Daring Maneuver

Oh, hey look: it's a quote from Michael McGlen! Guy still hasn't shown up on in the the LCG as for 2023: crossing my fingers he, Kate, Agatha, George, Hank and Wilson will show up in the upcoming expansions!

Oh yeah, I need to review the card?

I disagree with the sentiment that Daring Maneuver is just a worse Unexpected Courage: this card is not meant to help you win, this card is meant to help you cashout with Rogue cards that care by how much you win: even at level 0, many do come in mind (Breaking and Entering, Cheap Shot, Slip Away, Lucky Cigarette Case, Switchblade. Quick Thinking, Opportunist .41 Derringer, Mauser C96, etc.). There are also many cards of other classes, level 0 or above, that also care by how much you win (All basic leveled up non-Unexpected Courage skill cards including the rogue one, both Scavenging, both Alchemical Transmutation, level 2 Deduction, etc.).

I think this makes it superior to unexpected courage in some situation if you can at least gurantee in some other ways you can succeed in the first place, because commiting unexpected courage may not be enough to win by the amount you need to get the extra effects, and you cannot know when you commit a card by how much you would succeed (not counting shenanigans with Premonition or Scrying Mirror). Daring Maneuver will never be wasted because it is played after the skill test succeeds: if you won't succeed by enough to trigger anything you can just choose not to play it!

At the end of the day, whether you will add this card to your deck or not depends on how many cards that care by how much you succeed by you have in your deck, but do keep in mind that succeeding by two is enough to benefit from basically all effects of level 0 cards that trigger on over-succeeding (with the exception of opportunist, for cards above level 0, you may want to look at its upgrade), and it costs no resources to play either!

So yes, niche card, but very good for a specific deck archetype.

Good assessment. — Cyke · 1
Good assessment. Found you can get a decent listing of all the cards it combines well with, searching ArkhamDB for the text x:"by 2 or more" gives a list. This won't list some other cards that it can combo with, though. For example, it also makes the old Core big gun, Shotgun, extremely good in a Leo Anderson deck. Not sure if there are any other Investigators with deckbuilding that can take both these cards. Unlike standard committed icons, you can hold this card in reserve until it will make a difference, and provide 2 additional damage (which is essentially more action compression). Would have the same effect with Rogues' Sawed-Off Shotgun too, I suppose, and that's a card combination available to many more Investigators. — Cyke · 1
Dark Prophecy

Just realized this car + Armageddon) is insane? Can I get a rule check on if attacking with Armageddon) then using Dark Prophecy and revealing 3 curses means that Armageddon) hits for 5 damage if I succeed? This makes me think that Dark prophecy would be absolutely bonkers with Armageddon) and favor of the moon up.

Not to mention the power of Eye of Chaos.

, · 574
Ignored tokens are not revealed tokens, refered from the QnA of Grotesque Statue. Thus, although several curse tokens were revealed via Dark Prophecy, only chosen curse token (and additional revealed curse tokens due to the effect of chosen curse token) contributes to the damage/clue of those cards. — elkeinkrad · 504
Hidden Pocket

I just realized there's no "limit one per item" text on here.

That means with 2x hidden pockets + 2x .25 Automatic (2) + 1x .41 Derringer (2) + 1x any one handed gun + 1x dirty fighting (2) + 1x stealth (2) you could have a round in which you attack 7 times.

As I typed it out I realized you technically don't need the second hidden pocket to pull it off, but the visual is much cooler if they're dropping two guns to pull out two new ones, trenchcoat flared out behind them, like Neo attacking the lobby in the first matrix.

Kahnjl · 1
If you want seven attacks in a turn this is also possible with Tony with double haste and either derringer (2) or quick thinking sounds only a slightly bit less complicated (which is a 3 card combo vs this 9 card combo). — PowLee · 15
Fair, but this makes it possible for any Rogue to cosplay as Tony. — Kahnjl · 1
Plus, except for stealth, all these cards are illicit, meaning Underworld Market greatly increases the chances of being able to set it up early in an game. — Kahnjl · 1
Dream-Enhancing Serum

I never found out what "reveal" means on this card. It doesn't say "play" or "discard" and revelation effects are exclusively on encounter cards. So I only used it as a hand size increase. What do I do with the cards in the second ability here?

Belo · 1
Reveal is literally just showing that you drew the second copy to the other players at the table. Hands are usually private but reveal helps show that you aren't just drawing randomly. Obviously the reveal step for solo is a little pointless so effectively it just reads "Exhaust and draw a card whenever you draw a copy of a card in your hand". — SorryLaurie · 610
"Reveal" as an action simply means to show all players otherwise hidden information -- in this case, the identity of a card you just drew and the other copy already in your hand. "Revelation" effects, interestingly, don't happen when cards with them are "revealed", but when they are drawn. — Thatwasademo · 58
Ancestral Fear

Used in: The Doom of Eztli, Heart of the Elders Part 2, The Depths of Yoth

The Doom of Eztli: Basically reads "Add Ancestral Fear to the victory display," adding doom to locations in this scenario causes a lot of problems (, , and become worse, Final Mistake gets more difficult).

The Doom of Eztli Part 2 Heart of the Elders Part 2: Just like in The Doom of Eztli, you'll usually want to add this to the victory display to avoid losing too many turns (remember, doom on locations sticks around when The Lonely Caverns advances).

The Depths of Yoth: Here, the first "choice" actually becomes a viable option, as you can clear doom by advancing to the next depth level. In addition (for some reason), Forgotten Ruins isn't paired up with Deadly Traps in this scenario, so there isn't as much punishment for ending up with doom on locations.

Strategy: In standalone, Ancestral Fear becomes very interesting, forcing you to be very thoughtful about what other cards with Vengeance you add to the victory display lest you cross the 3 Vengeance threshold for Serpent from Yoth and The Depths of Yoth's . In campaign mode... I'm not going to lie, I hate this thing's design when it comes to campaign mode. Vengeance, ideally, should provide the players a choice a la Offer of Power, forcing them to weigh long-term costs against short-term gains. Boa Constrictor does so by forcing the players to either deal with an annoying hunter or use up 4 damage worth of resources and make things worse later, Serpent of Tenochtitlán tempts the players with that victory point, while Descent to Yoth doubles the temptation and cost. With Ancestral Fear, though, the first "choice" is usually so untenable that it doesn't feel like a choice at all until you reach Depths, making Vengeance less of a choice and more a simple "do bad things" mechanic. And its other keywords (Peril and Surge) mean that your friends can't help you with your "choice" and you'll get another encounter card for your pleasure. If you're playing Campaign Mode, understand that, even if you're a complete pacifist towards all snakes (though not non-snakes, like this jerk), you'll still probably end up with around 4 Vengeance due to Ancestral Fear. If only Yig was willing to talk it out...

That's interesting, because my group almost ALWAYS places doom, and we've played TFA at least a dozen times. I don't think I need to convince you for The Depths of Yoth so that much is clear. For Hearth of the Elders Part 2, that scenario is insanely generous with the doomtreshold, so it only really affects Final Mistake, and the extra difficulty doesn't really effect most characters; either they are so good at Agility they still pass or they weren't going to pass anyway. I can see an argument for The Doom of Eztli because doom defintely can become tight there. However, in the Return to (which we pretty much always play) there is a location that allows you to flip doom to clues. We usually camp our group there and once we've gathered most of the necessary clues and did our setup, we race through the rest of the scenario. All in all, buffing Brood of Yig, Wrath of Yig, and the lasting campaign effects tend to be MUCH worse. — Nenananas · 273
I agree with Nenananas. Usually the goal is to find room to allow for the doom option, so basically the challenge is to just clear the scenario slightly faster. I think it’s something that feels bad on a blind run, but on repeats you can plan around it. — StyxTBeuford · 13052
Yeah, on second thought I think I was a bit too harsh on this. Managed to do a run of Doom of Eztli yesterday, and the doom option actually proved palatable a few times. I hesitate to say it only feels bad on a blind run, though, Styx: it might not be as harsh as I first thought, but surging Ancient Evils is never good. — NightgauntTaxiService · 466
I guess what I mean by that is you just sort of go in subtracting 1 from the agenda, kinda how you do with ancient evils. — StyxTBeuford · 13052