Are you the hunter or the prey? It's a tough world out there. Here's how to deal with it:

Even since the release of Mk 1 Grenades, in the harsh and distrustful world of Arkham Horror: The Competitive Card Game* this hidden gem still truly is the best PVP card in the game.

To get rid of annoying extras and side-kicks for good you will essentially only need a copy of Teamwork and wait for your nemesis' most vulnerable moment. (Note that you really want to be sure you can go all the way though - otherwise you have just gifted them 2 XP, and you don't want anyone but yourself to take the lead, do you?)

Of course, if your investigator already has access to Teamwork obvious finishers in your card pool might include "You handle this one!", Dynamite Blast, Shotgun, Sawed-Off Shotgun, and Mk 1 Grenades (for which you optimally pay for with their own money). Otherwise, sneak it in your deck being Versatile.

And who knows, maybe you will find something interesting in your clingy human resources on the Black Market or get to liquidate their courage. Don't want to let them have their insurances lingering around, remember?

If they still have realistic chances of surviving the mythos phase, be sure to break a promise you made with Geas at the end of your turn. If that doesn't work, a bonus round gifted by The Gold Pocket Watch might do the trick.

Pretend to Safeguard that nosy cluever who denied you your Lone Wolf resource (three times in a row!) before Kicking the Hornet's Nest, just to be Elusive, Think on Your Feet, or Ethereal Slip away, letting the baddies finish the job. In the rare case they will see your evil plot coming and maintain distance you can still gather the filth and fix positioning with a well-timed Warning Shot.

Oh, and don't forget to cash in with Decorated Skull afterwards if you get close enough to enjoy the show.

*Seriously, if you hate your friends, just play solo.

Notice how this limits your evade ACTIONS, but not your evades. So feel free to talk your way out of trouble while still being able to move around. Or my favorite: use your broken leg to hit your opponent's legs REAL hard without a sweat.

Spells are a no go though…

This enemy spawn in another location and it ran away after you attack him. Getting rid of it seems like a lot of work. However, rogue got a card that deal with enemy in any location, Damning Testimony. With expose upgrade, you can just discad him with investigation action from the other location. You can even use Backpack to find it. I think it's the fastest way to deal with him. (Some exp required)

P.S. Backpack use body slot which is taken by Fine Clothes, so personally I use Friends in Low Places (named item and illicit) to find it.

Response related to the DtRH, received July 2023. I've submitted them back then, but they haven't made it here. So putting it into Reviews so it is public information.

Intro: How does Down the Rabbit Hole interact with upgrading customizable card and with getting new copy of the card as part of it.

• Let's assume Power Word is the only card I am upgrading.
• Let's assume I upgrade PW, three checkboxes for Thrice Spoken.
• DtRH affects PW as per: "Spending experience points on one or more upgrades for a customizable card already in an investigator’s deck is considered to be “upgrading” a card for the purposes of card effects."

Q1: Without DtRH that would be 3 XP but because of DtRH it will be 2 XP not 1XP (per ruling from different question/answer via this platform) you can use only one instance of effect of the DtRH on Customizable card, even if you have 2+ copies of the card in your deck. Is this correct?

Q2: As part of this upgrade, I want to get 3rd copy of Power Word.

• Normally this would cost no XP as per: "An investigator may directly purchase one or more copies of a new customizable card with one or more upgrades by spending only the amount of experience points required to purchase those upgrades. (Doing so counts as purchasing a new card, not upgrading an existing card.)"
• But DtRH states: "Increase the experience cost for you to purchase new cards by 1."

*I pay "only" 2 XP (referring to Q1 assumption) for the upgrade and purchase card but then DtRH kicks in again making it +1 XP. Is this correct: Final cost for Power Word gaining Thrice Spoken and adding extra copy to deck (with DtRH) is 3 XP.

A1: Yes; even with extra copies of Power Word in your deck, DTRH can only apply its discount to Power Word once between : scenarios. You would spend 2 XP, one time, to upgrade Power Word this way.

(!!!) A2: When you unlock Thrice Spoken, it counts as an “upgrade” to Power Word, and you can add the additional copy of Power Word to your deck without spending additional XP—you’d simply swap the third Power Word with a different card. You aren’t “purchasing” a new copy of Power Word.

Having played Tony recently, I wanted to give this a review. Overall, I think this is a fairly excellent signature asset for three reasons:

(A) The icons for committing here are great, and you get two copies in your deck. Killing and some occasional clue-finding are exactly what Tony should be doing, so even if you don’t use these as weapons you’re always happy to see them. They naturally make Tony more flexy, making it easier to lean into that with his off-class access.

(B) It makes Bounty Contracts go a bit further, in essence fully refunding itself if you use a bounty on each enemy and ensuring Tony keeps getting his extra actions. Even if you don’t want to be using these long term in a scenario, having it in play early keeps your momentum up by increasing the total number of bounties you have access to.

(C) Rogues will often have good card draw with Lucky Cigarette Case and similar, which actually makes it easier to get two copies in your hand than you'd think for the effect. I’ve found there are plenty of times where it’s worth taking an Attack of Opportunity so you can play what amounts to a +3 combat +1 damage weapon with 6 ammo (assuming 3 bounties on the Elite you want to murder). Depending on how you build Tony, you can potentially make use of all 6 of these shots in one turn even after playing the pair. With Hemlock Vale investigator pack you can use Hold Up or False Surrender to play these without an AoO too (and either could go on Bewitching, if you were so inclined).

In terms of consistency, you’re much more likely to want Switchblade •• for most of a scenario on Tony – but for that raw burst of power at high test values then if you locate two copies this is perhaps the best signature combat asset going. It’s a bit tricky to get both and make it pay-off, but when it does it’s awesome and the flavor of the Long Colts on a bounty hunter is first rate. I recommend!