I am looking forward to trying this card out. While it's still no Machete, I think that this could be a good second weapon for a lot of Guardian investigators.

Let's get one thing out of the way - this card does take up 2 slots, which is not really great. However, most investigators that aren't Mystic investigators don't end up using both of their arcane slots anyway, so the arcane slot requirement for Enchanted Blade isn't super prohibitive for them. That may change going forward as arcane slot assets become more common for other classes.

I think the best way to measure this card's effectiveness is to look at it compared to some other level 0 Guardian combat options:

• .45 Automatic: The .45 Automatic costs one more resource and has one more ammo on it than Enchanted Blade has for charges. However, Enchanted Blade can be used without spending a charge to do a slightly weaker attack, where the .45 Automatic always has to spend an ammo, which can lead to using ammunition to inefficiently do 2 damage to an enemy with only 1 health left. Enchanted Blade offers more versatility, which in some cases can get you further in a scenario, and its charges offer a greater bonus than the .45 Automatic can provide.

• Survival Knife: Both offer a regular +1 fight action with a secondary option to do a +2 fight action that deals +1 damage. The special fightt ability on Survival Knife doesn't cost an action since it's a ability (so you can theoretically attack 4 times in a turn for 5 damage total) but the downside is you need to be attacked by an enemy during the enemy phase to use it. Enchanted Blade may cost 1 more resource, but the ability to use a 2 damage attack without having to wait for an enemy to attack you makes it much more practical to use.

• .32 Colt: it is card to compare these cards since they do very different things - Enchanted Blade gives you additional for fighting with the occasional extra damage while the .32 Colt gives you 6 attacks that do +1 damage with no bonus. In my experience, I find .32 Colt hard to use with anyone who isn't Mark Harrigan, because high-health enemies often have high fight checks required to hit them, and so the .32 Colt sometimes has trouble actually hitting the enemies you'd want to use it on the most. Enchanted Blade does not have this issue, since its charges make your attacks do a total of +2 and +1 damage, meaning you're more likely to hit when you really need it.

• Knife: Enchanted Blade is basically a Knife that can have its second ability used 3 times instead of 1 time. Now, I don't use Knife a whole lot, but part of that is you have to throw the Knife away to make it more powerful. I think that the 3 charges actually makes Enchanted Blade much, much more useful and I think it's worth paying the 2 extra resources to get the 2 extra uses.

Ultimately, I think that Enchanted Blade is most at home with Guardian investigators who will want to use it as a pseudo-Machete until they get their real Machete out. I think that Enchanted Blade can also be used as an off-hand weapon to cover some of the blind spots of the Machete - specifically, when you're engaged with more than one enemy or you need to deal more than one damage to a monster not engaged to you.

I think that most Mystic investigators are going to not get quite as much use out of this card, as their arcane slots are more valuable and they generally tend to avoid tests. It may be situationally useful for them, though.

My conclusion for now is that, as of the time of its release, Enchanted Blade is a pretty good card and I think it will see some use as the non-Machete extra weapon for Guardian investigators.

if playing the return version, this sentences:

Reveal Ascending Path. Remove all clues from each location in play.

must be inverse to be playable

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Definitely the most thematic and (currently) the most punishing weakness in the game. This can easily change in the future if more player deck manipulation cards get introduced which allow for more ways to perform targeted discards, but for now getting this weakness pretty much means acknowledging the fact that the investigator you chose will not live to see the end of the campaign.

One thing I dislike about this weakness (and its successors in the chain) is the immediate negative impact. This weakness really doesn't need more apart from making the clock tick, added 1 or 2 horror is completely superfluous; again, I get that it's supposed to be thematic, but the actual dread the player feels after drawing this does not need an in-game counterpart, it just detracts from the experience and makes the weakness feel more imbalanced compared to others.

The other thing is that the weakness seems to be custom-made for repeated playthroughs. While it's great to have it for added thematic spice to the campaign once you experienced all the scenarios already and want more challenge and variety beyond 'nastier chaos tokens', it really hurts when you're effectively locked out of final few scenarios on your first blind playthrough, without having a chance to do anything about it. It also demotivates people from doing side-stories which is a shame because they are already a bit unpopular and definitely deserve more love, creative and entertaining as they are.

So TL;DR shelve this until you are OK with added thematic flair or extra challenge, skip if it's your first playthrough of a cycle or you like weaknesses with allow for more options for mitigation.

In my opinion, this is a very good card.

As an introductory overview: the Blood on the Altar Mythos Pack introduced 5 level 3 cards with the Permanent keyword. There's one card for each class, and they each provide a reusable way to boost 2 types of skills, though they all go about it a little differently. In general, most of these cards are regarded as quite good, as the Permanent keyword means that they start off in play, so they're always there when you need them.

Streetwise is the Rogue entry of the Blood on the Altar Permanent series. For 2 resources, you can boost or by 3 for a single test. These are the same 2 skills boosted by Hyperawareness. The first series of "spend resources to boost skills" assets in the core set allowed investigators to spend resources for skills on a 1 for 1 basis (like how Hyperawareness lets you spend 1 resource to boost or by 1 for a single test). Compared to these, I sometimes think of Streetwise as a "buy 2, get 1 free" sale since you get a +3 bonus for when you're only paying 2 resources for the ability. It's pretty nice.

I think the two skills that Streetwise boosts are appropriate for Rogue investigators. The skill is critical, since obtaining clues is fundamental to winning many of the game's scenarios, so being able to boost that skill is important. The is somewhat less useful, but many Rogue investigators already have a high base skill, so Streetwise helps them specialize more on what they're already good at doing. While it's usually not a permanent solution, using will let you evade enemies, and the also helps protect you from some unpleasant treacheries.

The bottom line: the helps you acquire clues, and the helps you avoid monsters, and these are the two primary obstacles the game throws at you. Streetwise gives you the tools to overcome both of these obstacles, and it does so right from the start of the scenario. I think it really makes a difference.

From a design standpoint, I think the intention was to make Streetwise the "go big or go home" type of card. It gives a nice bonus, but you need to invest 2 resources every time you want to use it. I do think that this philosophy compliments the Rogue investigator playstyle. I also think that Rogue investigators are the ones most likely to get the most out of a "pay to win" strategy. A the time of this writing (the release of The Circle Undone deluxe expansion), the Rogue has a lot of options for generating resources. At level 0, there's Lone Wolf and "Watch this!". Once you get experience, there's Hot Streak (2) and Hot Streak (4). These cards can provide Rogue investigators with a lot of fuel for Streetwise.

I haven't put together a deck for Preston Fairmont yet, but just from looking at his cards and his skills, I think Streetwise is an essential upgrade for him. Jenny Barnes also probably wants to get this card sooner rather than later, since her ability almost guarantees she can use one of the Streetwise effects at least once a turn.

There are some drawbacks to this card. You can't use it if you have 0 or 1 resources. It won't help you on or tests. It costs 3 experience points, so if you don't plan on activating either of its abilities, you should invest that experience points elsewhere. In my opinion, these drawbacks are very minor, and the resource cost can usually be planned around with some foresight.

This card doesn't quite give you the same value that you get from Higher Education - that card is very, very, very good. However, this Streetwise is still good enough that most Rogue investigators are going to want to take it somewhere down the line.

I'm honestly just curious: does this card also cancel enemies? I've had fantastic success with it just cancelling weaknesses and treacheries, but I'm not sure how far its utility goes. Anyone out there know? I suspect it does since it otherwise has wording very similar to Ward of Protection (5)