This card is a much more appealing option with the recent release of the Limited list, and may become the Level 0 weapon of choice for Guardians (at least for players who choose to apply the optional Machete changes). It's cheaper and arguably better than the .45 Automatic (one less damage-boosted attack, but a higher bonus to and continued marginal utility after the charges have been used). Mark Harrigan will still probably prefer the .32 Colt, but most other investigators with access to the Guardian card pool may prefer the all-around goodness of the Blade.

Note also that its Relic trait gives it great synergy with Dr. Elli Horowitz (another beneficiary of the Limited list thanks to the optional Dr. Milan Christopher change). I'm experimenting with a Dr. Elli/Relic package in a Joe Diamond deck (including Tooth of Eztli to ensure consistency with Dr. Elli), and so far the results have been very promising. It sort of operates as a Prepared for the Worst with a net cost of 0 and an extra sanity soak that puts the tutored weapon directly into play. It thins the deck and frees up hand slots for other key Seeker items (Magnifying Glass, Hawk-Eye Folding Camera) until Joe can find his Detective's Colt 1911s.

Hi folks--this is less a review than a post to point out that in the new "List of Taboos" FFG released with new Errata, Key of Ys has been "Mutated" to have the Exceptional keyword. That would mean this would cost a whopping 10xp, right? That almost certainly puts it outside of playable for most decks. That seems like a wild over-correction to me... I appreciate the List of Taboos as an incentive to keep deckbuilding fresher... but what do you all think?

I personally would be disposed to house-rule it to keep the exceptional key-word, but shift the XP to 3 or even 4 (which would total 6 or 8 xp). A 10 XP total cost just seems grossly prohibitive.

I love the shoutout to 'Valérian, agent spatio-temporel' (not sure under which name it was released in the US) in this card, the destroyed New York of 1986 is one of the alternate future timelines there that the heroes try to prevent in that Graphic Novel. Kudos for deriving the artwork for this card from the cover of "La Cité des Eaux mouvantes".

Gotta say, this card is getting very appealing as a key first weapon in a Leo Anderson deck.

Leo starts with a good Fight value of 4 and will likely have at least one Beat Cop in his deck and hopefully out early, so that's Fight 5. Add a Guard Dog to that for a missed swing and you're doing damage anyway...and have a Survival Knife in the other hand and you're really starting to rock.

With a lot of enemies having a Fight of 2 or 3, even Leo and one Cop will give him a 5 vs. 3 test, and that's easily upped by getting Lone Wolf going with Keen Eye or Physical Training.

And when you get into big bosses, many have Retaliate anyway.

This is an underrated card....cheap as heck and a guaranteed 2 Damage with no ammo drawbacks.

Of course for the majority of investigators this will be compared to Dr. Milan Christopher. She doesn't mix well Mark Harrigan and Zoey Samaras, but she works with the others just fine. Roland Banks, Joe Diamond and Leo Anderson have the options of taking either naturally, as does Carolyn Fern, but all the Dunwich investigators might consider this as well if their focus is a mixed bag or a desire for additional boost in their investigations.

With respect to the effect itself, Dr. Milan Christopher will be doing more work per turn given that he is not limited by the number of times that he can trigger in a single phase (although he probably should have been an exhaust just like Alice).

Alice is a secondary consideration in a larger group of investigators however where one of you can take Dr. Milan Christopher and the other can take Alice Luxley. She also has the capability of occasionally doing points of damage and combos well with Scene of the Crime that doesn't trigger attacks of opportunity. A nice, get a clue and swat that Will O' Wisp into a smear.

There are also secondary reasons to take Alice Luxley in addition to her effect of being able to increase offensive power. That one extra health might not seem like much, but the last two campaigns have been introducing treacheries that target allies with damage assigned to them. Alice Luxley can survive one of these being drawn, while Dr. Milan Christopher will be taken out. It's not as minor a thing as it might sound. Often, you will put down those one health allies to lose them halfway through a scenario, while Alice will remain for the entirety if you are lucky.