Working a Hunch

Physical Training is a tough add in a class that struggles with resource generation, but has the right skill boosters to make it a consideration. This makes the most sense in investigators who are expected to kill enemies and tank mythos tests, and would rather do so with resources than skill cards. As readers may be aware, that’s a very limited group.

Best in-class fits: Zoey, Leo, Tommy

Hey, it’s one of the guardians who doesn’t really struggle with resource generation! That’s not to say Physical Training is great in Zoey, but there’s definitely a (campaign dependent) build where she tanks every possible mythos card, and being able to juice willpower and combat as needed could help. Leo and Tommy can also run relatively rich in the right build, and have enough base willpower to care about passing tests that deal horror . . . but wouldn’t they rather throw nameless allies into the void?

Best out class fits: Jenny, Diana

Jenny can generate a lot of cash, and her (non-promo) signatures push her into late-game fighting . . . at which point a 3+2 combat might not cut it. This helps her get two-up on willpower tests early, and could propel the Twin .45s into late-campaign relevance. Diana probably likes this less, but the ability to swap from combat to willpower mid-game is tempting, and she’s one of the best mythos-tanking investigators in the game.

It would be understandable to get heartburn with all these resource-intensive cards in a class that doesn’t really generate them easily. Beat Cop definitely does its job, between the +1 combat and the 2/2 soak, but it’s a tough look beside Rogue ally Lonnie Ritter, who has the same combat boost and cost, but a better soak and a better ability (in a class that can afford it). Beat Cop is best for Guardians who need the combat boost and can afford 4-cost allies, so yet again . . .

Best in-class fits: Zoey, Leo, Tommy

Tommy likes Beat Cop because the cost pays itself back over time, even if he won’t be able to use it for the bottom ability. Leo gets a discount and can play Beat Cop for free; it’ll also soak damage and/or snake bites from the inevitable, failed agility tests. Zoey is a killing machine who cares more about mythos busting than clue-getting, so she’s a better candidate for Beat Cop than Roland (poor Roland), but with her out-of-class splash, can probably find better level-0 allies (see: Ritter, Lonnie). Yes, Lonnie-Cleaver-Furs is good in Zoey.

Best out-class fits: Yorick, Charlie

Yorick could definitely use the skill boost, and as mentioned, doesn’t mind the resource cost as much if running a deck with 0-cost Cherished Keepsakes and Leather Coats. There’s only one in-class ally option that boosts combat—Jessica Hyde—and while she’s can easily replace Beat Cop (0), there’s a chance Yorick won’t need infinite damage soak . . . okay so Jessica is clearly better, if there’s XP to spare. For guardian Charlie, Beat Cop gives you a +3 combat once a turn. That could be something to build on, especially if he has another way to boost combat reliably.

Listen, dead actions exist. Especially in multiplayer, and especially with enemy-managers. First aid is a cheap, slot-less asset that heals investigators like Mark or Agnes, who are incentivized to take direct horror and damage (making it slightly more effective than soak, for them). Most comparisons are to Emergency Aid and Bandages, which only heal damage, albeit from allies as well. So you’re probably running this in multiplayer, as someone who can get more out of . . . well, it should be clear where this is going.

Best in-class fits: Mark, Carolyn

If First Aid also gave the healed investigator a resource, most early guardians would have run it, no questions asked. This gives Carolyn three guaranteed, unconditional horror heals, for a relatively small cost. She might be expected to get clues, too, but Carlolyn is a bit more effective as a secondary clue-getter with a support focus. It might even be worth running two in her decks. For most others, and in specific asset-heavy builds, a one-of is perfectly fine (and in Mark, it effectively turns an action into an Unexpected Courage in hand, which moves the needle enough).

Best out-class fits: Vincent

Also obvious, though not as good as Carolyn because of the plethora of other options for healing damage. Emergency Aid and Bandages are both a little more efficient, in general, though there is a very specific use case here: new players may try to use the reaction ability on Bandages as an activate ability, even though it’s the fifth scenario and they’ve been reminded ad nauseam. For those players, it might be better to stick with the simpler, fewer-hoops First Aid.

A player’s love for Machete is probably going to waver in higher player counts. It’s undoubtedly good in 1P or 2P, but for (especially newer players in) big groups, there are going to be times where the bonus damage won’t trigger at a crucial time. The most obvious cases are: an enemy is engaged with another investigator, or has multiple enemies engaged with you. The writer has been forced to “um, actually” players using Machete enough that they’re quite cognizant of the drawbacks. They do exist. In smaller counts, though, this is effectively a cheaper, ammo-less .45 Automatic. Investigators play this, and for the most part, enemy management is under control. And heck, it’s probably better than the .45 Automatic at higher player counts, too. Even with the drawbacks.

Best in-class fits: Roland, Zoey

Who can mitigate the occasional weaknesses of Machete? Well, Roland’s Seeker subclass allows a greater degree of flexing than the other 3-intellect guardians (Leo, Tommy, Tony), and he appreciates the skill boost and lower resource cost. Zoey is here for theme, but also, because she handles enemy engagement a little differently than other gators. Zoey is one of the few guardians who might want to evade an enemy from time to time, and if that turns on Machete, all the better. Whether she can evade them is another story.

Best out-class fits: Joe, Diana, Vincent

In lower player counts, most investigators who can run a reliable +1 damage accelerator will consider Machete. But in larger groups, you’re looking for someone with a decent combat who’s okay dealing with the occasional enemy here and there. Maybe a hot take, but there might be less reason to run this in big-team Yorick. It gets his combat to a five, which is nice, but Yorick cares less about ammo-less weapons due to recursion, and is less able to play a flex or support role (than, say, Diana and Vincent). This especially becomes true in a full card pool.

Guard Dog might be the most interesting ally from the core set. It’s cheaper than Beat Cop, lacks the combat boost, but adds a much better ability that enables more interesting gameplay. Most guardians that don’t need the combat boost in the first place consider Guard Dog, especially those looking to soak damage for the team (or a depraved investigator ability that turns on card draw).

Best in-class fits: Mark, Leo, Daniela

Guard Dog is an obvious, excellent ally choice for these three. Mark gets a card and free damage every time Guard Dog gets hit. Leo can play Guard Dog for two resources and a free action, even if he just drew an enemy. And Daniella effectively doubles her punch-back ability every time Guard Dog gets smacked. The fact Nathaniel (doesn’t need a combat boost) and Tommy (net-positive resource gain, pseudo-recursion) aren’t in the top-three here is astounding.

Best out-class fits: Vincent, Yorick

This is where it gets interesting. There are a lot of good allies, and Guard Dog not only lacks a stat boost, but only really makes sense in investigators expecting to take care of enemies. Yorick can recur Guard Dog at a relatively cheap cost, and Vincent can keep healing the goodest boy to get more uses out of him. Vincent might also be expected to chip in on clues, so the ability to deal damage without relying on a higher combat score could be appealing.

Another card that makes sense in most combat-focused decks, as an easy way to snag clues for doing what fighters do best. The bigger question is whether it’s necessary to chip in the occasional clue (for some, it would be better to run Glory, which nets two cards on a kill instead of a clue). The intellect pips are surprisingly helpful, but to care about that, it’ll be important to run an investigator with a 3+ intellect. That narrows the field down to flex-oriented investigators with resources and/or cards to burn.

Best in-class fits: Roland, Leo, Tommy

Not the best in Roland given the above criteria, but there’s something satisfying about using this to double up on his ability. Kill an enemy, get two clues. There’s a delightful line of play with Roland where, with Guard Dog and Lesson Learned, you can take a hit on the enemy’s turn, deal a killing blow, and scoop four clues for two resources. Still waiting for that to fire. Outside Roland, both Leo and Tommy might find use for the pips, and neither cares about the (minor) resource cost.

Best out-class fits: Yorick, Joe, Tony

Which non-Guardians are looking to kill a lot of enemies and get a few test-less clues? The first that jumps to mind is Joe, even though it feels sub-optimal to add a conditional insight event to the hunch deck. Yorick and Tony might be better shouts here. This allows the former to flex more easily into occasional clue getting than, say, the Gravedigger Shovel, and Tony would happily use this for the clue or the commit—or both, with Crystallizer of Dreams.

A rock solid card in most decks, Dodge is trivially easy to set up and allows for riskier play a la Lucky. The fact it can be applied to other investigators at the same location is pure icing; more exciting fringe cases include turning off Retaliate and Alert on a dangerous attack, or canceling a swing from a big bad. Support guardians can use this, but dedicated fighters won’t be upset to see this turn up, either. Maybe gators with expendable meat shields (Leo and Tommy) don’t care that much? The biggest drawback here is that Dodge doesn’t really progress the game state, unless coupled with something like . . .

Best in-class fits: Daniella, Marion, Nathaniel

Daniella is (maybe) the most obvious choice here, because she’s actively looking to draw enemy fire. When that triggers automatic return fire, and doesn’t do a lick of damage, it feels good. As a bonus, Dodge doesn’t eat into her level-0 Survivor splash, unlike the similarly tank-y Bandages. Roland and Nathaniel are both a little lacking in horror protection, with 3s in willpower and six points of sanity apiece. This feels like valuable late-game insurance for both, but maybe more valuable in Nathaniel, who’s simply more likely to be the dedicated fighter. And then there’s Marion, who loves fast, low-cost events, and can use this to proc her ability on an attack of opportunity (crucially though, not during the enemy phase). Maybe not as good as fully condition-less events, but this lets a player 1) play a weapon with an enemy in their face, 2) avoid the attack, 3) trigger any other event in-hand for free. Pretty sick.

Best out-class fits: Skids, Diana, Tony

Who is going to be around enemies a lot, and might want to turn off an attack here or there? Following the Roland/Nathaniel criteria, low-soak rouges Skids and Tony feel the most precarious. As for Diana, this is a no-brainer. Cheap, easy trigger, flexible, and bumps her willpower. The most obvious taker for Dodge outside Daniella.

The most obvious “best case” scenario: three damage to every enemy, all who happen to be at a connecting location. In guardian, this probably isn’t going to happen. The more usual “best case” involves an investigator being at the same location, with a few annoying enemies, soaking three damage (plus all those attacks of opportunity) and deleting a swarm they’ve picked up from other investigators. So really, who is able to afford a 5-cost event in a class without good resource generation, and soak lots of damage and/or horror without really worrying about it?

Best in-class fits: Zoey, Tommy, Carolyn

The first two are obvious: comparatively rich, 4-combat guardians who don’t mind a punch, and in the latter case, might actually like it. Zoey can pay for this simply by engaging enemies, and with Brother Xavier, can go in for even more damage on the blast; Tommy can recoup at least some of the cost with a well-timed detonation. Outside that, Carolyn rarely has a resource issue and might be able to trigger the “connecting location” part of the text, as she doesn’t love being too close to combat.

Best out-class fits: Skids, Jenny, Vincent

I considered Joe here, but frankly, Skids and Jenny just have more ways to mitigate the cost (and Vincent doesn’t mind taking the damage). This applies to Zoey as well, but frankly, those five resources don’t matter as much when you’re filthy rich, so erasing a couple Nightgaunts one space away doesn’t feel as much like a waste. There’s also a really obvious combo with either Cat Burglar or Elusive, which gets you away from enemies without exhausting them. I considered Tony, too, but I think he’d rather just walk in and wreak havoc on a collection of unsuspecting mooks.

This starts in every deck that wants to kill enemies and has access to guardian cards. Even over the length of a campaign, it probably doesn’t leave. Sounds simple, but the +1 damage (and skill boost) almost always saves an action, and might also save ammo, and gets players out of situations where they draw an enemy before finding a weapon. The only con, really, is that Vicious Blow is relatively effective at summoning the auto-fail. Not as effective as Deduction, but near.

Best in-class fits: Mark, Daniella

Weird to list two of the three gators least in need of a combat boost, but both benefit from an obvious use-case: supplementing bad early draws. It’s a bad feeling to spend three straight actions punching a three-health enemy; Vicious Blow gives Mark and Daniella some needed breathing room, especially for Daniella, who doesn’t have the built-in card draw ability to go looking for a better long-term option. Nathaniel is a decent shout, too, but he’s pretty unlikely to draw a blank on fight events in a well-constructed Boxing Gloves deck.

Best out-class fits: Pete, Yorick, Tony

With Duke, this gets Pete to a five-combat, three-damage attack. That’s pretty respectable. Yorick like that this has zero cost and spices up a relatively weak set of survival weapons; this even turns Knife into a +3 combat, +2 damage event. As for Tony, there are almost no situations where this won’t save him an action and a bullet.

Topping up a weapon for 1XP and two resources feels pretty good. Spending an action because a gun just ran out in a fight against four enemies, and man that’s a lot of opportunity attacks, feels pretty bad. The ideal use case here is to prolong the use of good, typically low-ammo weapons (including signatures like Roland’s .45, for instance, or Tony’s Colts), or—albeit less often—to toss ammo to someone in the thick of combat, as a support guardian who can afford the cost, and resources.

Best in-class fits: Roland, Carolyn (let me explain), Carson

The Roland shout is specifically for the .45, which is usually a 7-combat, 2-damage attack. More ammo for that sounds good, sure. The Carolyn and Carson shouts obviously depend on team composition, but having run this in a relatively rich Carolyn beside Tony, it’s a powerful support option. Carson might want this for a similar reason; while he can run higher level firearms, the inherent 6/6 health and horror soak doesn’t give him breathing room for the occasional attack of opportunity needed to play this. Tommy doesn’t hate this, but he has no trouble at all refilling Becky, so it’s more of an emergency option there.

Best out-class fits: Joe, Tony, Michael

All three gators would rather top up an expensive (or signature) weapon than play a second. All three likely have XP and resources to burn. Skids could be here too; Rogue has a pretty good selection of firearms at this point, including a few able to leverage Skids’s agility. There’s also the (probably) unnecessary play of Extra Ammunition on a Shotgun into Double, Double’d Contraband for 20 ammo, and honestly, that sounds like as fun a way to break the game as any.

Underrated target: .45 Thompson (3)

When Extra Ammunition dropped, the most obvious use cases were expensive, low-ammo weapons (Shotgun and Lightning Gun, specifically). The guardian-specific .45 Thompson (3) might be a more interesting target, as this actually nets you a resource. Play both for eight resources, unload eight shots, get eight resources back. Sounds pretty appealing.

First: throwing away a police badge should absolutely cost an investigator some willpower, and getting two extra actions because they’re effectively “freed from their professional shackles” is such a storytelling win. Not giving this the Police trait is curious, and probably a mistake (Beat Cop has it in the Core, and there are items that eventually get it, too).

Anyway: a lot of guardians like willpower, and could definitely use the banked actions in the right situation (unless constrained by ammo). If this cranks their willpower to a usable level, or gives them two valuable actions on the way out, it’s usually worth it; otherwise, there are cheaper ways to do both. So: who can dip into willpower in a meaningful way, doesn’t care much about other accessories, and can meaningfully use or give those two actions?

Best in-class fits: Zoey, Leo, Carolyn

Disclosure: Zoey probably requires Relic Hunter to make room for this and her cross, as well as (probably better) accessory options. Maybe not the worst call, because Zoey probably doesn’t mind banking actions early for a later payout. She might be a slightly better option than Leo, who will have a little more trouble affording this and can’t tank the mythos phase quite as well, given his options. That said, this gets his (and Zoey’s) willpower to a lofty 5, and gives him a very rogue-esque burst turn for things like Pay Day. Carolyn has the economy, is usually in a support role, and can always use the extra actions to investigate. Sister Mary is also interesting, but she almost certainly prefers Holy Rosary (2), which, for cheaper, substitutes the discard actions with bless generation.

Best out-class fits: Skids, Joe, Yorick

There aren’t a lot of gators outside of guardian who can take this, but most have a plausible reason. Skids and Joe have bad willpower, so the decision point is probably: do you try to account for it, in which case, Police Badge is okay, or take every willpower test to the chin? There’s an argument for both, though less for Skids, who has more competition for his accessory slot.

The better call, obviously: Yorick likes this for the recursion potential, but its high cost means you’ll have to lean a little more into resource generation. That said, three resources for a willpower boost and down-the-road actions kinda rocks for a fighter. Does Diana like this? She certainly doesn’t mind the willpower boost and might benefit from the additional actions late . . . but she could just run base Holy Rosary, and those resources and experience points could go elsewhere.

Much more palatable at 2XP, Beat Cop (2) gives an investigator the ability to damage enemies freely. Because this is player-activated (unlike Guard Dog, which is reactive), it’s easier to control when and where damage is assigned. It also gives players an obvious target for cards like Emergency Aid, Inspiring Presence, and Soothing Melody, all which heal damage from allies as well. In other words, while Beat Cop (0) is a somewhat expendable, yet expensive, skill boost, Beat Cop (2) can be easily built around as a reliable source of secondary damage. As a final bit: this, with First Aid (3) is a genuine route to light tanking. Not a great route, but a route.

Best in-class fits: Zoey, Mark, Leo

But really, if the point is to fight enemies, this guy is always a decent option. Zoey and Mark get the initial nods here because there’s only the one skill boost, and they don’t care as much about losing, say, the intellect boost from Grete Wagner (3). Mark’s ability even turns Beat Cop (2) into a reliable card generator. Leo gets the nod over Tommy because frankly, Tommy’s weakness makes this guy a lot less effective long-term.

Best out-class fits: Joe

Joe doesn’t have a lot of options for reliable combat skill boosters. Here’s the list: Beat Cop (2), Grete Wagner (0), Beat Cop (2), and Michael Leigh. There’s more of an incentive to build into combat than intellect, with Joe, and there aren’t a lot of ways to get there with allies (he also doesn’t mind the extra damage). There’s an argument for Skids, but he probably has better allies with a wider card pool. That said, Beat Cop (2) helps mitigate (for instance) Switchblade attacks that don’t succeed by two, so in a limited card pool it can still be pretty valuable.

The headline here is probably “5-damage attacks.” The subheading, unfortunately, is “twice, and both tests will need to be passed with style.” That’s obviously easier to do with some investigators than others (and the low ammo is mitigated by cards like Extra Ammunition, which is a virtual must-take in Shotgun decks). The other issue is the two hand slots, which makes this the only option when it’s down. So, very powerful when used correctly, but very easy to not use correctly. The sneaky play here might be to exist with only the one Shotgun, run Prepared for the Worst, and keep it in hand until the big bad shows up. And then ignore the taboo on Sleight of Hand.

Best in-class fits: Mark, Leo, Tommy

Mark is the most obvious use case. He can sky his combat easier than most, can dig for things like Extra Ammunition faster, and will definitely be expected to mow down big enemies. Leo is the more pedantic version of that, with slight boosts thanks to rogue access. There’s the aforementioned, exceptionally expensive Extra Ammunition into Contraband play, and both go on Stick to the Plan, which could bring it to . . . 10 ammo? For 11 resources and three actions? Honestly, that’s pretty fun. Tommy might be building around Becky, another two-handed weapon; Shotgun slots into that role too, later in a campaign (Tommy will also have the resources to pay for it).

A lot of XP for two of these, but a pretty significant upgrade. Because this heals allies too, it can be used to prolong Guard Dog and Beat Cop (2), as well as Grete, Field Agent, and Agency Backup in a larger card pool (also . . . the Black Cat? Is there a First Aid (3), Black Cat deck that—never mind). That’s a big win, and allows a player to more liberally assign non-useful damage and horror to those allies (aside from Guard Dog). It should maybe have a cheaper resource cost at 3XP, but it does get an additional supply, so maybe think of this as extra ammunition for *ping* allies? With an option to heal an investigator too, in a pinch?

Best in-class fits: Mark, Carolyn

These two share another commonality: they both suffer a bit from a (slightly) lopsided health and sanity, without the raw stats to protect against the weaker side. Carolyn, for instance, has a 2 in agility and only 6 health. First Aid (3) gives both investigators a reason to dip into healing over soak, especially if they’re running Field Agent for test-less clues. This also significantly neuters Mark’s weakness, which punishes him via horror for all the damage he’s accrued on himself. It also gives the player more uses of Sophie, and more card draw. For these two specifically, the value is there.

Best out-class fits: Vincent, but not really

Vincent probably cares less about this upgrade. It’s an extra use of his ability, but Vincent has fewer good ally targets and doesn’t need the horror healing nearly as much as Mark . . . unless things have gone very sideways with that Wounded Bystander, in early scenarios.

There’s a use case for I’ve Had Worse (4), and there needs to be, because 4XP for a Dodge into a fast Emergency Cache feels a bit weak. This is for tackling bosses that swing for huge damage and horror, which makes it less valuable earlier in campaigns (an exception might be in the Forgotten Age, where a certain recurring enemy can be counted on to reliable punch for two and two). The biggest drawback, other than XP cost, is that once a fighter is toe to toe with the big boss, they probably don’t need the resource injections. So . . . who can make the most use out of this?

Best in-class fits: Nathaniel

Maybe it’s not a surprise the character on I’ve Had Worse is wrapping her knuckles with bandages. Nathaniel can dig for this with Boxing Gloves, which really seems like the signature that just became too cool to restrict to one gator. That’s Nathaniel’s go-to, and can make sure I’ve Had Worse is around when he needs it. It’s expensive, but this also combos with cards that cost enemy attacks like Toe to Toe and Heroic Rescue, giving Nate test-less damage and a chunk of resources to boot. Other investigators can set this up too, but it’s definitely best in the guy who can draw through spirit events without trying.

There aren’t a lot of reasons to not run a pair of Magnifying Glasses in a clue-finding deck, unless the hand slots are really needed for something else. And even then, it doesn’t feel bad to replace as needed. And Magnifying Glass can always be committed for a relevant icon. And it’s fast. There just aren’t any true drawbacks here, especially for level 0 decks. Maybe it doesn’t move the needle as much in higher difficulties, but most investigators will still want it. It’s unbelievable that this and Beat Cop effectively serve the same default, in-class function.

Best in-class fits: Daisy, Rex

It’s more “who doesn’t work with this.” To some extent, every seeker does . . . but some might get a little extra value. Rex is the most obvious, as someone trying to succeed by 2+ (without a base intellect of 5). But the sneaky best answer might be Daisy, who has few killer “succeed by” tome options in Grim Memoir and Archaic Glyphs (Guiding Stones). Her signature even adds (albeit conditional) hand slots, so the first two hand slots aren’t as crowded.

Best out-class fits: Pete, Carolyn, Trish

Who, outside seeker, uses intellect to pass investigation tests? How about Pete, who (with Duke) investigates at a 5? I think Carolyn is a decent shout too, as a guardian who isn’t bogged down by the usual hand slot competition. And then there’s Trish, who might benefit from the fast keyword more than most, but her hand slots can be pretty bogged down with stuff like Thieves’ Kit and Lockpicks.

Those who like Old Book of Lore like it a lot. For Daisy, for instance, there are few early-game tomes that come close to the power of an extra, filtered card every turn. There’s the added “an investigator at your location” which makes this a viable support card, especially to help other investigators delve for weaknesses during opportune moments. But unlike Mag Glass, most seekers are expected to use their actions to investigate.

Best in-class fits: Daisy, Minh, Mandy

In the same way Boxing Gloves are a near-auto-include for Nathaniel, the Old Book of Lore *was* an auto-include for Daisy for a good, long while. The free tome action needs to go somewhere, and there are very few times when filtered card draw doesn’t help. Mandy gets the added benefit of drawing two of three cards for an action (or digging deeper, but that feels inefficient). Minh gets a shout here too. She’s one of the few seekers meant to exist in a largely support role, and she might not care as much about her hand slots.

Best out-class fits: Carolyn

Who has actions to burn, is likely in a support role, doesn’t care about the resource cost or the hand slot . . . honestly, Carolyn makes a degree of sense here. This with Ancient Stone (Minds in Harmony) nets an additional horror heal and resource each time the Old Book is triggered, which pushes it firmly into value-added territory. Beyond that, most investigators either can’t spare the hand slot, the actions, or the resources.

What a strange card. Two resources to search through the whole deck for any tome is really, really strong. It would almost absolutely be better if he wasn’t an ally, because there are exactly two annoying situations for this card: the deck’s best tome is already out, or a key ally is already in play. In those cases, Research Librarian is a dead card without terribly useful commit icons. Otherwise, it’s a better Prepared for the Worst, allowing a player to effectively add copies of the (possibly) best card in their deck. And frankly, in both of those situations, they’re already cooking.

Best in-class fits: Daisy, Mandy, Norman

Daisy and Norman both have tomes that really, really help their decks sing. Is there any reason not to run effectively four copies of Astronomical Atlas in Norman decks for the same XP as two? Mandy has a delightfully backwards use case, where she can use Reseach Librarian’s search function to trigger her signature weakness whenever she’s best set up for it—or, if her signature is already gone, use this to draw any two tomes from her deck. But the first option is much more useful.

Best out-class fits: Zoey, Carolyn, George

This effectively comes down to: who might build around an important tome, and can actually run Research Librarian? The best out-of-class tomes are probably The Key of Solomon, The Book of War, and Nautical Charts. Is there a bless-based Carolyn deck that runs horror healing through the Key of Solomon (remove a bless = heal two damage or horror from an investigator or ally)? The only other gators who can run both cards are Jim and Luke, but they’ll need someone else to add bless tokens to the bag reliably. Zoey is one of the few gators who can afford to run a bunch of tactic events twice, has access to Book of War and Research Librarian, and won’t blow through all her splash slots like Jenny. But the best shout might be George, who might be the dedicated clue-finder, loves Nautical Chart, and has a respectable seeker/rogue splash.

How would seekers like to get paid for doing something they’re . . . already doing? Every time they do it? Dr. Milan is the best evidence for a pet theory: the designers built Roland Banks to succeed in a true solo environment, and tested a lot of guardian cards through a filter that also contained this dude. That could be why all early guardian cards are crazy resource-intensive, and why Milan’s reaction effect doesn’t seem too broken (Roland also gets clues by killing enemies, which wouldn’t trigger Milan).

In any non-support seeker deck, this guy is nuts. The developers agreed, and nerfed him appropriately in the list of taboos (to exhaust, which is still crazy powerful). He’s so nuts, in fact, that playing a support seeker without Milan feels almost like sandbagging. Resource generation could have, and maybe should have, been an Achille’s heel for seeker, similar to guardian. Instead, Dr. Milan exists. Are there any cards in the (specifically built to be rich) rogue class that compete with this dude as printed?

This is actually an issue for the health of the game. Because seeker had so few alternatives for resource generation, for ages, Milan was *the card* players had to have in every single deck, to give themselves the best chance of winning. Even now, seeker decks simply play different with him, taboo or no.

Best in-class fits: Daisy, Rex, Norman

As with Magnifying Glass, there aren’t many seekers who don’t want Dr. Milan. Who, in a class with one real goal—to get clues—doesn’t want to get clues? The better question, then, is “who doesn’t have any other great ally options, and wants resources?” Again, Daisy makes sense here (most tomes aren’t cheap); so does Rex, who desperately needs his ally slot to help with his intellect and can use the resources.

A final shout might be Norman, who gets a resource discount with his gator ability, but might still struggle to afford all the fun, upgraded mystic toys he gets. There are Norman builds that care about augury cards or willpower boosts, but again, that resource generation is just too powerful to ignore.

Best out-class fits: Trish, Darrell, Charlie

Who needs resources, and has the stats to lean into investigating without shenanigans? Trish comes to mind as someone who might want to investigate, can use the resources to great effect, and can’t play her real bestie Jake Williams because she’s not Ursula. Darrell seems like a weird fit because he really doesn’t need the stat boost, but a 6 in intellect allows him to be a bit choosier about when he spends his evidence. And seeker Charlie loves the resource generation, as well as being able to investigate at base 4 once a turn.

Because seekers don’t really struggle with resource generation, especially with Milan, there’s a niche for Hyperawareness—either as a defense mechanism, or a way to sky intellect. It’s definitely slow, though. Consider: to boost an intellect test by 2, either commit Perception (and snag a card), or play this for two resources, just to boost for two more. So, effectively, decks running Hyperawareness need a truckload of resources and enough reason to constantly lean into intellect and agility.

Best in-class fits: Rex, Kate, Lucius

Rex is a somewhat obvious choice, with a no-brainer resource engine in Milan, some access to resource-generating rogue cards, and a reason to get his intellect at least four above shroud values (in standard). He also has agility enough to use Hyperawareness as enemy insurance. Kate is less obvious, but can use both skill boosts and might want to lean into cards like Research Notes, which reward astronomical intellect tests. But the real answer here is Lucius, the bizarro opposite version of Rex, except with unlimited access to lower-level rogue cards. Lucius definitely doesn’t struggle for resources, can use both stats, gets the succeed-by options of rogue, and doesn’t mind committing Hyperawareness for either skill if the opportunity isn’t there.

Best out-class fits: Jenny, Finn, Trish

So, three rogues with enough resources to somewhat overlook the intense cost, and stats enough to use both. Of them, I think Finn is the best shout here. He’s this weird dude who gets free evasions, but isn’t exactly an evasion specialist like Wini or Lucius. And his options for evasion boosts are pretty limited. I’m not saying Hyperawareness is great in Finn, but he’ll probably be happy to have it once it’s down.

First off, the theming behind Medical Text is delightful. “Yeah, that’s really bad. Let’s see if we can figure out this medical textbook.” The issue here is more: it costs too many actions for a limited ability that only fires on a successful test. In contrast, Carolyn’s signature costs the same resources, actions, and also can’t heal allies . . . but doesn’t take a slot, has no negative failure effect, gives the healed investigator a card (and a resource, because Carolyn), and has a bonus ability. Signatures are supposed to be better than standard level 0 cards, but it’s clear that Medical Texts just wasn’t tuned correctly.

Best in-class fits: Daisy, Vincent

At least we have Vincent, who should be able to pass the intellect test at standard difficulty, and adds some sauce with On the Mend. The biggest issue there is, well, Vincent probably wants his hand slots for something else. At time of writing, there are EIGHTY hand slot options for Vincent, including his signature. If this didn’t have a drawback, it might even make sense as a reliable proc for his ability. I guess it also makes sense for Daisy, who can avoid the action cost with her ability and might genuinely need damage healing. That’s who it was clearly tuned for, anyway.

Best out-class fits: Darrell

To be super clear: this isn’t a “good” in Darrell. But he can get the difficulty to 0 with his ability, might be able to spare the hand slot, and might actually need the healing. Listen, it’s a very, very niche card. Funny that a photographer has a better chance of successfully using Medical Texts than a doctor. Maybe it’s been updated with the latest evidence?

Here’s a panic button with a trivial resource cost, zero action cost, and built-in insurance for “whoops, drew the autofail.” Simply one of the best seeker cards in the core set, especially late-game, when an average seeker’s intellect is coasting at a passive 6 or 7, life is good, and then a huge enemy spawns and the fighter is bogged down two locations away. Heck, this could read “Evade. For this evasion attempt, you may use your intellect in place of your agility” . . . and it’d still be very good.

There’s one other delightful use case here: using Mind Over Matter as part of a Seeker Kill-switch toolbox. Actually, maybe that’s the issue with seeker: they simply have too many ways of dealing with enemies. This is a big one.

Best in-class fits: Daisy, Harvey, Norman

So, nerds with zero ability to deal with enemies outside of cards like this. Especially Harvey, who is more likely to build into card draw. There are other options (including purely damage abilities like “I’ve Got a Plan!” which again, maybe shouldn’t exist), but it’s hard to go wrong with a cheap and easy escape button that at least adds +3 to combat and agility for a whole turn. Agatha would be here too, because she can commit Mind over Matter from her discard pile, but she’s missing that sweet base 5 intellect needed to make this sing.

Best out-class fits: Carolyn, Darrell

In seeker, this card rocks. Outside, there aren’t too many investigators who care. Carolyn and Darrell are the exceptions; they won’t get the same boost, but they both have high intellect and limited ways of dealing with enemies. And yeah, Darrell has a better (innate) way of passing tests, but this lets him bank his evidence for more important things.

There’s so much to love about Working a Hunch. It’s fast. It never misses. It has great icons. It gets around “cannot investigate,” which is relevant for cards like Locked Door. Even for seekers with sky-high intellect, it contributes to tempo by not costing an action. Most clue-getting decks will consider Working a Hunch, and non-clue-getting decks might consider it too, as a way to nab the occasional clue. So the real question comes down to resources and deck space.

Best in-class fits: Rex, Joe, Lucius

Joe is by far the best shout here. He wants somewhat expensive, flexible cards in his hunch deck; Working a Hunch (unsurprisingly) epitomizes that exact thing. Turn this face up, grab a clue for free and without an action. Absurd value. Rex can (as mentioned above) splash into rogue, and probably values this more in 3-player, allowing him to clear a 3-clue location with one investigate action and two resources. As usual, Lucius doesn’t mind the cost, even though he’s less likely to run Dr. Milan (who really enables cards like this).

Best out-class fits: Roland, Jenny, Trish

I considered Luke, too (this is an event after all), and while getting a test-less clue from any connecting location is fun, he probably doesn’t have a surplus of resources. Neither does Roland, but—like Lucius—this enables Roland to nab clues while totally neglecting his intellect, which is usually the way to go. Jenny has the same issue (mediocre intellect), just with way more money. This is a perfectly acceptable splash for her. Trish is probably the best shout, though; she can afford it, and if there’s an enemy at her location, get a second clue—or automatically evade that enemy. Ridiculous value.

Again, what unbelievable flavor. When Barricade comes down, it feels like the investigators are really there in Innsmouth, trying to stop something awful from kicking in their door. Just, not too awful. This is one of the first instances of the “non-Elite” clause, and as usual, it’s a tough one. How much better would Barricade be if it worked (but discarded, say) on Elite enemies? There are some fun combos here, but players either need knowledge of the enemies in a given scenario, knowledge of locations in a given scenario, or some reason to camp out on a single location. Or really, all three.

Best in-class fits: Minh, Joe

Minh is one of the few seekers who might not care as much about constant movement, thanks to her signature, allowing her to commit to skill tests from any location. She also has numerous routes to excellent card draw. An issue with Barricade, besides the action, is how situational it is; draw it at the wrong time, and it’s a dead card. Minh usually doesn’t care as much about that. Joe, meanwhile, should not put this in his hunch deck (it’s way too situational). But there are definitely situations where turning off some Hunter keywords for a turn can help with (slightly slower) clue gathering or setup, which Joe appreciates.

Best out-class fits: Mark, Luke

Doesn’t Mark want enemies on him? Well, sure, but there are also a shocking number of (typically asinine) guardian cards that reward Mark for being unengaged or distant from an enemy. Dynamite, Springfield M1903, Marksmanship, Telescopic Sight . . . hole up in a single location, kill whatever spawns on you with your fists, and attack enemies who can’t even reach you? This also goes on Stick to the Plan, if that’s really where the deck is going, so Mark doesn’t have to worry about drawing it at the wrong time. Luke is the better answer, obviously, because he can throw fun spell events like Storm of Spirits and Spectral Razor into connecting locations—or simply, use this in a location where it won’t ever disappear, because he’s not there in the first place.

If the investigator is a seeker, they’re usually running Deduction. It’s boring (and one of the easiest ways to summon the auto-fail), but frankly, it’s one of the few cards that always help win the game or get bonus VP. Even in single-player, where most locations will only have one clue, there’s frequently a 2I location hiding in an attic or back hall location (blinks). Point is, there’s almost no reason not to run a card that directly helps players win faster. Everyone in seeker gives it a look, at baseline. Who wants it most?

Best in-class fits: Minh, Mandy, Amanda

These three can really supercharge Deduction in obvious ways, but Minh and Amanda need a little setup first. For Minh it’s simple: use her skill boost for a +2, instead of a +1, bumping her intellect to a respectable 6 (or higher). Amanda needs a few other skill boosts—a Milan and a Magnifying Glass, say—for this to sing, but once it does, you can effectively clear six clues in three actions, bag-willing. Maybe it’s not necessary to aim that high? The sneaky good answer here, and the reason Mandy jumps out, is because Deduction is a fantastic target for Practice Makes Perfect, and if someone is running Amanda or Mandy they’re almost certainly running PMP as well.

Best out-class fits: Luke, Trish, Darrell

Again, most 4-intellect investigators with any interest in clue-finding will at least consider Deduction, but these three stand out for specific reasons. Luke, for one, can supercharge an investigation at a connecting location and is more likely than other mystics to be running events that allow intellect commits, like Read the Signs. Trish is here, but mostly for higher player counts, because snagging three clues for a single action is unbelievably broken. And Darrell? With his high intellect and ability to drop shroud values to freezing, he’ll guaranteed to draw the auto-fail when using Deduction, which is such a cool, logic-defying thing to show off to other players in high-pressure situations.

An upgrade no one needs, but one that’s hard to pass up when there’s a little extra experience to burn and nowhere obvious to put it. As a zero-cost, fast asset, the only real question is whether an investigator has the spare XP . . . unless hand slot shenanigans are important to their deck, in which case, this is more interesting. The boring read of the bottom, fast action is “hey, a better hand-slot item. I’ll return this Magnifying Glass to free up room.” The more interesting use cases are: a deck is running recursion and a hand slot item just ran out of charges; or a deck is running doom tech, and that’s suddenly a problem. Let’s focus on those.

Best in-class fits: Daisy, Minh, Vincent

Hand slots that involve doom: Abyssal Tome, Ceremonial Sickle, De Vermis Mysteriis, Dowsing Rod, Hallowed Chalice, and Onyx Pentacle. The only two that jump out as parts of a clue-focused deck are De Vermis and Dowsing Rod; with a large-enough card-pool, then, could Daisy play with a little light doom? Replay any insight event for a doom (using a free action), bump De Vermis from play with Magnifying Glass (1) once things get hairy? The other two, Minh and Vincent, have survivor tools (so Scavenging is an obvious shout, especially for Minh) that allow them to replay powerful, usually secret-based, hand slot items devoid of uses . . . as long as they’re in the bin. Enter: Magnifying Glass (1).

Best out-class fits: Roland, Luke, Darrell

Roland might actually enjoy the reduced resource cost, so let’s slot him in here (even though it’s maybe a trap to build into Roland’s intellect). Luke can do fun things with De Vermis and event recursion, which makes this worth a look in him, at least. But Darrell might be the most interested. Even though evidence-based assets accumulate, rather than deteriorate, Darrell’s survivor access and sky-high intellect make this a totally viable way to, say, bump out a Grim Memoir or an Old Keyring, and then use the boost from Magnifying Glass with Scavenging to return it to hand. That sounds fun.

What beautiful tech for The Forgotten Age, where the distinction between discarding enemies and defeating enemies really, truly matters. Disc (2) is best in rich survivors who can recur and replay it; otherwise, it’s a relatively expensive panic button that takes up an accessory slot. With recursion (and a lot of spare cash), it allows players to avoid enemies all day long. So: this is ideal for seekers who cannot defend themselves, can recur Disc of Itzamna (2), and have access to a lot of disposable income.

Best in-class fits: Rex, Minh, Ursula

Oh yeah, there’s also the relic keyword that plays into Ursula’s thing. That’s alright—Ursula cannot kill anything—but she has much better accessory options, and plenty of ways to spend XP. The better shouts are probably Rex, who has (albeit minimal) access to recursion tech through survivor and cash tech through rogue, and Minh, who can do the recursion thing without any issue and runs relatively cheap. She can also just run Milan to fund repeated uses of this.

Best out-class fits: Darrell

If this defeated enemies instead of discarding them, Roland might have a case. Alas. It’s really only Darrell that makes sense—based on recursion, and Darrell’s relative inability to deal with enemies by himself. Maybe the goal is a clue-drop deck, which prefers Press Pass; otherwise, there aren’t any options that really stick out as obvious Darrell picks. For him, this is a super valid pick.

There’s something delightful about Amanda turning up on Core Set art, and then getting an investigator power six cycles later that perfectly mirrors this ability. The biggest issue is: this card gets a lot more value when the bonus is given to someone else, and frankly, seekers would probably rather just collect clues than play support. There are homes, but this most makes sense in seekers that either might be in a support role, or can use the boost to offset the action cost.

Best in-class fits: Daisy, Rex, Amanda

It’s a tome, Daisy gets the action for free, that’s valuable, etc. Three investigations at a base 7 is pretty absurd, and if that’s not enough, the hand slot can be recouped with Daisy’s Tote Bag. Rex, like Finn, has a great power without a great stat line to make it sing right away. This is slow, but once he’s online, Rex is extremely fast. And then there’s Amanda, who probably benefits from the flexibility of Encyclopedia (2) more than anyone, and can easily negate the action cost with skills like Deduction.

Best out-class fits: Trish

Trish has pretty good action compression, through her ability and various events. She doesn’t mind the resource cost here, and can use the boost for straight investigates or straight evades. Is this good in Trish? Maybe as a support, to say thank you to the guardian killing off the enemies you’re done with?

What a wild card. Pick this up, turn it into three cards for anyone at your location, for zero actions and zero resources. Cryptic Research is probably the right XP cost, even if it’s simply played straight. In decks that care about hand size, or deck looping, this gets even better. What I’m saying is: even if there isn’t an exact plan, there are very few instances where (like Deduction) a player draws this and doesn’t get excited . . . unless they’re playing a campaign that punishes investigators for running out of cards in their deck, which, maybe don’t take Cryptic Research to Dunwich. Heck, even if an investigator is swimming in cards, their buddy probably isn’t. Small quibble about the artwork, which seems to show Norman, who can’t actually run this.

Best in-class fits: Minh, Harvey, Agatha

The first two rise above the rest for their ability to loop their respective decks. For Minh, it’s insurance against the King in Yellow and a burst of cards to otherwise commit; for Harvey, it allows him to passively draw five cards in a single turn. As an Extensive Research truther, this card is pure adrenaline. The biggest drawback with Harvey is his weakness, which damages him for having cards in hand. Weirdly, because Minh doesn’t have to worry about that, she might be a better fit for deck-looping gameplay. Meanwhile, all the way in the Drowned City, Agatha doubles up on this by playing it from her discard. For a seeker with no inherent resource engine or card draw, that’s super valuable.

There’s a lot to like about a card that discovers clues from connecting locations. And gets past frustrating treachery effects like Locked Door. And has decent icons in a pinch. This might be one of the most common triggers for “pretty nifty plays,” something that has to be acknowledged, when remember how the point of this game is having fun? On the other hand, 2XP for a situational card feels like a bit of a luxury purchase, even if the situation is more common it seems. For some investigators, though, Seeking Answers has a little extra value.

Best in-class fits: Rex, Minh, Agatha

The big thing here is the ability to avoid unnecessary movement and use lower shroud values. Rex, Minh, and Agatha all have good-not-great intellect scores, so the ability to use a lower shroud is a big win. And it avoids movement cost, if you’ve left a clue behind. More specific to each: Rex gets the built-in benefit of a third clue if he blows this out of the water, so it’s a shame there’s no built-in boost, but you can somewhat easily account for that in other ways. Minh is one of the few seekers who can build into minimal movement clue-finding, which this supports. And Agatha can play this from her discard pile, adding dirt cheap tempo, twice. All in all, good options.

Best out-class fits: Monterey, Trish, Luke

Oh man. This is where Seeking Answers (2) is really fun. The most boring of these is Monterey, who actively doesn’t want to linger on locations. With this, he can happily turn on his ability, prioritize low-shroud locations, and still clean up VP. Trish can discover a third clue at a connecting location, or evade an enemy there; that solves a lot of problems. And Luke can use this from his Dream Gate, blowing out a 1-shroud location to discover two clues anywhere on the map. Ridiculous.

Such a curious upgrade. For 6XP, the old book gets an immediate play + discount ability, which feels really strong but can only be triggered twice. In theory. To get maximum value out of Old Book of Lore (3), an investigator needs one of three things: free tome actions, better search actions, or a way to pile more secrets on here.

Best in-class fits: Daisy, Mandy, Agatha

Daisy, again, is an obvious choice . . . at first. This effectively gives her permission to move away from Dr. Milan and to start seeing other allies, especially when she folds in cards like Truth from Fiction and Enraptured (2). But the other two shouts here are probably better. For Mandy, the ability to effectively double the depth of the search (including for other investigators), more reliably play important events, and trigger the occasional Astounding Revelation or Occult Evidence? That’s where this really starts to gain steam. And then there’s Agatha, who has access to so many secret-adding cards that this need never run out. Imagine using Correlate All Its Contents in a precision build to add secrets here, play it again from your discard . . . that’s something, right?

Putting this in the core set with Skids and Wendy was truly laughable. The thought must have been “Wendy can commit this, and Skids has so many actions he’ll be fine with only occasional bonus damage.” Insane behaviour. The best rogue fighter in the game is probably Tony; for him to get the bonus damage on a basic ghoul, even he needs a -1 or better. That’s still only (usually) a little better than a coin flip chance. For Skids to do the same, he needed the +1 or Elder Sign. A roughly 12 per cent chance. So who, uh, really wants this?

Best in-class fits: Tony, Wini, Michael

No one else has anywhere near the stats to pull this off. Tony should prioritize an ally that gives him a combat boost anyway, and if he commits a card or two, the bonus will be pretty guaranteed. It also helps him kill odd-health enemies, or combo with Garrote Wire to help kill 2-health mooks (didn’t succeed by enough? Choke them out with this here free action). Not bad. Michael has the same combat, and while this doesn’t play into his gun-heavy build, it’s actually decent insurance for Confiscation. Wini, meanwhile, is looking to sky pretty much every test. This works fine as a secondary weapon to, say, her Mausers, and the low resource cost allows her to lean a little more into expensive events. The real question is more, of all the core-set cards to reprint in her starter pack . . . why the ultra-niche Switchblade?

Best out-class fits: Leo, Zoey, Dexter

Most Rogues don’t do high combat. Neither do Leo or Zoey, but they have the capacity to bump their combat into respectable territory. Even for them, this is a stretch as an off-hand weapon—until you consider it as a pretty nutty target for Enchant Weapon (3), which adds their 4-willpower to the attack and chips in another bonus damage. Yeah, you probably want to enchant your main weapon instead, but a base-8 combat check is much more likely to succeed by two. And then you have Dexter, who wants this for a simple, stupid reason: he’s ideal for doom play, and can use this to freely bump cards into his discard pile. If only he could enchant this, too.

The Skids play should be obvious: one action to rob a place, spend two resources for the action back, profit. But then, Burglary requires an intellect test, and doesn’t give you any help passing it. And because it takes an action to play, even with three successful investigate actions, Skids is at . . . eight resources. So, four actions to buy four actions. That feels like really, really bad value.

The better question here is: who can reliably investigate, wants a huge number of resources, and doesn’t mind burning the actions to do it? Again, the core set investigators don’t work here, but what about the rest?

Best in-class fits: Finn, Trish, Alessandra

There’s another missing piece: Burglary does have the illicit tag, which combos pretty nicely with everything Finn wants to do. There are worse things than an on-tap Emergency Cache in a guy with a base-4 intellect and ways to dig for, and cheapen, illicit assets. He’ll also have targets for all those resources, too. Trish, meanwhile, has the intellect (like Finn) to more reliably pass these tests, and the built-in tempo to burn actions on Burglary and still be effective; that said, she has more reliable options for resource generation. Same goes for Alessandra. This is probably a level-0 deck option for both, which quickly turns into something else.

Best out-class fits: Rex, Lucius

Lucius, I guess, can use Burglary relatively reliably to charge things like Hyperawareness, which buffs two stats he cares about. He also has some built-in tempo, and the thought of a guest lecturer cleaning out a university department is pretty jokes. But Rex is the clear, best user of Burglary, in or out of class. Better than any of the rogues, better than Lucius. His ability fires on any Investigate test, as long as he succeeds by 2, which can be triggered without much trouble. Especially in single player, with myriad single-clue locations, this, Milan, and Lone Wolf can turn Rex into one of the richest investigators in the game.

Any investigator who cares about evasion (and can take Pickpocketing) probably gives it a look. And unlike other assets, which make sense to double for consistency, there’s actually a decent reason to play two of these. The resource cost is negligible for most rogues; in fact, the only true drawback is pulling this card when you’re already engaged with an enemy. If only it was fast.

Best in-class fits: Trish, Wini, Kymani

Unlike, say, Burglary, there are myriad investigators who love Pickpocketing. Of course Finn likes an illicit card that procs on evasion. The fact these three do it better is absurd. Let’s start with Trish, who evades enemies for free when she discovers clues. Now, she evades enemies for free and draws a card once a round. And then there’s Kymani, whose 5-agility (and investigator ability) begs for evasion; the only question, really, is whether they would rather start with Pickpocketing (2) from the jump. But the best of the best is Wini, who can evade like crazy and needs the card draw to keep evading like crazy. With Wini, you should be able to reliably get two of these and Lucky Cigarette Case down, turning every successful two-card evasion into four cards. That this was not included in her starter deck, and Switchblade was, is a travesty.

Best out-class fits: Wendy, Dexter, Lucius

There are some great non-rogues who like this, too. Wendy, for one, uses evasion for enemy management, and like Wini, is more card-hungry than most. This is a no-brainer for her. Dexter likes this because he, too, is surprisingly card-hungry and can use this off willpower-based evasions (Mists of R’lyeh, for instance). And then there’s Lucius, who would absolutely love a card and a clue when he evades an enemy, thanks very much.

The fun spin on the .45 Automatic: here’s a weapon with the same resource-to-ammo ratio (3:3 vs. 4:4), with a bigger skill boost but less reliable damage. So . . . it’s a rogue weapon that’s riskier and slightly less action-efficient than the guardian equivalent. From that point of view, the design is pretty nifty. To get the damage boost, though, required a pretty good starting combat to begin with (or a lot of supplements). Some rogues outside the core set even have those things.

Best in-class fits: Finn, Tony, Michael

Finn barely has the juice to pull this off. He’ll also need some help with his base-3 combat, which frankly, makes this pretty unappealing . . . but it is illicit, and works fine with Dirty Fighting (which would combo for a +4 after a successful evasion). And while Skids does pretty much the same thing, Finn probably does it better because of the bonus action, and his signature, Smuggled Goods. Tony and Michael are more boring no-brainers. High combat, more likely to succeed by two. This makes sense in either of their decks.

Best out-class fits: Zoey, Leo, Bob

But it’s probably not ideal for any of them. The trouble with the .41 out of class is, well, there are about a dozen other rogue cards that contribute to (or profit from) the succeed-by-2 archetype. Run this with Lucky Cigarette Case and a Quick Thinking, chuck in Daring Maneuver if it’s worth it . . . for gators like Zoey and Leo, that support doesn’t exist, so they’re using this on its own merits. Which, fine. Bob might be the best shout, because he can play this under control of a Mark or Daniella. Is that the best use of his level-0 rogue splash, though?

A wild card for the core set. Most rogues can afford him, and even at six resources, he’s the right cost . . . as long as that extra, unconditional action gets used effectively. The best investigators for Leo aren’t in need of an ally skill boost and can reliably turn that fourth action into tempo. For that reason, he’s slightly better for clue-oriented investigators who won’t ever mind the extra action to move or investigate. But really, Leo works in any deck that has the resources to pull him off.

Best in-class fits: Finn, Tony, Monterey

It’s funny, but even when enemies have been cleaned off the face of the game board, Tony always has something to do—whether it’s setup, reloading assets, or moving to protect weaker investigators. He and Finn rock with Leo, and can almost go cost-neutral with Pay Day. Finn and Monterey, meanwhile, don’t mind another investigate test, especially if they’ve been building into intellect. Monty might be a better call than, say, Trish, because it gives him and his investigator ability some (often needed) breathing room.

Best out-class fits: Rex, Bob, Lucius

Not nearly as good out of class, but a few investigators can get reliable value here. Maybe you’re running an intentionally sub-optimal taboo Rex, where you’d prefer more cracks at the succeed-by-two investigation? I think Lucius might be a stronger choice, because he likes enemies being around, and the extra actions can really bail you out if things go sideways. Dexter and Haste might be a good combo here, but I’ve always found that Dexter has competition for his arcane slots, so the third shout goes to Bob: someone who can investigate well enough, and can use this (and even Haste) to grease the wheels on the entire team, playing everyone’s assets for them. Honestly, he might be the best option here.

Of all the resource-for-skill-boosters from the core, this at least falls into the faction that might have a fair number of resources to burn, and a reason to do so. Let’s just say, cards like Switchblade and the .41 Derringer look a lot better when you can also juice your combat. The biggest issue with Hard Knocks, besides the resource drain, is that most investigators use either combat or agility to deal with enemies. Frankly, it’s not necessary to boost both stats most of the time.

Best in-class fits: Skids, Jenny, Finn

This makes sure you succeed on your .25 Automatic and Dirty Fighting play, whether to exhaust the enemy in the first place, or connect on the follow-up shot—especially Jenny, who has resources to burn and stats that desperately need sauce from somewhere. She’s probably the best in-faction shout, because her method of dealing with enemies might change over the course of each scenario (pre-Twin .45s vs. post-Twin .45s). And given how the Dunwich expansion was designed at the same time as the core set, it makes sense that the threes-across-the-board Jenny is both resource rich and can take whatever skill boosters she wants.

Best out-class fits: Zoey, Ashcan, Bob

Thematically, Zoey makes the most sense here. She also makes sense in practice, as the rare guardian with resources for days and genuine interest in both skills. The biggest drawback there is the existence of Wolf Mask, which is just better and more reliable. Ashcan doesn’t have the same resource generation, but might want this to prop up Duke later in a campaign, when a base-4 combat just isn’t going to cut it. Are you keeping Hard Knocks after scenario three or four? Bob can leverage Dirty Fighting combos similar to those above, with respectable-enough skills in both stats, so let’s put him here as well.

This is a very different card with and without the taboo, for a pretty simple reason: the enemies you leave behind don’t exhaust. Without the taboo, an investigator can use this to go anywhere, putting distance between enemies or simply zipping to a resign location. With, they can only move to connecting locations. There are situations where an investigator will want that (Dynamite Blast in hand), but most enemies that require a rip-cord also have hunter, so they’ll need to move again right away. At least it’s fast?

Best in-class fits: Jenny, Finn, Trish

There are also half-decent icons here, which Jenny might be able to leverage. For her, this is a test-less, get-out-of-jail-free card in an investigator who doesn’t mind the resource cost. Same goes for Preston, but he’s definitely not committing this for its icons. Finn, in multiplayer, has this fun weakness that often whiffs but is really, really bad when it doesn’t. He and Trish are both tempted to keep enemies around, a game that can get very dangerous very fast. Elusive is insurance for the times that kind of gameplay goes wrong.

Best out-class fits: Jim, Mark, Dexter

Listen, there’s a Mark build with Elusive, Barricade, and Dynamite Blast on Stick to the Plan, where you use cards like Telescopic Sight (3) to light up enemies wherever you’re not. Trust. In reality, this is a good movement card for a guy who might really be bogged down with enemies, and might need a second to re-arm himself. For what it’s worth, the Dynamite play is real. For Jim and Dexter, it’s a simple panic button for investigators who, especially in the early game, need it. As a bonus thematic win, the idea of entertainers being good at extricating themselves from situations kinda rocks.

Skill replacement is much more significant with mystics, but here, rogues get a wicked (if expensive) payoff for boosting their agility. Whether this sits in hand as a one-off panic button, or runs as one of numerous agility-based damage bursts, is mostly up to an investigator’s role. Ideal landing spots for Backstab are rogues with money to burn, agility for days, and the need to mess up an enemy from time to time.

Best fits: Kymani, Monterey, Wini

All three get a significant boost when using agility over combat; all three are generalists to a degree, and don’t mind deleting an enemy or chipping in with a boss. Kymani, especially, turns on her power in a big way by blasting a high-health enemy with three damage. If you know there are high-health enemies incoming and have planned accordingly, you can even follow up with a two-resource Followed and snag a few clues on the way.

Does Trish like this? Probably. She wants to keep enemies around, but not too many. As long as her agility is accounted for, this works.

Best out-class fits: Wendy, Lucius

This gets a little more niche. For Wendy, she usually isn’t running too resource-intensive and can probably afford this as a necessary rip cord; she can also recur this with her amulet, in enemy-focused builds, but that probably requires her to lean into more resource generation. Lucius feels like the better shout? Like Trish, he’ll happily keep enemies around—and when things get too sticky, he doesn’t at all mind attacking with a base-5 agility over a base-1 combat.

While a lot of rogues are high on, say, Pickpocketing, most are lukewarm on Sneak Attack. It’s very much a good, not great, card. Put it this way: the widely-unplayed Kukri is one of the oldest weapons in the game. Effectively, for one combat test and two actions, it gives you two points of damage. At baseline, this is effectively the same: for one agility test and two actions, two points of damage. And sure, automatic evasion is a thing, lots of rogues would prefer to evade than fight, and there are often bonuses for evasion. But the point is: you need a good reason to want this relatively expensive damage over a more repeatable option.

Best in-class fits: Trish, Kymani, Winifred

Higher agility than combat? Check. Enemy consideration mandatory? Check. Action compression? Check. These three are less “the best users” and more “different use cases.” Trish, for example, gets automatic evasions baked into her clue-finding, so a guaranteed two-damage follow-up seems ideal. Kymani sometimes struggles with their succeed-by evades against high-health enemies. For them, this damage is a tempo loss worth splashing. And Winifred, finally, will be evading enemies for myriad reasons. This is slightly expensive icing for that cake.

Best out-class fits: Wendy, Lucius

This is such a good early days Wendy card. Even later on, she considers Backstab as a way to handle enemies on a situational basis. With her amulet, Wendy can discard Sneak Attack to help with the evasion attempt, and play it immediately from her discard. Lucius is the other obvious shout here, as someone likely to be evading anyway (and maybe wanting to help chip damage).

If Opportunist had a second wild pip, or said “If you succeed by 2 . . .” it would make significantly more sense for a deck archetype that, well, cares about over-success. As written, it’s a little confusing. Opportunist is half an Unexpected Courage, and doesn’t return to hand if it actually makes the difference in passing the test. There are very specific use cases, mind. Cards that reward rogues for scaling over-success, at time of writing, are: Sawed-Off Shotgun, Burglary (2), Grift, All In, and Nimble. Are any of those worth this?

Best in-class fits: Kymani, Wini

Wini is the obvious pick, as someone who gets rewarded for adding multiple skill cards to tests. This keeps her power online. Is anyone looking to succeed by more than two? The other use case here is Kymani, who wants to blow out evasion attempts on exhausted enemies. For them, this might actually make the difference, and return to hand. There might be a Shotgun Tony deck that considers this, but he’s only maybe running Opportunist (2) as a super late-campaign, luxury purchase.

Best targets: Grey’s Anatomy, Cyclopean Hammer, Burglary (2)

If scaling over-success or “succeed by 3” is the combo, we’re left with a smattering of upgraded rogue events, the Cyclopean Hammer, Shotgun, some spells, and . . . Research Notes? Weirdly, a fair number—Alchemical Transmutation, Burglary (2), and Grift—are econ cards, but ask for over-success in different skills (willpower, intellect, and agility respectively). Because the goal is to repeatedly add Opportunist to tests, let’s scrap all the cards with limited or situational uses. We’re left with: Grey’s Anatomy, Cyclopean Hammer, and Burglary (2). And the three upgraded Rogue events. Lucius has a decent base intellect and can run most of those? That’s not an endorsement.

Spare XP makes it really tough to pass up the Magnifying Glass (1) upgrade. This probably feels even better, because base Leo often leads to unfortunate “resource into Leo” first turns. Clicking for a resource? As the first action of the game? Ugh. Here, the -1 cost saves a full action and a degree of shame. And frankly, boosting your action economy by a full third is something most gators will appreciate.

Best in-class fits: Preston, Kymani

Mostly a question of “how can this investigator spend actions?” Kymani’s Grappling Hook can actually put in some work, but it doesn’t synergize well with their ability. Leo (1) gives them a fair bit of flexibility, with or without their signature down. Also worth noting: Kymani doesn’t really have any other must-take, low-level allies. I’m also high on Leo (1) in Preston, who can easily afford the cost, and doesn’t really care about missing the stat boost from a similar ally. Listen, that Rotten Remains is going to hit for three horror, regardless.

Best out-class fits: Lucius

As fun as blowing out evasion attempts is, it’s a bit action-intensive to keep mooks at your location while you sweep it clear. Lucius’s intellect and evasion scores are good enough to skate by without an ally boosting them, and he can definitely utilize the extra actions.

Cat Burglar seems really good at first glance: get a free (tabooed) Elusive every turn? Pretty sweet. There are some significant drawbacks, though. Most notably, enemies at an investigator’s former location don’t exhaust, so any hunters will move and get a free swipe during the enemy phase. There’s also a small contradiction: if you’re boosting your agility, you probably want to evade enemies instead. Cat Burglar is probably best, then, in investigators that care about their agility and have someone else to take care of enemies for them.

Best in-class fits: Kymani, Alessandra

A few others are close, but don’t exactly fit. Sefina wants to buff either willpower or agility, but most agility-boosting rogue events focus on evasion—not clue-getting (the lone exception is Pilfer, which, okay, that’s a thing). Finn is a fun clue-getter, but gets free actions to evade. He doesn’t hate Cat Burgler, but it’s not a perfect fit, either. Kymani though? They’ll want to funnel investigation attempts through their agility, through their Grappling Hook and assets like Thieves’ Kit and Lockpicks. There’s a build that uses Kymani’s enemy discard ability more sparingly, and there, Cat Burglar makes a lot of sense. The best bet might be Alessandra, though: a natural investigator who can use the boost, and probably likes an on-demand panic button.

Best out-class fits: Bob

Decent enough agility to care about the boost for treacheries and occasional evasion attempts, probably not the enemy handler. Bob feels especially good here, as someone who wants to be around other investigators in a support role, but doesn’t terribly enjoy drawing enemies. This might be the cleanest fit in the game for Cat Burglar, Rogue or no (if you want to argue Bob is actually a rogue? Fair). Whether it’s Bob’s best option is another question.

Unlike Cat Burglar, this seems like an underwhelming card at first blush. There are some use cases, though, that make it better than a 0XP Lucky (if a player uses this as a way to flip a single, crucial test, those 3XP can probably be used elsewhere). For succeed by two, there are also better options. So, the ideal situation: blasting a Sawed-Off Shotgun into an enemy’s face with an upgraded Lucky Cigarette Case (3), up four, draw a -5 . . . and instead of accidentally blasting your friend’s ear off, you play Sure Gamble, notch six points of damage, and search the top nine cards of your deck. What I’m saying is, this might just be win-more, but there are neat use cases.

Best in-class fits: Skids, Jenny, Tony

This is probably best in investigators who might want to play a little riskier with skill tests (okay, so maybe an expensive Lucky is still pretty good). Skids and Jenny are happy to make riskier plays, like investigating at even; this can be insurance against a bad token pull with a brutal effect. Jenny is probably a bit better here, because Skids wants to use those resources elsewhere. The best call is probably Tony, though, who likes this for its combo potential and doesn’t mind some treachery insurance.

Best out-class fits: Lola

Does Lola make sense here? You’ll need to be in rogue to pull it off, but there are a lot of cards in-class that combine stats (Lockpicks, for instance), which Lola appreciates . . . almost as much as she hates situational cards. Hm. Maybe that’s a bad shout. There’s also some mild synergy with big-money Bob decks, but is anyone spending two resources to flip a Grift failure on its head?

One of those cards that can smooth over an entire scenario, or super-charges a deck concept. If someone starts the game with this and Well-Connected (3) in-hand, they’re laughing. In big-money decks, this is an obvious option; in most others, this is one of the first options to consider after the deck’s core is assembled (doubly so if that core includes Double Double).

Best in-class fits: Jenny, Preston, Sefina

There’s also Skids, who might simply want this to keep his extra actions coming. I think these three make more sense, though. Big-money is a super fun archetype, and Jenny and Preston can lean into it better than most. This might make more sense in Preston, though, who is a bit better at hoarding money while still pulling off big swings. And then there’s Sefina, who can hit astronomical financial heights with this under her. Does a big money Sefina deck actually makes sense?

What a terrific way to spend early XP. With Lockpicks (1), most rogues investigate at a 7 or 8 at baseline, with the only exceptions being fighters (Tony, Michael), a rich kid (Jenny), and Sefina. This fits into primary clue-getters and succeed-by-two decks, but also, flex gators and solo gators (both, more than happy to get one clue at a time). And that’s before the real reason to take this upgrade: it gets past the occasional bad token pull, which fully kills Lockpicks (0). Incredible value.

Best in-class fits: Finn, Trish, Alessandra

To be clear: this is good for practically any investigator who can take it and cares about clues. It’s a no-brainer for these three, because this gives them a once-a-turn base-8 investigate; and they don’t benefit as much from the “swap in your agility” rogues clue-getting cards, like Thieves’ Kit and Pilfer. It’s also got an illicit tag, which prevents Preston from taking it (chuckles), but makes it a nice target for Finn’s usual gameplan. Shout out to Kymani here, who probably prefers Thieves’ Kit, but is usually running succeed-by-two tech anyway.

Best out-class fits: Wendy, Bob, Wilson

Survivors have some truly bonkers clue-getting cards, but this still gives these three a base-7, with some bad-luck mitigation to boot (something that matters more for them). Bob likes playing this himself or giving it away via Shrewd Dealings, as suits his role and the game state; Wendy is a great flex gator, so she doesn’t mind the clue-a-turn limitation. Does Wilson like it? For sure. The only other hand asset that can get his base investigation this high (7, with his ability) is Mariner’s Compass, which would have to be built around. This is better, cheaper, and synergizes perfectly with Tool Belt (a card built mostly for Wilson).

Okay, so this is pretty much a slightly cheaper base-.45 Automatic (3R vs. 4R), with a better skill boost (+2) and a slightly more-reliable damage boost (now it’s succeed-by-one). The better question: can anyone reliably succeed by three? If so, they’re taking an additional action each turn they fire this. If not, y’all, Mauser C96 (2) is right there.

Best in-class fits: Tony, Michael, Wini

Well, this is boring. But yeah, the two rogues with a base-5 in combat, who probably like other combat-boosting tech, would love a weapon that rewards them for doing their jobs. With a single Quick Thinking, they’ll both be able to fight at an 8, with two additional actions on success. This also synergizes nicely with the aforementioned Mauser C96, which pays out resources—so with one shot from each, Michael can reliably do four damage and get three resources and an extra action. Stupid value. There’s also a Winifred + Sharpshooter deck that doesn’t mind this, but there are easier ways to make this game miserable.

. . . actually, that sounds pretty rad.

Best out-class fits: Bob

The specific use case: the .41 Derringer is solid for 5-combat gators, and plenty of those (Mark, Daniella, etc.) don’t have access without a friendly salesman kicking around. Guardians have very few avenues to extra actions, but generally appreciate them; this is one of the few ways for them to get it. Bob won’t be using it on himself, though. To be clear.

Such a cool, deeply mystic, card. It’s tailor-made for a specific waitress, but most mystics are hurting for resources and can mitigate the horror in some way. This is slotless, too, so the real question is: who has an action to get this down, wants resources, and can mitigate the horror? Or . . . who can use those secrets?

Best in-class fits: Agnes, Dexter, Luke

Agnes can use this to proc her ability. Same with Dexter, who can’t soak horror as well, but likes this as a cheap way to get his ability online, or shuffle a doom-laden asset off the board (go ham with Blood Pact (0) or Renfield, abort when things get dicey). And then there’s Luke, who can use Eldrich Sophist or the Raven Quill to move secrets around, and has decent-enough targets for them.

That said, the better secret play is probably is main-class seeker. I’m thinking:

Best out-class fits: Daisy, Rex, Norman

Secret play is enabled a few ways, and most involve investigating. Some, like Eldrich Sophist, Ariande’s Twine, and the Raven Quill (upgraded with Energy Sap) let you move secrets around, which is a delicious use case for the 0-cost Forbidden Knowledge. The best options here are probably Grim Memoire (for Daisy and Rex, specifically) and Eon Chart, but cards like Guided By the Unseen and In the Know can go off in the right builds. Does this enable a Twine-Chart build? Not really—but it certainly doesn’t hurt.

Mystics almost all want higher willpower, but Holy Rosary isn’t the only way to get it through a mystic accessory slot; in fact, of the four current level-0 accessories, three boost willpower (and the fourth is very seldomly played). So: how does this compare to the other two, Crystal Pendulum and St. Hubert’s Key? Well, it’s cheaper than St. Hubert’s without the additional stat boost, and has horror soak (compared to the draw potential of Pendulum). Because mystics struggle with economy and have lots of strong cards that ping horror on a backfire, this is probably still the best—outside of a few situations.

Mystics who probably prefer Crystal Pendulum: Jim, Jacqueline, Kohaku

If you can trigger the card draw, it’s almost certainly better than the two horror soak. These three all have high sanity values and a way to play into specific token pulls. It’s no surprise that Pendulum came with the Jacqueline starter deck, after all. That said, Pendulum comes with such a finicky in-game mechanic that it might just feel bad for some players, which, totally fair.

Mystics who probably prefer St. Hubert’s Key: Marie, Kohaku

Other mystics can probably justify the key as well, which is costly . . . but allows these two, specifically, to reach intellect-5, which allows semi-reliable clue gathering without any additional buffs. Most other mystics (and heck, maybe these two as well) would rather just run spells that funnel clues through willpower, but there’s absolutely an argument to be made for them.

Best out-class fits: Sefina, Norman

There are so many good accessories, and outside of mystic, there aren’t many investigators who care enough about willpower to justify the slot. This, at least, bumps these two to a willpower-5, and while it cuts into Norman’s limited splash, he’ll probably want that willpower boost more as time goes on. Zoey is an option, too, but it conflicts with her signature a bit. Great flavour though, if you’re okay taking Relic Hunter on the side.

In a combat mage, Shrivelling is still a near-auto include . . . ten years into the life cycle of the game. It allows most characters to funnel their combat through their best skill, and synergizes well with most other things mystics are doing. Shriveling has limited uses, no stat boost, and will occasionally ping for horror, but for a level-0 card, it’s pretty hard to go wrong. Of similar options: Armageddon probably isn’t worth it without curse tech, Breath of the Sleeper probably isn’t worth it without token manipulation, and Azure Flame has a more punishing backfire clause. So yeah, especially in your generic high-willpower mystic, Shrivelling still has a place.

Best in-class fits: Agnes, Akachi, Dexter

What if the horror drawback allowed an investigator to do more damage? Agnes is an obvious shout for this, but the others draw some additional value: Akachi gets a fifth charge, and Dexter can play this for cheap (and set up an additional discard). They’re also more likely to be combat-focused characters, with base combat slightly higher than base intellect.

Best out-class fits: Zoey, Sefina, Sister Mary

Sefina and Norman are going to be considered here almost all the time, because they’re borderline mystics from the jump. That said, this isn’t that good in level-0 Norman without something like Arcane Research or Down the Rabbit Hole, because it eats into his splash and doesn’t really enable him to fight well. In fact, Zoey and Sister Mary probably like this a little better. It doesn’t give either the same sort of boost, but it is damage acceleration in a less-contested slot. Also valuable as tech for enemies who can’t be damaged with normal weapons (more common than expected).

There’s a sick deck built around Dragon Pole in Lily, one that relies on cheap arcane slot filler. And especially for fighters, who sometimes get snack breaks between enemies, using an action to stack the encounter deck (or avoid a weakness in the late game) can feel really, really nice. So really, the question becomes: which mystics can afford to burn actions getting this out and triggering it, alongside their actual gameplan? Because frankly, as cool as this card is, it’s pretty slow.

Best in-class fits: Dexter, Lily, Gloria

Listen, it’s lovely that this card has a home in Gloria, who basically considers Scrying to be an auto-include because it enables her (deeply broken) investigator ability. But there are other cool use cases, too. For instance, as a battery for that Dragon Pole Lily build, but anyone looking to fill their arcane slots on the cheap, or stock up on charges (to pay off Angered Spirits, for instance) can find decent value here. For Dexter, meanwhile, every one-resource asset allows him to shuffle doom-laden cards off the table for free. That’s pretty sick.

Best out-class fits: Norman

Frankly, there aren’t any good fits here. For Norman, at least, it lets him shuffle skill cards off the top of his deck so he can more easier trigger his power. Is that better than simply drawing them? Probably not. The better play for Norman is as encounter protection in addition to Foresight, which he might already be running as a bizarro version of his innate gator ability.

Mystics aren’t typically flush with resources. That said, there are enough mystic cards with acceleration that there might be time to spam resource generation abilities. Does anyone need this? The gators that stick out don’t mind bumping their intellect and might just have the resources for this to be a net-positive.

Best in-class fits: Diana, Marie, Dexter

To be clear, this probably isn’t optimal for these three, but there’s a case to be made for each. Marie is relatively simple: she can use both stats and has an added incentive to play David Renfield, who gets her power online and can generate significant resources. Dexter might be a more optimal play, with an inherent (conditional) discount to play Arcane Studies, and rogue-related ways of generating resources. He probably doesn’t care as much about the skill boosts, mind.

And then there’s Diana, who—in a clue-focused build—likes the option to switch between intellect and willpower as the game goes on. Having run this in her, you know, it’s fine . . . but mostly as an upgrade target for Down the Rabbit Hole.

Best out-class fits: Zoey, Norman, Carolyn

Zoey and Carolyn are here for the same reason: they can both generate pretty significant stacks of cash, and both care about that willpower boost. Not a build-around, but a consideration, for sure. And hey, even as a flex investigator, Carolyn doesn’t mind the ability to juice her intellect. Norman probably doesn’t care about this at level-0, but as a target for Down the Rabbit Hole (like Diana), it’s pretty spicy.

Most mystics use spells. For the cost of a lingering doom, Arcane Initiate will find your spells for free once a turn. So unless there’s a weird build that doesn’t require a lot of spells, or a player has their heart set on a different ally loadout, there’s no reason not to take her.

If repeated, filtered card draw isn’t enough to like, Arcane Initiate only costs one resource to play, which rocks for a class that becomes strapped for cash pretty immediately.

Best in-class fits: Diana, Marie, Dexter

Dexter is the weakest choice here, which is saying a lot, because he can play Arcane Initiate for free and can use her as a target for another asset, making the doom cost virtually irrelevant. Not quite the same for the other two, who might need clever ways of eliminating her . . . but, while Initiate is out there, it enables Marie’s power and draws her into spell cards. That makes it a near-auto include for her. Why does Diana like it? Well, it allows her to draw into most of her best cancel cards, which, in turn, thins her deck enough to find a different, less doom-y ally.

Best out-class fits: Norman, Sefina

Again, not a great 0XP Norman card, but a piece of a larger spell-crazed Norman puzzle that can effectively do everything after a few scenarios. This author once ran Norman through Edge of the Earth and became a better enemy handler than Yorick, which felt bad for everyone involved. Anyway, Norman and Sefina are the most likely spell-slingers outside of mystic, and this will only grow in power as they do.

A card for two clues is good value. The card is free to play? Better. The notable drawback of drawing an enemy mid-turn shouldn’t go unnoticed, but most encounter decks run heavier with treacheries, and mystics are the best class in the game for dealing with those, so as long as they’re focused on getting clues, this is an obvious consideration. Who likes clues and can mitigate the encounter deck easiest?

Best in-class fits: Diana, Luke, Jacqueline

It’s tricky to pull off, but Diana can use this to proc a cancel during the investigation phase, through cards like Deny Existence or Ward of Protection, turning two cards and a resource into two clues, a willpower boost, a card, and a resource (okay, also a point of horror). Not too shabby. Luke can always use the Gate Box if he draws into a particularly nasty enemy, and he’s probably getting clues anyway; meanwhile, Jacqueline avoids using her power to investigate, and is pretty capable of crushing treacheries at baseline.

Best out-class fits: Zoey, Ashcan, Sefina

The Dunwich pair here might want clues, but they sure aren’t using their base intellect to get there. Especially in lower player counts, I think both would gladly pick up an encounter card instead of bashing their head against a high-shroud location. Sefina is the best call, though. She has great defensive stats, can trigger this multiple times with The Painted World, and can go nuclear (clue-clear?) with this and Double, Double, in higher player counts.

It’s easier to talk about decks that don’t want Ward of Protection. Even in off-class mystics, or anyone at all with mystic splash, the ability to take a single point of horror to fully cancel a treachery is almost too good to pass up. Ward doesn’t cancel enemies, so that’s a consideration?

The thing is, even in investigators who can’t take horror, this usually prevents the threat of a lot more horror . . . yeah, it’s basically just good everywhere. And great in most places.

Best in-class fits: Agnes, Diana, Amina

Amina has a clear target for Ward of Protection: anything that adds doom to anything else. Because her doom-related play style requires her to tread carefully, an ill-timed Ancient Evils (or similar) can wreck her, and everyone else’s, day. The other two have obvious interactions: Agnes can use the horror to snipe an annoying Whippoorwill (or similar) at her location, and Diana gets a willpower boost, card, and resource out of this. Unreal value.

Best out-class fits: Sefina, Carolyn, Carson

And others, just, less-so. Sefina has great encounter protection already, but this allows her to repeatedly cancel the worst cards in the encounter deck—and synergizes beautifully with cards like Down the Rabbit Hole and Arcane Research, so she can put more powerful versions beneath her. Norman falls into that boat, too. Carson is the opposite: he has zero encounter protection at the jump, and would gladly take a horror to get out of a bad treachery (if he’s running a mystic sub-class, which he probably isn’t, but might consider for this card specifically). And then there’s Carolyn, who is simply not equipped to handle treacheries that target evasion.

When Blinding Light works, it’s pretty slick—turn off an enemy and tack on some damage with a test most mystics can almost certainly pass. Why isn’t it better? Well, unless you can cancel the effect somehow, pulling a bad-stuff token costs you an additional action. And unlike the similarly punishing Rite of Seeking, which can simply be saved until the end of the turn, Blinding Light is usually a first-action play. An investigator draws an enemy, they want to do other things, they play this . . . and lose a second action? Eesh.

The edge case where this genuinely rocks is as the third action against a boss, because it can be used on Elite enemies, and prevents them from striking back on their turn.

Best in-class fits: Agnes, Diana, Dexter

Agnes is a placeholder for “all the mystics who are probably fighting big enemies.” For them, this is always going to be a decent option. I don’t hate this in Dexter, who might want to combo the evasion with rogue cards like Pickpocket, but he’d probably prefer repeatable evades through Mists of R’lyeh. A final shout is Diana, who usually has cards to mitigate the drawbacks of mystic cards and doesn’t mind an in-turn chance to play them.

Best out-class fits: Zoey, Patrice

Zoey likes this enough, because she might be in the middle of a swarm and wouldn’t mind dropping this as a third action. It also re-triggers her ability, making it slightly less costly. It’s not quite as good in Patrice, but it does let her evade at a base-4. Ideal? Probably not.

There are investigators who really appreciate the horror healing. For Agnes, for instance, this gives her another use of her power. For Carolyn, this notches you another resource. Outside those two, this is either insurance against early sanity gut-punches (while running cards like Arcane Research), or a niche play to keep horror to a minimum. That’s important, because this is most often played for the effect, not the icon.

Best in-class cards that deal horror: Clairvoyance, Shrivelling, Ward of Protection

These are all pretty commonly played cards, of which the first two can deal horror, and the last definitely will. If an investigator is running these, they might as well consider Fearless as a way to mitigate those bad token pull. To be clear, though, the only mystics without an 8+ in sanity are Diana and Lily . . . so even then, they’re probably fine without this? Unless they’re also running—wait, there’s another subhead for this.

Best cards that deal mental trauma: Arcane Research, In The Thick of It

They also make Fearless a valid consideration. And, it must be said, Down the Rabbit Hole makes the upgrade into Fearless (2) pretty painless, and Fearless (2) fully negates the above trauma.

Best out-class fits: Zoey, Ashcan, Silas

This is a more interesting list than “most mystics, sure.” Zoey and Ashcan are both hurting for sanity and have the willpower to reliably hit on these tests. And Silas has all of 5 sanity to go with his (gulp) base-2 willpower, so he loves to use this from his discard on the occasional Elder Sign pulls. That said, he needs a way to actually pass willpower tests with this committed.

To start, most players really don’t want this on a blind run. There are good targets for this in almost every campaign, but it’s crucial to know when to add this to a deck for maximum value. Otherwise, Mind Wipe is just going to stay in hand and feel bad.

There’s also a slight contradiction here, where ideal targets are usually enemies who can’t be attacked normally . . . but the alternative way to fight them usually includes “by spells,” which, most investigators who can run Mind Wipe are mystics. All this to say, to run Mind Wipe effectively requires knowledge of enemies, and even then, it’s a bit sketchy.

Best in-class fits: Agnes, Akachi, Luke

As clever as it might be to line up an enemy for a fighter, the much more likely play is to use this on an enemy that just . . . sucks (read: every single enemy in TFA). Investigators can also use this to ignore the aloof keyword on enemies, simply saving an action for a resource. Agnes and Akachi fall into the “probably fightin’ stuff” side of mystic, so let’s add them to Luke, who has the only obvious synergy with Mind Wipe—he can actually shut down a hunter enemy for a little while, by throwing this into a connecting location.

Best out-class fits: Sefina

Listen, this is rarely an optimal target for The Painted World, but there are scenarios where you genuinely want to play Mind Wipe repeatedly. It’s also cheap, so it could be an emergency target for Double, Double (and if that doesn’t seem likely, TFA is right there).

The upgrade to Blinding Light (0) is all about high risk, high reward. Pull a bad-things token, lose an action and a horror. Woof. The good news is that, as a 2-damage option, this is a genuine toolbox card for fighting mystics that can 1) deal good damage, 2) get around retaliate (it’s an evasion attempt), and 3) shut down bosses during the enemy phase. There are plenty of instances where someone pulls this out as a solution against a frustrating enemy, and it does work.

That said, what if this card were no risk, all reward?

Best in-class fits: Agnes, Luke, Jaqueline

All three have super obvious interactions. Agnes doesn’t mind the horror, is (as established) a “probably fightin’ stuff” mystic, and would love to save a charge from her Shrivelling or Azure Flame. Shout out to Akachi, too, who likes Spirit Athame better than most and can use that—which exhausts on a fight—and this, to kill 3-health enemies without much trouble. Luke isn’t in the PFSM club, but he can throw this into connecting locations as a final action, which is truly mean. And then there’s Jacqueline, who can usually mitigate the bad-stuff tokens with her power.

Best out-class fits: Sefina, Norman

Illuminating. Honestly, this isn’t great for either, because both would (probably) rather be scooping clues . . . but as flex investigators, you could do worse for a cheap fighting option. Blinding Light (2) also triggers evade tech for Sefina. Just a shame it’s not a trick event, because it really seems like it should be, and that would open up a lot of fun interactions with other Sef staples like Chuck Fergus or Bewitching.

Are there use cases for Book of Shadows (3)? It’s a super expensive card; going simply off the XP and resource cost, there are four other cards in the Revised Core that hit Book of Shadows’s seven . . . Shotgun (4), Hot Streak (4), Will to Survive (3), and Aquinnah (3). All four, Aquinnah included, are significantly better than Book of Shadows. Then there’s the effect, which should have been a fast action; that way, at least, this becomes an extra copy of an important charges-based spell, like Rite of Seeking. Maybe that’s the play: this and Rite of Seeking, for (likely) six experience and eight resources, which gives players a limitless way of grabbing two clues for two actions . . . or this and Shrivelling, which gives players a limitless way of swinging for two damage for two actions?

That’s the root of the issue. Mystics can sacrifice early tempo by playing cards that catch them up, and more, in the mid-game and late-game. This demands more up-front tempo, at the additional cost of late-game tempo. So, because there aren’t any ideal targets, what about the ideal situation?

The ideal situation: it’s 3P. There’s a dedicated 5-willpower mystic clue-getter on the team, and they’ve invested 14 XP into this and Rite of Seeking. Thanks to the optimal starting hand, which includes Alchemical Transmutation, and some good turn-one token pulls, they get to double digit resources by the start of turn 2 and can actually afford Book (3) and Rite (4). For the rest of the game, they’re able to walk into any location, power up Rite, and blow up an investigate test for three clues.

. . . is that actually a thing? Oh god.

For this much experience, it’d better be good. And Grotesque Statue mostly is, but most people are really taking it because they’ve got some fun ideas and really need the right tokens to pull them off. Granted, Grotesque Statue is also useful to help pass an important test, or to mitigating bad-stuff tokens, but (usually) only in dire situations, like “an investigator is at 1 sanity and really needs this Shrivelling attempt to not kill them.” That’s a lot of XP to mitigate a worse-case scenario.

The better use cases are two-fold: effectively guaranteeing an important test by eliminating the possibility of an auto-fail, and fishing for specific tokens.

Best in-class fits: Agnes, Jim, Diana

A lot of other investigators like this too, from Jaqueline (token manipulation is kind of her thing), to Akachi, who simply gets another charge on this. These three might make more creative sense, though, because all three are able to recur it in some way. Agnes and Jim both have access to level-0 survivor cards like Scavenging, and can use the token manipulation, Agnes to trigger sanity loss and Jim to find skulls. This can be fun in Diana, too, who can buff her willpower once this is down to its last charge (when spending the second-last), and then, can add this back to hand with an Elder Sign pull.

Of the first 27 investigators released in the game, only five had a baseline stat of 5 in any one skill: Daisy, Agnes, Mark, Akachi, and Rita. And unlike the three non-mystics, Agnes and Akachi existed in a class that begged to have everything funnelled through a single stat (listen, guardians and seekers need to care about willpower at least a little). For that reason, mystics without access to such power—Jim and Matteo—didn’t work as well, because the same up-front tempo and resource costs were demanded, but the resulting power just wasn’t as reliable.

Enter Rite of Seeking (2), which lets both investigate at a respectable 6 willpower. Decent!

Best in-class fits: Jim, Matteo, Diana

Of course, right? I don’t think this is bad, exactly, in any clue-gathering mystic, but these three all appreciate the +2 willpower boost more than others. That’s the only difference from the level-one version. It still costs a lot, for only three charges, and the drawback is the same . . . so mystics with a starting willpower of 5 might even skip this upgrade.

Best out-class fits: Sefina, Norman, Patrice

If these three are getting clues, they might as well be getting them in pairs at a base-6 willpower. Norman might prefer Divination (1) to this, which offers him the same base skill for slightly worse tempo. The real question is whether these three would want something like Arcane Research to upgrade into Rite of Seeking (4) or Divination (4), and unless the party has 3-4 investigators, Rite (4) is a somewhat useless upgrade. Something to bear in mind.

Again, Gloria probably doesn’t mind stacking the encounter deck without spending any actions. She might even use Scrying (3) as a build-around, which is totally valid. For anyone else . . . this is okay, as long as players are using it to check the top of the encounter deck (the investigator deck clause is pretty niche).

Scrying (0) is tough because it asks you to take an additional action to trigger it; without that limitation, this becomes a 1-cost event that lets you stack the encounter deck for any three rounds. Unless you have Book of Shadows (3), which—that can’t possibly work, can it?

Best in-class fits: Jim, Dexter, Gloria

Jim is low-key a great fit here, as a primarily support mystic with built-in (trumpet-dependent) horror healing. He also doesn’t mind getting out of agility treacheries, when those are a thing. For Dexter, it’s a 1-cost asset that will probably go down for free, and enable a future asset on its way out (no synergy with Showmanship, sadly). And then there’s Gloria, for whom this is so broken, it might just be worth her spending another 6XP and adding Book of Shadows to—whoa, whoa, this is not something worth trying.

Is Leather Coat the best healing card in the game? In some builds, the answer might still be yes. It occupies a Survivor body slot, which only recently got some competition; it asks virtually nothing, at 0 resources; and the fact it’s an item plays well with so many other cards (Backpack and Geared Up, to name a few). Most survivors are happy to take this if they have deck space. For a select few, it’s a bit surprising when they don’t.

Best fits: Yorick, Bob, Hank

Maybe Calvin, too, because he needs something to keep him alive before he finds his true love (Jessica Hyde). Hank is a slightly better shout, though, because he’s more likely to tank damage.

Obviously, though: Yorick is the first and most obvious shout here, because he’s likely to be fighting and can recur this indefinitely. Is Bob even better at this point? There are more body slot options for Yorick at this point, and for Bob—especially early in a campaign, without many rogue resource generators—this is just an easy asks-nothing target for his ability. Probably still better for Yorick, but there’s a case to be made.

Best out-class fits: Minh, Tommy, Daniela

Fighting or recursion, really. I can see a build where this works in Rex, too, but he’d have to dedicate most of his limited splash to recursion cards (to go along with this). Minh can actually lean into Scavenging, this, and others, even if she’s not as strapped for health. The others have obvious use cases: Daniella won’t be recurring this, but she will be asking enemies to fight her. Bandages is probably better, but this is viable, too. And just, like, repeat all of that for Tommy, but tack on some bizarro quasi-recursion and resource generation.

Once upon a time, the items you could recur were only fine, and people in-class who could run Scavenging weren’t succeeding by anything, let alone two. Sure, Wendy had an intellect of 3, but the next six survivors were Ashcan (intellect 2), Yorick (2), Calvin (1), Rita (2), Patrice (2), and Silas (2). It took until Bob Jenkins (4), seven cycles later, to introduce a survivor that wasn’t dumb as bricks (although the real survivor in Edge of the Earth is sporting an intellect of 1, let’s not forget). And honestly, that was pretty important, because it turns out that survivors have some wild items that probably shouldn’t be recurred ad nauseam. And then whoops, the game introduced a 5-intellect survivor for some reason, and now this is tabooed, because of course it is.

Best in-class fits: Wendy, Bob, Darrell

Most of the survivors with a good-to-great intellect, but also: Bob likes playing items, and Darrell triggers Scavenging in his sleep. Wendy is a bit more confusing, but with Lockpicks (1), she can investigate at a base-7, which is good enough to reliably trigger this. A better question is probably:

Best in-class targets for Scavenging: Ice Pick (3), Old Key Ring (3), Nautical Charts

But also: Matchbox for infinite, slot-less shroud reduction, Schoffner’s Catalogue for resource generation, and Tennessee Sour Mash (3) for flavour. The fact those three don’t crack the top here—well, they might for some players, honestly—is because the above three allow investigators to effectively get two clues each time they investigate (which they will be, because they’re using Scavenging), and all three have been limited via uses or discard abilities. Scavenging chuckles and gives the card back, sometimes immediately (Nautical Charts).

Best out-class fits: anyone with Seeker cards and access to Scavenging

So: Rex, Minh, Vincent, maybe Finn . . . mostly because Seeker items are usually the most busted in the game. Now that the Necronomicon is tabooed, simply having Scavenging in Minh doesn’t fully break the game, but having those sweet, sweet Ice Picks (3) online sure comes close.

Early survivors were bad at investigating, but they were almost as bad at fighting. Outside of Yorick, sporting a respectable 4 in base combat, you had Wendy (1), Pete (2), Calvin (1), Rita (3), and Patrice (2). And while the combat boost with Baseball Bat rocks, the double hand slot thing (and discard clause) is a real downer.

There are builds out there (outside of Yorick) that took advantage of the bat’s low cost and mitigated missed swings with failure tech, but in general, fighters want their weapons to be as reliable as possible. This, in a very survivor way, is not.

Best in-class fits: Ashcan, Yorick, Hank

This mostly checks out. Bob makes sense too, because he doesn’t mind giving this away as needed, but I don’t think it lasts long in his deck. The better shouts are Yorick, the original dumpster-diving survivor, whose recursion counters the occasional skull or tentacle; Hank, who gets to a lofty and repeatable base-7 combat with this; and Ashcan, as long as he’s also running Jessica Hyde.

While Ashcan is less obvious, there’s a lot of synergy between this slightly unreliable weapon and Duke, who exhausts once a turn. Lose this and it’s not game over, because you have Duke; and lose this less, because you’re testing with it less often. Because you have Duke.

Best out-class fits: Tommy, Daniela, Vincent

This is a tougher look for these three investigators, but all have a plausible reasons to take Baseball Bat. For Tommy, it’s a cheap and valid placeholder for his similarly two-handed signature; for Daniela, it pushes her to a base-7 combat (like Hank) but you’ll probably want to run Bandolier to make room for her wrench. Does Vincent like it? He might, if he’s running Jessica Hyde as well (and he should be), but losing those hand slots is definitely going to hurt.

In the beginning, this meant investigators could (once a turn) pretend like they actually took a draw action whenever they failed a test. Then came cards that let you retake tests (while still triggering this) . . . gain even more cards and resources from failing tests (while still triggering this) . . . heck, the game even came out with an investigator who gets another action from failing tests, while still triggering this. Rabbit’s Foot makes risky tests worth it, which helps players win the game and makes the game more fun.

Best in-class fits: Calvin, Bob, Stella

While failing tests is just what early-scenario Calvin does, Stella outright wants to fail them. Flub a mythos test, draw a card and take four actions on her turn. Disgusting. Is early campaign Bob even better for this? He gets fun rogue accessories eventually, but that base-4 intellect is just begging for some risky token pulls. Get this down with Bob’s bonus action, whiff on a few intellect tests over a few turns, fill your hand with more items for the team. Seems playable.

Best out-class fits: Jim, Minh, Preston

These are a little riskier, but two (Minh and Preston) have unrestricted access to failure tech, which makes combos with cards like Keep Faith and Drawing Thin totally plausible. Minh also used to have this thing where she could commit Rabbit’s Foot, trigger her power to make it an Unexpected Courage, and then immediately recur it with Scavenging. As for Jim, his optimal play style usually involves just going for it, which this somewhat rewards. Fills a much needed accessory slot for him, sadly.

So, what if Disc of Itzamna took up an ally slot? And was easier to trigger, and cost less money? Stray Cat is pretty slept on, especially for survivors who aren’t really equipped to handle random enemies—and if there’s some worry about a clue-gathering survivor missing their ally slot, well, the roster isn’t exactly deep for that side of things (yeah, Lawrence Carlisle exists now, but for the sake of the previous sentence, let’s pretend he doesn’t).

Best in-class fits: Yorick, Darrell, George, Wendy

There’s a case for an against Yorick, and whether he wants this recur-able asset when he’d much rather have allies that help him kill stuff good. Maybe? It’s cheap, and it gives him more flexibility when dealing with enemies. Darrell is a no-brainer; he doesn’t need an ally to do his job, but does need something to help with unexpected company. And then there’s George, who’s probably playing various discard tech and can either play this as monster insurance, or get out of it and profit.

WAIT future writer here, disregard that whole thing about Yorick, because Wendy can use this to trigger all of her “when you evade an enemy” tech in rogue. Sick. Okay, you can keep reading now.

Best out-class fits: Jenny, Minh, Vincent

Again, less optimal outside of survivor. There are situations where all three of these investigators can use Stray Cat decently enough. Jenny likes flexing into later-game fighting, as long as she’s running her Dunwich signatures; this gets her out of some early-game trouble. This also triggers “when you evade” tech, like Pickpocket or Dirty Fighting—ah hell, Wendy should be in the above paragraph. One second . . . there, fixed. As for Minh and Vincent, this doesn’t cut into their splash too much and gives them an out when they’d really rather not engage an enemy.

Willpower and agility are the defensive stats. Hey look, a card that boosts willpower and agility . . . in a class that runs (sometimes literally) empty and can barely scrape together the buy-in. That’s mostly a joke at this point, because honestly, modern survivors have Lawrence Carlisle resource-generating options now, so this is becoming more and more playable by the cycle.

Best in-class fits: Wendy, Patrice, Bob

Two investigators with access to rogue resource generation, and one with access to her Violin and Lawrence Carlisle. The use case is simple: enough resources to get (in Standard) two-up on every mythos test, and four-up on crucial tests. Don’t let the mythos phase get you down . . . would be a great slogan for Bob, right?

Best out-class fits: Rex, Jenny, Preston

All three can run rich, which is kind of a prerequisite for pulling off a card like this. And while Rex and Jenny both have respectable defensive stats (3 for both, for both), Preston can use this as insurance to hike either skill to a 5, no questions asked. Minh is another consideration, but she has better ways of juicing her skills.

Dynamite Blast, but in Survivor? The difference: there are always a few moments, each scenario, where everyone realizes how perfect Dynamite Blast would be, and regrets not having access to it. There might be a moment each campaign where that applies to Cunning Distraction. It doesn’t always save actions. It doesn’t usually solve a major problem. If this card was printed today, it might prevent non-elite enemies from readying during the ensuing upkeep phase. And even then, it would only feel good if you were evading at least three enemies.

That said: it does work on elites, and in higher player counts, there is an enemy-management build that leans into agility, for better or worse. This fits into that. Mostly.

Best in-class fits: Wendy, Patrice

Ugh. Again, getting past that resource cost is the real killer here. I don’t even feel comfortable adding Bob, who just has better things to do with his money. Wendy, at least, can build up to this; and Patrice might occasionally want it for the effect, but is more often looking at those icons and thinking “yeah, that’s something.”

Best out-class fits: Zoey, Minh, Preston

By the time Jenny needs to use this, she’s probably rocking her Twin .45s, and has most of her resources tied into killin’, so let’s leave her off here. We’re left with Minh, who can run rich and is totally okay to use this as a support card; Preson, who does run rich and thrives on automatic success; and Zoey, who might just need a damn second to reload this gun, thanks. As someone who can’t evade, loves to get swarmed, and can just throw this on Stick to the Plan, Zoey might actually be the best call here. She even gets a boatload of resources back once the enemies all re-engage her, somewhat offsetting the cost. Yeah, this is probably a Zoey card. Weird.

Turning a failed investigation into two clues is pretty wild, even before factoring in cards like Take Heart and Live and Learn. The dual intellect icons even make this playable in true solo, where most locations only have one clue (making this slightly worse than Lucky). The coolest thing about this card: just like Deduction summons the auto-fail on a remarkably consistent basis, Look What I Found has an uncanny ability to summon the +1. Just a little party trick to show off among friends.

Best in-class fits: George, Stella

There are others too, but only one has a clear and obvious synergies—Stella, because she tacks on another free action. George maybe makes sense here too, because he’s investigating anyway, and has decent use for this outside actually playing it (Crystallizer of Dreams George? Is that a thing?). Otherwise, almost anyone who wants to splash clue-getting (Rita, Silas) or lean into it fully (Wendy, Bob) can use this pretty effectively, because it effectively guarantees clue acceleration in low-shroud locations. Except for that party trick.

Best out-class fits: Zoey, Preston, Carson

Again, a lot of investigators don’t mind splashing this, especially if they’re low in intellect and want to guarantee some clues. These three definitely fit that category and (usually) have the resources to not really care about the resource cost. I also considered Jim, but I find that he usually runs pretty close to broke; and Minh, but her respectably high intellect makes this a bit of a headache to pull off reliably.

Flipping a failure into a success for a single resource is something other classes dream about. In the same way mystics with Ward of Protection hem and haw about treachery cards, survivors can decide whether they want to actually fail a test . . . just, without the drawback. Pretty sick.

Meanwhile, Rogue has a slightly better version of this card, but it costs 3XP and double the resources. Poor rogue.

As a warning: Lucky has big “um, actually” potential, for those times when a less-experienced teammate pulls the auto-fail, but those instances are few and far between. In reality, Lucky becomes a security blanket that gives most players permission to let loose in the best possible way. “Why is Jenny taking all these tests at even—oh.” A huge win, just for the fun factor.

Best Worst in-class fits: Wendy, Patrice, Stella

There really isn’t a bad answer here. That said, a few investigators don’t really make as much sense for Lucky. Patrice, for instance, can’t hold this in hand or commit it, so it becomes a lot less useful for her; Stella might actually want to fail, limiting the use cases for her a tiny bit; and Wendy simply has other ways of mitigating skill test luck. Would it still make sense to run Lucky in these three? Yeah, maybe.

Best out-class fits: Jim, Jenny, Tommy

The first two investigators are just not very strong, because of their flat stat lines. Enter Lucky, a card that gives Jim permission to care about his investigator ability. Jenny probably likes this a little less, but especially in the early game, needs all the help she can get. As for Tommy, any build with Becky gets him to a combat-6, which is firmly in good-not-great territory. This is actually pretty clutch for him.

Skill cards with a single icon don’t really cut it, unless it has a good effect. Eureka doesn’t get played because it helps pass tests; it gets played for that sweet, sweet filtered card draw.

Survival Instinct has an effect, and while it’s very helpful when needed, those times are . . . not common. The enemies that cause the most issues are usually hunters; this evades one of them, but gives the rest permission to hunt you down on the enemy phase.

What about the free move action? That’s probably the better use for this.

Best in-class fits: Wendy, Rita, Stella

Who can evade enemies and might actually want to get away from them, too? How about survivors with a base-4 (or better) agility and questionable fighting ability. That rules out everyone except these three, and while it doesn’t synergize great with Stella or Wendy, Rita might actually gets some mileage out of it—especially if she can trigger her ability for a second free move, effectively skipping across half the map for free. “We have Nimble at home” kind of thing.

Best out-class fits: Minh, Finn

Same criteria as above. Minh gets a slight pass because she gets an extra icon, and definitely doesn’t want to be engaging enemies; Finn is another obvious answer, as long as he’s not going to be expected to deal with them later. Not a game-breaking card for either, but good enough in theory to deserve some consideration.

Aquinnah is just way too expensive for what she does, which is, she prevents up to four enemy attacks—but only the damage side of things—as long as there’s another enemy at the location. The good news: there isn’t an “elite” clause, so Aquinnah can redirect boss damage elsewhere. The bad: the investigator controlling her still take the horror, and more importantly, it costs five resources to put her down. To date, Aquinnah remains the third most expensive ally in the game, behind Leo de Luca and Agency Backup. For such a situational power, that’s rough.

Best in-class fits: Wendy, Yorick

So, here’s the use case: there’s a survivor with a lot of money, low health, high sanity, and some expectation to deal with enemies. They’ll also want ally healing to get extra uses of Aquinnah’s power, especially against bosses, or some form of Aquinnah recursion. That rules out pretty much everyone.

Let’s quietly shout Wendy, who can at least afford Aquinnah in theory (rich Wendy makes no sense thematically, but whatever) and Yorick, whose access to guardian gives him tools like Inspiring Presence (readies and heals allies), Soothing Melody (heals allies), and Trusted (basically heals allies).

Best out-class fits: Daniela, Tommy, Agnes

Daniela, even though she can’t really afford it, might be the best home for Aquinnah. She’ll be taking enemy shots, dealing damage back, and has access to all those guardian cards mentioned above. Unlike Tommy, who is a much more awkward fit, she also doesn’t need the combat boost. Tommy would prefer a stat boost of some kind, and hates this with Rookie Mistake, but is usually cost-neutral with this, so he gets to begrudgingly keep his spot there.

Does Agnes like this? With what money? She’ll also be strapped for cash, but she also doesn’t need the boost and checks most of the other boxes (and doesn’t mind taking the horror direct). Maybe if your Peter Sylvester cards are missing or damaged.

It’s amazing, that jump from 1XP to 2XP. There’s always that point between scenarios, where a single point of unspent experience burns a hole in the campaign guide, and suddenly everyone has Magnifying Glass (1) and Leo de Luca (1).

The point here: fully solving a (non-Elite) enemy by evading them is pretty ideal, so why doesn’t this see much play? It’s probably the buy-in. Make Close Call slightly cheaper to play, and it becomes a pretty viable toolbox option for evade-oriented survivors. Make it slightly less expensive, and it sneaks into more decks. Right now, though, those limits make it pretty unappealing—outside a few fun combo options.

Best in-class fits: Wendy, Rita, Silas

So: who can evade, doesn’t have an asset-heavy loadout (that requires lots of resources), and wants to deal with enemies? Rita has to be the best shout, right? She’s ready to go without any allies whatsoever, as long as there’s some kind of way to soak horror, so playing this with On Your Own play is super viable. This also feels good for Wendy, who should have a few resources to spare, and Silas, as a toolbox card against annoying enemies. He’ll be able to afford it, too.

Best out-class fits: Minh, Preston, Daniela

Not ideal for the first two, but there’s that clause about “at your location” . . . which means you don’t have to be the one evading. In Minh’s case. Preston has in-class synergy with evasion; being able to pop Decoy into Close Call is a pretty nifty way to buy an enemy off the board. And then there’s Daniela, the far and away best user of Close Call. Any enemy who punches her can simply get Close Call-ed into oblivion, because they’re automatically evaded as a result.

The difference between 1XP and 2XP rears its head again. Upgrading Lucky, one of the best cards in your deck, should feel a bit like upgrading Magnifying Glass: it’s something to do with that spare XP at the bottom of the box. But at 2XP per card, this becomes a tough ask. Does minimal card draw matter that much? To whom?

Best in-class fits: Wendy, Ashcan

Bob likes card draw, but he’s locked out of this, so the only “optimal” in-class option here is Wendy. She can, at least, replay this from her discard pile with her amulet and can utilize the card draw better than pretty much any other survivor. Maybe Pete can use the additional card to ready Duke? That’s a decent shout, too, but more of a luxury option.

Best out-class fits: Minh, Daniela

There’s a near-broken Dream Diary—Grisly Totem (3) Minh deck that does the big hand Harvey thing, but way, way better. Lucky (0) isn’t actually the best card for that build, because you’re really not planning to fail many tests . . . but Lucky (2) stays in your hand until needed, and bakes in some card draw. That’s a good shout. No one else cares about this, expect maybe Daniela, if she’s being precious with her limited level-0 survivor splash.

Pay four resources, set up the most blessed turns. This card is even more powerful than it looks, as revised art Stella might remind us, because it’s less about “you’ll pass three tests” and more “you’ll get to trigger whatever you want, all turn long.” Throw in a Manual Dexterity and an Unrelenting to a skill test, draw three cards. Throw Resourceful, get Unrelenting back. Fail a test on purpose as Stella, play Live and Learn from hand, get a bonus action off a guaranteed success. That’s before any rogue action shenanigans.

Best in-class fits: Wendy, Silas, Stella

The biggest barrier is the resource cost, which makes this a tough buy for Yorick, for instance. Wendy can run a little more rich (enough to play this from her discard, in some cases), and Silas is usually a little more skill-heavy; both of them can afford this. And then there’s Stella, rightly featured on the revised art, who can design an entire deck around this thanks to all the failure tech survivor has.

To wit: fail the first action with Take Heart, Unrelenting, and Rabbit’s Foot, draw five cards and gain two resources; trigger Live and Learn to actually pass that test, with Resourceful to get Relentless back . . . it just gets sillier from there.

Most 3XP allies have two stat boosts. Aquinnah (3) has . . . nothing. So the investigator running her needs to do their job without help, and their job will almost certainly be killin’ stuff, because they’re investing this much XP and money into enemy management. That makes Aquinnah (3) a pretty niche investment, but the upgrade is huge: enemies can attack themselves! That makes this a build-around card, and a few investigators can actually make this work.

Best in-class fits: Yorick, Hank

To build around Aquinnah (3) requires guardian access—especially Inspiring Presence, which lets them get up to pretty exceptional attack-of-opportunity tomfoolery. Hank doesn’t have the same access as Yorick, but he’s better equipped to fight without an ally stat boost, and has ways of soaking the horror.

Best “out-class” fit: Daniela

Obviously. She has ways to mitigate horror (Flesh Ward), ways to buff and heal Aquinnah (Trusted, Hallowed Mirror), to ready her (Inspiring Presence), and to replay her from discard (A Chance Encounter), or just to get her back to hand (Resourceful). Daniela is also very able and willing to provoke attacks with her wrench, loves getting attacked, and has no need for an ally that boosts combat. There’s truly no better fit than this.

Survivor doesn’t have a lot of places to put XP, but this still seems expensive: five combined XP and resources to flip a test on its head. That’s Sure Gamble, which isn’t a widely played card, but in Survivor, a class with Lucky.

The differences: it’s more situational than Sure Gamble (you can’t just lose by a few), but Eucatastrophe can mitigate the auto-fail, and it triggers your Elder Sign . . . yeah, this is better. Well, depending. Who can play this to its full potential?

Best in-class fits: Wendy, Yorick, Silas

Wendy is here without the taboo, which prevents her from recurring this with her Amulet. Even then, for an Unexpected Courage into an Amulet play, it’s pretty cool. Yorick and Silas have sick Elder Sign abilities, but the latter likes it a little better; he gets to pick the very best skill card effect, apply it, and return it to hand. He’ll also be hitting 0 willpower pretty regularly on treacheries. Pretty unreal, even with the taboo.

George was another consideration, because of the two wild icons, but he probably isn’t dropping 6XP into bizarro Unexpected Courage.

Best out-class fits: Matteo

It’s blessed, so Matteo—who has one of the best Elder Signs in the game—can take it. This effectively gives him a second way to mitigate the auto-fail, which is pretty darned powerful, and with Matteo’s stat line, any of his stats falling to 0 is actually pretty likely.

Most weapons that don’t come with a damage boost are considered relatively pointless. Nothing bogs down a scenario faster than wasting actions punching for single points of damage; at best, this does that (costing two actions and a resource to do two points of damage). There’s the +1 combat bonus on a generic swing, but pretty much everyone who cares about boosting their combat has access to way better weaponry.

Best fits: Yorick, Dexter

Put it this way: a Dexter deck with Knife isn’t fully optimized, but it can be pretty fun. He effectively nullifies the resource cost and action with his power, can use it to remove an asset with doom, and doesn’t mind swinging at a combat-5 for two damage. And then there’s the Yorick thing, which is well-documented: Knife discards before the action completes, so it becomes a target for his recursion effect.

Kudos to the design team for creating a basic investigation asset that’s pretty much nothing like the basic combat asset. Guess who still considers Flashlight in their 0XP deck? Like, everyone. Because it reduces shroud, anyone can turn a location with 2 or less shroud into a near-automatic clue. Weirdly, that makes this almost more valuable for investigators with poor intellect; she’s not hitting those higher locations anyway, but Daniela can sure chip in when that shroud hits zero.

Best fits: Bob

Rita doesn’t need hand items. Between this and a few agility-based clue events, she can clue for your team, no problem. Her intellect is 2. So let’s shout out Bob, who can donate his Flashlight to whoever wants it, whenever makes sense.

Good tips for first-time players: take Guts, and rarely (if ever) click for a resource. Just take Emergency Cache instead. This is such a beautifully simple, no-frills baseline card that does exactly what it says. There aren’t any skill icons, and most classes have a better resource option at this point . . . but all of them were, have been, and will be evaluated against “is this better than an action for an unconditional three resources?” Beautiful design.

Best fits: Lola

This is still a good card in Lola, who probably deserves some love at some point. Guess who can play this? Lola can. Whenever she wants, in whatever role she’s in.

An aside: in a campaign with two relatively new players, both suggested removing Guts between the first and second scenario. After being advised not to cut Guts after all, both kept them in deck . . . and were able to clutch important tests with it. Two more Guts believers? Uh.

Anyway: this is the most ubiquitous basic skill card, and should go into every new player’s starting deck. They won’t understand why they need it, but they will.

Best use cases: mystic spells, the mythos phase

The only time to not using Guts defensively, more or less: while dabbling in mystic spell tech (or the occasional parley). And while the best mystics seem to all start at a base-5 willpower, there’s no harm in digging through your deck faster with a card that buffs the only stat you care about.

Perception is a totally usable tool for anyone expected to investigate with intellect. Where it really shines, though: decks that prioritize clue acquisition, deck cycling, and full hands. Most seekers like this card, but seekers doing any of the above—like Minh, Mandy, and Harvey—should almost always include two of these. They’re always going to pop off.

Best use cases: archetypes, stacking bonuses

Beyond big hand deck-looping, there are a few cards that reward stacking intellect bonuses: Research Notes, Feed the Mind, Burglary . . . and notably Archaic Glyphs (Guiding Stones), which allows seekers with a high enough intellect to wipe locations in a single action. If playing any of those cards, it probably makes sense to run Perception as well.

Perception enables big swings and wild archetypes. Overpower helps you not mess it up. And while the class with the most use cases for Perception already have card draw, and it just feeds the beast, most fighters are typically starved for it. This solves problems in a lot of ways, and even in killing machines like Tony, is rarely a bad thing to see.

Best use cases: card draw relief, stacking bonuses

There are cards that reward over-success on combat, but that’s not why Overpower goes into fighter decks. It’s there because maybe punching this rat at a combat-7 will get me the card draw that patches over an awful mulligan. And honestly, that’s okay.

Here’s the thing: any card that replaces itself effectively shrinks your deck size. So really, anyone who can reliably pass an agility test will be happy to see and play Manual Dexterity—but it’s not as reliable as Guts because simply, there aren’t enough agility tests on encounter cards. Not a bad card by any stretch, but it’s more reliable as agility insurance and deck-thinning.

Best use cases: over-success

The good news for Man Dex is that rogues—the agility faction—cares the most about over-success, so ironically, anyone with an agility of 5 can start to really lean into that archetype. There’s a real chance the best use case for this is as fodder for succeed-by decks that want to cycle skills. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

How many times has another card been scrutinized for being “usually just an Unexpected Courage.” Hey man, that’s not terrible. If a skill card is worse than this, though, it needs to have a great ability. Unexpected Courage is a great card for smaller card pools and newer players, but the lack of deck cycling makes it a tough look for more focused deck builds.

Best use-cases: flex and support investigators

Minh can add a +3 to anyone’s test. That’s something. For mortal investigators, the best use case might be when they don’t need to dig for cards and are happy to help whoever needs it . . . because the drawback of card draw linked to success is, well, they’re eventually going to end up committing that Guts to a failed Hail Mary test, and that feels awful. Investigators doen’t expect to get anything from chipping in with an Unexpected Courage. Pure altruism, baby.

There are a few things going for Bulletproof Vest. Significantly, it takes up a slot that still doesn’t have too much competition, 10+ cycles into the game, especially because the classes that are most desperate for damage soak (seeker and mystic) have the most niche body slot options. Guess what’s not niche? Not dying. It’s also a valid one-of in a deck, because most investigators won’t need it until they’ve seen most of their cards.

Best use-cases: so, you’ve taken physical trauma

Investigators with 5 health are: Daisy, Sefina, Luke, Sister Mary, Amina, Hank, and Gloria . . . I could see a few of them springing for this if things go sour in the first few scenarios, and physical trauma becomes a thing. It happens, especially when your health is so low to begin with. It’s also worth thinking about pairing this with Lonnie Ritter, who can fix it up as needed, but there aren’t too many scenarios where Bulletproof Vest makes sense alongside a combat-boosting ally. Ironically.

Unlike Bulletproof Vest, the Elder Sign Amulet takes up the accessory slot—and unlike the body slot, classes more susceptible to horror (guardian, rogue) have wildly good accessories at this point. Still a totally valid purchase if an investigator is struggling with sanity, but they’ll probably want to account for that earlier on.

One tick in its favour: Relic Hunter. There is a way to get another accessory online, if you’re really worried about it.

Best use-cases: so, you’ve taken mental trauma

Investigators with 5 sanity are: Roland, Ashcan, Mark, Rita, Tony, Silas, Hank, and Michael. Roland might be the clearest target for this, because his weakness will absolutely hit at the wrong time. Would he rather just run Grete Wagner, who he can actually heal? Probably.

At some point, there’s going to be this stacked, high XP deck that somehow still has a pair of basic Emergency Caches in it . . . and hey, this adds a card draw, which is usually nice. Most investigators don’t care about these before their deck is effectively complete, though.

Best use cases: Big Hand + Farsight decks

The biggest issue with Farsight is that, by the time you have it online, you’re running a little low on cash. And while most experienced players would suggest upgrading Cryptic Writings instead, this . . . can often be better? With Farsight, this becomes a fast action that replaces itself (helpful for deck looping) and tops up your resources. You know what isn’t a fast action? Cryptic Writing (2), a card you’re somehow guaranteed to draw during upkeep.

Allies are still maybe the most important deck slot option. They usually buff a character’s stats or add a crucial ability, always something significant . . . and soak damage and horror as needed. And that’s before investigators like Leo, Tommy, and Charlie, who have even more incentive to run a bunch of allies at the same time. The other thing pushing Charisma over the top: there are enough low-cost allies with good-to-great abilities, so even resource-strapped classes will be able to make use of the extra slot.

Best fits: Leo, Tommy, Charlie

These should be pretty obvious. Leo and Tommy want to cycle allies, and it’s always a little frustrating when they have to juggle between them. Charlie, who already gets three additional ally slots, might not care quite as much. Is it better to upgrade into better allies, or more slots for them? Gut instinct suggests it’s the former, making this a more late-campaign purchase for the dude on the card.

Did you know you can have two Lucky Cigarette Cases out at the same time? It’s true! Same with Grisly Totem! And Grotesque Statue! A lot of the best assets in the game are accessories, a lot of the best accessories in the game are not unique, and most players run two of each for consistency. That second Leo de Luca is a book icon, friend. That second Rabbit’s Foot is even more reason to blow an evasion attempt.

Best use cases: you’re playing a rogue

This is good in mystic, too, where willpower bonuses stack, but it’s almost mandatory in the faction that has the aforementioned Lucky Cigarette Case. And Eon Chart. And Crystallizer of Dreams, although that’s more of a build-around. And Garrote Wire, if you’re Tony. It’s not ridiculous to run two Relic Hunters in a Tony deck that included LCC and Garotte Wire.