When I think about cultists in this game, I think about not tremendously tough, not tremendously damaging enemies that treacheries can turn into absolute landmines. The longer they’re around, the tougher they are to fight and the more doom they bring to the table. Diana's the opposite.

Diana, like Gloria, represents a class of mystics that no other class can really replicate. As mystics with guardian access, they can help the party survive with sheer denial. (It’s why both of them are probably bad in improv.) Miss Stanley, the investigator you probably care more about because you’re reading about her, doesn’t really fit into the clue seeker/flexible/fighter archetypes. She can do any of those things, but more than that she can simply ignore bad things that are going to happen. She can play defense in an amazing way.

In fact, putting Diane on the team makes more risky characters viable. Low willpower rogues like her cult buddy Preston, oddities like Calvin...They can spread their wings, knowing that the worst of the encounter deck will be taken care of for them, and that their weakness can be ignored at least once due to dark insight.

There seems to be 2 approaches to building a Tony fighting deck:

OPTION 1: 1-handed weapons
Tony's special ability is extra actions when fighting enemies with a bounty on them. And his Tony's .38 Long Colt give you a bounty when you kill an enemy. So this deck type focuses on milking Tony's ability for extra actions (and extra resources, since bounties also give you a resource). One hand has the Long Colts, and the other has Switchblade, Lupara, or .41 Derringer, or Timeworn Brand. The argument given by builders in this camp is "Why play with 2-handed weapons, which minimize your ability to get more than 6 free actions" which come from the starting Bounty Contracts.

I plan to try this build, using Switchblade and Reliable stacked together to basically get "Timeworn Brand" level attacks, without having to pay 10xp for 2 copies (this build saves you 4xp, with current Taboo list).

OPTION 2: 2-handed weapons
This build seems to go all-in on Tony's 5 . .45 Thompson is a common starter weapon, which gets upgraded into a Chicago Typewriter. The Typewrite is paired with Borrowed Time, which can give Tony huge turns near the end of a scenario when fighting a boss.

To those who have played with Tony, please share your experiences and insights here on the pros and cons of both of these deck types. With the current card pool, which do you think is the "better" build?

Recursive weaknesses require much more management than others, unless you are playing a slow draw deck or maybe Tommy. While this may not be a particularly tough monster, drawing it 4-5 times in a scenario can really slow your tempo.

You'll either need to invest in some cards that let you discard from your deck, like Alyssa Graham or Scroll of Secrets, or keep the Thing alive and evaded until your deck flips. Bind Monster can be useful, or Banish if the map is large enough. Survivors might try traps or tricks, like Hiding Spot or Snare Trap to keep it neutralized while they draw through the rest of their deck.

Finally, Mind Wipe is the ultimate card to defeat this enemy for good, as it would clear the forced effect and let the monster discard as normal. Hope you have someone who can play Mystic 1 events!

I've played a few decks with this card in them. They have value in decks that run Crystallizer of Dreams or event recursion (Sefina Rousseau, Wendy's Amulet). But outside of that, I'm underwhelmed. Usually I am most strapped for cash at the start of the scenario, where I need 10+ resources to get set up. Getting 2 resources and a card draw feels mediocre. When I don't need the money, I can choose to sit on this card until I draw more or really need the cash, but then it just feels mediocre again.

Other options:

• Hot Streak: has a larger instant effect, but it struggles with needing to have the 5 resources to play it. Useful in opening hand or needs a bit of resource management once you draw into it.

• Pay Day: viable in Finn Edwards and Tony Morgan

• Another Day, Another Dollar: this seems to address the problem of when you need money upfront to help setup. But it's only 2 resources for 3XP. THREE XP! Is it that worth it? I don't know. I haven't played with it yet because the xp cost is so high, in a faction that already struggles to afford its high xp upgrades.

• Gregory Gry: takes up the valuable ally slot, which is usually preferred for an ally that supports the deck's purpose (Lonnie Ritter in Tony Morgan decks for the +1 Strength, Peter Sylvestre or Dr. Milan Christopher in Finn Edwards decks, etc).

• Lone Wolf and Investments: good economy cards.
  
  

Maybe I'm playing this card inefficiently? Or maybe I'm expecting too much from it?
I see reviews from players that praise this card highly, making it sound like an almost auto-include for Rogues, and I'm not quite understanding the why. 2 resources and a card, vs 3 resources from Emergency Cache. If resources are what you need (which is what I usually need in my decks), then why is Easy Mark so "amazing"?

My initial analysis of this card wasn't great. Sure, it adds a lot of tokens to the bag, effectively, but I am still not really sold on the power of bless tokens. There are a few things worth noting here though, first, it triggers on a test at any location, as opposed to the other covenants. Second, Diana Stanley. Her ability places things below her as an effect, not a cost, and Sacred Covenant uses the word 'ignore'. This is notable, because though the explicit ruling is not that permanents can't be placed beneath investigators, every ruling thus far has been along the lines of "permanents can't leave play" and cards beneath investigators are not in play. So you should be able to trigger her ability, get the card and resource, and keep your covenant in play. This is silly, if you are doing some bless things. You could even double down on it with Dayana Esperence and Radiant Smite so that you get some good benefits out of the tokens, making a poor woman's Flamethrower.