"Ashcan" Pete
Il Vagabondo

Investigatore

Vagabondo.

Sopravvissuto
  • 4
  • 2
  • 2
  • 3
Salute: 6. Sanità Mentale: 5.

Inizi la partita con Duke in gioco.

Scarta 1 carta dalla tua mano: Ripristina 1 supporto che controlli. (Limite di una volta per round.)

Effetto di : +2. Ripristina Duke.

"Vieni qui, bello.
Dobbiamo darci da fare."
Jake Murray
L'Eredità di Dunwich #5.

"Ashcan" Pete - Retro

Investigatore

Dimensione del Mazzo: 30 carte.

Opzioni del Mazzo: Carte Sopravvissuto () di livello 0-5; carte neutrali di livello 0-5; fino a 5 altre carte di livello 0 di qualsiasi altra classe (, , e/o ).

Requisiti del Mazzo (non considerati nella dimensione del mazzo): Duke, Tormentato dagli Incubi, 1 debolezza base casuale.

Pete, ribattezzato "Ashcan" per il suo stile di vita, dorme ovunque i suoi viaggi lo portino: in un campo, su un treno o forse, se ha fortuna, in un giardino. Si corica con il sue fedele segugio Duke da un lato e la sua sgangherata chitarra dall'altro. A volta, mentre dorme, Ashcan sogna luoghi infestati e tormentati da orribili creature… e quando si sveglia sa che qualcuno ha bisogno del suo aiuto, perché i suoi sogni gli mostrano la realtà. Non sa dire da quanto tempo stia viaggiando vivacchiando di espedienti, ma di certo sa che nessun luogo è troppo lontano per accorrere in aiuto di chi ne ha bisogno. E fintanto che Pete potrà aiutare il prossimo, difficilmente smetterà di vagabondare.
"Ashcan" Pete
"Ashcan" Pete
Search for cards usable by this investigator

FAQs

(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)
  • NB: ArkhamDB now incorporates errata from the Arkham Horror FAQ in its card text, so the ArkhamDB text and the card image above differ, as the ArkhamDB text has been edited to contain this erratum (updated January 2022): Erratum: Ashcan Pete's Deckbuilding Options should read: "... up to five other level 0 cards from any other classes (, , , and/or )." - FAQ, v.1.5, April 2019

  • You don't need to pay Duke's cost when you start the game with him in play.

  • Q: I'm not sure how to read the rules for parallel Pete compared to the rules for attachments leaving play. As an example, if an enemy has Handcuffs attached, and the enemy is defeated, both the enemy and Handcuffs are discarded. Are the Handcuffs discarded while attached to a scenario card, or does the enemy discard; and the handcuffs then discard while not attached to anything? A: In the situation described, you would return Handcuffs to your hand with Parallel Ashcan Pete. It was considered attached to a scenario card upon being discarded. (Rules Form, December 2023)

  • Q: I'm playing parallel "Ashcan" Pete and my Makeshift Trap in play has the Explosive Device upgrade with no “time” left. Can I use Pete’s ability to return it to my hand and still deal damage? A: No. Using Parallel Pete’s ability on Makeshift Trap replaces the discarding of Makeshift Trap, meaning its Explosive Device upgrade ability cannot resolve. (FAQ v2.2, February 2024)

Last updated

Reviews

Hey Duke, don't feel so bad

You take that Ashcan and make him better

Remember resetting you isn’t that hard,

It just costs a card , to make you better

.

Hey Duke, don’t be afraid,

Your so much bigger than an Irish Setter,

The minute you see the bad men start to grin,

Sink your teeth in , and they`ll regret-ya

.

You have space to take some pain

And two spare brain,

Protecting Ashcan’s poor fragile shoulders

Youve given him a second pool

Which is so cool

You’re making his world a little bolder

Na-na-na, na, na

Na-na-na, na

.

Hey Duke, don’t let Pete down

He needs clues found, so go and get ‘em (he’ll pet you out and pet you in)

Remember you get a move that is part, (hey Duke)

Of the start, of your clue getta

.

Pete pets you out and pets you in

Hey Duke, begin

You need no one else perform with

And don't you he`s shaggy too

Hey Dukey-doo

He`s all that you need to make you bolder

Na-na-na, na, na

Na-na-na, na, yeah

.

Hey Duke, its not that bad,

Pete`s got no cash-man but you know better

Remember to go look inside of those bins

Those old shoes within, taste so much better!

Better better Better better Better, ah!

.

Nom, Nom, Nom, Nom-Nom-Nom Nom (yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

Nom-Nom-Nom Nom, hey Duke

Nom, Nom, Nom, Nom-Nom-Nom Nom

Nom-Nom-Nom Nom, hey Duke

Nom, Nom, Nom, Nom-Nom-Nom Nom

Nom-Nom-Nom Nom, hey Duke

Nom, Nom, Nom, Nom-Nom-Nom Nom

Nom-Nom-Nom Nom, hey Duke (Duke Duke, Dukey Dukey Dukey Dukey, ow wow!)

Nom, Nom, Nom, Nom-Nom-Nom Nom (my, my, my)

Nom-Nom-Nom Nom, hey Duke (Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke)

Nom, Nom, Nom, Nom-Nom-Nom Nom (yeah, yeah, yeah)

Nom Nom-Nom-Nom Nom, hey Duke (yeah, you know you can make it, Duke, Duke, you're not gonna break it)

Nom, Nom, Nom, Nom-Nom-Nom Nom (don't feel so bad, you, take a rad song and make it better)

..

.

StartWithTheName · 63216
Why tho — MrGoldbee · 1388
That's so touching — cbrcbr · 1

(Edit: Fixes and adjustments)

No Ashcan review after several years? Why? What? Lets fix that!!

----TL;DR. "Ashcan" Pete is perhaps the fastest solo investigator, he can obtain clues in bulk right from round 1 and defend himself from smaller threats, also resistant to the mythos phase, he tends to choke on tough enemies that don't go down after 4 damage.----

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"Ashcan" Pete and Duke are the romantic duo of Arkham Horror the card game, together they make up an exceptional character who can start every scenario strong. "Ashcan" is flexible, since he's able to kill dangerous things and get clues right from round 1.

First, check out his stats:

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4 is a great great number, it means that you can circumvent a lot of painful and problematic effects such as discards, lost actions and horror, it even means that via Ashcan's out-of-faction splash slots he can tech spell assets to cover his bases when Duke is tired.

The relative safety afforded by this strong stat gives you leeway to play fast and risky without having to slot dedicated horror tanks like Cherished Keepsake or Peter Sylvestre. It gives you freedom to pursue Accessories like Grisly Totem or Rabbit's Foot and allies like Madame Labranche or Stray Cat.

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An of 2 can be problematic, some scenarios might force these tests on you for scenario purposes, for clue purposes though Dog got ya covered buddy, an of 4 is outright great. Grab powerful events like Lucky!, Trial by Fire or Will to Survive to sneak successes through those scenario tests. Ashcan's nonreliance on XP items also makes early Stroke of Luck a fine choice.

You can support Duke's investigating with Newspaper, which is pretty good on Pete, and bonuses via skill cards and Grisly Totem, I wouldn't hesitate to say that Guiding Spirit is all but printed for "Ashcan" Pete. With Duke as an initial shield you're guaranteed to keep the Guiding Spirit in play for a long time, the trick is not to start allocating horror on Duke until the spirits show up.

You can also build a combo with Scavenging, Rabbit's Foot and Newspaper, add Grisly Totem to profit even more! Newspaper with Duke is outrageously good in two to three player.

Note that I left out "Look what I found!", this card is rarely required for Pete in standard unless you're playing duo specifically. It's still great in harder modes regardless of squad size.

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The measly 2 is a nonissue, it's rarely a scenario specific test and you fight with Duke anyway. Duke needs help to get you through combat, again skills are a good choice and Grisly Totem empowers all of that.. Scrapper is helpful down the line but it's not a high priority because there really is no reason at all to run economy in Pete decks, the natural trickle fuels most of his spending, leaving very little leftover for talent use.

Pete is also one of the characters that makes great use of the Fire Axe and Dark Horse combo. He can cover Dog with axe chops and by staying poor he buffs Duke's investigation attempts. If you go this route keep your events cheap and assets lean. Will to Survive is an interestingly consistent crowning jewel to this build, it can be used to dump your resources enough to get into dark horse range and murder/investigate the crap out of whatever you encounter.

That said, Duke and Fire Axes arent deadly enough to beat multiplayer bosses, Pete is'nt particularly impressive fighting at 5 with Old Hunting Rifle, meaning that outside solo Ashcan is significantly stronger at clues than combat.

Vicious Blow is not a terrible 1 or 2-off, it can help you survive tricky fights, especially in Forgotten age where 3 health foes are common.

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3 isn't bad, it gives you a small gateway through which you might escape from threats you cannot kill, this stat isn't worth much mention and "Ashcan" Pete isn't particularly inclined to use Track Shoes, Peter Sylvestre or Ornate Bow. He does enjoy a flexible cardpool so if you do decide to try this route out, you will find that it works "okay".

.

"Ashcan" Pete has some pretty useful abilities, you might even consider his effective statline to be 4 - 4 - 4 - 3. Which becomes an impressive 5 - 5 - 5 - 4 with Dark Horse, this statline is then well supported by judicious use of skill cards and tricks like Lucky!, simple classics like Guts, Overpower and Perception work wonders for this guy and even when you don't like whichever skill you're holding you can just chuck it at Dog to refresh him.

Access to good talents to boost Ashcans skills is limited to start, but Plucky and Scrapper combine to cover every base, Plucky wont blow up immediately thanks to Duke, make sure to bring Emergency Cache to fund these cards. Without the XP talents to spend cash on, dont waste deckslots on Emergency Cache.

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"Ashcan" Pete's abilities are: Duke, plain and simple. The main ability is to be used on Duke, the refreshes Duke. That said you can do sneaky things with that , for example:

The isn't always good, but sometimes it can grease your gameplay to godlike speed, picking up 3+ clues and moving 3 locations in a blizzard of action efficiency.

"Ashcan" Pete has less printed health and horror then most folks do, but it's made up for by Duke. netting you a more then average 8 / 8 damage and horror capacity.

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Duke is one of the greatest strengths in the game, only one other asset is as equally capable of netting you kills and clues, Agency Backup, and that thing costs 7 resources and 5 XP! Of course "Ashcan" Pete revolves around this card like the earth around the sun, feeding it cards and keeping it safe from pain. Certain campaigns do kick you in the shins a bit, its imperative that you tech in solutions to the problems that might arise when that happens.

  • A few scenarios will bump off an asset (Crypt Chill for example), mulligan for something that can cover Duke.
  • Circle undone sometimes directly damages allies, don't assign optional damage to Duke and bring cards like Inspiring Presence to heal him. Perhaps tech A Chance Encounter in this campaign.
  • A scenario in Dunwick can... yeah.... If this happens, cry. Mulligan for allies in this particular scenario.

Because of Dukes free move, Ashcan is among the fastest clue gatherers in the game (his ability to start working right from round 1 with, often, no setup, might actually make him the fastest), building him in this direction in a team is a good idea. Note that while he is fast, he might have a little trouble with high volume, high shroud, locations, I.E he's still not necessarily a better cluehunter then the average , he's just harder to pin down.

This is also true for as mentioned far above. In general when the going gets tough, "Ashcan" Pete may crumble and stop being able to survive or contribute. It's rare for things to get sufficiently tough in solo, but a multiplayer "Ashcan" Pete generally needs his friends, who he's been dragging through the first half of any given scenario, to now take over and pull him through the latter half. In short, Ashcans unique niche is to carry a team through the early part of a scenario so that his teammates, who have now had peace and quiet to deploy all their assets, can power through the remainder.

Starting with Duke in play makes "Ashcan" Pete the most consistent character in solo, the reduced health totals also makes the hard fights more doable. That said you still should'nt go around picking fights with Eztli Guardians.

When you're working around Duke's downtime, use it to play the few assets you need and to refresh your hand, you might sometimes wind up chucking half your cards at Duke in a scenario so drawing cards is usually better than resources. Typically however, if Duke is up, find something to use him on! Don't wait around and allow the scenario get ahead of you.

Keep in mind this interaction of mechanics: When you trigger the Duke investigate, if you move to a new location as part of Duke's mechanic any enemies at the new location will not Opportunity attack you. This is because the action cost has already been paid at the old location and the effect is now underway and therefore the window has closed. Please correct me if wrong.

Wracked by Nightmares is a crippling problem, but as weaknesses go, this one is mild. The obvious nightmare is to draw it while you're fighting or a scenario is winding down while you race after clues. Chancy but manageable at just 2 lost actions in most cases. Trivial in multiplayer when a friendly fighter might remove it for you.

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"Ashcan" Pete operates very well without having to play many assets. A heavy sack of skill cards can get him through a map just fine. Pete struggles for cards however, which is why Rabbit's Foot, Madame Labranche and Scavenging can all be good for him, they net him a few extra cards even if it's only to feed Duke.

One you've spent 20 or so XP as Ashcan, you'll probably run aground and struggle to find good stuff to spend XP on. Key of Ys is always a thing, but more interestingly there's Stroke of Luck, Alter Fate and Fortune or Fate. Other characters, even , don't have all that much leftover XP, Deckspace or resources to work with, Ashcan does tend to have leftovers of all of these!

There's a lot of cool out of faction options, it'd be hard to mention all of them, and i've already mentioned a few, here are some more highlights:

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In summatum, "Ashcan" Pete is a strong character. He's one of the greatest solo characters in the game and a very powerful earlygame powerhouse in team compositions. When hitpoint total go up and clue-counts on difficult locations in multiplayer he'll start to run out of steam, he's therefore best teamed up with powerhouses that can make up for his modest skill values by tackling the hard spots with supercharged skill bursts (such as a with Streetwise or a using a bulked up and some spells to do it). He's also significantly stronger at chasing clues then killing big enemies, therefore teaming up with someone who can tackle and kill or delay bosses is a good idea.

Tsuruki23 · 2469
I’m extremely confused - how are you getting six clues with either his elder sign Effect or Inspiring Presence? Duke doesn’t discover additional clues, so I’m not sure where the extra three are coming from? — Death by Chocolate · 1364
3 Actions, all using Duke. You can do this by chucking cards at duke and using Inspiring Precense or his elder sign. — Tsuruki23 · 2469
Example round where you get 6 clues: Midnight masks. Duke move to Easttown, use Inspiring Presence on test and succeed. Second Duke move to Downtown, succeed. Chuck a card from hand at Duke. Third move to Northside. 3 moves and 6 clues in one round! — Tsuruki23 · 2469
Yeah colour me surprised, WTF, somehow 4 people read Duke and got the idea that he has 2 clues per success — Tsuruki23 · 2469
Even so, still strong. — Tsuruki23 · 2469
Between good skill access, Look what I found and Newspaper he still has great clue speed. — Tsuruki23 · 2469
Yeah, Duke is fantastic - but not free move plus bonus clue fantastic, lol. Also, I think Newspaper 2 is solid, but I’m not convinced it is outrageously good unless you aren’t a primary investigator since it requires you to have no clues for both the bonus and the extra clue. It’s really dependent on how frequently the act takes yours clues, and probably only triggers 2-3 times per scenario depending. — Death by Chocolate · 1364

TLDR: David Renfield and Well Connected are good level 0 card options

The Dunwich investigators just get more and more complicated to build decks for. As more cards come out, the possibilities for their 5 level 0 cards just keeps increasing. Two fun ones to consider are David Renfield and Well Connected.

Ashcan's ability lets you ready an asset once per turn. Now of course most of us see Duke as the 'real target' for that ability, but it does work for any asset. David Renfield is a very powerful way of piling up money, and even better when you can use him twice a turn to really fine-tune the amount of time before the doom threshold goes over.

Once you've amassed loads of money, you can now use well connected to easily be at +4 to any test, twice a round. Considering Duke gives an effective +2 skill, once you hit 15 resources, then well connected becomes a better option in a lot of cases. This doesn't mean Duke does nothing though, they're still useful for a 2 damage attack or a 'Move-stigate', and they still also give you that +2 skill.

There are many level 0 card options, here's a couple I tried together, enjoyed, and wanted to share :)

KakuRainbow · 66

Parallel Pete dropped a few days ago. He doesn't seem to be getting a challenge scenario so I might as well vent my thoughts here.

First off, the new signature, Pete's Guitar, grants you unprecendented control over enemies. Exhaust it to force a non-elite enemy at your location or any connection location to move in a direction of your choice. It of course synergizes with the parallel front ability, allowing you to push enemies into Snare Traps, Makeshift Traps and whatnot. It can also indefinitely keep one non-Elite Hunter away (extremely useful in TFA and still much appreciated otherwise) and you get 1 buck or 1 horror heal each round for the trouble. You can pull a nasty monster away to give your cluever valuable time. For pesky Aloof enemies or Acolytes, you can force them to move towards your team's monster killer so that they can spend fewer actions on moving and more on killing. The possibilities are endless. This is a signature so good that it could seriously give Best Doggo a run for his money.

The downside is that Pete's weaknesses are also supercharged. Wracked by Nightmares disables both of Pete's signatures so it must be dealt with as soon as possible. The replacement weakness, Hard Times, forces you to choose and discard the same number of cards after you draw any number of cards. Occasionally this may work in your favor by getting the Improvised suite into your discard but I wouldn't rely on it. It is still a crippling weakness, perhaps a bit lower priority than Wracked by Nightmares. God helps you if you draw them back to back though.

Parallel Pete himself actually seems a bit bland when compared to his new toys though. For Parallel front, starting with Pete's Guitar is nice but the ability to recycle attached cards seems situational at best. Duke is still a great first turn asset and the ready asset ability would see a lot more play - you can also dig for Pete's Guitar then double-tap it to practically trivialize enemies until you feel like dealing with them. On the other hand, Parallel front has 7/7 health/sanity instead of 6/5 so he would be a bit bulkier if he could get Duke out early, especially with the horror heal from his Guitar. Parallel front also has 3 Fight instead of 2, but it is not enough for Pete to fight without other boosts. These differences overall do not feel significant enough to detract from the real choice - whether you want to start with the dog or the guitar.
For the back, you aren't losing a lot by going Parallel - as of TSK, there are a grand total of 8 Level 4+ Survivor cards (11 if you count the customizables), none of which seem particularly suited for Pete. The real tradeoff seems to be losing the 5 splash slots for access to Tactics 0-4 (all Improvised cards are anyway) and up to 5 Guardian level 0 cards. This feels kind of baffling - none of the off-class Tactics work particularly well with Pete's parallel front (for example, Ambush only works for enemies spawning so good luck getting it to trigger twice; "Fool me once..." has the encounter card attach to it and not the other way around so no recursion at all), and if you really like Guardian cards that much you could've taken them with your original splash slots anyway.

Overall, Parallel Pete feels like his actual investigator card is overshadowed by his replacement signatures. Quite a shame he doesn't have his own challenge scenario, but as FFG said, it is simply impossible to improve upon Duke, forever the best among all good boys. Also I think Advanced Wracked by Nightmares would give me a stroke so there's that too.

koaexe · 17
"all Improvised cards are survivor anyway": sure, there is still one card, where it matters in "Makeshift Trap". With the inclusion of Improvised, he can tick 8 boxes, rather than only 6. — Susumu · 329
Fair point but it's probably better to use the original deckbuilding if you want to go all in on the attachments anyway. — koaexe · 17
A few cards come to mind for the access granted by the parallel back. — DrOGM · 22
(oops... enter too fast) Dynamite Blast (2) and (3), as well as the rarely used On the Trail (1) and (3), would greatly benefit from the Guitar's ability to move enemies around. Under Surveillance (1), while pricey, would also benefit and could be re-used with the parallel front ability. Shortcut (2) and Barricade (3) also fit the theme. And the parallel back allows access to 5 level 0 guardian cards AND unlimited "out of faction" Tactics, which can open deck building possibilities. Is it better than regular Pete deck building ? I don't know, but it does seem interesting. — DrOGM · 22
I think both deck buildings are powerful. With regular deckbuilding, 1-clicked-Net-Dynamite (5 level Makeshift Trap) can be thrown for each round; that is really powerful, IMO. With parallel deckbuilding, we have DT-Totem-TH-TATA-Unrelenting(=4cards+6resources with 1 test) combo for each round; the weakness can be held by "Fool me Once" (or Fend off for basic enemy weakness) for weakness-free deck. — elkeinkrad · 468
On the hunt 3 is another fantastic tactic. Breach the Door is another fantastic tactic that works with the elder sign. Low key I am a lot less excited by guitar than I am by the tactics 0-4 access Pete gets, because there are a lot of just generally powerful cards, but the parallel front's ability is a lot like Wendy's amulet or Carolyn's ability where its a mistake to think its about cramming your deck full of effects that overlap with it, rather than maximizing the value, especially when it comes to recursion. Even something as simple as guaranteeing every draw you make is an enemy draw once you get on the hunt into your hand is titanic in impact. — dezzmont · 199
"...but the ability to recycle attached cards seems situational at best" I completely disagree: the guitar is an ungodly strong signature card, but Pete's main ability is insane because many cards that attach themselves to something are balanced around being used once. Once you resolve one Ancient Evil, one "Fool me once" will prevent potentially ALL of them, Ambush makes locations a minefield for enemies to spawn on. Hell, even level 0 cards that are not that great become absolutely bonkers with parallel Pete. Hiding Spot makes you immortal against non-elite enemies and even Barricade, the much memed card for being so crap, cripples hunters completely because Pete can just put it down and completely lock down part of the map whenever he wants without worrying about any investigator leaving or entering ending the effect because he can just return it to his hand and play it again. — HeroesOfTomorrow · 34
And those are just some examples I can come up on top of my head: between the guitar, his printed ability and deckbuilding, Pete's 3 fight is honestly inconsequential, because he can just run circle around all foes without the need to bother actually enagaging them in combat. 0-4 Tactics gives him ludicrous coverage and versatility, NEVER understimate Event based decks — HeroesOfTomorrow · 34
I almost forgot to mention, but "Fool me Once" would still work on a treachery because it is ruled the act of attaching a card to another is mutual. If you attach a treachery to "Fool me once", you also attach "Fool me once" to a treachery: if you look at the FaQ of "FmO" you'll see people say the player card is attached to the scenario card interchangeably as saying the scenario card is attached to the player card. — HeroesOfTomorrow · 34
Great catch on "Fool Me Once" there, I completely forgot attachment goes both ways. On the other hand I think these attachment cards really require you to know the scenarios back to front (I imagine Ambush in A Thousand Shapes of Horror would be very good). I guess that's kinda the point of parallel investigators, to provide novelty for advanced players. On the other hand I feel the impact of some of the cards you listed are a bit overblown even if you can replay them. For two examples, "Fool Me Once" requires you yourself to draw that specific treachery a second time (useful in high player counts or scenarios with frequent reshuffles but otherwise quite hard to pull off); and there is a very brief period between Hiding Spot being discarded at the end of the enemy phase and the next player window at the beginning of the upkeep phase where enemies lose aloof and can dogpile you before you replay Hiding Spot (which doesn't say when you can play it, so I assume it's "any player window" like most Fast events). — koaexe · 17
It is true: there IS an high skill ceiling to Pete's ability: you need to know how cards that attach themselves work very well to make the most out of them, but if you do, what you can acomplish with them is nothing short than incredible. — HeroesOfTomorrow · 34
"Fool me Once" ONLY requires you to draw the treachery the first time to attach it, afterwards the card can be cancelled no matter which investigator draws it, and this version of Pete has access to First Watch and Let me Handle This, so he can force a particular treachery to land on him. What matters about Hiding Spot is that it prevents attacks if the enemy is not engaged with you already, even if it engages you immediately after the enemy phase, it doesn't matter because Pete's Guitar will send them away as a free action anyway, and if you are engaged with multiple enemies, Pete himself has still a decent 3 agility and has different tools to get away, like Survival Instinct or Cunning Distraction. — HeroesOfTomorrow · 34
And if you want to make use of Pete's 3 fight, here's the Level 3 version of On the Hunt, which allows Pete to draw NOTHING but enemies every turn, if he manages to defeat the foe he spawn the same round he played the card, and he (or whoever manages to defeat it) gets payed 3 resources for it every time! While enemies are admitedly worse obstacles than treacheries most of the time, a Pete acting as the designated fighter can just proactively kill enemies from the encounter deck every turn and get paid for it too! There is a reason I think this ability isn't overrated, it's actually genuily broken if you know how to use it. — HeroesOfTomorrow · 34
I just checked "Fool Me Once..." again and it would seem that attachment cannot go both ways - strange as I did remember seeing that ruling somewhere, but it's nowhere to be found in the Rules and FAQs. If two cards are mutually attached to each other, discarding Locked Door would mean you discard the location as well because an attachment is discarded when the game element it is attached to leaves play, and Locked Door's ability does not explicitly state that you detach it. As for the admittedly interchangble and outright confusing wording on "Fool Me Once..." and its FAQs, I would think it's a case of "FFG doesn't know how to play AHLCG" given how they have walked back on rulings and gotten self-evident rules wrong (see Burden of Leadership) before. Mutual attachment would create a bunch of counterintuitive and outright broken scenarios (picking a lock erases the entire room from existence, Elle Rubash cannot die as long as she's holding down Baron Samedi, you either accept Threads of Reality disabling one Asset or use its ability and lose two assets instead, etc.) Just saying maybe it's a good idea to leave FMO aside and focus on recurring On the Hunt (3) as you said. — koaexe · 17
Eye of Truth goes the other way (attaching itself to a treachery) and still uses the same "attached X" wording as Fool Me Once and Elle Rubash, when the two cards are supposed to have stuff attach to them. Could be that FFG thought attachment status would be clearly understood from context until Parallel Pete unearthed this problem. — koaexe · 17
Okay, next FaQ gonna be asking how "Fool me Once" interacts with parallel Pete — HeroesOfTomorrow · 34

Amazing investigator for beginners and for true solo players like me! I have played Ashcan & Duke in all official campaigns released until 2022, including TFA, TCU and TSK. If you look for a deck that is simple to learn, does not require many upgrades and that gives you tempo, consistency and adaptability to any situation, try this one arkhamdb.com

walla · 409

I need some piloting tips for Ashcan. I played this deck in Return to Dunwich Legacy, on Standard. arkhamdb.com

I stopped playing after the WORST Miskatonic Museum experience I ever had. Duke could barely discover a clue because I kept pulling -3 and -4 tokens. When he managed to succeed, Ashcan needs to discard cards to try investigating again. Duke only gets 1 clue per Investigate.
When the Hunting Horror appeared, Duke's fight of 4 is not good enough.
It takes multiple rounds (6-10) to get Well Connected to give you a minimum +2 bonus, presuming you draw your Investments in your opening hand. After a few rounds, the skills in your hand are used up and you've got nearly no stat boosting effect.

Specifically about Ashcan Pete....
Even on Standard, a 4 investigate and a 4 fight does not good seem enough to get the core tasks of a scenario completed. The first 2 Dunwich scenarios went mostly well, and that's because he mostly drew 0 and -1 tokens. The general consensus in the community seems to be that testing at +2 on Standard is suggested. I disagree; my experience has shown that testing at -3 is significantly better. On Standard, you have one -3, one -4, auto-fail, and usually 1 BS token that is worth -3. That's 22-26% failure rating. Still too high for my liking.

So, is Dark Horse Pete the only way to play this investigator? The decks I tend to play have a commonality: play permanent boosts to get key stat(s) at 6, and then use cards that provide action compression and more boost. Ex: Beat Cop + Ace of Swords + .45 Automatic = fighting at 7-8 test value with +1 damage.

I must be missing something with Ashcan, because the consensus seems to support Tsuruki23's review on this page. He's beloved by many, and I cannot see why after playing a few scenarios with him. Your feedback is appreciated! :)

VanyelAshke · 176
It would be easier to divulge into if you posted your deck, but essentially you should never be relying on just a value of 4 to pass anything on standard. You should be committing or stacking. Magnifying Glass and Fieldwork (both of which enhance Duke's investigates) are common takes with Pete, but there's also simple skills like Perception and Overpower that I still run with him since he is so card hungry. You're also a Survivor, so at worse you move and fail an investigate, which ideally you can recover some of that opp cost with Rabbit's Foot. Fights you should never be entirely dependent on Duke to cover for you, you need another weapon just in case Duke fails or you need a second (or third) hit. Fire Axe is a typical go to because most of Ashcan's cards require very few resources to play- Fire Axe, Glimmer of Hope, Live and Learn, even Madame Labranche. None of that requires you run Dark Horse, and realistically Dark Horse itself is the least important card to make that deck work (Labranche is the most important). You could also opt for Meat Cleaver (with some boosts, like the Desperate skills) or even take advantage of his willpower and use Shrivelling. — StyxTBeuford · 12917
I can see you went with an Investments and Well Connected type of deck, which is not I don't think a good way to play him now that Faustian Bargain exists. The Investments interaction is really dubious anyway, as you're discarding a card to gain a resource, which is odd. — StyxTBeuford · 12917
I apologize by the way as you did post your deck, I just didn't notice that was a link at first. — StyxTBeuford · 12917
The deck's at the beginning of the post, I think. From what I can see , it's built around emptying investments as fast as you can in order to set-up using Pete's ability on Well-Connected twice/turn. The rest of it is Labrance , Meat Cleaver, Rabbit's Foot and various skills and events that you mention, plus the Improvised cards and some other things that don't mind being discarded. My instinct is that the Investments/ Well-Connected/ Pete's ability combo is the absolute core of the deck and you need to be absolutely focused on making that happen as fast as possible. Testing 2x/round at +4 seems a lot more achievable. Then you've got Winging It + Perception to keep making progress on low shroud locations , Improvised Weapon for little enemies, Glimmer of Hope, Live and learn, various misc skills for makeshift boosts while you assemble the combo and Labranche/Take Heart/Rabbit Foot to actually assemble it. But it's very very much a deck built around a specific group of cards, and I think you want to be prioritising that above all else. It does make me think Dunwich Legacy's a fairly harsh campaign for this deck tho. Losing combo pieces to the constant milling would be painful... — bee123 · 25
Thank you for the quick feedback! Yes, Dunwich's milling occasionally hurt when it hit core pieces. This deck has over 100 likes, so I thought I'd give it a try because I assumed it meant people have had good success with it. It does seem that this particular deck is quite combo-oriented, which requires a familiarity with the core plan. As a Magic:the Gathering player, I tend to avoid combo decks. I play Burn and linear "get the job quickly, efficiently, and as linearly as possible". Haha. I suspect this was a poor deck choice on my part, based on not knowing how to pilot it effectively. — VanyelAshke · 176
Regarding Ashcan specifically as an investigator, I recognize that it's important to boost Duke's investigation and fighting capacities. Magnifying Glass is a good card, yes. I guess Jessica Hyde to boost combat. The Survivor card pool doesn't seem to have as many permanent boosts or high-value items. Guardians get Beat Cop, Ace of Swords, Alice Luxley. Seekers get Mag Glass, Fingerprint Kits, Dr Milan, Death tarot. Each faction has a relevant Tarot to boost their significant stat, and items/allies that give permanent boosts. Survivors seem to have less of those. — VanyelAshke · 176
Yeahhhh, one of the big survivor gimmicks is around benefitting from failing tests and that obviously doesn't lend itself very well to permanent consistent boosts. So where they exist in the survivor pool, like say, Cornered , they do tend to be odder. That trick can be extended in some quite clever and powerful ways. Thinking for instance of Look What I Found in the Core Set, on a shroud 2 or lower location, you're sure to either succeed or to be able to play Look What I Found because you can't fail a difficulty 2 test by >2. And that's only scratching the surface , lol. Stella Clark is most built to function around fail-to-win, so if you're interested to how far the suite of fail-to-win cards can be pushed it might be worth looking at some Stella decks. For Pete in this deck tho, there's one fail-to-win card that's interesting and that's Drawing Thin. Did you consider spending xp on that? — bee123 · 25
Thank you StyxTBeuford for the breakdown on card selection in an Ashcan deck. Looking through a bunch of decks on ArkhamDB, the cards you listed are indeed in pretty much every Ashcan deck. Seems that the Fire Axe/Labranche/Dark Horse deck is almost unanimous as the most popular way to play (i.e. "best" way...?). There are some Yoatl skills decks, but there's less of those. Seems like Ashcan tends to run the same cards. — VanyelAshke · 176
Thanks bee123. Seems that Survivors are a faction that require a shift in perspective/play style. I do see that they have some neat design space; the fail-to-win concept is fascinating and sounds fun! Just may not be my personal playstyle. I compare decks to martial arts styles, in real life. Sure, you can learn 10 different martial art styles (decks). But you have personal strengths that make certain martial art styles (decks) intuitive and fitting your approach. :) Survivors are cool; they just may not be my style. Yorrick was a blast to play. Fairly straight forward; fight, recur items, repeat. — VanyelAshke · 176
You could do Drawing Thin, Rabbit's Foot, Take Heart, and Track Shoes- use that for draw to enable Pete's ability and Cornered if you want a boost. — StyxTBeuford · 12917
Is Drawing Thin worth the 6xp from Taboo? — VanyelAshke · 176
100% if you can't take rogue cards. — MrGoldbee · 1388
I like Mag Glass, Flashlight and Shovel in a Pete deck and then add either Jessica Hyde or Guiding Spirit (or both with Charisma) because taking a test at 4 is pretty risky. After that fill the deck with skill cards and Lucky/LiveLearn/LookWhatIFound. With all of those skill cards I like Grisly Totem but you probably want Relic Hunter so you can also take the Rabbit's Foot or the Teddy Bear. — The Lynx · 952
It’s worth noting that Legacy is actually the worst campaign of any released for Pete. — MrGoldbee · 1388
Also for future reference, I wouldnt ask for deckbuilding advice here. It’s not an efficient place to talk about it. Try the reddit or the Mythos Buster’s discord instead. — StyxTBeuford · 12917
Ok. I'll ask around to find someone who can teach me how to use reddit. Is there a specific page, or group...? Sorry for my lack of knowledge. I use Google and Facebook, and even Facebook confuses me sometimes. haha. Thanks. — VanyelAshke · 176
Why does everyone like putting allies in this deck? He doesn't have a spare ally slot without Charisma, does he? — qbeam2 · 1