Blackjack

Blackjack

In Innsmouth engaging enemies is punishing - I've seen guardians get dangerously low just from that. This long ignored weapon might just be good there as a backup weapon to get those fish off your clue getters.

Erdjo · 328
Interesting! — MrGoldbee · 1493
Blackjack (2) has long been fantastic as a backup weapon for Fighters or a main weapon for Flex in 3&4 player games where enemies are just statistically more likely to be on a friend's face rather than your own. — Death by Chocolate · 1484
Nailed it. Cannot say enough good things about Blackjack (2) in Innsmouth. — EmmeBGG · 15

Combat Training

Combat Training

IMO this card is almost unrunnable. Between the fact that guardians have very little horror soak and the general fact that these composures are too fragile and the effect not good enough, I honestly don't see any deck that would want this. Compare it to Scrapper (a card that's not even considered to be very good), for 1xp more you could have a permanent one of these. You will miss the 1 horror soak, but it drastically outweighs the problem of having to find and then pay for this card, only for it to discard itself. The one investigator that might actually want this, William Yorick, can use Scrapper, which as I said above is much better.

jonklin · 515
I haven’t included this card in any recent decks and I agree that it’s probably not the best. Level 3 Scrapper really outclasses it in most areas, although level 3 Scrapper is limited on Taboo playthroughs at the time of this writing. I think that the saving grace of Combat Training is that it’s fast, meaning you can save it in your hand until you hit a big combat/evade test on your turn, then play it and use it. It’s not really intended to be a permanent thing. Diana Stanley doesn’t have access to Scrapper, but a money-focused Diana could combine this card and Arcane Studies to pay to boost all 4 stats, which is kind of nice. So, while this card has some niche uses, I don’t think it’s unplayable. Of the “condition” cards, I think “Grounded” is a bit worse than “Combat Training,” at least. — ArkhamInvestigator · 313
How many guardians even test agility regularly? I tend to think it's the stat as a guardian you can ignore. You deal with monsters — bee123 · 31
* by killing them or using spells or stray cats or whatever. And you're in the class best equipped to soak the odd agility treachery. So I don't think it's worth the deck slot for agility pay-to-win and in terms of what else it does, there are so many better ways available to soak horror or boost combat. It just seems so weak... — bee123 · 31
I think, Tommy may also want this. He could play repeatedly, since this card is shuffled in his deck instead of discarding. fast is also good. — elkeinkrad · 497
Tommy's probably pretty happy with it: fast, "free" horror soak on a low sanity gator is good. If you're in carcosa or tcu it's probably decent, but i think other campaigns the teddy is all you need. — SGPrometheus · 847

"Fool me once..."

"Fool me once..."

A beautiful synergy with Diana Stanley:

Her Twilight Blade allows her to re-play events and skills from under her - however the blade explicitly states that the card cannot then go back under Diana when "playing or committing a card in this way". However, the cancellation effect of "Fool me once..." does not happen during the play action - it happens at a later stage, when a subsequent copy of that treachery is drawn, meaning you can trigger Diana's again at this point!

This means you can infinitely recur this card in the following steps:

  1. You resolve the effects of a treachery.
  2. You play "Fool me once..." to put it into your play area.
  3. A copy of that treachery is drawn and therefore is cancelled, triggering Diana's effect. The card is placed under Diana and she gets a card and a resource.
  4. Later, you resolve the effects of another treachery.
  5. You exhaust Twilight Blade to play "Fool me once..." from under Diana, placing it in your play area.
  6. Repeat from step 3!

It took me playing three whole campaigns as Diana before I noticed this synergy. You could say... fool me thrice.

snacc · 1021
This is also true of Delay the Inevitable, which I find to be a better interaction. Drawing 4 or 6 of the same treachery in a game is not something that happens consistently, and for Diana it means forgoing the cancellation of any one of those draws with something that immediately cancels, like Ward. — StyxTBeuford · 13050
Well if you're playing 1 or 2 player then you're probably right. However at higher player counts (3 or 4), you'll definitely be seeing the same treachery multiple times in a game. — snacc · 1021
Regarding your second point about forgoing other cancels: you only have two copies of ward so you can't cancel every card in every mythos phase. Every other treachery that you do not cancel is an opportunity to play this card instead. — snacc · 1021
Right, but there are a lot of cancel options for Diana. You have to pick and choose which ones are worth running, and even in multiplayer Im not so certain this is worth it. Fool me once is actually a card I like more for keeping a card out of the deck permanently, and Diana’s function for it is different. In draw heavy decks, it can completely remove a weakness. — StyxTBeuford · 13050
In my Diana plays (and I played her more than any other investigator, even released my first decks now for her) I don't find the Twilight Blade early enough in many games, to make these kind of combos likely. They are sure great and fun, if they work, and "Fool me once" cheaper than "Delay the Inevitable", but I prefere more consistently reliable cancel or ignore cards. — Susumu · 382
If you're having trouble getting the Twilight Blade, i'd highly recommend using 2 copies of Backpack(2). It really helps to make Diana feel more consistent. — snacc · 1021
... or instead of two copies of Backpack, just try two copies of 0XP Prepared for the Worst. I find loads of dilemmas when spending XP for Diana. I don't often run many items or supply events. You don't tend to need the Twilight blade early on, it has much more benefit later in the game (once you've used up a bit of your deck and have a few cards under Diana's card). So finding one of the three cards (Blade, Prepared, Prepared) in the top half of your deck is quite likely, and 9 cards is sufficient searching when you have half a deck. this is more of a comment on Diana and not really to do with "fool me once" - Sorry ! :-) — Phoenixbadger · 199

Riot Whistle

Riot Whistle

I think Riot Whistle is a good item for Zoey Samaras.

And I have a question?

If Zoey Samaras equip Riot Whistle and use Spectral Razor.

Can Spectral Razor use Riot Whistle's action?

(not enough characters!!!)(not enough characters!!!)(not enough characters!!!) (not enough characters!!!)(not enough characters!!!)(not enough characters!!!) (not enough characters!!!)(not enough characters!!!)(not enough characters!!!)

LuckyCat · 1
The answer is no because Spectral Razor is a Fight action, not an engage action. It would work for any card that says bold "Engage". Whistle would not get you any savings there. It's also a card that I find tricky for Zoey because she wants either this, Rosary, Mirror, or her signature accessory. — StyxTBeuford · 13050
Yeah, even though Spectral Razor engages an enemy, it doesn't have the Engage action designator, and that's what Riot Whistle cares about. Contrast Righteous Hunt in the same set, which does have the Engage action designator and thus could be used with Riot Whistle's additional action. — Thatwasademo · 58
The thing that really hurts this is that accessory slot. Without that I guess it might be broken, but with it it's too expensive. — SGPrometheus · 847
The accessory slot isn't a huge deal, considering it's in Guardian -- its only real competition at level 0 in class is Hallowed Mirror. — Thatwasademo · 58
one sad thing is that zoey's cross is accessory. — elkeinkrad · 497
Zoey can be a Monster Hunter AND a Relic Hunter. Then run Backpack (2) to dig for your great accessories and weapons faster with a high item density. — Death by Chocolate · 1484
What about "Get Over Here"? It's "Engage. Fight." ... or is that not an "engage only" action? — omalleyp2883 · 1
I would think that it won't work with Get over here because of the fight part. — walawalo · 1
It doesn't matter that it also fights, as long as the action has the engage designator you can use Riot Whistle's action on it. — Thatwasademo · 58

Borrowed Time

Borrowed Time

While people have written about the deferred action value, I haven't seen any conversation around specifically using this card to maximize your "extra action" events and skills.

I personally find that this card is most useful in allowing for Quick Thinking or .41 Derringer to be used when you know you will succeed, regardless of whether the extra action would be useful THAT TURN. So shoot .41 Derringer at a Swarm of Rats and then bank the extra action for a turn when it will be better used, like right after the Act advances or when you have the "right" cards in hand. Or ping Quick Thinking on Lockpicks during the first round and bank an action for fighting/evading after monsters have spawned. If you are using Double or Nothing, even better, as you can use it on a nearly guaranteed success on a 1 target and put two actions on Borrowed Time, also clearing DoN out of your hand. Heck, you could drop Ace in the Hole as soon as you get it and load it onto this card, if you're worried about discard effects. As others have mentioned, you can carry up to three actions forward indefinitely until a better turn.

I've often found that I have those rounds where I could get 6 actions but don't have Pay Day in my hand yet. No problem! Grab those actions now and defer them. Or start building an easy extra action here and there as the game progresses so that you'll have six for the boss showdown with your Chicago Typewriter.

Long story short, you don't need to spend your 3-per turn actions to build this card, instead you can use your "extra action" economy cards to guarantee the extra actions on the front end, and have them when you need them on the back end.

Time4Tiddy · 249
Makes it great for Tony, then! — MrGoldbee · 1493
I’ve only run this card with Preston, and I combined it with Haste as a way to “launder” actions - Preston would take 2 activate actions, then use Haste to generate a third Activate action using Borrowed Time which could be used for any type of action next turn. It worked ok, but took some setup and I didn’t think it was quite worth all the effort. — ArkhamInvestigator · 313