Dayana Esperence

This card has a really cool effect, and other reviews describe ways to use this cool effect, but I would like to very clearly point out that this card also has a major disadvantage, which is that it is really expensive. What this card really does is to take one card in your hand, and convert it to three identical cards. Which means that, ultimately, you are spending 4 resources, 3 XP, a card, and an action, merely to draw two extra cards, which is an outrageously expensive way to draw extra cards. In return, you get the advantage of drawing a specific card (albeit one you must already have in your hand) rather than a random card.

What this means is that in order for this ally to be worthwhile, the card you place on it can't just be a nice card, it has to be a really, really super great card, so great that it is still a great card to play even if you increase the cost by a huge amount.

Now, to be fair, this isn’t the only thing you get for playing Dayana, as an ally she does have the advantage of soaking up damage for you. But then, she also has the disadvantage of eating up a very valuable ally slot, so this doesn't change the net calculation all that much, she still is mega-expensive for each "virtual card draw" she gives you.

ChristopherA · 113
Play parallel Agnes. Much cheaper. — MrGoldbee · 1493
Slapping Deny Existence on her is pretty solid. — SGPrometheus · 847
it would be more correct to say "add two copies of the best spell event in your deck to your deck, then tutor them out for free" which is maybe better than draw 2. maybe. — Zerogrim · 295
If you compare her with other allies who give extra uses like the sophist or the venture I think she is really good, because of her soak and her flexibility depending on the events in your deck. And getting additional secrets isn't hard, especially for her best buddy Luke — Tharzax · 1
Comparing her to Venturer and Sophist is doing her a disfavour. She is 3 XP more, so of course she has to be better. Her soak is rather unique. She can take more damage than other mystic allies, but only one horror. This is often very apreciateted, because moste mystics are more squishi on the meat than the mind, but it means, that you have to be cautiouse, if you want to use her for WoP, which still can be a great target, because it costs only 1 resource and is very powerfull, in particular if you go to level 2 or 5. I concur, DE (5) is probably one of the best value for money with her. I particular recommend this combo in Diana, because the cultist can take "Well Prepared", and Dayana is a great additional target for that card. Of course, you can also plan to use her on more expensive spells, but you would need a budget plan for that. The sugestion to use her on parallel Agnes seems very clever to me. Will try it out, when I play her. — Susumu · 381
I don't agree, because the usefulness of the sophist and the venturer depend on the supported assets, which need the xp to shine. Even if you use level 0 events like spectral razor you get a lot out of Diana. — Tharzax · 1
The Star • XVII

Best card for Tommy. The cost of most absorber is "health + sanith - 1". Thus, Tommy's ability actually gives net 0~1 resources. In this reason, Tommy needs another money sources, or cheap absorbers such as Cherished Keepsake, Leather Coat, Madame Labranche. However, The Star • XVII gives +1 health/sanity. It means that your absorber gives 2 more resources. Whenever you defeats your absorber, you can earn 3~4 resources. This is almost Emergency Cache. How is wonderful?

However, here is another problem. It's more hard to defeat your asset. It means the resource payback is delayed, and signature weakness is more critical. How to take damage/horror?

  • Spirit of Humanity: 1 damage/horror + 2 .
  • Solemn Vow: heal 1 damage or horror of another investigator's any controlled card.
  • Purifying Corruption: draw encounter -> (if non-surge treachery) cancel + 1 damage/horror + place 1 corruption -> remove 1 corruption [NET] 1 damage/horror only.

Don't forget Purifying Corruption don't require exhaust cost; this help you to take damage and horror what you want in one turn, due to The Red-Gloved Man.

elkeinkrad · 496
.18 Derringer

After actual play with this weapon, I think it's safe to say that it simply doesn't get enough ammo for main or flex fighters to justify use. Sure, if it misses, it gets another ammo. However, this means that missing only avoids wasting in ammo. In practice, it's rare that weapons are fired with intent to miss. Sure, Live and Learn can effectively give 1 free shot, and sure, Stella Clark gets an extra action. However, there's no guarantee that those particular combats are where a failure will trigger, and with that +2 , dedicated characters are unlikely to miss unless things are going wrong. It's rare to making an attack with the intent or expectation of failure. Most times, when someone attacks, they want to hit.

And that means, most of the time, it costs 3 resources, a card, and a play action, for what's effectively +2 damage. Before XP comes online and resources are often tight, that doesn't feel like it's enough to justify the cost. I think the only time this gives enough is when also using Act of Desperation in order to recoup the costs involved. If a character doesn't have that, they're likely better off with Meat Cleaver, or even Baseball Bat.

Note that this only applies for the 0-XP version. Once upgraded, the 2-cost, 3-shot version of the weapon looks like a much more reliable weapon.

Ruduen · 1021
Act of Desperation in Yorick or Rita makes this pretty decent, and Sleight of Hand is a trick Rita can take. Rita kind of likes this better than Meat Cleaver in some ways since her combat is lower, so the boost is more appreciated and the chance of failure is otherwise higher. — StyxTBeuford · 13050
This card also is really good with the guardian versions of ammo recharge, every bullet you put on it WILL deal damage. — Zerogrim · 295
Snake Bite

Teching for this is simple enough, if you can't pass the check — you want cheap disposable allies. Preferably those that can take an Arrow or two. Failing that, bring medicine.

But thematically, what does the choice here represents? You failed an check so you got bitten by a snake and get poisoned, fine. But what does it mean to be able to deal 5 damage to an ally asset instead? Are you something retroactively deciding that an ally got bit instead of you? Is the ally sucking out the poison from you and dying?

suika · 9506
I guess your Ally screams "get down!" and jumps in front of the bullet.. er snake. Jumps in front of the snake. — Soul_Turtle · 500
I like to think that allies (and humanoid enemies) aren't actually defeated when they hit their health/sanity limit... They just withdraw to recover. This helps explain how allies can come back multiple times in a game, and why their soak values are so much lower than the players': Investigators and bosses fight to the death, but allies and minions take time to recover when they're hurt. So the flavor of this is that the ALLY got bit by the snake, and the poison forces them to withdraw and get medicine. — Hylianpuffball · 29
Promise of Power

This could've had 3 Wild icons and still be amazing. Just compare it to Prophesy; it's pretty absurd. Hell, we could probably stretch it to 2 Wild icons since it's Practiced and interacts with Mystic spells but then it'd go from amazing to ok since Unexpected Courage is a thing. BUT THIS THING HAS FREAKING 4!

Nenananas · 271
At 3 wilds I start to look down on this card actually. The curse is a -2 that will crop up unexpectedly until you get Curse mitigation like Favor of the Moon or False Covenant, and that -2 has a chance to matter significantly. Because the curse pull is relatively random, it means at 4 icons you're doing better than Unexpected Courage on average (sometimes the curse matters, sometimes it doesn't), though you could burn yourself here trying to overcommit even more while trying to dodge a curse that never shows up. Also consider that most Mystics use willpower as their main stat, so wilds aren't so necessary when your deck is mostly willpower pips anyway. At 2 icons this card is really only useful in a strategy that is begging for curse tokens, and even then I think Guts easily beats it in most decks that would take it. 4 is a bit pushed but it seems just right to me, and it works well as a one off evade or investigate even in low intellect and agility Mystics. — StyxTBeuford · 13050