Way of the Dragon Pole

In this deck Dragon Pole spends half the scenario as a +3 , +1 damage, infinity ammo weapon - there's nothing that comes close to it at 0 xp. Really there's no other weapon this side of Cyclopean Hammer, and you'll probably be using both Dragon Poles through the whole campaign. Recall that Dragon Pole gives an extra arcane slot, and its stats are a function of the number of arcane slots filled:

• 0 slots: +0 , 1 damage
• 1 slots: +1 , 1 damage
• 2 slots: +2 , 2 damage
• 3 slots: +3 , 2 damage

The disadvantage of Dragon Pole is that it's slow to ramp up in power. It takes 3 asset plays and minimum $5 to get to two damage per action. The key card to make Dragon Pole cook is Ever Vigilant. It lets you slam down the staff and two other arcane assets in a single, efficient action, for a cost as low as $2.

How do you get these arcane assets into your hand? For that, this deck is 31% arcane slot fillers. But that's not dense enough on its own! An Arcane Initiate gives you 0.73 cards per turn of extra card draw. In case that's still not enough draw, there's also one more ace up lily's sleeve, but first let's talk about...

Mulligan Technique

You desperately want to see Dragon Pole, quick-burst economy cards, and probably Arcane Initiate.

If you have Dragon Pole, your next target is two arcane slot fillers. If you get expensive spells, that can be rough. If you get no spells, that's very rough.

If you don't see Dragon Pole in your first five cards, keep a Shrivelling (or interchangeably: Azure Flame), to have some 2-damage potential after the first turn.

In any case, I always mulligan skill cards and Spectral Razor. You'll draw them soon enough, anyway.

If you're the primary fighter of your group, you'll probably have to fight before you're fully kitted out, especially in Scenario 1, when you don't have Ever Vigilant. Don't worry. As Lily says: I have been preparing to confront this evil my entire life.

Economy

Uncage the Soul and Emergency Cache are straightforward to use.

Alchemical Transmutation is mid-game economy. You'll click it maybe once or twice. So what's the point? Consider that it serves three equally important uses!

• arcane slot filler and thus Dragon Pole power-up, for just $1
• its charges are fuel for Torrent of Power
• ⮕ for up to $3

Two of these uses are not present in more traditional mystic decks, and so the conventional evaluation of Alchemical Transmutation is not operative. If you're going to click it for cash, don't be afraid to boost the skill check to make it pay out better. Once you get Prophetic, you can even do "alchemical money laundering" and convert fake prophetic money to real money by boosting your for the alchemy check.

And let's talk about Prophetic. It's strong! With it you can actually connect on Shrivelling hits against mid-level opponents. You play Spectral Razor for free. It interacts well with Ever Vigilant, since it can pay for spell assets later in the action. So for example, you can get Prophetic, Clairvoyance, and Alchemical Transmutation all down in 1 action for only $4.

Discipline

For the first discipline, I'd not fault anyone for going with the conservative Discipline: Alignment of Spirt or the aggressive Discipline: Balance of Body

However for this deck I have chosen Discipline: Quiescence of Thought. About four cards for one action early really helps squelch deck variability. Early in the campaign it lets you get all the good combos into your hand. It pairs well with the high card consumption of Ever Vigilant and Uncage the Soul - get out half your combat kit, draw up to 5, and get out the other half of the kit. You get in a weird situation early where the more cards you play, the more cards you get. And that's fine, since once you get your kit deployed, you're a combat beast with low-shroud investigation skill too.

For the second discipline, consider Balance of Body. The triple attack is why we play Lily, no? It gives all the Shrivelling and Azure Flame cards a reason to exist past the uncomfortable first two turns. It lets you run across the board and vanquish elite foes in a flurry of strikes.

Into Harm's Way

This deck is about dishing out and absorbing damage, so the rest of your party can investigate in peace.

Because the primary, melee weapon is so strong - be it the Dragon Pole or the Cyclopean Hammer - you're maybe wondering why three copies total of Shrivelling and Azure Flame? These cards serve four purposes:

• early on, before you find your primary melee weapon, they're a two damage attack against low-level opponents
• once you get Discipline: Balance of Body they're a staple 2nd attack in a 3-hit flurry
• they fill an arcane slot without blocking a hand slot, boosting performance with Dragon Pole once it shows up
• charges can fuel Torrent of Power

They are, however, some of the worst spells once Lily fully gets in tune with her Dragon Pole. So be picky about sinking $3 in real money into them early. Put it off if you can do so safely - you might draw the card you're looking for, and your initial hard currency is important for getting an early melee weapon.

Deck Upgrade Paths

I recommend not taking In the Thick of It! Lily has a dangerous profession. Her Disciplines hurt her at unpredictable times. The Mythos deck is trying to kill you. Don't scar yourself forever over 3 xp early.

As previously mentioned, 2x Ever Vigilant are the first cards you should take. It's about 4 actions of value for the price of 1. You'll always play them.

From there I leave some suggestions in the side-deck. Once you get Stick to the Plan, a lot of the variability in this deck subsides, and so making ¼ of the deck economy cards becomes overkill.

Replace Shrivellings with Cyclopean Hammers.

There's not really a fantastic late-scenario ally fit for this deck, which is troubling. Brother Xavier and Grete Wagner cost too much and are too useless early.

As your deck gets more xp and more Burdens of Destiny, I'd recommend finding additional card slots by getting rid of some skills. Guts? Vicious Blow? They don't pair well with Arcane Initiate, Ever Vigilant, Prophetic, or Dragon Pole, so they're not intersectional enough. You want to get cards that pair well with at least three of those four. Enchant Weapon, for example!

Even as you move towards Cyclopean Hammer, the unusual economies set up to support Dragon Pole will continue to shape your deck and make it land in a unique place. You'll end up playing a fearsome combat wombat, with a deck much different from regular Mystics or Guardians.