Deckbuilding for Michael McGlen was more interesting than I initially thought. His restrictions feel a bit like Charlie Kane's, only that guns are his best friends instead of actual people. In times like these, who can blame him (the 1920s, of course)?

Apart from the obvious, here are my findings so far:

• Remington Model 1858: Free actions are great, but Michael doesn't get paid for the stunt shot. Ways to still get some cash out of this are "Eat lead!" and "Eat lead!".

• Both thematically and mechanically intriguing: Playing False Surrender with his low agility in mind just to pop out British Bull Dog or British Bull Dog while the enemy mistakenly laughs at the missed shot. While not game-breaking, this can be actually useful for getting from zero to (anti-)hero, especially after an ill-timed Confiscation.

• Sad high-tech noises for not being able to profit from Hyperphysical Shotcaster or Mauser Tankgewehr M1918, since they are not using "ammo" :(

• So "where actually IS the party?" As a focused fighter it indeed makes sense for Michael to go on the hunt aggressively, even if uninvited. Having the enemy spawn exhausted makes it possible (as others have pointed out) to soften it up for "Let God sort them out...", with the card art coincidentally featuring the man of the hour himself.

• Get your Quickdraw Holster after you ditch the Hidden Pockets for maximum mayhem in the shortest amount of time, because sadly they do not go well together - it's either or.

• Speaking of time, Borrowed Time and Bide Your Time help waiting for the right moment, as well as being Hasty while finishing the job.

Have fun, bring a gun (:

I probably wouldn't ever run this INSTEAD of Unexpected Courage, but I think if your deck has a strong desire for wild icon skill cards, you can run it as your 3rd and 4th copy.

Also decent for anyone that plays with doom.

This creates a loop and is a fantastic card. It is presently probably the best card in the drowned city cycle.

Basically survivors already have cards that like to be in the discard pile. Improvised shield, winging it, improvised weapon, moonstone, glimmer of hope, etc.

Gift of Nodens lets you retrieve good skills (i.e., resourceful) and put cards that want to be in the discard into the discard. By using this pretty much exclusively with resourceful, you basically guarantee that you both keep resourceful going in your deck (and keep survivor assets that got tossed in your hand) while setting up these "from the discard pile" effects.

I was hoping to do some encounter deck spring cleaning with this card re-used via The Painted World until I realized Sefina Rousseau is only a humble Artist.

I am sure there is more potential with this card than just giving the fight head and hitting really hard, but it feels like its greatest strength is its greatest "weakness", kind of: You cannot really recur it with Prescient or other means, because it doesn't go into your discard pile if you pin an enemy to the board.

BUT what if you put this under Dayana Esperence? Contrary to other cards her text prevents the attached card from being discarded without it being a dedicated replacement effect (lacks the word "instead"). The part of her ability that sounds like reminder text ("it remains attached") is the one that would actually prevent Blood of K'n-yan from staying in the victory display. This seems very ambiguous and more like an oversight, but strictly as written I would argue that the interaction works.

This card at base seems a little underwhelming until you follow their design philosophy.

If you're playing this as a straight guardian, you should note you'll get a free action when you play it and another when it leaves play. That alone is basically two free actions, which indeed seems worth the cost of 4 exp (after all, Ace in the Hole is 6 exp for 3 actions). You just need to make sure that both the entry and exit fight are used, and it will drop off in value if they aren't.

Where this card starts to become dumb is sleight of hand. Using sleight of hand to play this gives you five attacks in one round, and you get the gun back. That starts making the value of the card shine through.

Its overall a pretty good card. It appears underwhelming at first, but if you build around it and maximize its uses it does become a nifty weapon.