There is one character released who benefits from this far above the others: Trish Scarborough. Since 2020, Trish decks have been about fast clues with the Cryptographic Cipher, Working a Hunch, and other cards that are primarily great because they don’t take an action.

With this, not only will she have a staggering 11 health, enemies go from an opportunity to an afterthought. Put down Pick Pocketing, take out your Lockpicks, and pick up some clues.

The other agency/police/veteran characters are plenty tough. Tommy won’t like this because the ROI is so low, and he wants more attacks rather than fewer. The use case I see for guardians is grabbing enemies off of other players while engaged, and that’s nothing compared to what Trish can do with it.

Dr Milan Christopher came with the Core Set and even mutated, he’s the default ally for seekers. Before he was mutated, he was the best money-making card in the game, easily earning the average seeker two resources every turn from the time he’s played. Now, he’s merely great, giving you +1 to your best stat and breaking even in cost after four readies.

This is Dr Milan for the Countess. Alessandra wants to parley every return, this gives you a bonus to her best “stat“. Previously Bianca “Die Katz” was a standard pick, and there’s no reason you can’t have them both, but going forward, if you build an Alessandra deck, you’ll have to justify why you >aren’t< bringing along your Silver Twilight buddy.

I have loved playing Dr. Caroline Fern for years. This card solves one of her major problems: she needs a lot of assets. She also wants to be able to heal people. But Solemn vow takes deck space, and her HP is low...

This card is useful in a way that Peter Sylvestre isn’t by himself. Its slotlesss but its price compares favorably to Hallowed Chalice, Book of Psalms, or the Meat Cleaver. It doesn’t require the upgrade path of Ancient Stone. (Although you can still take Shrewd Analysis if you want a permanent seeker card to pair with your multi class offerings). Even the art is good for new players, pointing out the rewarding combo of Dr. Fern’s analysis and Agnes’s sanity damaging witchery. A great addition! Unfortunately, it won't trigger Carolyn’s moneymaking talent, or Vincent Lee's ability either. They say “After one of your card effects heals [sanity/damage] from an investigator or an investigator's Ally asset". Sound Advice ain't an ally.

If you’re going to maximize this card, The Star • XVII will let you take more than one damage or horror from other players at a time. Then again, Sound Advice is supposed to require fewer assets from your deck. Tell the rest of the table to dodge the monsters and cancel their treacheries!

This is an obvious card for Mayor Kane. Since he can pick his classes, motivational speech (0) was a strong argument to go guardian. With this being neutral, it frees up deck builders to go for another color. I would argue a better and more surprising user is Patrice. It has good symbols, and it’s a free action and up to (seven, thanks Su!) saved dollars for a teammate. Plus, you’re more likely than other performers or civic individuals to draw it multiple times a game.

The drowned city investigator box doesn’t have a lot of allies with -> actions, so that effect will be minor unless you bring out Robert Castaigne or Dakota Gruffalo. Since it’s a parlay, that combination could let an ally play Dakota from their hand and engage an enemy on you, letting you have your turn unimpeded.

This is the worst. How the hell do you deal with this? Lucius Galloway already has low sanity and the horror hits him again and again due to the reshuffle.

• Versatile + Peter Sylvestre? The agility boost would actually fit Lucius Galloway.
• Short Rest? Although a nice combo card, it still costs 3 resources at once if you want (and even manage) to get its full potential.
• Forensic Kit? Also a good card for Lucius, so that makes sense.
• Lonnie Ritter + Trench Coat? Probably the safest way and the Coat offers a nice benefit for Mr. Getaway on its own, but Lonnie does nothing besides the soak and eats an ally slot, so... Maybe if you want to run Bum's Rush, but it's still not reason enough to include her in your deck, I'd argue.
• Don't discover clues? C'mon, no.

Even with ways to deal with the horror, the fact that this card gets shuffled back into the deck when you do you main thing potentially eats actions and the opportunity to draw into the cards you need.