People responsible for chapter II have said that machete (core) was a card it was nearly impossible to balance around, because in many circumstances, it was infinite 2 damage. Now, for better or worse, there with the broken bottle (which costs less, but gives the same bonus and discards, and lets you hit an enemy engaged with the teammate).

If you have a signature weapon, it's better than machete now. Guns, with limited ammo, are better than taking a jungle cleaver to the streets of Arkham. It's still a must pick due to the incredibly narrow cardpool, but I don't see it surviving through the next two expansions in anything but a niche role. Which might be a reasonable thing for a level zero card.