Fast & Curious Presents: Hayes and Downs

Hi everyone!

This is the Lola Hayes deck which, paired with the 2 Fast 2 Curious Ursula deck, is the star of the Lola Hayes Mysteries II video series, currently ongoing on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/ZYxaTB7L1Nc

Lola Hayes is perhaps the most versatile of all the available investigators, because she can use great cards from all five classes. She may be limited to Level 3, but Level 3 is the point where the game introduces very class-specific cards, meaning that Lola can dip her toes into the most iconic cards in the full cardpool.

I should note that in the video series, I have been playing an attempt at a "rebalanced" Lola Hayes, as explained in the introduction to the first video.

Deck construction: Equipped for danger

Lola's deckbuilding requirements include needing to have "packages" of seven or more cards from three different factions. Just how this requirement is satisfied will really direct how a Lola deck will play. Here, Lola is taking on the Mythos under these roles...

Starring Roles

Guardian:

• 2x Machete
• 2x Enchanted Blade
• 2x Take the Initiative
• 2x Vicious Blow

Guardian is the main weaponry and combat role. Though Machete is on the Taboo List, I found that I couldn't drop them because of theme alone. We're going into the jungle... we're bringing machetes! Take the Initiative is also a universally-strong skill card, especially since it's always providing three wild icons in the Mythos phase.

Mystic:

• 2x Enchanted Blade
• 2x St. Hubert's Key
• 2x Ward of Protection
• 1x Drawn to the Flame

Mystic is the utility role, including weaponry, a Willpower and Lore boost, cancelling of key Treacheries, and a clue-gathering event. One of the main features of this Rebalanced Lola trial is that St. Hubert's Key actually works for her. When used in the original Lola, the reaction to prevent insanity only works when Lola is a Mystic, so that -2 sanity really sticks. Sadly, there is no opportunity in the timing rules for Lola to respond to losing sanity by swapping roles. So, what this means is that the Key is pretty good in Rebalanced Lola, but a liability in original Lola.

Survivor:

• 1x Act of Desperation
• 2x "Look what I found!"
• 2x Live and Learn
• 2x Peter Sylvestre
• 1x Track Shoes

Survivor is our other utility role. Peter Sylvestre and Track Shoes provide stat bonuses, and Live and Learn is a great card for being able to provide a virtual Unexpected Courage after drawing a token and getting a bad modifier. If she's testing at, say, one or two over the difficulty, Live and Learn lets her save on cards and try again at three or four over if she needs to. A fun trick is to combine it with "Look what I found!", in order to profit from failing then try again for a success at +2.

This role also provides Act of Desperation, a great momentum play to gain resources from empty Enchanted Blades and Fingerprint Kits while dealing two damage.

Beyond these three Starring Roles, this deck also has important Supporting Roles:

Seeker:

• 2x Art Student
• 2x Fingerprint Kit

Lola's four Seeker cards enhance her clue-gathering ability. Fingerprint Kit in particular is proving to be a great action-compressing card, especially when combined with Act of Desperation when it's empty.

Rogue:

• 2x .41 Derringer
• 2x Decoy
• 2x Intel Report

The six Rogue cards here provide an additional weapon as well as some testless options for evasion and clue gathering that also act as action-compression. They also lay the groundwork for upgrading Rogue to a Starring Role as the campaign progresses.

Upgrades: Queen of the Jungle

Since Lola can take cards from any class, her upgrades can really embrace versatility and adapt to whatever group she is in, so there really isn't a set upgrade path for this deck. That being said, here are a few particularly-useful upgrades:

• Adaptable for maximising versatility. This card even lets Lola swap Starring Roles as a campaign goes on.

• Charisma for running multiple Allies and adding to their ability to soak damage and horror for Lola.

• Enchanted Blade's ability to deal three damage in a single attack, and with a total +4 to the combat test, is incredibly efficient.

• Upgrading Peter Sylvestre is usually a high priority for any deck that includes him.

• Paired with Peter is Lola Santiago for additional skill boosts and free-action clue gathering.

• Scrapper really helps Lola's survivability, especially for evasion. Evasion is this deck's worst check, so Lola can lean on Scrapper to get away from terrifying monsters.

• In multiplayer, Stand Together is incredibly efficient, providing the equivalent of eight actions in one.

• Studious is a standout card from the Circle Undone cycle. The ability to mulligan more vigorously for important cards in the opening hand makes for a big initial boost for getting set up in the first round. The boost gets even stronger with Stand Together!

I hope you enjoyed reading about this deck! I give plenty of additional play tips in the video series linked in the introduction, so check it out and have a look at what Arkham's most versatile investigator can do!