Let's do the maths again.

In all my calculations, I make the following hypothesis :

• Chaos bag of Night of the zealot, on standard difficulty
• gives -1
• gives -2
• gives -3
• gives +2

Comparison with .45 Thomson

On Standard difficulty level, if you aim at +2 (you organize your play so your skill value is 2 above the difficulty), the average damage done by the Winchester is 1.25, against 1.5 for the Thomson. If you aim at +4, it's 1.44 versus 1.88. So Winchester makes roughly -20% damage par attempt for a -33% resource cost. Not that bad

(on Easy difficulty level, Thomson makes roughly the same damage. Still for a -33% cost.)

Comparison with .45 Automatic

The comparison with .45 Automatic has to be different because .45 Automatic has a fewer bonus. Let's make raw comparisons, with no strategy in mind.

On standard difficulty level, if the difficulty of the test if 2 above the base skill value of the investigator, Winchester delivers 0.75 damage per attempt on average, while .45 Automatic delivers 0.25. That's +200% for Winchester.

Ok, difficult tests like this one are uncommon. But Winchester is still +113% when the difficulty is 1 above, +11% when equal, -8% when 1 lower and -18% when 2 lower.

(on easy difficulty level, the numbers becomes : +200%, +92%, +18%, -4% and -10%)

Thomson takes two hands but has 1 ammo more.

Conclusion

The first question is : can you afford two hands to fight ? If the answer is yes, Winchester is interesting versus Thomson if you struggle for resources. It is also interesting versus Automatic if you are a good fighter and have a team mate who can take care of the critters, or if you are a mediocre fighter who wants to shine on the battleflied from time to time (Skid ? Jim ? Diana ?)

If the answer is no. Well, you can't take Winchester.

So this one could well be my new favorite -card, the wording is a bit out of the ordinary though. For some reason this card's -ability does not have the triggering condition beginning with the word "when" or "after" - quite confusing. So my guess is that the "as" is identical to "when" and per RAW for the "when" condition during the resolution of -abilities it will read: "[...] with the word "when..." may be used after the specified triggering condition initiates, but before its impact upon the game state resolves." - i mean, isn't this amazing, your average amazingly fast or someone like Rita Young now drags her along with her and when they encounter an enemy on the way the will move in AFTER the triggering action initiates but BEFORE the impact on the game state resolves, or in a nutshell this card basically says: "You can now drag you favorite with you over half the board and let her engage the enemies for you so you can take care of your business in peace." - As an additional bonus the 's movements are not actions, so if the is already engaged with an enemy, the drags this enemy along without AOs being triggered. Think about the possibilities this opens up, you can free locations of enemies if you need, or push mobs together, if you are a and want to Storm of Spirits. This is a new dimension of play for your .

Well, in my opinion, this card has not only one error. When comparing this one to other level 0 -cards, i have absolutely no plan at all, why on earth I should take this card in my deck. This card is just like a Song of the Dead, now that it just does not cost XP and requires 2 hands, but other than Song of the Dead, this card relies on , 0 and +1 Chaos Tokens where you will not have +1 tokens in most chaos bags at higher difficulty. Now, compared to a .45 Automatic, it has the same cost, additional ammo worth one more shot but than it requires 2 hands and it also does not do reliably more than 1 point of damage. Let's assume, you are playing TCU on standard, you will be starting out with 15 tokens (during the champaign, this might increase quite a bit) 4 of which trigger the +2 damage - chance is roughly 25% to trigger that. Chance of getting 2 damage on a .45 Automatic is 100% if you hit. Looking at the .45 Thompson, this card also requires 2 hands and hast the same amount of ammo, just it always hits for 2 damage, it costs 2 more resources though. Having said all of that, why on earth would I include this weapon over another level 0 -weapon that is already released. If you do not have any ability to trigger 0s or s on command, than you will draw your 0 when your opponent is at just 1 health remaining (at least Murphy would suggest that) - so anyway, this card is really bad.

EDIT: A lot of time passed since the review I did and with bless tokens, this card actually now becomes extremely viable, if you play with the current taboo list. Bless tokens are "none negative modifier" tokens as far as I understand that so this has the potential to go absolutely crazy in terms of possible damage especially with Mary of course, but anyway, you still have to decide, if you want this additional element of randomness in your game. It is correct, neither gun always hits so the average damage is not that bad, but it is not predictable, you cannot count on it. You can modify your chances of success with skill cards, modifying the actual chances for specific tokens is more difficult.

The more and more I play with Intel Report, the more I love it. Combined with the Crystallizer of Dreams it can mean basically 3 clues guaranteed in two actions (or 2 clues in 3 actions with movement if you're playing solo, which is solid pacing in solo). The testless nature of the card means you can pretty much always snipe a clue from a high shroud or high risk location. You could even combine this testless clue grab with Narrow Escape if you're engaged with an enemy, then follow that up with an evade on said enemy, and with the Crystallizer that lets you evade at +4, and then investigate at +2. Good stuff.

Fun Crystallizer interactions aside, Intel Report is a staple in my eyes. Even for Finn Edwards it is at worst a drawless Perception, and at best it's a way to compress clues from tough locations, or a way to keep up the tempo when Lockpicks just fails (it happens). Sefina paints more of them, Jenny, Preston, and Tony pay for it very easily, and even the relatively strapped "Skids" O'Toole can use it if he's built for enough cash. Off-class Rogues can even use it to great effect. Wendy Adams can replay it with her amulet, and Leo Anderson might want it too if he's trying to flex, especially with Alice Luxley.

The two locations away from you clause is not the real bright side of the card, I must admit. It is added flexibility but rarely is it worth paying 2 resources to save a move action or even two move actions (often you need to uncover locations by moving into them in the first place). It'll be more useful in multiplayer, surely, where other people can help uncover the map. There are certainly other edge cases for it, but I still have never personally used that function of the card. 4 resources for 2 clues is already a good enough deal in my eyes to play this card. Even in solo where it's usually only able to buy 1 clue for 2 resources due to the nature of solo, it's still worth it because that clue is testless. It's perfect insurance for when you can't afford to fail or when failure is likely.

A combat version of Read the Signs, and I must say, I am quite stoked about this card. It's a problem solver. In mystics and other investigators that use their to do their fighting, Shrivelling charges are an important resource and you want to conserve them if at all possible. In those decks, this card is very powerful. It does 3 damage to non-elite enemies, and, as of this writing, this one shots more enemies than it doesn't. Also, the fact that Spectral Razor adds to rather than simply replacing leads to some very high number. Akachi Onyele attacks with a skill value of 8 using this card, and Jim Culver and Agnes Baker both swing in at a 7, and this is before any buffs from things like Holy Rosary or St. Hubert's Key.

The other benefit, that Spectral Razor automatically engages the enemy, is kinda niche, but it can be used to pull a boss monster off of one of your fellow investigators without using an action. At the very least, it makes sure you won't accidentally hit your friend in the face for 3 damage if you happen to pull the .

It is also missing the clause on a lot of mystic cards that makes something bad happen if you pull a special token.

As for its downsides, Spectral Razor is only single use and it costs resources to use. Mystic's economies often have a lot of demands placed on them, so trading one card for one kill might not be a wise investment.

The other investigator I was really hyped about using this card is was Zoey Samaras, because this is everything she wants. With her 4 and 4, Zoey would be attacking at 8 with this card. It does a bunch of damage, which is always good, and the free engage combined with Zoey's passive would give me back one of the resources I used to play this card. The only downside (and it's a big one) is that Zoey only has 5 out-of-class slots, and in faction cards do most of this quite well.