Marie Lambeau (FFG Starter Decklist)

From Marie Lambeau Investigator Deck

Playing Marie Lambeau

Marie Lambeau is a highly adaptable blood sorceress who excels at turning her own pain into power. Her ability to draw through her deck by taking damage allows her to dig for key assets so she can build up a play area filled with powerful spells and charms. Managing her health, healing, and damage soak is key to playing her deck effectively.

Through the use of powerful Spell assets, Marie is able to fight with Cosmic Flame, investigate with Second Sight, and evade with Shadowmeld, all using her willpower. Early on, you may want to take damage from treacheries or enemy attacks to dig for these spells; as you continue to stack damage, you may rely on soak from Sacrificial Doll or Arcane Initiate to keep yourself alive. Your health is a resource in itself, and cards like Offering Bowl or Favor of Baalshandor can pay for your key assets while comboing with Marie’s ability.

Dabbling in the arcane is a dangerous affair, however. If you don’t keep at least one charge on your spell assets, you run the risk of losing them with an unlucky token pull. Cards such as Grand-Mère's Charm allow you to keep these key spells topped off with charges. As Marie takes more and more damage, she may also need to heal using Infuse Life or Consume Life.

Even without her spells, Marie is more than capable of gathering clues with her high intellect. Additionally, her ability to heal fellow investigators and boost key tests with skills like Blood Curse allows her to assume a more supportive role in a larger group.

Upgrading Marie Lambeau

This deck contains numerous upgrades to increase Marie’s formidable power. If you want to lean into Spell assets, direct upgrades like Second Sight (5) and Shadowmeld (5) are an easy starting point. Powerful offensive spells such as Dread Curse of Azathoth and Bend Blood allow Marie to step up as a fighter. Arcane Experience is also a natural choice for most mystics who want more spells out at once.

If you would prefer to lean into some of Marie’s Spell events for a more agile and lean build, Ritual Dagger allows you to recycle spell events into your deck at the cost of 1 damage. This recursion in turn gets you more out of cards such as Blood Ward and Retribution. If you find yourself on the cusp of certain defeat, playing an event like Ultimate Sacrifice may just give you and your fellow investigators a final push to victory!