Daisy's Tote Bag

Daisy's Tote Bag

Having played Daisy quite a bit now, I can say that I don't care much for this card. Usually as Daisy, you only need one useful tome out (Typically Old Book of Lore or Encyclopedia). Once you have the book, your other hand slot should generally stay free in anticipation of drawing The Necronomicon.

The action and resources spent playing this out do nothing to directly help the investigators win, and often won't do anything even as the game drags on when either you don't need or can't play the other books, such as Medical Texts or even Book of Shadows, both of which are situational to begin with.

If your build really relies on having this many tomes out at once, then you'll be stuck waiting for this card to appear. Unlike your Tomes, this can't be tutored for by Research Librarian.

My take: if you play Daisy, assume you have only one hand slot. This isn't a big deal as your best killing tools, such as the acidic Strange Solution or "I've got a plan!", or even evasion tools such as Archaic Glyphs don't require a hand slot. You don't really need Magnifying Glass or Flashlight, nice as they are, when you can use Old Book of Lore to draw stat boosters or Encyclopedia to get a flat +2 for the entire turn.

Daisy's Tote Bag is best saved to commit to a skill test. Seekers simply don't have the time to durdle around with a potentially-meaningful hand slot increase when you can just deckbuild around it from the start.

Low_Chance · 13
Agree. This is one to keep an eye out in the future, though, because we may eventually get a tome that is really incredible but takes up two hand slots. Then the tote bag will start looking much better. — CaiusDrewart · 3191
Dude, you say keep a hand slot free for Necronomicon. Isn't that EXACTLY what you need this card for? Why should I choose which Tome I should have when I can have 2 or maybe 3 of them??? I personally love this item. The only disadvantage is, as you said, if you build ur deck around it, u have to wait until u draw it, but hey what do we have the Old Book of Lore for??? — matt88 · 3216
-matt88: The problem is that there's a really big difference between having 0 useful tomes and having 1, but there's barely any difference between having 1 useful tome and having 2. You only get one free Tome action a turn, and you need your other actions to hunt down clues. Having more books just means having more options, which is usually not worth spending a card, an action, and 2 resources, when you could be using that same effort to get clues and win the game. — Low_Chance · 13
Low_Chance: Clues just by themselves do not win you the game. Having more than one Tome is extra useful for your team. An strong enemy with high combat value spawned. I can boost my comrade's state to help him defeat that enemy. Me, or my comrade need cards. Done. And I can also have non-Tome items equipped, like Magnifying Glasses. — matt88 · 3216

Cherished Keepsake

Cherished Keepsake

Cherished Keepsake - the Horror equivalent of Leather Coat. Really, there can be few pleasures in life like William Yorick recycling this for the sixth time in a scenario. Between it and Leather coat, he can tank horror and damage like nobody else.

Let's consider it's benefits. It's free - so slap it into your discard pile early so you've a nice target to fetch with Yorick's ability. It's got a nice icon to help. Commit this to tests early and often! It soaks 2 horror. For him, I think this is an improved Holy Rosary.

A lovely little horror soak. The only downer is that we're seeing good Accessory slot cards appear, and this might compete with Police Badge for him.

Leaving Yorick aside, this is, like Leather coat, a lot less spectacular. Being Accessory slotted is a problem for Agnes and (ironically) Wendy, who both want theirs free. I don't think any of the Dunwich investigators want to use this for their splash cards. It's maybe suitable for a "Ashcan" Pete build; he's got quite a low sanity himself, and being free it's Dark Horse friendly.

But for all that the card mentions Wendy, and has some of the most touching card text, really, this one is for Will.

AndyB · 955
I would stipulate that Heirloom of Hyperborea isn't really that good (i usually pitched it for icons), and since her ability directly conflicts with Key of Ys, Agnes would rather take this for excess horror soaking. And Wendy certainly wants this in play to soak up Abandoned and Alone before dropping her Amulet (or whatever horror); it isn't as it you cannot pitch it before it soaks 2 horror. — CecilAlucardX · 10
Relic Hunter is also an option to have more than 1 relic. — Django · 5162
I would agree about Agnes in the past, but I think the pool of spells is only going to get better for the Heirloom of Hyperborea. It certainly wasn't good, but I think it will be in time. — AndyB · 955
The competition with Heirloom of Hyperborea isn't a big deal for Agnes, but the competition with Holy Rosary is. The +1 Will is absolutely worth the 2 resources for her. — CaiusDrewart · 3191

Defiance

Defiance

just a heads up to players looking for advantages in Path to Carcosa. You spend a lot of scenarios with just the and a single other type of special negative token in the chaos back.
In other words, defiance has just two targets, the three and the two extra token, all of a sudden this card is turning three draws into 0's or 2 draws into 0's and ignoring whatever else they may do to you. Combo with Jim Culver and now you have just one target and your deck now has a total of 5 additional 0's, unparalleled reliability and it benefits every type of test.

This is good for Jim Culver decks because it re-enforces his archetypical ability, reliability.

This is good for other decks because it, at worst, gives them Jims's ability.

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The average Carcosa bag contains 17, 18 or 19 tokens. (Easy+Standard, then Hard or Expert respectively). Now you just need to do some math to understand the value of this card. If we assume that the skull is a -2, ignoring the penalty means that there's now 6x 0's, If you break even on the skill check then you've got a 39% chance to succeed, a jump up from 22%, if you have +1 then it jumps to 50%.

If you continue the math you'll spot an issue however, using this card to turn a -2 beats the purpose when you sport a +2 modifier anyway! In other words, learn your chaos bag and do the math. The most efficient use in my opinion is to play this card to get a +3 modifier and to negate a -4+ token type, for example in Curtain Call when you've got 4+ horror on you. In that exact circumstance a +3 on hard has a 50% chance to succeed, playing Defiance to net that +3 and negating the Skull would get you a 72% success chance.

Now if you do a little more math, you'll discover a flaw, Unexpected Courage does pretty much everything I just mentioned, and is a little more flexible since the extra icon helps succeed whether you draw special tokens or just a really large negative number. This means that defiance isnt strictly better than courage, it does a different thing, it negates all the extra bad effects of the negated token, thus there's no risk of horror or enemy spawns or other negative effects that might be the result of bad token draws.

TL:Dr. Defiance is bad in a vacuum, good when used correctly, sets itself apart from Unexpected Courage by having a somewhat similar base-job but actually has a very different job that swings in usefulness between scenarios. If you would put Unexpected Courage in a deck then give this a consideration, when used well it should give you the same net benefit as Unexpected Courage and then some extra.

Tsuruki23 · 2577
Can someone answer my question about Defiance: if I am playing premonition and scrying mirror, would I still be able to use this card? My assumption is no, because the card says "before revealing." I am curious if I could, my Psychic Jacqueline deck would be a little more fun. — BradFishstix · 15

"Not without a fight!"

"Not without a fight!"

Tried it and I found myself in a very simple, predictable even situation.

The situation where I wished I'dd just slotted Unexpected Courage rather then this far more limited wannabe that outright fails to be useful for pretty much every test where flexible icons are useful.

The only time this card proved itself better then Unexpected Courage was during a Cheap Shot action where we realized that we double tapped the icons, and we're not even sure that was a legal move and even then, much too specific to be routinely useful.

EDIT:

My opinion about this card hasn't changed, but I've started to find a use for it: When you want a deck with a lot of skills to use with True Survivor, this isn't a bad option to slot and recurse, even if it's just to throw the card away on a Wendy Adams re-roll. Also it's relatively useful in Agnes Baker decks as a tertiary source of boosts or to punch a Swarm of Rats in the first few scenarios.

EDIT: EDIT:

Lots of cards out since this released, it's binder fodder, never taking it again, not even for the folks who LOVE skill cards. Somebody is going to have to have "Not without a fight!" printed in their deckbuilding rules for it to show up in a deck of mine.

Tsuruki23 · 2577
For thiisI don't think i'll ever play this card, it's too situational. — Django · 5162
Sorry for double post, but i can't edit my comments. For this card to provide any benefit over Overpower or Unexpected courage, you need to be engaged with at least 2 enemies (so it provides +3). It's likely you'd be engaged with 1 after mythos phase, but a second one needs extra effort, like evading in previous turn or engaging one. However these actions could've been used to kill it instead. — Django · 5162
This isn't a for every one card; but mainly for combat focused suvivors. It's got utility in that it can be used as needed; at worst it's +1 will. Most times it will be on par with unexpected courage. The difference is that you can also use it to evade if you have more than one monster on you and are using Machete, for example. Or have people stack up monsters on you in the Mythos phase, then use the boost to pass will-based enounter checks. It's a niche card, but it can find room. It's also innate, so True Survivor can recycle it. — CecilAlucardX · 10
I would put this in a Wendy deck, mostly because it has the flexibility to be used for many purposes. I see this like a second Unexpected Courage. The thing is: I can always use it to evade, as I have to be engaged with an enemy to do that, I can always use it for +1 Willpower (and maybe more) and I can sometimes use it to attack -not always as I have to be engaged with the enemy, and if I'm engaged with multiple enemies I also get a nice boost. — matt88 · 3216
Oops, my mistake! I can't always use it for +1 Willpower, but if I happen to be engaged with an enemy when a Willpower test occurs I can use it for +2 or more. I like this card in general. It has its restrictions but I find it generally useful. — matt88 · 3216
The thing about this card is that it isn't a question of Unexpected Courage or this. You can take both. People would probably run 4 Unexpected Courages given the chance. — janoche · 1
If I read this correctly, this card gains the three additional icons in addition to the printed icons for every enemy engaged? — cheapmate · 1
I would expect that the power of this card would vary, depending on whether you were playing an enemy-heavy campaign like Night of the Zealot, or whether you were playing solo, because you encounter far fewer enemies that way. However, no one else seems to be discussing that, so I think there's something I'm missing. — Scrubsby · 1
Reading the text of the card, and comparing it to others, it seems to me that you can play this card for someone else's skill test. Now granted, I'm sure the Survivor does not want to be engaged with every enemy around, but that does open up some additional options. — Tiktakkat · 38
I would also note that Zoey can take it, and she would rather want to be engaged with multiple enemies, especially if she has a Survival Knife or two equipped if one of the enemies survives to the end of the Enemy Phase. — Tiktakkat · 38
I don't think Unexpected Courage with Cheap Shot would contribute twice, as added cards only add to skills based on icons matcing the test (or wild). The test doesn't change. I can also add that in cases like that the grim rule say you should go with the worst interpetation if you can't be sure. — Telruin · 1
Not without a Fight contributes double for Cheap shot, it provides both the combat and agility icons, doesnt make the card good though :P — Tsuruki23 · 2577
Skill Test Timing goes trough how you add a card to a skill test. Only the "appropriate" icons are applied, and it further spessify that appropriate icons are wild or those matching the skill test in question. — Telruin · 1
Gains some power with the advent of swarm enemies in Dreamlands — AndyN · 42
I am finding this card helpful in an Agnes Meat Cleaver deck where I actually find all three symbols useful at different times and appreciate the flexibility. — Time4Tiddy · 249
This would really boost a Spectral Razor, Agnes, Jim, Marie, Patrice, Lola all could use this combo. — dlikos · 166

Ambush

Ambush

Just a reminder: On the Hunt and "Let me handle this!" exist and are good cards (especially together as a powerful "enemy funnel" build). The fact that these cards exist means that you can ensure that enemies get delivered to your doorstep to trigger this trap. On the Hunt especially is a powerful card for this purpose since it overrides normal spawn rules to put the victim not on its normal spot but right on top of you and also shortens the time you need to wait and stick around for a foe to appear.

Ideally you'll wait for both cards (Ambush and On the Hunt) to make it to your hand, then you play them in a combo.

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Spoiler alert for some relatively common (first scenario per story) enemy cards

2 hp foes like Ghoul Minion and Fanatic just blow up.

3 hp foes like Ravenous Ghoul are now firmly in boxing reach (With or without Mano a Mano.

Most importantly, 4hp foes like Yithian Observer, Agent of the King and Icy Ghoul are now one-shottable with a gun and firmly within striking distance.

Tsuruki23 · 2577