Four willpower. At two ink. That's the thing to start with.
Most two-ink characters in Steel give you three willpower, maybe a keyword, and call it a day.
Tiana - Restauranteur sits at four willpower and comes with a loom over the top: HANDPICKED, which reads "When you play this character, you may draw a card, then choose and discard a card." That's a full looting effect on entry, attached to a body your opponent actually has to commit resources to remove.
- Four willpower at two ink is genuinely hard to move cheaply, and HANDPICKED lets you fix your hand the moment she lands.
- HANDPICKED is optional. If your hand is already good, skip it.
- Hudson - Determined Reader does the same loot but punishes you for holding cards. Tiana rarely seems to work that way.
- Her real weakness is her strength of one. Small removal that banishes a character with 2 strength or less takes her out without a challenge.
The looting matters more than people think. In Steel especially, you often have the right cards for the wrong turn. HANDPICKED lets you discard a late-game card you cannot use yet and draw for something immediate.
It also fuels any discard synergy your deck runs. And it's optional, so if you hit her on curve with a hand you already like, nothing forces you to touch it.
One lore per quest is not exciting. But she isn't in your deck to be exciting. She's a two-cost body that arrives, fixes your hand, and then sits there demanding an answer.
The looting and the lifespan
Hudson - Determined Reader exists in the same colour and does the same thing on entry: "When you play this character, you may draw a card, then choose and discard a card." Same cost. Same willpower. So why would you pick Tiana?
Because Hudson's second ability, STONE BY DAY, shuts him off when you hold three or more cards. His own loot can trigger the lockout. In most situations, Tiana carries no comparable punishment for having a full hand. If you're building around hand size, or if you just want the loot without the condition, she's the cleaner version of that effect.
What actually banishes her
Her strength is one. That's the first thing removal players will notice.
Tramp - Quick on His Feet banishes a character with 2 strength or less for two ink. Intimidation Tactics does the same thing. Both of them eat Tiana without a challenge. That's the bite. Her four willpower means she laughs off a lot of challenges, but she can't laugh off an effect that checks strength instead of willpower.
Beyond removal that banishes a character with 2 strength or less, she costs two ink, which puts her inside range of several bounce effects.
Poor Unfortunate Souls at two ink returns a character costing two or less to their player's hand. That doesn't banish her, but it undoes the tempo of playing her and does not give back the HANDPICKED trigger.
For an outright banish, Goofy - Klutzy Skier at three ink banishes any character, no conditions, and doesn't care about any of her stats. If She Doesn't Scare You at four ink does the same.
Neither is checking strength or willpower. Those are the real threats, because four willpower is a meaningful bar for challenges, but effects that banish any character without conditions never deal damage at all (rule 1.9.2.1), so willpower is irrelevant to them.
The honest version of this card
Her strength of one means she's never winning a challenge she picks unbuffed. She quests, she absorbs a hit or two, she goes to the discard when her four willpower runs out. That's the whole loop.
Four willpower buys her time. HANDPICKED makes that time worth something.
The question is whether one lore per quest justifies the slot. At two ink in Steel, your other options include plain stats bodies like Black Heron - Real Bad Egg at three strength and three willpower with no text, which trades the loot for more offensive presence.
If you're not using the loot, she's a weaker statline. If you are using the loot, she's the version of Hudson that doesn't punish you for doing well.
There's an argument, and I think it's a reasonable one, that HANDPICKED is underrated at common rarity. Common cards are the ones you slot into a deck without thinking, and a looting effect that arrives on a four-willpower body without conditions is quietly doing work every time you play it.
The discard synergy angle is speculation, but any Steel deck running effects that care about what's in your discard pile should at least clock her.
Where to put her in your turn order
Play her on turn two if you have a hand that wants filtering. She enters, you loot, she dries, she quests next turn. If you're ahead on board and your hand is fine, there's no shame in playing a different two-drop and saving her for a turn where HANDPICKED does actual work.
Watch for Tramp - Quick on His Feet in opposing Steel decks. If you see that coming, Tiana becomes a liability you're playing for the loot on entry alone, not for long-term board presence.
In that matchup, she's closer to a two-ink cantrip than a questing character. Decide before you play her whether the one-card loot is worth a body that won't survive.
If your Steel deck wants a consistent two-drop that tidies your hand and doesn't carry hidden conditions, Tiana - Restauranteur is the card to test first.
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