Sefina---Richer than Jenny Every Will Be (0xp)

Did you play this deck solo or on multi?

Great post btw

@mXs I played a crappier version in pair play with Yorick on Dunich on Hard and completely crushed the campaign... and Yorick mostly just sat around doing not much. 0 Trauma the whole campaign. 28 VP before the final scenario.

This is not the version I played, it is what I would use if I were doing the same thing again. When I played it was the first time I had ever used Sefina, so I had some junk in there that didn't make a lot of sense.

Nice deck. Arcane initiate + cash is a great way to keep those events going and Quantum Flux is a real enabler to these draw heavy decks.

The only thing I’m curious about is Cheap Shot here. Since you’ve not taken Backstab I’m assuming it’s there as an evade card rather than a damage card (happy to be told I’m wrong). If so though, I would be curious to hear your thoughts about choosing this over Blinding Light, which plays a similar mixed damage & evade role but benefits from your will boosters and aids draw due to spell trait.

@StartWithTheName Interesting point about Blinding Light, I think that is worth considering. Cheap Shot is mixed in at the 0-level to round out the events. It is one of the first cards I'd switch out.

To be honest, I should probably not have it at all. 15 Events is enough to avoid losing any cards about 85-90% of the time. Probably should cut it in favor of Unexpected Courage or something else. Suggestions?

Maybe a second David Renfield.

I started my sefina deck with 2x David Renfield and 2x Moonlight Ritual, but replaced david with Dario El-Amin (through Adaptable), once i upgraded Moonlight Ritual to Hot Streak.

Both have strong effects and it's often hard to decide, wether to use their effects or not. Davids usefullness depends a lot on the amount of doom and mythos deck. If there's Ancient Evils in it and the agenda is short, you wont get to use him at all.

Dario El-Amin doesn't have such a big drawback, except he's rather expensive to play and keep his boost "online". I noticed, if i didn't have Hot Streak on starting hand it costs too many actions to get his boost. It'd still play him, as his ressource ability is pretty nice to fuel Streetwise.

yeah those both sound like fine choices if your happy with 15 events ofc. Im afraid i dont have any strong suggestions for alternatives. and ofc Cheap Shot might be fine too. as you say its not going to stay in the deck long really. Moonlight Ritual maybe? just incase you want to keep Arcane Initiate/David Renfield in play over the witching hour? shame its not got a will pip tho as I suspect most times you wuld be using it for those.

@Django, @StartWithTheName, I've never tried using Moonlight Ritual, but I've also not had much practical experience with David Renfield. The only game I had him in my deck happened to be Essex County Express, and that is not a scenario that you can afford any chance of losing a round!

If I had it to do all over again I would start with Arcane Initiate x2 + David Renfield x1, switch in Leo De Luca after I got 1x Charisma, and late in the campaign add in 1 Dario El-Amin if I found myself getting a second Charisma (for example, if I picked up some story allies.)

What are your experiences with David Renfield?

David Renfield is hard to evaluate, he's powerful but also very situational. You definately want Moonlight Ritual in your deck, if your using him. If you cant control his doom, dont play him (unless you need a cheap soak) or when the scenario provides extra means to control the doom. If you can plan a few turns ahead, he's much more useful (konwing the sceario and agenda deck helps).

I had him in my sefina deck for 3 missions of carcosa. In The Last King he was useless (short agendas) but in Curtain Call he was a blast (doom didnt matter in that scenario). I had his +1 up nearly all the time and gained 1-2 ressources each turn. Curtain Call provides its own way of doom control, which results in nearly unlimited time.

I used Dario El-Amin for next scenario (Echoes of the Past) but added replaced him with David Renfield again for The Unspeakable Oath. I played it "safe" and stayed far away from doom threshold, as i didn't know the encounter deck. However later i learned this scenario has no doom in it, so i could've gained lots of ressourced through him.

Played this last night at our Invocation event. We played Carnevale, so I used my 9 exp for Hot Streak x2 and a Spirit Athame. It was a lot of fun! I just wish I had thought to drop the 2x Delve Too Deep since they were basically useless and 2 of the 5 events I drew in my opening hand. I guess that made them good Stars of Hyades fodder except it never showed.

I did get to put a Hot Streak under Sef though, and playing that multiple times really took the wind out of Indebted.

Thanks for posting the deck! And for anyone curious about Sef, I would definitely encourage you to at least try this in a one-off, she has some neat mechanics.

Looks fun! I always really wanted to get David Renfield to work with Sefina (he seems perfect with the Will boost, resource generation, and health soak), but in practice I have found him too often unusable. I would stick with the Initiate, which is much more practical.

I ordinarily don't like Lone Wolf in multiplayer but I can see it working for this investigator because of double Elusive.

Why not try to find room for Backstab? I think the ability to do 3 damage in an action is nice to have up your sleeve, and this deck can pay for it. Cheap Shot and Renfield could go.

Another thing--I actually had a lot of fun with (of all things) Cat Burglar as Sefina. I wouldn't say it's as good as Leo, probably, but it does some pretty good work for an investigator who is combat-averse but nonetheless wants to forge off on her own. It also makes playing Drawn to the Flame much less scary. On Expert, where evading becomes a bit expensive and unreliable for her, I kind of like it.

@CaiusDrewart, definitely like the idea of considering Backstab, but I was thinking it made more sense after getting Streetwise since the deck does not have a ton of icons.

I found Sefina, armed with Spirit Athame to be a potent fighter, but I could see taking Cat Burglar if she were partnered with Mark Harrigan. In that case she might even drop down to 1 Shrivelling?

I found Storm of Spirits pretty helpful!

sorry for the delayed reply @FBones. I've been away.

I have a little experience with David Renfield but only in this daisy tutor deck where 1 of works well due to to Calling in Favors and high filtered draw from Old Book of Lore. I have a little text on there explaining my experience, but im not sure the lessons transfer to Seffie in the same way. in Daisy he does give a big cash burst over 3-4 turns. And in the other deck that 6-10 resources is plenty to see you through the rest of the scenario since it also runs Milan.

His limitation is that he obviously wants to be played at the start of a long agenda card where those 3-4 turns are possible and those arnt always available at the time you draw him. Its also occasionally risky to go too high on doom on him when Ancient Evils or similar are about so you ideally want to leave maybe 1 doom leeway before killing him off. You also want that space to be sure you can kill him off. Ive learned that the really hard way... so you are looking for 5+ doom agendas ideally, though a 4 doom one is still a good return.

Ive not played this deck, but assuming from its name that it wants cash i can imagine a second copy of Renfield being helpful to get him in hand at the right time since the window for a good money may be small.

The other thing to note (and i guess this may be obvious, but theres no harm in pointing it out) is that the boost is great while its there but because its quite tranient its not something you can reliably build a deck to depend upon. It will be around for a bit, but not for long so it needs to be seen a bit like Guts or Fearless rather than the more solid Holy Rosary, though this doesnt make it a bad thing at all.

Great list! I'm not sure why you feel the need for Quantum Flux. Also do you really manage to use David Reinfield effectively?

Hi @Kiliath, there are three pretty good reasons for the Quantum Flux:

1. Sefina depends nearly completely on her spells for defense and clue-seeking. So if she has some bad luck or needs to get a lot of clues, she risks running out of charges. In particular she is completely hosed if a discard event causes her to discard one or both Rites of Seeking. Using Quantum Flux makes those available again, to be pulled by an Arcane Initiate

2. Sefina's weakness keeps coming back to get her, so it is good for her not to get a thin deck.

3. If you are playing the Dunnwich campaign, QF gives the middle finger to Beyond the Veil

As for David Reinfeild, no---I did not get to use him effectively in the campaign I played, but I think he has potential.

I tested this deck on carcosa camaign (3 scenarios so far) and it's awesome, very versatile. A real pleasure to play. Thanks for sharing it !

Do you think that this deck will be playable with just 1 core set? Or having only one Arcane Initiate (that seems is the cornerstone of the deck) will destroy the whole its idea?

@Yury1975, If you only have a single core, you would have only 1 Hot Streak available. I think that, as well as having only 1 AI, would cripple the deck.

You could, though, try the recent Akachi deck [arkhamdb.com and partner with Roland who can take 2x No Stone Unturned and 1x Book of Lore to help you get your stuff out. But even then you only have 1 Grotestesque Statue, which would hurt.

Note that I made a whole series of "1 core + Dunwich" decks you can look at if you only have one core. Just search for "1 Core + Dunwich Series"

Here's the link for the search. arkhamdb.com

@FBones, yes, I saw and used your "1 Core" decks, thanks for them. Some of good decks can be adjusted for just 1 Core (taking into consideration that we have many additional cards from Dunwich and Carcosa). but you are right, single copy of AI and Hot Streak will just kill this deck.

How about Calling in Favors as replacment for the 2nd Arcane initiate?

@Django, You can only use Calling in Favors if you actually have an ally in play. Since it is super important to get an Arcane initiate out ASAP, I wouldn't want to go down to having only one.

However, given the importance of getting an IA in play early, I could see modifying this deck to include a second copy of Renfield and a Calling in Favors or 2. It goes well with Renfield anyway.

Thanks for the idea!

When i played David Renfield, i add various ways to deal with his doom, including Moonlight Ritual (+Arcane Initiate) and Calling in Favors. However that's a lot of cards and i replaced all of them, when i switched David Renfield for Dario El-Amin. I think David Renfield is better in full mystics, who can use Moonlight Ritual for other things as well.

I'm looking to run this list for a new Carcosa campaign. Based on what I've read here, I'll be doing this:

+1 Backstab +1 Narrow Escape -1 Cheap Shot -1 David Renfield

The other investigators will be Roland and (Rex or Minh). Thoughts?

I'd strongly consider working in Calling in Favors, perhaps taking 2x David Renfield as well. I'd consider using Pete or Yorick rather than Minh/Rex. for the third.

You might pull in Calling in Favors later (via adaptable) after you get more allies if you cannot fit it in now.

You could drop Storm of Spirits and a Cheap shot if you were looking for things to ditch for the CiF and second Renfield.

Interested in seeing how it goes!

@FBonesSomething along this lines perhaps, arkhamdb.com

I figured with the better economy of David Renfield + Moonlight Ritual, I could cut Lone Wolf. But perhaps, that's a mistake and the Rituals should become Lone Wolf again.

There is a Scenario in Carcosa, forget which one, where it does not advance because of the Doom in play. And in that scenario my friend played in David Renfield was getting him tons of cash every turn.

But for the deck I played I used Dario El-Amin, as well as Luca

Drawing 13 cards in opening hand has given me many a game with a Hot Streak, Dario and Luca.

had so much fun playing this in labyrinth of lunacy, thanks for creating it!

Any updates to this list?

@Kahboom0225, interesting you ask because I just created a new Sefina build yesterday! I'm thinking of going in a slightly different direction with her though. I need to do some test runs before posting the deck though.

@FBones Did the new Sefina deck work? Would love to see it! Love this one

Hi! I,m enjoying Sefina in Carcossa. I,m going to start the 4th scenary and looking for upgrade (I already have 1 Hot Streak , 1 Charisma, 1 lockprints, 2 Cat Burglar and Streetwise) . Would you consider to change 1 Holy Rosary for 1 Key of Ys?? Thank you form Spain.