Lola Hayes in "Snake Eater" - LExI Season 3

Hi everyone!

This is the Lola Hayes deck I am playing in the League of Extraordinary Investigators for Season 3, titled "Snake Eater" because we are doing The Forgotten Age, and because true solo kind of requires her to be a badass action hero. I do believe that this is a pretty strong Lola Hayes deck in general, though, one worth making note of for your own games.

Here's the first scenario of "Snake Eater" in action! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14EDBa-bdDA

One of Lola's strongest features is that she can use the most efficient cards across all classes that provide similar effects, so she is, in a way, not as limited by the two-copy limit on a card. If Lola wants, say, a third awesome clue card, she can look at the entire cardpool and select an awesome one from any class. This deck was constructed in this sort of way. Here are the main "categories" of effects Lola has here:

Efficient clue-gathering - 10 cards

• Segment of Onyx
• Lola Santiago
• Intel Report
• Read the Signs
• Deduction

Enemy slaying - 5 cards

• Enchanted Blade
• Spectral Razor
• .45 Automatic

Draw and resources - 10 cards

• Mr. "Rook"
• Improvisation
• Easy Mark
• Emergency Cache
• Eureka!

Skill boosts - 10 cards

• Magnifying Glass
• Lola Santiago
• Unexpected Courage
• Take the Initiative
• Fine Clothes
• Inquiring Mind

Damage and horror mitigation - 5 cards

• Tetsuo Mori
• Hallowed Mirror
• Mr. "Rook"

Note that a few of the cards are in more than one category, like Lola Santiago providing skill boosts and clue gathering. Since the first two scenarios of the League revolve around discovering clues to achieve victory, Lola's deck is weighted towards efficiently gathering clues (10 cards) rather than dealing with enemies (5 cards), but this deck can be changed to swap those two roles, as explained later.

Lola also has another underlying objective here. While working on assembling the Pendant of the Queen, Mr. "Rook" is very good for searching for Segments of Onyx and pulling Crisis of Identity out of the deck on her terms, so Lola can avoid losing a key asset at a terrible time. The plan is to have both Crises in the discard pile before playing the Segments of Onyx and assembling the Pendant, so she can use the ultra-powerful Pendant in the endgame to move around the board, evade Elite enemies, and discover the final clues at high-shroud locations. The sheer amount of momentum Pendant of the Queen yields makes it worth considering by any investigator who can take it, and Lola is no exception.

Now, onto the practical part. The effects Lola has brought are also divided among four roles:

Starring Role: Seeker

• Segment of Onyx
• Mr. "Rook"
• Magnifying Glass
• Deduction
• Eureka!
• Inquiring Mind

The main function of the Seeker role is to assemble the Pendant of the Queen, get the Crises of Identity discarded, and provide some investigation boosts. As mentioned above, aim to keep the Segments in hand until both Crises are discarded, then play all three as Fast actions and seize momentum. Then, try to ensure that the Pendant runs out of charges before her deck runs out, so she can reassemble it and get another three charges before Crisis of Identity is a threat again. Meanwhile, don't fret if Magnifying Glass is discarded to a Crisis; it's a super-efficient Fast skill boost that works even when Lola is not in the Seeker role, so it's worth including even with the risk of losing it.

Starring Role: Guardian

• Enchanted Blade
• .45 Automatic
• Take the Initiative
• Tetsuo Mori
• Hallowed Mirror

The Guardian role is for slaying enemies aided by Take the Initiative to ensure that important attacks land, as well as soaking and healing damage and horror. Note that Tetsuo Mori can be used to search for Segments of Onyx or to bring a Segment or expended weapon from the discard pile. Hallowed Mirror is also particularly efficient at healing damage and horror, and the fact that it can pad Lola's deck when she's about to run out of cards can come in handy, because it gives Lola a larger window for sending Segments back into a very tiny deck.

Supporting Role: Rogue

• Lola Santiago
• Intel Report
• Easy Mark
• Adaptable

As a support role, Lola's Rogue cards are intended for use on occasion, such as grabbing two clues from a high-shroud location with Intel Report or grabbing resources with Easy Marks. Lola Santiago is very useful for the passive skill boosts and for occasional grabbing clues without spending actions. Adaptable is a genuinely-useful permanent, and here so that Lola can have seven Rogue cards in her deck.

Supporting Role: Mystic

• Spectral Razor
• Read the Signs

These four Mystic cards are just very efficient for their cost, especially Spectral Razor. As a variant of this deck, Mystic can be used as a Starring Role by swapping out .45 Automatic, Tetsuo Mori, Take the Initiative, and Hallowed Mirror for cards like David Renfield, Holy Rosary, Prophesy, Shrivelling, Mists of R'lyeh, Ethereal Form, or Shards of the Void if you're willing to spend XP. The upgraded Mystic Enchanted Blade is also a very efficient weapon that also isn't a Guardian card.

The Prologue: What about just starting a campaign?

If you like this deck, and are looking for a zero-XP version, drop all the XP cards for:

• a second Emergency Cache
• 1x Crack the Case
• 2x Holy Rosary
• 2x Working a Hunch
• 1x Manual Dexterity

These cards provide similar functions to what the XP-costing cards already do in the 9XP version here. Segment of Onyx is the most important early upgrade, followed by Easy Mark. Lola Santiago and Charisma should be purchased together if possible.

Sequels: Worthy upgrade cards

Lola has oodles of options for spending XP! In general, though, look at streamlining the basic shell of clue-gathering, enemy-slaying, draw/resources, and skill boosts. Here are a few ideas:

Clue-gathering:

• upgraded Magnifying Glass - this is a great upgrade, because Lola can send the Magnifying Glass back to her hand before triggering Mr. "Rook" and risking a Crisis of Identity!
• upgraded Deduction
• a second Lola Santiago
• Sharp Vision

Enemy-slaying:

• upgraded Enchanted Blade
• Ornate Bow - excellent option, but best combined with a few adjustments to the rest of the deck, like Quick Thinking or Narrow Escape, to overcome the downsides.
• Timeworn Brand - really expensive in both resources and XP, but is the most straightforward weapon Lola can make great use of.
• .45 Thompson
• Shards of the Void
• Flare
• upgraded Dynamite Blast
• upgraded Vicious Blow

Draw/resources:

• Stand Together - only in multiplayer
• "I've had worse..."
• Studious
• Another Day, Another Dollar
• Nothing Left to Lose
• Flare - for searching out an ally quickly.
• Dr. Elli Horowitz - only with a second Charisma. Careful here, because Lola doesn't want to discard Dr. Elli to Crisis of Identity where she's fine losing Mr. "Rook."

Skill boosts:

• Crystalline Elder Sign - this one is particularly good, but needs Relic Hunter as well. It synergises well with Dr. Elli, too!
• a second Lola Santiago
• Lockpicks
• Ace of Swords
• The Black Cat - the cat provides a virtual skill boost by nullifying nasty tokens and their modifiers.
• upgraded Peter Sylvestre
• Delilah O'Rourke or Jessica Hyde - only with a second Charisma, and only if you're fighting a lot.
• The Red-Gloved Man - particularly useful for Lola because it's Neutral and Fast, meaning that she doesn't have to be in any particular role to play him, and he'll boost any two skills by +3.
• any of the Dunwich permanents

In conclusion:

I've had a ton of fun designing this "Snake Eater" Lola deck for the League, and if you're looking for a solid generalist investigator that can play solo well, give it a try!