Lola Hayes used to be an actor, now she survives.

So this is revised build of a Lola Hayes deck, updated to include Geas. I had some plans when I went about building this deck:

1) Choose a single class (survivor) as the main class. Have no assets from that class.

2) Have a splash of colours from other classes, taking the most opportunity of permanents to reduce the complexity of Lola's deckbuilding. Rely on passive effects such as Leo De Luca's extra action or Crystalline Elder Sign's stat boosts.

3) Not use edge of the earth stuff (I don't have it yet)

4) Only have neutral weapons - so they can be used by the main survivor class without worrying about discarding.

5) Randomly pick weaknesses for a 49XP deck and then build the deck. at 49 XP, there are 4 extra weaknesses, and the ones I randomly picked really aren't crippling. The Tower • XVI affects commiting cards to tests, so together with Geas it means not having skills: it has been designed around events instead with cards like "winging it" as a poor-woman's deduction. Indebted x2 has been countered by Another Day, Another Dollar x2, though it is frustrating because with a few resources needed and an opening hand of 7, a 9 resource start would have been very helpful. Nihilism is a pretty kind generic weakness for anyone who isn't getting into token cancelling. The Thing That Follows is an enemy weakness, but at least it doesn't start too close, giving Lola time to power up.

Its about getting to a Lola with stats of 6 6 6 6; 4 actions per turn; fighting with a timeworn brand, investigating at 7 with a magnifying glass, and supported by survivor events

So the intention is to try as hard as possible to get Geas (promising no committing cards or maybe no card draw if later in a scenario); Crystalline Elder Signx2 and a weapon. With The Tower • XVI causing issues for committing cards as well, this deck has a few events that help with evading or clue finding, and a few icons or opportunities to turn failure into success.

Getting Geas just relies on random luck and a large opening hand but the others are all items and relics, so Backpack and Dr. Elli Horowitz can draw any of them (noting that she "attaches" the relic, and doesn't "play" it, so it works despite Lola's restriction, and works for any of the big items (Timeworn Brand, Ornate Bow or Crystalline Elder Sign. That Backpack might also get hold of an Emergency Cache or two.

In terms of play - there is always a little bit of danger with Lola Hayes having a Crisis of Identity at the wrong time, but spending as few moments as possible with card draw in a non-survivor class is clearly the answer... ideally doing something like: Improvisation to change to mystic (draw one card); play two Elder Signs (first one free, second one 3 resources); change back to survivor... so the Elder signs are never put at risk.

The final few XP to get to 49 was a toss up between two upgraded Leo De Luca and a Devil's Luck, or Charisma... but in the end charisma won through, to get the option of Leo and Elli in play.