Mauser C96

Mauser C96

TL:DR. A main weapon for characters that have high as well as high .

  • The Mauser C96 has extra ammo compared to other weapons but suffers the unique drawback of exhausting to fire and unexhausting conditionally. In the hands of a fighter type character (for example Tony Morgan or Leo Anderson) If this gun exhausts on you and you're not geared to finish the fight without it, well that sucks then.

  • The point to Mauser C96 is to score that "beat by 2", when the gun exhausts on you you use a different ability to disable or delay the threat, generally this means using to evade, this makes Mauser C96 the pistol of choice for "Skids" O'Toole and Finn Edwards, Winifred Habbamock and possibly Jenny Barnes. For these characters a Mauser C96 can be their main or only weapon. Tony Morgan can make good use of it but it cannot be his only way to fight since an untimely exhausted Mauser C96 leaves him completely dead in the water, he definitely needs other weapons and/or combat events.

  • Mauser C96 is a key card in making "beat by 2" a viable and interesting archtype right from the start. Other "beat by 2"'s are natural co-includes (Lucky Cigarette Case, Quick Thinking) and finally there is a static reason to awaken this sleeper card which has only been waiting for a reason to become usable.

If you do the math then Mauser C96 is obviously "better" than comparable one-handed weapons, perhaps even the Enchanted Blade, but its downside relegates it to a niche that's actually pretty cool.

When you start upgrading then Delilah O'Rourke is a natural combo that both strengthens Mauser and mitigates its weaknesses.

Tsuruki23 · 2598
I'd also say that in tony in general it's fantastic because vs upto 4 hp enemies if you succeed you can take the money and fire the longcolt from your other hand to finish off the enemy to get the money on your bounty and replace it. — Tacomental · 21

Old Keyring

Old Keyring

A reprinted Flashlight? What gives FFG? Well.... Not quite!

Old Keyring actually differentiates itself dramatically from Flashlight with several key details that completely turn this classic mechanic on its head.

  • First off, an Old Keyring only spends charges on successful tests. A Flashlight is best used to automatically beat low difficulty locations, a great way for low- characters to get clues in any difficulty, especially with low player counts. However the risk of failure when you turn a Flashlight at a high-shroud location is great and often not worth it, an all-too familiar issue for a 3- character trying to tackle a 4-shroud location.

  • Old Keyring shares the Flashlight's ability to beat a low shroud location, but the fact that charges are only spent on successes means that you can MUCH more fearlessly blast a 3-5 shroud location with repeated investigate checks until you eventually hit all the clues, Old Keyring basicly reads "+2 until you've discovered 2 clues", a rather terrific ability.

  • Finally, this card self-discards right after success. Self discarding means that cards like Resourceful can recover the Old Keyring, more importantly, Old Keyring + Scavenging are a natural combo! It's actually ridiculous if you consider the upgraded Scavenging, investigate a location, finish the Key, immediately replay it! This is now one of the go-to combos for clue strategies.

Tsuruki23 · 2598
Basically anyone who takes an early flashlight but has access to survivor cards should take this instead. — SGPrometheus · 857
Scavenging triggers in ST 6 of the skill test, while Old Keyring wod discard one St 7, so you can’t actually use them on the same skill test. — iceysnowman · 164
iceysnowman is correct. If you had a second Old Keyring in play or discard you could use them to bring each other back, but it won't put itself in the discard in time to Savenge itself. — Death by Chocolate · 1504
I think the one big drawback to Old Keyring compared to Flashlight is the fact that Flashlight DOESN'T discard itself, which makes it a better candidate for Act of Desperation. You will probably never AoD this card, but a Flashlight is a great target for it, netting you likely 2 or 3 clues for no cost, versus Keyring's 2 clues for 1 cost. That said, it's easy to take advantage of Keyring's fail ability in someone like Stella, and it works incredibly well with "Look what I found!". I definitely think, 90% of the time, this is better than Flashlight. — StyxTBeuford · 13072
Talk about power creep. I wish the investigator decks were never released. — flamebreak · 42
This just in, card that only some investigators have access to often more powerful than card all investigators have access to. More at 11 — NarkasisBroon · 13
The synergy with "Look what I found!" is a good find. It's so satisfying to use Old Keyring to bring an investigation onto LWIF range without losing a key! — AlderSign · 447

Anything You Can Do, Better

Anything You Can Do, Better

Right now I think the toughest thing about this card is not immediately committing it to the first test you see. 6 icons (+ icons from whatever other card you will no doubt add to this test to benefit from Wini’s draw) is enough to put you outside most token’s malus range outside any difficulty save expert. Then, since you will be oversucceeding by some amount, you reap the benefits of All In/Nimble/“Watch This”/whatever else.

It’s a stellar card. Learning to save it for when it’s the most effective can make it transcendent

Difrakt · 1336
it has particularly good synergy with Momentum, as you can put some of its power toward the next test — Zinjanthropus · 233

Lesson Learned

Lesson Learned

This Card looks to good to be true. Really, this card does it all. It costs just 1 resource, it does not require a skill test, it is good for 2 cllues even? It is in the same class like

  • [Intel Report](/card/05111)
  • [Scene of the Crime](/card/04103)
  • [Drawn to the Flame](/card/01064)
  • [Sharp Vision](/card/06204)
  • [Read the Signs](/card/06117)

The main difference is the XP required, this one costs 2 while all the others costs 0-1. It is a fair price in my opinion though, when you look at the advantages. All you have to do is getting attacked by a bad guy and usually there are alway some 1 damage monsters around you can use. Intel Report costs a fortune, Scene of the Crime is much more situational in my opinion, Drawn to the Flame grants you an additional encounter card draw while Sharp Vision and Read the Signs both require a test. Well, I am not saying that those cards are bad - in fact they are probably really good but the guardian class has another card now in it's arsenal to autoclue for 2 clues at just 1 penny (and a damage), in my opinion, that is really strong.

thakaris · 199
Just to note, this continues the trend of not triggering off horror, reducing its niche a little bit. Still strong for the cost though. — SGPrometheus · 857
Could be very useful in a William Yorick drawing thin deck. — AndyN · 42
FWIW, if you're running On the Hunt (and most guardians do benefit from that), Scene of the Crime is pretty easy to set up. That being said, this is a very good card that adds to the suite of Guardian testless clue cards. — Zinjanthropus · 233
Especially since you can then assign the damage you took to your Guard Dog and have it bite the attacker in the ***. Or did I misread the card and the damage actually has to be booked on your Investigator? — Rasmus Forlorn · 1
Good icons, as well. Better than Scene in that regard. Nice that Nathaniel's deck added a few double int cards to the Guardian pool. — Zinjanthropus · 233

Tetsuo Mori

Tetsuo Mori

How does Tetsuo Mori interact with Tommy Muldoon's ability? Do i get it right that Tetsuo lets you search for an item if he's defeated and Discarding is part of "defeat". Tommy's ability only replaces the discard effect so you can activate both?

Django · 5176
Tetsuo must be in play in order to trigger his ability. If you manage to order the triggers correctly, then you can activate both abilities. — PartyTime · 1