Dark Horse

Здобуток

Condition.

Cost: –. XP: 5.

Вцілілий

Permanent. Limit 1 per deck.

During the upkeep phase, you may choose to not gain resources.

While you have no resources in your resource pool, you get +1 , +1 , +1 , and +1 .

Stanislav Dikolenko
The Feast of Hemlock Vale Investigator Expansion #127.
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FAQs

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Reviews

I think this is essentially an S-tier card, easily worth the 5 XP cost of admission and should be considered for a first campaign purchase/upgrade on most Dark Horse decks. Comparing to the original (most of these points are overlapping, but I think there's distinct points for each):

  • It doesn't cost resources. The 3 resource cost of the original is fairly steep for a deck designed around keeping resources at 0. With this you only need to focus on having resource for other assets you want to play, hugely simplifying the design of decks which take this.

  • You don't have to play it. Playing a card costs an action, so given Dark Horse decks are lean and tempo-focused saving an action is always nice.

  • You don't have to find it. Similar to the above, Dark Horse decks want it in play as early as possible. Dark Horse itself however is not readily tutorable (Mr. "Rook", Eureka!, Captivating Discovery and Friends in Low Places all spring to mind, but can all miss as well either come with their own costs or at a minimum take up deck space) and while the class does have good card draw (Take Heart, Drawing Thin, At a Crossroads, Unrelenting) it's never going to be infallible. Having it there and ready to combo off is the biggest selling point by far.

  • The stat boosts activate very early. It's worth saying you can online that +1 all stat boost from your very first turn with just a couple of assets (e.g. Mariner's Compass and Madame Labranche for example). Equally common resources sinks like Fire Axe make getting the universal +1 trivial in your first few turns.

  • Permanent protects it from asset discarding treacheries. Everyone has had a moment where Crypt Chill has discarded something useful I'm sure. With this being a permanent card it's safe, which is great given its high XP cost and importance to this archetype of deck.

  • EDIT: Good point from the below comments - it saves deck space. Level 0 Dark Horse takes up two cards in your deck, while this takes up none. With the pressures around deck building these days, it's definitely a nice feature.

All of this sets the card up as dramatically better than the original and a huge leap forward for the 0 resource archetype. In addition to Dark Horse staples (things like Mariner's Compass, Fire Axe, Madame Labranche and Schoffner's Catalogue - check out the level 0 Dark Horse page for wider interactions and more possible combos) I would say the addition of 1 resource masks in Hemlock Vale (Sparrow Mask and then off-class Mouse Mask, Fox Mask and Wolf Mask, ignoring Cat Mask because it's niche) and potentially the 1 resource Matchbox depending on your needs are all good ideas. Hemlock Vale also added in the pretty great Fire Axe •• and the pretty medium Mariner's Compass •• to boot.

All in all, I think everyone would love to play an investigator with +1 to all stats, and permanent Dark Horse allows you to do just that - potentially from your very first turn and without any install costs. It's a very, very good card!

HungryColquhoun · 7296
...Until you need to buy somethin. — MrGoldbee · 1443
Very true, but that's where genius deckbuilding comes in. See, you put cards in the deck that give you enough resources to buy the things you want, but not too many. I know, I too was surprised when I first heard it - but it's true! — HungryColquhoun · 7296
Also something important to note, is that when 5xp can seem like a lot, it is actually like 2.5xp if you were to upgrade 2 copies of Dark Horse. From this perspective, it feels a lot more affordable. One thing though, is that even if stat boosts are important, Dark Horse decks are usually struggling with Tempo, especially with Fire Axe. But with Long Shot in the box, that should be better now. — Valentin1331 · 67398
Very true Valentin, I didn't think of it like that! I suppose now I'd be inclined never to use base Dark Horse, because if Dark Horse (5) is your first purchase then it arrives early in the campaign (and getting Dark Horse to work well in your first few scenarios is situational). That's probably more of a 'me' approach to that problem, I'm sure a lot of people will still take the level 0 version. — HungryColquhoun · 7296
How is the "Fire Axe" upgrade pretty great and the one for "Mariner's Compase" medium? I value the unexhaust on a fail more than the fast for 2 XP, even though on a weapon it means, you can play it without AoO. Of your bullet points, I think, they are all true, but there is an additional one, you forgot: you also save two deck slots with the upgrades and can even replace your 2 level 0 DH with other level 0 cards for free, because the "Limit 1 per deck" forces you to remove them. — Susumu · 362
Good point on the deck space, I'll add that it in a moment. And for me the upgrade is just a bit expensive - you could just use two level 0 Mariner's Compass and get a similar effect. I think if it was level 1 I would like it more. — HungryColquhoun · 7296
5 exp version is permanent. When I upgrade it from 0exp version, what I need to do with my deck? Delete 0exp dark horse and get any card 0 level? — Rentgen · 1
@Rentgen you get to replace the level 0 card with a new level 0 card, apologies for the slow response! — HungryColquhoun · 7296