I am a bit biased towards investigator cards with cool artwork, so pardon me if i present Survival Instinct a cut above the general opinion.

Considerations about the value of this card are found under the basic version of Survival Instinct(0).

The cost of 2xp have to be put into relation to the additional effect that the upgraded version gives you.

And the differences in Survival Instinct(2) are outstanding! A second Agility icon was added, and the skill text has changed to "evade" from "disengage". In particular, this invalidates every disadvantage i reviewed in the skill's basic version. Now it is resembles a cheaper version of Cunning Distraction, which is limited to all enemies engaged to a specific investigator, as in contrast to all enemies at one location.

Pros

• Adds 2 Agility icons to a skill test. It can, of course, also be committed to a non-evasion skill test.
• The evading investigator evades his/her enemies, they are exhausted, Hunters can't move in the same turn.
• You can now combo it with other cards: Sneak Attack, Close Call, Pickpocketing.

I am a bit biased towards investigator cards with cool artwork, so pardon me if i present Survival Instinct a cut above the general opinion. Many investigators find themselves on the cusp of including this card to their deck and it is often the first to be dropped when upgrades are made.

Short explanation what Survival Instinct does: you commit it during an evasion attempt. If the test is successful, the evading investigator evades and exhausts the enemy he was testing against. Additionally, the investigator may disengage from all other enemies he is engaged to. Then he may move to a connecting location, if the text at that location does not prevent moving there.

With only 1 Agility icon, it does not really shoot your evasion attempt into the stars, so either you push the odds further by adding more cards to the skill test, or your investigator has a high Agility base value anyway.

Survival Instinct has several strong competitors with similiar effects. And this is the important point about it: each other card has it's own desirable effect, but as most investigators hate to leave their position or estimate evading as a flimsiness, they are reluctant to adapt the means to the end.

I would like to enforce to choose your means according to the situations you are most likely to face. If you don't know what to expect in a scenario, Manual Dexterity and Bait and Switch probably provide a better service than Survival Instinct. But the more enemies surround you, the more valuable Survival Instinct becomes. If there are alternate locations available, that is. If the scenario traps you within a small scope of locations, like in The Devourer Below, the basic version of Survival Instinct(0) utterly fails. Cunning Distraction or the upgrade Survival Instinct(2) is there for you then.

Especially on a solo trip, the encounter deck sometimes adds enemies at the most objectionable times. Survival Instinct gives you some tremendous respite in such situations.

Pros

• Survival Instinct can be committed to bail other investigators out.
• Works against all enemies engaged with the evading investigator, including Elite and Massive.
• Can be combined with Double or Nothing, as the movement is independent of the disengagement, so success lets you move 2 locations away.
• Most effective when played against a group of enemies.
• A little better suited for Wendy Adams than for other investigators thanks to her high Agility.
• Each item listed under the "Cons" rubric does not apply for the upgraded Survival Instinct(2).

Cons

• The evading investigator only disengages from the enemies, they are not exhausted and will engage him again, if he/she decides to stay at the same location.
• Enemies with the Hunter trait can move and will engage again in the Enemy Phase.
• Adds only 1 Agility icon to the skill test.

Recommendations

• (spoiler) If you plan to win The Devourer Below by finding clues and there are some people blocking the path, this skill could become useful.
• (spoiler) In The House Always Wins there could be a situation where you want to save someone during a turmoil.

Lucky! is a superb card from an angle of flavour and universalism. A survivor's trait is escaping dangerous situations rather than appeasing them by force of arms.

Considerations about the value of this card are found under the basic version of Lucky!(0)

The upgraded version has to be evaluated a bit different. While Lucky!(0) can be recommended without a second thought, Lucky!(2) costs 2xp. Someone claimed "Definitely one of the best cards in the game, Every character can run it at all times and the levelled up version is even better! must have in all decks that can run it!"

I disagree. The additional cost of 2xp have to be put into relation to the additional effect that the upgraded version gives you.

The difference between both is "Draw 1 card." That is it. While generally useful, there are plenty of cards which give you better bonuses at the same price. As always, it really depends on the difficulty setting and personal playstyle. For a deck that takes advantage of events, or wants to speedily sift through the cards, Lucky!(2) probably pulls it's weight.

Pros

• Saves one action, you gain another card.

Cons

• There is a small danger of drawing a Weakness from your deck which could meddle with your plans.

Lucky! is a superb card from an angle of flavour and universalism. A survivor's trait is escaping dangerous situations rather than appeasing them by force of arms.

Especially new investigators should note that this card has similiarities to other in-faction cards (Look what I found!, Oops!), but a fundamentally different mode of operation. Like the other above-mentioned cards, Lucky! is played after the chaos token is drawn from the bag, but unlike the others, Lucky modifies the value of the skill test, giving it a +2 bonus, hence turning the result from failure to success!

Let me give an example to make things clear: There is a location with a clue, a shroud value of 2 and an Obscuring Fog attached to it. You have a base value of 2 Intellect, there are no further modifiers and you draw a "0"-token for the skill test. You failed the test by 2 points.

Variant a. You play Look what I found! The skill test is still considered "failed", but you gain the clue from the location. The Obscuring Fog stays in place.

Variant b. You play Lucky! The skill test is modified by +2, you pass the test "successfully" and gain the clue. The Obscuring Fog is discarded.

Pros

• Lucky! is played after a chaos token is drawn, so you only play it if you would have failed else.
• Low priced play cost, only it's competitor, Unexpected Courage, is cheaper.
• Provides the currently best fallback strategy against otherwise failed skill tests.
• You can play two Lucky! instances to boost one test, if you are not passing the test after playing the first.
• Wendy's Amulet can play events from the discard pile.

Cons

• Lucky! under no circumstances turns a drawn -token into a successful test.
• One-time effect. Make it worthwile!
• Does not combine with Rabbit's Foot nor Look what I found!

I just tried Dark Horse with a Wendy Adams deck - and it doesn't work, at least not without Scrapper or similar. Wendy's Amulet is pretty awesome, as it lets you play discarded events - so you need some resources for events. However, if you have resources, it's pretty tough to clear them when you want Dark Horse to take effect. Scrapper would be good, as you can pump a test and clear your resources - but without it, I was stuck.

It is a powerful effect, +1 to each stat - but I think this might suit someone like "Ashcan" Pete who maybe can run a little more empty resource-wise.