Kali Daisy, the Many Handed

Intro - The Librarian and the Mirror

So, you wanna hear how it all went down, huh? Well strap on, get yourself something to drink and let me tell you how I fell in love with Daisy, the hottest librarian in Arkham. This story begins as summer of '22 was winding down: I was sunbathing on the French Riviera when news of a Mystic(al) asset came to my ears, one that could turn blasphemous arcane slot into trustworthy hand slots. "But why should a Mystic ever use arcane slots as hand slots?" asked the paperboy who delivered the good news, peeking over my shoulder. I didn't answer him, my gaze set on the blue horizon speckled with clouds, the wind howling gently as if singing a lullaby: "You may take an additional action during your turn, wiith can only be used on Tome abilities". With that, I was enthralled.

The Deck - Going by the Book(s)

Kali Daisy had claimed my soul, my body, my every thought. I tried building other decks and failed miserably. Why couldn't Rex Murphy hold two Magnifying Glass and Dream Diary? Why would I want to play Leo De Luca to have four actions a turn? Why, oh why would I ever want to use spells to compress my action efficiency? I wanted more than all of this, I craved more than anyone could ever had offered me. In a word: I wanted more hands.

But enough blabbering! Let's talk about the meat, the fun part, the deck! As you can probably guessed by now, this machine runs on Astral Mirror, which as a 2xp card can't be taken (in two copies at least, even considering In the Thick of It) on our first scenario. Does this worry us? Absolutely not, but we will talk about this in detail in a moment. For the time being, let's focus on the idea behind the deck.

The premise is straightforward: get as many arcane slots as humanely possible, turn them into hand slots, fill your hands with tomes and do whatever you need to do by reading, studying or researching. Never ever do anything without sifting through pages, as a true librarian would do. Become a many handed Goddes with 5 and the ability to blast most enemies. Use your passive ability to get effectively 4 actions per turn and get the most out of every activation. Go testless, go bold, destroy the game as a true deity should.

Level 0 - Humble Beginnings

This deck doesn't require much xp to get going, but its playstyle is somewhat different at level 0. Your goal at the end of scenario 1 is to have obtained at least 4 xp to get Astral Mirror out, after that it's all fun and games.

The level 0 deck is a straightforward Daisy leaning on the flex side: Occult Lexicon and Explosive Ward can take care of smaller enemies, while your books give you consistency, action compression and a whole lot of fun. Sign Magick is basically half a Guts at this stage, but it becomes so nonsensically good after Astral Mirror comes out that it's worth the wait.Eldritch Initiation is nuts, even with just two or three empty arcane slots. Try to decipher Dream Diary if you can, but don't fret it, just relax and enjoy your last moments as a normal librarian holding two to four books in her hand (and tote bag). After that, it's time to get crazy.

Leveled Up - Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Ok so scenario 1 is gone and done and you have Astral Mirror in your 30s. Now what? It's time to defuse the empty-arcane-slot bomb. Hard mulligan your way into drawing the Mirror, then play as many Tomes as feasibly possible using the free action it gives you, then go to town with Daisy's own free action.

This deck attacks the game from two angles: abusing empty arcane slots with the new Scarlet Keys cards and doing action by activating Tomes. But how many tomes could a girl possibly hold? The answer is simple: 4 if only the mirror is out, 5 with our beloved Familiar Spirit, 7 with the Daisy's Tote Bag. That's right, 7 books. Seven. That's more books than basic actions a normal gator can choose from. It's a (handy) dream. And how many empty arcane slots can we gather? Even more than that, thanks to Sign Magick, which cancels itself out with Astral Mirror out, but effectively gives us another empty arcane slot to use with Eldritch Initiation and Explosive Ward. This brings the possible total arcane slot count to a whopping 9, meaning 9 possible damage with Explosion and drawing 9 with Initiation. Not bad, huh?

Now for the fun part: have you ever noticed how Tomes nowadays hold the truth to do basically anything, being only limited by how many of them you can hold in your trembling hands? Well, for Kali Daisy the sky's the limit, and each action has a dedicated title in her collection. Need an Unexpected Courage? Dream Diary is there for you. Wanna move? Esoteric Atlas has got you covered. Want to control the encounter deck? Otherworld Codex and Scroll of Secrets are now your best friends.
Need to draw? How about some Old Book of Lore? Heal damage? Medical Texts! Deal damage? Abyssal Tome to the rescue! What about recurring those sweet, sweet events we mentioned earlier? Look no further than De Vermis Mysteriis, one of this deck's absolute superstars. And for the power players among us, here are some books to die for: The Necronomicon, Prophesiae Profana, Pnakotic Manuscripts, even Gray's Anatomy has combo potential in the tome filled hands of Kali Daisy!

Whew, that was a whole lot of books. But that's the fun with this deck: swarm the board with assets and play with them, use them to your advantage and go crazy on the concept to have as many hands as you possibly can. Knowledge truly is power, divine power!

Card Discussion Part I - The Left Outs

Ok, so now that I explained all the marvelous workings of this deck, let me spare a few lines on why did I choose to play some cards instead of others. Some of you might be screaming "This Daisy can have more hands with Arcane Enlightenment!" or "Dragon Pole means more arcane slots!" but that's where my favorite word steps in: balance.

The whole purpose of this deck is to balance the new (busted) "empty arcane slots matter" with the "how many hands is too many?" theme. Leaning too much into each one of these two could hinder the other strategy, making the deck worse in my opinion. That's to say, if you prefer going all in on hands feel free to fill your arcane slots with Arcane Enlightenment and grab yourself some Forbidden Tome while you're at it. If you want to go pure arcane empty stuff, well, I think other gators are more suited than Daisy for that role, namely Amina Zidane and Marie Lambeau.

Also, Whitton Greene is obviously amazing but very expensive for a deck that aims to churn out assets. I stayed with the cat. But to all the Whitton lovers out there I say: hold your horses and wait for the next paragraph!

Card Discussion Part II - The Leveling

Oh yeah, my favorite part is here: leveling up the deck. And boy oh boy is this deck a joy to level! Why you ask? Because you only need 4 compulsory xp for Astral Mirror and then you're set: take all the books you fancy the most from the list above and go to town! Lean more on the aggressive, the clueing, the supporting, do all of the above or take other assets entirely like the flashy new Fingerprint Kit. The world is in your hand(s)!

Obviously, leveling up Deduction is a given if you want even more action compression, but you'll notice that most of the events we're playing don't need leveling at all: after all, Eldritch Initiation works almost as a Glimpse the Unthinkable when you're online. Magnifying Glass is just gravy when you've got this many hand slots, but the discount is always nice.

What to do with all your nice experience when you're out of book to buy? Well, a very nice upgrade path could be leaning into Miskatonic Archaeology Funding and take out Abigail Foreman, Whitton Greene and Library Docent to maximize your tome synergy. Throw in some Knowledge is Power and you'll truly be unstoppable.

Conclusions - Kali, the Many Handed

I've always had a sweet spot for Daisy, her being the first investigator I ever played and loved, but found little interest to come back to due to the limitations imposed by her book craving. That's why I was so pumped when I first read Astral Mirror, that's why I immediately got to work on this list and now I'm presenting it to you, proud as ever.

Kali Daisy, what a girl. I hope she will bring joy and tomes to your tables! Let me know what you think about her, I'm going to have the time of my life for sure.

Until next time,

Pr8vidence