Mark busts the Mythos to free the path forward.

Please don't forget to press the ♥ if you like the Deck and the work that has been put into making it :)

This deck only uses the Revised Core Set/2 Core Sets, Dunwich Investigator Expansion, Carcosa Investigator Expansion and the Edge of the Earth Investigator Expansion.

Credit: Fantasy Flight Games

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Introduction:

Mark is the archetype of a pure offensive , with 5 , he is here to defeat Enemies. He loves big weapons, and thanks to Sophie offers an amazing capacity to deal with any test.

This Deck's name is also a tribute to the Mythos Busters Discord, where the fantastic community has been helping me so much in putting these Decks together.

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After the warm welcome of the Beginner Decks made for Zoey, Rex, Jenny, Jim and Pete, I decided to go for a last Series of Beginner Deck Guides for The Path to Carcosa.

Find the other Carcosa Beginner Decks:
• Scavenge-Minhg
• Sefine-Art Black Magic Painter
• Akachi Ony-Elemental Mage
• Yorick Gold Digger
• I decided not to propose a Deck for Lola Hayes on purpose as even with the help of the community, we couldn't find any Deck that made us feel like you wouldn't regret playing any other investigator instead. If she piqued your curiosity, keep her in a corner of your mind until you have a bit more cards.

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Table of Contents:

• Overview

• Main Strategy

• Deal Damage

• Manage Health/Sanity

• Pass any test

• Other Cards

• Upgrade Path

• Make your own Deck!

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Overview:

Difficulty:	★★★☆☆
Enemy Management:	★★★★★
Clue-getting:	★☆☆☆☆
Encounter protection:	★★★★☆
Survivability:	★★★★☆
Economy:	★★★★★
Card Drawing:	★★★★☆

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Main Strategy:

This is a Guardian archetype Deck, killing enemies, passing Parley Tests, and Encounter Tests of others to ensure that the Clue-getters get all the space they need to move the game forward.

• Sledgehammer and then Butterfly Swords can deal 3 damages reliably. Add a Beat Cop (2), and you can defeat most early enemies in one attack. Later with Butterfly Swords (2) and Brand of Cthugha, you deal damage 3 by 3.

• Emergency Aid and Inspiring Presence recharge your Beat Cop (2) to trigger Mark's as often as possible.

• With Guts, Say Your Prayers and Combat Training (3) to pay for , laugh at any test that is not .

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Deal Damage:

The main reason you would choose Mark Harrigan is that you want to burst enemies.

• You can use basic tests and later Butterfly Swords (2) simple attacks to finish the least damage or for 1hp enemies.

• Sledgehammer is impressive early in the campaign as you can reliably deal with 3hp enemies that are common.

• Bandolier + .32 Colt are here to use one single action for 2hp enemies

• Butterfly Swords (2) and Brand of Cthugha (1) are here for their capacity to deal 5 damage in 2 actions and 7 damage in one turn. Small Spoiler: in The Path to Carcosa, that is enough to kill every enemy in the campaign.

• You then upgrade to Brand of Cthugha (4) to better deal with multiple enemies at once.

• With Butterfly Swords (2), Brand of Cthugha (4), Vicious Blow (2) and Beat Cop (2), you can deal up to 14 damage in one turn!

•• Note that you can still attack with Butterfly Swords (2) even when it is exhausted, but you cannot use the ability for a 3-damage attack anymore.

•• We do not upgrade to Butterfly Swords (5) since it's a 2 XP difference with Butterfly Swords (2) + Brand of Cthugha (4) and the damage output of the combo is higher. In higher player counts, I would still consider going with Butterfly Swords (5). In this situation, both options are valid, and it is up to you and how you like playing.

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Manage Health/Sanity:

• If you do not heal yourself, you can use Sophie 4 times before you start having issues with her. Because of the limited healing options in the card pool, I advise you to spare her unless really needed, and if possible pair her with Guts or Unexpected Courage for tests before you purchase Combat Training (3).

• Ideally the main reason to trigger your is with the Beat Cop (2) that you can recharge with Emergency Aid and Inspiring Presence. Keep one copy Emergency Aid in your hand in case you happen to take more than 4 damage and you need to flip Sophie back to her good side.

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Absorb the Scenario Tests:

To provide your Clue-getter with an open field to investigate and move the game forward, you need to pass as many other tests as possible for the team.

This involves:

• Killing enemies

• Doing Scenario tests on locations or parleying. If it is a , leave it to your that can pass it easily, otherwise you can succeed any other test:

••  tests: Guts + Sophie make you 7 , which should be enough to succeed any on the first try. If things get out of hands, Say Your Prayers is your safety net and you should keep it for defensive use, Soft spoiler: especially for this campaign that deals a lot of Horror.

••  tests: first Unexpected Courage + Sophie and then you simply buy your way with Combat Training (3) as the Deck is really cheap and you should be able to stack resources easily.

• "Let me handle this!" is a good way to protect your Clue Getter from a test that would highly impact the game and their tempo. With Guts, Unexpected Courage or Sophie, you are +4 at the test, which should be enough to pass almost any test.

• Finally, it is possible to use your own actions to discard specific weaknesses like Chronophobia for another Investigator.

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Other Cards:

• Stick to the Plan improves your consistency significantly by attaching enablers to make sure that you can play your critical Assets as early as possible.

• Emergency Cache Sticks to the Plan to be able to play your Assets as soon as you draw them.

• Prepared for the Worst also Sticks to the Plan and makes sure that you find a weapon if you didn't have it after Mulligan.

• Sweeping Kick Sticks to the Plan for an emergency attack if you do not find your weapons early enough, or an evade if you arrive late to a location with a big enemy.

• Here are the cards to attach to Stick to the Plan in order:

1. Prepared for the Worst, to access your weapons as fast as possible
2. Sweeping Kick that your purchase right after Stick to the Plan. If you do not have that 1xp to get it, you can still place Shortcut.
3. Emergency Cache and then On the Hunt (3).

•• As Stick to the Plan exhausts, the strategy is as follows: If you have a weapon in your hand at the start, play it during your first turn and use On the Hunt/Emergency Cache to gain money back immediately. Keep Sweeping Kick for when you cannot kill an enemy in the same turn. If you do not have a weapon in your starting hand, use Prepared for the Worst on your Turn 1. Hopefully, you find a weapon, and if you don't and draw an enemy on your first Mythos Phase, you can always use Sweeping Kick to either kill it or evade it and move somewhere else. We do not use Ever Vigilant since there are too few Assets in the Deck to make it worth it.

• Shortcut allows you to come back to your Clue-getter faster if you were split for any reason, also improving your chances to kill the enemy at the same turn as you enter its location.

• On the Hunt is fantastic to fish enemies, especially the ones with Victory Points so that you can help your whole team improve their Decks over the campaign.

• First Aid (3) is an alternative upgrade in case you are taking horror traumas and you want to prevent a spiral that would kill Mark Harrigan.

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Upgrade Path:

• Beat Cop x2 Beat Cop (2) x2 - 4xp - Total 4xp

•• You can now use them to deal 1 test less damage, and every time you do, you draw one card. Top priority.

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• .32 Colt x2 Butterfly Swords (2) x2 - 4xp - Total 8xp

•• Being able to do 3 damage in one action is terrific, especially early in the campaign. With Vicious Blow, that's 4 damage in one action or 5 in 2 actions.

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• Bandolier x2 Brand of Cthugha (1) x2 - 2xp - Total 10xp

•• Now that you do not have the .32 Colt anymore, you do not need the Bandolier to hold it.

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• Sledgehammer x2 Combat Training (3) - 6xp - Total 16xp

•• With Brand of Cthugha, Butterfly Swords and Prepared for the Worst to find the latter, you don't need the Sledgehammer anymore.

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• Stick to the Plan - 6xp - Total 22xp

•• Consistency is tedious but so rewarding. Find your weapons rapidly, and pay for them.

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• Prepared for the Worst x1 Sweeping Kick x1 - 1xp - Total 23xp

•• An amazing defensive card that you can Stick to the Plan for more consistency.

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• Emergency Cache x2 On the Hunt x2 - 6xp - Total 29xp

•• Once you have Stick to the Plan, On the Hunt Sticks to the Plan brings you victory points enemies when you want them and brings resources when you need it.

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• Brand of Cthugha (1) x2 Brand of Cthugha (4) - 6xp - Total 35xp

•• If you need to deal more than one 3-damage attack per turn, you now can clean the board much more reliably for these turns when you both draw a big one.

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• Vicious Blow x2 Vicious Blow x2 - 4xp - Total 39xp

•• The icing on the cake, more burst for the Ancient Ones.

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Link to the full xp Deck

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Make your own Deck!:

• Quickdraw Holster that replaces the Bandolier is also a great way to deal 5 damage in 1 action with Butterfly Swords (2). I decided against this as it is a lot of resources and XP for a action that was not needed the vast majority of the time.

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• If you have access to Nathaniel Cho's Deck, Galvanize is a fantastic card that can ready Butterfly Swords (2) for a second 3 damage attack the same turn.

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If you are playing this Deck with the others of the series and only 1 collection, here is a proposed way to distribute the overlapping cards for each investigator:

Mythos Busting Mark|One Collection Variant: 0xp Deck / Full XP Deck

Scavenge-Minhg|One Collection Variant: 0xp Deck / Full XP Deck

Sefine-Art Black Magic Painter|One Collection Variant: 0xp Deck / Full XP Deck

Akachi Ony-Elemental Mage|One Collection Variant: 0xp Deck / Full XP Deck

Yorick Gold Digger|One Collection Variant: 0xp Deck / Full XP Deck