We're All Mad Here - Carolyn in Wonderland

This is firmly a multiplayer deck, with high burst potential (especially with Gang Up) but sometimes struggled to pass tests including on early Earthly Serenity or Alchemical Distillation tests.

I played this deck through The Beard's Alice in Wonderland custom campaign alongside Dexter Drake. Both decks take some setup time, so we had some rough starts, but we did get positive outcomes across the board (including all Fragments of Alice).

Using the synergy cards, especially Call for Backup and Close the Circle, was really fun and allowed for very high value turns. Unfortunately, this deck doesn't draw fast enough to use them very consistently, even with Alchemical Distillation--although that was a very valuable card, particularly with the upgrades for healing horror and choosing two options. Lack of draw was also a problem in getting set up with enough horror heal in a few scenarios.

Some people under-rate Liquid Courage in Carolyn, but I found it very helpful both as another option for horror heal (that heals an extra point of horror or draws a card) and as a slotless card for when my hands were full and I couldn't hold Pocket Telescope.

This deck allows for the option of going sane (using Soul Sanctification to spike tests) or insane (for higher value Meat Cleaver hits). Going insane is easier, especially with trauma from Arcane Research and In the Thick of It; it was often difficult to get myself up to where I could get those charges, but healing my partner was sometimes an option. The trauma was helpful in early scenarios to make healing valuable, and pushes towards insane (which I leaned into more at the beginning of the campaign with Desperate skills like Say Your Prayers).

Arcane Research helps upgrade Clarity of Mind and Earthly Serenity, but mostly exists as a trauma source and turn 1 card. I did technically start with a Research card for Shrewd Analysis, but with the modern cardpool limiting new Research cards to one per deck and the lack of big testing power early game, this quickly became entirely a turn 1 card (though I did often have Seeker cards honestly as well).

Overall, this is not a high powered deck but it got through the scenarios, and it was Really fun to play when it worked.