whole identity is one reaction: after he defeats an enemy, he plays an asset from his discard pile, paying its cost (once per round). His Elder Sign is +2 and, if the test succeeds, returns 1 card from his discard pile to his hand. Everything he owns that falls into the discard pile is a card he can get back, so this deck is built from cheap assets that either discard themselves for an effect or die protecting him, and the plan is to kill, replay them, and kill again.

His role is that of the investigator who goes in first: he walks into the location, deals with whatever is there and keeps it away from his partner. He is a fighter, not a sponge: the deck gives him a few free bodies and some cancellation, but it does not try to make him absorb the hits meant for other people. Finding clues is not his job either. He has 2 , and the tools he carries for it are the Gravedigger's Shovel (which discovers a clue when you discard it, with no test), Evidence! (which discovers a clue every time he kills something), the Lantern and a few skills that he can commit to his partner's tests. The deck does not depend on a specific partner, but it is designed to be played in pairs and it works best next to someone who can take care of the clues.

Because of this division of labour, the two investigators are meant to stay together, or at most one move apart. Yorick enters first, kills, and by the time his partner arrives the way is clear. Some of the tools only help the investigators at his location: Dodge cancels an attack against anyone there, First Aid heals whoever is next to him, and Evidence! leaves one clue less for his partner to find in the location he has just cleared.

His weak point is the discard pile itself. His own weakness, Graveyard Ghouls, is a Hunter whose prey is Yorick, and while it is engaged with him cards cannot leave his discard pile. That blocks his reaction, Resourceful and his Elder Sign effect, which is the whole deck. The answer is simple and the deck is built for it: it has 3 health, so kill it as soon as it appears. He also has to carry Bury Them Deep, which is a free way of turning a kill into victory points, but is not part of the 30 cards.

Core cards and why

The core of this deck exists to give Yorick something to kill with and something to recur. Everything else is built on three ideas: cheap weapons that discard themselves, free bodies to soak the damage, and the recursion that ties them together.

Two of the deck's required cards, Bury Them Deep and Graveyard Ghouls, are not among the 30 cards, but they matter for how the deck is played. Bury Them Deep is a free Fast event: after a non-Elite enemy at your location is defeated, you add that enemy and this card to the victory display, for 1 victory point. It does not help the deck fight, but it is free and it takes the enemy out of the game, so keep it for the kills that matter or for enemies that would come back. Graveyard Ghouls is Fight 3, Health 3, Evade 2, Hunter, prey Yorick, and as long as it is engaged with him his discard pile is locked. Treat it as the first enemy of the scenario and kill it before you do anything that needs the discard pile.

The weapons are chosen so that they cost little and so that losing them is not a loss. The Baseball Bat costs 2 and gives +2 and +1 damage, but when a Skull or Auto-fail is revealed you discard it, which for Yorick is not a problem. It takes both hands, so it is the weapon for a single big fight. The Gravedigger's Shovel costs 2 and gives +2 , and you can discard it to discover 1 clue at your location, so it is both a weapon and a clue for your partner. The Knife costs 1 and gives +1 , or you discard it for +2 and +1 damage. The Lantern costs 2, investigates with 1 less shroud, and you can discard it to deal 1 damage to an enemy at your location without provoking attacks of opportunity. The common point of the four is that each of them can be discarded for a real effect, and after a kill Yorick can pay its cost and put it back in play, so the cheaper the card, the more often you use it. Two copies each of the Baseball Bat, the Gravedigger's Shovel and the Knife, and one Lantern, are enough to have something in hand almost every game. The second Knife is there on purpose: it costs 1, so it is the weapon you are most likely to start with in hand, and it ends up discarded in an attack anyway, so it does not clog the hand slots.

The bodies are the free soak. Leather Coat costs 0, has 2 health and takes the body slot, and Cherished Keepsake costs 0, has 2 sanity and takes the accessory slot. They are not exciting, but they keep damage and horror off Yorick for nothing, and when they die they come back for nothing after a kill, which makes them the best targets for his reaction. Guard Dog has more health and deals 1 damage back to any enemy that hurts it, and Stray Cat costs 1 and can be discarded to automatically evade a non-Elite enemy at your location, which is the deck's way of getting out of a bad fight with no test, and evading exhausts the enemy, so it cannot attack until it readies. Only one ally can be in play at a time (two with Charisma), so they compete for the same slot, but both are cheap to replay.

First Aid is what keeps the bodies and Yorick standing. It has 3 supplies and heals 1 damage or 1 horror from an investigator at your location, so it covers both stats, and its supplies can be refilled by Emergency Cache. When First Aid runs out of supplies it is discarded, and since it is an asset, Yorick can play it again with his reaction after his next kill, which gives it a fresh set of supplies. Dodge is the fast protection: it cancels an attack against any investigator at your location, so it covers Yorick and his partner. It is an event, so it does not come back with the reaction, only with the Elder Sign.

Resourceful is the card that makes the engine reliable. It has , so it can be committed to almost any test, and if the test is successful you choose a Survivor card that is not named Resourceful in your discard pile and add it to your hand. It is the second source of recursion, and it works for events and skills, which his reaction cannot. Two copies mean that you will usually find one when you need it. Remember that it does nothing while Graveyard Ghouls is engaged with you.

In summary, the core cards are focused on three goals: kill cheaply, soak for free, and bring back whatever falls into the discard pile.

• 2 x Baseball Bat
• 2 x Gravedigger's Shovel
• 2 x Knife
• 1 x Lantern
• 1 x Leather Coat
• 1 x Cherished Keepsake
• 1 x Guard Dog
• 1 x Stray Cat
• 2 x First Aid
• 2 x Dodge
• 2 x Resourceful A total of 17 (these ones) + 13 (the rest) = 30.

Here is a summary of the core cards by function, not counting Bury Them Deep and Graveyard Ghouls:

Each card counts once, in its main role, and the percentages are rounded to one decimal, so the column can add 100.1. The Gravedigger's Shovel counts as attack even though it can also find a clue, and the Lantern counts as clue finding even though in this deck it is mostly a source of 1 damage. Resourceful is "other" because its job is the recursion, not the test. Bury Them Deep and Graveyard Ghouls are outside the 30.

Rest of the deck and why

The rest of the cards add economy, a clue for every kill and the skills that keep Yorick's tests reliable. All of them are level 0, and none of them is from outside the Survivor, Guardian and neutral pools.

Emergency Cache is the economy of the deck. It costs 0 and gives 3 resources, or 3 supplies for First Aid. The deck is cheap, but the reaction costs resources every time you use it, and the starting 5 do not go far. Two copies are enough to keep it running without turning it into a ramp deck.

Evidence! is the deck's clue card, and it fits the plan very well. It is a Fast event that costs 1 and discovers 1 clue at your location after you defeat an enemy, so Yorick's fights give a clue for free, with no test and no action, in the location where he has just cleared the way. When his partner comes in behind him, there is already one clue less to find. Its icons can also be committed to the partner's investigations. It only works where Yorick kills something, so it is not a card to count on if the two investigators are far apart. It is a Guardian event, so the reaction cannot replay it, and only the Elder Sign effect can bring it back.

Fight or Flight is a Fast event for 1 resource, playable only during your turn. Until the end of the round you get +X and +X , where X is the amount of horror on you. Only the horror on Yorick himself counts, not the horror on his allies or other assets. It is the comeback card of the deck: the more horror Yorick has taken, the better his attacks and his evasions are, so it pays for the horror that the free bodies have not absorbed. It does nothing when Yorick has no horror, so it is a card to play when the damage is already done, and not a reason to avoid Cherished Keepsake or First Aid.

Lucky! is a Fast event for 1 resource that gives +2 to a test you would fail. It is the deck's insurance for the attack that decides whether the enemy dies. Being a Survivor event, Resourceful can bring it back. Overpower has and draws a card on a success, and Guts does the same with , which makes it the main skill for the treachery tests that Yorick's 3 will not always pass. Vicious Blow adds +1 damage to a successful attack, which helps kill things sooner, and since the reaction needs a defeat, that is worth a card slot.

"Not without a fight!" is the skill that fits this deck best. It can only be committed while you are engaged with an enemy, and for each enemy engaged with you it gains . In a deck whose job is to stand in the middle of a fight, it will often be a three-icon skill for one test, and it is a Survivor card, so Resourceful can bring it back.

In summary, the rest of the cards cover economy, the clue and consistency, while the core cards do the fighting and the recursion:

• 2 x Emergency Cache
• 1 x Evidence!
• 1 x Fight or Flight
• 2 x Lucky!
• 2 x Overpower
• 1 x Guts
• 2 x Vicious Blow
• 2 x "Not without a fight!" A total of 13 (these ones) + 17 (core) = 30.

Here is a summary of the whole deck by function, not counting Bury Them Deep and Graveyard Ghouls:

Each card counts once, in its main role. Every skill counts as test support, including Vicious Blow, which adds damage but is committed to the attack, and Lucky! and Fight or Flight count there too, since they are bonuses to a test. Evidence! counts as clue finding because that is what it does, even though it needs a kill first. Clue finding is thin on purpose: the Lantern and the Gravedigger's Shovel can find a clue, but the deck expects the partner to do most of it.

Useful cards

This section highlights cards that are not part of the default configuration, but that can replace some of the non-core cards depending on who your partner is and which side of the deck you want to strengthen. All of these swaps keep the plan of the deck: Yorick goes in first, kills, and recovers his cards from the discard pile. Yorick can include Survivor and neutral cards of level 0 to 5, and Guardian cards of level 0 to 2. Remember that no card can be included more than twice. The cards to cut are always from the rest of the deck, never from the core.

If your partner is also a fighter. The deck assumes that Yorick handles the combat and his partner handles the clues. If your partner hits as hard as he does, nobody is investigating, and Yorick has to take part of that role without giving up what makes the deck work, which is why the core stays as it is. The result will be acceptable, not optimal: with 2 he will never be a real investigator, so the aim is to turn his kills into clues and to help the investigations that do happen. Since your partner also kills, Yorick needs fewer attack boosts, so the cards to cut are the ones that only make him hit harder. The clues come from three places: the kills (the Gravedigger's Shovel, which the reaction replaces after each kill, and Evidence!), the failed investigations that "Look what I found!" turns into 2 clues, and the skills that Yorick commits to the investigations of whoever is looking for clues, which are Perception with and Unexpected Courage with . A Flashlight investigates with 2 less shroud, which makes his 2 enough for most locations, and since it is an asset that discards itself when it runs out of supplies, his reaction can put it back with new ones. It takes a hand, though, so with two fighters keep an eye on the slots.

• 1 x Overpower -> 1 x Evidence! (second copy)
• 1 x Overpower -> 1 x "Look what I found!"
• 1 x Guts -> 1 x Perception
• 1 x Fight or Flight -> 1 x Unexpected Courage
• 1 x Vicious Blow -> 1 x Flashlight (optional) If your partner is fragile. The aim here is to keep your partner out of trouble without changing Yorick's role: he still goes in first and kills, he just does not leave enemies behind that can reach them. Hiding Spot is a Fast event for 1 that gives aloof to non-Elite enemies at a location, which stops the enemies from engaging your partner while Yorick is elsewhere. Inspiring Presence has and readies an ally at your location and heals 1 damage or 1 horror from it, which keeps Guard Dog alive. Cunning Distraction costs 5 and automatically evades every enemy at your location, which is expensive for this deck, but it gets both investigators out of a swarm.
• 1 x Fight or Flight -> 1 x Hiding Spot
• 1 x Guts -> 1 x Inspiring Presence
• 1 x Vicious Blow -> 1 x Cunning Distraction If you want more kills. Every kill is another use of the reaction, so this is the way to make the engine turn faster. Trench Knife costs 1, gives +X where X is the number of enemies engaged with you, and your Engage actions do not provoke attacks of opportunity, which suits a character who stands in the middle of the fight. It does not discard itself like the Knife, so it is a steady weapon rather than a recursion card, and it takes a hand, so keep an eye on the slots. Waylay costs 3 and defeats an exhausted non-Elite enemy at your location if you pass an test equal to its evade, and that defeat triggers Yorick's reaction. It needs an enemy that Stray Cat or your partner has just evaded, and the test is made with only 3 , so it only makes sense next to a partner who evades a lot.
• 1 x Vicious Blow -> 1 x Trench Knife
• 1 x Fight or Flight -> 1 x Waylay If you want more cards or resources. The deck already runs the two copies of Emergency Cache that the pool allows, so the room here is small. Rabbit's Foot draws a card when you fail a test, and it is an accessory, so it competes with Cherished Keepsake for the slot: you can alternate them, since the Keepsake costs nothing and comes back after a kill. Dig Deep lets you convert resources into +1 or +1 , which helps with the treacheries, but the deck has few resources to spare.
• 1 x Guts -> 1 x Rabbit's Foot
• 1 x Overpower -> 1 x Dig Deep These substitutions do not change the core of the deck, but they allow you to tune it according to your partner and your campaign.

Upgrades with XP

This deck is meant to be played through a campaign, so it is going to grow. Yorick can use Survivor and neutral cards of any level and Guardian cards up to level 2, so the best Guardian upgrades (First Aid (3), Stick to the Plan (3), Armor of Ardennes (5)) are not available to him. The number in brackets after a card is its level. At the end of the section there are two tables: one with the recommended order of purchase and the card that each upgrade replaces, and one with optional purchases.

The cheapest upgrades are the ones that improve the cards that Yorick plays all the time. Lucky! (2) costs 2 XP and also draws a card, so each copy replaces the level 0 one directly. Emergency Cache (2) gives the same 3 resources and draws a card too. Both are events, so the reaction cannot replay them: Lucky! (2) is a Survivor card, so Resourceful can bring it back, but Emergency Cache (2) is neutral and only the Elder Sign effect can return it. Charisma (3) is a permanent talent: it starts the game in play, does not count toward the 30 cards and gives Yorick a second ally slot, so Guard Dog and Stray Cat can be in play together. One copy is enough, because the deck has only two allies.

The next step is the soak. Bulletproof Vest (3) is a body item with 4 health, and it takes the slot of Leather Coat, so it replaces it. The Leather Coat is free and the Bulletproof Vest is not, but it takes twice the damage, and Yorick can still replay it with his reaction. Elder Sign Amulet (3) is an accessory with 4 sanity, and it takes the slot of Cherished Keepsake, so it replaces it and covers Yorick's 6 sanity. Devil's Luck (1) cancels up to 10 damage and/or horror just dealt to you and then it is exiled, so it is a single emergency button for only 1 XP. A Chance Encounter (2) puts an Ally asset with printed cost X from any discard pile into play for X resources, which, with Charisma, can bring back a Guard Dog that fell in the middle of a fight.

Since the deck always stays at 30 cards, every new card has to push another one out, with one exception: Charisma is permanent, so it takes no slot from the 30. For the rest, here is what I would cut: Lucky! (2) and Emergency Cache (2) replace their level 0 copies, Bulletproof Vest replaces Leather Coat, Elder Sign Amulet replaces Cherished Keepsake, Devil's Luck replaces Guts and A Chance Encounter replaces an Overpower. These are my suggestions and not fixed rules, so adjust them to what your own games show you.

As a recommended order of purchase, with the experience spent so far in the Cumulative XP column (a dash in the Card out column means that the card is permanent and replaces nothing, and the Alternative column points to the optional purchase of the second table that competes with that row or goes with it), I would start with the cards that keep the engine running and then improve the soak:

Optional purchases (A to C):

These rows are not part of the numbered sequence: the number in brackets is the extra XP they cost, on top of what you have already spent. "Instead of" means that you buy the optional card in place of that numbered row, and "Extra" means that it does not replace any row, it is added to them. The purchases assume the default list: if you have swapped any of the cards in the Card out column using the Useful cards section, cut a similar card instead.

• Relic Hunter is a permanent talent like Charisma: it starts the game in play and gives a second accessory slot, so you can keep Cherished Keepsake and the Elder Sign Amulet together. The Elder Sign Amulet then comes in for a Vicious Blow instead of the Cherished Keepsake, and the Hunter itself takes no slot from the 30. It is a very late-game card, because it costs 3 XP on top of the Elder Sign Amulet.
• A Test of Will is a Fast event for 1 that cancels the revelation of a treachery drawn by an investigator at your location, and it is exiled afterwards, so it is a single use. Take it instead of Devil's Luck only if treacheries, not enemies, are what is hurting you.
• Will to Survive costs 4 and, until the end of your turn, you do not reveal chaos tokens for your tests, so a whole turn of attacks cannot fail from a bad token. It is a boss-turn card, and 3 XP is a fair price only for a boss turn. If horror is the thing that keeps hurting you, move the Elder Sign Amulet (#7) up, and if you lose allies too quickly, move Charisma (#4) up.

Gameplay

Initial hand & mulligan strategy

The ideal opening hand has both a weapon and something to take the damage in your place. A Baseball Bat, a Gravedigger's Shovel, either Knife or the Lantern will do as a weapon. Leather Coat, Cherished Keepsake, Guard Dog and Dodge are the shields. With a full mulligan you will have at least one weapon about 94% of the time, and a weapon together with a shield about 80% of the time. These numbers count the 33 cards that the deck really has once Bury Them Deep, Graveyard Ghouls and the random basic weakness are shuffled in. They count as weapons the Baseball Bat, the Gravedigger's Shovel, the two Knife and the Lantern, seven cards in total, and as shields the Leather Coat, the Cherished Keepsake, the Guard Dog and the two Dodge, five cards in total.

If you have both, keep them. If you have only one of the two, keep it and send the rest back. The deck is cheap, so you can often play a weapon and a free body on the same turn with the starting 5 resources, and a Leather Coat or a Cherished Keepsake costs nothing, so they are always a good keep alongside a weapon. First Aid is a good keep only if you already have something to heal, since on its own it does nothing in the first turns. Resourceful is a good keep only if you have another Survivor card in the hand to commit it to, and it has nothing to return at the start, since the discard pile is empty. Evidence! does nothing until Yorick kills something, and Fight or Flight does nothing until he has taken horror.

The cards you should be happy to get rid of in the mulligan are the skills you will not need yet, such as Guts, Fight or Flight and Evidence!, and the second copy of any weapon when you already have one.

Managing the discard pile

The discard pile is the second hand of this deck, so it is worth knowing how it works before the first fight. The reaction triggers after you defeat an enemy, once per round, and you pay the asset's cost. That makes cheap assets the best targets: a Knife for 1 or a Leather Coat for 0 are almost free, while a Guard Dog for 3 is a real choice. The reaction is not an action, so it does not cost one of your three. It only plays assets: events and skills have to come back through Resourceful or the Elder Sign.

The best loop is the one with the Knife. You attack with it and discard it for +2 and +1 damage, you kill, and after the kill you pay 1 resource to put it back in play, ready to do it again. The Gravedigger's Shovel works in a similar way, and so does the Lantern, each one with its own effect. The Baseball Bat also goes to the discard pile on a Skull or Auto-fail, and that is not a loss either, since it is back after the next kill. First Aid gets a fresh set of supplies every time it is discarded and replayed.

Resourceful and the Elder Sign cover what the reaction cannot. Resourceful returns a Survivor card to your hand, which includes the events and the skills, like Lucky! or "Not without a fight!", and the Elder Sign returns any card at all, including the Guardian and neutral ones such as Dodge, Evidence! or Emergency Cache, if the test is successful. Use them on the cards that cost too much to replay with the reaction, such as the Guard Dog, or on events that you used at a bad moment.

The danger is Graveyard Ghouls: while it is engaged with you, cards cannot leave your discard pile, so the reaction, Resourceful and the Elder Sign effect do nothing. It is a Hunter with Fight 3 and 3 health, and Yorick has 4 , so kill it first. The reaction triggers after the defeat, and by then Graveyard Ghouls is no longer engaged, so you can use it on the same kill. If you can afford it, Bury Them Deep is a clean way of getting rid of it.

Early game

The early game is about getting a weapon and a free body in play and going into the first fight. Yorick goes first into every location that has enemies: engage, attack, and use the discard pile from the first kill. Do not spend the early actions healing, since it is better to wait until the damage actually matters, and do not worry about clues: that is what your partner is for, although a Gravedigger's Shovel discarded at the right moment is a free clue.

If Graveyard Ghouls shows up in the first turns, drop everything and kill it. Stay close to your partner from the very beginning: Yorick's job is to arrive at the enemies before they reach your partner, so that your partner can investigate undisturbed.

Mid game

Once you have a weapon in hand, a free body in play and something in the discard pile, the deck enters its most stable phase. This is where you choose what to replay. After each kill, think about what you need most: the Knife for the next attack, the Leather Coat that just died, or the Guard Dog if the fight is going to last. Do not be afraid to lose the soak, since that is what it is there for, and it comes back for free.

Look for the chance to chain kills. Play Evidence! right after a kill, so that your partner finds one clue less, and use the Knife loop to keep a weapon in hand. If the enemy is too dangerous, Stray Cat gets you out of the fight with no test. Dodge is for the turns when an attack would hurt Yorick or his partner too much, and Fight or Flight is for the turns when the horror is already on him and a fight is about to decide the round. First Aid keeps the bodies and Yorick standing, and horror is the thing to watch: Yorick has only 6 sanity, so heal it before it becomes a problem and do not wait until the last point.

Late game

In the late game Yorick should have the bodies upgraded, a second ally slot if you bought Charisma, and a discard pile full of options. This is the moment for the upgrades that take the damage in his place: the Bulletproof Vest and the Elder Sign Amulet, which together cover health and sanity.

Do not forget how the deck gets cards back: once per round with the reaction, once per test with Resourceful, and with every successful Elder Sign. A long scenario is not a pile of resources but a steady loop of weapons and bodies, and the best turns are the ones where Yorick kills, replays what he needs and leaves the location clear for his partner.

Final notes

Do not try to make Yorick do everything. His strength is that he knows exactly what his job is: to go in first, to kill and to keep his partner safe by clearing the way while they do the rest. The more you stick to that, the better the deck works, and the more you try to turn him into an investigator, or into a shield for others, the more you will feel his limitations.

Stay close to your partner. Several of the deck's tools only work on the investigators at your location, and being in the same place is what lets Yorick cancel attacks and heal for them. Separate only when there are no enemies around and the clues are far apart, and even then try not to stray more than one move away.

Treat your weapons and your bodies as resources to be spent. The Knife, the Gravedigger's Shovel and the Lantern are there to be discarded, and the Leather Coat and the Cherished Keepsake are there to die. It is much better to use them than to keep them in play until the scenario ends, because after a kill they come back.

Keep the discard pile free. Graveyard Ghouls is the one thing that can stop the whole deck, so kill it as soon as it appears, and do not leave it engaged while you try to play from the discard pile.

Finally, the number of copies of cards such as Evidence!, Fight or Flight and the second Knife is where I would look first after your first games: if your partner usually finds the clues without help, cut the Evidence!, if Yorick rarely has horror, cut the Fight or Flight, and if your hands are always full, cut a Knife. As long as each turn contributes to killing, staying alive or recurring, the deck will do what it was built to do: let the gravedigger go in first and come back for an encore.

Summary of cards

If your intention is to have this deck ready, you only need the Revised Core Set and The Path to Carcosa cycle. In addition to the 30 cards of the deck, William Yorick requires Bury Them Deep, Graveyard Ghouls and 1 random basic weakness.

Deck (30 cards):

Cards mentioned as alternatives:

Upgrades with XP: