Dayana Esperence
Deals with "Devils"

Asset. Ally

Ally. Witch.

Cost: 4. XP: 3.

Mystic
Health: 3. Sanity: 1.

Uses (3 secrets).

: Attach a non-weakness Spell event from your hand to Dayana Esperence. Limit 1 event attached to her.

The attached event may be played as if it were in your hand. It is not placed in your discard pile after it is played (it remains attached). As an additional cost to play the attached event, exhaust Dayana Esperence and spend 1 secret.

Ilich Henriquez
In the Clutches of Chaos #279.
Dayana Esperence

FAQs

(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)
  • "As If": This was added to the FAQ (v.1.7, March 2020) and then amended (v.1.8, October 2020). You can read the October ruling on the ArkhamDB rules page here. (I'm adding a hyperlink rather than retyping the rules in case in future the ruling is changed or amended - at that point, the rules page will be updated and all ArkhamDB FAQ entries will link to the correct ruling.)

  • Q: Can I play an event under Dayana Esperence if the damage assigned to her as a cost to trigger parallel Agnes' ability defeats her? If that's possible, can I shuffle the event attached to Dayana back in Agnes' deck as a result of her ability since I'm discarding the event that was attached to Dayana? A: No. If Dayana leaves play while you’re paying the cost of the attached event, the ability that allowed you to play the event in that manner also leaves play, so the event could not resolve.

Last updated

Reviews

Edit 3/4/2020: Rewritten to represent a much changed selection of spell events.

Dayana Esperence is a crazy powerful card, but she is expensive to run. The trick is to have a strong money engine or cheap enough cards to keep her up and running.

  • First off, Dayana is beefy, 3 health will keep her alive through some ally-killing mythos cards and help you outlast the mythos deck in general.

More importantly than her health however is the tripled spell event ability. Many events are strong enough to warrant playing by themselves, Ward of Protection, Deny Existence and their upgrades are among the most useful cards in the game and getting triple the amount of cancelling from them is outrageously good, especially Ward of Protection which can blanket protect the team and Deny Existence which is, for obvious reasons, incredible. Be mindful about using a tripled Ward of Protection though, that's 3 horror on top of whatever the scenario throws at you.

Because Dayana and the repeat casting of a spell will often be very expensive, absolutely make sure to bring methods to fund the combos, cards/combos like Forbidden Knowledge+Peter or Alchemical Transmutation might be needed to keep this build rolling. Absolutely make sure to pick up whatever out of faction resource cards are available to you, including Crack the Case, Easy Mark or Take Heart as appropriate.

Aside from the cancels, many other spells are good enough to want to play them repeatedly and there's a few spells that start off weak but being able to play them 3 times makes the mechanics much more interesting. Here is a list of every spell Dayana can triple:

  • Astral Travel is simply too expensive to use in this manner, there is a small handful of scenarios where being a master of movement can be very useful but usually the benefit of multiple Astral Travels is marginal and unnecessary.

  • Evade spells like Banish, Ethereal Form, Blinding Light and the upgrade are weird options because cards like Mists of R'lyeh and Ineffable Truth exist. Using Dayana for this is a way to have a routine spell for all three major actions but frankly, you probably dont need to play these spells more then once or twice per scenario, especially given their cost.

  • Counterspell gets expensive fast but undeniably powerful. Good combo if you've got money generation.

  • Eldritch Inspiration is great with an asset in play that you want the token trigger on repeatedly. A workhorse combo if your deck is using the upgraded Sixth Sense and/or Wither cards to clue and/or fight.

  • Read the Signs and Spectral Razor are very powerful cards because of their often huge skill bonuses. You do need to be able to fund them, but the end result is most likely worthwhile.

  • Hypnotic Gaze, just too expensive, the mechanic is nice but the card is already so expensive that people arent playing it -once-, much less three times!

  • Mind Wipe, this one actually takes flight on Dayana. Playing the spell just once to negathe the threat of one enemy for a round is useful but, MEH. Playing it 3 times to completely ignore something for a good while, THAT is a very cool mechanic. Campaign conditional but absolutely useful most of the time, especially for a clue-focused .

  • Moonlight Ritual is very specific but having it around for repeated use can unlock a lot of extra actions via doom on Blood Pact for Marie or enable the use of De Vermis Mysteriis or David Renfield.

  • Recharge and Recharge on Dayana basically gives you endless use of a good spell asset (if your token pulls are lucky). Rather good actually, especially with the upgrade.

  • Using Storm of Spirits in this manner is just too expensive, by all means go ahead though if you want to pretend you're this anime character www.youtube.com

  • Repeat rewinding via Time Warp can be very, very useful. It's not overly strong but being able to play it three times makes you a lot less stingy with it.

  • Word of Command is a spell you really only need to play the one time, tripling it is overkill.

  • As of the yet only characters capable of this are Marie and Lola but Blood Eclipse is cheap enough to repeat-play, it's a surefire way to get yourself killed though.

  • Alter Fate is probably one of the best spells to repeat-play, especially in the right campaigns where persistent treacheries are common. A top-notch use of Dayanas abilities.

Tsuruki23 · 2523
Moonlight Ritual is potentially huge as well. It allows mystics to heavily rock the doom effects. — Sassenach · 179
Some good points. Putting a counter on her with Diana is pretty cool, gaining a ressource and drawing a card each time, while not losing the counter. Moonlight ritual is also pretty cool, if you go crazy with 1 or 2 blood pacts. — Django · 5070
Why wouldn’t you lose the counter? Diana’s ability would still put the card under her, so it will no longer be attached to Dayana, and be pretty wasteful unless you did it only on the third use. — Death by Chocolate · 1447
Question about her and Time warp - Time warp's text say to return the game state to how it was before the event, including it's cost. Normally what prevents you from playing it over and over is having to discard it, but she doesn't discard it. And the secret spent is part of the cost. If even seems timewarp would have you un-exhaust her. So it seems that you could just play time warp over and over, unlimited. I feel like I must be missing something. — khoshekh · 5
You don't rollback the cost of Time Warp. Exhausting Dayana and spending a secret becomes part of the cost. — Yenreb · 15
With Diana you might move your card from Dayana under Diana because you drew into a card you really wanted on Dayana after having settled for a card you kinda wanted on her. Or just because your weakness hit and you really need to refuel your will. — Yenreb · 15
According to the comments on Time Warp, https://arkhamdb.com/card/03311, you do roll back the cost on her. — khoshekh · 5
More specifically, it says the cost of playing timewarp is reset. Timewarp itself is not returned to your hand because it's in an 'inbetween state' while the reset is happening. But the cost you paid happened before the reversal, so it's reset. In normal use, as long as you have the resources to play it, you get them back, so it's essentially free. Now, when attached to Diana, this really seems to me that it'd make her exhaust/secret reset too. — khoshekh · 5
To avoid confusing players who may stumble across this, khoshekh is incorrect. The comments there predate the FAQ erratum that came out over a year ago. Any costs to pay for Time Warp are not reset. — eapfel · 6
Dayana + Alter Fate in TCU is pretty amazing — Zinjanthropus · 227
This review mentions Dayana and Alter Fate (level 3) as a good combo. But correct me if I'm wrong - aren't there zero investigators who can take both level 3 mystic and survivor cards? — snacc · 981
I think Marie Lambeau could do it because Altere Fate is a Spell. — GWItheUltimate · 1
Ah, good point, thanks :) I guess also Father Mateo because Alter Fate is a blessed card! — snacc · 981
Is it possible to change the spell on #Dayana? I understand that she only has 3 secrets. — VanyelAshke · 179
Robes of Endless Night seem pretty good with Dayana. — Zinjanthropus · 227

I think the new Dream-Eaters cycle gives Dayana Esperence so much more variety to experiment with. She can help investigating (Read the Signs), become an awesome battlemage (Spectral Razor), help fragile mystics move around (Ethereal Form) or even become sort of an arcane initiate replacement (Lucid Dreaming or Word of Command). Some of these options may be a little expensive, but should be no problem for Diana Stanley, Agnes Baker or even a resourceful Jim Culver. What a fantastic expansion to an already fabulous ally.

galge · 16
in the preview the links worked. Read the Signs / Spectral Razor / Etheral Form / Lucid Dreaming / Word of Command should be the linked cards. — galge · 16
ah nevermind these two comments. — galge · 16
I played her with Luke Robinson on 3 player through forgotten age and she's really strong with above events, especially with his ability. Very helpful to kill adjacent cultists or evade engaged enemies. Astounding revelation adds secrets to her with Arcane initiate, Lucid Dreaming and Word of command. — Django · 5070
As you've mentioned, I think the primary restraining factor of Dayana Esperence using all of those spells is the cost involved. Since the event must be played, it means you have to ante up the resource cost to play it every time, on top of the four cost of Dayana herself. Then, it becomes a matter of whether it's worth running Spectral Razor over Shriveling, Ethereal Form over Mists, or Read the Signs over Rite of Seeking. I think in these cases, it becomes a matter of consistency versus flexibility. — Ruduen · 978
I’ve had great success using Dayana with Blood Rite (from the Occult Lexicon). It’s a cheap and flexible utility knife of a spell that I can always find a use for and never have enough copies. — Death by Chocolate · 1447

Looks like the best spell to attach is Blood-Rite! This combo can be used with Akachi Onyele, Jim Culver and Marie Lambeau. Of these, I like it with Marie Lambeau best because she can also attach her special event, Mystifying Song, to give the investigator(s) up to 3 extra turns!

jmmeye3 · 621
mystifying song is removed from the game, it would not work (unlike the painted world, which is removed after it is discarded) — Adny · 1
You forgot my boy #Norman Withers! — Dreadreaper · 6514

Can't wait to try this card out . There are so many powerful options that you can attach to her. One underrated option that I want to attempt is Moonlight Ritual. Let's say you're Marie with both David Renfield and De Vermis Mysteriis running. This would allow you to run really high on doom effects knowing that doom cancellation is right there on tap multiple times. Marie can also take Truth from Fiction as a splash card, along with a number of really good insight cards to recur. You could potentially use Moonlight Ritual up to 5 times (or more with recursion), allowing you to run with big resources, semi-permanent will boost from Renfield and the ability to keep replaying key spells. I'm not quite there yet with the deck, but it could be a lot of fun.

The other one I like of course is Deny Existence. Multiple cancels on tap is great, esp if you're playing a more fighty mystic like Akachi. Ward of Protection for certain scenarios would be insanely useful, Blood-Rite would be great of course. For certain big money mystic builds the forthcoming Storm of Spirits(3) could be in play.

Oh, and I should add that the 3 health on this ally is great.

Sassenach · 179
I can personally attest to the power of Deny Existence (5) on Dayana Esperence. That single combination completely removed *all threat* from a recent run through of A Phantom of Truth: conviction version. — The_Wall · 286

This card has a really cool effect, and other reviews describe ways to use this cool effect, but I would like to very clearly point out that this card also has a major disadvantage, which is that it is really expensive. What this card really does is to take one card in your hand, and convert it to three identical cards. Which means that, ultimately, you are spending 4 resources, 3 XP, a card, and an action, merely to draw two extra cards, which is an outrageously expensive way to draw extra cards. In return, you get the advantage of drawing a specific card (albeit one you must already have in your hand) rather than a random card.

What this means is that in order for this ally to be worthwhile, the card you place on it can't just be a nice card, it has to be a really, really super great card, so great that it is still a great card to play even if you increase the cost by a huge amount.

Now, to be fair, this isn’t the only thing you get for playing Dayana, as an ally she does have the advantage of soaking up damage for you. But then, she also has the disadvantage of eating up a very valuable ally slot, so this doesn't change the net calculation all that much, she still is mega-expensive for each "virtual card draw" she gives you.

ChristopherA · 110
Play parallel Agnes. Much cheaper. — MrGoldbee · 1449
Slapping Deny Existence on her is pretty solid. — SGPrometheus · 809
it would be more correct to say "add two copies of the best spell event in your deck to your deck, then tutor them out for free" which is maybe better than draw 2. maybe. — Zerogrim · 292
If you compare her with other allies who give extra uses like the sophist or the venture I think she is really good, because of her soak and her flexibility depending on the events in your deck. And getting additional secrets isn't hard, especially for her best buddy Luke — Tharzax · 1
Comparing her to Venturer and Sophist is doing her a disfavour. She is 3 XP more, so of course she has to be better. Her soak is rather unique. She can take more damage than other mystic allies, but only one horror. This is often very apreciateted, because moste mystics are more squishi on the meat than the mind, but it means, that you have to be cautiouse, if you want to use her for WoP, which still can be a great target, because it costs only 1 resource and is very powerfull, in particular if you go to level 2 or 5. I concur, DE (5) is probably one of the best value for money with her. I particular recommend this combo in Diana, because the cultist can take "Well Prepared", and Dayana is a great additional target for that card. Of course, you can also plan to use her on more expensive spells, but you would need a budget plan for that. The sugestion to use her on parallel Agnes seems very clever to me. Will try it out, when I play her. — Susumu · 366
I don't agree, because the usefulness of the sophist and the venturer depend on the supported assets, which need the xp to shine. Even if you use level 0 events like spectral razor you get a lot out of Diana. — Tharzax · 1

There are so many great spell events to choose from. Deny Existence Drawn to the Flame, Uncage the Soul, etc. Since she works on secrets you can use Truth from Fiction to increase her uses. I think she would be fun to build around.

Calprinicus · 5833
Sefina cannot take Dayana because it is a level 3 mystic card. — Cyiel · 1
*facepalm* thanks for the correction. — Calprinicus · 5833
Uncage the Soul is not a Spell event so it can not be attached to Dayana — MrGiblets · 1
Also Drawn to the Flame as well — MrGiblets · 1
Too bad you can't attach Truth from fiction to her. Would be great to fuel other "secret" based cards, like Rook. — Django · 5070

How does this card interact with Mystifying Song or The Painted World? Are they removed from the game after one use because Dayana only prevents events attached to her from being discarded? I'm aware Sefina Rousseau can't take Dayana Esperence herself, but in some unlikely setup, she might get her if someone uses Teamwork.

Other question, what about Time Warp, does it cancel the costs of Dayana Esperence as well? I think not because it only cancels the effects of the canceled action?

Django · 5070
The Painted World is removed instead of discarding it, but with Dayana it is not discarded, so there is no effect to replace. — Adny · 1
The secret + exhaust is additional cost to play the Time Warp, so as per its errata, it is not undone — Adny · 1
But you cannot multiply Mystifying Song, as it is "removed from the game". While Painted World id only removed if discarded, there is no such loophole for Mystifying Song. — vidinufi · 68

With how much the newer scenarios like swarming investigators, there can be only one card for her. Storm of Spirits. Getting three casts of that per encounter is a massive tempo boost especially in campaigns where the enemies are just piled on. Just make sure you run token manipulation or you'll kill yourself.

drjones87 · 190
I agree with the general idea, but 4 for Dayana and 3 for each cast of Storm of Spirits is SUPER expensive. You're going to need to run a lot of money cards to make this work. Point being: it's not something you can just plop into any ole mystic deck. — DjMiniboss · 44