Becky with the Good Hair

Middle fingers up, put them hands high / Wave it in his face, tell him, "boy, bye."

Hello again, citizens of Arkham! I've returned with my second-ever published deck, mostly because I haven't seen many Tommy Muldoon decks published and I wanted to throw my hat into the ring (and farm some boosts to that sweet, sweet reputation number).

Much like the start to any cycle, the method how my partner and I choose investigators goes like this: we go through the new investigators together, she picks one that she's very interested in, and then I look for complimenting investigators. This time, we had to choose multiple (!!!!), but for Campaign A, she was very interested in a cluever-oriented Luke Robinson. That worked out for me, as I was between Tony Morgan and Tommy myself. I went with the rookie cop, especially because I am one of the few who loves the Survivor class., and there's just enough of a spattering of red cards to appease me.

Originally, this deck had the very-expensive .45 Thompson that I planned on upgrading to the .45 Thompson (3) and have extra resources to burn, but right out of the gate in the first scenario, I drew it in my opening hand and had immediate regrets. How was I to pay for this and the other cards I wanted to play? It seemed clunky and inefficient, especially when I drew a Prepared for the Worst and found Becky with the good hair.

Upon doing research for the Campaign B investigators, I stumbled upon another deck that user matt88 had created involving the Meat Cleaver. This worked out perfectly, as I have been very eager to try out that Meat Cleaver Agnes deck I saw a while back, but haven't had a chance to play. Making some revisions for efficiency's sake, and to suit my play style, here we are.

What It Do

Tommy's ability is very interesting to me, especially how capable it is in getting precious resources that can help pay for those expensive cards. Plus, there are so many assets that allow other investigators to dump their damage or horror onto them that he seemed like a great choice for the low-health Luke. Add to that a weapon that can do extra damage when you give a horror to one of these assets and baby, you got a stew goin'!

After getting your XP from the first scenario, it is time to upgrade to Brother Xavier, who will do two damage to an enemy at your location on his way out. Being able to add horror to him from the Meat Cleaver to accelerate the process is even better, and he can also take on your partner's damage and horror, too. What makes this better is the fact that, after he does his trick, he gets shuffled back into your deck. Is that not wonderful or what!

Add to that cheap soak assets like Cherished Keepsake and Leather Coat to net you two resources, as well as items that double down as soak and help your fellow investigator like True Grit and Something Worth Fighting For and you are one lean, mean, monster-fightin' machine with a ton of resources.

The rest of the cards are pretty much staples: Prepared for the Worst to seek out Becky or the Meat Cleaver, Scene of the Crime and "Look what I found!" for clues, and the mélange of skill cards like Steadfast, Take the Initiative, and Vicious Blow to help with the encounter deck or combating monsters.

Upgrades (Sort of In Order of Priority, Kind of)

Core to What This Deck Aims to

• Guard Dog Brother Xavier: Look, the Guard Dog literally helped me beat the Random Basic Weakness I have, but X Man adds a bit more depth to what this deck is trying to do, as I mentioned earlier.
• Beat Cop Beat Cop (2): Exhausting the cop to deal damage is always nicer than having to discard it to do damage, since, you know, that defeats the purpose of Tommy's ability.
• Vicious Blow Vicious Blow (2): Do I really need to explain?
• Lucky! Lucky! (2): Again, do I really need to explain?
• On the Hunt Reliable: Initially, I was worried about treacheries. Maybe it stems from playing as Rita in the last cycle, idk. Regardless, Tommy handles treacheries pretty well, especially with Take the Initiative and Steadfast existing as cards. So I decided to help make my fighting more efficient. (NOTE: Reliable could probably get replaced by any of the cards listed in the next section if I'm being honest.)

For Your Consideration

• Safeguard: This card seems pretty nuts. So you're telling me I can have my partner drag me from location to location, I pick up enemies like a hoover, and when it's my turn, I have the actions to take care of them without having to spend actions to sprint to said location? Along with all the soak Tommy will have (especially when the X Man is out), I can be more efficient with what my deck is made to do?! Sign me up! My only catch is that I'm partnered with a Luke player, so if he goes to his Dream-Gate, I'm kind of SOL. I guess we'll cross that gate when we get to it.
• Flare: A way to either search for Ally assets like Brother Xavier, or deal hella damage if you've got an Ally already? Seems good. Not sure what this replaces, though... maybe On the Hunt/Reliable?
• Solemn Vow instead of Something Worth Fighting For/True Grit: SWFF costs 3. Solemn Vow costs zero. If you feel like you don't need the three resources SWFF may provide, as well as the sanity protection, then I'd go for Solemn Vow. Especially if you're getting dragged around by Safeguard.
• Agency Backup: At one point, I had 10 resources burning a hole in my pocket. Tommy can produce resources. So if you think you have the space for another Ally asset that can also get you clues, be my guest. Personally, I might sub out Something Worth Fighting For and the Enchanted Blade for these—I'll definitely have the money for it. And paired with a Flare to seek it out? Thumbs up.
• "Fool me once...": Based on what I've seen so far, this card might come in handy... If you're concerned about treacheries that stack, this looks great, especially for one cost and one XP.
• "Let me handle this!"/Heroic Rescue/Delay the Inevitable: I was tempted to add some of these to protect my partner, but there really isn't much room in the deck to do so. Maybe you can find some use for them outside of what is in this decklist.

I hope you enjoyed the decklist! It's been a ton of fun to play, and you feel pretty heroic when you can protect your fellow investigator while reaping the benefits yourself--I definitely felt selfish asking to take all their damage, just so I could pay for more stuff. Share your thoughts in the comments below - I'd love to hear what you think!

He only want me when I'm not there / He better call Becky with the good hair.