Card Reviews · ArkhamDB

Sea Change Harpoon

In my Silas deck, this was usually a back up weapon. But then I realized the power of using this with Opportunist(2). That way, this becomes a pretty nice alternative to machete. The same technique can power your net. There aren’t a lot of great weapons in survivor if you can’t get chainsaw going for you consistently, this will do you well.

1/13/21

MrGoldbee · 1483

Better than Opportunist (2) (that you should get back after the test, there is Quick thinking, expecially if you don't us the taboo list: commit, succed, get an action, get it back in hand, commit again, gain an action again. — AlexP · 265 1/20/21

How exactly are you getting Quick Thinking back in hand? If you are using Silas ability then you won't get the extra action benefit. If you are using the Harpoon ability, then you'll need to spend an action to play it again, which render the action gain from Quick Thinking meaningless, plus you even need to pay 3 resources. — Killbray · 12322 11/14/21

One-Two Punch

I note that this card does not use the word "Fast" nor use the Fast/Reaction symbols regarding the 2nd fight action. This suggests that this event generates a full 2nd Fight action. Therefore, a couple questions:

Would playing this count as 2 Fight actions for the purposes of activating Haste?
Does playing this count and fighting a 2nd time count as 2 actions towards Pay Day?

Asking for a friend.

1/12/21

HanoverFist · 744

Nope. The literal presence of "Fast" or one of the two non-action triggered ability symbols isn't the reason events and abilities that invoke an action designator without actually costing an action don't count as an action, it's the fact that they didn't cost an action. When you play One-Two Punch, you're doing a single Fight/Play action that just happens to repeat the steps of fighting an enemy twice (conditional on succeeding the first time and choosing to repeat it, of course). — Thatwasademo · 58 1/12/21

Though, a strict reading of Nested Skill Tests (FAQ 1.17) would suggest that the second fight isn't part of the same action "If the first skill test was part of an action, the second skill test does not initiate until that action has finished resolving." (note that "if you succeed" suggests that One-Two Punch tries to start the second fight during ST.7) so you kind of get the worst of both worlds here -- the second fight isn't, say, "an additional action which can only be used to Fight" and so doesn't count towards Haste or Pay Day, but it also isn't part of the same action and so doesn't count toward Ace of Rods. — Thatwasademo · 58 1/12/21

Excellent breakdown, thank you. — HanoverFist · 744 1/13/21

There is no nested skill test here, so that rule doesn't apply; the first fight test fully resolves before the second fight test begins. Both are part of the same action, and Ace of Rods applies to both tests. — Hylianpuffball · 29 1/13/21

What makes you say that there is no nested skill test? "If you succeed" is the wording used to add extra results to a skill test, and those results resolve during ST.7, which would make it a nested test and make those rules applicable. I think it's unlikely that the second fight was intended to be resolved *after* the action, not during it, but that is what a strict reading of the text and rules gives you. — TheNameWasTaken · 3 1/13/21

It's all in one action, but the second test happens after the first one resolves. Both tests are in the same single action, but they occur in sequence. This card applies only once for Haste. — StyxTBeuford · 13043 1/13/21

Fighting, Playing (a card), Investigating, Evading and so on are not inherently actions. They are only actions if you need to spend an action to perform them. For example if you Fight an enemy using the reaction ability of Survival Knife, you are not peforming a Fight action you are just fighting. So there is no doubt that that One-two punch only allows you to fight again, it does not grant you any extra action. The only time when an effect grants you an extra action is if the text says "take a [...] action". For example Ursula's ability. — Killbray · 12322 3/19/21

I have a related question for this card. Would it count as two times doing damage to Primordial Evil in the Edge of the Earth campaign ? I guess it does but would like to be sure. — Putzibram · 20 7/26/22

"Eat lead!"

Leo, non-parallel-back Skids, and Tony are probably the best users of this. It can easily guarantees a Double or Nothing shot, and they can spend the ammo from a Sleight of Hand'd gun and have ammo to spare too.

With taboos, the payoff isn't that good anymore, but at least you can still get an additional action or 3 resources.

1/11/21

suika · 9497

Father Mateo

We'd heard there was a trait for cards

That you could play because you pleased the Lord

But you don't really see new blessed cards, do ya?

And it stayed this way: cycles fourth and fifth

blessed purple cards just took the ps

Your decklists composed no Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, hmm

Custom Ammo felt so strong, but we needed proof

Without gun access its just a spoof

The first blessed blue card made was no use to ya

The insults didn’t even stop there

Wish Eater at level 4 felt unfair

like they were withholding Hallelujahs!

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Then Innsmouth came like none before

Our jaws drop down and hit the floor

And suddenly I felt we barely knew ya

swaths of new cards that bore your mark

on a new voyage we could embark

With a bold new set of tokens for Hallelujahs

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Well, maybe there's a design above

They even work well with Olive

The token fishing deck still held true to ya

from covenants galore and Money Rites

Keeping your Faith to fuel Radiant Smites!

You’ve finally got some cards, OH HALLELUJAH!

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

1/11/21

StartWithTheName · 71473

Wither

The Timeworn Brand to Shrivelling (5)'s Lightning Gun, except not really. Unlike Sixth Sense which is a viable replacement for Rite of Seeking and Clairvoyance, Wither should almost never be taken over Shriveling 3/5.

Without token manipulation support, the chancs of drawing a special token is usually in the range of 30-40%. Even at the 0xp range, weapons that don't give bonus damage are usually not taken (even as backup weapons) for good reason — it's usually too action inefficient to fight without bonus damage. Weighing in at 4xp; Wither needs to do better than +0.4 damage to stand on its own.

With token manipulation support (read: Grotesque Statue, Olive McBride, Dark Prophecy), the chances improve, but the payoff is still poor for the investment since you only bring Wither up to par by adding 0.3-0.5 damage per attack. Token manipulation isn't free, costing charges, slots, allies, cards, and plays, compare what other classes get with the likes of Beat Cop/Vicious Blows/Deliah that very reliably add +1 damage for roughly equivalent investment.

The fact that you can draw a special token, fail, and still do damage & reduce stats is counterbalanced by the fact that the extra damage doesn't stick around if you fail to kill within a turn (aka most elites), Retaliate, enemies with on-Fight effects, enemies without max HP, etc. Or that in Hard/Expert, failing with a special token can be a really bad thing.

What about running this along with Shrivelling for increased consistency? That might have been good before Azure Flame (3) existed. Although you can run a pure beatstick mystic that takes all 3.

If you're fighting a lot, Wither is too action inefficient to fight with on its own (and you'll run out of token manipulation too fast). If you're not fighting that much, Shrivelling's 4 charges should last you quite a while until you find Recharge, Twila, or its second copy. If you really want to conserve charges on that Swarm of Rats, Sword Cane is now a much better option.

1/11/21

suika · 9497

I agree. I want to love this card (the art is awesome), but I struggle really hard to justify picking it up. Infinite uses is nice, but unreliable +1 damage is difficult to work with when the support to recharge is so much easier to achieve. Think it'll get tabooed like Springfield or Winchester? — LaRoix · 1645 1/11/21

Hopefully as a mutation instead of an XP modifier. This would be playable at 2 XP, but it'll also mean there won't be another high XP version of Wither. My humble proposal would be something like changing it to: For each <symbol> revealed, canceled, or ignored during this attack (max 3)... — suika · 9497 1/12/21