At first glance Monster Slayer is utterly unremarkable and may in fact even be a bit bad. My first impressions of the card were utterly negative.

"You mean I have to pay one and make a fight test without weapons and I have to succeed in order for this to trigger?"

I have played the last scenario about a half dozen times and I feel that in the Dunwhich Legacy campaign, if purchased in the final act you will have some good targets to choose from and might be a worthy include if your group only has one monster hunter.

But this card is a fundamental "key stone" card to your deck. I would never advise someone in the midst of a campaign buy the card because its effect is utterly unremarkable compared to the weapons you can buy.

Always buy a Lightning Gun or the Shotgun first and always spend the 9-12 xp to get two copies and extra ammunition (its really worth it for consistency to get two, even with Prepared for the Worst).

Thus, only consider this card if you are closing in on the last two scenarios and you have a bulk of xp burning a hole in your pocket. It is pretty much this or I've Had Worse. If your group needs you to go all in on the monster slayer role (because you are the sole monster hunter in a group of 3 for instance) or you just really, really want to hit some of the nasties at the end and take them down, then by all means.

If Path to Carcosa has a lot of weird, tough monsters then it might be worth an include there as well. Time will tell.

Assuming that I'm reading the rules correctly, it seems like you are able to draw your card during the upkeep and then decide if you want to take your resource for the turn or not. This allows much more flexibility in planning your upcoming turn.

"In player order, each investigator draws 1 card. Once those cards have been drawn, each investigator gains 1 resource." - Rules Reference, p. 25

The term "during" seems to apply to any moment within the phase and there's no entry in the Rules Reference for the term.

With the Acidic Ichor variant (see above) of the Strange Solution, seekers gain an awesome weapon. Strength is a problem for all the current seekers, and having your base increased to 6 is great - and combined with +2 damage, it becomes awesome. On top of that, it's cheap, and it doesn't take a hand slot.

In a recent campaign I equipped Rex with 2 of these as early as I could - they do need a lot of XP - and he was a better fighter than Jenny through much of the rest of the campaign.

Advantages:

• Gives seekers good combat
• Deals 3 damage!
• Cheap
• Leaves hands free

Disadvantages:

• You have to identify the solution, to start with. That relies on the right card coming out, your playing it, and passing the test.
• They're expensive XP-wise - though if compared with The Red-Gloved Man they feel about right.
• They're hard to discard once used - and so hard to Scavenge
• It can be difficult to use all that damage effectively. For example, a 4 damage enemy would require 2 uses - which wastes a third of the damage they can do. Ideally, get someone else to do the additional damage.

To be honest, I think that combat beats evasion (kill it and it goes away) and healing (kill it and it won't hurt you) , so I can't see why you'd use either of the other Strange Solutions.

This card is awesome! And the best thing about him isn't the stats increase - which are brilliant - but rather the freedom he gives. You want to accept 3 attacks of opportunity while you investigate (probably at 6 ) - no problem. Move while under attack - fine. It's one turn where you can more or less ignore any enemies.

Disadvantages?

• Expensive in XP (but worth it!)
• Uses the ally slot.
• Not worth using for combat without having a weapon that increases damage.
• Small cost to play
• Unique - so only 1 in play at a time. Not such a problem as he only lasts until the next Mythos phase.

Advantages?

• Capability. Do what you want for a turn.
• Fast. Don't waste an action using this, and don't suffer an attack of opportunity.
• Works with A Chance Encounter, which is also awesome (though he lasts even less time if brought into play this way)
• Use it with Police Badge or Ace in the Hole for even more over-powered actions in one turn!

Simply brilliant. Game winning.

There's three ways to play Daisy Walker. Okay, possibly more, but these are the most obvious. :)

1) Detective Daisy! You can make her into Nancy Drew extraordinaire; backed up by a large amount of Seeker cards, Old Book of Lore, Dr. Milan Christopher and her amazing 5 Knowledge. In a campaign she'll probably eventually complete her Higher Education and figure out the Sordid Secret of the Strange Solution, giving her both great Willpower and some decent fighting skills.

PRO +The advantage of this build is that Daisy will be a great clue gatherer with access to both card drawing, extra resources and even a bit of combat. +It's a versatile and fun playstyle. Seekers tend to be a valuable party members and you can often help your friends (free cards! Medical assistance!) if you have spare time.

CON -Rex Murphy is arguably the better clue gatherer, while not being as versatile as Daisy. I personally think Daisy is more fun to play, but that's like, just my opinion, man. -Detectice Daisy doesn't have room for more than a few Mystic Cards. Ward of Protection, maybe even a Shrivelling and a Holy Rosary, but she can't really go Team Purple when so heavily invested in Team Brown. -Even with a few combat cards you'll never be a scrapper. Bring someone to babysit you and don't split the party (too much).

2) Witchy Daisy! You can play Daisy dual-class: part-time sorcereress, part-time detective. This will give her decent combat abilities in form of cards such as Shrivelling, access to plenty of powerful Mystic cards and still let her perform well in her role as a clue gatherer. You WILL need to add several support cards such as Holy Rosary and Higher Education to make up for her 3 Willpower, but it's doable.

PRO +So many options! You can Scry, you can Shrivel, blind your enemies and unravel the mysteries of the universe. And you can still investige better than most.

CON -I feel that the Mystic cards, while powerful and versatile, always have a high cost. They demand a premium of resources, actions and/or sanity. It's easier to cope with this if you specialize and Daisy will never be able to do that as well as her as her more arcane colleagues.

3) Helpful Daisy! Daisy is great at support - her Seeker/Mystic combination and free tome action ability is a really powerful combination. She can heal damage with Medical Texts and Horror with Clarity of Mind. She can let her friends draw cards with Old Book of Lore, she can Scry, she can use Ward of Protection. And if that's not needed, she can still investigate better than most.

PRO +No one can support as Daisy (at least not 'till The Path to Carcosa is released).

CON -The more support cards you'll include, the less useful Daisy will be on her own. -This game isn't really dependant on support characters. Time is of the essence, so why help other people do stuff when you can just do it yourself? You could argue that support-Daisy allows the other investigators to specialize more, but she's still spend precious actions on healing when she could be advancing the story.

In conclusion, I prefer option #1, as I think playing on Daisy's strength as a Seeker is the better choice. There's still room to dabble a bit in mysticism and support cards, so you have lots of variety. Options #2 is a completely acceptable way of playing Daisy as well; Witchy Daisy can be super-versatile, especially if she's the only spellcaster in the gang. PS: I would think twice before playing her in a Hard campaign - her 3 Willpower will cause problems.

Option #3 is a bit more complicated, as it's (obviously) multiplayer only. You'll need to design your deck to fit in with the group and your group need to design decks that actually need your support. It's a great option but for advanced players only.

If you're like me and tend to get bored with one-dimensional characters (looking at you, Zoey!), you'll love Daisy. Yeah, she's a seeker at heart, but access to a huge card pool and a free tome action each round gives her more options than most other investigators. And options = fun. :)