Well Prepared

Asset

Talent.

Cost: 2. XP: 2.

Guardian

Exhaust Well Prepared: Choose an asset you control. You get +X skill value for this skill test, where X is the number of matching skill icons on the chosen asset.

Ilich Henriquez
The Boundary Beyond #151.
Well Prepared

FAQs

No faqs yet for this card.

Reviews

If you can set yourself up with a good target then Well Prepared is great!

With some XP in hand you can combo with Physical Training to become very strong in combat and resilient to treacheries, a thing can be said for Wild icon assets even if its just the single icon (Rabbit's Foot for example, many unique investigator and story assets would be incredibly powerful as well, or just the classic ol' Elder Sign Amulet.

To make Well Prepared worth it I think you need a deck with 3+ cards to reliably trigger 2+ icons off (or a wild icon), that will often mean that you're fine off with just Physical Training and 1+ unique/wild cards.

.

Update: Just to reinforce this review:

This is a fantastic card when you can get the multi-token triggers, but, it suffers from set-up issues Once the pieces are out, especially once you got multiples of this thing down, you can succeed on all kinds of checks with ease. The more cards that you can benefit from and the more draw power you have the better. Also, the more varied your valid targets are the better, if you play a character to who damage and horror tends to stick (reads: Most characters)) then your targets to trigger Well Prepared with might as well be Bulletproof Vest and/or Elder Sign Amulet, both of which have icons.

Roland Banks with his Roland's .38 Special will actually find good use for Well Prepared, not just for +2 effective icons but also for the +2 icons and the icon in general.

Zoey's Cross is a terrific target, an effective +3 is crazy and then there'S the icon.

Mitch Brown, Leo Anderson's ally is single-handedly a card that makes Well Prepared worth it. A +2 to anything once per round is sure to make a difference.

Whichever of these character strengths you have, Physical Training is the perfect supplement to the build, aside from being a potential trigger for Well Prepared it also lets you bridge the gap to get maximum hit chance on important tests. Well Prepared is always ready to go during the mythos phase which means that you can tap Physical Training for +2 everytime you find yourself up against a crippling treachery.

As a capstone to this type of build I must bring up Ever Vigilant + Stick to the Plan, it shrinks the deck and makes finding everything easier and then it fuels you by granting extra resources and saving actions.

Tsuruki23 · 2523
Zoeys Cross is the bomb! So is Dr Armitage. — duke_loves_biscuits · 1251
Great to see another excellent Zoey card. She can really use this well. — CaiusDrewart · 3123
I agree that you need to hit 2+ icons to make this card worthwhile, but considering that this card basically has no cost, even if you hit just 1 icon is not too bad. — matt88 · 3117
Yeah, its a good way to keep gettign value until you find the other combo part — Tsuruki23 · 2523
I suggest this can use with Last chance — AquaDrehz · 200
Last chance is a skill card, with Well prepared you target only an asset in play... — KptMarchewa · 1
This card can be versatile, but I think reliable is much better and cheaper. — Django · 5070
@Django: Yeah, unless you're running Physical Training II or the like, I'd go with Reliable in preference. But if you are, this starts looking competitive. And of course, you can stack the two. — CaiusDrewart · 3123
This is great for Leo who can use it to boost his Investigate actions. — acotgreave · 842
It's all about the Foolishness, baby. — crymoricus · 246
This is a great workup, I am running Tommy Muldoon through a campaign now and was thinking about adding this as an upgrade because of the many assets I will be playing to take advantage of his ability. I figured the variety will give some versatility while I use them to soak up damage/horror. — BroodyGambit · 9
Just watch out that not all your assets only give your Fight (Strength) Icons, otherwise you can only boost Fight checks... — Rasmus Forlorn · 1

You know which one is the MOST AWESOME card to be Well Prepared? The Necronomicon! With 5 icon, there will be almost nothing you can`t seek.

And you know who can take both of the two cards? Joe Diamond, the one and only! Seeker cardslevel 0-5 only makes him a NORMAL seeker, but plus guardian cardslevel 0-2? That would makes him a real DIAMOND!

The Necronomicon will not only be Well Prepared, but also Well-Maintained! It means he will be the only one, of course with enough resources, who can make The Necronomicon recyclable, I mean, FOREVER. And if you are crazy enough? Just also bring Pnakotic Manuscripts and Archaic Glyphs, and TWO Well Prepared! You know what I mean, right? One time a place, no fuss no muss~

Alex-Ice-9 · 64
Minh can play the Necronomicon from the discard pile with Scavenging. And all seekers who can access the Necronomicon can return it to hand with Library Docent. But well prepared Joe "The Book" Diamond as someone named the deck is pretty hilarious — NarkasisBroon · 10
That’s true, but Minh can use the Scavenging like twice with conditions? While all other seekers with Library Docent only once, but Joe can use well-maintained to take the Necronomicom(actually he doesn’t really need to take the Necronomicon back since he doesn’t need to use the secrets on it)/Pnakotic Manuscript/Archaic Glyphs back to hand like a million times. — Alex-Ice-9 · 64
Not sure I understand your points. Scavenging can be used to recurse an item every turn once played? Whereas well maintained only returns the Necronomicon to your hand once. Well maintained itself gets discarded when that happens. And well maintained only works on items, so it can't recurse Archaic Glyphs (3) at all because it's only a spell. — NarkasisBroon · 10
Not personal, but I think you should check well-maintained and scavenging once more. Well-maintained is a fast card with 0 resource cost and after the item attached it get discarded, the item and each upgrade attach to it can be taken back to it’s owner’s hand, while you must use an action play scavenging with 1 resource cost and you can only things back after your investigate successes by 2. — Alex-Ice-9 · 64
Well-Maintained does not return itself, only other upgrades. — OrionJA · 1
Indeed. Well maintained does not return itself, only other upgrades, and yeah you have to play scavenging with an action, but then you can return an item every round as long as you are a reasonably capable investigator. Like Minh. — NarkasisBroon · 10
Rex can also play Scavenging and will be aiming to succeed an investigation by 2 once per round (or every time if non-taboo) anyways. — Death by Chocolate · 1447
You can also simply avoid the discard-recur cycle entirely by recharging the Necronomicon with Ariadne's Twine. As a backup, our until you get the XP for the twine (I mean, you've presumably just blown everything on the Necronomicon, so it might be a minute), the Eldrich Sophist can also donate his 3 secrets, thou and move them from other stuff to the Necronomicon, though I can't think of any other sources valid for the investigators named here. — SleepyLibrarian · 41
You can't just discard the necronomicon. You'd have to play over it with an asset. Which isn't that difficult with magnifying lenses, but still feels worth mentioning. — Lailah · 1

The most expensive blank card in the game, following the recent ruling on Lonnie Ritter we can now undeniably say that this card is blank, since your choice of an asset MUST affect the asset in a game state sense that is impossible to achieve with this card.

The serious point here is either the FAQ needs to be larger or smaller, half answers to rules questions are worse than just stating rules should be followed consistently by each player, the actual minutia of what is technically legal is IMO less important than just ruling all interaction the same way for your playgroup. (but if they want to go the MTG route and have a rule book the size of a dictionary that would at least solve ambiguity, just not the path I'd choose)

What about the card above, well if it isn't just a blank card then it's pretty amazing, try it with a chainsaw or big gun and have fun wrecking everything's face.

Sidenote: most story assets have absurd icons, so if someones well prepared they also might be the best guard for any story allies you want to keep nice and safe.

Zerogrim · 292
I don't think this conclusion is correct. For Lonnie, you have to choose a target for which the resolution can be completed (ie it has to have a horror on it in order to heal a horror). For Well Prepared, any asset is a viable target because there is no required resolution (other than, I guess, it having some icons on it) — acotgreave · 842
Gotta agree with @acotgreave here, especially since that interpretation allows things to, y'know, work. — SGPrometheus · 809
Yeah as far as I know that game state rule only applies to things that could affect the game state. If it can, it has to. This can't under any circumstance so that rule doesn't apply- it just works. — StyxTBeuford · 12985
This review really belongs on Lonnie, but Zerogrim is right by RAW (see her FAQ for the reasoning why). However, since this is obviously silly, they should probably just change the rule to say a target is valid if it would modify the game state overall, instead of requiring the target's state to be modified, and then putting errata on Lonnie. — Hylianpuffball · 27
The first three comments are right in that that is how any sensible person should play the game, and wrong in that it is unambiguously not what the rules of AH:TCG as they currently stand say; which IS the first part of Zerogrim's point. He's saying: since we still need to subjectively interpret the rules, all the pernickety rulings and details aren’t as helpful as they should be. I’m not sure I agree that it would be best for the game to shrink the FAQ, but I certainly see where Zerogrim’s coming from. -- Also, with noting that Mitch Brown and Foolishness have excellent ?? icons. — Spritz · 68
Disagree. The rules also say that the text on the card can contradict the text in the rules reference guide. This text chooses a target and never changes that target's state, so it contradicts and overrides the RRG. Lonnie chooses a target and attempts to heal a damage from it, and therefore doesn't contradict the RRG, and doesn't override the conventional choosing a target rule — NarkasisBroon · 10
Yea these little nitpicky interpretation are at the end of the day just kinda worthless wastes of time, that's kind of my whole point. The rules state that contradictions are handled by the cards trumping the rules but well prepared doesn't contradict the rules, it simply requires you to ignore the rule to function, a contradiction would be a card that allows you to discard weaknesses from your hand. (even though that is against the rules in normal situations) — Zerogrim · 292
You can't exhaust "Well Prepared" if you don't controll an asset with matching icons to the current test. But if you do, you have a valid target. The triggered ablity targets a skill test. And for that, the game state is clearly altered if you activate the card. It's a very different case than with Lonnie, who can't heal damage from a card without damage. This review is rubbish. — Susumu · 366
The rules about "targeting" make it clear that it's the object of the verb "choose" that's the "target" of the card, though. When a card says "this skill test" it isn't establishing a target, it's establishing a duration. — Thatwasademo · 58
I think the actual problem with this analysis is what "changing the target's game state" means. Obviously moving a card to another zone, placing tokens on it, or rotating it (either exhaustwise or facewise) is changing its state, but you could also argue that making a change to parts of the game state not otherwise obviously associated with a card, *based on the target's characteristics*, also counts? Under that definition, the set of legal targets for Well Prepared's triggered ability is nonzero but also not everything -- it's those assets, and only those assets, which have at least one matching skill icon. — Thatwasademo · 58
Of course, that would true in this case anyway even without the targeting rules, since adding to your skill value is the only effect of the ability, and you can't trigger an ability that doesn't change the game state at all even if it doesn't target. But say you added text like "and place one resource token on Well Prepared, as a charge" to the ability. — Thatwasademo · 58
One could argue that the Golden Rule allows Well Prepared to function in spite of the targeting rule — and likewise for other cards which don't "affect" the card they "target", such as Call of the Unknown, Eavesdrop, Interrogate, Knowledge is Power, Esoteric Atlas (unless moving to a location is considered to "affect" it), Sixth Sense (unless investigating as if at a location is considered to "affect" it), Pendant of the Queen (unless any of those effects are considered to affect the location?), Followed (unless suppressing AoO "affects" an enemy), Otherworld Codex, Lucid Dreaming, Trish Scarborough's elder sign effect, Dynamite Blast. — Yenreb · 15
But that's a pretty long list of cards to lean on a rule that shouldn't be used so heavily to overwrite another rule that's so specific to a keyword which, if the cards "tried" to "affect" their targets, clearly would apply (and thus the Golden Rule wouldn't). — Yenreb · 15
While it is only implied, the rule talks about abilities, that affect their target. It is common sense, that if an ability isn't supposed to affect it's target, it is not required to change it's game state. — Adny · 1
Yeah, I think the response on Lonnie is just clumsily worded. It probably means "if the resolution of that ability's effect [would apply an effect but] could not change the target's state"; I suspect they'll release a clarification when they update the official FAQ. — pneuma08 · 26

Not a card to aim for early but it can be a very interesting skill test boost . It s even more efficient with the 4 icon talent from the night of the zealot reboot.

Too bad all permanent cards lack skill icons.

Susu · 35
This works with wild icons, correct? (Cf. Yaotl, which specifically excludes them--this doesn't have that language.) Not bad with signature assets, then, which tend to have a lot of those. Not that you can count on drawing those. — CaiusDrewart · 3123
Shotgun and Typewriter (Skids) are also a cool targets. Signature assets mentioned above are also a good choice, Zoey and Leo will like it a lot. From official FAQ: "A Wild ( ? ) skill icon on a player card may be used to match any other skill icon for the purposes of both card abilities and counting how many matching icons are committed to a skill test. When using Wild icons for the purpose of resolving a card ability, a player must state which icon the Wild is matching at the time the card is used. Wild icons committed to a skill test are considered “matching” icons for the purposes of card abilities." - so I would say: yes. Yaotl is a good example: if his ability specifically excludes wild icons then it breaks a general rule. — KptMarchewa · 1
Good insurance against treacheries with Dig Deep (2). — crymoricus · 246
The fact that this card can add the wild icons from assets is just huge. I guess I'm thinking of Zoey in particular, getting +3 combat to a Shotgun blast is killer. At that point, it really does compete with Lightning Gun or simply by targeting shotgun itself since you're literally going in with the same amount of combat but a much greater damage potential. — LaRoix · 1643

This card was made for William Yorick with Chainsaw. Absolutely must take if you are playing him. +3 each round is amazing. Worth playing two copies so you can use it for two fights per turn.

Also, sometimes a fighter feels like they have great combat to break down those pesky locked doors (non-fight test), only to find out that it's been their weapon boosting their stat and they aren't really that strong in non-fights. This card does let you knock down those doors with ease.

If you have fighting under control you may have a pip down that you need to help pass a test.

Taevus · 760
Well Prepared is just a great card anytime you have a few double icon assets in play. A triple skill icon is great. I ran Yorick in TFA with Yaotl and 6-7 double combat cards for the exact reason that you mention. Well Prepared is almost universally useful but Yaotl requires pretty specific decks and the ally slot. I would certainly run Well Prepared instead. Or in combo with. — The Lynx · 967

Could be excellent with the just announced toolbelt from the Scarlet Keys. The toolbelt may blank the textbox of the item,but it doesnt remove the icons.

It does depend on what the tool icons are,of course.

AndyN · 42

Where does it say in the rules that the skill icons on the chosen asset must be of the same type of the skill test being performed? The way I read the card, it boosts your general skill value for whichever test you're performing by an X ammount, which is calculated from the matching skill icons on an asset. But it never says that the icons matching on the asset need to be the same as in the test.

Drakkions · 1
You seem to be ignoring the word “matching” on Well Prepared. What would one match these icons against beside the type of skill being tested? — Eudaimonea · 5
What do you think Matching means if not...'the same?' — MrGoldbee · 1446
It just says you get +X and X is the number of matching icons, it doesn't say X can't be 0. — Gsayer · 1
It is true that Well Prepared doesn't explicitly spell out that the icons have to match the test bring performed, which means that the linguistic rules of the English language could theoretically allow the card to be interpreted 'icons that match each other' rather than ‘icons that match the skill test.’ However, the rules also don't explicitly spell out that I can't spend painting supplies from my garage to pay for Streetwise (even though it is correct usage of the English language to describe my brushes and tools as ‘resources’). When the vagaries of the language you are using allow multiple interpretations of a card we should go with the one that is consistent with the rest of the rules of the game, meaning that Well Prepared is referencing icons that match the skill test being performed. — Pseudo Nymh · 54
The comparison to "spend painting supplies from my garage to pay for Streetwise" is quite ridiculous, as the card explicitly states "Exhaust Well Prepared: Choose an asset you control.", giving you an open choice to choose any asset you control, and not creating any reference to do something completely unrelated to the game. Not that it would change anything, you would just exhaust WP for nothing then. For me it isn't allowing any multiple interpretation, it is quite quite clear and obvious as it is. — Gsayer · 1
@Gsayer I think I agree with you that you can exhaust Well Prepared to get +0 to a skill test. What I am trying to suggest is that it would be contrary to rules precedent to add the three Combat icons on Chainsaw to an Intellect test (even though they can be considered 'matching icons' as they match each other). Perhaps my example was a bit fanciful. I am trying to suggest that any game quickly becomes absurd if we allow any rules interpretation that isn’t explicitly textually forbidden. That’s how you get golden retrievers playing basketball! :) — Pseudo Nymh · 54
Oh, looking at it again, it seems I misread the OP, now I understand the point of you guys in the comments. My point is that you could exhaust WP and choose any asset and X can be 0, but of course the "matching icons" refers to the skill test, you'd never be able to add a different icon (as in @PseudoNymph example of Combat icons to and Intellect test). Sorry about the confusion. — Gsayer · 1
For the record, you can't exhaust WP to choose an asset with 0 matching skill icons because in that case its effect wouldn't change the game state. — Thatwasademo · 58