Isabelle Commits to Hydration (Skill-Based Build)

Other decks (https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/66008/the-combo-queen-ch2-combo-cult-1.0) have already shown Isabelle is a combo machine.

I wanted to get a different angle, so here is Isabelle as a commit machine. Her trait looks very scary, but with the right preparation you can have Isabelle do everything. So let's get started:

1) Stop Worrying and Love the Harm

Isabelle's low health value combined with a Breaking Point that can do up to 3 direct damage is scary enough that you might not want to take horror even with her ample pool of 9 sanity. You'd have to be crazy to want to take Direct Damage from skills on top of this, right?

However, two cards negate this. The first is Bandages, which heals one damage after every instance of damage from Breaking Point without exhausting. Because Breaking Point is three separate instances of damage, a fully charged bandage negates all of the instances of damage even if you are at three sanity or below. Survive your weakness at two health!

The second card is Canteen, which struck me as insane. 1 resource, 1 action, and you heal 6 horror over three turns. It also happens to heal horror at the same rate as repeatedly committing Soul Link deals horror, however.

So go on, queen. Ignore the safe path. Commit the scary commits, and get Mask of Silenus later to avoid the autofail token on important checks.

1.5) Draw Engine

Now that you're committing, it's time to talk about the draw engine. You know how powerful "Draw 1 card" effects are on Joe Diamond or the older Harvey Walters. Well with the neutral card draw options, you get that extra draw every turn with the bonus of an extra commit, and that's the real strength of this deck.

Once your assets are out, you should be committing and cycling your draw skills into your draw pile with your passive, then drawing them to commit again to draw again. Lean on that canteen and let the cards fly.

2) The Trap: It is really just another commit option, if you want it to be.

First off, Decoy Trap is a solid card. It's actionless, I love it.

However, all of the traps in the Miguel card list have a nice secondary point: They are worth +2 to two different stats on commit, and they come back with Hunter's Instinct. Commits are free and you will cycle your deck a lot. Decoy Trap can boost either half of your gun shooting and it takes Isabelle's already existent strong commits and adds another regenerating aspect to it. With Do-or-Die it's comparable to a Jury-Rig for your guns that replenishes when you run into enemies. Of course you can use Hunter's Instinct for other purposes too, but it's a resourceless option if you need a punch or to move a check from iffy to certain for the card draw on success.

3) Why is Broken Bottle in here?

Okay, so the card draw is solid in this deck, so you'll get your guns, but there is one big problem: Isabelle's guns don't recycle on discard, so at L0 you need an alternative. Old Compass is great, but this deck mostly gets clues with events and runs lean. Broken Bottle is dirt cheap and can beat an enemy in two attacks, and also vent doom from Will of the Cosmos if you don't get one of your other discardable assets out.

I hate it. Replace them with better guns, I have some in the sideboard. I even debated the Sacrificial Doll if it wasn't for the fact that it sometimes is slotless. Maybe I should have gone with Meat Cleaver.

Look, you have the card, you might as well use it for more than just a proxy for another card.

I'm not even convincing myself really.