Atychiphobia

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...

Peter will help ya. — MrGoldbee · 1472
In our game today Jim was using claivoyance and drew this as his basic weakness. Peter had no problem handling horror from both. — Django · 5108
Quick Learner

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.

Not sure you forgot the mythos phase, but that's at the beginning of the turn (upkeep is at the end). Also if you got an enemy, this makes it harder to kill or evade. — Django · 5108
I am pretty sure the Mythos Phase has been excluded. Which would make sense, since a Turn is a subset of the Investigator Phase. But I think there has been a ruling on this. — LivefromBenefitSt · 1067
Thats correct, mythos phase is the start of the round, not the turn. Turns are in investigator phase. Afaik any non turn test doesnt have QL applied. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
How about with the red clock for Eldritch Sophist combo, that or maybe blur? — thorel · 1
Robes of Endless Night

In addition to the considerations of the level 0 Robes, which I've written a review for, for 2 XP you get the following:

  • Cost is reduced by 1
  • A icon for your trouble
  • "Playing that card does not provoke attacks of opportunity."

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.

Im a huge fan of this card. It’s great for the soak and the economy in a way that could easily replace something like Uncage the Soul. Sefina and other off class Mystics are interested. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Does anyone know how this combo's with Uncage the Soul? Firstly, do I get 4 discount? And secondly, if I am engaged with an enemy I presume I will take an attack of opportunity as I am playing an event, not a spell? — AnyoneForSnakeStew · 1
@AnyoneForSnakeStew Yes to both. — MiskatonicFrosh · 344
Chainsaw

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

  • It's hard to keep Yorick's resources where you want them. If you can finagle enough Act of Desperation plays, the saw pretty much keeps paying for itself, but you also need to get down Well Prepared, Tetsuo Mori, and pay for some events (it's the only way you are getting clues), so he doesn't always have the resources he needs.
  • The saw taking both hands means that, while Yorick is going to kill and kill and kill, he is going to collect approximately no clues unless the shrouds are very low. No Flashlight, Lantern, or Old Keyring for this guy! Well Prepared can help with this occasionally.
  • Running a fighting deck with 2-3 weapons is an exercise in luck and nerves. Tetsuo Mori and Prepared for the Worst (or Backpack (2) can help find the saws, but they cost resources, which orick needs to get the saw into play or recover from misfortune. Vicious Blow and/or Brute Force can fill the gap a bit.
  • You live in terror of any treachery that consumes Assets or prevents their play. Chainsaw Yorick without a Chainsaw only has some Shakespeare to fight the Mythos.

Kind of Useless Stuff

  • Oops! is not as good as expected. With 6-7 attacks, Yorick doesn't miss that often, and, when he does, he often doesn't have 2 resources to spare. This can be mitigated a bit with Drawing Thin, but then you are including cards to include other cards, and you only have so much deck space. I suspect with Stella's lower combat (and better use of Drawing Thin), it might be more effective.
  • Emergency Cache (3) looked very promising, but it actually has a slightly lower damage rate than Act of Desperation for reloading the saw, and it puts you in danger of Attacks of Opportunity. In a lot of TFA scenarios, Yorick is engaged with enemies pretty much constantly, so it's hard to find a moment to play Events.
  • Relentless seemed promising, but, in TFA at least, there are a lot of 3 Health enemies to chop up, and you want to save the 2 Health enemies to fuel Act of Desperation, so you overkill less often that seems likely. After some fussing, there just wasn't a place for it in the deck. (Sorry DAAAN, I tried.)
The dream is to teamwork this onto Joe Diamond so he can hold it in his shoulder holsters. — SGPrometheus · 821
For Yorick, Well Prepared can help make up for its low combat bonus. For Patrice, not being able to equip the violin seems prett rough, but otherwise she can use Chainsaw + Cornered for serious consideration. I think the biggest 'real talk' about Chainsaw is that it is a 3 damage weapon that can be directly reloaded with Emergency Cache (3). No need for a Venturer playing middle-man. — Death by Chocolate · 1485
Wow! I had not even considered the Cache angle! That's very nice. — LivefromBenefitSt · 1067
SGPrometheus -- I had considered suggesting Bandolier (2) in Yorick, so he could have a lantern, a shovel, and a chainway all strapped to him as he yelled Shakespeare like he was Patrick Stewart chewing the scenery! Then I thought that was too silly. — LivefromBenefitSt · 1067
Nothing is too silly. — SGPrometheus · 821
Contraband also works (i guess it also runs with alcohol) — Django · 5108
Track 5 will not be called Chainsaw Juggling, and this is not Track 5 — Zinjanthropus · 229
Crafty gives you $ and +fists now. Booyah. — MrGoldbee · 1472
Unexpected Courage

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.

Pair with "Look What I Found" on (4) tests. — MrGoldbee · 1472
Survivor upgrades tend to run fairly cheap (though there are some more niche expensive ones entering the card pool as of late). For me, it's not an issue of if, but when I'll buy a certain survivor upgrade. And yes, I agree, Silas could do some really good work with this to make sure he's getting clues or passing willpower test especially. — LaRoix · 1645
UPGRADE WISH: This card should get a 3XP version with "If this skill test succeeds, draw a card". I would gladly pay +1xp for a level three version that did that (sort of like lucky! got a 3rd tier). — Antiundead · 30