Transfiguration

Transfiguration

Lola Hayes is the very worst investigator to put this card in. Change my mind.

To clarify this discussion, I’m going to make a distinction between the Investigator you start the game as (the Base investigator) and the investigator you Transfigure into mid-scenario (the Landing investigator). My comments all have to do with Lola as the Base investigator, and apply to both pre- and post-taboo Lola.

With that out of the way, let's get to why Lola is the game’s worst possible Base investigator. There are three clear drawbacks to Lola as a Base:

1: She can’t take level 4-5 cards. Sure, you can do a lot with level 0-3 cards, but if we’re going to be giving up high level cards I would expect to get something pretty great in return and Lola has very little to offer in exchange.

2: Lola’s larger-than average decksize means she’s less likely to draw Transfiguration in her opening hand. Also her limited ability to combine draw effects from multiple classes hinders her ability to dig through her deck quickly if she doesn’t draw it early.

3: Her weakness (Crisis of Identity) can discard your cards before you even get to play them. Crisis discards cards from the top of your deck as well as your hand and/or play area, so there is nowhere a card is totally safe from being trashed by Crisis. The worst case is that Transfiguration gets discarded before you can play it, but even after you’ve Transfigured, Crisis might discard whatever cards you were using Lola to get. On top of all this, Lola also has two copies of Crisis, doubling the chances for things to go wrong.

There are other Base investigators who face some of these drawbacks, but Lola is uniquely situated to face all three drawbacks every scenario. And all of this is on top of the fact that she has a difficult-to-leverage statline and an investigator ability that is all downside. Any combo that can be set up by another Base will always be better set up by that other Base, since that investigator comes with fewer drawbacks and more strengths to lean into.

The only upside to using Lola as a Base is her broad card access. The things she offers that other Base investigators can't is 3+ class combos, or combos of multiple level 3 cards (and not all examples from these categories are unique to Lola). And I cannot think of a combo that fits this criteria that convinces me to risk all the negatives of starting out as Lola.

That said, the number of possible decks available to Lola are nigh unlimited, so I certainly haven’t considered every possible option. If people would like to comment below their best examples of cards that they would put in a Lola + Transfiguration deck I would be interested to hear them. So far, despite lots of chatter on the internet, I have yet to hear a single example of a Lola-specific setup that would make me consider taking on all her negatives.

Hit me with your best Lola + Transfiguration builds. If you post something truly awesome maybe you'll be the one to change Pseudo "Tough Crowd" Nymh's mind!

Until then, I stand by my opinion that Lola is simply the worst possible investigator to take Transfiguration.

Pseudo Nymh · 61
Disclaimer: This review, like all reviews, is solely my opinion, and I acknowledge opinions to the contrary are just as valid. Please keep all discussion civil. — Pseudo Nymh · 61
The thing about Lola that has people excited is that she’s uniquely the investigator whose benefits are on her back and drawbacks are on her face. For this reason, the delta between standard Lola and transfigured Lola seems greater than between other investigators and their transfigured version. So I’d respond to your question by suggesting that Lola, unlike all the other investigators, doesn’t need a broken combo to justify her transfiguring. — Eudaimonea · 5
You're right that Lola stands to gain the most by becoming another investigator, but I'm pretty sure the question this review is posing is "why bother playing Lola in the first place" — Spamamdorf · 5
I agree with your conclusion: Lola Transfiguration decks will probably not be that good compared to what other people can do with it. But I disagree with your first argument. Accessing level 3 cards from multiple classes is IMO really good and could easily be better than level 5 cards from one class. 3 is a big breakpoint. There are lots and lots of really strong level 3 cards, whereas level 4 and 5 cards are pretty rare. And a lot of cards are placed at level 3 specifically to make them harder to combo with. — OrionAnderson · 78
Love it! One thing one of us got wrong regarding 3., rules wise: I don't think Crisis does anything after you've Transfigured, since there is no 'role' anynore and the discard comes after "Then". — AlderSign · 309
Oh my god, the taboo moves the role part to the back, so we actually have to differntiate between pre- and post-taboo Lola on this part. Oof... — AlderSign · 309
Does Lola lose her current role when she Transfigures? I am by no means a rule expert, but this seems to me to be a continuous effect. At any rate, even if she does lose access to her roles, that makes both copies of Improvisation worthless after the Transfiguration, another downside that most other Base investigators wouldn't face. Also, I never said Lola had to have broken combos, but if she doesn't have at least pretty good combos then what's the point? — Pseudo Nymh · 61
I think you’re right that because Lola’s role is a persistent effect, she still has a role once she Transfigures. What she loses though is the restriction to only play cards of that role, because that’s printed on the front of her investigator card. Her sigs should remain impactful, by this reading. As to, “what’s the point?” I would say that I agree with the modest version of your argument, which is something like “Transfiguration is an absurdly powerful card that lots of players are thinking of game-warping effects for, and none of the most broken ones involve Lola.” But I disagree with the maximal version of your argument, which would be something like, “Lola doesn’t gain much in power from playing Transfiguration.” She gains a lot. Every Lola deck gets better the second this card is played, regardless of the “landing”investigator you choose. Lola is the only investigator that can be said for. In short, Lola is not the “best” home for this card, so much as the most obvious one. — Eudaimonea · 5
@Eudaimonea Your comment is "Every Lola deck gets better the second this card is played," but if the only upside to your Lola deck is that you don't have to play Lola very long then I stand by my opinion. What was the point of playing Lola in the first place if your plan is to ditch her later? What cards are you including in that deck that made it worthwhile to involve Lola at all? — Pseudo Nymh · 61
That point is well taken, but the nature of our discussion is drifting some. The first sentence of your review is “ Lola Hayes is the very worst investigator to put this card in,” not just “Lola Hayes is the very worst investigator.” You’ll get no argument from me on the second version. I’m not a fan of Lola Hayes and I despise Transfiguration. As far as I’m concerned, the two can have each other. — Eudaimonea · 5
@Pseudo Nymh: I might finally have the answer you are looking for: Get permanents of all 5 classes and play the synergy cards (Gang Up, Cheat the System, Join the Caravan, Close the Circle, Strength in Numbers, and Call for Backup). The only other gater that could accomplish that who comes to mind is Charlie Kane, so that's something quite unique and powerful. In theory, you could play Short Supply, hoping to discard Transfiguration, and recur (aka easy tutor) it with Uncage the Soul (3). — AlderSign · 309
I'm happy to finally see some practical ideas! Keep 'em coming. — Pseudo Nymh · 61
I’m a little confused how the synergy cards combo with Transfiguration. It seems to me they don’t, but are just generally good for Lola (as is Transfiguration). Are we at this point trying to find enough good Lola builds to vindicate her existence, at which point we’ll agree that since Transfiguration always makes her better, she is no longer the worst investigator for Transfiguration? — Eudaimonea · 5
Yes, my last comment was treating Lola as what Pseudo Nymh calls 'base investigator'. What you transfigure her into is not that important, what matters more is getting by until you have it in your hand. So cards like Studious, Mr. Rook, No Stone Unturned (sadly not level 5), Lucky Cigarette Case (3), Eureka!, Easy Mark, and initial deck thinners like Stick to the Plan and Bewitching are vital to Transfigure as soon as possible (if you didn't find it in your opening hand, anyway). Notice that Dilemma cards are also always fine for Lola since they are never restricted by her investigator ability in the first playe (they are neither triggered abilities nor played). — AlderSign · 309
This is my attempt for making it happen: https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/53427/performing-for-a-tough-crowd-1.0 — AlderSign · 309

Laboratory Assistant

Laboratory Assistant

George Barnaby's new best friend, alongside Mr. Lawrence Carlisle! After some deck-testing, I found the influx of cards compounded with the increased maximum hand size to be a great boon for Mr. Barnaby, who is often grappling with being low on cards, both in hand and underneath him, due to his high turnover rate. Did you draw Cast Adrift at an unfortunate time? Fret not, you can hang onto two of the essentials in your hand thanks to this lovely companion!

Tsunami25 · 3

Gravedigger's Shovel

Gravedigger's Shovel

How does the 2 clue getting ability of this interact with ad hoc. Ad hoc stats you can ignore all cost. According to the rulebook, everything before the colon is the cost. No technically the removing from game effect ist after the colon, but it also states "instead" impying that the removing from game is actually the cost. Does this mean I can actually simply discard this with ad hoc and get 2 clues?

Xetolosch · 3
It's still part of the cost, even if appended that way after the colon, so you ignore it. See also: https://arkhamdb.com/card/08080 — AlderSign · 309
For about a year we didn’t have an answer to that question, but the latest FAQ clarified that “ignoring all costs” can never ignore effects that remove cards from the game or exile them. — Eudaimonea · 5

Determined

Determined

I usually consider Determined to be a dead draw.

The majority of the events you're going to be playing don't have tests on them.

In a build where you're fighting exclusively with events they'll see a bit more play, but it's just +1 skill value (or +2 with both copies) that takes up space in your hand and that you might lose to an autofail.

There's no good skill card synergies in her current card pool to make playing around Determined interesting, like how Vincent has Grisly Totem for his On the Mends or Bestow Resolve for Carson's "As you wish" (both of which are much more less conditional skills anyways).

My hunch is that they inserted these into Marion's deck to deliberately hamper the power of her investigator ability, forcing you to draw crappy skills instead of keeping the event value train chugging.

mordequess · 77
I already played Marion and was immensely grateful for this cards. If you build your deck a bit around it (as you have to for some cards) this offers you a near constant +2. True, most cards this applies to are for the fighting role, but then again, what else are you going to do with an investigator whos highest stat is combat? — AlderSign · 309
Marion has a completely viable non-intellect cluever build with Scene of the Crime, Lesson Learned, Evidence!, Interrogate, On the Trail, even Shed a Light, Look What I Found with Breach the Door. Only two of those cards are enhanced by Determined — mordequess · 77
Yeah, but the cards you mention also push you pretty hard toward fighting (or how else are you going to trigger Evidence! without consciously circumventing her combat skill?), so I wonder what those other deck slots are filled with. Maybe just try it out, for me it worked wonders. — AlderSign · 309
I really like the idea of this card. It seems like they wanted her to be able to use those 3s in intellect and agility, or else they'd have given her more willpower, like most Guardians. But surprisingly, there are very few investigate or evade events she can even play. How odd. — OrionAnderson · 78

Transfiguration

Transfiguration

So what else can you do with this card? The first two things that come to my mind:

1) Get Lola Hayes's versatile and combo-enabling card pool access without being restricted by her roles.

2) Fun times - supercharge Diana Stanley or George Barnaby via staring out as Sefina Rousseau!

3) Norman Withers finally being able to play Yaotl!

( 4) Save yourself from the terrible statline of Lost Homunculus.)

AlderSign · 309
What is the combo with Lola? Everyone is all excited to play her with this card but I have yet to hear anyone suggest anything useful to do with Lola + Transfiguration. — Pseudo Nymh · 61
Lola has text on her front that prevents her from using abilities from more than one class at a time. If you use this to change to any other investigator she no longer has that text, so you can activate all your abilities freely. Lola is one of very few investigators whose investigator front card text is an active detriment, so getting rid of that detriment **and** adding another ability of your choose is pure goodness — NarkasisBroon · 10
So perhaps the reason you haven't heard any specific proposals is because there are so many. Turning into literally any investigator gets rid of her restriction, **and** gives her a new ability of your choice. For my part I'm most interested in transforming into Norman or Winifred. Norman because you get his look at the deck ability, and have a crazy deck to use it with. Winifred because you get her commit draw ability, but your deck can have astronomical atlas and almost any skill in the game. Any skill of level 3 or below, because of lolas deckbuilding — NarkasisBroon · 10
What I'm asking is WHY Lola's card pool makes this investigators better? What does Lola add to the equation? The way Transfiguration breaks the game is letting you get high level cards into decks that can't normally take them. What can Lola offer thats better than level 4-5 cards? — Pseudo Nymh · 61
@Pseudo Nymh: It's the fact that you get level 0-3 cards of 3 different classes. No other investigator offers that potential, at least not without additional restrictions (e.g. Charlie Kane, who can take level 0-5 Ally assets). They probably printed the disadvantage on Lola's investigator card to disallow strong synergies between those, and like NarkasisBroon suggested, there are many. If you're looking for examples I think that's better discussed on Lola's page itself. — AlderSign · 309
Since the review's first point is that Lola is great with Transfiguration I really don't think I'm out of line to discuss Lola's use of the card. I observe that I still haven't heard an example of a combo that Lola can set up better than another investigator, but I'll leave it at that. — Pseudo Nymh · 61
My mistake, the situation is even better, now that I remember Lola doesn't choose classes at all, she simply has access to all of them (corrected it in the review). Apart from that, here is more for you to observe, Pseudo "Tough Crowd" Nymh: Translolaration is the answer every time you ask yourself why you can't include this particular card in your deck, although it would synergize sooooo well with your investigator (e.g. having Guard Dog (2) in Daniela Reyes). So, if being Amanda Sharpe with access to an s-load amount of skills besides her Practiced ones and all kind of additional actions (e.g. Ace in the Hole) isn't enough to convince you I don't know what is. — AlderSign · 309
@Aldersign thanks for providing some examples. Thanks also for the sweet nickname, I may go by Tough Crowd Nymh from now on. :) Re-reading my comments this morning I feel that I've not done a very good job establishing where I'm coming from and why I’m having such a hard time seeing what everyone else is seeing in this combo. Perhaps I will clarify my position (and spin off this conversation) into its own review. Thanks everyone for your replies. — Pseudo Nymh · 61
@Tough Crowd Nymh: Happy to help! I too am a friend of skepticism, though, so I think I got your point (indeed, my review is quite minimalistic and thin). I bow my head to the maturity of your comment and am looking forward to a follow-up review :) — AlderSign · 309
A way to improve any deck without big combos would be permanent cards like 2x studious, 2x another dolar, stick to the plan and bewitching,.. — Django · 5107