This is my standard test deck. Anything I build new I run against this to see how well it fares - if it can't beat the Serpents, it's probably not competitive.

That said, this is a fairly effective deck in its own right, simply because of its flexibility (that's the last time I make that pun) and its straightforward nature. There are no easy one-card answers to it, which is why I use it for testing. The core ideas behind it are attrition, unpredictable story struggles, and regeneration. Here's a quick run-down of the most important cards:

Feathered Serpent (MoE): One of the best Cthulhu characters out there, and the staple of the deck. He's a beast at story struggles, so I try to get him out as quickly as possible to keep control of the story phase.

Innsmouth Troublemaker (Core): Standard Khopesh wielder for Cthulhu. He can trade three-for-one characters early game if he gets a Khopesh.

Carl Stanford (SoA): One of the other all-stars of the Cthulhu lineup, he also dominates early game story phases. Can easily block out early-game troublemakers like the Master of the Myths (IT). I don't often sacrifice my Cultists to get him his boost, but it's nice to have the option.

Uroborus (WaB): Once my discard pile is seeded with enough dead Serpents, he allows for a basically free sacrifice every other turn via the Temple. He's unique (as per errata), and the Temple requires a Cthulhu match which insane characters don't have, so you do have to wait a turn for him to recover from the insanity. Still, very nice fodder for the Temple.

Yig (SfW): A standard AO for a Serpents deck, he boosts all the others. Incredibly dangerous in the story phase, and also an effective Khopesh wielder.


Stygian Idol (TSC): More [Terror] icons to be transformed on my Feathered Serpent or Yig, and cheaper Serpents to boot - a very good support card for a Serpents deck all around.

Khopesh of the Abyss (TSS): One of the key items for the attrition strategy. It recycles back into the deck and I can always bring the Serpents back, so I tend to use it very aggressively.

Temple of R'lyeh (NN): The other key item for the attrition strategy. I can bring the Serpents back without much trouble, so again, I tend to use it very aggressively on everything but Feathered Serpents, Stanford, and Yig.

Deep One Assault (Core): Cthulhu's standard Swiss Army Knife, for cutting up unexpected problems that arise.

Disguised Threat (TC): This allows me to transform my cheap early game Cultists into Serpents, and specifically, into the Feathered Serpent. It allows turn 1 Feathered Serpents, which virtually guarantees I won't be losing stories to rush decks.

Get it Off! (Core): I dub this card Snow Graves (AtMoM)-B-Gone. Also handy now that some players are starting to make heavier use of really annoying Attachments like Stygian Eye (IT) and Mask of Sthenelus (IT).

Sibilant Cry (WaB): Last but not least! In a lot of ways, the all-star of the deck, it means that I can be extremely aggressive with my Serpents and bounce back very quickly, so the deck is dangerous both early game and late game.

Have you tried replacing the Temple by or include by omissions of other cards the mighty

Cthylla (SoK) ?Instead of one free sacrifice every other turn with Uroburos, you could sac the insane uroborus every bloody phase to wipe the board clean and I so think that could be a gamechanger...


I was trying to make a snake deck but I lacked many of the cards so I got stuck with a theoretical card list rather than a deck but the abusive potential between Cthylla and Uroborus kind of stuck out to me.

Hmm - good suggestion. I didn't take a close look at any AOs other than Yig, simply because the deck is designed to run as fast as possible. Cthylla may be a good addition, though; I may swap out Padma Amrita for it. The limitation on cost would mean that Uroborus sacrifices wouldn't be all that useful, though, as most players are running decks that are nearly all cost 3 or less.

Well if I got the rules right....Nope!

You would sac him while insane at which point his a 0 cost and not a 3 cost, and then Cthylla forces your opponent to sacrfice everything 0 or higher, this would be the crux, let uroborus insanity work for you...


In this interpretation Cthylla is worth his salt, and worthwile an inclusion, maybe even in mutiples, if I got the above wrong then probably his inclusion would not be really a great addition, and ignore the suggestion...

I have yet to play the game, but have looked over the rules and was wondering if this would work.

Lets say you have Uroborus, Temple of R'lyeh, Cthylla in play and enough Serpents in your disard pile to activate Uroborus ability.

Step1: Temple sacs Uroborus, so opponent sacs a character
Step2: bring Uroborus back insanse from discard pile
Step3: Cthylla sacs Uroborus. so opponent sacs a character
Step4: bring Uroborus back insanse from discard pile
Step5: end turn
Step6: Start turn, make Uroborus sane again, repeat Step1

And then as a change of pace after Step1:
Step1b: after Uroborus leaves play, use Sibilant Cry to bring all of your other Serpent characters back into play
Step1c: use Temple to kill off all Serpent Characters to wipe oppenents board
Step2:....

I ask if it works this way because you do not exhaust(bow, kneel, tap) the Temple, and you do not pay resources except for sacrificing a character. Cthylla does say Limit once per turn. And Uroborus does not say how many times it can come back from the discard.

I don't think this will work that way. Insane characters don't have a faction, so sacrificing Uroborus with the Temple is limited to 1x per round. (And only if you choose Uroborus to be the one that is restored in refresh phase.)
Insane characters also have no printed cost. Sacrificing an insane character by Cthylla would result in Cthylla's effect failing, I think. Therefore, sacrificing him with Cthylla is also limited to 1x per turn. And you can either sac him using the temple or sac him using Cthylla 1x during your turn, not both.

Here's the relevant FAQ entry:

Can Doppelganger copy an insane
character?
No. Doppelganger reads, “When
you play Doppelganger from your
hand choose a non-unique character
in play. X is equal to the printed
cost of that character.” and insane
characters have no printed cost there
is no way to determine the cost to play
Doppelganger. Thus, Doppelganger
cannot copy a an insane character.

@ hilariouspete: Thanks for the doppelganger faq. Indeed Cthylla wouldnt work then. I thought insane characters would count as a printed cost of 0.