The first choice you will make in your skull storm run will be the starter deck.

Choose the "free" starting deck. for this run we will need the help of a deathless geck (more on this later)

After you start your run make sure that you are on the "woodland" map so that you can fight the prospector first! While the boss differences seem unimportant at first, you will need to kill the mule for your first map because of how small your deck will be.

check the card shop for the following two cards: ALWAYS choose cockroach, and ALWAYS choose either the dire wolf, or the dire wolf pup. These two cards are necessary for this strategy to work.

This all of course relies on RNG which luckily we can cheese. To avoid frustration, simply press escape and return to the title screen after viewing the trapper shop, then press continue run. The map should have changed, and the shop cards will be shuffled. This avoids the penalty of simply ending the run.

The most challenging part of the first map will be the second phase of the first boss. In order to win, you will need to crutch the following.

you will need some source of extreme damage
This is why we chose the dire wolf / pup in setup

you will need the help of the scissors or the hourglass

you will need LOTS of chump block to control all the lanes
This is why you chose the cockroach in setup (more on this later)


GENERAL STRATEGY
Your first stop on the map should always be the combination space. Sacrifice the cockroach to the geck in order to make a deathless geck. This geck will be your best friend, once you draw him, you should no longer need to draw from your side deck for squirrels, and you can always control a lane on the board with him.

your next priority is the acquiring of the scissors or the hourglass. use all of your items in the first fight so that you can have a chance at receiving either of these items. If you don't see them, always choose the frozen possum, the frozen possums can block for three turns against bears.

At the same time, try to land on the fire spaces so that you can buff your dire wolf / dire wolf pup. You need to get this card to at least deal 3 damage per hit for a total of 6, so that it can always 1 turn the bear in front of it, or win the round.

The last important thing to land on when on the first map is a single woodcarver space, do not try to finish a totem on the first map!! Try to land on woodcarver early on, so you can choose a card type to build your deck around. The best picks in order: reptile, wolf, then bugs. Always choose the head first. The only exception is if you see either the double-strike sigil, or the deathless sigil, ALWAYS pick these.

Before you initiate phase two of the bossfight make sure you have the following prepared. You will need your deathless geck either played or in hand. You will need your champion damage dealer either played or in hand with 5 or more health-points and you will need enough chump block to survive for the number of turns you need to win.

So how many times will you be attacked by bears?

Option A
you can kill a grizzly in a single row every turn but you have no items: the boss can attack you twice (but hit your champ only once). Without frozen possums, this will be challenging to chump for with your deck being as small as it is on the first map, this is why we choose the prospector for his mule.

Option B
You can kill a grizzly in a single row and you have the hourglass/ scissors: The boss will not be able to attack you if used immediately, the square you cleared will remain empty allowing you to win after the turn is passed. The effect is the same for the use of scissors killing the bear in front of your champ.

SAVE AS MANY ITEMS AS YOU CAN FOR MAP 2!

You beat the first boss and that's great. However, you are at serious risk of getting absolutely rolled by the totem encounters you are about to do on map 2. There are many very unfortunate combinations of totems and cards leshy will use that even have the chance of killing you in a single turn. Your deck should be thin enough that starting with a bad hand is not going to happen.

To beat the totem encounters try to rely on Items. You will buff your deck by the time you reach the next boss so use the items you find freely.

The strategy for this map is otherwise very straightforward. try to find good sigils regardless of the card. You want to inflate your deck slightly so that you will have enough cards to chump for the second boss. Try to choose cheap cards to avoid getting an insta-lose first hand. If you happen to find a "copy" space to land on always copy the geck. We will sacrifice good sigils to the cards we want to keep on the third map.

Also try to get a sigil component to complete your totem from the woodcarver.

Hopefully you get good luck during this section with the totems and the card pulls. This section of the skull storm run is where I lost the most.

You've made it to map three and hopefully by this point you have the following components of your deck.

You have a decently large deck with cards you may not want / are keeping for the sigils.

You have a completed totem with a decent amount of cards that will use that totem.

You have a core group of very strong cards you can abuse, but this group is small in your larger deck.


For this map you should use this strategy:
Hoard the best items. It is very possible now that you will draw a starting hand that is an instant lose. You will need to save your most powerful items now so try to farm them up by using weak items whenever possible. ALWAYS land on combination blocks either mushroom or sacrifice. It's time to apply those good sigils to your best cards, and to thin the deck. AlWAYS sacrifice to the bone lord if combination is not an option. ALWAYS choose the cave trial, and depending on the strength of your deck, try to fail this if you can afford to. Hopefully by the time you get to the third boss your deck will be thinned and every card in it will be useful to your playstyle.

If you manage to beat the third boss, the final boss is a victory lap compared to what you've just been through and you can relax.

I've attached an image of my winning https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/43451048101888786/DF46F245EA5704FD7C2F6E8BE20765DAC7E0AE8A/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false