Twilight Blade

Twilight Blade

This card allows you to replay the cards under Diana, at the expense of her willpower. There is also a trick with Olive McBride. When you play her, unlike events and skills, she goes back into play, from where she can be used to soak 2 horror, then through her power ignore a chaos token and go back under Diana for a card, a resource and +1 willpower! The net effect is unlimited recurrences of paying 2 resources and an action for 1 card, a resource, 2 horror and one or more uses of Olive McBride's power.

jmmeye3 · 630
She's only allowed to play or commit events and skills, not assets. Sorry buddy, it was too good to be true — MisterRogers · 20
Oops! True. So the main advantage is probably having a extra copy of safety net cards like Ward of Protection ready to play. The ability to fight with willpower could be decent once she has lots of cards under her. — jmmeye3 · 630
Yeah, it lets you keep everything more locked down once you get it out. The way I see it, it's great as an off weapon, as you can use stuff like the .45 Auto (2), which "ignores" the Retaliate ability as a primary weapon. Or, y'know, spells and whatnot. It's only because the dagger doesn't deal bonus damage that I would personally run extra damage stuff. — MisterRogers · 20

Twilight Blade

Twilight Blade

This. Card. Is. WILD. Like, legit actually for real wild. It's very very hard to see if it's good, but I think it's likely to be the card that takes Diana from good to killer. Why?

That third block of text? It seems to be a constant effect, rather than a contingent effect that turns on during fight actions.

TheUnthinkable · 402
As a weapon this is not very good, as it doesn't deal extra damage. But it's a good rat killer or finisher for enemies with uneven HP and saving charges on your attack spells. But the ability to reuse cards like Ward of Protection or Dodge seems pretty poweful to me, even if it reduces her will power. — Django · 5154
Though it does lose some value if you get Seal of the Elder sign with XP because you can return cards through her elder sign ability with hit. — Django · 5154
Each time you play a card from underneath Diana, you gained that card at the loss of 1 willpower. But you also clear a space to put a new card under Diana, which will give you +1 card/+1 resource. So I agree that this power is pretty good. — jmmeye3 · 630

Bandolier

Bandolier

Bandolier can be used by:

I think this card has received inappropriate disdain and mostly overlooked, wrongly in my opinion. In fact, Bandolier (0) is a quite solid card.

When looking at this card, one would probably think "why would I want an additional hand slot? I already have my guns!". Well, guardians love spending their experience points in two-handed weapons such as the Lightning Gun, the Shotgun, or the M1918 BAR. The problem becomes quickly apparent when playing regularly with these weapons: you will either have to use your precious ammo on trash mobs (and be empty when the nasty guys spawn), or you will need to refrain from playing your big weapon as much as possible, meaning that the turn you will need it, you will:

  • Need to spend 1 action to play it, reducing your number of attacks
  • Face an attack of opportunity if the baddy has spawned on you
  • Not be able to improve it right away (e.g. with Extra Ammunition)
  • Have to discard your current cards in your hand slots

The more the player count, the more enemies will spawn, and the more you will need to use backup weapons to be able to keep up with the killing. Even if you keep your Shotgun for when the big baddy spawns, several scenarios throw so many hard enemies at you that you'd wish you didn't discard your Machete. On a side note for solo, though there are much less enemies, you probably want to keep running a Flashlight during the scenario, and Bandolier once again helps you for this.

In other words, Bandolier (0) will maybe not shine in your 0XP deck, but it is an investment that will pay off as soon as you upgrade a two handed weapon. Conversely, I don't think Bandolier (2) is that much of a good card because 2 additional hand slots is just overkill, though the +1 is nice.

One real issue is the severe indirect nerfed it received recently due to the introduction of the Flamethrower, arguably the best weapon in game. Though the body slot necessary for Bandolier (0) used to be mostly irrelevant due to the thin competition for that slot, Flamethrower changed this. Obviously, you may still prefer the Lightning Gun, with which Bandolier stays relevant.

As for non guardians as well as Carolyn Fern, Bandolier (0) is a more dubious card. Except "Skids" O'Toole, who may really like having an additionnal hand slot if he plays Chicago Typewriter or Ornate Bow, other investigators should probably skip this card.

Alleria · 114
I agree with your individual points to an extent, but bandoliers in a level 0 deck is so incredibly bad. In terms of star alignment, you need three hand assets and the bandolier - especially in a guardian deck where you probably don’t have the economy to pay for that, it’s pretty rough. Of course the 2h weapons are a game changer, but I would rather pay 4xp to add the bandoliers when they are useful than save the xp to have dead cards for ~3 scenarios. — Death by Chocolate · 1489
This in a L0 Guardian deck is like the "research required" cards in a L0 Seeker deck. You're really taking it for what it can do down the road. Until it's great, it'll only really provide a single health if played, or one combat icon if committed. — cb42 · 38
Additional problems with this card (and why i try to avoid it): The card by itself does nothing, as does the asset you'd like to stick on it, when your big gun is out. It costs ressources, an action and deck slots but most guardians are often starved in all those aspects. — Django · 5154
Skids loves this, especially at level 2. Gives him the hands to utilize Thompson/Typewriter without giving up tools, and also helps cover his crappy Willpower. — Amante · 10
I could see this being effective on Jenny Barns. Using Twin .45s and flashlight would allow her to investigate and attack. Otherwise I feel stuck just fighting once I use the .45s — AbdulaOblongata · 1
Bandolier (2) should give extra ammunition or something like that. Or possibly a quick draw free action that exhausts. — PrecariousSleuth · 19

Strange Solution

Strange Solution

This is a very interesting addition to the Strange Solution family of cards. At first glance, I think I like this variant, but we have to compare it to the three existing versions in addition to looking at it on its own.

By itself, it's a card and a resource (along with the setup required with the L0 Strange Solution card) and four actions for 6 resources and 3 cards. While trading six-for-nine may not seem like the best economy, the advantage here is that you can spread the resources and cards around in a multiplayer game. This could lend itself quite well in a Minh Thi Phan support deck.

Strange Solution and Strange Solution set aside, the version most people take is Strange Solution (the version). With fewer players, and at a lower difficulty, I think the combat version will still shine. But at higher difficulties, or in a team with one or more combat-focused characters, the ability to pass around cards and resources could trump the need for powerful attacks.

Something to think about before automatically reaching for Strange Solution...

(This review brought to you by the words Strange and Solution!)

cb42 · 38
I definitely agree - Strange Solution is way better than Strange Solution or Strange Solution. It's probably on a par with Strange Solution though. — Spuddddddd · 118
Jokes aside, the combat version runs into problems at higher difficulty because combat 6 is not enough enemies with combat 4, which are quite common. Seekers don't have many cards to commit with combat symbols, so this is a great alternative if your team has a dedicated combat character. — Django · 5154
@Django - Well, my review wasn't meant as a joke, it's just hard to discuss five cards that have the same name without feeling a little silly about it. — cb42 · 38

Shrewd Analysis

Shrewd Analysis

So correct me if I'm wrong: Carolyn has only one eligible option when upgrading Ancient Stone: Unidentified and that is Ancient Stone: Minds In Harmony. When I upgrade the stones for which I spent 2 exp. (1 each), I spend 3 exp. and get free 3 exp. upgrade, since like the card says, Minds In Harmony is the ONLY eligible upgrade.

Wolf · 86
As far as I can tell, yes, although Shrewd Analysis will permanently take up one of her 15 mystic/seeker slots, but that is a pretty minor downside. — Death by Chocolate · 1489
That's my assessment as well; I mention it in my review of ancient stone. — SGPrometheus · 841
I think that's actually a pretty major downside but still might be worth it. Later on if you're choosing between a 0-1xp M/S card and a 4-5xp other card it may seem like a smaller downside but she really likes those seeker cards for investigation. — Timlagor · 6