Lola Santiago

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.

gionazzo · 64
Yah, she looks terrific. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
Her stat boosts both help Lockpicks. Once the skeleton key (depths of youth, 5th mythos pack) is released her stat boost and abiltiy become even more useful/cheaper. At that point rogues can investigate any location and no need for lockpicks anymore. They can switch weapon to ornate bow. Use lucky cigarette case and backpack to search for the key. Too bad Wendy and Leo can't play her, as she costs 3 XP. — Django · 5148
Yeah, she'll definitely be super cool with the skeleton key, for sure. Not sure about the overall utility of the Ornate Bow, though. The action efficiency there is not very good. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
She also means that Finn no longer needs to fight the Seekers for Dr. Milan in a 3/4 player game. I think she's probably the first 6 points of XP for Finn, and maybe for many other Rogues too, depending on how vital Streetwise is to the build. — duke_loves_biscuits · 1278
So I took AHLCG collection on a world cruise last summer. We made stopovers in Italy, Japan, Norway, and Greenland. When I got back, I realized a few cards were now missing. Which led me to the question: Where in the world is Lola Santiago? — crymoricus · 252
Skeleton Key + Lola Santiago + Burglary - reduce shroud to 1, pay 1 to get 1 clue, Burlary do investigate action 5int vs 1 shroud with Finn and get 3 resources :) You can milk any location this way as you will get clues yourself, with lola and have actions for other stuff — Killyox · 3
Will to Survive

I really, really, really love this card. I was amazed by it from the first moment I saw it. But it's really sad that very few investigators can actually use it. The problem is its high cost and the fact that the only reliable Survivor weapon is Fire Axe. Most Survivors who can mainly use only Survivor cards will almost always use Fire Axe as their main weapon and that leaves no allowance for them to use this card, as a Fire Axe deck usually stays slim in recources. The only Survivors who can play efficiently without Fire Axe, thus be able to use Will to Survive, are Wendy Adams and William Yorick (there's Lola Hayes too, not a Survivor but she has access to it). I wish there was a more expensive version of this card XP-wise that cost less (5 XP for a 2-resource discount, let's say). If such a card existed, it would open up a lot of options for many Survivors and it would be a solid upgrade for any of them, as well as a great way to spend left-over XP. "Ashcan" Pete would go for Key of Ys less often and William Yorick would have more (in number) solid options to spend his XP on other than getting The Red-Gloved Man. But anyway, that is a different matter.

While Will to Survive is a great card by itself, where it really shines is when you combine it with cards that give you extra actions, and, thankfully, both Wendy Adams and William Yorick have access to cards that give them extra actions (via Leo De Luca and Quick Thinking for Wendy and Police Badge for Yorick). Now, there's Lola Hayes too, who also has access to all of these action-generating cards, along with Ace in the Hole, but apart from Leo De Luca it's kinda hard to use them in conjunction with Will to Survive because of her role mechanism. Combined with these cards, Will to Survive can be a beast, allowing you to deliver heavy loads of damage or pick up a significant amount of clues from a location in a single turn, as long as you have set it up. Guidance and Shortcut deserve a mention here, as both of these cards, each in its own way, can help set-up those big turns when played by your teammates. Guidance will directly extend the turn of the investigator intending to go for that big boom, while Shortcut can save you from the trouble of having to move into the location of interest.

Another thing to note is that Lola Hayes will be able to use Will to Survive in conjunction with the upcoming Borrowed Time in order to save up to 3 actions for next turn to have up to 6 actions with Will to Survive!! Theoritically, she can already achieve a 6-action turn with Will to Survive using Ace in the Hole, but that card is generally harder for her to use due to her role mechanism, while Borrowed Time's effect will be generally easier for her to use, as its forced effect will take place regardless of her current role.

Anyway, Will to Survive is an awsome card, somewhat expensive even for a Wendy rolling in cash from Rogue resource-generating cards sometimes and it's always worth the slot if you can support it. Also great card for recursion via Resourceful and Wendy's Amulet.

matt88 · 3210
Not sure I would like that card if it was cheaper in resources - it is OK when powerful effect is related with high cost, especially in red card pool (mentioned Fire Axe, Madame, Dark Horse) that cost seems to be well balanced in my opinion. About extra actions: Double or Nothing + Quick Thinking combo is worth mentioning. Lastly, I like your ideas about Ms Hayes - it is useful to perform a kind of sweet and powerful grand finale with Lupara + Double or Nothing. — KptMarchewa · 1
I didn't mention Double or Nothing because I feel that it's kinda hard to pull off a combo that involves using Double or Nothing while using Will to Survive, due to Will's high resource cost. You would have to spend more resources and/or play more cards from your hand in order to achieve that, which I feel is kinda hard when you already used 4 resources and a card from your hand. — matt88 · 3210
Another note about Lola, she could have 2 Borrowed time in play and store 6 more actions from ace — Django · 5148
@Django How does Lola get around the Exceptional restriction to do that? — Death by Chocolate · 1488
Seems I missed exceptional keyword, ignore my comment. — Django · 5148
I think Ashcan Pete is another perfect fit for this card. He has Dog so a fire-axe+Dark horse combo isnt a must on him. — Tsuruki23 · 2568
Custom Ammunition

Finally, another blessed card for Father Mateo. Unfortunately he’ll never use it because he doesn’t have access to firearms, so it seems the only reason they have the “blessed” tag on this is for flavor. Just upsets me that all blessed cards are either worthless to father Mateo or already in his class. Just my thoughts on the card though.

LilSmac · 8
"Attach to a firearm asset controlled by an investigator at your location." While it may not be super practical unless you're playing as Mateo in a group of 3-4 with a guardian and a rogue who intend to use firearms, Mateo could take this and use it to buff their weapons. +2 damage during a boss fight as a Fast action is pretty good alone,but imagine it combined with a rogue's Double or Nothing while attacking with their Chicago Typewriter or Lupara. Then,on top of that, you're Mateo, and you have plenty of tools available to you to help make sure that test succeeds! — gionazzo · 64
Also for note; it's a supply card, which means Backpack will find it. Backpack: Recommended tool of the Guardian since 1921. — CecilAlucardX · 10
Yes, it's certainly true that Mateo isn't going to be playing this on any of his own assets in normal circumstances. But that's fine. In a multiplayer game, there is nothing wrong with taking cards that are entirely designed to help other investigators. It is no less efficient for Mateo to play this to boost a Guardian than it is for the Guardian to play this on her own weapon. In fact, there are advantages to this method: by splitting the cost for this build between two investigators, it will be easier to get this going faster. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
I like it in Mateo, but the problem for me is I've falled in love with Stick to the Plan - it's awesome! And if I'm playing Stick to the Plan, and (as a group) we decide to go with this, then I'm going to want to be the one that buys it so it can go in the super-suitcase. If only Mateo had his own plan to stick to... (maybe with Blessed cards). — duke_loves_biscuits · 1278
Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I think this card is a huge win. And (Mateo aside) you only need to ever buy one copy of it because you can just stick it right under Stick to the Plan. This card is great if played on a superweapon and great if played on a normal weapon. Huge win. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
On the Hunt

Dissenting Opinion: I don't like On the Hunt that much and have had mixed success with it. I've got two central issues with the card: the first is that it misses pretty frequently, the second is that I don't like it's cost ratio.

Let's take the second problem. The question posed below from another reviewer is "would you rather draw Rotting Remains or Swarm of Rats?". But that's not quite right. Instead it's would you rather draw Rotting Remains or Swarm of Rats, where the rats has "revelation: lose one resource and one card"?. Faced with these two, I'm not sure I prefer the rats. And that's when the card actually hits!

Sometimes it misses and draws no enemies at all (a terrible feeling, as you've just taken a nice and easy shuffle and thrown it away). Sometimes it hits but you were going to draw an enemy anyway. Sometimes it fishes a hard monster you weren't going to see for a few turns. Sometimes it finds you an enemy that was going to spawn somewhere unimportant and you could have just ignored. Sometimes it even drops an enemy on you that you dislike (like Poltergeist), which might be OK if you are Leo or Skids and are Adaptable (and can leave it out for such scenarios), but most Guardians don't have that luxury (and anyway, there are usually better things to do with Adaptable).

And yes, it helps protect your friends by thinning the deck, but it doesn't lower the chance of them also drawing a enemy by a huge amount, and does increases the overall amount of enemies the group has to face (on average). Enemies are generally the worst treacheries. You're here to make sure they die, but you'd still rather the team as a whole faced as little enemies as possible.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad card. More often than not it does what it's supposed to - find a monster, thin the encounter deck, protect your teammates (sortof), and give you something to shoot at. As another reviewer points out, it also finds XP enemies when you want them, which is kinda nice. But I find than when I weigh all this against its downsides and my experiences from playing it, I hesitate at giving it a deckslot.

A good comparison for me is "You handle this one!", which by contrast I think is fantastic. YHTO always hits, always does something of value, directly protects the team's weak points, and gives the Rogue a resource for his trouble. I'd much rather the Rogue passed me his monsters with YHTO and I just take my own treacheries in the face (especially if he's drawing after me). I'm a hero, I can take it. Just so long as he finds all the clues and gets us both the hell out of here.

I agree. I think this card is grossly overrated. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
At first I thought this card could be played after you had drawn a treachery (which you would then throw away and get On the Hunt's effect instead.) So that was pretty exciting! But that's not the case. Anyway, I wouldn't play this outside of Roland, and I don't think it's that tremendous even in him. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
One more usage point: it's obviously important, if you're using this card in multiplayer, not to be the first one to draw encounter cards. If the Guardian fishes out a a big monster first, then the Seeker and Mystic draw mythos cards and both get monsters, that's obviously pretty bad. But if the Seeker and Mystic have already gone, playing this looks better. It makes the monsters more evenly paced throughout the scenario, which has value--you generally don't want monsters coming in clusters. But I still don't think the overall return from this card is very good. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
Personally, I don't find this card useful if you don't have other effects to combine it with (like Roland's ability and Scene of the Crime) and I sort of agree with the statement that enemies are the worst treacheries, but there are some treacheries which are pretty painful for Guardians (like Rotting Remains and the Yellow Sign) and On the Hunt can protect you from such things. There can also be a few cases that regardless of what cards you have to pair it with, On the Hunt can be a very good card. In Echoes of the Past scenario of the Carcosa cycle for example, On the Hunt can do an amazing job fetching enemies that spawn on locations that are further away and accumulate Doom over time directly into your feet and engaged with you (some of which are aloof) and can save you a lot of time by not having to hunt them down (which is also very thematic for the card in that case). — matt88 · 3210
@matt88: you make some good points. I agree that this card shines in Echoes of the Past--but then that's pretty much the easiest scenario there is! I'm not sure you can really say that On the Hunt protects you from Rotting Remains etc, unless you're peaking at the encounter deck and know the Guardian will draw it. (And if you're peaking with Scrying, you could have assigned it to someone else anyway.) After all, On the Hunt will only affect one draw, and the odds that it saves you from a horror-inflicting treachery are rather low. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
Obviously I mean peeking, not peaking. Sigh... — CaiusDrewart · 3183
Yeah, I don't think this card is really about Treachery avoidance, or even thinning the deck, as much as fetching an enemy for Evidence!, Scene of the Crime, Roland, etc.. Getting the enemy isn't the point, it's what you're going to use them for. There are still relatively few cards that work of that, though. — AndyB · 955
@CaiusDrewart I don't think Echoes of the Past is a very easy scenario. If you can't handle the enemies fast enough it can snowball really hard against you. But anyway, you 're probably right in saying that one draw from On the Hunt can't save you from drawing bad treacheries throughout the course of the scenario and I can't disagree with that, but at least you are safe for the turn you re playing it. And, by the way, since you put Scrying on the table, I'd like to state that with Scrying + On the Hunt you have at least 4 turns of "safe" draws, assuming all 3 Charges of Scrying and at least one copy of On the Hunt are used (obviously in a way that will not make each other conflict). — matt88 · 3210
This card can be like a weaker version "Ward of Protection", depending on enemies present and size of enocunter. You shoudln't play this card if the enc. deck has less than 9 cards, reducing your chance of drawing an enemy. It also comboes well with "Scene of the Crime" , "Evidence" and some investigator abilities (roland, zoey). — Django · 5148
@matt88 re Echoes of the Past: might be a matter of group composition. I really prioritize having a lot of efficient monster-killing available. So a scenario like that where so many of the encounter cards are weak, easy-to-kill monsters is going to fit my group's style pretty well. I imagine if you're an evade-focused group or something it could be unpleasant. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
@CaiusDrewart Group composition matters a lot for sure, but the difficulty of this scenario is not about strong treacheries or enemies, it's about killing the enemies in time before the agenda advances and there are a lot of encounter cards that give you a hard time when trying to deal with that. — matt88 · 3210
@matt88: I suppose. Still, most of the enemies this encounter set spawns are just pathetic, and the encounter cards don't do that much to make them scary. They also put almost no stress on the investigators themselves, which is a rarity in this game. I can only speak from my experience, but it's been by far the easiest Carcosa scenario almost every time. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
"Sometimes it misses and draws no enemies at all (a terrible feeling, as you've just taken a nice and easy shuffle and thrown it away)." — itsthewoo · 1
Whoops. Accidentally pressed the "enter" key. Ignore the above comment. — itsthewoo · 1
Does this card comboes with Diana's ability ("cancels or ignores a card effect or game effect"), by not drawing an encounter card? — Joannes · 1
I don't believe so @Joannes. The cards that work with Diana's ability have the words "cancel" or "ignore" printed on them somewhere in their effects. On the Hunt doesn't do either of these things. It just allows you to draw a monster instead. — Jaysaber · 7
I'm not so sure. Diana's investigator card doesn't stipulate that the card must use the word "cancel" or "ignore". On The Hunt states "spawn engaged with you instead of it's normal spawn location". I think that reads that you have ignored the bold "Spawn" keyword on that enemy. — snacc · 1008
I would say this is also valuable for a 100% dedicated fighter. If this misses, you're not throwing away an easy shuffle. You're doing away with 2 to 4 rounds where you would've had nothing to do, that would — DaveHz · 1
Sorry, accidental enter. You're undoing 2 to 4 rounds with nothing to do, that could lead to enemy clusters down the line. — DaveHz · 1
Laboratory Assistant

Laboratory Assistant + Calling in Favors is so strong to get allies into play. Work even better with Art Student and Charisma

In Roland Banks deck Laboratory Assistant and Calling in Favors are used to jumpstart the deck get cards into your hand and allies into play Beat Cop or Guard Dog

Fireblaze · 2
I like it, but what happens if you draw the Beat Cop first, and the Assistant and Calling in Favors thereafter? Then you are stuck with dead cards with terrible icons. — duke_loves_biscuits · 1278
Yes, a fine combo, especially with the upgraded Beat Cop. I think Art Student is better though; a clue is usually better than two cards and the handsize effect here is useless 99% of the time. But I can see how the right sort of deck might be interested in both. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
You can „heal“ upgraded beat cop with favors. Both lab assist and art student are great Horror soaks. — Django · 5148