The Diana Stanley Maximum Empower

I like this a lot! Very intriguing, and will definitely revisit this list the next time I look to play Diana.

Thanks for the write up and love the concept here. but what does the deck do for action compression? Does it just do basic actions all the time (+ Survival knife). I feel like im missing something

@Skurvy5 Thank you, I am very glad. I will be glad to hear your experience.

@Zeberdee Thank you very much for your comment.

Safeguard saves a lot of movement actions. If I play with very mobile investigators, I sometimes take the improved version. This saves dozens of movement actions per game.

Survival Knife + Dodge is 3 damage without any actions at all.

Bind Monster spends only one action at the end of the scenario to neutralize a large non-elite enemy and most likely forget about it.

Ever Vigilant and Uncage the Soull essentially also very noticeably compress actions. This is much more effective than the Emergency Cache. In addition, Diana's ability itself gives you at least 5 cards and 5 resources.

Well, in general, part of the deck is aimed at fighting the encounter deck. If you cancel or take away some contact from an investigator who would have spent a lot of time on it, then this is also a kind of compression of actions.

But you are absolutely right that direct compression of investigation and combat actions is not enough here. Usually, the tempo of the deck is enough for me to successfully complete the scenario. But if my teammates can't handle it or I'm playing solo, I usually use Drawn to the Flame, Read the Signs, Spectral Razor, Enchanted Blade or something similar, and just leave those cards in the deck for the rest of the campaign. Especially since Read the Signs can work with Diana's ability too.

But I usually play with two or three players, and most often the build plays the role of support tank and control of encounter cards, plus it is a hybrid that can pass difficult checks of any skill from the middle of the game.

And I haven't played The Drowned City or Hemlock Vale, so my experience with them is limited with this deck.

@Zeberdee Sorry, I pasted the link incorrectly.

Thanks @Neuromoss. I didnt think of it like that. I would still want a big weapon or attack spell to use during my turn if im the guardian. Could have it instead of enchanted armor with so many cancels. But just personal choice I think. Still looks fun!

Nice deck @Neuromoss. Im a huge fan of diana control builds.

If im reading this correctly, its a flex deck @Zeberdee not a dedicated fighter. He says it fights the encounter deck. Which might be easier to understand as "encounter control". In flex builds you just have small bits of enemy control/damage. Enough to hold your own basically, not carry the team. Basic investigates are also usually fine in them. Here you can get to 5 once a turn each with Empower Self, and once more if you can also get with Well Prepared down. So, one or two clues a turn from low/mid shrouds (2s or 3s), or 1 clue from a high shroud (4 or 5) combining both.

Ofc you can make small swaps to bring in more damage/bonus clues as you say. Just add say Shrivelling or Rite of Seeking or similar cards if you are swapping out Enchanted Armor it even frees up the arcane slot.

Also - This might be one of the only decks that could pull off the Bind Monster + Grievous Wound combo. I know its not a good combo. It could be fun though!

Thank you very much @StartWithTheName. I really appreciate your comment! And completely agree with the above. If you don't mind, I really want to ask you about the copies of Empower Self. If we have all three copies, is it possible to exhaust all three and get, for example, +6 to some skill? After all, there are no other clarifications in the English wording. We just have "exhaust Empower Self" We don't do this in our group and I know that there is a rule that says to use the card name only for the card itself, and not for copies. But I don't quite understand how this rule then works, for example, with Sled Dog with a similar wording, but does not work with Empower Self.

@Neuromoss the card name refers to the card itself. Sled Dogs specify you exhaust multiple copies.

I don't think the deck works like you want it to

@heppu Yes, of course, I understand that exhaust "name" is a standard wording and RAW Empower Self only exhausts itself, not copies. But I'm not sure RAI intended it that way, given the cost of Empower Self in resources, experience, actions, and the overall complexity of using them.

I just couldn't find another example of wording on a card that exhausts another copy, so I don't quite understand how it should look. I find this an interesting mechanic. Still, "Exhaust Empower Self:" and "Exhaust X Sled Dogs:" looks pretty similar. And Sled Dog is clearly referencing other copies of itself, ignoring the basic rule.

But it doesn't really matter. Thanks anyway. I just thought it was interesting.

With the caveat that I am actually much of a rules guru ... I just know a dave. I have come across this before, Im afraid Heppu is right.

A quick C&P from a section squirrelled away in the the rules reference (page 18) to help:

Self-Referential Text:

When a card’s ability text refers to its own title, it is referring to itself only, and not to other copies (by title) of the card. Self-referential abilities using the word “this” (e.g. “this card”) refer only to the card on which the ability is located, and not to copies of that card.

images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com

This doesnt mean the deck doest work ofc. It just means it doesn't do this particular thing.

*Not much of a rules guru.

Yes, I understand. Based on the rules, the situation with Empower Self looks clear. Thank you very much, @StartWithTheName, for the additional clarification.

Any suggestions for a new player on what deck to start with for this archetype?