[Guide/Upgrades] Library Pass! Cluever/BossKiller/Support DW

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
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iwanokimi · 4

Introduction

Daisy has always been one of the most powerful investigators and The Drowned City brought her a big upgrade in Library Pass (5). Library Pass notably interacts with Abigail Foreman very favourable; Abigail can snag books Daisy borrow and shuffle them around to return a different book.
This lets her play a very 'greedy' asset heavy strategy like this one where the main resource/draw engine is borrowing an Old Book of Lore (3), spending both secrets with Abigail in a turn and immediately returning it. It is also an instantaneous way to safely ditch Abyssal Tome, a uniquely powerful card for daisy which lets her deal 4 for an action.

This Daisy has everything. Besides the efficient clueving we all know Daisy for, she can..

This sample list is built for a team of 2 and up (I took her along side Wini in a double flex team of 2). She's not carrying much fighting for scenario 1 and 2. By scenario 3 she will have the burst fighting ready and by 4 she will have Ravenous Myconid (Carnivorous Strain) (4). If the team has an inflexible role requirement in scenario 1 and she needs to serve as a pure flex, she can play closer to the true solo version of this concept and cut some very good clueving cards for some very bad fighting cards ("I've got a plan!" and Occult Invocation). We go into adaptations for True Solo play in a later section.

Upgrade Path

Here is the 0XP (actually 3 with In the Thick of It) list (ArkhamDB|arkham.build). lv0.png

This upgrade path assumes getting 9XP from every scenario including the 1 from The Great Work.
We are playing 2 Delve Too Deeps for the first 3 scenarios so this should be a workable breakpoint even in lower XP campaigns.
The first 2 scenarios' worth of upgrades are more synergistic: when we get to the first Knowledge is Power is when we have the core fighting engine online.
Everything after the second Old Book of Lore (3) are not engine pieces; Take them in any sensible order.

If fighting is not a priority, pick up a second Old Book of Lore (3) right after Library Pass (5) to complete the engine. You're free to pick up some flex/QoL cards before the Abyssal Tome + Knowledge is Power fight package.

Deduction (2) and Ward of Protection (2) can really fit in anywhere after. Deduction is also a fine cut/low priority upgrade on 1-2 players or with greater clue support. Borrowing a Grim Memoir with Abigail Foreman on board is 4 actions to get 5 clues and draw ~5; we do not really need more clue tempo + Memoir is a big part of our draw so doing it faster isn't even always useful.

Eon Chart (1) and Pathfinder can also just fit in early on with leftover XP. One thing to note is that looping Old Book of Lore (3) off Library Pass (5) is our main source of economy while setting up, so Eon and Pathfinder are less valuable before we have the engine put together.

In terms of flex cuts for lategame upgrades, Practice Makes Perfect as we trim down the skills, Deny Existence after getting Higher Education (3), and Crack the Case since we don't really need much money are all reasonable candidates.

Interactions / Combos / Tips

Some Notable Inclusions and their Interactions:

  • Abigail Foreman - Abigail is our value engine. She also provides immense utility with Library Pass (5). Notably, her ability is not limited in anyway, which allows her to juggle books off of Library Pass. Say Library Pass is holding tome A, Abigail is holding tome B, and tome C is on the board. We can return tome C by just swapping it onto Abigail before swapping it again with Library Pass.
  • Research Librarian - This card is our universal tutor. It is a card we are usually keeping in mulligan even when we open Old Book of Lore (3)! It automatically fulfils Astounding Revelation and so always pays for itself during setup, while giving us a target for Calling in Favors.
  • Calling in Favors - Perhaps a surprising inclusion, it is not a new idea in Daisy. I first learnt of it in another Abyssal Tome build that I first saw (and took through a Carcosa true solo) here. That was a Library Docent list. Unfortunately I think the Docent is now completely outclassed by Library Pass (5).
    As important as Abigail is, we only play a single copy of her as well as Dr. Milan. This is our 2nd copy of each. But it's much better than that because getting a Research Librarian back in hand is a big upside. We will go over some common opening 'lines' involving this card later.
  • Old Book of Lore (3) - The reason why we take a single one of these with In the Thick of It is that we want to abuse it with Abigail Foreman and Library Pass (5) later. It's the only essential engine piece that costs less than 3XP so we might as well take it first. It can also be searched out with Research Librarian so it's most likely to make an impact.
    Regarding In the Thick of It, some may not like to play with it but I personally just find more XP to be more fun. With Daisy's 5/9 split 2 mental trauma is as close to free as In the Thick of It gets.

Some Notable Exclusions:

  • Deep Knowledge / Scroll of Secrets - We have Grim Memoir and Old Book of Lore off Abigail Foreman, I've found it to be sufficient draw even in scenario 1. Searching with Librarian and Old Book of Lore are also more efficient forms of draw, even when the raw numbers don't impress as much as Deep Knowledge. Old Book of Lore, like Deep Knowledge, is also draw you can give your team.
  • Shortcut - Shortcut is a completely reasonable inclusion in the base list over something like Perception / Deduction / Deny Existence / Delve Too Deep. Daisy's free tome action alongside Grim Memoir being actionless draw has made it less necessary in my eyes.
  • The Raven Quill - We do not pick up the Raven Quill early for the free XP because it is highly anti-synergistic with our proactive engine. We are not planning to keep the same Old Book of Lore (3) or Grim Memoir around. We are only using Interwoven Ink's effect on our Abyssal Tome combo turn for 4 extra damage. It's actually kinda comical how most of the upgrades are completely textless for our purpose. The tome takes up no slots when held by Abigail Foreman. It cannot provoke attacks of opportunity since it's an attack action. +2 to isn't nothing but it's also just 1 resource off Higher Education (3) (which you will have by the time you consider the Quill).

Her Setup Phase:

One might expect this deck to have a slow and fragile setup phase with just how many assets there are. That cannot be further from the truth. The core gameplan is to borrow Old Book of Lore (3) on repeat in the first 2-3 turns and burn through their secrets before immediately returning them. Assets that cost around 2 resource abuse this best. We want to hit 2 assets off Old Book of Lore (3) + Abigail Foreman; drawing a skill or event, while fine, is in fact the less desirable outcome as we didn't get to spend the secrets on the Book.

We want to use the Old Book of Lore to flash out our non-tome assets, and ideally play tome assets off Library Pass (5). This is also because we want to return our Old Books of Lore (3) and Grim Memoirs as soon as we burn through them. We cannot return a book to the library without borrowing a book, since Abigail can't swap with a Library Pass that has nothing attached.

Here's what a good (~25% variance) opening 2 turns could look like. Play Research Librarian, searching out Old Book of Lore (3) (triggering Astounding Revelation). Calling in Favors to bounce the Librarian and tutor out Abigail Foreman. Flash in the Old Book of Lore (3) with Library Pass (5), and then transferring it over to Abigail Foreman. Use the book twice and get 2 random assets (say we got Pathfinder and Dr. Milan Christopher). Replay the Librarian to search out our other Old Book of Lore (3) (another Astounding Revelation).

Turn 2, flash out the new Old Book of Lore (3) and use it twice. Get 2 more assets (maybe a Grim Memoir and a Ravenous Myconid (Carnivorous Strain) (4) this time). Probably hit the last Revelation with 4 Old Book triggers + Calling in Favors. Now we have 3 allies on board, 2 other assets in play and 3 actions left to do things with. We could just Memoir 3 times to draw 3 and clear a location, or play another asset from hand; perhaps move around a little with the Pathfinder / Eon Chart (4) we've found. And after all that we still have 3 monies banked (assuming only 2 Revelations hit).

So that was pretty broken. What happens when we don't find Old Book of Lore (3) or Abigail Foreman early? We have Research Librarian and Calling in Favors. Grim Memoir can draw 4 in a turn easily. And when all else fails we test 5 book v shroud for a turn or two. But there really isn't a way to brick that hard, especially later on with a Studious or two.

The Abyssal Tome 'Combo':

The Abyssal Tome is a monstrous weapon. Scenario 3-4 Daisy will have more boss-killing power than most fighters at the finale, with still room to grow as she picks up Higher Education (3) and The Raven Quill (2) [Interwoven Ink]. (And with Myconid still roaming large free from further taboos she really does a guardian's job better with 10% of her deck.)

So here's how it goes. You can start with Abyssal Tome on board or in hand (if you're flashing it out with Library Pass (5)). When using The Raven Quill it will have to start on board. If the Tome starts on board and you plan to ditch it at the end of the turn, you will need another book either in hand or currently attached to Library Pass (5), as we cannot return a book to an empty library.

The Abyssal Tome starts at 2/3/4/4/.., so we may want to charge it up to 1 or 2 doom on a prior turn for the maximum output of 3/4/4/.. or 4/4/.. For simplicity, I will take each hit as 4. It's really as simple as swinging the Tome, Abigail to swing it again, and then Knowledge is Power twice for a total of 16.

With The Raven Quill there is a slight timing to be aware of. The first Tome swing cannot trigger the Quill to ready Abigail as both are worded as 'After you resolve an ability'. Thus at least a single Knowledge is Power is required.

The sequence is Tome → Abigail (Tome's effect but it doesn't count as the Tome itself's being activated for Quill) → Knowledge is Power (triggers the Tome so this counts) → Trigger Interwoven Ink to ready Abigail → activate her again → another optional Knowledge is Power for a total of 5 × 4 for 20 total damage.. Which you are testing at base 5 + 1 (Dr. Milan) + 3 (doom on Abyssal Tome) = 9 for. And this whole sequence takes your single free tome action.

There is technically a way to get a 5th swing with second The Raven Quill. If you get [Living Quill], the upgrade that doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity, and stick it on another book. You can use it to ready Abyssal Tome an extra time. But that's 2 actions and playing a really bad card for 4 damage. I'd much prefer to spend the other 3 actions on dumping 3 Blood-Rites for 9.

Adaptations for True Solo

Cut a Deduction and a Practice Makes Perfect for 2 × "I've got a plan!".
Mouse Mask is very reliable to trigger, for potential consideration in the base list. It can be played in lieu of Perceptions or Deductions, which also allows us to cut Practice Makes Perfect and more skills for extra fight events like Occult Invocation.
Scientific Theory (3) is always a decent lategame luxury buy just for the fast 1, deck-thinning and soak. It could be more valuable in True Solo for scenario tests.

Miscellaneous and Closing

This Daisy is just the main character. At 2 or even 3 players (where Deduction (2) is less of a priority) she can serve as a very satisfactory main cluever early, that scales into completely putting the fighter out of a job by scenario 4, while bringing supportive utility. She pairs well alongside that can help trip bosses and test on scenario tests (she can even test with a Scientific Theory (3)).

It is incredibly powerful, and a lot of fun just juggling the books. The words I use in my head are along the lines of 'I flash this in with library pass and zap it over with Abigail'. I'm 'borrowing and returning the books' and 'cascading the librarian with calling in favors'. It's all very exciting and a great time.

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