The Monster Mash

Factions

MAIN COMBOS

Priestess of Bubastis and Ghoulish Worshippers are cost reducers for Shubb/Monster Characters.

Characters with Toughness accumulate wounds via Pervasive Toxemia, in particular Dhole Ant-Lion and Rend, then play Ia! Ia! to clear opponents board.

Feed Her Young and Nug ramps-up resources while Forms of the Ether pulls Feed Her Young from Domains to be used again, can manipulate resources to set up Domains to ensure you have a 4-Shubb Domain to pay for Ia! Ia!, and can pull out cards that have been resourced to play.

RESOURCES

I have found that you want at least a 4-3-2 Domain structure to pay for Ia! Ia! and to keep bringing out the more expensive characters if the Priestess and Worshippers are taken out of play. Though with Nug and Feed Her Young it is fairly easy to get a higher Domain load-out without much effort. You need to be aware of the Loyal requirements of Ia! Ia! and Frozen Time and keep that in mind when resourcing but as previously mentioned Forms of the Ether can help here.

TACTICS

Ideally you want your opening hand to have Priestess of Bubastis, Ghoulish Worshippers, and Feed Her Young. On turn one play a Priestess, exhaust to play Ghoulish Worshippers, then Feed Her Young for a 2-2-1 Domain structure, or play a 2-cost Monster paying 1 resource. The cost reduction of the Priestess and Worshippers will help get out your higher cost Characters quickly and if you draw Nug early you may be able to play it on turn two as you will only need a 3 resource Domain.

Nug, Feed Her Young, and Forms of the Ether are used to build up your Domains with Forms of the Ether enabling you to recur Feed Her Young.

Once you have a few Characters with Toughness on the board you can play Pervasive Toxemia and start loading up on wounds preparing for Ia! Ia!. Dhole Ant-lion and Rend are the powerhouses for gathering wounds but you will need to watch their timing as the Ant-lions will kill themselves after 6 Story Phases, if not before.

Later in the game the Priestess of Bubastis probably won’t be needed for cost reduction and can then be used as a patsy when losing the Terror or Combat struggle.

OTHER CARDS

Fthaggua is good for reducing the number of characters your opponent can recur from their discard pile or help mill their deck while they stop Fthaggua powering up on destroyed characters.

Obsessive Elder Thing adds a bit of Investigation to help close out stories.

Pushed into the Beyond and Frozen Time help deal with problem cards that may slow you down.

I’m considering swapping out the Tenebrous Nightgaunt which hasn’t been used at all in any of the games for Hungry Star Vampire that has Toughness and character removal.

(Thanks to Yipe for the strategy write-up structure)

Monster themed deck