Monster Deck is the gold tier of the large-deck Badge: win with one hundred or more permanent cards. Reaching that number during a losing run is insufficient. A combat full of generated Shivs, Souls or Status cards is also not the permanent deck the Badge asks for.
The useful challenge plan is to multiply cards which still contribute to winning. Accepting every reward can grow the number while making the required defensive hand less likely. Start expanding once the deck has a growth source and a reason its larger size will remain playable.
Permanent growth versus combat generation
Pael’s Growth is a possible gift from Pael at the start of the Hive. Taking it enchants a card with Clone. Its Rest Site action duplicates Clone cards, and the new copies retain Clone. This allows repeated growth rather than adding only one copy at each fire.
Other sources have different jobs. Dolly’s Mirror adds a permanent copy. Orrery offers five card rewards. Prayer Wheel adds an extra card reward from normal enemies, while White Star adds a Rare card reward from elites. You still have to choose suitable cards and survive the rooms producing them.
Metamorphosis and Jack of All Trades create cards during combat. They can help win a fight, but that temporary growth does not establish a hundred-card permanent deck. Count the deck outside combat when tracking the challenge.
Clone growth needs enough fires
Assume a deck has twenty non-Clone cards and one Clone card. No other cards are added or removed, and no effect supplies additional copies.
| Completed Clone actions | Clone copies | Total permanent cards |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 21 |
| 1 | 2 | 22 |
| 2 | 4 | 24 |
| 3 | 8 | 28 |
| 4 | 16 | 36 |
| 5 | 32 | 52 |
| 6 | 64 | 84 |
| 7 | 128 | 148 |
That is growth arithmetic, not a promise that seven reachable Rest Sites remain after obtaining the enchantment. Before choosing the gift, count the actual fires available and the ones where healing or an urgent upgrade would take priority. Miniature Tent reduces conflicts between different Rest Site actions; it does not make a missing fire appear.
Bing Bong adds another copy whenever a card enters the deck, changing this simple doubling model. Use the current deck count and the actual added copies when that relic is present rather than reusing the table unchanged.
Reflections can cross the threshold
Reflections offers Shatter: duplicate the deck and receive Bad Luck. A fifty-card deck becomes one hundred from duplication, then gains the Curse. That reaches the count, but it also duplicates cards that may already be difficult to draw or afford.
Bad Luck is not a harmless extra slot. Its current effect loses thirteen HP at turn end while it is in hand, and it has Eternal and Unplayable. The event’s larger deck can delay access to the cards that discard or otherwise handle the Curse during a fight. Read the full outcome before taking the shortcut.
If Reflections never appears, the run needs a different source of permanent additions. Do not plan an entire route around an event which has not been offered. Conversely, after crossing one hundred, another duplication is unnecessary for the Badge and can worsen the deck’s immediate problems.
Cards for a large deck
Cheap draw-and-resource cards can make several copies playable in one turn. Adrenaline supplies Energy and draw before Exhausting; Big Bang supplies draw, Energy, Stars and Forge. Such cards still need a defensive or damage result at the end of the chain. A large opening hand of resources with no payoff can fail the fight.
Other cards directly reward the expanded deck. Perfected Strike scales with cards containing Strike, while Mind Blast uses the number currently in the draw pile. The latter’s damage can fall after extensive drawing; the permanent deck total is not the same number as the current draw pile.
Avoid assuming that a hundred copies of any strong card is useful. Expensive Powers can occupy a hand before their setup is affordable. A single rare defensive card buried among many attacks may become less accessible as the deck grows. Maintain defense density, low-cost access and sufficient damage together.
Opening-hand risks
A large deck usually reaches its later copies more slowly. Start-of-combat draw can improve the opening without guaranteeing a specific card. Several copies of useful defense can improve coverage more directly than one superb card plus dozens of unrelated additions.
Players discussing Clone report successful decks built around large numbers of cards, but also point out that the first few cloning actions can leave the deck weaker before its payoff is dense enough. A smaller increase can therefore be the dangerous stage. Preserve HP and potions to survive the fights between the initial enchantment and the final expansion.
Before the final boss, verify the permanent count is at least one hundred and stop accepting additions solely for size. Spend the last shop and campfire choices on the fights the deck still has to win. The Badge is awarded for a winning large deck, not for reaching the largest number the run can display.