Card Reviews · ArkhamDB

Daniela Reyes

There are a lot of things to like about Daniela. First, she lets you play tank guardian in a way no one else but Tommy can really master. But I don’t think she’s the second coming of Tommy, I think she’s the blue/red answer to Trish.

Previously, the number one way to lock down bosses was to have Trish Scarborough use quick clue gathering to automatically evade them. And she’s still super effective at that! But her ability is limited to once per turn, and Daniela's is not. Plus, as a cluever, you might have Trish elsewhere while big enemies spawn.

And Ms Reyes has the same stumbling block that Agnes does: if you spam their powers, you will get burned by the encounter deck. Neither is particularly great at agility checks, and damage can come from locations as well as foes. Often, punching enemies first is a better option than reflexively letting them clobber you, especially without access to money-makers like "I’ve had worse".

Her 4 base will is solid, even on hard.

Daniela is an excellent partner to Aquinnah. And if you’re willing to exile cherished keepsakes and old leather coats, the sky is the limit for soak with solemn vow. But when it comes to damage, observe the Christmas rule: it’s better to give than to receive.

Edit: Having played with her a little more, her ideal events are super cheap. That cost curve, and waiting for enemies to spawn, means it’s possible to put out a guard dog (or two!), flesh ward, and a survival knife before enemies cover the board. It’s refreshing in a guardian to be able to engage enemies as a final action, knowing you’re going to do 2-4 damage during the enemy phase! Annoyingly, there’s little lvl 1-5 survivor tech that does what dogs, “Get behind me” or the hallowed mirror do. And there’s not a ton you can do about enemies that do something besides damage/ horror on a hit: if you want to assign damage to your Trusted hounds, you can’t use dodge.

9/12/21

MrGoldbee · 1484

On the topic of locking down bosses: if Daniela is the first-in-sequence gator to be attacked by a Massive enemy, can she use her reaction to evade the enemy before the other gators are attacked, thereby preventing those further attacks that round? — HanoverFist · 746 10/6/21

@hanoverFist a good question and a good point. From the rules: "hen an enemy with the massive keyword attacks during the enemy phase, resolve its (full) attack against each investigator it is engaged with, one investigator at a time. The lead investigator chooses the order in which these attacks resolve. The massive enemy does not exhaust until its final attack of the phase resolves." So since tha attack is not simultaneous, the lead investigator may pick Daniela first. The last sentence means general exhaust which happens after an enemy's attack, I believe, and doesn't prevent from being exhausted via specific abilities. So, I would say, Daniela can save everyone from a massive monster's attack, you are right. — chrome · 61 10/11/21

@chrome This would be a marvelous tanking-ability for Daniela if it works out this way, and it certainly feels on-brand for her... especially since, unlike so many auto-evade effects, Daniela's is not limited to non-elites. Thanks for the rules & timing breakdown! — HanoverFist · 746 10/18/21

Huh. A burned out soldier who's degrading because of his bad experiences. Thematically, that's Mark. Pity about that. — Lailah · 1 12/21/21

The Harbinger

While The Harbinger is revealed and on top of your deck, cards in your deck cannot be {{searched, drawn, or manipulated in any way}} except by the below ability.

so Can Occult Lexicon be blocked? Because I can't search my deck

9/11/21

Aslan_IFLY · 1

Yes, everything is blocked. It means you don't draw cards at the end of the turn and even encounter cards can't discard cards from your deck, so it is possible that it will come handy. — vidinufi · 69 9/30/21

Can you use Written In The Stars to shuffle this weakness back to the deck? — HandsomeDust · 1 10/19/21

You couldn't, because Written in the Stars would manipulate the deck by discarding the top card, and "cannot" prevents it. For that matter, shuffling the deck is also manipulating the deck, so it blocks that too. — Lasiace · 23 10/24/21

Cheat the System

When you have no cards in your deck , you can't shuffle any cards into it and they are discarded instead. What happens if Wendy with her signature card has no cards in her deck and plays an event? If you can't put a card at the bottom of the void, is it also discarded instead? Feels like someone is really cheating then.

9/11/21

Tzolkin1065 · 155

Wendy's signature places on the bottom of the deck, which does work with an empty deck. You could then potentially loop it for one copy a turn, I suppose, but until we see a fast, during any player window, draw one card, the loop isn't infinite. — SSW · 216 9/13/21

For cards like this, do dual-class cards (like, say, Tennessee Sour Mash Rogue/Survivor) count as two? — khoshekh · 5 9/16/21

Yes compare the rules for multi-class items. In the worst case one of them counts as to off-class cards for Dunwich investigators — Tharzax · 1 9/17/21

According to https://arkhamdb.com/rules#Ownership_and_Control you control all the cards in your hand, deck and discard pile. — david6680 · 66 10/27/21

Had been answered on other synergy cards, but while this is technically true, card abilities can only interact with other cards, that are in play, unless they state otherwise. So there is no "synergy" with cards in deck, hand or discard pile. — Susumu · 381 11/10/21

Wanted to clarify, as per the Rules Section here under Multi-Class, "A card cannot take up more than one "out of class" slot, regardless of how many class icons the card bears." , so a dunwich dude would only lose 1 slot if both card factions are off-coloured. Most Chars wont even lose a slot if one of the colors is unlimited access, with some few exceptions. — surturiel · 1 2/6/22

M1918 BAR

M1918 BAR is very strange weapon comparing other Firearm weapon. If you consider to use BAR, I recommand adding BAR-supporting cards.

BAR itself is not a good weapon. If you don't consider any supporting cards, you can easily find alternatives. I believe you don't use this weapon with spending 1 ammo(=1 damage) without anything. Then, you could trigger at most 4 times. Flamethrower has 4 ammos with 4 damage, and Lightning Gun has 3 ammos with 3 damage. If you want to find more continual weapon, .45 Thompson, Holy Spear, or Enchanted Blade exists.

However, BAR has high potential. BAR deals 5 damage with 1 action, which is the highest value among weapons. BAR has 8 default ammos, which is the largest among Firearm.

Supporting Cards

Supplying Ammunition: Contraband, Swift Reload. Here, BAR has and spends lots of ammos. Thus, the card adding flat ammunition is bad. Sadly, both cards are cards. Note that Contraband can be played by another player, so that you may find your teammate with Double, Double.
Extra Damage: Custom Ammunition, Enchant Weapon.
"Eat lead!": As I know, ammos spent by Eat lead also contribute the BAR damage. However, I'm not sure and it's still issue. It means that you can evade without any ammo loss. Additionally, you can deal more than 5 damage with 100% succeed if ammo is enough.

8 16 32 64 128: 4 Contrabands make BAR as infinite 5 damage weapon. I heard that someone did it with Sefina by playing Contraband and doubled Scrounge multiple times.

9/10/21

elkeinkrad · 500

Preston can't play Contraband. It's illicit. — MrGoldbee · 1484 9/10/21

Man, that combo with eat lead is legit; i hadn't thought of that. — SGPrometheus · 841 9/10/21

That "Eat Lead!" combo should not work either, ammo spent for that event is NOT part of the ability's cost to trigger the BAR. — toastsushi · 74 9/10/21

I thought so to @toastsushi but now I'm not sure, as Eat lead says "additional" which might mean it actually becomes part of the cost. But I could see it go either way. — Nenananas · 267 9/10/21

I don't think the Eat Lead combo works because EL says that play it after you activate the fight ability on a firearm. This means you need to have spent the 1-5 bullets on BAR to have activated it. Thus you can only play EL after you've spent the BAR ammo. — jdk5143 · 98 9/10/21

Hmm, I'm not so sure now either. I thought Eat Lead had some language like, "as an additional cost to activate that ability..." which would definitely make it part of the ability's cost (and therefore the BAR would care about it, no matter when it was spent), but I guess it doesn't. Blah. So close. — SGPrometheus · 841 9/11/21

The ammo Eat Lead makes you spend doesn't count, but not because of the timing instruction, it's because it's not a cost (let alone a cost for the fight ability), it's (part of) an effect. — Thatwasademo · 58 9/11/21

@MrGoldbee Thanks for checking my mistake. I asked the player and he told that he played Sefina and play with Versatile. I edit the review. — elkeinkrad · 500 9/11/21

I agree that the ruling with Eat Lead is not clear. Nevertheless, Eat lead (0) is still good with BAR, because 1 ammo is not precious for BAR and you can avoid auto-fail. — elkeinkrad · 500 9/11/21

Prophesiae Profana

Works incredibly well with Library Docent to switch from 1 go to location to another.

Daisy Walker can move a 4 player team to the locus in 1 turn.

No attacks of opportunity means lecturing stuff to monsters. Engaged monsters move with you. Hello helpy guardian friend, I brought a monster with me.

9/10/21

GrueneLupenAufheben · 140

I don't understand your first sentence. "Library Docent" requires to play a different Tome by title. So you can't pick up one copy of this card and play the second to name a different locus. Or did you mean something else? — Susumu · 381 9/18/21

I think he want play the book afterwards and choose to choose a new location for the locus — Tharzax · 1 9/20/21

@Tharax: Correct — GrueneLupenAufheben · 140 10/5/21