Diabolical Luck

I was amazed looking at all the fancy new toys in Hemlock, and decided to try my very own curse deck starring eveyrone's favorite trumpeteer Jim Culver.

When looking at this card, you notice it's a skill, and the only icon it has is . This shows you this card was not meant to committed to any test. huh. Then you read and notice it gives you after you draw a curse. This is a big step up from it's 1XP yellow cousin Fey.

In reality, this card works as a pseudo . Draw a ? Go ahead, pretend it's a +2, just this once. If you're ever in a space where you need to pass an important skill test and you draw a , this card basically makes the test an auto pass (unless that ugly comes up). You can even game the system by drawing one through Favor of the Moon!

Imagine this scenario: You're playing Trish Scarborough and you have your Lockpicks & Lucky Cigarette Case out. You investigate a 4 shroud location. Uh oh! . Then you trigger your Blasphemous Covenant and play your Diabolical Luck and turn that -2 into a +5. Lastly, you draw a -3. Now, instead of failing the test, you're searching the top 6 cards of your deck for your favorite card.

Outside of curse decks, this is a waste of space, but in them, it's fantastic safeguard for unlucky curse tokens.

The best aspect of this card, compared to Fey, is that it is reactive, and so it makes every curse token you add to the bag far less threatening by only being used when you really need it. It's basically a free Curse Lucky! — Valentin1331 · 55132
Hold Up

I find it very amusing that the Guardian perhaps most incentivized to go around sticking people up for cash is FBI Agent Roland Banks. With Red Tape and Due Diligence he can make this fast and get +2 to the parley for each enemy engaged with him. Browbeat those Ghoul Minion or Cats from Saturn into assembling a flamethrower for you, then cook them with it. It does take up both of your allowed card plays for the turn, but seems worth it. Just don't autofail.

Dark Horse

I think this is essentially an S-tier card, easily worth the 5 XP cost of admission and should be considered for a first campaign purchase/upgrade on most Dark Horse decks. Comparing to the original (most of these points are overlapping, but I think there's distinct points for each):

  • It doesn't cost resources. The 3 resource cost of the original is fairly steep for a deck designed around keeping resources at 0. With this you only need to focus on having resource for other assets you want to play, hugely simplifying the design of decks which take this.

  • You don't have to play it. Playing a card costs an action, so given Dark Horse decks are lean and tempo-focused saving an action is always nice.

  • You don't have to find it. Similar to the above, Dark Horse decks want it in play as early as possible. Dark Horse itself however is not readily tutorable (Mr. "Rook", Eureka!, Captivating Discovery and Friends in Low Places all spring to mind, but can all miss as well either come with their own costs or at a minimum take up deck space) and while the class does have good card draw (Take Heart, Drawing Thin, At a Crossroads, Unrelenting) it's never going to be infallible. Having it there and ready to combo off is the biggest selling point by far.

  • The stat boosts activate very early. It's worth saying you can online that +1 all stat boost from your very first turn with just a couple of assets (e.g. Mariner's Compass and Madame Labranche for example). Equally common resources sinks like Fire Axe make getting the universal +1 trivial in your first few turns.

  • Permanent protects it from asset discarding treacheries. Everyone has had a moment where Crypt Chill has discarded something useful I'm sure. With this being a permanent card it's safe, which is great given its high XP cost and importance to this archetype of deck.

  • EDIT: Good point from the below comments - it saves deck space. Level 0 Dark Horse takes up two cards in your deck, while this takes up none. With the pressures around deck building these days, it's definitely a nice feature.

All of this sets the card up as dramatically better than the original and a huge leap forward for the 0 resource archetype. In addition to Dark Horse staples (things like Mariner's Compass, Fire Axe, Madame Labranche and Schoffner's Catalogue - check out the level 0 Dark Horse page for wider interactions and more possible combos) I would say the addition of 1 resource masks in Hemlock Vale (Sparrow Mask and then off-class Mouse Mask, Fox Mask and Wolf Mask, ignoring Cat Mask because it's niche) and potentially the 1 resource Matchbox depending on your needs are all good ideas. Hemlock Vale also added in the pretty great Fire Axe •• and the pretty medium Mariner's Compass •• to boot.

All in all, I think everyone would love to play an investigator with +1 to all stats, and permanent Dark Horse allows you to do just that - potentially from your very first turn and without any install costs. It's a very, very good card!

HungryColquhoun · 2194
...Until you need to buy somethin. — MrGoldbee · 1391
Very true, but that's where genius deckbuilding comes in. See, you put cards in the deck that give you enough resources to buy the things you want, but not too many. I know, I too was surprised when I first heard it - but it's true! — HungryColquhoun · 2194
Also something important to note, is that when 5xp can seem like a lot, it is actually like 2.5xp if you were to upgrade 2 copies of Dark Horse. From this perspective, it feels a lot more affordable. One thing though, is that even if stat boosts are important, Dark Horse decks are usually struggling with Tempo, especially with Fire Axe. But with Long Shot in the box, that should be better now. — Valentin1331 · 55132
Very true Valentin, I didn't think of it like that! I suppose now I'd be inclined never to use base Dark Horse, because if Dark Horse (5) is your first purchase then it arrives early in the campaign (and getting Dark Horse to work well in your first few scenarios is situational). That's probably more of a 'me' approach to that problem, I'm sure a lot of people will still take the level 0 version. — HungryColquhoun · 2194
How is the "Fire Axe" upgrade pretty great and the one for "Mariner's Compase" medium? I value the unexhaust on a fail more than the fast for 2 XP, even though on a weapon it means, you can play it without AoO. Of your bullet points, I think, they are all true, but there is an additional one, you forgot: you also save two deck slots with the upgrades and can even replace your 2 level 0 DH with other level 0 cards for free, because the "Limit 1 per deck" forces you to remove them. — Susumu · 330
Good point on the deck space, I'll add that it in a moment. And for me the upgrade is just a bit expensive - you could just use two level 0 Mariner's Compass and get a similar effect. I think if it was level 1 I would like it more. — HungryColquhoun · 2194
Chemistry Set

Deduction has been a Staple since day 1 for a good reason: clues are what move the game forward, and so more clues mean being more likely to win the game before the doom clocks out, or you are being defeated in the many possible ways.

Chemistry Set is a 0xp card, in a non-competitive slot for that has a printed Deduction on it. So what's the catch?

  1. You need to test at a very high value to have a chance to get the additional clue.

  2. You need to succeed by exactly 4 to get the clue.

    • You are helped in this task by many cards. The most important one is the one that came with the set: Steady-Handed. When both are on the table, by testing at 5 above the shroud in standard and at 4 above the shroud in Hard, you have approximately a 60% chance of getting an additional clue. What's best is that you still get a card or sometimes 2 resources if you don't get your additional clue.

    • Some reactive cards can also help. There aren't so many, but we can mention Knight of Swords, Daring Maneuver, Ritual Candles, Diabolical Luck. Lab Coat can help you get 2 resources and a clue from a test you'd fail by 1.

    • Some cards can also help by revealing tokens earlier: Scrying Mirror or Premonition.

    • Some cards reveal multiple tokens: Grotesque Statue, Third Time's a Charm, Against All Odds are some examples. Olive McBride (0), on the other hand, will sometimes decrease your chances of getting the token and the score you want. Finally, Analysis is also an option, but I am not sure I would do this one...

  3. It exhausts.

    • You can get a second copy on the table with Tinker or Relic Hunter. This way, you have double the uses, which, in my experience, is enough.

    • You can ready it with the newly printed Fine Tuning. It takes 1 more action, costs 1 more resource, and 1 more experience than Tinker, but it only requires you to find 1 copy of Chemistry Set, so it is online faster. This is personally my favourite option because the second copy of Fine Tuning can be placed on Steady-Handed (or on Empirical Hypothesis if you're that greedy).

  4. It discards when failing by exactly 2.

  5. You will only succeed by exactly 4 when there is only 1 clue remaining at your location.

    • Sucks for you. It's like finally landing that trick when no one pays attention anymore. Maybe you can get -1 with Steady-Handed to get a card and heal 1 horror.

Overall, it's a sound card if you build around it, and can be pretty monotonous, so having a mini-game in the game is a lovely gimmick to explore once in a Kate Winthrop deck.

Here's the deck I've used for this review: arkhamdb.com

Valentin1331 · 55132
Nice review! I think you've covered all the basis I would think of with this card and more. — HungryColquhoun · 2194
Hit return too early (keep expecting it to do a line break...). Anyway one possible good user for this is Carolyn Fern, given she's already limited in the investigate assets she can take and she has access to most enablers (e.g. Scrying Mirror, Lab Coat, Steady Handed, Tinker). It does compete with Hallowed Mirror on her, but as you point out there's a few ways and means here to get an extra slot. A further card I've considered is Charles West III. While this looks anti-synergistic at first blush, if you're already manipulating successes then you can use this to manipulate successes for damage when not using the Chemistry Set (with something to absorb the AoO, and cards like Alice Luxley to leverage this more). It's likely too finicky to be practical - but if someone wanted to go to town on success manipulation that's what I'd go for (e.g. may work well on Trish for example, given she exhausts enemies usually anyway - giving you something for any level of success 0 through to 4). — HungryColquhoun · 2194
This looks like a lot of fun! But also not particularly good. Seeker just has so many ways to turn cards and resources into cues and this feels less reliable and efficient than a lot of options which are already rarely played. — OrionAnderson · 26
Forgot we can't have line breaks in comments. Was going to say, instead of playing chemistry set and then fine tuning to back it up, I could simply play 2 Working a Hunch and probably come out ahead much of the time. If I'm wiling to sink some XP in there's also stuff like Seeking Answers (2) which I always want to include but never find room for. I just feel that this card and each card that interacts with it were replaced with an event that just directly gives you an extra clue you would come out better for it. — OrionAnderson · 26
Who'd take this AND Third Time's a Charm, instead of Lucky(2)? — MrGoldbee · 1391
Great review! The other char I'm thinking might like this, oddly, is Wilson Richards, though NOT for the clue acceleration. It's in a non-competitive slot for him too (if you don't lean into Cleaning Kit), and as a Tool he'll investigate at a base of 4. Which is... not amazing. But otoh this is possibly the ONLY economy asset he's got; it's not like he's gonna wear Boxing Gloves. And with any combination of Grete Wagner, Mag Glasses, Hawkeye Cams, Jury Rigs, Matchboxes, Flashlight(3)s, and Multitools, he has ample ways to have respectable enough books to try to aim right between 0 & 2 and hope he misses by 1 either way. — HanoverFist · 660
Ancestral Token

This card is really good.

  • In a build: Staple. No questions asked, it comes in play, and rewards you for what you are already doing: defeating enemies. This will be your core enabler, especially in the early campaign. And what's best is that the payoff increases as the campaign progresses.

  • In a non- build:

    • Your Accessory Slot is non-competitive. The main alternative is Hallowed Mirror, but by loading the bag with , you are less likely to take damage/horror during the scenario. Cleaning Kit is the other new one, but you will know when to take it.

    • The Horror soak is fantastic. Back in the day, we would spend the same 3 resources for 1 more Horror soak and a limited ability. This is a million times better.

    • Even in 2 , this will get the bag at 10 by mid-scenario, increasing significantly the chances to pass any test.

    • With 10 in the bag, when testing with the same value as the test (for example with 3 on a Rotting Remains test), you go from 25% to 40% chances of success.

So, is it a Staple? I don't know if I will find space for it in every deck I build, but this card is surely way above the curve in terms of power level, so if I have nothing else, I know I won't regret adding this to any of my decks.

Valentin1331 · 55132
Agree 100% with all of this. This single-handedly allows any Guardian to have a bless deck, and even if you're not utilising the bless tokens directly their softening effect on the chaos bag is huge. An interaction I've considered is this + Blessing of Isis + The Black Cat (+ Favor of the Sun, potentially), allowing you to nerf the chaos bag to oblivion and giving unlimited soak. It's a good idea but I'm putting out enough bless decks as it is, so I'll let someone else run with that! — HungryColquhoun · 2194
It's definitely fun with Isis, but costly. — MrGoldbee · 1391
With Relic Hunter, it looks like you could use two of these and the reaction would trigger off the same kill, adding max 5 per token, correct? — Phaed · 118