Joe Diamond

One thing that previous reviews didn't touched on yet is that the Hunch Deck revealed card is visible unlike cards on hand. (Thematically weird that his hunch is visible? The Insight so exciting it shows on his face?) If you play as play guide suggested that cards on hand are hidden information for immersion, Hunch Deck opens up some interesting table talk and essentially "upgrades" team-play cards.

If you got the new format The Circle Undone Investigator Expansion, it comes with cards that already can take this advantage : Delay the Inevitable (Allow others to request for it, discuss who needs it the most, and play first then move into Joe to take it once his turn begins. As opposed to you having to give it to them), Crack the Case (Can come in just to take the share or even finish the location and take the bounty).

Classics like Cryptic Research is an instant 3 cards for everyone to consider on their own, and request Joe to go first and give them cards to get more icons to deal with tests they are going to take (in normal use if you want to give someone 3 draws, Joe would only know about everyone's card count but don't know if they are good or bad), Shortcut which let Joe push anyone in his turn, but now you can discuss even before anyone take their turn how to use this Move. Emergency Aid / Logical Reasoning is similar to Delay the Inevitable that allows others to request for it as opposed to be in mercy of Joe. A situational Evidence! let you plan about exact damage to left for Joe to finish off and get the clue, like when playing with Roland Banks everyone knows he has the ability and can plan around it.

Designing the Hunch Deck around team-wide ability is fun and can improve the table's efficiency, similar to once you use Scrying and saw what cards are coming you do things differently than before. Some team-play cards don't have the luxury of pre-planning like Joe's Hunch Deck, like Bob Jenkins which only allows revealing Item asset (and not any other cards) to each other when at the same location, or Untimely Transaction that you have the opportunity to reveal only 1 Item card (which funnily might not sell!), or "You owe me one!" that you get to look only after playing it (and might find nothing interesting, it's a Gambit after all).

5argon · 10539
One of those PI's who always narrates his hunches. — MrGoldbee · 1468
Michael Leigh

Darrell Simmons would love Michael Leigh if he had access to him. He generates evidence for every successful investigation while pushing Darrell to 6 . 2-3 evidence per turn from a single card is better than anything Darrell can achieve on his own.

Yes, five experience is a lot to ask from a fellow investigator. But if you and your teammate think the reward is worth it, there are a few straightforward ways to borrow an ally in even without getting into Teamwork or similar effects:

This can even be combined with On Your Own to make either of the above events cheaper as long as Darrell isn't bringing his own allies.

blackjet3 · 12
Maybe in a team with Carson? He is already into support, so that's a way to even spent his XP for support. — Susumu · 368
Knowledge is Power

This card is still broken if combo with the Research Notes , even after applying the taboo. The taboo on Research Notes says "max 3 evidence spent per round". However, it's not clear how this card works when it comes "max XXX spent". One can argue that there's no maximum limitation if using "Knowledge is power", as it ignore the cost and actually spend nothing. In this case, using this card on Research Notes can still collect around 10 clues by committing cards, ignoring the shroud value and using 0 action.

I think it's more reasonable if there's clear FAQ about how this card works when the chosen Tome or Spell has a "max" limition. Or just change the taboo on Research Notes to "max 3 clues collected per round in this way".

else · 1
Incorrect. Knowledge is Power no longer ignores additional costs that must be paid when resolving an ability. See (2.24) "Ignoring all costs" in FAQ 2.1. — Soul_Turtle · 466
Thanks for the information! I feel this combo is broken and there should be some restrictions. But it's hard to find the bug fix I want though a number of FAQs. It's still a bit unclear as paying the evidence on Research Note is not explicit mentioned as "additional cost", but I can accept this explanation. — else · 1
Does anyone have any insight into how the FAQ applies to cards that are in the hand when KiP is played? For example, if Earthly Serenity is in my hand and I use KiP to reveal and resolve the Earthly Serenity, can I use charges from Earthly Serenity for the healing, and then it will "recharge" when I place it back in my hand? Or am I prohibited from using any charges for healing? Or am I required to track the charges on cards in my hand? The FAQ left me with more questions than it answered. — dapamdg · 1
Farsight

This card looks bonkers to me. It is not broken because there are a lot of fast events and you still have to pay them, but if you use a heavy event deck this gains you a LOT of actions during a scenario. And this is not restricted to events, making this even crazier to me. Of course, any except Vincent Lee can use this card and get some reward from it if you run a big hand deck.

I haven't seen many Joe decks with this card and I don't really get it. Joe Diamond may be the prime user of this card since he can use Occult Lexicon and Hallowed Mirror with this while running a big hand deck thanks to all the toys the provides. This assets provide 6 good events, and playing them fast during a game is a really powerful option. Joe also wants to fast some Insight events you may want in your Hunch deck like Preposterous Sketches, Extensive Research, Seeking Answers, No Stone Unturned, Glimpse the Unthinkable, Scene of the Crime, the cursed ones and even his weakness.

Hell, you can even use Guidance without losing any action to fuel up other investigators to dry the locations out of clues easily or to destroy a boss with 4 actions and +1 buff to all their stats. In bigger player counts, you can fast Map the Area and Breach the Door to support everyone in a high shroud location.

Harvey is the obvious investigator to run this. It got released in his Investigator Deck and he has the means to get a big hand reliably fast.

Daisy can also benefit from this since she has some strong events in her pool. She can fast Spectral Razor, Read the Signs, Parallel Fates, Delve Too Deep, Drawn to the Flame, Voice of Ra among others. She will gladly run Occult Lexicon too thanks to her totebag to enhance her killing potential with fast testless damage, just try to power up your damage using Gray's Anatomy with Daisy's ability. She may want to run 2 copies of Research Notes while fasting Bizarre Diagnosis and Captivating Discovery to enhance the "cluedropping" deck engine even further.

Shoutout to Monterey Jack. He has the level 0 pool and he can target Faustian Bargain, some big money do things events like Intel Report and Small Favor and events like Pilfer, Scout Ahead, Sneak By, Backstab, Eavesdrop and Cheap Shot. Monterey Jack has a benefit over all the mentioned investigators: he will usually have the money to play all this toys because of his and his card pool.

The real downside of this card is that it is EXP expensive. 8 exp for 2 copies is a lot, and you may want to use some spell slots in other cards as a investigator. Even though, in the proper deck, Farsight pay you a ton of actions. It requires to build your deck around it, so maybe during a campaign it can be harder to pull of since your level 0 deck has to to its work properly, but for standalone scenarios this is a fun card to try out.

rodro · 204
Built a big hand mandy deck that abused her occult Evidences, super fun. — Therealestize · 73
It's great. Solo Harvey with this tears through scenarios (probably multi, too, but the tempo is a bit different). — housh · 171
Crack the Case

Surprising mechanic changes when revealed on Joe Diamond's Hunch Deck, despite not getting any play discount. The effect allow using when anyone in your team discovered the last clue, yet cards on hand are closed information so no one knows you have Crack the Case until you happenened to be standing there and witness a job being done.

Hunch Deck turns it into open information and now it is visibly a clue bounty to everyone on the table, and we can even discuss exact amount of resources to share since Hunch is revealed at start of Investigation Phase but before anyone takes turn. Those who want some of the bounty but can't work on clues may play first and wait at the location to pick the last clue. I like the table talk that results from putting it in the Hunch Deck.

Similar effect when having Cryptic Research on hunch because it is similarly Fast, 0 cost, and with teamplay effect. The card being visible "virtually" adding itself to everyone's hand as long as they are at the same location. Now everyone can hedge their risk better thinking about the possible 3 card draws while looking at what they have now. (But it must be played in Joe's turn, so if they want 3 more cards to take the tests / setup they can ask Joe to go first and give 3 cards.)

5argon · 10539