Pictures at an Exhibition, Second Movement - Marie Lambeau

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
"Snap snap, grin grin, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more!" 57 33 6 1.0
Inspiration for
Marie's has the evidence on Camera! (Standard, Duo) 2 1 0 1.0

StyxTBeuford · 12918

NOTE: This is a revision of the original deck of the same title, with a slightly different upgrade path and economy set up to address the problems with the original. I recommend this one over the original. The original can be found here:

https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/13240/pictures-of-an-exhibition-marie-lambeau-solo-mp-1.0

Inspired by the wonderfully titled "Snap snap, grin grin, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more!", found here made by Brownloaf:

https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/13185/snap-snap-grin-grin-wink-wink-nudge-nudge-say-no-more-1.0

Upgrades

Uses for Arcane Research (these are highest priority):

  1. 2x Shrivelling 2x Shrivelling 2x Shrivelling (5 XP each, but can be discounted all the way to 1 each). Upgrade 1 copy of Shrivelling each scenario as you go (1 XP each for first upgrade, 0 for the second).

  2. 2x Deny Existence 2x Deny Existence (5 XP each, can be discounted down to 3 each). Upgrade 1 copy of Deny Existence a scenario after finishing both Shrivelling when possible. Depending on your team composition you may elect to upgrade to one or both of these before the last level of Shrivelling.

As you do the above, prioritize getting the following as you can afford them:

  1. 2x Archaic Glyphs 2x Archaic Glyphs (3 XP each). Note: Does NOT benefit from Arcane Research.

  2. Charisma (3 XP)

  3. 1x Guts 1x Four of Cups (1 XP)

  4. 1x Arcane Studies and 1x Guts 2x Arcane Studies (2 XP each).

You can also elect to upgrade one or both copies of Mists of R'lyeh to their level 4 version, however it's not a main priority. If playing an evasive campaign such as Forgotten Age this is prossibly a better first buy than Shrivelling 3.

Additionally, on higher XP campaigns like Forgotten Age you might elect to not wait to utilize all the discounts of Arcane Research. For example, if you have the spare XP and you think you need more offense, go ahead and upgrade an extra Shrivelling or Mists.

Notes

Concept

The game-plan is this: Stack for fighting, evading, and defending against treacheries, and stack for Archaic Glyphs investigations!

The concept of this deck is the same as its inspiration- take advantage of the passive boosts in Hawk-Eye Folding Camera as much as possible. Marie's restrictions are similar to Jim's- having only 5 out of class slots to fill (two of which are the Camera) means we're severely limited in fast clue getting, but I decided to swap out Dr. Elli Horowitz for Archaic Glyphs since Enchanted Blade is a no go for Marie (3 is pathetic even for mice). Fortunately the Glyphs are Occult cards, so Marie can take 2 more Seeker cards- given the expensive list we have here, I elected for Crack the Case, since we want to clear locations of clues anyway. Her base 4 and 4 plus one copy of St. Hubert's Key, one copy of Alyssa Graham, and two full Cameras means we can reach 8 and 7 . This becomes an even 8/8 if Four of Cups makes it into play once it's added in! I still kept one copy of Mind over Matter since its a very cheap and flexible card that allows us to fight/evade well in a pinch, plus giving us potential to pass tests we normally just wouldn't be able to (testing against 4 to 8 base value for or !)

Spells

Originally this deck ran Sixth Sense as a bonus clue getting spell- which with any of our Ally assets in play (including Baron Samedi) can be used as a bonus investigate action with Marie's ability- but people quite fairly pointed out that the deck needed to take better advantage of the large boosts to . Enter Guiding Stones! The goal of the deck is to clear locations of clues as fast as possible with the Cameras in tow, and having a powerful multi-clue gathering tool will allow the deck to perform well in both solo and multiplayer. If making the switch to solo you might still elect for Sixth Sense or Rite of Seeking, which you could later upgrade for cheaper- you don't have to jump through the hoop of translating the Glyphs before upgrading, and most locations in solo only have 1 or 2 clues, so multi-clue gathering loses a lot of value. We run Shrivelling for fighting, and Mists of R'lyeh for evading. Best of all, our allies (even our weakness) will allow us to cast any spell once a turn for free once they get doom on them.

Economy

The rest of the deck is relatively economy based. We have a lot of expensive spells, and both Cameras together cost 4 resources. We run Uncage the Soul and Crack the Case to more reliably afford spells. Uncage the Soul gets us any of our six spell assets in play for free. The most expensive cards otherwise are Alyssa Graham and St. Hubert's Key, which we definitely need for the added boosts. The Key acts a lot like an already filled Camera! We take Deny Existence instead of Ward of Protection both because it works agaisnt enemy attacks (not quite a full Dodge but still good) and encounter cards, AND it doesn't force us to take horror, which will help keep the Key in play. Arcane Initiate and Alyssa Graham can soak up to 10 horror across all four copies. We round it out with two copies of Emergency Cache to gain a few resources in a pinch to help pay for the more expensive cards. For skills I chose to add Enraptured to this version of the deck as a method to chain a few extra investigates with the Glpyhs (or attacks/evades with our other spells), while also boosting to gather more clues with Glyphs. We also run 2 Guts and 2 Perception since those are by far the two skills we will be testing most often. For more boosts we eventually upgrade one of these into Four of Cups.

Swaps

It may be worthwhile to drop St. Hubert's Key for Holy Rosary as a cheaper way to simply upgrade our while still effectively protecting Marie from horror- in solo it's much harder to take advantage of the boosts of the Cameras, but they boost first so don't discount that. Alyssa Graham scales better in solo mode, so if you play multiplayer and elect to move less towards boosting you should consider David Renfield, even if you don't need the extra resources. Finally depending on the campaign or scenario you're playing you might elect for another Mind over Matter in place of the Archaic Glyphs. It's situational for sure, but being able to spend a whole turn testing from 4 to 8 in the stats you're weakest can actually be a game changer. Remember, that's not just restricted to fighting and evading (though in a pinch it can absolutely be that). Or if you want to have more raw fighting potetial look into "I've got a plan!" instead. This is less good in solo where clues don't stay on your for long, but in multiplayer it can be an easy +4 damage to an enemy, without the risk from Shrivelling (5)

Special Thanks

Sylvee - for testing the original deck and pointing out how over-costed it was, as well as suggesting Archaic Glyphs.

Alpha5099 - for reminding me that Crack the Case exists with his excellent Norman Withers camera deck.

Brownloaf - for spurring this wave of Camera archetype Mystic/Seeker decks to begin with.

11 comments

Jul 10, 2019 alpha5099 · 50

Thanks for the shoutout! Once I have some more free time and I've finished TFA, I've been planning to do TCU with Carolyn and Marie, so I've been interested to see how this deck evolves.

Jul 11, 2019 StyxTBeuford · 12918

Yeah no problem! Definitely want to make a Carolyn deck in this archetype as well- we should both take a crack at it.

Aug 27, 2019 shwub · 9

Marie can't take the upgraded version of Deny Existence. She can only take upgraded Mystic cards to level 3.

Aug 27, 2019 shwub · 9

ignore my comment sorry

Aug 29, 2019 StyxTBeuford · 12918

No worries, it happens!

Nov 27, 2020 VanyelAshke · 176

Thank you for the description, including Swaps. In your experience, if playing not solo, then the build you have listed is good to use as is, yes? Using Archaic Glyphs for multi-clue gathering, supported by St. Hubert's Key, Hawk-Eye Folding Camera.

For allies in this situation, Alyssa Graham boosts which is important, but the deck is expensive and needs money which David Renfield helps with. So in a not solo game, which do you think is better? Does Alyssa's +1 matter enough to kick David Renfield out of the list? Or is David's money-making too important?

Any other closing remarks/tips? :)

Nov 27, 2020 VanyelAshke · 176

I also just noticed that you don't have any Moonlight Ritual.....

Nov 27, 2020 VanyelAshke · 176

The Arcane Studies can be replaced with Higher Education. Same stat boosts, costs 0 resources just like the level 2. I have no issues being at 5+ cards in hand when I play Mystics. Saves you 2-4xp. :)

Nov 27, 2020 StyxTBeuford · 12918

So this deck is pretty old and I'm not really keen on updating it, but level 0 Higher Ed did not exist when this deck was made. However I still would not take it because it requires one of Marie's splash slots, and I don't think it's worth it for that over Arcane Studies. If I were to remake the deck now I would probably include Moonlight Ritual or Calling in Favors- the reason those aren't here is because the deck wanted to keep both Alyssa and Initiate at 1 doom for Marie's ability, and that's it. It did not care about big doom payoffs like Renfield. If they got doom, then the goal would be to take just 1 damage at some point to kill them, which imo isn't that hard to do. With Ritual/Favors in the deck I would probably take Renfield over Alyssa, but again I'm not sure how this deck would look if I remade it today.

Nov 28, 2020 VanyelAshke · 176

Thanks for the response. :) I've played this deck in 2 Scenarios now and it's been good. She's a great Cluever. I've paired her with Tony Morgan. Since he's the enemy management, and since she only has 4 spells that she can possibly activate during her turn (Mists, Shrivelling, 2x copies of Deny Existence), I've been playing Marie without doom on her. She rarely needs to use Mists or Shrivelling.

With what I said, then it would seem that she is a blank character; so why play her? I've found that with this deck, her unique "ability" is the 4.

  • With Alyssa Graham, Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, and St. Hubert's Key, Marie can get up to 8, making her equal to a Seeker like Daisy.
  • Once you get Archaic Glyphs (Guiding Stones), Marie then has a useful spell to trigger every turn, making the doom game worth playing. So Marie can commit 2-3 normal Investigate actions at 7-8, then do one extra action to use Glyphs, sucking up another 1 to 3 clues. So 3-6 clues gathered in 1 turn. That's great!
  • With Mystic as being her primary class, she has access to Spells up to level 5, unlike Daisy. So she can run Shrivelling and Deny Existence

That's been my experience. Hopefully I'm piloting your deck correctly. haha I'm going to be starting Scenario 3 of Dunwich, and she now has both copies of Archaic Glyphs purchased.

Nov 28, 2020 VanyelAshke · 176

I've liked Azure Flame in Marie so far. Since she takes 2 copies of Arcane Research and has St. Hubert's Key, she drops to 4 sanity. Since her Health is now the higher pool, and there are less tokens in the bag to trigger the 1 damage compared to Shrivelling, I've been happy with Azure so far.