Sneak By

I love this cycle of resource cards. We have Clean Them Out, Burning the Midnight Oil, this card, Voice of Ra, and Take Heart. The big advantage Sneak By has in this cycle is that basic Evade actions are pretty much par for the course for evasion characters. Basic fights are usually bad, and basic investigates are fine in high characters and otherwise need to be supplemented with Lockpicks or Flashlights. It's for this reason that I expect Sneak By to see the most play of all of them, along with Take Heart which is a staple of any one with access to it that expects to fail often, like Preston Fairmont. So Sneak By works especially well for not just evady Rogues, but for those wannabe Rogues in Survivor like Wendy Adams or, especially, Rita Young. Rita's Trick access hasn't done much for her historically, but this is a solid resource generator for anyone who isn't taking Drawing Thin for taboo reasons. You could now run this alongside Easy Mark, or alternatively you replace these with Easy Mark, depending on your curve. Last thing to note is the pips here. Though you're unlikely to commit this, you might if you find yourself flush in resources later on. I personally think this would work really well with Crystallizer of Dreams, just saying.

StyxTBeuford · 13028
One advantage that Burning the Midnight Oil has over it is that you can always investigate, while Sneak By requires an enemy to be around. That being said, E-Cache is better if you weren't already going to investigate, and I do think that a basic evade is significantly better than a basic fight. Definitely agree about Rita, as well. Maybe she'll be able to afford to spam Pilfer (3) with this and Easy Mark. — Zinjanthropus · 229
I love all these events too, especially Clean Them Out, even though I agree it's probably the worst one. Just having that option to gain resources by fighting, just for punching rats or something, is so good for a resource-starved guardian. It's also less of a tempo loss than playing EC since you'd rather be investigating or fighting than taking a resource action. I love these cards. — SGPrometheus · 821
@SGPrometheus: I don't disagree with that, it could even finish a 3-healther or something, anyway. Nathaniel can make it a 2-damage attack, as well, so it's even better for him. — Zinjanthropus · 229
Clean Them Out is one of Nathaniel's bread-and-butter cards; I can't really imagine not running it in him; but I don't know if it would make the cut outside of him. Usually you want to set up before the enemies appear so E Cache is preferable. Anyway, for the card under review - I agree with what's been said. I haven't actually run it yet though. It didn't actually seem useful for Winifred herself; she wanted skills and more skills, not events... but that campaign isn't going too well. She's up to 3 mental trauma out of 3 scenarios (Web of Dreams, Campaign B), so I'm probably doing something wrong. I do like the idea of putting Sneak By on a Crystallizer! — Yenreb · 15
That’s a fair point to make- Sneak By is not a card I’d take in Wini either. She runs a very low curve deck, and she wants wild icons. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Daring Maneuver

To really justify Daring Maneuver 2, you have to figure out exactly how important it is to have the insurance to succeed by 3. The question you have to ask yourself in a deck where you take the original is whether to upgrade it to this or to swap it for something more practical. Winifred Habbamock and really any skill happy Rogue probably took the og just for the pip, as it does suffer from the fact that, often instead of holding it in your hand, you could've just committed it, and that margin of +2 versus +1 is really narrow. +3 vs +1 is, of course, much nicer, and it drawing you a card means you get a much larger incentive to hold it back instead of commit it, which means it really should only be used to help your other succeed by triggers, and NEVER committed. The weirdest thing about this upgrade is that, even if you have no triggers, it at worst just draws you a card "actionlessly" (most likely you took an action to do a test, but assume you would've done this test anyway) once you succeed any test, which is solid deckcycling on its own. So, let's look at the triggers available:

  • .41 Derringer and .41 Derringer 2. Using it for the former seems really weak in my opinion, as the Derringer is much more a weapon that exists to enable other succeed bys instead of needing the insurance itself. 1 extra damage on the og is ok, but the extra action on the upgrade is worthwhile, assuming you actually want to take that instead of...
  • Switchblade 2. Again, same basic principle as .41 Derringer, except most likely you're Tony Morgan spamming actions into your shiv not really caring if you hit for 1 or 2. It might be good insurance for the original Switchblade, but last I checked no one on Earth is playing that.
  • .45 Thompson. Okay, this one is actually exciting. For multiplayer, as a means to get enemies already engaged with other people, this seems more than solid. Fight values are also almost always 3 and 4, so the +3 here is relevant.
  • Mauser C96 and Mauser C96 2. I really like these triggers. The succeed by 4 or more on the upgrade is incredibly generous, netting you a resource and the ability to re-ready a gun that is basically just a better .45 Automatic at that point. For sure, getting back a card, a resource, and letting you fight again if you really want to is nice, especially for 3 Rogues for whom it's less guaranteed.
  • Beretta M1918. Probably the best use case of all the guns. If you're building a Daring Maneuver based deck with lots of succeed by triggers, you might as well use the gun that gives you the most bang for your buck. You'll likely succeed by 2 very often with that massive +4 boost, but succeeding by 4 is a bigger ask.
  • Sawed-Off Shotgun. I mean, this is definitely not a bad use for Daring Maneuver, though I question anyone who spends all their XP into Sawn Off without the intention of just Three Aces-ing the test to perfection with Double or Nothing anyway. 2 shots? Come on. Daring Maneuver would have a place here were it not for the build existing solely to one hit KO a boss.
  • Cheap Shot and Cheap Shot 2. Cheap Shot is not a particularly strong card in my opinion. Its main draw is the ability to fight an enemy engaged with someone else just to evade them and free your friend. It's a decent compression option in Rita and not many others, and Rita cannot take Daring Maneuver anyway.
  • Slip Away and Slip Away 2. On the exact opposite side of the spectrum, Slip Away is an amazingly useful card. Keeping an enemy locked down for two turns instead of one can be really helpful (especially for upcoming Trish Scarborough). The key to both this and the upgraded Cheap Shot is that the level 0 trigger you can get from Daring Maneuver is the same regardless if you're using the level 0 version or the level 2 version (auto evade for CS, lock down for SA), while the upgraded versions of both cards let you retain the card for a later use, but ONLY if you succeed by 3, which Daring Maneuver 2 alone can guarantee, and not its level 0 counterpart. Constantly using Slip Away 2 for lockdowns seems like a great enemy management strategy, and Daring Maneuver 2 fits in nicely.
  • Backstab 3 and Pilfer. Neither of these really benefit directly from Daring Maneuver 2 versus the original, but if you're running a Chuck Fergus deck, you might want the level 2 version anyway just from all the other succeed by triggers you have and for the card draw. Chuck and Daring Maneuver 2 certainly work well with Cheap Shot and Slip Away as well, so these cards are not unwelcome either.
  • Burglary. Don't. Just use Easy Mark or "Watch this!".
  • Pickpocketing 2. No particular distinction for level 0 vs level 2 Daring Maneuver, but more cards and resources while you're triggering other effects is not bad at all.
  • Lockpicks and Lockpicks 1. Again, neither card particularly cares about the boost to +3 that Daring Maneuver 2 provides, however the card draw is welcome to mitigate some of the risk that Lockpicks inherently carries with it.
  • Suggestion 4 and Suggestion 1. Same deal, no real consequence for using the upgraded Daring Maneuver over the original or vice versa.
  • Opportunist and Opportunist 2. I really think this is the most interesting one of the bunch, because it implies, to me, that the 4 XP you would've spent towards Opp 2 is better spend towards Daring Maneuver 2, since the +3 satisfies the level 0 version of Opportunist. That said, only a handful of Rogue decks even use Opportunist 2 (I mean they're all basically Wini decks).
  • "Watch this!". Once again, the +3 vs +2 is irrelevant. But a card AND resources if you just barely succeeded (eg by 0) is not unwelcome at all.
  • Momentum. Well this is just gravy. You can turn your Daring Maneuver into an even easier test to stack more succeed by effects onto, and the limit is 3.
  • All In. I heard you really like cards. This is probably the best skill card to use this on, no surprises. The only real caveat here is how you're triggering All In's megasuccess, as Three Aces is not an uncommon alternative.
  • Lucky Cigarette Case and Lucky Cigarette Case 3. Oh mama. Yeah, so the original works really nicely with Daring Maneuver's +2, while the upgrade likes any boost it can get, so the +3 of Daring Maneuver 2 is certainly not going to waste. These cards are critical to any deck using Daring Maneuver in general, so much so that I'd say you shouldn't even bother using the card without having these in play. Because these are up for any of the other triggers you do, the real power of playing a card like Daring Maneuver is stacking those triggers. So a Lucky Cig 3 plus a Beretta test you Momentum'd and Opportunist'd that led you to only succeeding by 1 or 2 would be a fantastic place to play in Daring Maneuver 3.

Non Rogue cards:

  • Alchemical Transmutation and Alchemical Transmutation 1. Intriguingly, both of these care about succeeding by at least 3, so you can actually get solid value from these in a Sefina Rousseau or Dexter Drake deck if you really want to.
  • Dream Diary. Another succeed by 3, though only Lola Hayes can take the upgraded diaries and Daring Maneuver 2.
  • Expose Weakness. A bit of a weird choice, but with enough draw this could be used to help sustain low fights for someone who might not be great at fighting otherwise. I'd look into this one for Trish.
  • Feed the Mind 3 and Feed the Mind. Feed the Mind 3 actually has no limit, which is kind of hilarious, but the level 0 version caps at 3, so both do well with this upgrade. Again, only Lola can take the level 3 version of Feed the Mind with Daring Maneuver 2, though eventually we will have a Seeker 0-5 Rogue 0-2.
  • Impromptu Barrier. So Finn Edwards, Wendy Adams, or Preston Fairmont I suppose are allowed to do this. Finn is the most likely to build into an evasion specialist build, and I should also mention that his effect also cares about succeed bys. Couple that with his free evades and this would work ok with Finn if it weren't for the costliness of a slot. That makes Wendy the next best candidate, and I'm sure there are plenty of Rogueish Wendy builds that specialize into things like Pickpocketing 2, Cig Case, Momentum, etc. Try it with Preston if you dare.
  • Shotgun. Leo Anderson finally gets a moment to shine here. The big con for Shotgun is its limited 2 shots (a big reason why Flamethrower and Lightning Gun have long since eclipsed it), but Leo can at least justify it more using Swift Reload, Venturer, Contraband, or Extra Ammunition. I suppose if you're building a succeed triggering Leo deck with Lucky Cig Case, Momentum, Watch This, maybe Mauser 2 or even Derringer or Switchblade, you could make this work, but overall it feels a bit janky. Who knows? Give it a try and see if it works out well.

So, what did we learn here today? Daring Maneuver 2 seems like it'll be a very helpful cog in Succeed By decks, however its usefulness depends heavily on the number of triggers available. A lot of Winifred Habbamock and some Finn Edwards and Tony Morgan decks will probably find it worthwhile, as well as some future decks featuring Trish Scarborough or her deckbuilding mirror. The big competitor here, as mentioned several times is Three Aces, though one could make an argument that the two could coexist in the same deck just fine. Daring Maneuver 2, after all, at worst, cycles you into your Three Aces slightly faster, and it's not like you can constantly trigger either throughout the game, so having both on hand to keep things moving is fantastic. Such a deck would benefit well from a lot of the new Seeker cards, especially Cryptic Writings, so definitely look out for such shenanigans come Innsmouth.

StyxTBeuford · 13028
This is a good analysis, I think. I have not yet been able to fit this into a deck, even in Wini, but I think there's a lot of potential. One set that is particularly interesting is Parallel Skids, who can take 4 Daring Maneuvers (2 of each) and up to 6 Luckies, so I think he's be a good candidate for a succeed-by deck where you're usually just barely passing tests and using Daring Maneuver to trigger your effects. — Zinjanthropus · 229
I keep forgetting about parallel gators. Yes, absolutely, look into both this and Lucky for Skids. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
I think the star of the show is the card draw. If you have enough succeed by triggers and can spare the xp towards the end of the campaign this not only strengthens those triggers but makes the deck more consistent by replacing itself. Specially in Rogue where your entire deck could be based around a single exceptional asset. — DaveHz · 1
Forbidden Tome

I admit, this card makes me want to design a Big Hand Ursula deck. With a couple of Pathfinders, plus this, she can get all the clues, everywhere, as long as she can get 12 cards in hand, which might be a bit if an ask, but she might be up to it. Harvey or Mandy with multiple Pathfinders is a better bet, although a tad less flavorful.

Atach it to Abigail Foreman for even more shenanigans! — Death by Chocolate · 1485
Even more efficient if you're triggering it with Knowledge is Power — Zinjanthropus · 229
Played once when I "blind translated" the book (I included the level 0 card without checking if the upgrade were interesting) and with less than 12 cards in hand I had never the tempo. — AlexP · 252
Forbidden Tome

An hilarious Seeker card, letting you heal and damage for one action, but only in the biggest of Big Hand decks. Harvey likes this, but does anyone else? Maybe Big Hand Mandy or Daisy. Of course, you want to make sure you are taking some damage for this to be useful, and Seekers are notoriously low-Health, so it's a bit of a gamble....

You could activate it for free with Knowledge is Power — Zinjanthropus · 229
True, and Daisy could activated it with her tome action letting her use it for 1 "normal" action on 8-11 cards, which is not great, but, inn a clutch.... — LivefromBenefitSt · 1067
Death by chocolate suggested using this to clear Guardian Angel. A smart idea! — MrGoldbee · 1472
Amanda, too — MrGoldbee · 1472
Liquid Courage

aeongate took a good broad look at this card, so I want to highlight an even more niche use for this card... Drinking your problems away!

This card is the first* player card that can LITERALLY DISCARD WEAKNESSES out of your hand because its discard effect is random. Preston can forget his "Debts". Winifred can't discard Arrogance (since it will be automatically committed), but it sure is an easy test to fail!

It can't discard any of the various Hidden weaknesses, due to the additional rules for Hidden cards, but there are other non-Rogue specific weaknesses that you may want to drink away.

Probably the best weakness you'd want to discard is The Tower • XVI or Dark Memory, but good luck getting Agnes to fail a test! Dreams of the Deep should be easy enough for Silas to handle on his own.

Finally, there is at least one campaign specific weakness this can discard that I won't name here, but they exist.

*OKay, so aeongate is right, the level 0 version did it already, but no you're also healing 2 horror in the action, so it is efficient even when unsuccessful.

Ooh, if you use this with The Tower and Arrogance in your hand (The Tower presumably prevents you from committing Arrogance) you have a decent chance of discarding at least one of them. — Zinjanthropus · 229
This was actually true of Liquid Courage (0) which has the same random discard on fail. I always assumed that even random discards ignored weaknesses, but it seems you're right that rules-as-written, they do not. Seems like a classic FFG rules oversight if you ask me, but admittedly the concept of drinking to forget your weakness is pretty funny. — Trinity_ · 203
True, though if you fail Liquid Courage (1) you still get to heal 2 horror. Of course you can't guarantee discarding a weakness unless you're down to only weaknesses in your hand, which might mean that you're already screwed in the case of Wini. — Zinjanthropus · 229
Agnes could try "Drawing Thin", to up the test to 6 difficulty. She still likely might pass the test, but has better chances to fail that way. — Susumu · 371
Preston cannot take it, it's illict — Drostt · 116
Agnes can take Drawing Thin. — MrButtermancer · 56