Accolades: Won The Forgotten Age Standard on the hardest to get resolution, being the team's main fighter! (Final fury score : 19) I guaranteed that Michael is really good to go with this little purchase.

2026 Environment Starter Deck : A series of beginner friendly decks using only cards inside the Current Environment used in year 2026. Currently the exact details has not been released yet, this is based on my prediction that Revised Core Set and The Drowned City Investigator Expansion are very likely to be in that environment.

(View at arkham-starter.com)

You can use the 10 XP point to make an Ascetic version of this deck. Choose 19 or 29 XP breakpoint for standalone play.

How to setup

You need a gun to work back your resources, so try to mulligan one or two from 8 guns in this deck. Since you get 1 resource for the first time this round you shoot a particular gun, having 2 guns on setup is ideal.

The ideal 3~5th cards of your mulligan hand is of course the -2 discount on Primed for Action, it is the most useful to take .45 Automatic into the combination. Otherwise, 5 resources could work with Luger P08 + Remington Model 1858.

After this deck gained some XPs, Locked and Loaded will indirectly boost your resources because you have more ammo to shoot with, then Remington Model 1858 (4) upgrade not only -1 cost but +1 ammo as well. Remington Model 1858 (4) might look expensive in XP, but you will feel like those improves the Lv. 0 events 2x Bum's Rush and 2x Elusive because you have the resources to splurge freely faster. In the test run version of this deck I had just 1x Elusive, and I regret not adding two for basically a free movement / survival card at the end of scenario where he is swimming in resources.

"Watch this!" (3) looks like a ton of resources but I suggest throwing it away on mulligan. It better comes at around 3rd~5th round where you have a new chunk of resources to multiply on, and perhaps scenario progressing tests to do without relying on Mythos Phase to get resources.

Some combos

• .41 Derringer (2) + Crack Shot to get the extra action.
• You can finish Hunter enemy walking back in from being pushed by Bum's Rush the last round with Luger P08, free triggering after Hunter enemy moves but before it attacks. Make sure it only has 1 HP left.
• Elusive to extend Dakota Garofalo's range, work with Luger P08 to move and shoot outside your turn.
• Burst fight up to 5 times with Robert Castaigne (4) fast playing .41 Derringer (2) with Locked and Loaded's additional ammo.
• Bum's Rush push so you can Dakota Garofalo to it the next round as a free movement.
• For scenario-ending boss fight, open with a shell from Mauser Tankgewehr M1918 then put other guns in its place with Robert Castaigne (4) and continue shooting for the rest of your actions.
• Mauser Tankgewehr M1918 bumping Remington Model 1858 (4) away on play can trigger it's reaction Fight. Note that "Viola" Case additional slot makes this combo harder to do. It is also possible to bait Crypt Chill and such to discard "Viola" Case, reducing hand slots to bump away Remington Model 1858 (4).
• Use Primed for Action on your first action to play Remington Model 1858 (4) for free and reaction Fight what's on your friend, yet when the test begins use Dakota Garofalo to gain the engage.
• You begging Confiscation cop to shoot Remington Model 1858 (4) one last time is funny but it won't occur often. Keep in mind just in case you are really going for it with sudden draws from Guts, Manual Dexterity, and Robert Castaigne (4).

Great starting cards

• Manual Dexterity / Guts : Michael comes with quite a unique 3 WILL + 3 AGI for a Rogue. These makes him able to survive a lot of tests on top of having "You've had worse..." ready on hand to use reactively after you see the pulled token. Drawing helps getting stuff for use with Robert Castaigne (4), or intentionally make Confiscation happen while it's more convenient to setup again.
• "You've had worse..." : Michael's resource curve is often overflowing at the end of scenario, and at the end of scenario you are fighting the big bad having lowered health / sanity. These on hand makes Michael not suddenly gone while doing so, having plenty of resources to spend. It also covers his friends.
• Bum's Rush : High accuracy Evade card. It is often a key piece to defeat Elite enemy as well even though you can't push it away, since Elite often comes with nasty effects or Retaliate unless you disable that with evasion. 2 cost is often not a problem for late game Michael.
• Luger P08 : You might think about getting a bigger and meaner gun, but this goes well with free trigger flexibility of Dakota Garofalo that gets added later, and Fast keyword Elusive that we also keep. It is also cheap to play after Robert Castaigne (4) shoot it fast, then you can shoot it again fast. I found myself rarely spend an action to replenish the ammo after having Locked and Loaded though because you won't get 3 ammo like when you play it.
• Elusive : With plenty of resources and a mess of enemies towards the end of scenario, you'll mostly be happy after seeing this. Combined with location-based techs on Dakota Garofalo, Bum's Rush, and maybe even "You've had worse..."'s ranged protection, you own the battlefield and be more like a fighting Rogue than Guardian in wrong color that I see some players call him.

Tricky cards

"Where's the party?" : One copy. A common line of intuitive thinking is so that Michael has something to do when there's no enemy, perhaps he can exchange some bullets to resources. But most of the time in that kind of turn you may want to save ammo and just perform a normal Draw action instead of using this card. So how to use this card effectively then?

• You notice there are annoying Aloof enemy in the deck, or enemy with annoying Spawn instruction. The effect of this card gets you the engage, replace the Spawn, and it is also exhausted. Think of this play as weeding out bad card from the Encounter Deck and the draw is just a small bonus. If this enemy is 1 HP, Luger P08 might be able to finish the job immediately.
• You already know there's a random Victory enemy in the deck, but it's not here yet and you don't want it spawns while you are entering peak point of the scenario. You ask for it now and gang on it now to get rid of it for good to the Victory Display. Spawn exhausted is useful to immediately disable its Retaliate + Alert, a staple of many Victory enemies.
• Even in blind run, you know what's available to pick if the scenario uses classic set like Dark Cult or even campaign-specific set that was used before in the previous scenarios. There might be a good enemy that gives 2+ draws to you, yet easy to finish off if it is spawned engaged and exhausted. Remember that exhausted means you have one more round to do something to it, though Retaliate and Alert comes online again.
• When desperate to get Dakota Garofalo's conditional Monster / Creature buff. You can even use the buff to fight other enemies and finish the one you summoned later since it is exhausted. (Parley means you don't take AoO using it, but it costs an action.)

• When desperate for high card draws mid fight. Getting high commits like "Watch this!" (3) / Crack Shot might make a different and if that ends the scenario who cares about the spawned enemy? If you got Robert Castaigne (4) and no guns (maybe Confiscation just took them), it worth trying to draw a Remington Model 1858 (4) to kick things started rather than going down without a fight!

  I won't deny this is such a techy, situational card, and might not get used often. But deck has to be ready for weird stuff in the campaign.

Intimidation : One copy. Good thing this has 1 willpower icon so it's easy to throw away on tests. But for an actual use Michael often wants to kill the enemy rather than getting rid of it indirectly. It is super expensive too.

• It cannot cause friendly-fire, if you can't afford the cost of missing and hit your friend.
• You want someone to draw this enemy again as your Mythos Phase draw rather than other nastier cards.
• Sometimes action/ammo math doesn't work out well with 3-4 HP enemies in the mess. It is a combat test against HP so it might ended up clearing the board one shotting those enemies away, then you gun down the 1-2 HP enemies. Drawing it again later doesn't matter, as long as you got out of the previous mess, now it comes alone you can deal with it better.
• In a state with tons of resources but without a gun (e.g. Confiscation), this might be the last thing that can get rid of an enemy. Though, Bum's Rush is better most of the time in this case.

If you got more cards..

• .18 Derringer (Stella Clark #5) : Better in the starting deck than .45 Automatic I think due to lower cost. Gets better with Locked and Loaded.
• .45 Thompson (The Circle Undone #115) : Reliable accuracy and damage but needs Primed for Action to setup. You may also not want to repeatedly shoot this many times in one turn to maximize resource gain, yet you cannot play any more guns for a while if you setup with this.
• .45 Automatic •• (The Path to Carcosa #190) : Straight upgrade of what's left in the deck. Ignore Retaliate might be relevant towards the end where there are a lot of -4.
• Moxie ••• (Edge of the Earth #56) : Good match with his stats and add more chance to earn cash with "Watch this!" (3) commit defending a treachery.
• Friends in Low Places (The Scarlet Keys #60) : Besides looking for guns, Confiscation is a huge problem if it is not drawn after half of your deck had passed and you are about to get setup to fight whatever that wins the scenario. This friend card can draw your weakness on demand. You might also be able to offensively play with Remington Model 1858 (4)'s leave play reaction this way.