I thought of a fun deck with a limited budget that could stand its ground:

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Ozymandias - for attack bonus
Ahlem - for HP bonus and healing
Soraya - main character

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3x Swarm of Scarabs
3x Requiem from the Grave
2x Dismemberment (two for easier draw)

Core cards. Deck focuses on setting up Requiems and discarding Swarms, while keeping Soraya alive. Soraya would play Dismemberment on the turn she dies, resulting in 10 AoE direct damage.
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1x Divine Punishment - Decent vs low spirit enemies
2x Embalmment - Can be used both as heal or nuke
3x Stitches - Good, fast heal that chains
2x Misantropy - Against defense-stackers
1x Extort Faith - AoE heal, only one at lv2 since it is pretty expensive
3x Deus Ex Machina - 10 magic damage is extremely good against low-spirit characters, and is a death sentence against most Marauders (low spirit and defense) with Ozy's attack boost.

Theurgies used to both heal and deal damage.
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2x Harshness - Counter for mages, brutal with Deus Ex Machina
2x Emerald's Cut - Against enemies dependent on actions and theurgies
2x Precognition - Against healing enemies

Counter cards. All theurgies, since Deus Ex Machina is used as a secondary damage source.
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Total: 25 cards.
Any ideas for improvement?

You need 3 x Mercy.
One of the best heal cards in the game and great combo with Precognition.

I am not fan from Requiem from the Grave.
It not only increase the damage you deal it increase the damage you receive too.
Same for Dismemberment it deals the same amount damage to you.
And it is very hard to win with nomad priest over points because they have a high base life. If all character die you will most likely lose.

And both cards are not Theurgies and will block your Deus Ex Machina.

I would work more with heals and recycle cards to win the game.
But in the end it is your deck and strategies.