Diana the "Redeemed" Cultist: A Study in TSK Charms, Sleuth, and Delaying the Inevitable

Art by Brian Valenzuela

The Scarlet Keys introduced us to a new set of mystic cards with Ceremonial Sickle, Dowsing Rod and Onyx Pentacle, which have been met largely with skepticism and negativity. Most reactions do not value the benefits of using the cards weighed against the risk of carrying doom between turns. Their key strength is similar to those held in the Edge of the Earth multi-class spells such as Divination, in that you can choose which stat to use and therefore tune the stat you select to the skills you have available in hand. In the Edge of the Earth player card set, we were also introduced to some amazing economy/skill-boosting cards with Bruiser, Prophetic and Crafty. Their counterparts Antiquary and Sleuth left something to be desired upon release, as they didn't seem to have the same obvious targets as those previous mentioned. This deck list is built to explore how the Scarlet Keys Charm set and Sleuth function in conjunction with Diana's typical tricks, and demonstrate that these new charms have a place in the card pool, even if not as optimized as using the spells we all know and love.

tl;dr this deck is for flex, you manage problems for the team so they can play more freely while doing typical Diana ignore/cancel team support.

A traditional Diana deck list takes a few turns to get in some cancels before her starts to accumulate and then can start casting spells. I usually see her lists invest heavily in the level 5 spells to ensure she gets the maximum amount of boosts so she can begin contributing sooner. The idea behind this list is to instead use the charms with their +1 to the non- skill, plus the bonuses from the upgraded versions to be able to contribute immediately. The trade off against using spells is the speed at which you can begin to help, and the fact that you will need to play in such a way to dodge the doom from becoming a problem. In a way this is a very thematic approach to Diana having had been a Silver Twilight cultist in the past: who accumulates doom in Arkham Horror: The Card Game better than a cultist?

The final trade off that we miss from the typical mystic spells is the sheer amount of action compression they provide. The Ceremonial Sickle and Dowsing Rod do not provide comparable damage or clue gathering to Shrivelling or Clairvoyance. Rather than the typical Mystic playstyle of setting up and then crushing the clues/damage for the rest of the game once set up, you will instead be a problem solver for the rest of your team to run more efficiently. You will be able to attack, investigate, or evade at high skill values, and with the addition of Well Prepared, you will be able to perform skill tests on locations/acts/agendas for the team, as well as remain very resilient to any skill tests the encounter deck throws at you.

Another difference between the charms and spells is obviously that they do not have charges. Once they're in play you are all set, and all you need to be mindful of is managing Doom. To this end, the deck can select Sin-Eater and/or Moonlight Ritual to manage doom, depending on your preferences. Sin-Eater is beneficial in ensuring you're able to use the exhausting ability on Sickle/Rod/Pentacle more often, and Moonlight Ritual is more of an emergency button you can hold in hand for the rare emergency doom removal, as well as managing locations/enemies/treacheries that accumulate doom that the team needs dealt with instantaneously.

Sleuth is the card that brings a lot of this together. It allows you to get the charms into play affordably, as well as providing a large skill booster to ensure that the skill tests that remove doom from the assets have a good pass rate. Sleuth also has an extremely strong synergy with Delay the Inevitable and Twilight Blade. Twilight Blade ordinarily cannot put the card it plays underneath Diana using her , however Delay the Inevitable doesn't cancel damage/horror until after playing it has been fully resolved. Delay the Inevitable is also a Tactic, which means you can use Twilight Blade and Sleuth to play Delay the Inevitable from underneath Diana for free, and then cancel damage or horror with it, and consistent get the +1 back, as well as the card and resource her provides. Sleuth can also pay for "Fool me once..." and Dodge and even the upgraded Dodge skill test to dish out a tiny bit more damage if you're playing in a high XP campaign.

Astral Mirror is present primarily to allow you to hold one of each Charm, but the bonus actions won't hurt either while setting up or playing over a charm with Doom that you want to remove. Since you are in a flexible role, I have only picked up one copy of this card. Having 4 slots isn't essential, and the deck has plenty of card draw to find it in time to set up your Delay the Inevitable cycling. Ghastly Possession is in place of Guts or Guts as an additional doom management card, as well as a flexible way for 3 to help ensure a secondary ability on a charm fires and that doom would be immediately removed with the level 4 charms.

As for the ally slot, I have published this with Alice Luxley as a cute way to get a +1 as well as a way to use the Dowsing Rod to simultaneously move and investigate and deal a damage. Ultimately the ally you choose is dependent on your team composition. You could instead start with a Beat Cop for the +1 if your team needs more fighting, with room to upgrade into Beat Cop. This would be the recommended path if you are looking to play this deck with Down the Rabbit Hole to save on various XP costs. Similarly Vicious Blow is present for the Sickle to be slightly more effective at removing doom, as well as providing the damage compression you might've otherwise missed with an upgraded spell. You can also easily upgrade Dodge into "I've had worse…" if your team is already excelling at enemy management.

Link to the 0xp deck with some options therein

If you're playing with loads of XP stacking and/or TFA Forging Your Own Path, here is a completely unnecessary amount of XP spent

Thanks to @Valentin1331 for the template. To create your own guides, find the template Valentin1331 has created here.

Art by Stephen Somers