This is a fun asset to analyze. I think of all of the Boundary Beyond 'boost 2 assets' this one ties with Well Prepared for second place behind Cornered for general strength.

What's neat about this card is that if you succeed you lose nothing and can take another test with the same boost, but failing heavily penalizes you. This means 3r initially spent buys you not only the initial +2, but another +2 if you succeed that first test, another +2 if you succeed the third etc. This means we can easily analyze how much the 3r cost gains you through application of the Geometric Series! so a single commit of 3r will give us 2* (1-r^n)/1-r value, where r = our chances of success (assuming all tests are the same chance of success, a big assumption but it only gives us a general guideline)

If you take lets say 8 tests at 0.5 chances of success you're getting roughly +4 boost out of it. That is nearly streetwise levels of efficiency, but without the intellect or agility test restriction! not bad, but then again not great.

if we increase to r = 0.75 however (which is a roughly good approximation for what most investigators want to test at) you're getting +7.2 value spread out / 3r which is more value than Higher Education.

Now there are nuances involved. Not the least of which is that if you're running a 'succeed by two' deck this is a massive enabler, turning your would-be successes into success by 2s. Additionally this card has significant swing, even if you have a good chance of passing losing 3r if you only have 5 can be brutally punishing. Fortunately Rogue's are masters of hoarding up big piles of cash very quickly.

I think the biggest downside though is that this card is very very poor at getting you back from behind. It needs to sit atop a powerful engine of cards already getting you to the 0.5-0.75 success range before it can start to contribute real value. Again though, using the first half of a scenario to set up and the second half to sprint full-speed through the scenario is a valid Rogue archetype so purchase this accordingly.

Kukri seems cool. It sounds cool. But it falls in a very narrow window of usefulness. The main strikes against it:

1. Anyone focused on dealing damage won't enjoy the (lack of) action economy; Primary monster hunters shouldn't take this.
2. Gators with access can choose from a swath of blue weapons that consistently out-perform the Kukri.
3. Solo characters probably don't have the actions to afford dealing 1 damage at a time.
4. Gators with 1-2 likely can't hit something with this; They should be avoiding fights anyway and are probably better off throwing a Knife the few times they have to fight.

So we're left with support/investigating characters in multiplayer campaigns with 3+ and limited-to-no access to weapons. That list (as of Forgotten Age) is:

• Akachi Onyele
• Jim Culver
• Jenny Barnes
• Finn Edwards
• Lola Hayes
• Silas Marsh

Although each of these investigators has other options, of course. But maybe you're a clue-and-evade Jenny who has Lockpicks(1) in one hand and doesn't fight enough to spend xp on Switchblade(2). Or your Akachi has Decorated Skull and you want a way to conserve Shrivelling charges. Maybe your Silas doesn't want the Baseball Bat because of a hand slot or Fire Axe because you don't want to be poor.

Overall, you've got to want to fight juuuust a little bit to use the Kukri - otherwise you should use the Knife for its one-time effect or just run the from bad guys until your slayer shows up.

I was playing Treads of Fate as Finn Edwards. I drew this with with two "You handle this one!" in hand. We had completed 5 acts. Threw as much as I could at it, and drew the Tentacle. What a terrible card.

This card really needs to be non-peril or max out at 3 Dmg/Horror. Truly feels poorly templated.

0/10 Newman.

By my estimation, this is a very powerful card for any / deck. Spell charges are precious, and this allows you to replenish them safely (as opposed to Recharge) and almost assuredly. This translates to 2-3 damage (Shrivelling and its upgrades) or 2-3 clues (Rite of Seeking and its upgrades) per Enraptured when they are most desperately needed. Many investigators, such as Norman Withers, Carolyn Fern, and Agnes Baker rely on Shrivelling charges for defense and reliable damage output, and this card allows you to spend those charges more freely by extending the life of the targeted spell.

I really believe Lola will become a contender for one of the strongest cards in the game. A guaranteed clue each turn is nuts. On top of that, it was confirmed that Flashlight can be used to lower shroud, and then in that window Lola can be triggered to make her ability 2 resources cheaper. Not that the cost is a huge challenge for someone like Jenny or Sefina, or even rogue in general now that we have 2xp versions of Hot Streak.

The +1 intellect and +1 agility are just gravy, and make you better at the things you want to be doing anyway, with the 2 intellect pips being the cherry on top. Fantastic.