This card is imho the hidden COTE (Card Of The Expansion xD). There are some other REALLY great cards I love even more, but they are talked about consistently. Meanwhile, this one is extremely overlooked and people don't even try it before they say it sucks. Well, it doesn't. It's good, and I mean REALLY good. It flat out opens a new playstyle for a consistent fighter-evader and excluding some Customizable cards, it may be the most game-changing (or better; game-expanding) card in this expansion.

I've tried it a few times so I'm by no means a master of using this, but it's basically the only card you need for a completely new (viable) playstyle, while completing it with anything that does consistent damage like two handed rifles, knives, akimbo guns... You could've done that before Scarlet Keys with some cards like .25 Automatic, and while it's completely viable (especially the .25 Auto. (2) is incredible), it's still just a limited tactic you can use once, maybe a few times per game with recursion, but this is a talent that sticks and works every time all the time and it's basically just flat +2 AND 1 bonus action per turn. AND you can still use something like .25 Auto for better effect. And yes, the "fight action" keyword is NOT "basic fight action," but ANY "fight action," so you can use weapons and stuff to supplement it. And it's 2 xp, so investigators who dip into Rogue can also take it and use it effectively.

I think that this effect is not niche at all, but EXTREMELY adaptable, since you can use that +2 for ANY attribute; Fight, Brain, Foot - shooting, smacking, arrowing or spellcasting the enemy; as long as you're fighting in one way or another, you get better numbers. I might be overselling it a bit here, time will tell, but as said, I've tried it a few times and so far it's been incredible. If it's the evade & attack playstyle you want, it just became a legit and competitive fighter playstyle. And this card is the main component for mere 4 xp for two copies (Kymani gets 5 xp before the game even starts!).

This card single-handedly makes investigators like Rita, Skids or Wini into competent fighters (Yeeey Skids, it's finally your time to shine! And while not useless before, Rita's also a much better fighter now.), or basically any investigators that can evade and use a competent damage dealing card - like Kymani, Finn, Dexter, Sefina...

Another thing is that this card in the two latest expansions just became highly searchable and readily available with awesome cards like Black Market (it's Illicit), Friends In Low Places, Underworld Market, or even better - Finn’s Smuggled Goods (again, Illicit).

And that’s just the basic effect. There's also parleying, which is fantastic the few times you need it - it always gets on my nerves when I miss a necessary Parley. Also, it's completely stackable and basically anything that gives you more numbers combines with this like .25 Auto or Lonnie, and these two are also simple to use and play. There're also combos with Stealth (3) for a free fight action without the boost, Blur(s) are both great with their action extension, it also does well in an Ornate Bow fighter because of naturally high Foot and many more... And it's not even very expensive, takes one action to play that it even gives you back instantly, while as a Talent it doesn't take any slots and it's quite "resistant" to the Mythos deck. This +2 also combines well with "Succeed by number" playstyle, so you can go for "Succeed by number fighter" now, which was niche before. There're many more things it does and if nothing else, when playing it in Kymani, it's a flat +2 Foot and +1 action every turn.

I really like this card and while I wasn't a fan of a focused evade deck before, the fighter-evader is an interesting prospect to me and I love how this makes some subpar investigators much better, and also opens up some interesting new decks.

EDIT: Some corrections.

After many years have passed, sadly, this card still does not see much play. Same with the Lvl 3 version, it requires a bit too much to draw and gain resources. When compared to Lucky Cigarette Case which i think is one of the most played cards out there (it is in almost every Rogue deck), i think we could use some good old tabboo for this one. Lvl 3 version seems to be made for Leo Anderson, but he cannot even take it, which is a huge missed opportunity flavor-wise if you ask me.

So, like always, my group got bored with having a card sit in our binder for ages and not even being played, so we changed it in a way like Scroll of Secrets is changed, meaning that we made it be ability. It did not change a lot, since my friend who ran it still wished he just had Lucky Cigarette Case to trigger more ofter, as this card needs enemies or allies to enter play and then to die to gain 1 resource and 1 card, which is just so damn slow. But after many years we can say that we have played it, and who knows, maybe one day in the far future FFG decides to tabboo it in the same way that we did. We even went all-in and changed Decorated Skull to be 2xp and LVL 2 card so Leo could take it, and it was so cool seeing him sacrificing his allies like Treasure Hunter and Hired Muscle and gain charges on this when we went to Egypt to test it in that standalone scenario.

To conclude, this ain't really a normal review like you might be looking for, but rather a change for all of you who are bored to have this card sit and collect dust, while it can be changed in such a simple way, and provide you with more options. Also, i bet many of you are just so bored of seeing that damn cigarette case in every game, and God knows we could use some more options when deck building!

Power Word is the final nail in the coffin for this card. Maybe if you wanted a fourth copy that was way more expensive to play, cost way more experience, was less versatile, took up a hand slot and required you to dedicate a solid portion of your deck to curse tokens. Perhaps you are simply Ursula Downs.

17 Jan 2023. Used Hypnotic Gaze x2 on The Devourer Below. With sheer luck, the boss dealt 3x2 damage to itself. Very useful for the Elites and the boss. Instant save for 1 person and damage to the boss.

Obviously no one is going to top Valentin1331's review of Charlie Kane. Having played a flex-Kane in the Scarlet Keys campaign I want to highlight a couple of character dynamics. I approached Charlie in a pure ally fashion--no hand slots were used in the [redacted]. Obviously if you want to play Charlie differently some of these thoughts will be less useful.

First, ally economy. Kane is pretty inept until he gets allies out and even then it can be hard to safely get him through more than two tests a turn because he's exhausting his allies. You can get out of this by having a lot of allies on the field (i highly recommend rod of animism and charisma, especially once your primary cards are in the deck), exhausting allies (Bonnie Walsh is a perfect signature card and drawing the elder sign with Charlie is pure joy), or changing your base stats. To this end, I believe Miss Doyle and Summoned Hound are perfect additions to a Charlie Kane deck.

Miss Doyle provides two ally slots in a single ally slot, plus her kitties allow you to take a test with a base skill of 5 rather than 1. Even if you play the wrong kitten, the fact that Doyle has ? icons and that each kitten has two icons rather than one means they are almost always high benefit exhausts. Summoned Hound on the other hand is almost never exhausted for benefit. Rather it lets you do one of the main activities in the game with a base score of 5 as a fast action. If you get Bonnie and the Hound out at the same time this can lead to investigating or fighting with a base of 5 twice (and once with a minimum score of 4) three times for the price of a single action (fast action Hound, action do a test where you commit Bonnie, fast action hound). Have a few more allies out and/or cards to commit and suddenly Charlie Kane can be a secondary guardian or seeker.

Second, Rogue/Survivor Charlie. What is a politician, if not a roguish survivor? Their job is to shake hands, smile, grease wheels, and weather scandals. Kane is no different, and I actually think in multiplayer play this is a better pair for a flex Charlie than Seeker/Guardian as it helps you play, search for, and sometimes abuse your allies. On the Rogue side, Hit and Run is a wonderful card. Every time you add an ally into a Kane deck I recommend considering how it would interact with Hit and Run--by the end of my campaign Hit and Run was the only rogue card in my deck and I had no regrets about my class choice. Though I only did it one time, playing Hit and Run and Calling in Favors on the same card is exceedingly satisfying, and can save a few precious resources if you're really lucky. More impressive are the Survivor cards. Flare alone makes me think Survivor should be considered for every Kane deck. Adding A Chance Encounter (with or without experience) and Resourceful (to get back Encounter, and some of your high value allies like Miss Doyle and Peter back) to the card pool and...well, I promise it is fun. Remember, Chance Encounter(2) and Flare both put Summoned Hound into play so you don't need to drop the bonded card in the deck.

Overall I think Charlie is a super fun and satisfying investigator. His card pool opens up all sorts of wonky interactions (ESPECIALLY if you have oodles of experience or are playing off taboo). If you like allies, animals, and confusing turns, give the old man a shot.