https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/39589/rabbit-hole-lily-1.0

Rabbit Hole Lily

Let me start off by saying unlike most of my decks, this one was more of an experiment. What I wanted to explore was whether Lily Chen could get good value out of Down The Rabbit Hole despite only having Mystic 0. I ended up playing a version of Rabbit Hole Lily through Edge of the Earth and, for the most part, it worked out very well as the team eked out a narrow and shaky victory to the campaign. However, I don’t think this is the best version the deck can be, so I would be keen to hear what other ideas people have.

Ultimately, my version of Rabbit Hole Lily turned out to be a generalist with an emphasis on fighting. She was the secondary fighter on the four person team and could get a few clues here and there if nothing else was going on.

Note: Down the Rabbit Hole does not help Lily get Disciplines faster. That’s fine though. It can still help you purchase XP cards at a discount, and that’s nice no matter what.

Building Rabbit Hole Lily

So the first thing we have to do is identify which cards are upgradable that we want to put in. The more upgradable level 0 cards we have, the better as it means we can avoid the Rabbit Hole tax for buying new cards. Remember to not overlook neutral options! There are a few upgradable neutrals that work quite well for the deck. Here’s a quick list of the main options.

  • Holy Rosary – upgrades to Guardian at level 2, perfect for Lily
  • Enchanted Blade – Mystic/Guardian at level 0, so it won’t take up your 5 level 0 Guardian slots. In addition the level 3 Guardian version is widely recognized as being a very good weapon.
  • Overpower – Neutral at 0, Guardian at level 2. It’s just a good skill card, not much more to say beyond that.
  • Backpack – This card is actually great here because it just so happens to be able to find a lot of the cards that wind up in this build.
  • Flashlight – This was not an option when I played this, but now is thanks to Scarlet Keys. I had it in my deck build anyway and never removed it.
  • Emergency Cache – Solid economy because my take on this deck ended up being expensive, and once you get this on Stick to the Plan it is even better. Personally, I prefer level 2 to level 3, but your mileage may vary.

So 2 copies of each of these cards form the start of our decklist. That puts us at 12 cards so far.

Next I looked at the 5 Guardian cards. I ended up going for single copies of Dynamite Blast, Beat Cop, Safeguard, Physical Training, and On The Hunt. Now I’m sure that many other options are possible, but I thought these were quite good.

Dynamite Blast and Physical Training both have 2 tiers of upgrades, meaning you can trigger Down The Rabbit Hole on them more than once. Safeguard is just always a good option in multi-player. Beat Cop was chosen at level 0 because I found it hard to get upgraded ally access that worked with this deck otherwise. And finally, I wanted another Tactic to fill out Stick to the Plan. I originally had Taunt (which also has 2 tiers of upgrades) but I found it underwhelming. I think On The Hunt may be stronger here. Taunt may be stronger in something like Dream Eaters where you get value for every enemy engaged.

Now that I have 17 cards, I just have to fill out the list with 13 of the best Neutral and Mystic cards that work with the rest of the deck. These cards probably won’t ever get upgraded so we want them to be good.

For this list, I chose some Mystic and Neutral staples in Ward of Protection, Guts, Spectral Razor, Drawn to the Flame, and Unexpected Courage. Shrivelling gives us another combat option, although it can fall off later in power since we can’t upgrade it. Olive McBride was my Mysic ally of choice but other options are respectable. If you get Bless tokens going with your Holy Rosary 2, Olive can become a bit better.

For this particular list then, I would recommend starting with the Will Discipline first, Combat Discipline second, Agility Discipline third, and Intellect Discipline fourth. The Will Discipline makes Lily one of the best Dynamite Blast users in the game. This is because she can target her own location more freely because she has access to a 3 damage self-heal. In addition, an early Will Discipline can make your level 0 Shrivelling much more usable.

Upgrade Options

Naturally, since this is a Rabbit Hole deck, you should upgrade all the cards that could be upgraded. By the time this process is done, you’ll have loads of XP cards you wouldn’t have had otherwise.

However, I would say you need to make it your goal to get Stick to the Plan as quickly as possible. With this list, your Stick to the Plan can hold level 3 Dynamite Blast, level 2 (or 3) Emergency Cache, and level 3 On The Hunt. Yes, buying Stick to the Plan hits you with the Rabbit Hole tax. However, spending 7 XP instead of 6 is proportionally not as big a jump as, for example, doubling a level 1 card’s cost by spending 2 XP on it. And if you continuously use Down The Rabbit Hole, you will still have a big net gain on XP value in the long run.

Finally, don’t neglect cards with a low level version and a high level version, such as Brand of Cthugha. While you will be taxed on the low level purchase, you will be discounted when you upgrade to the high level one. Ultimately, this puts you net neutral on XP expenditure. However, you must make sure to buy the low level version early enough in the campaign so that you have time to upgrade to the high level version.

Team Composition

Because this deck is generalist, it can do well with many teams looking for a flexible fighter, but here are a few shout outs.

First, William Yorick can take on the role of a main fighter while also being able to secure more XP via Bury Them Deep. This is especially great for Lily, as Yorick can help her get to Discipline breakpoints faster.

Second, Carolyn Fern can handle clues while also doing sanity healing and giving Lily money for her troubles. This is intended to synergize around Lily being a Dynamite Blast user. Playing Dynamite Blast is expensive so the extra money is welcome, and if Lily self-heals the damage, she takes 1 direct horror. Vincent Lee is another cluever worth consideration if you want Lily to be able to Dynamite her own location. In either case, I would say take 2 copies of Dynamite Blast to better reward the synergy.

Finally, I would suggest Sister Mary. If Lily does Holy Rosary level 2, she will want some team synergy with the Bless tokens. Sister Mary can provide that, especially with Rite of Sanctifcation making your expensive cards cheaper. Plus, Mary’s signature asset, Guardian Angel, can absorb the damage of a full Dynamite Blast. If you really want to have a Mystic and Guardian party, throw in Diana Stanley, and the three of you can laugh at the encounter deck together.

Conclusion

This deck started out for me as a weird experiment, but I actually did quite enjoy playing it. I don’t believe this decklist is fully optimized yet, but it definitely did the job well enough as I aced quite a few scenarios with it. If you’re somebody who likes the feeling of getting stronger and stronger with XP cards, then Rabbit Hole Lily can definitely be the investigator for you as she gains both XP cards and Disciplines.