The witch hour… just before the abyss opens… Marie's favourite moment.

Good Marie Lambeau is not a very popular investigator in Arkham LCG. It is understable: she is complex to play, her signature weakness is a headache (mainly at the beginning of a campaign) and maths are against her in multiplayer (even though her signature card can grant 12 "extra" actions in a four player game!).

It is an extremely risky and funny way of playing. Nevertheless you must accept that, even a good Marie's deck, can be beat by the game in a bad luck moment (example: an Ancient Evils drawn just before the "witch" hour"). This can be minimized once you know how to play her, but still could happen. Anyway, you have to know that you should suffer a little playing Arkham lcg, I love challenges and I discovered that Marie is extremely funny to play once her deck is upgraded a little. So here it is my solo deck for her.

A few important remarks for this deck:

This deck is in reality cheaper, as I added one arcane research. I believe that for Dunwich you can even include two.

It is very important to follow up the upgrade path defined or you will not get above advantage (to be reviewed also if you take two). Also it is important because her stat is not huge (4), so should not get rid quickly of Holy Rosary, that will boost it, until you get the upgraded spells.

I play with taboos. If you don't, consider include Key of Ys, Drawing Thin and Knowledge is Power.

Taking into account that is a solo deck, we have to do a little bit of everything:

• Resources generation: David Renfield, Uncage the Soul
• Combat: Shrivelling (3), Spectral Razor, Abyssal Tome (2), Occult Lexicon
• Investigate: Drawn to the Flame, Read the Signs.
• Evade: Mists of R'lyeh(2), Ethereal Form.form
• Permanent stat boost: Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, David Renfield (once doom on him)
• Suceed on non willpower / intellect tests: Unexpected Courage, Lucky!, Inquiring Mind
• Protection against the encounter deck: Ward of Protection
• Others: Blood Pact(3), Dayana Esperence (3), Hallowed Mirror.

Playing this deck

You have to be very careful with your doom management. Usually you don't want to have more than one card with doom at the same time, as you will not be able to erase it. Usually you will have Abyssal Tome or David Renfield with doom on it, depending on the phase of the scenario: David probably at the beginning to boost your economy and the abyssal tome at the end to have a consistent +2 damage +1 willpower at hand with an extra action at investigation phase for spells.

Whenever possible you want Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, David Renfield placed at the very beginning to boost your stats and economy, as well as some way to protect yourself from enemies.

Concerning combat, Shrivelling (3) with its +1 damage and +2 willpower will be the main weapon. As I said, with 4 base willpower, you will need the boost of the improved one to beat the harder enemies, so the upgrading is a must for Marie. The advantage is that you can use your extra action, if you control some doom, for this spell. On the other hand, Abyssal Tome should allow you to beat the small enemies at the beginning, without spending charges of your precious Shrivelling, activate your ability or at least allowing some 2 damage from time to time on the "witch" hours. Spectral Razor and Occult Lexicon are there for flexibility, as they can also be used through Marie's extra action for spells, with the advantage of doing a 3 damage impact with a base test of 4 + 1 non boosted for the first and the auto damage in the case of our beloved tome.

Investigating should not be a big problem with 4 plus potentially one from the Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, so keep Drawn to the Flame (2 auto clues) and Read the Signs (4 + 4 base investigation) for these scenario locations where shroud is high.

It is very important to keep Ward of Protection for the right moment. Especially if in the encounter deck you have Ancient Evils, you don't want to miss the "witch" hour! do you want the party to end before it starts? Also, you should try to keep any Unexpected Courage, Inquiring Mind (you can change this maybe for Mind over Matter) and Lucky! drawn for these tests not based on willpower and that otherwise you will have hard time to pass or in order to keep momentum.

This deck is not optimized for the forgotten age campaign, so whenever possible avoid evading. Still, you should not have problem with it if you can put in the table the Mists of R'lyeh (2), card that I added mainly for its movement compression. I also put a copy of Ethereal Form, a card that even situational, could really save the day in some scenarios.

I added Uncage the Soul for a simple reason: it is flexible. I do not have any 3 cost spell that could be a target besides the two shrivelling. However, I have other seven 2 cost spells that could be targeted by this card. In addition, uncage the soul is a spell itself, so could be used by Marie's extra action, leading to some action compression. Worst case, you can use the two willpowers to boost some test. And trust me, you need to keep three ressourcess at hand whenever possible to play Mystifying Song if necessary.

Blood Pact is a must in any Marie deck, as it allows you to activate your signature power from round 1 or to make a huge successful phase in the witch hour. The same can we say about Moonlight Ritual, which allows you to take out all the doom from one of your cards and do not make advance the agenda. Just remember that it will clear only one card (reason why you should keep doom to one card) and that it is itself an spell, so can be the last extra action before cleaning the doom.

Charisma gives some protection from the nasty Baron Samedi weakness and Hallowed Mirror acts as a safeguard, as it can help you to swallow some damage/horror without losing tempo (as bonded cards are spells). Still, I have doubts about including this card, as it takes one of my hand slots, I rarely need it finally and it looks like I have never the time to play it (still, I would keep it if you play with two copies of arcane research).

Finally Dayana Esperence provides the opportunity to replay events. It is expensive but if you suceed to link Moonlight Ritual to her and you will have three witch hours for free!

Let's start the party….

It's party time. Agenda is just one doom away from moving and it is the moment to get wild! Witch hour has arrived and you have nothing left to be afraid of.

Ask David Renfield for some extra willpower and any spare money he has left and search in you Abyssal Tome for some nice song for your audience (if any). You increase the rhythm of your song taking that extra turn and you start bleeding while singing after signing the Blood Pact, so it is almost impossible you will fail your performance.

…and keep them dancing!

And then everybody gets into trance when listening to your Mystifying Song. David Renfield keeps throwing money to you, the Abyssal Tome glows with power and blood of your enemies covers everything (it is yours? how many times have you signed the Blood Pact since the song started?). Some Ancient Evils appear but they decided to stop by, listen to the music and get away.

This nice combo usually should be kept to the end. When some boss is there and you will have four plus four crazy actions, with plenty of damage to incur thanks to abyssal tome (2 + 3) and shrivelling and with blood pact giving +3 to willpower to each test (If you don't play with taboo, you could go for five actions with knowledge is power). It is even nicer when ancient evils appear and the doom added does not make the agenda progress :).

Experience path

Take into account that you have Arcane Research so a spell by experience window is the optimal way. Blood Pact, Shrivelling (3) and Mists of R'lyeh (2) (at this point replace Holy Rosary) are the priorities here and this exact order. Replace any initial Wither by the Abyssal Tome as soon as possible. Then go for Charisma and Dayana Esperence (replacing Arcane Initiate).

So here it is my solo deck for Marie! Enjoy looking at the void...

Don't stop singing darling, you never know what could be listening...

EDIT: I have been working also in a side deck that use Sixth Sense but has a slower and risky start, as it does not include Holy Rosary. I will publish also the level zero whenever I have a little bit of time.