Pet Sematary Yorrick: Captain Squally's Thematic Deck Series

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Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
William Yorick de nuevo en "El camino a Carcosa" 0 0 0 4.0

captainsqually · 398

Captain Squally's Thematic Deck Series: Halloween Edition 2020

Pet Sematary Yorrick

William Yorrick shovelled the last bit of dirt into the hole and patted it flat with the back of his spade. He opened his Book of Psalms and prepared to read the passage for the Rite of Sanctification. He had learned the hard way that without the proper Rite, the things he buried in this hallowed ground came back twisted. With the proper rites, even the lowly pets of Arkham could come back Sanctified and ready to do their part to turn back the darkness of the Mythos!

As Yorrick finished the Rite, he closed his eyes and waited for the familiar sound of shuffling dirt. Opening them again, he watched the tattered hound shake off the remnants of the grave, and, panting, slink up to Yorrick for a scratch behind the ears.

"Good boy, Spot," he said, ruffling the dog's dirty, matted coat. "You had a rough go last time."

He picked up the chainsaw he had set by his feet and with a quick pull of the ripcord it roared to life.

"I'm going to do some biting of my own this time."

Even over the growl of the chainsaw he could hear the ghouls in the dark, chittering and slinking between the gravestones.


Welcome, investigators, to Captain Squally's Thematic Deck Series. If you've made it here then you are likely in search of a deck with a little something more. A deck with a story. A deck dripping with theme.

This Halloween I am proud to present to you Pet Sematary Yorrick, a deck idea that I have played around with ever since Yorrick was released. At that time, his only pet options were Guard Dog and Stray Cat. Since then, even more majestic animals have become available for him to reanimate from the grave, alongside some perfectly thematic economy options from the recent Innsmouth box.

With Halloween right around the corner, now is the perfect time to assemble a thematic deck, setup your game room for maximum atmosphere and create a spooky story all your own. Just don't forget to set out a bowl of treats for the furry ones. I hear they are exceptionally hungry once they rise from their graves!

Without further ado, let's go through the ins and outs of some of the combos in this deck, and remember, kids: the only good deck is a thematic deck!

Deck Tech

The idea behind this deck is controlling an unstoppable army of undead pets, and recurring them as many times as possible to make use of their powerful effects.

Rite of Sanctification - Economy acceleration in an uncontested slot. Book of Psalms, Keep Faith and Tempt Fate will all make sure you have Bless tokens at the ready. Use the cost reduction from this card to help with repeatedly playing your pet allies.

Chainsaw - Backup your army of pets with one of the most fun weapons in the game. Keep it topped off with your Emergency Cache

Bandolier - Designed to help you keep your Chainsaw out while keeping hands open to cycle Gravedigger's Shovel, Old Keyring or to hold on to your Book of Psalms. Could easily be replaced with Fine Clothes, Cherished Keepsake or Leather Coat if Bandolier is not your style.

Guard Dog - Have him soak hits. The more efficient you can be with this the better. Use the repeated damage he can dish out to keep the Yorrick recursion engine going. Feel free to go about your business and let him soak attacks of opportunity. Don't be afraid of killing him, he'll be back!

Miss Doyle - Sometimes a crap shoot but must be included for maximum thematic reasons. Depending what cat you pull, can help with investigations or evasions.

Mysterious Raven - The Raven is this deck's quickest and most reliable access to clues. Recur it as often as possible through Yorrick's baked in ability, A Chance Encounter, or Resourceful. The Black Cat can help with the repeated horror, and the Book of Psalms can help heal some of that horror while stacking the chaos bag in your favor.

Stray Cat - Use ASAP for a free evade and to make room for other pets.

The Black Cat - Main horror soak for when you repeatedly make use of the raven. He can also soften up those nasty tokens while in play, especially the , which damages his health while the Raven taxes his sanity.

A Chance Encounter - Can immediately put any of your allies back into play from the graveyard, fully ready to rock. Mysterious Raven is always a great target unless the game is pressuring you with enemies or you need some extra health and sanity padding.

Emergency Cache - Top off the Chainsaw, or give yourself a fat stack of Resources to spend on your pets. Use your best judgement.

Flare - The ideal targets are Guard Dog, Miss Doyle, or The Black Cat because of the resource efficiency, but there are plenty of targets in the deck and it is sure to hit something! Can also be used for a nice 3 damage attack if you are already setup with allies. Remember, when Yorrick kills, he recurs.

Keep Faith - Load the bag up for your Rite of Sanctification. Money in the bank.

Resourceful - Plenty of good targets for this in your deck. Again, Mysterious Raven whenever you can to help advance the game, unless you are being pressured in other ways (enemies and/or health/sanity). This card is a Survivor's best friend.


In summary, the more enemies the Mythos throws at you, the more screwed it will be as you shred through them and repeatedly dig up your Mysterious Raven and other pets, comboing them to rapidly discover clues, dish out damage, or evade enemies and lay them out cold.

I hope you enjoy the theme of the deck and find that it is quite playable as well. For an exceptionally spooky Halloween adventure, might I suggest pairing it with The Curse of the Rougarou standalone scenario? Wheatever you pick, you are sure to have a good time, but I will leave you with a small taste of what could be in store for you:

The raven exploded over the hill and alighted on Yorrick's shoulder.

"Show me what you've seen, friend," Yorrick whispered, and the visions came.

An aerial view of the swamp, the hulking shape of the Rougarou parting reeds and stalking through the underbrush. It was closing in on his location.

Spot raised his hackles and bared his fangs. The Black Cat unfurled his tail and rose from his bed of ferns with a yawn and a sigh.

"I don't quite see the difference between that beast and our slobbery friend here," he muttered, "but I'll do what I can to help."

Yorrick grinned as he brandished his shovel like a club. That damn cat was always mouthing off.

The Rougarou liked his prey alone and unaware. Unluckily for him, Yorrick was ready. And he had an army.

8 comments

Nov 05, 2020 gustave154 · 1

Dogs and Cats team up with the local Gravedigger to save the world? I'm sold.

Nov 06, 2020 The Lynx · 952

The Stray Cat and Raven are an amazing combo for Yorick. Love this thematic deck.

Nov 13, 2020 Zorth · 1

Hi! Please excuse my stupid noob questions but:

  1. The deck you are presenting here is the deck that you use from starting a campaign from core set and onwards?
  2. 30 xp is what you need to get the deck to it’s best “performance”?
  3. Do you play a whole campaign with this deck or do you swith ‘gator along the way/campaign?

Nov 13, 2020 captainsqually · 398

@Zorth

1) This deck pulls cards from all across the current card pool. As presented, it is intended for use in a single scenario using the Standalone rules from the rulebook. In summary: you can add XP cards to your deck (following the investigator's deck building rules), for every 10 XP worth of cards, add a new Random Basic Weakness. This deck has 30XP, so you would have to add 3 Random Basic Weaknesses. The deck would probably be better at 29XP so that you would only have to add 2 Weaknesses. In the future I will try to keep that in mind. For this deck, I would recommend swapping out a Brute Force for a level 0 Vicious Blow so that the deck is at 29XP

2) See my answer to question 1. I've used about 30XP worth of cards to make sure certain combos are available. A Chance Encounter, Flare, and 2x Charisma are especially needed to make the deck work in both theme and function.

3) If you want to use this build for a campaign, you will have to scale it back to using only level 0 cards, and then upgrade it as you go to try and reach this "final form". Some cards you can just scale back to their level 0 version, like A Chance Encounter or Emergency Cache. Others you will need to find level 0 alternatives that perform a similar function or simply act as placeholders.

Let me know if you have anymore questions. Thanks!

Nov 13, 2020 Zorth · 1

Many thx for your answers, I really apreciate It!

Dec 24, 2020 Secretjucie · 1

Hello! Just to understand one thing, what is the plan with flare once its exiled? Just purchase it back for the next game?

Jan 22, 2021 captainsqually · 398

@Secretjucie Exactly. If you are using the deck in a stand alone scenario you don't have to worry about the Exile at all. If you are in campaign play you will need to buy it back between scenarios if you find it useful.

Sep 22, 2022 An_Undecayed_Whately · 845

Fun and has great potential for fighting and investigating.

Did you consider using Live and Learn? It can lead to free uses of Chainsaw (the failure replenishes a Supply, the re-try doesn’t spend a Supply)