Friends on the Other Side

ArkhamDB wouldn't let me post the deck with his signatures included, so just as a note, Bonnie Walsh and Burden of Leadership definitely still should be here.

The young woman ran through the cool, dank Arkham night, breathlessly going through prayers she was out of practice saying in the hopes that someone might hear her. Behind, the snarls and cackles of the hunting ghoul pack were distorted by the humid air, fog carrying them to strange places ahead and to the sides. Or maybe they had already flanked her, hemmed her in, and it was too late. She wasn't ready to give up and wait to find out.

Suddenly a shape loomed in the fog ahead and she shrieked, pivoting and sprinting down an alleyway between two of the crooked, aged buildings. It was, she promptly realized, the last mistake she'd ever make. The alleyway was a dead end.

Well, that was it. Nothing left to do but pray for a miracle.

"Excuse me, young lady?"

She spun to find a familiar-seeming man at the head of the alleyway. He took a few steps towards her.

"No! Get out of here! You need to run!" she shouted, but the man only raised his hands and chuckled quietly.

"I can assure you, I mean you no harm. Are you quite all right?" But by now he was in the alleyway, and she was certain there was no escape.

There was a skitter on the paving stones beyond, and several roof tiles clattered somewhere above. The man glanced quickly between all these cues, and then back at her.

"Ah. Nothing to worry about. I can handle this. Only, I have one question for you–"

She held her breath, terrified of what this eerie stranger might ask of her, with the sudden sinking feeling that she might have stumbled into more danger than the monsters in the street. At least THEY only wanted to eat her.

"–did you vote in our recent election?"

"...what??" Well. That was unexpected. "Um, I...yeah, I did."

"Wonderful!" The man turned and began rolling up his sleeves. She saw symbols tattooed, or maybe carved, onto his arms. They began to glow with a faint light. Then he drew a long knife from somewhere within his coat and faced the mouth of the alleyway.

"Um...don't you want to know who I voted for?"

"Not in the least! That's your business, it's just good to see young people taking their civic engagement seriously! Now, please stand back, and if the things that are about to come out of those corners maim me horribly, please find my secretary Bonnie and tell her she needs to improve her wards and bindings."

Before the young woman could say another word, the first of the ghouls materialized out of the fog–and the first of what her brain would later rationalize as "dogs" burst from the joint in the eaves above and ripped it in half.

Introduction

ALL RIGHT! I am INCREDIBLY EXCITED to present to you Charlie Kane: Summoned Hound Wielder Extraordinaire!

The Hounds were originally released not long after I started playing Arkham and I fell instantly in love. Thematic, powerful, and with all the familiar feeling of casting a Summon and Bind in Call of Cthulhu, they also diverged utterly from the traditional (and slightly overdone) Mystic archetype.

There was only one problem: they were only ok. Even after the realization that the Unbound Beast could be dodged entirely with certain cards (in this deck, A Chance Encounter, which "puts it into play" and thus dodges the Beast's shuffle-in condition), I couldn't really get the Hounds to an efficient level in my player count (4p). That didn't stop me from trying, of course–I've played them in Agnes, Patrice, Diana, and Daisy, and enjoyed them every time, but they remained stronger at lower player counts because most of those characters struggled to give them compression or further boosts. I began to suspect the card just wasn't designed for my high-power 4p group, which is perfectly valid...

...and then Charlie came along, with his campaign promise to make all my dreams come true. And unlike most real politicians, he delivered!

The Deck

Charlie can pick any two non-Mystic classes to use while still always taking Summoned Hound, meaning that he can get Survivor (for A Chance Encounter or Flare, or both) PLUS a compression class (either Guardian or Seeker, for Vicious Blow or Deduction). This build used Guardian, since Seeker is much easier to make viable (a single clue has much higher value than a single damage) and I wanted to see if I could get my damage output up high enough to run with the big guys.

The primary function of the deck is, of course, cheating out Summoned Hound to get two extra actions per turn with inflated stats. Then you can use Stunning Blow, Vicious Blow, Newspaper, and Inspiring Presence to turn those boosted actions into compression, or even more actions. The lovely Bonnie Walsh can ready one of your Hounds to give you yet another attack or clue, and Michael Leigh provides you with saved-up additional damage compression.

As a backup summon, Miss Doyle's cats grant you some flexibility with your standard three actions. I also threw in The Hungering Blade, mostly for fun but also because the amount of draw power and precision damage this deck has is high enough to make the sword work. If you'd prefer a more reliable weapon, the Machete is a classic, and upgraded Survival Knife could take you in an interesting new direction.

The rest of the deck is mostly draw power to make sure you can get out those Chanced Hounds and keep re-using your compression skills.

Variations

If you'd like to pivot back to a clue focus, which is admittedly likely the more powerful version of the deck, you can swap out Guardian for Seeker and run Deduction, Death • XIII, a second Newspaper OR some Old Keyrings, and more economy skills like Eureka!

If you go the tank route with Survival Knives, then swapping in Scavenging and the Coat/Keepsake line can make you one tough customer!

And frankly, most Charlie decks running Survivor should probably consider Summoned Hound. With relatively uncontested arcane slots and an Elder Sign that can read "take an additional action with +4 stat value" while the Hounds are out, he presents a golden opportunity, a new age for these loyal evil doggos. Plus, ACE is always good for him.

Conclusion

I hope you've enjoyed this deckbuild! I certainly doubt I'm the only one who looked at Charlie and immediately thought "SUMMONED HOUND BABY!" but I have taken the time to test and revise this deck and am quite happy with where it sits at the moment. I hope those of you that try it enjoy, and I hope that someone out there who hasn't yet given the dogs a whirl is inspired to do so! They're fun in everyone. Trust me.

In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that playing them is a treat.