High Roller

This is a fun asset to analyze. I think of all of the Boundary Beyond 'boost 2 assets' this one ties with Well Prepared for second place behind Cornered for general strength.

What's neat about this card is that if you succeed you lose nothing and can take another test with the same boost, but failing heavily penalizes you. This means 3r initially spent buys you not only the initial +2, but another +2 if you succeed that first test, another +2 if you succeed the third etc. This means we can easily analyze how much the 3r cost gains you through application of the Geometric Series! so a single commit of 3r will give us 2* (1-r^n)/1-r value, where r = our chances of success (assuming all tests are the same chance of success, a big assumption but it only gives us a general guideline)

If you take lets say 8 tests at 0.5 chances of success you're getting roughly +4 boost out of it. That is nearly streetwise levels of efficiency, but without the intellect or agility test restriction! not bad, but then again not great.

if we increase to r = 0.75 however (which is a roughly good approximation for what most investigators want to test at) you're getting +7.2 value spread out / 3r which is more value than Higher Education.

Now there are nuances involved. Not the least of which is that if you're running a 'succeed by two' deck this is a massive enabler, turning your would-be successes into success by 2s. Additionally this card has significant swing, even if you have a good chance of passing losing 3r if you only have 5 can be brutally punishing. Fortunately Rogue's are masters of hoarding up big piles of cash very quickly.

I think the biggest downside though is that this card is very very poor at getting you back from behind. It needs to sit atop a powerful engine of cards already getting you to the 0.5-0.75 success range before it can start to contribute real value. Again though, using the first half of a scenario to set up and the second half to sprint full-speed through the scenario is a valid Rogue archetype so purchase this accordingly.

Difrakt · 1327
Your analysis misses the fact that the card exhausts when you use it, meaning youcan only use it for 1 test per round. Still semi-decent for one test, especially when paired with other rogue cards (see: Double or Nothing), but not at the level of Higher Education. — SGPrometheus · 855
It does not miss that point, I merely didn’t address it. There’s a reason I referred to 8 tests (accounting for roughly 8 turns) and not 12 or 16 which would be more appropriate for an unrestricted booster. — Difrakt · 1327
I'm very disappointed by this card and think I won't run it for few reasons. First, when you want to sprint through a scenario, you need to take 2-3 times the same test per turn as rogue. (Finding clues, hitting monsters...) If you need that +2 for that, you are only allowed to have it once, and so, you have to also rely on something else. Second, you can't rely on this as you can rely on permanent streetwise, and it does cost an extra action and 2r to come into play. Means, 5r to start dring something. Third, this is a high gain but high risk gamble. If you want to rely on this often, there is a slight chance you might loose 2 times in a row and never recover from such a blow. But, if you don't heavily rely on this, it is not efficient at what it does, statistically. In the end, I think this is unreliable and I would prefer building a deck and strategy without it. — Palefang · 72
Well chances of failing a 75% chance test twice in a row is 1/16, roughly as bad as tentacles already ruining your day. Furthermore if you fail and bring yourself to too low a resource pool you have the option to hold off using the card until you recover, it's not a case of uncontrollable losses. That being said if you're not a big fan of gambling and fat stacks of cash maybe Rogue isn't your ideal faction (: — Difrakt · 1327
Dexter Drake could use this together with #Scrying Mirror to earn quite some cash. — jcdenton · 10
Kukri

Kukri seems cool. It sounds cool. But it falls in a very narrow window of usefulness. The main strikes against it:

  1. Anyone focused on dealing damage won't enjoy the (lack of) action economy; Primary monster hunters shouldn't take this.
  2. Gators with access can choose from a swath of blue weapons that consistently out-perform the Kukri.
  3. Solo characters probably don't have the actions to afford dealing 1 damage at a time.
  4. Gators with 1-2 likely can't hit something with this; They should be avoiding fights anyway and are probably better off throwing a Knife the few times they have to fight.

So we're left with support/investigating characters in multiplayer campaigns with 3+ and limited-to-no access to weapons. That list (as of Forgotten Age) is:

Although each of these investigators has other options, of course. But maybe you're a clue-and-evade Jenny who has Lockpicks(1) in one hand and doesn't fight enough to spend xp on Switchblade(2). Or your Akachi has Decorated Skull and you want a way to conserve Shrivelling charges. Maybe your Silas doesn't want the Baseball Bat because of a hand slot or Fire Axe because you don't want to be poor.

Overall, you've got to want to fight juuuust a little bit to use the Kukri - otherwise you should use the Knife for its one-time effect or just run the from bad guys until your slayer shows up.

PureFlight · 784
+2 to +3 Fight would be suffecient to competitive with another weapon. Also it would be great for Tony Morgan, the Bounty Hunter — AquaDrehz · 204
I think maybe Kukri falls into the same camp as First Aid. It's not great but sometimes it's the best option you've got. — oothooly · 1
The Secret Must Be Kept

I was playing Treads of Fate as Finn Edwards. I drew this with with two "You handle this one!" in hand. We had completed 5 acts. Threw as much as I could at it, and drew the Tentacle. What a terrible card.

This card really needs to be non-peril or max out at 3 Dmg/Horror. Truly feels poorly templated.

0/10 Newman.

Mcpunchababy · 34
You misread the card, it's per each completed act *deck*. There are only 3 of these, and once you've finished all 3 you've won the scenario. — cfmcdonald · 7
D'oh! I deserved that damage/horror. — Mcpunchababy · 34
I also misread it. Completed DECK not CARDS. — LEKO · 6
Enraptured

By my estimation, this is a very powerful card for any / deck. Spell charges are precious, and this allows you to replenish them safely (as opposed to Recharge) and almost assuredly. This translates to 2-3 damage (Shrivelling and its upgrades) or 2-3 clues (Rite of Seeking and its upgrades) per Enraptured when they are most desperately needed. Many investigators, such as Norman Withers, Carolyn Fern, and Agnes Baker rely on Shrivelling charges for defense and reliable damage output, and this card allows you to spend those charges more freely by extending the life of the targeted spell.

asgorka · 1
It seems like a hard card for Agnes to use due to the Intellect symbol. — Chobabot · 1
She doesn't need to be the one performing the test. In particular she could toss this into her seeker's check and still reap the rewards. — madhatter152 · 8
Can also toss this on a Flashlight investigation of a low-shroud location (your own Flashlight or someone else's) for a ~95% chance at the extra charge. — CaiusDrewart · 3200
I do think I prefer Recharge once enough extra XP comes in--I think a ~70% chance at 3 charges is superior to a 95% chance at 1 charge, even if Recharge costs an action. That's simply a lot more raw power from the card. Especially since you could, if necessary, help Recharge out with something like Premonition, Time Warp, or a Grotesque Statue card. (Now, obviously it isn't fair to Enraptured to compare it to an XP card; I agree that Enraptured is pretty good.) — CaiusDrewart · 3200
*a Grotesque Statue charge. — CaiusDrewart · 3200
The more cards are release, the more "value" each deck slot has. I'm not sure 1 charge for a spell justifies a whole card. — Django · 5171
That depends Django, for characters that depend wholly on charged spells the one extra charge can mean the difference between being able to garb 2 clues off of a major high-difficulty location, or not at all. Agnes and Akachi can definitely put this to use in combination with Flashlight — Tsuruki23 · 2588
Lola Santiago

I really believe Lola will become a contender for one of the strongest cards in the game. A guaranteed clue each turn is nuts. On top of that, it was confirmed that Flashlight can be used to lower shroud, and then in that window Lola can be triggered to make her ability 2 resources cheaper. Not that the cost is a huge challenge for someone like Jenny or Sefina, or even rogue in general now that we have 2xp versions of Hot Streak.

The +1 intellect and +1 agility are just gravy, and make you better at the things you want to be doing anyway, with the 2 intellect pips being the cherry on top. Fantastic.

gionazzo · 65
Yah, she looks terrific. — CaiusDrewart · 3200
Her stat boosts both help Lockpicks. Once the skeleton key (depths of youth, 5th mythos pack) is released her stat boost and abiltiy become even more useful/cheaper. At that point rogues can investigate any location and no need for lockpicks anymore. They can switch weapon to ornate bow. Use lucky cigarette case and backpack to search for the key. Too bad Wendy and Leo can't play her, as she costs 3 XP. — Django · 5171
Yeah, she'll definitely be super cool with the skeleton key, for sure. Not sure about the overall utility of the Ornate Bow, though. The action efficiency there is not very good. — CaiusDrewart · 3200
She also means that Finn no longer needs to fight the Seekers for Dr. Milan in a 3/4 player game. I think she's probably the first 6 points of XP for Finn, and maybe for many other Rogues too, depending on how vital Streetwise is to the build. — duke_loves_biscuits · 1285
So I took AHLCG collection on a world cruise last summer. We made stopovers in Italy, Japan, Norway, and Greenland. When I got back, I realized a few cards were now missing. Which led me to the question: Where in the world is Lola Santiago? — crymoricus · 252
Skeleton Key + Lola Santiago + Burglary - reduce shroud to 1, pay 1 to get 1 clue, Burlary do investigate action 5int vs 1 shroud with Finn and get 3 resources :) You can milk any location this way as you will get clues yourself, with lola and have actions for other stuff — Killyox · 3