After a few varied deck ideas, I ended up a little tired of seeing a few common combos in numerous decks. In order to challenge myself, I decided to create a set of decks under some restrictions. While more complex challenges were possible, I decided to try to create a set of decks such that a new player could have all of the appropriate investigators pre-made and ready to go when starting a stand-alone game.

Minimalist Restrictions

The following restrictions apply to my Minimalist decks:

• An investigator of every class in the set must be build-able with a single copy of the Core Set and the set containing the investigator.
• This deck can use up to 9 XP. (Without this rule, there aren't enough cards to create five full decks.)

With that in mind, allow me to present:

Minimalist Rex Murphy

Ruduen's Minimalist Dunwich Set

Primary Role: Clue Gathering

Secondary Role: Support

Summary

Even with minimal setup, Rex's innate four and investigator ability make him a great clue hunter with mild prep. His build aims to take advantage of this. Burglary can also allow him to scrounge a bit more cash if necessary. However, in a pinch, he can protect himself and others, attacking with Fire Axe or "I've got a plan!", add a bit of support with Expose Weakness, or avoid monsters wholesale via Disc of Itzamna before recovering it with Scavenging.

Mulligan Strategy:

• Always Keep
  • Fire Axe x1
  • Disc of Itzamna x1
  • Burglary x1
• Sometimes Keep
  • Scavenging x1 (If Burglary is not available or Disc of Itzamna is available)
  • "I've got a plan!" x1 / Mind over Matter x1 (If Fire Axe and Disc of Itzamna are not available)
  • Dr. Milan Christopher / Magnifying Glass / Alyssa Graham x1 (If Fire Axe is available)

General Strategy:

As always, Rex should be an investigator first and foremost. If he is able to, he should rely on others to handle threats, while grabbing as many clues as possible using his suite of tools. Since he has Inquiring Mind, he should stick to clue spaces when possible. He should be the prime candidate for holding on to clues, due to his access to Search for the Truth and Inquiring Mind.

If monsters are threatening to appear, Rex's first and foremost defense should be the Disc of Itzamna - a cancelled monster will allow you to skip a lot of the hassle involved. This is also one of the reasons Rex runs Scavenging - a good investigation can effectively grab you a couple of clues as well as set you up for another defensive turn. However, this also means that between Scavenging and Inquiring Mind, it can often be worth leaving one clue in a spot, to make sure you'll have some support available before moving to the next spot.

Along those lines, it will often be better for Rex to support others rather than fight himself. Don't be afraid to commit your extra Strange Solutions for that small boost - until you upgrade them, they're there for Scavenging to pick up if you have no better options. Similarly, feel free to use Preposterous Sketches or Shortcut to get others to a better spot, or Expose Weakness to help make a valuable hit land. Rex can do his core function with much less than others, and should focus on helping those who need more build-up once he has a couple of boosts running.

If Rex has to fight, be very aware of his resources. For single large blows, "I've got a plan!" will be your best bet. However, for more finicky fights, Rex can fall back to the Fire Axe, along with some boosts from Expose Weakness or Mind over Matter. Just be careful about how many resources you spend, since Rex will struggle to replenish resources until after the fight is over.

Notable Inclusions:

• Scavenging: By nature of being Rex, you'll often succeed with a large enough result that you can occasionally grab something back for another boost. The ideal target for this is Disc of Itzamna, which can allow you to cancel out difficult enemies wholesale. However, you can also scrounge up occasional boosts from, Fire Axe, Fine Clothes or Strange Solution, allowing you to use your numerous items as commit fodder if you really need to succeed on a test.

• Alyssa Graham: Since only one copy of Dr. Milan Christopher is available, Alyssa Graham does a good job of being a secondary ally. She also allows you to better dodge Rex's Curse, which is a larger concern when you don't have Hyperawareness or Higher Education to help ensure success.

• Fire Axe/Expose Weakness: Out of all of the default characters, Rex has the least access to viable combat options. As such, if he needs to fight, he needs Fire Axe the most. With Burglary to help prop up his resources, he can usually scrounge up enough of a boost to make a single good shot, or recover after the fighting is done. Since he only has one copy of Mind over Matter for emergencies, he has to use Expose Weakness to help handle cases where he needs another solid blow, though they're often better used to support allies.

Deck-Building Notes

What hurts Rex the most is only having access to one copy of Burglary. Under normal circumstances, Burglary and Higher Education would allow Rex to sweep through places like crazy, committing whatever resources he needs to before moving on. If a larger card was available, I would be curious about what other support could be run along with two copies of both Burglary and Scavenging.

Recommended Upgrades

• Higher Education: I wish I could fit this in his original build. However, with the Taboo pricing, Higher Education would effectively take the role of numerous different 'duplicate' cards (Magnifying Glass, Pathfinder), and left Rex with numerous other filler cards in its place. This should probably be one of your highest priorities.
• Strange Solution (Acidic Ichor): Acid helps give Rex a good combat option in case Fire Axe can't cut it.
• Magnifying Glass (1): A second copy helps consistency, but since you can always have one Magnifying Glass and one Fire Axe out, it's not essential.
• Deduction (1): Again, a second copy helps consistency, but is less important than the previous upgrades.

Thanks

Thanks for sticking through this entire write-up. While the other Minimalist decks in this set are prepared, I'm still working on the write-up for them, so keep an eye out if you're interested.

The currently available Minimalist decks for Dunwich are as follows:

• Minimalist Zoey Samaras
• Minimalist Jenny Barnes

In the meantime, feel free to check out my other decks:

• Testless Infinite Wendy
• Myriad Mandy
• Everywhere and Nowhere (Luke Robinson)
• Shallow Gravedigger William

Thoughts and comments are appreciated!