Enchanted Blade

TL:DR: Extremely self sufficient weapon, great for 3 characters who want to focus on or if they just want a backup alternative to Shrivelling.

characters typically run weapons, don't, ergo the disparity in buzz for the two variants of this upgrade.

I would like to argue that Enchanted Blade is no slouch, even compared to it's very impressive cousin. Three characters in-class, Diana Stanley, Jim Culver and Akachi Onyele have 3, with blade in hand they fight at 5, by spending charges they fight at 6 or 7, this is by using the mechanics of the blade all by itself, no support required! With some very light support, a couple skills like Overpower and/or Vicious Blow you can fill a support fighter role killing off a few 2-4 hp threats. It's terrific solo where the self sufficiency is key.

The charge mechanic is very efficient, you basically have a +5 base attack and 4 vicious blows on retainer. You can kill 2 3hp threats in 2 attacks, or 2 4hp threats in 4 attacks. The relatively few charges reinforces the support combat role, you can defend yourself in solo or multiplayer or perhaps spend the entire weapon to beat a boss, but it's a one and done deal with probably no backups. I kid! You still have a copy of Shrivelling right!? Not to mention the infinite number of buffed 1-damage attacks.

Point of reference, a fully charged Enchanted Blade attack is 1 from being exactly as powerful as a Lightning Gun shot, you get 2 shots at the cost 3 resources!

There is a big, obvious downside. characters love their Arcane slots. Jim and Diana don't mind too much, their isn't that impressive anyway, but Akachi likes to play the Rosary game so I doubt sacrificing card slots and XP for a card interests her much.

P.S, the sheer power of a fully charged Enchanted Blade can even make fighting work for a 2 character, obviously it'll require a little bit of card support, Agnes Baker with her cards or a certain brand of Norman Withers can actually be very hard-viable with a sword-fighting build.

Tsuruki23 · 2587
I love this weapon with Jim and the things you can do with it, throw scavenging and rite of seeking or clairvoyance and you can get it back, to discard it play a card or even sacrifice it and get your money back. If you want to see it more often add two copies and two doctor ellies and is out almost always and with the bonus points of being sloot free and cost free :) — xemacm · 20
Well-Maintained

Well-Maintained is a card multiplier, it's power is strictly dependent on the card you apply it to so evaluating Well-Maintained in vacuum is HARD. Even so, here are some notes to keep in mind:

  • It returns the cards to your hand when discarded, this means that cards that do not self-discard are not returned till manually or unintentionally discarded. The card is missing a clause that let's it discard the attached asset, in my mind.
  • There are several treacheries that discard assets, such as Crypt Chill, that Well-Maintained helps you defend against.
  • Costs are not refunded so you still must be able to pay for the asset again, an issue mostly for the big guns.
  • Custom Ammunition and Reliable are the only/most important Upgrades to be released so far.

The most immediate way to read Well-Maintained is to assume it's meant for a big gun, but there are lots of cards that operate far more smoothly within the bounds of the wording. For example:

There are lots of items that don't discard but still work good with Well-Maintained, it just requires an extra step to execute on, to recurse an empty gun you need to play something else over it in the slot, for example a Flashlight or another copy of the gun, this is still a rather slow process so I wouldn't pick Well-Maintained for this purpose exclusively, Extra Ammunition is a much better option for reloading guns! But, when you have some of the other cards mentioned above, and/or one or both of the upgrade cards, Well-Maintained becomes a much more impressive addition.

Finally there's a couple more combos that are absolutely worth your attention:

Tsuruki23 · 2587
Does well maintained return itself to your hand? — Django · 5165
@Django It does not; it specifically says "other" upgrade cards. — SGPrometheus · 855
Could I have 2 of them to return both? — trazoM · 9
Limit 1 per asset, so no. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
For Skidds and Tony, this combos really nicely with Joey "The Rat" (3). Free trigger to 'discard' it back to your hand plus 2 resources to help play it back out - maybe even Fast. — Death by Chocolate · 1490
From the rules; "A defeated asset is placed on its owner's discard pile." So not discarded. Making it worse on bulletproof vest and the like. — Rafael_Rupert · 1
Going past a slot limit (like the 1 accessory slot) does make you discard assets of that slot untill you are not longer over it. So that can trigger this. — Rafael_Rupert · 1
Wilson loves this. Had some fun dual wielding Hatchets for kicks — Mdrog2 · 1
I may of missed something here but .45 Thompson, Roland's .38 Special, etc don't have the word "discard" so can't be used with this, the rule book says removed from play?? — MattDu · 1
@MattDu you can discard them by playing a card that bumps it out of the hand slot — Uberdolphin · 1
Yes — SemiSecretSquirrel · 127
Fun fact: "I'll take that!" is an upgrade. Funny because it's not particularly a card that you need to be attached to your asset, but benefit from having it back in your hand to save more actions and resources. — AlderSign · 423
Grisly Totem

This is an actual review of this card, not a wall of text about one combo ;)

The characters have a few among them that love skills passionately. "Ashcan" Pete is good with them in particular and Silas Marsh likes to sip his skills like fine wine.

In addition to the empowering mechanics from the 0xp version, Grisly Totem grants a failure umbrella much like Try and Try Again would, this is very good for key mechanics like Resourceful, Deduction and Vicious Blow and still very efficient for pure boosts like Overpower or the desperate skills.

The fact that you can play a skill card every turn, where you know that said skills's benefits are eventually guaranteed, this is a great luxury and potentially crazy powerful. You know how bad it feels to miss a 3-hp foe with a vicious blow? Totem gives you 2 chances at it! Just make sure to bring some easy to play skills like Unexpected Courage and/or Resourceful that you can play and cash in on that bonus as often as you can.

Note that Try and Try Again is a more complete fail umbrella than totem is, even so, the extra boosts really stack up.

A big argument against totem, which requires card commitment to operate, is that it shares a slot with one of the best cards in the game. Key of Ys. Obviously if you adhere to the taboo list then totem shoots up the priority list, especially if you're playing Silas Marsh or a Yaotl based deck.

(Also p.s. the combo with Take Heart is currently legit).

Tsuruki23 · 2587
Just a slight correction, Grisly Totem doesn't require skill cards, any cards will do. — Sassenach · 181
My initial reaction to the Seeker/Survivor variants of the L3 Grisly Totem was that the Seeker version is much better. I plan on passing tests after all but this does allow insurance for Resourceful/Inspiring Presence/Vicious Blow/etc. You really do want those cards to succeed. Grisly Totem is part of my plan to take Ashcan Pete up to Hard difficulty. Pete/Duke's stats are split across the board (good but not great) and there aren't a lot of Survivor options to boost them. Adding any skill card bumps their stats by 2-3 with Grisly Totem though. I plan to end up with Double Relic Hunter for this deck. Not sure if it will work but it sounds like fun. — The Lynx · 999
The Council's Coffer

Tricky card to use but here's some tricks to execute the super tutor on demand.

Raw power it via an exploited main stat, for example:

Once you and your friends get the box halfway done, force the last bit right when you need it with:

And now you just sit back and dig out all your most overpowered stuff and play it free.

I don't know if this can be described as a good card. It's real meme-y with the 1/campaign trigger, huge cost in actions. But the payoff can mean a free tutored Agency Backup, Rite of Seeking, Ace in the Hole, Key of Ys or whatever other card might be critically important at that moment.

Tsuruki23 · 2587
I don't get the part about Leo or Quick Thinking. The Coffer comes in play with just 1 lock, surely you can't remove two of them and benefit twice from the reaction... ? — Freeman · 5
It comes into play with one per investigator locks. Will to Survive would allow you to remove a lock without drawing a chaos token, and because it's until end of turn, Leo would let you perform this action twice. — cb42 · 38
Oh yeah, used to solo play, I missed the "per player" part, now it makes sense, thanks! — Freeman · 5
Eureka!

This card is a fantastic deck-cutter.

As skill cards go, +1 icon on a single test is low, the variety helps a bit, most characters can muster a use for either or , and anybody can use .

The benefit, the mini tutor, is just crazy for an action-less and cost-less effect. Use it to pull out key cards a little faster and/or obtain solutions to standing issues.

The low boost and useful success benefit means that you should play Eureka! on low risk tests, use it to push for a +3 or +4 advantage to secure the test. On standard/easy pushing for +2 is fine in early scenarios.

Any character with innate access should give Eureka! at least a passing thought.

Minh Thi Phan and Silas Marsh really like skills, this is obviously true for a strong one like Eureka!.

Eureka! is uniquely good for Norman Withers (for whom skills are low priority) since it bypasses his revealed top card and shuffles his deck, this gives him two chances to dig useful cards out of a deck with something unhelpful revealed on top.

Tsuruki23 · 2587