Working a Hunch

By now, everyone with the Edge of the Earth player cards has encountered at least a few killer guardian upgrades that, tragically, Daniela cannot take. This was especially maddening when Guard Dog (2) dropped in the Scarlet Keys, a card so tailor-made to Daniela that it genuinely feels like the developers forgot her deck-building restrictions during play-testing.

To recap: it provokes attacks, triggering Daniela’s ability (like her wrench). It returns damage, mimicking her ability. It even has willpower and combat icons! If there was a Daniela Reyes ally asset, it would probably have the exact same text. Maybe with a combat boost.

There are others, too. For instance: Shield of Faith (2), which cancels up to five attacks. And yes, this can be run beside Daniela (it applies to investigators at the controller’s location), but would be so much better under her control, moving around the board with her. Alas

The difference between Guard Dog (2) and Shield of Faith (2) is, well, one of them is an ally asset; the other is a spell asset. This is especially relevant when applied to a sneaky-good Daniela card from way back in the Dunwich Legacy Deluxe Expansion: Teamwork!

For those who forget, Teamwork lets two investigators at the same location swap any number of item assets, ally assets, or resources. It sees pretty minimal play, though, because it requires significant planning and synergy between multiple decks, something that’s tricky to pull off at the best of times.

What other high-level guardian assets does Daniela want?

1. A real weapon. Daniela lacks the same firepower as other guardians because she can’t upgrade out of her basic level-0 knives and guns. The best fit is probably Survival Knife (2), from Return to the Forgotten Age, which lets Daniela fight for two free points of damage during the enemy phase. That’s not to say she doesn’t like Flamethrower (5) or Cyclopean Hammer (5). But either way: she can’t take them.
2. A way to extreme-tank. There are basic, good options like Handcuffs (2), a great upgrade to an already-good card. But the saddest non-Daniela card is probably Martyr’s Vambrace, which gives you unlimited uses of “I’ll Handle This!” (just, with a +1 skill boost instead of a +2). With a 2/2 soak, it would allow Daniela to tank enemies and willpower treacheries off the encounter deck, something she’d rather do anyway.
3. Herself as an ally asset, Guard Dog (3). There are other good guardian allies, but this is the best one for Daniela by a country mile.

Let’s go with those three: Survival Knife (2), Martyr’s Vambrace (3), and Guard Dog (2). With them, Daniela becomes an unstoppable mythos tank, dealing ridiculous off-turn damage and eating every bad treachery in the game.

In other words, this requires a second guardian (or off-class guardian, for cowards who don’t want to shoot the moon with the Vambrace). Carolyn would be an obvious choice in 2P here, as someone who can protect our sanity pool and clue on the side, but she can’t get us access to higher level guardian weaponry. Remember: the other guardian doesn’t need to fight anything or deal with any mythos cards, if they don’t want to. So who’s pretty ho-hum at everything and can actually lean into guardian clue getting?

The answer here is pretty obvious: Roland, Wilson, or (extremely speculatively) Marion. Roland is probably the best option, given his access to seeker, but there’s a case for all three. Let’s take a look.

The Case for Roland: he’s a 3-intellect guardian with a seeker subclass, which gives him access to clue acceleration and myriad intellect buffs. For Teamwork to go off, he’ll need to float enough cash to support his clue-finding build, which actually isn’t that hard; even two one-resource magnifying glasses get him to a respectable 5-intellect, good enough for basic investigate tests. He can also take some minor shroud-reduction tech, like Map the Area, which will help (this will become clear in a moment).

Can Daniela give him anything in return? Yes, actually; unlike Wilson, whose survivor clue-finding assets are mostly tools, Roland gets new access to Mariner’s Compass (2), Old Keyring (3), and Nautical Charts. And while he can’t use most of them as well as Wilson, that doesn’t necessarily matter in shroud-reduction scenarios, which makes Matchbox a pretty sweet combo piece. It’ll probably help if Daniela can reduce a shroud or two for him, too.

Cards Daniela should take to support Roland: Old Keyring (3), Matchbox, Breach the Door

The Case for Wilson: he’s a 3-intellect guardian with access to tools, and a stat buff when using them. The issue here is mostly resource-generation; for Wilson to play all three of those Daniela-friendly pieces, he’ll need seven resources in addition to whatever tools he needs. Those are expensive! That said, things like Lockpicks (1), Nautical Charts (with card draw), and Fingerprint Kit (with resource generation) get him enough tempo to pull his weight.

Can Daniela take anything that Wilson wants? Yes: Crafty. The perfect Wilson-enabling card, giving him a discount to all tool cards and a buff when playing them what do you *mean* it’s not transferable with Teamwork ugh. Honestly, this is the biggest knock against a Wilson play: he only really wants tool assets, and he can already access tools. That said, Breach the Door remains relevant. Let’s add Schoffner’s Catalogue, too, to thank Wilson for his time.

Cards Daniela should take to support Richard: Breach the Door, Schoffner’s Catalogue

The Case for Marion: she’s a 3-intellect guardian with access to level-0 survivor cards like Look What I Found, Shed a Light, Matchbox, and Old Keyring, which makes the shroud-reduction thing a real option. She’s also an event-based investigator, so (in theory) she won’t lose as much tempo as Roland or Wilson while doing her thing. Take Lesson Learned (2), for instance, which nets her two clues after taking damage, and as long as it’s on her turn, nets her a card and an additional event play.

Can Daniela take anything that Marion wants? Only to ease pressure off her limited splash, really; Marion can play most of the level-0 survivor cards Daniela would otherwise be able to lend her. That said, any shroud reduction will go pretty hard, and Marion can’t get Old Keyring (3) without Teamwork.

Cards Daniela should take to support Marion: Old Keyring (3), Matchbox, Breach the Door

And then, there’s the real key to the Mecha-Daniela support play: with access to level-5 guardian, Roland and Marion both get access to Michael Leigh (5), an ally with some awkward guardian synergy: it’s only when you investigate successfully that you get to add bonus damage. That doesn’t include “discover clues,” so Roland’s ability doesn’t even trigger him . . . but now that we’re turning these two into investigating machines, they’ll actually be able to use Michael’s ability. Neat!

All that to say: the best possible partner for Mecha-Daniela is probably Roland, with Marion as a clear second-best, and Wilson for vibes (the mechanic and the handyman would be a pretty cool team-up).