Sefina Rousseau - Eldritch Gaze

DECK OVERVIEW:

Assemble powerful combos (see "combo" section below) exploiting Sefina's extended opening hand and The Painted World as the wildcard you need.

DECK DETAILS:

Enemy management: Shrivelling first and Suggestion later. If killing is needed use Hypnotic Gaze and Dark Prophecy/Olive McBride to let the enemy kill himself without using actions. Note that it DOES NOT WORK against horror inducing enemies: the are not a lot of MUST kill-horror only-enemies but beware of that. Storm of Spirits as AOE.

Investigation: Rite of Seeking and Drawn to the Flame.

Survability: mostly granted by high base and . Think on Your Feet and "You handle this one!" to run from troubles. Ward of Protection for emergencies. "I'm outta here!" as panic button (expecially when running Charon's Obol).

Team Support: I'd advise against using Premonition to help others instead of yourself. Draw into your Arcane assets ASAP and start discovering clues or fighting/evading via Shrivelling or Suggestion. If you run the bonus action pack, you can occasionally save others from monsters by engaging them and using Suggestion to evade. Note that you can Hypnotic Gaze monster attacking other investigators.

Economy and Reliability: Use Double or Nothing and "Watch this!" to fuel yourself and All In to draw (Premonition will prevent facepalms). Also, once you get some exp, the whole "Bonus Action pack" below is there for a reason: don't be scared to use extra actions to draw. Otherwise use Hot Streak and Emergency Cache or Uncage the Soul to get all the resource/discounts you need. Comboes are meant to be versatile, don't wait for "the perfect storm" to use them. Consider 1x Quantum Flux to reset.

UPGRADES:

Core upgrades:

2x Suggestion instead of 2x Shrivelling (8 exp); Sefina has no access to the better versions of Shrivelling: Suggestion lets her evade with 8 and has a good chance not to use charges (she can Recharge, if really needed).

2x Rite of Seeking instead of 2x Rite of Seeking (4 exp); Investigate at 6-7 discovering 2 clues at once.

2x Defiance instead of 2x Defiance (4 exp); Combo'ed with Dark Prophecy can almost guaranteed a no modifier test which is vital for Sefina's other combinations.

1x All In instead of 1x "You handle this one!" (5 exp); This is key to replenish our hand after a 3-4 cards combo. Note that taking horror for drawing the whole deck should not be that much of a trouble for Sefina at 9 sanity.

Non-core upgrades:

1x Charon's Obol (2 exp);

1x Recharge instead of 1x Think on Your Feet (2 exp);

Bonus Action pack: Cards below should be run altogheter or not run at all. If you dont run this pack, I strongly advice to get 2x Hot Streak or Uncage the Soul and 1x Four of Cups as your tarot of choice)

1x Ace of Rods instead of 1x Think on Your Feet (1 exp); 13 cards opening hand means Sefina has good chance to see it. Can also be run 2x, with the second copy being a 3 resource "delay an action and get +2" in the worst scenario, which is not great but still ok.

1x Ace in the Hole instead of 1x Premonition (6 exp); Strong card in the right situation: can combo with Pay Day.

2x Pay Day instead of 1x Emergency Cache and 1x Premonition (2 exp); Resource generation if you opt for the Bonus Action pack.

Flex slots (AKA cards that I do not consider core and can be swapped out anytime):

1x "I'm outta here!"

2x Think on Your Feet

1x "You handle this one!"

1x Storm of Spirits

2x Premonition

1x Emergency Cache

If you don't plan to include the "Bonus Action pack" these can also be dropped:

2x Quick Thinking.

Cards to consider instead:

Don't be scared of running 1x events as long they are versatile, as Sefina can copy them via The Painted World.

Level 0: : Elusive, Backstab, Uncage the Soul, Quantum Flux, Guts, Manual Dexterity.

Experienced: : Streetwise, Hot Streak, Four of Cups, Spirit Athame, Cheat Death, Time Warp, Recall the Future, All In, Song of the Dead, Jewel of Aureolus.

WHY NOT "insert cardname"?

I'm open to Suggestions.

AMA.

HOW TO PLAY/COMBOS:

Dark Prophecy + Defiance to autopass tests ( + Double or Nothing and/or "Watch this!" and/or Quick Thinking for even better results, since you can almost be certain its a no modifier);

Hypnotic Gaze + Dark Prophecy or Olive McBride to almost-auto reflect damage (+ 1 or multiple Eldritch Inspirations to multiply the damage reflected and show your fellow fighters how to kill without even attacking or using actions at all), works on Elites;

Recharge for spells (Eldritch Inspiration prevents the worst case scenario).

Ace in the Hole + Ace of Rods + Quick Thinking + Pay Day for lotta actions and lot of cash.

The Painted World can act like a wild card for combo pieces (not Ace in the Hole as it is exceptional) or be the Ward of Protection/Drawn to the Flame you need.