Patrice, Crazy Cat (and Dog) Lady

I really dig the general idea of cheating Summoned Hound into play. I do have a few questions on the "side cards" you chose:

• Why Moonstone over Holy Rosary?
• Fire Axe and Shrivelling are supposed to provided redundancy for fights, I assume. But especially Shrivelling is questionable to me, since it occupies an arcane slot. Fire Axe gets really expensive if you want to deal +1 damage on attack which might leave you broke when you need 3 resources for a A Chance Encounter. Are you convinced of both those cards?
• Madame Labranche also contests the ally slot. Don't you think there are cards that would help in getting any of the other allies faster instead? I can see her value, though, helping with both cards and resources.
• I am not entirely sold on Quantum Flux. If you have a Summoned Hound in your discard pile you don't want to shuffle it back. Wouldn't Resourceful be a better fit, to get A Chance Encounter back?

Thanks for taking the time to look over the deck and the input!

1. Moonstone has the added benefit of not costing an action to play - you'll discard it either at upkeep, or through Cornered/Violin. It doesn't provide Soak, but the action economy benefit and added symbol makes it worth it over Rosary in my opinion.
2. Fire Axe I see as a staple in the deck even into later scenarios - Shriveling was more a card to help in the first/first two scenarios. Might not be entirely necessary, very much depends on which character youre playing with. In solo, I think another sustained fight-option is definitely needed if the Axe is hiding somewhere in the deck and you draw your Event fight options at a weird time - Patrice can sometimes be super swingy like that, so I like having at least 4 Asset fight options. Now with the Cats and Dogs, it can definitely be cut for sth like Flares, Rise to the Occasion (2) or whereover you want to take the deck.
3. Madame was the best lvl 0 option for Allies, and she can still provide a good amount of value here I feel. Great synergy with Fire Axe, and a beefy soak for just 2 resources. I could see it being cut for another upgraded ally at some point, but I would consider keeping her for a while and getting a second Charisma first.
4. Quantum Flux is a bit of a weird one - it has some anti-syniergies with both Chance Encounter and the Improvised cards, but I wanted to try it out as another option to protect against Patrice's weakness. It's didnt feel particularly necessary in the scenarios so far, so this is definitely a "flex slot" card that I see being cut for an upgrade pretty soon. Resourceful sadly also has some anti-synergy with how Patrice functions - but good call on getting the Chance Encounters back - might be worth for that alone!

I tried Quantum Flux for Patrice, but I ended up not liking it at all. It can protect you from your weakness, but it can also make you have to deal with your weakness again if you have already discarded it by the time you draw Quantum Flux. I ended up always being sad I pulled it and not something else. Additionally, she has many options to mitigate her weakness such as Black Cat, Jessica Hyde, Brute Force, and others. The Summoned Hound/Chance Encounter is extremely powerul and super fun!

Yeah, after playing with her a bit more, I would agree that Quantom Flux is not the greatest fit here (...unless you’re playing Dunwich, where it is pretty much required).

Great point about Dunwich. That set made us subconsciously think running through your deck was a bigger deal than it ususlly is. I even scoffed at Patrice when I first saw her. That encounter set is easily our least favorite, almost tied with the one that just adds doom to the agenda without recourse.