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This is one half of my entry to the [Drawn To The Flame (podcast)'s][Add link] competition to make pick two investigators, swap their investigator card backs, and say why you think this would be an interesting pairing. Note that you also get their signature cards. Here I am using Diana Stanley's Front with Sefina Rousseau's back.

• The accompanying Seffy Deck with Diana`s back can be found here.

Neither of these decks have been tested/played or necessarily balanced in any way. They are really just conceptual pieces written to highlight the posibilities. Though on paper they actually look playable to me. Not OP and not ... er... under P? (if thats a thing?) either. They just look to be an interesting flavour of well established archetypes.

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COMPETITION DETAILS:

Just to say I am not involved in the competition in any way, I just thought it would be nice to give credit and plugs to the kind folk who are.

• Full details can be found here: DttF Ep 194: Visions of Futures Past XVII

Note that as far as i can tell you dont have to send an actual deck. I guess I just wanted to. Anyway - Im not going to tell you how to enter a) in case i get it wrong and b) to encourage you to listen to their show. Not least because they also tease a very tasty looking upcoming card. I will at least point out that there are prizes up for grabs courtesy of the very generous:

• Twisted Tentacle Inn (youtube).

Namely:

• The new Gloria Goldberg novela,
• a copy of the Innsmouth conspiracy box,
• and In too Deep Mythos pack.

So please be encouraged to both submit your own entries and watch/listen to these wonderful content producers in general.

(Finally just to say, I am happy to be included in the competition, but if i win anything I want it passing on to whoever is the next runner up. I already have copies of those so they would be better given to someone else, and I consider peter and frank both to be friends and I wouldn't want to put them in any conflict of interest. I just wanted to support the endeavour and I am at least happy for potential to force Peter to repeat one of my puns on air)

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OK! ONTO THE DECK!

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The pairing was initially interesting to me partly because the pun amused me and worked for both decks (Fail Mary will have to wait!), but also because the signature cards and "cards under your character card" mechanics have some particularly interesting interactions. The card pools however also open up some sets/suites of cards which have some neat synergy with each investigators statline and playstyle not currently available to them.

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The Master of Dark of Artwork

Lets start with those signatures. There are two ways you can use them.

1. Technically the text on The Painted World and Stars of Hyades refer to the cards under Sefina Rousseau rather than Diana. Theoretically allowing you to play cards beneath Sefina, while facing higher risk if she has been playing them aggressively when you draw Stars of Hyades. Sefina would then also have Diana's signatures with similar implications like their fates are somehow cosmically entwined.

2. You could also assume that the signatures refer to cards under Diana instead of Sefina since thats the deck they are now in. Diana`s usual Twilight Blade offers some options to reuse the cards beneath her or clear out space to use your a few more times. But as a 1 of in a 35 card deck it can be a bit of a coin toss as to whether you see it in time to be useful. The Painted World doesnt clear out the space, but leaves you with access to those cards once youve got them in stock. With 3 copies, and Arcane Initiate to find them, You are likely to get a few uses in a game. So where the blade was a bit of an all or nothing signature, painted worlds are less swingy but less impactful overall hopefully leading to a more controlled experience. Stars of Hyades on the other hand is a beautiful double edged sword helping make space beneath your investigator card to use your again, but doing so at random. Giving rogue edition diana a more chaotic lifestyle of what im calling the "predeemed" cultist. This diana is probably the diana of the earlier days where she was much more interested in dabbling in the dark arts rather than necessarily working to undermine them.

This theme carries into her alternative deckbuilding...

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Are We The Baddies?

Staying with the theming first. Rogue is the home of several somewhat dubious relics like the Skull embossed Keys, Creepy evil Dice, Creepy Skulls that eat people, Time Warp Bling, Creepy Skulls that might eat you, Haunted Skull Baubles, and actual Faustian Bargains. If anyone is going to be ofay with this stuff it has to be our predeemed cultist.

... And without pointing any fingers, theres clearly a Very Dodgy Archaeologist somewhere out there.

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Prime Rogue Material

Looking next at the mechanical angle. Diana`s X333 statline would look entirely at home among our rogue investigators who are used to using 3s in a stat to impressive effect as bursty generalists. Cards like Lockpicks or Suggestion let them add two stats together vulton style turn these 3s and 4s into supercharged heights and trigger our celebratory cigarette habits (Dont smoke kids. It doenst make you look cool. The skull stuff does though so do that instead whats the worst that can happen?). We see the same 2 stats at once mechanic on Spectral Razor and Read the Signs suggesting they would fit in this suite alongside our X333 statline very nicely too.

By dropping guardian access, and the very top end of the mystic pool we do lose access to a lot of cancel and ignore cards, but its still possible to gat 10 (sort of 12) in there as I have here. Narrow Escape is a really neat find to replace Dodge, as I am usually deliberately triggering an AoO to my Dodges for the card and boost. At 0 cost instead of 1, we net 1 penny as well AND we get +2 to our next test. With double pips it can even be used as a skill card if we need to evade. You can also technically use your on Suggestion if you cancel an attack, and you can also Creepy Dice if you didnt remove it from the game by hitting an , though a bit like using it on Olive McBride you probably usually would want these both to stay in play. Nevertheless the option is there.

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