A deceptively powerful improvement over the basic Emergency Cache. Even leaving aside the powerful Strange Solution combo, this upgrade is fully TWICE as efficient as its base, if we assume that one card is roughly as valuable as one resource:

Standard gain resource action: 1 action => 1 resource: baseline efficiency.

Basic Emergency Cache: 1 action + 1 card => 3 resources: 1 point of efficiency (2 additional resources - 1 card).

2XP Emergency Cache: 1 action + 1 card => 3 resources + 1 card: 2 points of efficiency (2 additional resources - 0 cards).

3XP Emergency Cache: 1 action + 1 card => 4 resources: 2 points of efficiency (3 additional resources - 1 card).

This puts Emergency Cache on similar footing as Cryptic Research (which is a straight-up net of two cards with no action cost), with the added benefit that it's impossible to backfire by drawing weaknesses.

The real question is, can we justify spending an additional XP over the 2XP Emergency Cache? Yes, I think we can. The ability to convert one card into four resources is more tightly focused than the ability to convert one card into three resources and a card. Being able to pull out a Lightning Gun or a Leo De Luca quickly can make a huge difference to an investigator's chances.

Obviously, Hot Streak is on a whole other level, but any investigator without access to higher-level Rogue cards should consider picking this up.

First off, 4 soak for 2 resources is a pretty great deal; she ties with Bulletproof Vest and Elder Sign Amulet for cost-to-soak ratio, but she's level 0 and occupies a slot that's not heavily contested for most Mystics. Her icons aren't terrific, but at least they're relevant for Mystics.

In my opinion, this makes her look pretty strong in most mystic decks, even before we consider her ability. We can only use it once per round, unlike Grotesque Statue, but we can use it to guarantee success in the same way, even though it's a little more difficult.

Where we really see Olive's strength is when we combine her ability with any of the chaos token manipulators already available to Mystics. If we chuck Defiance on the same test, we can hunt for the symbol we've just negated; likewise, we can choose a terrible symbol and then use Counterspell to pass the test. With the Seal mechanic we can make these results even more likely, and with Jim Culver we already have tokens that we can ignore.

I think Olive is crazy good in a Jim deck, but she's not half bad for any mystic that plans to manipulate the bag.

This is an exceptionally strong card. One of the most powerful and coveted upgrades in the game.

A repeatable source of 3-damage attacks is amazing. The number one way the developers make this game hard is by throwing lots of high-health health enemies at you. The number one way to lose is to draw more enemies in a short span than the team can deal with. A card that can repeatedly annihilate 3-health enemies in one action makes the game way easier. Being able to consistently crush the bigger stuff that comes out of the encounter deck in 2 actions is extremely useful, too.

Shrivelling V stands out as a particularly great purchase relative to the other superweapons in the game. Let's compare it to Lightning Gun (itself a very good card!). Shrivelling V is 3 resources cheaper, which is a huge deal, and has 33% more charges! It also has a far better slot situation as one arcane slot is a much smaller price to pay than two hand slots. Yes, you lose some to-hit bonus, but Shrivelling V's +3 bonus is still very good and will get results even on Expert. There is the horror penalty for Shrivelling V, which is harsh but has several workarounds (see below). All in all, I think the comparison is very favorable.

The 2 horror drawback is notable, one of the few "if you pull a special token" effects on a Mystic card that is harsh enough to make you sit up and take notice. But I find Shrivelling V well worth it. First, Mystics have naturally large sanity pools, and two excellent level 0 cards that can soak multiple horror. Mystics also have efficient in-faction horror healing if they want it. Second, since Mystics have really high Willpower, they take fewer horror from the encounter deck than anyone else. All this means that one sanity hit from Shrivelling V, or even two, is often not that a big deal.

Moreover, Mystics have an abundance of cards that cancel a bad token, let you redraw one, or let you draw two tokens and pick one (which drastically reduces your odds of triggering these effects.) You can combine any or all of these with Shrivelling V as the campaign goes on, which really neuters its drawback.

Note in particular how perfectly Grotesque Statue's 4 charges line up with Shrivelling V's 4 charges. I often aim to have both in my deck by the mid-to-late-campaign. If you get them both in play, you basically have 12 damage whenever you want it--damage that you can literally guarantee, even on Expert. Awesome.

To go back to the comparison with the game's other superweapons: compared to something like Lightning Gun or Shotgun, Shrivelling V is much more convenient. From a slot perspective and a resource perspective it's much easier to just pop it into your deck; you can easily still have the money and room to play other expensive and powerful stuff in addition. I'll repeat once more that 4 charges (that's 12 damage!) for 3 resources is just an amazing deal. It really is.

I end up buying this sooner or later (usually sooner) with pretty much every Mystic I play, and I really think it is one of the most important cards in the game for consistently winning at high levels.

Finally, the fact that Shrivelling V is a Spell is very helpful, given its powerful interactions with the likes of Arcane Initiate, Recharge, Uncage the Soul, and Arcane Research.

This is incredible out of Roland.

When fighting a monster on a location without clues he can use this to gain +3 for the check then recover the dropped clue for free.

If his personal weakness is drawn he can drop a clue on almost any location and hoover it back up with the boost. This is especially useful if all the nearby clues have already been taken.

Now that Marksmanship is out, my group did a theoretical calculation of max damage possible in 1 attack, particually to kill Spoiler in one attack. The following assumes a party of 4 players and using Extra Ammunition, Venturer and Contraband to pump ammo into Shotgun equal to or higher than the amount of chaos tokens.

Thanks Caius and Jd90 for your tips

• 1 base damage
• 1 Lita Chantler
• 1 Zoey Samaras's , so zoey is the one shooting
• 2 from 2x Marksmanship (fast cards can only be played on your turn, so 8x is not possible)
• 4 from 4x Hatchet Man (comited by Zoey Samaras, Leo Anderson)
• 5 Shotgun
• 10 from 5x Vicious Blow 2, assuming all 4 characters have it (other players can only commit 1 card)
• Double or Nothing
• "Eat lead!" to guarantee

Sum: 48 Total Damage!