Joey "The Rat" Vigil

This card is certainly better than suggested by the other review, and far from "the worst card in the game" as suggested in the review for the upgraded version. I challenge you to actually use this in an appropriate deck (such as Tony Morgan or Jenny Barnes) and not see his value. I did and I would choose him again. The point is not only extra actions, but also optimizing when you play each item, so that you can maximize the skill value, clues, and damage from your weapons and tools to match what you are facing. He also makes Colt Vest Pocket and Lupara decent weapons, especially with Tony Morgan. Yes, he is expensive, so don't use him with "Skids" O'Toole or other investigators that tend to be short on resources. But in the right deck, the effect is worth the cost. Also, the theme fits perfectly: he is the guy that can get you whatever you need, right when you need it, with no limits, as long as you can pay the price.

jmmeye3 · 633
If you are just looking at CVP and Lupara, you’re probably better off with Fence. It is 1 xp, but it saves you a resource when you play it and every time you use it, and it doesn’t take the ally slot. It doesn’t work for Tony’s signature guns, but other than those how often are you using it for a non-illicit item? And how often is it relevant that it can be used outside of your turn? Fence also has synergy with a few illicit events as well. I’m not suggesting Joey doesn’t provide value (and thick stats for an ally), but the level 0 seems outclassed by Fence for most actual use cases. — Death by Chocolate · 1490
I would definitely agree that he is not the worst 0xp Rogue ally, as Rogues also have Henry Wan. — Zinjanthropus · 231
Joey is nuts for Preston, if you built around him and replace him with Leo later — Django · 5171
You're using CVP and Lupara as examples for action conservation, but you could also just use Sleight of Hand and get WAAAAY more value than just an extra action. — TheDoc37 · 468
Mind's Eye

I feel this card is most useful for Sefina Rousseau. Sefina has a Willpower of 4 and is naturally event-focused. She's likely to see this early as well thanks to 3 copies from Myriad and a 13 card opening hand. Lockpicks was already fairly strong for her, allowing her to investigate at a base of 6. Lockpicks + Mind's Eye allows her to investigate at a base of 8 (or 9 with Holy Rosary), making it much more likely you can hold onto those Lockpicks supplies at high-shroud location.

While it does compete with Double, Double and Suggestion for your Arcane slots, it's significantly cheaper in exp than the former, and gaining 3 copies on purchase makes it a more consistent find than the latter. Consider taking Mind's Eye as an early purchase while saving towards the 8 XP for Double, Double, then afterwards grabbing a Versatile to throw in your favorite off-class event, a Sign Magick or two, and more of those fantastic rogue events (alternately, some Guts or Lockpicks if you want to mitigate some of the consistency penalty that comes with Versatile's extra cards)

clarionx · 252
I am confused about the Versatile part - why not just use Adaptable? She's a rogue after all. — trazoM · 9
Haste is also very strong for Sefina and requires an arcane slot. — Django · 5171
@trazoM Adaptable doesn't allow you to take dynamite blast, scrounge for supplies, or working a hunch, to name a few. — SGPrometheus · 855
Nimble

Benefits gained from skill cards are always nice because you never have to commit actions or resources to gain the desired outcome. Cards like Fearless for healing horror, or Quick Thinking for gaining actions. But in theory Nimble potentially provides a whopping 3 free actions! That's insane value, and you're not even paying anything (except the card itself).

So what are the downsides? Firstly it's only valuable if you need the moves. Maybe you still need to gather clues on your current location, or you need to stick around to act as bodyguard. If you don't need to move, then Manual Dexterity is better in every way. Secondly, can you move? The scenario itself could be preventing you from progressing further.

Maybe you'll put it to good use when you evade spoiler and subsequently use the move actions to reach the exit in spoiler. But if you have access to Nimble then you almost certainly have access to Elusive (a fast disengage and teleport), so even the above hypothetical is questionable at best. A very circumstantial card. I predict this card will be most frequently used for a single move action, in which case Quick Thinking is arguably better.

TL;DR - Hard to get maximum value from it, most likely used for 1 free move.

snacc · 1025
That's pretty much been my experience with this card. Very good card on the rare occasions when you need it. Ultimately it ended up being too circumstantial to include in any decks, sadly. — Zinjanthropus · 231
I should say on the rare occasions when you need it, nimble is in your hand, and there's an enemy engages with you. — Zinjanthropus · 231
Track shoes is an interesting option for being able to use nimble without an enemy engaged on you — Chitinid · 14
True! That's a good one because it also gives you a free move, so you can move up to 4 times. You can also use it on agility treacheries, which might be interesting. — Zinjanthropus · 231
Used it with Monterey Jack and this card is great with him, investigate with cards that add/use instead agility or just evade are made better for him with this card. — Tzabar · 9
Able Bodied

This card is surprisingly good with Agnes. All she really needs for items is a meat cleaver, the rest can be spells. And you’re going to want those +3 fight or that agility if you don’t get your spells out immediately, or if you simply want to evade something and don’t have the opportunity. So it turns out physical fitness is vital to being a waitress, which makes sense. Those plates can be very heavy.

MrGoldbee · 1497
Meat Cleaver Agnes is definitely the deck that I left this in for the longest. I eventually upgraded into Crystalline Elder Sign, though, so that made it a bit worse. — Zinjanthropus · 231
I imagine it also works well in Patrice cause she doesn't need much setup and her mystic access allows her to avoid items. — Django · 5171
Eh, I actually slightly disagree. Patrice at minimum wants her Violin out, and if you add in any other item at all- Rosary, Fire Axe (which she is amazing with), Track Shoes, etc- this loses pips. — StyxTBeuford · 13052
Able Bodied

This is simply not a good card. You basically have to build around it to get a good benefit from it(unless you happen to only be running one item anyway, which is rare.), and the benefit isn't strong enough to merit doing that.

Tilted Libra · 37
I think it's decent if the only items you're taking (at level 0) are the Meat Cleaver and Track Shoes (which I've done before). You'll always have at least 2 icons, 3 if you aren't set up yet, and combat and agility are both things that those decks usually like. It does usually get cut with XP, though. — Zinjanthropus · 231
It also turns out there aren't very many good *items* for Preston Fairmont, so I've made good use of this with him as well (with a board full of allies and conditions, and a deck full of events). — Thatwasademo · 58
It suffers from two major problems. One is that boosting combat is pointless without a weapon, and weapons are items, so any additional item- Keepsake/Rabbit’s Foot/Grisly Totem, or Flashlight/Old Keyring, or Track Shoes- kills pips. The other problem is that even with the 3 agility pips you’d probably be better off with 2 and some card draw from Manual Dexterity (and those gators also want Track Shoes at minimum). It’s very limited in its uses right now. — StyxTBeuford · 13052