This guy is the enabler of true solo decks. is a very good class pair as it bridges hard-fighting and hard-clueing, many hard-to-solo investigators (which the class maybe neither nor , but deckbuilding requirement dabbles into these classes) can use his help. I can enjoy the gameplay without playing 2 handed for more characters now!

The problem in building such a deck is that a character can't fight accurately, can hit accurately but for tiny amount of damage or limited time, or can't clue 3+ shroud location. This guy fixes them all as long as you manage to get 5 XP from the 1st scenario. Not only that, 3 health 3 sanity also "fixes" the character by enabling face-tanking treachery on the side that the character is weak for 1-2 more times, because solo play deck is not able to receive external icon commits coverage like in multiplayer and is likely to surrender to some treacheries.

For example :

• Monterey Jack Solo : Trusty Bullwhip can +1 damage only once, takes forever to dispatch piling up enemies alone. Now you get more +1 damage to combo with his accurate whip to get out of trouble fast, after hard work of gathering clues to refill evidences. (3 damages in one action is huge for one-shotting monster just drawn! Especially that both whip and Michael will exhaust.)
• Lily Chen Solo : With Discipline and putting this guy down pushes her to where she can continue the story on her own with a bit of glass cannon clue tools like Evidence! or Drawn to the Flame.

Also, a lot of true solo failures comes from 3 HP enemies not quite dying fast enough when a new one comes in, and there is no other investigators to finish the job with lower firepower weapon, sometimes resulting in massive waste of ammo/charges. +1 damage is great for many +1 damage weapons available out there.

This dude looks to me much better for a seeker than a guardian, for several reasons.

• The +1 will likely be wasted on many guardians, while a seeker with Acidic Ichor will appreciate to fight with 7, rather than 6.
• He offers unpaired soak for the class, that is generally on the squishier side. He should particularly well synergize with Miskatonic Archaeology Funding, because he is not Miskatonic, which makes him a good pick for the single natural Ally slot, every investigator comes with. (In particular, if you don't plan on taking Mr. "Rook" or Charles Ross, Esq.)
• He is easy to fill up with evidence for a seeker. Much harder for most guardians, even with his buff. They will likely have to pay through the nose on Keen Eye to get anywhere, which does not appeal to me, given how resource hungry guardians are. The one Guardian who would particularly appreciate the can't take Michael, while Sister Mary could get away with some Mystic Investigate-spells, but is not that interested in either stat-boost.
• He costs a lot of XP. You will probably not get your second copy until late in the campaign. Seekers are the class to easier get away with that, consistency wise.

Of course, you need to build a flex seeker like Joe Diamond to get full value. I'm imaging him very strong with Amanda Sharpe. The downside of him is that he exhausts, if you use his evidence. This makes power turns to vitriolise bosses with Vicious Blow (2) below her less efficient. Still, I'm very eager to try out this combo.

While Michael was printed in Edge of the Earth, he actually seems like he was (at least partially) designed to work with one of the Scarlet Key investigators: Charlie Kane.

He's not bad in other investigators, see the other reviews for that, but he's well worth consideration in the politician. He gives two static boosts and soaks a ton, plus his first doesn't exhaust, so on turns where you're not fighting he just gives you a nice big bonus.

Additionally, because Charlie is limited to only level 0-2 non-Ally cards, it can be hard to find big pockets of damage for him. Events can be one way, but Michael Leigh offers another solution by turning your 2-damage .45 Thompson into 3-damage Lightning Gun. And using Bonnie Walsh, you can potentially get this bonus damage multiple times in a turn when fighting bosses.

While the 5 XP is certainly an investment, I think that players looking for a "fighter" archetype Charlie could seriously consider Michael.

Darrell Simmons would love Michael Leigh if he had access to him. He generates evidence for every successful investigation while pushing Darrell to 6 . 2-3 evidence per turn from a single card is better than anything Darrell can achieve on his own.

Yes, five experience is a lot to ask from a fellow investigator. But if you and your teammate think the reward is worth it, there are a few straightforward ways to borrow an ally in even without getting into Teamwork or similar effects:

• Flare can grab him from the top 9 cards
• A Chance Encounter can play him from discard

This can even be combined with On Your Own to make either of the above events cheaper as long as Darrell isn't bringing his own allies.