This version is quite a bit better than the level 0, as could be expected for a level 3 card. If you spend 3 charges for the first use, that gives you 3 cards and 3 resources for a total cost of 1 card and 2 actions (not including the actions to defeat enemies or your own allies, but that probably would have happened anyways), for a net effect of +3 actions. With continued spending of 3 charges at a time, you are getting a huge net +5 actions for each, matching any other economy card that I know of (for example, Hot Streak gives you a net +5 considering the card, action and 3 resources to play it), and much better than most (Easy Mark gives you +1 net action for a single one and +2 for each that is tied to the first). The combination of cards and resources is often good, because you usually need one to use the other, but sometimes you won’t want one or the other, making the effect less useful. Obviously, this is best with an investigator that both defeats lots of enemies and has disposable allies, and at level 3 it is limited to rogues, Akachi Onyele and Ursula Downs. Of these, I think Tony Morgan and Akachi Onyele are the most likely to use it, since they are the best fighters. There are some accessories to compete with for each of these, but I think Decorated Skull is a contender in the right decks.

I played Jacqueline through hard on the circle undone, paired with Winnifred. And once you understand the keyword “revealed“, she is a truly wonderful investigator.

What’s amazing about her is that she plays completely differently from every other character and every other mystic. With other characters, you have risk mitigation, knowing that there’s a lot of bad in the chaos bag. If you are a survivor, and you spend the XP, you can get around it, but otherwise the only way to succeed is to go testless.

Now, the odds are in your favor. And with her new accessory and hand mirror, you can do even better. Rogues will be your best friends, Because now you can tell them the exact number they need to hit for Gregory, double or nothing, watch this, or Parallel O’Toole’s power. (Just the mirror by itself is a wonderful pick for Sefina.)

When Jacqueline isn’t around, you’ll miss her. Her ability means that your allies are more likely to survive the mythos phase & land attacks. Like all mystics, she could switch between offense or defense depending on what style she slots, or go with events that she recovers with prescient.

Who saw it coming?

With Jaqueline and Voice of Ra, it’s now possible to play big money mystic. When before you would have to sacrifice or play a lot of alchemy, now you can play Olive, use Jaqueline’s ability, and get 6-10 bucks reliably. Get that card back with prescient and your mirror of scrying to guarantee you get to play it three or four times a game, and you can play all the expensive spells you want. It’s completely possible to play Miss McBride and not use her for skill checks, only from cards that require you to draw tokens. And she even helps with Jaqueline‘s weakness!

It’s always good to have a spotter when you’re predicting the future.

Sure, lemme try an analysis.

TL;DR: This is a great upgrade to Contraband 0xp, and is a powerful card in a vacuum... but unless I'm missing something, it's overshadowed by the same-priced, same-XP, far-more-reliable Swift Reload.

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As an upgrade, this one is great. 1 less resource saves early setup actions, and even puts it in Turn-1 range for the BAR, Flamethrower, Rogue's .45 Thomspon, or Typewriter via either Emergency Cache (STTP Leo Andersen) or Another Day Another Dollar (any Rogue).

The +2 ammo/+1 card alternate effect is great, too, ensuring value late-game on empty guns.

Now for the problem: Swift Reload. Huge similarities- cost, XP, class. Leo can even STTP them both. The difference is a chasm of flexibility in maximizing their effect.

• Both can load a max of X Ammo, where X is the target weapon's original clip (not counting combos, but we'll get to that).
• To max Contraband (2), it must be used during an action AFTER playing the gun, but BEFORE firing a shot
• For Swift Reload, it must be used any time after emptying the gun... and does not require an action

IOW, Swift Reload lets you "pay later", and only when you NEED to- even mid fight!- to get the same effect that Contraband (2) requires you to pay for up-front, spending an action (and possibly AoO), and which you may not even ultimately use.

Now, that's if they're played by themselves. Enter the Contracombo!

Yeah, you know what I'm talking about- the famed 2x Contrabands = 4x Ammo, usually illustrated on Leo/Zoey's BAR for 32 whopping bullets- a profit of +3 clips/+24 ammo. And you don't need two Contraband (2) specifically; anything that can overload ammo (Venturer, Custom/Extra Ammunition) can tilt a single Contraband (2)'s payout over SR.

But when it comes to reliability, the Contracombo takes Contraband (2)'s situationality and makes it worse. Supposing the ideal, that 32 bullet BAR, you need:

• BAR
• Contraband (2)
• Another Contraband (2)
• 11 Resources
• 3 uninterrupted actions

... and you pretty much need them all at the same time.

Swift Reload can't really combo... but to get a max profit of +16 bullets from two of them, you just need the weapon- purchased & used as needed- and then one SR + 3 resources to reload when/if it empties, and another SR + 3 resources when/if it empties again, likely spread over several turns. Drawing the SRs late doesn't reduce their value, and you still net +2 clips.

And that last bit's kind of the clincher, as obvious as it may seem: the perfect Contracombo is kind of an illusion. It doesn't give you +4 clips, it gives you +3 (you started with 1)... and that's only 1 clip more than you get by actionlessly Swift Reloading as needed.

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Of course there's a few other asymmetries- Contraband (2) has much better pips, it can grant Supplies instead of Ammo, Jenny can't Swift Reload her Twin .45s, you can tutor Contraband (2) with Backpacks/Smuggled Goods. EDIT: And in MP, Contraband (2) can be used on allies (thanks to MrGoldbee for spotting this!).

But for its purpose of getting lotsa bullets, it just feels like Swift Reload will win out more often.

This card is better than it looks, competing with some of the better weapons available at level 0. As pointed out in another review, in easier fight tests the damage the Winchester deals per action is close to other weapons such as the .45 Thompson and .45 Automatic, though slightly inferior for easier tests. However, it actually deals more damage than any other level 0 weapon when you are facing tough fight tests, such as when your final skill value is equal to the test, when it deals about 3 times more average damage than the .45 automatic (try out the math to see it's true). This happens more often when you are using an investigator with relatively lower fight (such as 3 combat with Skids), so the Winchester has more value for these investigators if you need to have a way to deal damage. Conversely, investigators with 5 base combat benefit less from the Winchester.

The other things to consider when deciding to use the Winchester are that it takes up 2 hands slots, and that the damage it deals comes in packages of 1 and 3. The 2 hand slots might be less of a problem compared to the Thompson, for example, since the Winchester is cheaper to play, so you can potentially use it quickly and replace it with other hand assets more easily than playing the more expensive thompson. The damage dealt is definitely something to consider. I think doing 1 or 3 damage might not cause overkill more often than 2 damage attacks, since 1 and 3 health enemies are pretty common. But you could in theory deal 1 damage twice, miss, then deal 3 damage to a 3 health enemy, which would be far from ideal. So it's definitely best to use the Winchester when the 3 damage is needed. In the same way, being able to adapt your plan depending on how much damage you deal after each attack can be very effective. This works best if you have alternate ways of dealing with enemies that don't take hand slots, like evading or allies that damage such as Alice Luxley or Beat Cop.

Not to mention, it is really fun using the Winchester! You look forward to seeing whether the revealed token will give you a critical hit, unlike other weapons where the token can only have a negative effect.