A standart Diana protector deck for TCU (reduced pool)

I'll try to post this deck in English, but my first language is Spanish. I'll post this in Spanish eventually.

POOL: Core, Dunwich, Carcossa, TFA, TCU, EoTE, TSK, Nathaniel Cho and Jaqueline Fine.

I'm playing The Circle Undone with Diana Stanley. This is the deck I'll end up running at the end of the campaign.

Diana Stanley is A MONSTER. I swear to god she is so hard to kill, denying encounter cards over and over again and soaking damage like crazy. Her is crazy good, allowing you to do what Diana does best while earning resources and drawing cards. The 1 is intimidating, but since her statline is pretty balance sometimes you don't even need to use it. Why use to save you from the Mythos deck if you can just negate the card or the effect?

Obviously, it is optimal to raise your fast since you want to stomp the lategame with the powerful Spells the class provides, but 3 3 3 is a usable statline and sometimes you can't even afford to raise your since you need to play the cards you store with your using the Twilight Blade.

For me, one of the most enjoyable investigator in The Circle Undone.

There are AWESOME Diana decks running a lot more of token control instead of damage soak, but I needed something more aggresive since my BF was covering the cluever role with Ursula Downs and I would be facing a lot of combat while denying the terrible Hex treacheries from this cycle.

What does this deck? The objective of this deck is to protect a cluever investigator in The Circle Undone, since the faster they can work, the faster the scenario ends.

Since Diana has a class access (0-2), I designed the deck to fulfill two mayor tasks: -

• Beating the crap out of the mythos deck. In The Circle Undone, the treacheries are very dangerous and they don't usually go away since they are played in your threat area. Diana and her signature cards are made for avoiding encounters, so she can manage to cancel a lot of this cards that sit on your threat area or even to negate or avoid the effects of those Hex cards if they get triggered.
• Enemy management. Diana can soak damage or avoid attacks with some of the cancel events she likes to play. She can kill things, but not as good as a investigator. The Circle Undone or even The Path to Carcossa are good campaigns for her since the encounter deck is terryfing in both cycles and the scenarios are not that enemy-heavy like Dunwich or The Forgotten Age, but even then she could survive because she has the potential to do good damage. BF was playing Ursula, so even if I can't kill a enemy, Ursula can avoid it for me.

ASSETS:

Items:

• Diana wants to play the Twilight Blade ASAP since it is the card that allows her to work at her peak. That's why I run Prepared for the Worst in this deck. You could run Backpack or Parallel Fates (2) to fish it if you find it more comfortable. I haven't got any problem finding it quick since Diana has relative good card draw.
• Holy Rosary is a staple that helps her to get a high fast, and allows to get good numbers even it there are only 1-2 cards under Diana's investigator card. It can also soak 2 horror, which is aprecciated.
• Since she needs to kill I decided to use the Enchanted Blade (3), usable by Diana with her 3 . You may opt to run Shrivelling or Azure Flame, but I don't find them as consistent because you can run out of charges. Wither also allows you to fight without charges, but Enchanted Blade can deal more damage when needed while you build up your to use some big damage spells. Also, you can play Vicious Blow with the blade to get more damage. Such a good weapon, I love it here. For the Level 0 deck you may run both, the blade and a charges combat spell, and then upgrade the spell. That should do enough to deal with most of the enemies of this campaign.

Spells:

• My personal option for a combat spell is Brand of Ctugha, but Azure Flame or Shrivelling should do the trick. If you run the latter you may even run Arcane Research or Down the Rabbit Hole to save some EXP
• Sixth Sense is just good. Two cards and a arcane slot to investigate when there are no enemies with your (potentially) big is good.

Allies:

• I opted to run Beat Cop (2) since he is a amazing ally for fighters because of the +1 and the testless damage he can deal. Some people may prefer to play Arcane Initiate for utility, or even Dayane Esperance. I'd like to replay this deck with Dayane when I get the Dream Eaters pools since there are some strong events, and even without them, playing Deny Existence (5) 3 times is wild. Beat Cop (2) and Dayane Esperance can also help soaking damage.

Others:

• Safeguard is my 35th card. I can play it, It helps Diana to be in the same location where the other investigator is to protect them.

EVENTS:

• Stomping the Encounter deck: The bread and butter of Diana. Her event, Dark Insight, is one of the most powerful cards of the game, allowing you to negate everything, and you should play it at least twice every single time you play with Diana. Deny Existence (5) is my one of my favorite cards of the game and a MUST for Diana, since it can negate a lot of things and it also can save your ass in harder scenarios, making possible some sick comebacks. Ward of Protection (2) also works pretty nice in multiplayer, since you can protect other investigators. With the Twilight Blade you should be able to play this cards over and over again.

• Soak damage, survive and protect your mates: Since the role of this deck is to deal with enemies, the events that allow you to protect yourself and other players from the enemies or other damage/horror effects are pretty good, since they sinergize with Diana's . I've had worse... (2) and Delay the Inevitable are the go-to cards to fulfill this role. Dodge in nice, but if you have the EXP you should aim for Dodge (2) since this version can help Diana to get the damage needed. Prepared for the Worst is needed in this deck to find the Twilight Blade as fast as possible and it can tutor Enchanted Blade (3) if needed.

• Other Events useful for Diana: Dark Prophecy is not as powerful as it can be in this deck, since I don't run any token control asset. Even then, it is a STAPLE for Diana, since it sinergizes with her and the effect may save you to fail a crucial test. Drawn to the Flame is another staple from the class and Voice of Ra is my resource event. You may play Emergency Cache instead, but I find Voice of Ra more enjoyable. If you have the Dream Eaters pool you should evaluate to run Read the Signs and Spectral Razor, since they are very powerful events.

SKILLS

Take the Initiative and Vicious Blow were the skills I wanted to run in this deck. Take the Initiative gives you 3 for your first action, so you can use it to beat any enemy that happen to be in your threat area after the Mythos phase. Vicious Blow is a good damage boost, and if you have the EXP, you shoud consider to purchase the Level 2 version. I could run another skill, and even if Defiance is the no brainer option here since it can trigger Diana's I opted to run Fearless because of the Horror healing effect. This is just a matter of preference. You may opt to run Guts or Overpower since they are good skills for this decks. Defiance (2) is a solid option if you have the EXP needed.

INITIAL HAND

Always aim for the Twilight Blade in your initial hand. Mulligan the whole hand if required. If you find Prepared for the Worst you before the mulligan, keep it since it gives you a better shot to fish your blade out of the deck. If you manage to pull your Twilight Blade in your first hand, aim for events that trigger Diana's

LEVEL 0 DECK AND UPGRADE PATH

https://arkhamdb.com/deck/view/3145122

First of all, Get behind me! is a good card, but I don't like it on this Diana deck. It requires more healing to be used safe. Even then, in the first scenario of TCU there are a lot of witches that only deal 1 horror, so it can basically negate a attack while protecting someone and triggering Diana's

In the first scenario (7 EXP) I changed Get behind me! and Shrivelling for 2 copies of I've had it worse... (2) and 2 copies of Brand of Cthuga (1). In the second scenario (7+1 EXP) I upgraded the Brand of Cthuga (2) to the Level 4 version. In the third scenario (6+2 EXP) I upgraded a copy of Deny Existence (5) and Ward of Protection (2). In the fourth scenario (6+1 EXP) I upgraded the last copy of Deny Existence and Ward of Protection. From there, you may want to purchase Beat Cop (2) or Enchanted Blade (3) in the next scenarios.

This the bare minimun I think this deck needs to work at its best. If you happen to have more EXP to spend, Defiance (2), Vicious Blow (2) and Dodge (2) are good options.

I'm having a blast with Diana, and this deck is working for me in Normal mode. Protecting Ursula Downs and dealing with the powerful Hex encounter cards this campaigh throws at the players make me feel so powerful! You should try Diana, period.

I know Down the Rabbit Hole and Arcane Research can accelerate the progress of this deck, so they may be good options to get the EXP points I need to make all the upgrades I mentioned before.

Hard mode may need some changes, but I don't usually play other modes.

Hope you like it!