Old Yorick Shot Guns

Credit: Jake Murray & Duallbrush

Yorick took a sharp turn in his career and now makes a living unburying old guns, tools, and occasionally some demons.

I wanted to make a deck that was able to consistently setup and sustain Old Shotgun with ease to show how powerful the weapon truly is.

• Overview

• Main Strategy

• Upgrade Path

• Make Your Own Deck!

The main strategy of this deck is to use ALMOST EVERY event in the deck and Yorick's ability to put the Old Shotgun in play with ammo. When that fails, you can always trust Cleaning Kit, Emergency Cache recharging the Cleaning Kit or .18 Derringer to cover for you until you can do that.

What do I mean by using ALMOST EVERY event in the deck (except Bury Them Deep) to put Old Shotgun in play with Ammo? Other than the obvious ones (Salvage (2) and Prepared for the Worst (2)), there is another way.

If you can kill an enemy while playing an event, you can use Yorick's ability to recycle Old Shotgun WITH AMMO from the discard pile. We have a few ways to do that:

• By directly killing an enemy with an event (Act of Desperation and Toe to Toe).

• Or by causing an Attack of Opportunity by playing an event (Emergency Cache (0 or 3), Prepared for the Worst (0 or 2), Salvage (2) and "Toe to Toe"), placing the damage dealt by the attack on the "Devil" and killing it, and then killing the enemy with the "Devil"'s on-death effect.

So, to recap, the ways to get ammo for the Old Shotgun are:

• Playing it with an event (Salvage (2) and Prepared for the Worst (2))
• Killing an enemy with an event and using Yorick's ability (Act of Desperation and Toe to Toe)
• Playing an event, taking an AoO, killing "Devil" with it and using its on-death effect to kill the enemy, and then use Yorick's ability.
• or by Playing/Recyling/Recharging with ECache (3) Cleaning Kit to use it as Ammo.

Well, that was a lot. Other than that, you also need to setup so that "Devil" can stay at 1hp and always be ready to blow up when attacked. To do that, you should:

• Get 2 physical traumas with ITTOI so you can start with 2 damages taken.
• Play Jessica Hyde to soak any excess damage (if you don't soak them, "Devil" will blow up on its own).

The other cards are here to fill a certain necessity of this deck. Old Shotgun NEEDS high combat tests to deal consistent damage. For that we use Wolf Mask, an ally that grants a combat boost (Jessica Hyde or Beat Cop) and the skill cards.

Cherished Keepsake is a real fighter here. It serves two purposes: as the only horror soak and as a cheap way to discard a Cleaning Kit in play for future recycling.

Pros:

• Really high damage output (consistently fighting for 3+ damage per action)
• Extremely fun if you like thinking ahead and planning how you are going to use every card in hand.
• Really cheap deck, almost every card in it costs 0 (12 out of 22, or 20 out of 30 if you count skills).
• You can fight enemies engaged with allies without worrying about hitting your allies (unless you draw an Auto-Fail)

Cons

• Weirdly fragile for Yorick
• You can sometimes damage your allies with the "Devil"
• "Devil" requires that you have Jessica Hyde in play (to soak excess damage) to avoid it blowing up on its own.

Link to the 0xp deck

(View at arkham-starter.com)

• Can I use Beat Cop (2) instead of the "Devil"?

Yes! They function very differently from one another, and you should definitely choose based on your style. Devil has a waaay higher damage ceiling (if you consider "Dynamite-like" plays) but requires a weird setup that might not be for everybody. Beat cop is a lot more direct but requires you to leave the enemy at 1hp prior to the event, which can be challenging and will certainly lead to sub-optimal plays.

• What about Guard Dog/Guard Dog (2) instead of the "Devil"?

I think the same comment above regarding Beat Cop (2) also applies to Guard dogs. BUT, things are different if we consider both of them together! I think they fit each other really well and allow you to activate them to kill a 2hp enemy while playing an event, which put them at the same level as the "Devil" play. So, if you want a more explosive, high-risk, high-reward, and clunky playstyle, you should go with "Devil" + Jessica; if you want a more safe, flexible, and consistent playstyle, you should definitely go with Guard Dog(0/2) + Beat Cop (2).

• What about Peter Sylvestre (2)?

It is a great card for this deck and will increase your survivability by a lot, but you will have to cut consistency for it, events or skills, it is up to you.

• What about Long Shot?

I don't recommend it, Old Shotgun really needs extra skill icons to function well, which long shot don't provide.

• What about Pushed to the Limit?

I had a weird experience with it. It was a reliable safety net when everything fails, but the shuffle effect counters Yorick's ability.

• What about Aquinnah (3)?

I haven't tested it, but it seems to fit weirdly in the deck. She is technically a damage soak but you can't ditch Jessica Hyde or Beat Cop (2) for her since the Old shotgun relies heavily in any Combat boosts you can provide.

• What about Well Prepared (2)?

Another card that I haven't tested, but this time it is definitely useful. If I would use it, I would definitely replace Overpower for it.

• What about ...Fire Axe (2) instead of .18 Derringer (0-2)?

So, this is a strange take. .18 Derringer functions in this deck are: Be a backup weapon and a way to discard an Old Shotgun in play. Fire Axe (2) is an awesome way to discard an Old Shotgun in play because it is cheaper and fast, making it easier to use, but it will probably be a way worse backup weapon damage-wise because of the zero resources requirement. Would I use it? Maybe. If I want to test it, I would start the campaign with the Fire Axe (0) and then decide which weapon I prefer when I decide to make the upgrade.

• What about Baseball Bat instead of .18 Derringer (0-2)?

It is, in fact, a far better card than the Derringer, no question asked. No ammo, same test bonus and damage, it is ok if it discards itself, Its upgrade is even better. I highly recommend this card if you don't care too much about it randomly discarding itself.

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