I get what you are talking about. I definitely prefer to play weird decks. I loathe and avoid destruction based decks. Just not interesting to me… unless it does its destruction in new or novel  ways.

I pointed out the Parlor because… well she and Alyssa go together, thematically and mechanically, and they do what you said you wanted her in your deck for more efficiently.

I don't have a problem with creating a fun out of the box deck and playing with it and slowly making it as efficient as I can without abandoning my theme or core mechanic. Just trying to make the most killer deck to play socially… well if I am not gearing up for a serious tournament why bother? Finding ways to win under the gun makes me a better player, and stopping and really examining every card in the card pool with an open mind and evaluating the efficiency and synergy of the cards will help me be  abetter deck building. Looking at cards and mechanics dismissed by everyone else in my building social decks actually makes this easier for me.

But everyone does  what they like. More power to them.

I don't mind the diversion at all.  Thanks for the articles, they were very interesting!  Turns out I am probably a Melvin, although I do have some Johnny to me.

To COCLCG's concerns, the problem with the win-at-all-costs approach is that it tends to revolve around finding the most overpowered cards and stacking your deck with them.  That produces lots of wins - but I'm fairly convinced that it's not the best approach to winning tournaments.  This game has some very strong, very deep synergies (Voice of the Jungle/Dreamlands Messenger, for instance), but you don't get there by taking a what's-the-best-cards approach that your average Spike takes.  Beyond that, there are some very significant scissors/paper/rock interactions in the game.  Direct damage can wreak havoc on flooding strategies, but bouncing arguably beats direct damage, but a bouncing deck could have a hard time with a super-fast flooding deck.

Consequently, the most competitive decks may not be decks that simply throw in the strongest cards from the faction that happens to have the most of them, but rather one with a clear concept that works against many other decks, but which also has built-in options for dealing with unusual strategies.  That's more of a Johnny deck than a Spike deck.  A deck that stomps most other decks (because it's loaded with overpowered cards) but falls apart against a few decks (that have direct counters to those overpowered cards) isn't going to get as far as a balanced deck that has a solid but not overwhelming strategy, but lots of options to deal with whatever comes up.

Anyway, back to the original deck.  I cut Victoria's Loft as noted, and replaced it with Enchanted Wood and The Rays of Dawn.  I only have one of the Wood, and Rays of Dawn - while a surprising choice - actual works like a charm, as most characters have only one [Terror] (and Messenger from Beyond can remove a second one if needed), and most of my characters are unique and so unaffected.  Take *that*, Degenerate Serpent Cultists!

My general experience with this deck is that it is very weak the first few turns - it is not at all unusual to lose one or two Stories right off the bat, although Master of the Myths can really help limit the damage.  But once it gets up and running with the critical characters and attachments out, it's really solid and just consistently shuts down nearly anything that gets thrown at it.

I love rays of dawn. This is my deck . more a fun one than competative but great against terror decks. all non uniques have 2 terror except messenger but folio helps this and it never sees story phases anyway.

FEAR TO THE FEARLESS

Lucas corn x 2
Granny orne x 2
Victoria glasser x 2
Poltergeist x 2
Messenger from beyond x 3
Black dog x 2
Keeper of dreams x 3
Danni devine x 2
Nightstalker x 2
Corrupted midwife x 3
Ghoulish worshipper x 3
Y’Golonac x 2

Final note x 2
Even here she dwells x 2
Burrowing beneath x 3

Scalpel x 3
Rays of dawn x 3
King in yellow folio x 3
Unknown kadath x 2
Vale of pnath x 2
Guardian pillar x 2

( if you're wondering about poltergiest, it just sits there, threatening the use of an opponents last domain before the end of your turn. ).
 

i like your changes and looks like a good deck now !! and yes, you're right. these 'spike' decks aren't always successful. what i don't like is the predictability of them when you're playing a non competition fun deck and the 'spike' players insist on 'getting that win' and using the same boring old seen it before strategy. but like Hellfury pointed out, it should probably be established pre game what the style will be to determine compatibility. like - "hi, i'm spike" and "hi, im johnny " - hahaha.

Looks like a fun deck.  I considered including Granny in my deck, but eventually decided not to use her, as I have two cards that rely on number of insane characters in play, and three others that go insane for their special abilities - not particularly good synergy!  But in most Hastur decks, I think she's a solid addition, and can really help put away the other player when you have them on the ropes.