Sneaky Beaky Lola

First of all, shoutout to @zozo for inspiration provided with his deck and write-up Opening night a guide to building a Lola Hayes deck

Introduction

Now onto the description. Much have been said about efficiency of evading in solo play, building upon that i decided to go that route and rely mostly on evading when dealing with enemies. Because of that i chose Survivour and Rogue as two classes complemented by Seeker class to help our actress investigating. Plan is to play Peter Sylvestre at the beginning of the game (ideally 1st turn) for boost and maybe other asset like Cherished Keepsake or Leather Coat and then just switch between rogue or seeker. This makes our deck almost invulnerable to Crisis of Identity, of course there is a risk of losing Magnifying Glass if we stay seeker but that doesn't hurt as much as losing Peter. Sometimes you might want to switch back to survivour to replay Peter, activate his ability or play "Look what I found!". Going back to survivour when we haven't drawn our weaknesess yet is best done with Improvisation in hand as it allows to switch roles an additional time apart from Lola's trigger. Very important card for this deck is Streetwise, we will stay in rogue a lot so there will be no problem activating this card and it allows us to pass more difficult tests for two most important skills and .

Card explanation

I will go over most cards explaining some interactions and reasoning why were they chosen.

• Flashlight - neutral card, so can be played in any role, very helpful with investigating. Combos with "Look what I found!" on 3/4 shroud locations - lowering shroud from 3/4 to 1/2 respectively means that if you fail you can always play "Look what I found!". Should be used mostly on locations with multiple clues, XP ones or once Crisis of Identity is gone.

• Magnifying Glass - boost, fast, very cheap, what's not to love?

• Cherished Keepsake - horror soak, if it shows up on opening hand play it on 1st turn two switch out of survivour.

• Leather Coat - damage soak, only one copy because it shares slot with Fine Clothes

• Fine Clothes - the reason i went with 2 copies of Fine Clothes instead of 2 Leather Coats is that Fine Clothes are neutral so can be played in any role, they provide both damage and horror soak and help with parleying. Lola wearing Fine Clothes is very effective in dealing with Poltergeist or interviewing party guests.

• Peter Sylvestre - very important card, used mainly for boost. It can also serve as horror soak but you have to be survivour at the end of your turns. Still, you can switch to another role during enemy or upkeep phase before drawing cards to avoid Crisis of Identity

• "Look what I found!" - mainly to aforementioned combo with Flashlight or as an emergency clue grabbing card.

• Backstab - for dealing with hunter enemies or to kill VP enemies. Lola usually won't be able to defeat bosses with this build so no point in saving this card, better to use it when there is a hunter threat present.

• Sneak Attack - another tool to deal with hunter/VP enemies, also cultists etc.

• Elusive - mobility tool, very handy in scenarios that are played on big map or require a lot of backtracking. Also emergency button if we got overrun by enemies.

• Narrow Escape - now this is a tricky card, first of all it has 2 icons so that's very handy. It's ability can be let us do something and then pass next test with +2 bonus. How to use this? First, it can be used to cancel an AOO if we need to investigate at a location with an enemy and then evade him more easily. Second, it can be used to kill 1 hp enemies like Acolyte to get rid of the doom. Investigate or move or play a card while engaged with him and then take a combat test 5v3.

• Working a Hunch - testless clue gathering, use in high shroud location or when enegaged with enemy.

• "Watch this!" - this card get more important once Streetwise is purchased as it can provide resources to fuel that talent. Best used on low risk tests.

• Eureka! - Lola's deck is quite big at 40 cards and this card does a bit of digging for cards we need. It saved me a couple of times also when i would draw Crisis of Identity in following turn had i not shuffled the deck thanks to this card.

• Guts - if Frozen in Fear is in the encounter deck try to save Guts to help deal with that awful treachery.

• Perception, Unexpected Courage, Inquiring Mind - skill boosters.

  Upgrades

• There is no point in listing any detailed upgrade path as Lola has many different possibilities, i will just highlight cards that are important in this deck or i found useful during my playtesting.

• Streetwise - this should be your first upgrade, helps with and tests. I'd rather use it quite conservatively only for tougher tests unless you have lots of resources.

• Peter Sylvestre - upgraded Peter has a bit more sanity that is always good but he also boosts which helps with encounter deck.

• Magnifying Glass - it's free and it's trigger helps to protect it while also you can stay in seeker role.

• Emergency Cache - added cantrip to dig for cards we need.

• Ace in the Hole - 3 more actions? Sign me up for that.

• Lockpicks - very powerful card allows to investigate at 6 or more, but keep in mind that it can easily be discarded with weakness as most of the time we stay as rogue.

Alternatives

There is option of going Charisma build - drop "Look what I found!" and Inquiring Mind for Art Student and Stray Cat. Also Calling in Favors and A Chance Encounter could be incorporated into this deck but i feel like it would play much more differently. Just a food for thought.