This used to be my competitive deck, until it got nerfed into the ground after Feed Her Young (WaB) went onto the restricted list and Diseased Sewer Rats (SoA) - both of which were previously in the deck - got banned. No more Corrupted Midwifes breeding endless numbers of Rats for the Bells.

Oh well. It's still fairly competitive, but I use it as a test deck rather than as a serious competitive deck now. The core idea is straightforward attrition and regeneration - wear down the enemy character count through ringing the Bells and sacrificing Dark Young, then springing everything out of the discard pile with Shub-Niggurath. The deck is designed to push for a big win mid-game. Here are the key cards with some thoughts on them:

Priestess of Bubastis (Core): Standard acceleration for Shub. Cheap and makes everything cheaper.

Gibbering Soul (TAD) and Under the Porch (THBtS): There to help find Shub-Niggurath when I'm ready to run the combo. The Soul's ability does not work with sacrifice, so I'd have to suicide it during the story phase or send it directly to discard with Nodens.

Ya-te-veo (TUP): A very good early game character with its "mini Shotgun"; dangerous in the story phase. Helps buy time for when the Bells can be put into play and start ringing.

Karin Marley (ER): She's mainly there to help look for various support cards, particularly the Bells. The main counter-play to a mutual sacrifice strategy is to flood out characters, so her conditional ability will frequently get triggered.

Corrupted Midwife (ER): So good in combination with a mutual sacrifice strategy, as it effectively expand your hand to include all the characters you've previously sacrificed. Also combos well with "when enters play" effects like those of Hungry Dark Young (Core). She still misses her pet Rats, though.

Marcus Jamburg (WoP): He's there to help bring the Bells back, whether they fire their ability or get destroyed prematurely. Restricted (which forced Feed Her Young (WaB) out, which was in a previous version of this deck).

Er'nrawr (SoK): He's there to provide more pressure on the other player's ability to play out characters.

Nodens (KD): Standard board-clearer, in case the other player has somehow managed to stay ahead on characters.

Shub-Niggurath (TC): One of the keys to the deck; allows previously sacrificed Dark Young to be sprung out of the discard in one fell swoop, which more often than not is enough to push through for the win within a turn or two.


The Three Bells (TUP): The other key to the deck. The mutual sacrifice is the most important part; the ability that triggers after three rings is a bonus. Preferred targets for friendly sacrifice are (obviously) Dark Young, but also anything that can easily be brought back with the Corrupted Midwife or Hungry Dark Young.

Book of Iod (ER): One card into the hand and one into the discard? What's the downside?

The Stone on the Peak (DD): A little bit of anti-mill protection, but also a bit of insurance in case the game runs very long.

The Necronomicon: Olaus Wormius Translation (TbtA): More sacrifice effect, but more just because I like the flavor.

Burrowing Beneath (Core): Snow Graves (AtMoM) is trouble for this deck, so this is the standard answer.

Forms of the Ether (CotJE): Just in case I get to mid or late game and one of my key cards somehow got resourced.

OK, along the lines of Danigral's "building on a budget" theme, here's a version of the deck built with Core (two copies), Secrets of Arkham, Ebla Restored, and The Unspeakable Pages.

Deck Built with CardGameDB.com CoC Deckbuilder

Story

Character
Dabbler in the Unknown (Core) x2
Degenerate Ghoul (Core) x2
Priestess of Bubastis (Core) x2
Albino Goat-spawn (SoA) x2
Forest Sister (Core) x2
Karin Marley (ER) x3
Ya-te-veo (TUP) x3
Corrupted Midwife (ER) x3
Hungry Dark Young (Core) x2
The Mother's Hand (SoA) x2
Watcher of the Woods (Core) x2
Serpent from Yoth (Core) x2
Y'Golonac (Core) x2
Rampaging Dark Young (SoA) x2
Shub-Niggurath (Core) x2

Support
Book of Iod (ER) x3
Shadowed Woods (Core) x2
The Three Bells (TUP) x3
Library of Nalanda (ER) x1
Terrors in the Dark (SoA) x2
Dimensional Rift (SoA) x2

Event
Bred to Survive (Core) x2
Burrowing Beneath (Core) x2

Conspiracy