Card draw simulator
| Derived from | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pictures at an Exhibition, Second Movement - Marie Lambeau | 26 | 23 | 11 | 2.0 |
| Inspiration for |
|---|
| None yet |
VanyelAshke · 176
DECK CONCEPT
Cluever investigator, with capacity to defend herself. Paired with Tony Morgan in Standard difficulty, who is the duo's dedicated fighter. Since her partner is such a good fighter, she can specialize as a cluever.
Willpower is quite strong, once she has some cards in play. She can get to a 5-6 regularly, sometimes at 7.
Sanity 8 is actually only sanity 4, when you factor 2x Arcane Research and St. Hubert's Key. To compensate for having a sanity of "only 4", I play a lot of allies to soak damage and horror.
Marie has 2 unique features:
- 4, meaning she can start investigating early without any buffs at 1-2 shroud locations.
- extra Spell-related actions.
This deck build and my play style is risk adverse, so I chose to prioritize her strengths as a clue-gatherer rather than play with doom. In a 2 player game, 1 doom equals 6 actions lost. I don't believe that over a scenario, Marie will reliably get those 6 actions back in Spells; especially when you consider that agendas can be as short as 3-5 doom. Adding doom-management cards in the deck further cripples the deck, as it's already tight on slots.
What's the difference between choosing Marie with this deck build, instead of a regular Seeker, like Daisy Walker? Unlike Daisy, Marie has access to all Spells and Occult items, which grants her the ability to be self-sufficient if she encounters non-Hunter enemies. Marie seems to be one of the top investigators for solo, and I understand why.
After playing this deck in Return to Dunwich Legacy with Tony Morgan as her partner, here is a summary of my experience:
- good at gathering clues
- good to protect against the Mythos deck
- can struggle with money frequently. Must be careful with what you spend resources on. This deck is very expensive in Assets!
- poor card draw. Arcane Initiate is needed to find the spells you need.
1st Hand ....... Hawk-Eye Folding Camera
2nd Hand ...... Hawk-Eye Folding Camera
Accessory ..... St-Hubert's Key
Body .............. Unused
1st Arcane .... Combat or Evasion Spell (Shriv, Mists.... later Suggestion)
2nd Arcane ... Clue Spell (Archaic Glyphs, Arcane Insight)
Tarot .............. Unused
Ally ................. Early: Arcane Initiate + Dr Milan Christopher
CORE CARDS
Enemy management: Azure Flame for damage. It can be upgraded via Arcane Research, just like Shrivelling. I chose Azure over Shrivelling for 2 reasons:
-
2x Arcane Research and St Hubert's Key reduces Marie's Sanity down to being 4. She can't afford to take horror from Shrivelling, since she will already be taking some from Ward of Protection and the Mythos deck.
-
there are generally less positive tokens (+1, and 0) than BS tokens ( ).
Mists of R'lyeh (later Suggestion) in case exhausting an enemy is necessary, including Elite enemies. Suggestion also acts as a Dodge, saving you damage and horror from attacks. Suggestion starts at a base test of 7 for Marie (4 + 3). With her assets, it can easily become a test at 9-10. Better than Mists of R'lyeh.
Clue gathering cards: Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, Dr. Milan Christopher, Alyssa Graham, St. Hubert's Key. Getting boosts is very important. Hawk-Eye Folding Cameras are a bit tricky; you want them early/opening hand, yet they don't help you gather clues until after you've already investigated a few locations. Magnifying Glass would serve better, but you forsake the boosts which guard Marie from the Mythos deck and important tests that may occur during scenarios.
Will boosts: [Hawk-Eye Folding Camera](/card/05154), [St. Hubert's Key](/card/03269). [David Renfield](/card/03112) can act as a temporary boost, if needed.
Economy: [Uncage the Soul](/card/03033), [Emergency Cache](/card/01088), [Crack the Case](/card/05110), [Dr. Milan Christopher](/card/01033). On average, her curve cost is approximately 25 to 30 resources. She needs economy cards! This is why I chose Dr Milan to fill 2 of her 5 or cards. He boosts her , which we want and helps garner resources.
Health & Sanity management: Allies! Use your allies to take damage and horror for Marie.
Utility: [Ward of Protection](/card/03270) and [Alter Fate](/card/04313) protect you and your team from nasty treacheries. In Dunwich and Circle Undone campaigns in particular, there are some very nasty ones that stick to an investigator. Say "no" the game!
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OPENING HAND / MULLIGAN GUIDE
You MUST have 1-2 Intellect boosts and economy. My ideal hand contains the following 4 cards: Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, Emergency Cache, Dr. Milan Christopher. It gives me access to 8 resources, which I can spend to play these 4 assets over 1.5 turns. Marie is then investigating at 5 and has both cameras to boost her stats once locations get drained of clues.
UPGRADES
Here is how I upgraded my deck over a Return to Dunwich Legacy campaign.end Scenario 1:
AR upgrade: IN: Azure Flame OUT: Azure Flame. Get +2 bonus to hit more reliably.
1xp -> IN: Azure Flame OUT: Azure Flame
3xp -> IN: Archaic Glyphs OUT: Archaic Glyphs. Hoping to scoop up more than 1 clue at a time, improving tempo to win scenarios faster. See section "Cards that under-performed" for more details.
end Scenario 2:
AR upgrade: IN: Azure Flame OUT: Azure Flame
1xp -> IN: Azure Flame OUT: Azure Flame
3xp -> IN: Archaic Glyphs OUT: Archaic Glyphs
3xp -> Charisma. Permits room for more health and sanity protection, and Marie wants the abilities of her allies. Also helps against her weakness, Baron Samedi.
end Scenario 3:
AR upgrade: IN: Ward of Protection OUT: Ward of Protection. Protect yourself and your party from nasty encounter cards (Ancient Evils, I'm looking at you the most!).
2xp -> Ward of Protection OUT: Ward of Protection
1xp -> Suggestion OUT: Mists of R'lyeh. Upgraded Suggestion is good. See explanation under Core Cards section.
1xp -> Alter Fate OUT: Mists of R'lyeh. Upgraded Alter Fate is good. See explanation under Core Cards section.
end Scenario 4:
AR upgrade: IN: Alter Fate OUT: Alter Fate. Costs 2 resources less, which is important because Marie struggles with economy. Also can be played during any player window; much more flexible. Worth the upgrade.
1xp -> Suggestion OUT: Delve Too Deep
1xp -> Alter Fate OUT: Delve Too Deep
4xp -> Arcane Insight OUT: Alyssa Graham. Get a +2 boost for an entire turn, either for you or for your teammates. Your Ally slots are very competitive and you ideally want Dr Milan + Arcane Initiate, so Alyssa can be replaced for a different investigation boost.
end Scenario 5:
AR upgrade: IN: Suggestion OUT: Suggestion
1xp -> IN: Suggestion OUT: Suggestion. Gain the bonus ability of access to Dodge effect, saving your health and sanity. Worth the upgrade.
4xp -> Arcane Insight OUT: Alyssa Graham
end Scenario 6:
AR upgrade: IN: Suggestion OUT: Suggestion
1xp -> IN: Suggestion OUT: Suggestion
end Scenario 7:
AR upgrade: IN: Alter Fate OUT: Alter Fate06).
5xp -> Deny Existence OUT: Enraptured. Just before the last scenario, where you know you're going to be up against an elder god that will attack you hard. Best get this instead. If you have enough xp to buy two copies instead of just one, buy them both.
Cards I'm intrigued by
Hallowed Mirror: Heal self or others any damage. Competes with Holy Rosary. Possible if you buy Relic Hunter, but not sure if this is worth 3 XP. Soothing Melody are Spells, so Arcana Initiate can dig for them. This card can be helpful, but there's just one copy and Marie doesn't have a way to tutor it out. Maybe playing Backpack could be a solution, to help dig out this card with her hand and accessory slot items. But that's only 7 cards in the entire deck; likely not enough Items & Supply cards to make it worth.
Occult Lexicon: Provides draw/filter, which is a weakness of this deck. Also can provide economy, which is another weakness of this deck, if Blood-Rite is not used for damage. And can provide 2 restless damage against an enemy in a time of need. This card seems to be flexible and can fulfill various roles needed, but it competes for Marie's valuable hand slots. Also, there's just one copy and Marie doesn't have a way to tutor it out. Maybe playing Backpack could be a solution, to help dig out this card with her hand and accessory slot items. But that's only 7 cards in the entire deck; likely not enough Items & Supply cards to make it worth.
Arcane Studies: Marie struggles with economy, and wants to boost both of these stats. This card allows Marie to boost these stats when needed, with 2 "free" resources provided every turn. If choosing Magnifying Glass instead of Hawk-Eye Folding Cameras, this card may be quite useful to offset the boost from the cameras. If you buy two copies, then the second one is a fusion of Guts and Perception (minus the card draw, of course).
Four of Cups: +1 Will boost. But it costs 3 resources; this deck's resource curve is already high. Never felt like I desperately needed the extra 1 at the cost of 3 resources.
Deny Existence: I'd love to have room for the level 0 version at the start of a campaign, but not sure what to cut.
Mr. "Rook": The new Taboo List makes him cost 4xp, but he's still a level 0 card, so Marie can take him as one of her 5 out of faction cards. Mr Rook is terrific at digging up key cards, and also getting weaknesses out of your deck asap so that they don't hit you later, at an inopportune time. The community knows how powerful Mr Rook is. Is he worth 4xp (8xp for 2 copies), and in this deck? Will he provide enough value? I don't know, but it's worth considering. Paired with Enraptured, you get 1-2 extra use out of him.
Cards that under-performed
Archaic Glyphs: Frequently did not gain me additional clues because succeeding by 2 or more is difficult in the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the scenario as your Hawk-Eye Folding Cameras charge up and you play your other intellect-boosting assets. I prefer a speedier tempo play style, and so the Archaic Glyphs under-performed. I also didn't draw it half the time, even with Arcane Initiate digging through the deck. I don't think I'll play with these again in this deck.
Even if you play Magnifying Glass instead of Hawk-Eye Folding Cameras in her hand slots on turn 1, a 6-7 on a 3 shroud location will not get you an additional clue fairly often, especially as the campaign progresses because of larger negative modifier tokens and BS tokens get added to the chaos bag.
Hawk-Eye Folding Camera: This card is swingy. If played in the first few turns and the shrouds are low, it gets powered up quickly and makes Marie a beast as a 6 and 6 investigator, before the additional stat boosts from other assets. But if drawn mid-way in a scenario or later, they are almost dead draws. They're amazing if you draw them early.
If you want more consistency to hit the ground running to investigate, then Magnifying Glass is something to consider. Or prioritize
getting Arcane Insight as your first upgrade (or as your second upgrade, making Charisma first).
Enraptured: +1 on a test with giving a secret or charge to an asset. It's a cute effect, but not the most impactful.
My deck was inspired by StyxTBeuford's deck: https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/13432/pictures-at-an-exhibition-second-movement-marie-lambeau-2.0