Q: "When is a door not a door?" - A: "When it's a-jar."

Backstab is a conundrum, too. Thematically, it belongs to the rogue class like no other card, while game mechanics-wise it is barely seen in rogue decks. But i am happy to announce that with the appearance of Madame Rousseau, things could change in the future.

Backstab best suits investigators with a low combat and a high agility base.

Yes! Of course you got the same notion: i am speaking of 'my girl', Wendy. Backstab is one of the very few cards that give her reliable access to additional damage. Fire Axe is expensive, Sneak Attack costs two actions and the bat probably breaks. This, and the fact that Pete players often import Backstab into their Dark Horse builds, makes Backstab feel like a red card in disguise.

A ridiculous combo possibility exists with Double or Nothing, if you manage to pump agility up that high. As a rule of thumb, +2 to +4 over the skill check difficulty on standard difficulty, so roundabout 10 to 12 agility. Unlikely, one can pull this off alone. It is something you will definitely need another investigator to help out with, since realistically you will be unable go accumulate enough cards (Unexpected Courage/Manual Dexterity/Rise to the Occasion/Wendy's Amulet) for this ideal moment. Or.... brooding over succeeding skill tests - it should be pretty smart to just exile Stroke of Luck as last card in a three-card-combo.

For the sake of clarity it should be noted that Backstab makes you test your agility skill instead of your combat skill against the enemy's combat value. This implies that cards like Vicious Blow are not allowed to be commited to the skill test, as the rulebook states [RR V1.0, page 26, section 'skill test timing', ST.2]: "The investigator performing the skill test may commit any number of cards with an appropriate skill icon from his or her hand to this test. [..] Cards that lack an appropriate skill icon may not be committed to a skill test. [..]"

Pros

• Unconditional +2 damage.
• Needs no setup and can handle early-game threats.
• Possible power combo with Double or Nothing for a 6 damage blow.
• Can also be combined with Will to Survive for an assured hit.
• Almost an auto-include for Wendy Adams, the event can even be replayed with Wendy's Amulet later on.

Cons

• High play cost.
• Risk of failure included.
• One-time effect only, make it count!

Recommendations

• Very useful if you plan to fight in The Devourer Below. (spoiler)

This card is an absolute beast for Daisy Walker, due to her free Tome action. Give yourself +2 Lore and laugh at those 4/5 shroud locations. Give your guardian +2 Strength and watch them destroy even 4/5 strength monsters with absolute ease. Give your survivor and rogue buddies a +2 Agility boost for that pinch situation where you need to evade lock a big nasty that you can't quite kill this turn or your mystics +2 will to do whatever they need to do.

The one downside? Her ability isn't fast, so using this to try to kill or evade the big nasty currently chewing on your face will trigger an attack of opportunity.

And if you need to pass an absurdly high check (eg Spoiler)... both copies can stack. Keep her Tote Bag nearby!

This card got a big upgrade in the Path to Carcosa campaign. As it currently stands, you can play through to Echoes of the Past with the chaos bag only having one of , or along with . Since is usually an okay pull, you can use Defiance during The Path to Carcosa to ensure you avoid the only other ‘symbol’ token in the bag (except ) and know that you will almost certainly pass a particular skill test. This is especially good for Jim as he can ignore the negative modifier of as well - leaving only the token to prevent him from passing any test. If the rest of the scenarios in The Path to Carcosa continue the same theme of having only one type of ‘symbol’ token in the bag, this card will only get better as the campaign continues as the negative modifiers and penalties on those tokens will increase and avoiding them will become much better - especially on higher difficulties where the negative effects are worse and changing multiple tokens to 0s will help to reduce the average negative impact of the chaos bag.

I really like this card, although it really isn't for every deck.

This card plays well in decks that run about 1/3rd of their deck as asset cards and plays best with a mix of semi-permanent cards (like the machete) next to cards that are designed to get used (lantern/beat cop/knife).

It also alleviates the classic problem of the core set talents, in that it almost entirely negates the tempo hit for playing them out.

Its also good in investigators with draw (Mark).

It has synergy with Laboratory Assistant (play it first, draw two cards. Then play a few other cards).

Late game this card can be pitched to an investigate or parley test.

Really, my only problem with this card is that Guardian builds right now do not have all that many assets that are "expendable". Most guardian builds are expensive and use minimal actions to set up a weapon, an ally and maybe some other asset to help. In this classic build, you are pressed for time for anything else. Ever Vigilant gets you additional gear when you have those spare turns with an action but no idea what to play.

Watch this space. This card will certainly become more useful as guardians (and other classes) continue to gain new assets.

Note that if you're playing Lola this does not allow you to play non-guardian cards while you are guardian. You can play this card, and it can even target non-guardian assets, but since it makes you play them it doesn't work. This is different from Sleight of Hand.