This does not look like a good weapon. Don't judge a sword by its.... Scabbard?

characters don't like it because it is only so-much better then a Machete or .45 Automatic and takes away a slot or you intend to get a big gun later anyway. But then. Whats the harm in an additional big weapon that doesn't count against deck slots? Consistency and efficiency is the name of the game and this big-ass sword is a great way to add a little weapon-finding consistency to your deck mid-campaign.

Non- might have dramatically different opinions. The massive +3 to hit can turn a mediocre fighter into a warmachine. "Skids" O'Toole, Finn Edwards, Diana Stanley, fighting at +6. Rita Young or Silas Marsh with their inability to gain superior in-faction weapons that will last them an entire scenario will be looking at Timeworn Brand as a main weapon, if you happen to find one of these on the way that'd be outright awesome, if only for consistency's sake!

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So, with the "who wants it" covered, lets look at what it does.

Its an infinite use +3 +1 damage weapon, at this moment that's the largest + infinite weapon in the game. So damn yes that's got the attention of the fighty characters.

And then there's the ability to literally teleport around the map, to wherever more opponents might hide. This ability wont always be useful. In solo you can expect a couple maps per campaign where you're chasing a Doom carrier or some scenario specific agent, the saved actions as you shift around the map, batman-style, are terrific, but definitely not always useful. This ability ramps up very quickly in usefulness when you're fighting the threats that come into play in a 3 or 4-player game though, also note that the Khopesh lets you bypass the Aloof keyword.

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So yes, I don't think this is ever a bad weapon to put into a deck that's interested in killing enemies and not hugely dependent on hand slots. Even if it's not as good as a Lightning Gun, just keep in mind the importance of consistency.

The obvious: This thing is ideal for characters who like to use Lucky!, "Look what I found!" ETC.

The inobvious: It's an Ankh, a sign for immortality, so why this effect? Why because many many many encounter cards deal damage incremental to your failure! Rotting Remains, Grasping Hands, that kind of stuff, most scenarios have 1 or 2 effects like these, so even if you're not trying to change failure into success, the Ancient Ankh might very well be very useful, regardless of class, not to mention the flexible skill icons.

A tremendous card, way better than it looks.

First off John & Jessie Burke feature a beefy tank and they are very much expendable, this is one of those allies that you use twice or so and then are happy to tank damage and horror with before refilling the slot with a different ally. This of course gets expensive so the active ability better be good, which it is.

The ability deals automatic damage, auto-damage is always terrific, weakening enemies so that smaller weapons or just your fists might kill the enemy in one hit, not to mention the luxury of combining damage and movement. Furthermore, this ability allows you to bypass the Aloof keyword, that's a terrific bonus for certain scenarios (and campaigns, right dude?). Every campaign has Acolytes at some point and other 1-hp allies, John & Jessie Burke make a mess of these enemies.

If you want John & Jessie Burke in your deck and tend to do "full-campaigns" with the side scenarios added (as I do), consider doing their scenario before you do Rougarou, their ability to deal ping damage makes a variety of challenges in that scenario outright hilariously easy, not to mention to engage and kill the mutt easily.

In short, John & Jessie Burke boost survivability and your ability to react to enemies around the map.

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Obviously, like Monstrous Transformation, this card is best suited to specific deck types and my recommendation is to try and get this card into an ally based character who juggles Beat Cop, Venturer, Dr. Milan Christopher and other 4-cost characters with Calling in Favors. In this case John & Jessie Burke just become part of the rat-pack that you lug around.

In the absence of Calling in Favors John & Jessie Burke are still great in a deck that has just 1 ally in it, for example 2 copies of Beat Cop or 2 copies of Peter Sylvestre. John & Jessie Burkes's tendency to die away eventually means that they will greatly expand your survivability while you wait for your planned ally.

Finally, if you're a you'll probably consider Well Prepared at some point and John & Jessie Burke synergize wery well with it.

Ward of Protection is often considered one of the strongest events in the game, since cancelling a critical treachery can be game changing. Deny Existence is a similar card, that has narrower coverage, but does a better job for what it covers. Compared to Ward of Protection, this card cost 1 resource and 1 horror less to play, and more importantly, it can be played after you failed a test on a treachery.

Imagine you are Agnes Baker and has 3 sanity remaining. You draw Rotting Remains. Normally you would be happy since you can usually pass the test with ease, but since an auto-fail draw outright defeats you, you may consider using Ward of Protection to cancel it. However, if you have Deny Existence in your hand, you may instead take the chance. Most of the time you will pass the test, and if you auto-failed you just play the card to ignore it. In this aspect, Deny Existence to Ward of Protection is like what Lucky! is to Unexpected Courage, that it has an effect even if you do not play it. But the cost is also favorable to Deny Existence. This shows how insanely powerful is the card.

Additionally, Deny Existence can cancel certain weaknesses, since treachery weaknesses are considered encounter cards. Notably it ignores Amnesia and Paranoia in their entirety. This is another really strong ability. Interesting side note: The card can ignore the direct horror from To Fight the Black Wind, and potentially preventing the doom as well.

Being able to ignore enemy attacks is the icing on the cake. Most enemies deal both damage and horror though, so Deny Existence usually only ignore part of the attack.

Not to mention the spell synergy (Arcane Initiate), ignore synergy (Diana Stanley) and event synergy (Sefina Rousseau) the card provides.

Deny Existence is such an excellent card, that it is hard to imagine not putting it in every deck that can take it.

Delay the Inevitable is generally not very good in ordinary . The most reliable way to trigger the card is through an enemy attack, which Dodge does a better job. Sure it can cancel damage/horror from encounter cards, but there is no guarantee that you will draw those treacheries. The 2 resources upfront + 2 resources upkeep cost could also be painful. It has some use to protect a near-defeat teammate (literally delaying his/her inevitable death :D), but that is not a scenario that comes off too often in my experience.

That said, the card is oddly useful in the 3 Circle Undone investigators that can use it, in interestingly different ways.

Carolyn Fern has better econ to use the card, and has less chance to need to fight an enemy so Dodge is not as useful. Also, if you use her replacement cards, Delay the Inevitable can help to cancel the direct horror from To Fight the Black Wind, thus prevent the doom to be placed on the agenda.

Joe Diamond like the card in his Hunch deck. It is a 2-cost fast Insight, which is just perfect for the Hunch deck. It becomes essentially free (outside of opportunity cost), that you can play it with ease, and not be too afraid if it whiffs.

Diana Stanley may want the card as an additional cancel to fuel her ability. Part of the card's cost is mitigated through her ability. Note that Diana's ability only activates when the card actually cancels something, so the partial cost reimbursement is delayed. It usually is a downside, but it may be useful to trigger Diana's ability out of phase. Certainly worse than Deny Existence though, but Diana may nonetheless want both.

Fun fact: Delay the Inevitable (along with Deny Existence mentioned above) can cancel Beyond the Veil. Maybe not so funny to Yog-Sothoth though.