Anyone who doesn't see the use in this card has never played the 5-Sanity investigators on Hard or Expert. Part of playing Mark Harrigan on high difficulties is being able to survive losing four Sanity in the mid game. Allies are great, but plenty of Guardians are limited to guardian allies which will only go so far. Roland Banks is in a slightly better place with his selection of throwaway allies, but is still very interested in this card. Guardians are ultimately fragile and more liable to die off mid-scenario than most other characters. Despite being the class most hard up for resources, cards like this can go a long way toward winning a campaign.

I think The Skeleton Key should definately part of the conversation. I played a duo game with Daisy Walker and Preston Fairmont. Preston moved the key around & Diasy and stripped the clues from every location with Deduction, this card, and Perception.

It's good.

It's very hard to not justify +3 actions for 0 cost. The only thing I can really mention is that it's better to get this upgrade at the end of a core build rather then to start with, you really want some good cards in play to capitalize on so get those upgrades before Ace in the Hole.

For example:

• A 6 action round with a .45 Automatic in hand is nice.
• A 6 action round with Chicago Typewriter, now THAT wins games.

I.E, dont spend your first 6 Xp on this thing, spend your first 10-14 XP on key mechanics, then cash in on that with Ace in the Hole.

This thing rocks, holy moly what a recovery from the trash-bin that is the 0 xp version Bait and Switch.

The original effect was never bad, not really, it just has a far too niche purpose, evading and moving an enemy engaged with you is so and so useful in many scenarios.

The new line, evading a neighbor enemy, is terrific. This new effect is way stronger than the original, you might for example bamboozle a hunter and take its place and keep investigating, dislodge a troubled friend and create space for them to do their thing without having to run away immediately, get a previously evaded enemy off-of a location where it's in the way and dump it in a corner you just finished investigating.

Having this new and useful ability resurrects the old effects usefulness, having this card in your deck is no longer a liability.

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That said, this is obviously not a card to blindly include in every high agility deck. The most interested character is Rita Young, she can add insult to injury and get free damage or movement with her ability. Next in line is Silas Marsh, but he has very tight deckbuilding so perhaps he's not the ideal choice.

It will be interesting to see if there will ever be character other then Rita Young (and arguably Silas Marsh) who likes this card, but right now, at least for her, it rocks.

It's pretty good, but not the best.

This gun looks good, with 3 damage and +3, then it looks bad, with that and effect.

Another thing that's easy to miss, this thing is -ridiculously- cheap for a 3-shot weapon with a large bonus and 3 damage. You can easily play this in an asset heavy deck full of 3 cost assets (of which there is a lot in ) or some out of faction options.

That much damage and bonus is great, also the great price, but isn't the gun just completely kneecapped by that effect? Not quite.

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Old Hunting Rifle is a weapon the rewards a flexible playstyle combining and , ideally when the gun jams you evade and fix it, the missed shot can be recursed with cards like Oops! or Live and Learn so the gun does get good support from the faction. Will to Survive is nice but not always needed (although recommended if you intend to kill a boss). Edit: Eucatastrophe circumvents the autofails pretty beautifully.

The two stat reliance means that a classical combat specialist like William Yorick probably wont want one unless he's got all the support cards too (also Bandolier and Act of Desperation), characters like Silas Marsh and Rita Young however love them some Rifles.

One problem for 3 damage weapons is 4 health foes, in this instance it's good to have a high base and perhaps a Lucky! and/or skill cards handy to try and land a basic punch, Rita Young has a little advantage here thanks to her ability, which lets her simultaneously get distance to fix a broken rifle and damages the enemy.

"But random person on the internet," You might say, "dont Silas Marsh and Rita Young prefer Ornate Bow?!" Yes, the bow has more ammo in the end, and it might very well be more dependable, but the reliance on reloading seriously dampens what you can accomplish in a round, it's much easier to get the rifle to do 6 or 9 damage in a round. Rita in particular has no access to bonus actions outside Ace in the Hole and even that's just a one off, so despite her higher she actually might prefer the Old Hunting Rifle a bit. The big difference between the Rifle and Bow boils down to a lot of splitting hairs, the really fun thing is that you can take them both!

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Old Hunting Rifle isn't the best weapon in the game, it's risky, but it is very destructive and extremely cheap.