
A medium-troublesome Treachery, this rises to aggravating in Stella's decks, since, you know, she wants to fail (at least some of the time). It's not too hard to get rid of, but is a huge tempo hit in Solo. Still, it's no Overzealous...
A medium-troublesome Treachery, this rises to aggravating in Stella's decks, since, you know, she wants to fail (at least some of the time). It's not too hard to get rid of, but is a huge tempo hit in Solo. Still, it's no Overzealous...
As noted above, this looks best in Stella or Wendy with Leo, where you can leverage the -1 difficulty more than once. It's not terrible in anyone who can take it, but it gets better with more actions.
There aren't that many "at the start of your Turn" tests, so the "During or before" usually triggers only once. (It might make playing "A Thousand Shapes of Horror" unpleasant, but you are unlikely to have bought 2 of these before the second scenario).
Wendy could try to get extra actions with .41 Derringer (2) (unlikely with her ) or Haste. Quick Thinking works (assuming you play it during your turn; if you play it during someone else's turner Quick Learner doesn't have any affect at all).
I do wish there was a way to synergize this with Eldritch Sophist, just for the chess theme.
In addition to the considerations of the level 0 Robes, which I've written a review for, for 2 XP you get the following:
That last one is the big ticket item. We've all been in this situation: you didn't get Shrivelling in your opening hand, your apprentice is truant, and then you finally draw it during Upkeep, just for an enemy to spawn on you in the next phase. In the past, you used to dread these situations, especially if that enemy had some other nasty Forced effect if it hits you. Now you just laugh.
Sadly, these robes have the disadvantage of being in the Mystic card pool, which tends to be the most competitive in terms of upgrades. Of course, you can always Delve Too Deep or do a little Arcane Research.
EDIT: The cost reduction is actually also really nice and worth emphasizing. You're not just saving 1 resource on this upgrade--you're lowering the buy-in for a card that saves 1 on the first spell you play per round. That's a lot of savings.
DeathbyChocolate's inspired jankery aside, 4 XP and 4 Resources are nothing to sneeze at, but a more or less guaranteed 9 damage, plus bonus effectiveness from Oops!, Oops! (2), and/or Act of Desperation allowing you to get maybe 20 damage across 2 turns is pretty good for a Survivor combo. And, with Scrounge for Supplies and Resourceful, you might be able to get most of the parts of the combo back in your hand for another go.
Slightly more seriously, comparing it to Old Hunting Rifle, its +1 XP, + 1 Resource, and -1 seems about right for its considerably better consistency. I have my doubts the 1 Damage Fail effect will be used much except in dire emergencies, but it's nice to have options.
I don't see Ashcan, Wendy, or Patrice packing this (although a chainsaw in a viol case is a striking image), but Silas and Yorick might well consider a trip to the hardware store, with Stella and Rita more on the fence.
After running Chainsaw Yorick for a few weeks, let's consider the case of Chainsaw Yorick:
Good Stuff
Bad Stuff
Kind of Useless Stuff
It's not a terrible card; 2 icons and a "return to hand" effect is a nice hedge against failure, but I am not sure how often this will get played, given that 2 XP in will get you a Peter Sylvestre (2), "Look what I found!" (2), .18 Derringer (2), or 2 copies of Brute Force or Sharp Vision. I suppose Silas might like a situation where he contributes this and something else for, say, a +4 to a skill test, draws badly, then pulls the second card back with his Reaction Ability and this back with its own ability. That would feel pretty good.