Lily Resolves All Your Problems

Credit: Paint 3D Magic Select tool. Special mention to Control+C and Control+V

This deck arised from two premises:

• Playing a magically enchanted staff feels very thematic and satisfying in Lily. Perhaps it's not the most optimal weapon choice, but it looks so cool in Lily's hands.

• The Discipline is very powerful. It feels like a magic spell that Lily casts to empower her subsequent moves. However, it is hard to flip it back over once you use it.

These two ideas lead to Bestow Resolve: it takes an Arcane slot, which synergizes with Dragon Pole, and does a nice job in empting your hand (together with fast cards) to flip back over and abuse your Discipline.

• Overview

• Main Strategy

• Deck Explanation

• Other Cards

• Deck Variations

• Upgrade Path

• Kill anything that spawns with Dragon Pole enchanted with Enchant Weapon and Reliable.

• Support your teammates by converting your events into Unexpected Courage via Bestow Resolve. Pass key scenario tests by converting Steadfast into a +6 to any skill.

• Empty your hand with Bestow Resolve and all your fast cards to flip back over your Discipline.

• Replenish your hand with Stand Together, Eldritch Initiation and your Discipline.

• Survive Arkham horrors with Talisman of Protection, Hallowed Mirror and your Discipline.

• First thing first, you need to kill enemies. Mulligan everything that is not Dragon Pole, Backpack or Prepared for the Worst.

• Your full killing setup implies Dragon Pole, Enchant Weapon, Reliable (potentially two) and two more Arcane assets (Enchant Weapon takes one).

  • This means a 13 / 3 Damage attack and subsequent 8 / 2 Damage attacks (+1 with a second Reliable).

• Killing aside, the power of the deck comes from the rest of your cards, which enable you to support your teammates in many different ways (details explained in next section).

• The core card here is Bestow Resolve.

  • It takes an Arcane slot, which synergizes well with Dragon Pole.
  • It converts many of your cards into Unexpected Courage to help your teammates pass tests. Particularly, useless Prepared for the Worst, Backpack, Spectral Razor and Eldritch Initiation are good targets.
  • It can convert a second copy of Enchant Weapon or your Soothing Melody into a +3.
  • It converts your Steadfast into a +6 to pass any key scenario test.
  • It synergizes very well with your Discipline, helping to empty your hand in one turn to flip it back over the next one.
  • Finally, note that you can commit several cards to a single test, that you can target a test in a connecting location and that it is not discarted when it runs out of charges.

• Besides Bestow Resolve, you run many fast cards (Talisman of Protection, Premonition, Reliable, "Let me handle this!" and Ward of Protection) to help empty your hand and abuse your Discipline.

• Generate resources with Stand Together and Emergency Cache. The former is just an amazing support card which will make your teammates love you until the end of times.

• Backpack finds Dragon Pole, Emergency Cache, Hallowed Mirror and Talisman of Protection (which speeds up getting at least 2 filled Arcane slots). Remember Talisman of Protection can be played on other investigators to save their lives.

• Eldritch Initiation is best played in early game as soon as you play your Dragon Pole to draw three cards without discarding any. Later, it's a good target for Bestow Resolve.

• Premonition is very versatile and fun to play. Check its reviews for several tricks. Notably it is:

  • "best played in the window at the start of the investigation phase, before anyone has yet taken their turn. Seeing what token will come up for the first test this round lets you decide [which player will use the token to best effect.]". Of course, it is always a good target for Bestow Resolve.

• Reliable is for what Magnifying Glass is for . It gets you to 8, a good number for Hard/Expert.

• Scrying is just here for consistency in filling your Arcane slots. From time to time, you may be able to use it as a pseudo-First Watch.

• Here are some suggestions for adapting the deck to one's campaign / group composition.

• The main targets for change are 1x"Let me handle this!" and 2xSpectral Razor. Keep in mind that they have 2 icons, so new cards should ideally keep them to potentially fuel Bestow Resolve.

  • Spectral Razor can be switched to Read the Signs for gathering some clues, and Scrying to Sixth Sense (but do not expect a great performance of the latter).
  • In some standalone scenarios, 3xOpen Gate can be great and thematically cool.
  • In multiplayer, Safeguard is a good option, and probably First Watch is better than "Let me handle this!".
  • With more XP, you can consider the addition of some Allys. Grete Wagner is a great choice and Girish Kadakia fits perfectly into the deck's idea.
  • Deny Existence is great, it can be switch for Ward of Protection or for any of the three mentioned cards, but keep in mind that you loose 2-icons cards to fuel Bestow Resolve.
  • Drawn to the Flame has two icons. Combine it with Read the Signs for a more clue-oriented build.

• I took the Discipline over the Discipline mainly for survivability reasons. You already have enought punch with Enchant Weapon and Reliable.

There are many paths you can follow in upgrading the deck from its present state. I will just mention some interesting options.

• Defensive Stance is cool to replace/add to Steadfast, for a +7 to any skill. Plus, Lily appears on the card.

• Hunter's Armor with Enchanted takes up an Arcane slot, which is great for Dragon Pole, and can be found with Backpack. Add Armor of Thorns, Durable and Hallowed to finish enemies by generating AoO. But most importantly, it's really thematic to add an enchanted armor.

• Girish Kadakia fits perfectly into the deck's idea.

• On the Hunt can replace Emergency Cache. You lose targets for Backpack, but you gain 3-icon cards that can be used with Bestow Resolve if resources are not needed.

• Stick to the Plan and Ever Vigilant are always solid options.

• Safeguard if mobility is needed.

0-XP Version Example:

Upgrade Priorities

• -1 Scrying → +1 Bestow Resolve 2 XP
• -2 Deny Existence → +2 Stand Together 8 XP
• -2 Overpower → +2 Enchant Weapon 14 XP
• -2 Enchanted Blade, -1 Backpack → +2 Backpack, +1 Reliable 19 XP

Any comments / ideas to improve it are very welcomed!

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