Lifeline

I was really looking for new cards using exile mechanic and I'm not disappointed with this one. It's cheap, fast, just one XP, so great value there and can be returned to deck with Déjà Vu for free for next scenario.

Just fail all skill tests, get value out of them (for example using "Look what I found!", Oops!, don't care about fails when Drawing Thin used) and still have 3 more actions (assuming all actions required skill tests).

It can be played for another investigator without location restriction which sounds a bit broken and can be life saving if someone failed miserably skill tests when fighting Elite enemy.

Lifeline can be even more beneficial for Stella Clark - in the most extreme scenario, she's failing 3 skill tests, then fails extra action's skill test coming from her signature ability to finally get 4 extra actions from Lifeline.

The only thing you have to care about when playing this card is to make sure your actions require skill tests and the fail effects are not too harsh.

Great catch in the third paragraph. In such a situation, it can be easily worth exciling for X=1, if that makes the difference between killing the boss, before the last agenda advances, or not. — Susumu · 361
Skill tests are not the same as actions. Let's say you play Vamp(3) and fail the four skills, for one action... — joster · 39
Clean Sneak

I'd say for it to be worth 4XP you need to trigger about at least 2 effects, more likely 3.

So how can you achieve this ?

  • Evade every one with a 5 investigator (Finn even if he can't take it, Winifred, Kymani...) .
  • Investigate with Trish's ability.
  • Pay and throw a Cunning Distraction with Preston !
  • Just play with other investigators that can evade and maybe synchronize your Clean Sneak copies.

Just be sure to have one extra action to move out of the location after you played this card unless a guardian is coming to kill them. (Blur is pretty usefull for that but Rogues don't lack more actions in general...)

EDIT : Overall this is a pretty bad card I would say.
If we compare this card to Cryptic Research, we can see the difference between Rogues and Seekers in the game :p For the same cost and xp, Cryptic Research already does 3 effects (three times "draw 1 card" to allow the comparison with Clean Sneak), to anyone and you don't need to evade 2-3 enemies beforehand ! You pay for the versatility of effect of course but you need to work much harder for an overall lesser result sadly... :/

captainfire · 231
I think this is third card Finn hates — elkeinkrad · 484
It's really strange, that they made this level 4, gating the two investigators, who might consider it at least: Finn and Rita. — Susumu · 361
All the more, since it is imho overpriced for it's effect at 4 XP. — Susumu · 361
Oh crap in my memory Finn was 0-4 not 0-3, my bad ;) I would also agree that this card is not amazing, especially if you compare with Cryptic Research is Seekers... I'll edit my review to talk about it ^^ — captainfire · 231
Compared to "Cryptic Research", it's not even that more flexible. Unlike the seeker card, it can't draw you three cards, just one, because you have to choose DIFFERENT options for each enemy. (Which also means, it maxes out at 4 enemies, not that this matters much. Game should be normally pretty much over with 5 enemies at your location, regardless of what you can pull off with the resources, you get from them.) — Susumu · 361
Even just compare to Dynamite Blast (0). lol. Way fewer hoops to jump through and actually helps you deal with the fact that you floated 2+ enemies. It's 100% comparable, but this card is pretty wack. — Zinjanthropus · 227
Meant to say that it's NOT 100% comparable — Zinjanthropus · 227
Also what the hell even is a "clean sneak?" — Zinjanthropus · 227
Too bad, we'll likely never see a "Return to" box again. This is a classic example of an underdeveloped card, that might get a fixed version in such a product. 1 or 2 XP cheaper, 1 or 2 resources more expensive, which doesn't matter as much in the investigators, that want it, as they would likely stich it in a Chuck or Crafty deck anyway. — Susumu · 361
This card may have been worth 4xp, as a TSK specific tech card, of it counted versus #concealed mini cards at your location, and you could use up 2 of the 4 triggers to pop 2 concealed minis, plus gain resources and draw a replacement card. That's pretty sweet, of you ask me, I might pay 4xp for that in TSK campaign. — Quantallar · 7
Dirty Fighting

This is very nice for every 3 Roguish Investigators out there (Finn, Winifred, Skids, Rita and maybe Jenny) ! It could also be very good for Kymani to deal with Elite enemies...

  • Now you fight with a pretty comfortable 5 (maybe 6 or more with Lonnie Ritter and any gun).
  • It comboes very well with Stealth (3) and Kymani's ability to "kill by evading".
  • It comboes very well with .25 Automatic (2) to deal 4 damages in 1 action (and 3 tests). Just Swift Reload afterward !
  • This is a better Sharpshooter but hey, you could also run both so you Fight with super high numbers if you want to oversucceed ! ;)
  • Finally, don't forget the Parley action, sometimes relevant if it's not a test and/or if you bought some Fine Clothes !
captainfire · 231
I don't understand the usefulness of evading an unengaged enemy. Also, to evade an unengaged enemy I would first have to spend an action to engage it. Doesn't seem like a great card to me. — yuna1979 · 1
Good review, but I think this review will be more good if you talk more clearly about Stealth(3). I think what you want to talk is that "use Stealth(3) to evade as fast speed, and then react Dirty Fighting to fight action"; this gives one free fight action (although we cannot get +2 skill value). — elkeinkrad · 484
@ yuna1979: the "evade an exhausted enemy" is there on the card, just for the new Rogue Kymani, who can engage exhausted enemies fast and then re-evade them for discarding them. It's not the only card with very specific extra text. "Lab Coat" has printed "or less" on the card, just in case, you are the bearer of the "13th Vision" RBW. — Susumu · 361
Ignoring the aloof keyword on the free action is nice, otherwise the reaction wouldn’t work on aloof enemies because you’d need to reengage them. — Django · 5063
Does it really combo with .25 Automatic ? Both are reactions to you evading, but can you trigger one (or the other) after the first one, because if you triggered the first one, aren't you in a "after you attack" window rather than a "after you evade" ? — Galdanor · 1
@Galdanor pretty sure when multiple "after" triggers are met you can choose the order in which they resolve, but they all will resolve — dlikos · 151
Predator or Prey

This is fake Dilemma card, I think. It seems we can choose one of two choices as the meaning of Dilemma. In practice, one choice commonly make no game change state, so we're compelled to resolve one effect due to "must" rule.

Predator or Prey, however, has really high potential. It is the first player card that forces massive elite enemy moving to desired location. Now we can play Extracurricular Activity infinitely. Note that it's not hard to do, since we can easily draw Predator or Prey via Resource or Katja when we want.

elkeinkrad · 484
Bob Jenkins

Has anyone tried pairing up Bob and Mandy? I'm thinking that Bob's ability to get Mandy (and other players) choice Survivor and Rogue items (The Red Clock to power an infinite Pendant of the Queen or Archaic Glyphs anyone?), plus Mandy's ability to help Bob find those key things in his deck more quickly would make for a pretty potent pairing. I know she's been nerfed fairly hard by the latest taboo (50 card deck only--oof), but it seems like at minimum they would make a pretty killer support team.

He's awesome with Sef! — MrGoldbee · 1443
One thing to consider: he needs to find his signature card to actually play items under other investigators control. And as a neutral Talent of no level, it's not easy to tutor or recurse. That makes it of course a good target for "No Stone Unturned", but aiming at deck building to give specific items to others is trickier, than it seems. — Susumu · 361