When I started playing Amanda, I was so intimidated by her Stat line. Also the concept of placing cards underneath her were confusing. I always found myself wonder what cards to put under her, when was the best time to commit said cards, etc etc.
Djangos review teaches you about how to put out some serious combos. But I wanted a clear cut way to determine what kind of cards needed to be put underneath her. After playing 3 campaign, where she was not only the main cluever, but also a decent fighter. I have divided the cards she has into 3 different groups. And doing this help me prioritize what kind of cards you need to put underneath.
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Focused cards.- these cards are extremely good at 1 thing, and not good at anything else. An example is perception and perception(2). They provide a decent Intellect boost and good card draw, but nothing else. Deduction enables you to vacuum clues, but nothing else. Overpower and vicious blow allow you to do some serious damage, or have a better fight chance, but nothing else... you get the idea. You put these underneath when you have a particular job that needs done. Maybe you got a encounter card you are trying to rid yourself or friends from(guts), or you need to clue this location down. These cards will help you a lot. The one problem is that if you boost your Intellect with perception. Your other stats are at the whim of the encounter deck, enemies, etc...
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Flex Cards- these cards are really well rounded. But don't provide much else for there flexibility. For example, unexpected courage doesn't provide card draw when you succeed. But it allows all of your stats to be at a 4. Inquiring mind brings your stats to a 5, but only if there is clues, and that's also all they do. Promise of power, definitely my favorite, brings your stats to a whooping 6! At the price of adding a curse token everytime it's used. Cards like curiosity, and eureka! give you multiple Stat to use from, and are a bit limited by how many icons you put on it. These cards enable you to not fear most test. But you don't get much out of them beside a passed test. Which is still imo good.
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Fodder cards- these cards are placed underneath Amanda not to use their icons, but to save certain cards for different situations. They can be cards that are not very useful atm. Or copies of cards you have in your play area/hand. While these cards don't help you pass test, they allow you action to move or play cards that you need on the field. You don't want to play a perception, or and unexpected courage to waste on just playing cards, or moving.
Now, the next question I wonder was, when do I place underneath the above mentioned cards? This is a very obtuse question.the scary thing about this game is that it is ever changing, it is always evolving. You can make plans to do 1 thing, and the game might make you do another, you can't always predict the future. But that's kind of how you play her. You use your current game knowledge and try to be as flexible as you can be. The interesting thing is she is like a river. She is fluid, always changing, always moving. When I play her. I always build for a big hand, and it never fails. Big hands means she is always prepared.
You might have discard assets, or lose resources or health and santy. But she has got one of the best draws, drawing 2 cards for free each round, and that's not ontop of the other draws she can preform. She will cycle her assets, event and skill cards again, ready to be committed, and played again, and once you figure that recipe, she will shoot to the stars.... as long as she doesn't hear an whisper from the deep... :/
