I've been playing through a duo Carcosa campaign with a friendly Harvey Walters, and Nathaniel has quickly become my favorite investigator in the game. He is perhaps the most efficient investigator at the game at dealing with monsters, with his ability letting you easily deal with the annoying 3 health menaces that would annoy every other Guardian (until they can grab their big guns, at least) because they would always be one health short of death, and packing enough burst and longevity with Boxing Gloves and the occasional recursion from to take care of any of the big tough bosses (he can manage alone in 1-2 player, but in higher player counts a helping hand from another investigator proficient with enemies is probably greatly appreciated). Let's get down into the nitty gritty of what makes Nathaniel Cho such an efficient Guardian.

• Boxing Gloves and a base 5 means he will often be taking fighting tests at 6, improved to 7 with Grete Wagner or Beat Cop (7 and 8 respectively with upgraded gloves). Whenever you defeat an enemy, the gloves allow you to search through your deck for another Spirit event, meaning you replace the one or maybe two cards you used to defeat that enemy.

• This base value applies to all of the events Natty Cho fights with, meaning even if some don't give you bonuses he matches or even exceeds most Guardians with a decent weapon (he doesn't surpass something like a M1918 BAR without a bonus, but he almost matches every other Guardian but Mark equipped with a Lightning Gun, and Nathaniel's strength is in the fact he doesn't have to worry about running out of gas in the same way other Guardians do). Speaking of which..

• All of his core events cost 0-2 resources, and his only really important set up asset costs 3 resources (2 when upgraded) so with the help of a couple of Clean Them Outs he never really suffers from the lack of resources that comes from playing big guns on other guardians. He can skip out on Ever Vigilant if he takes Stick to the Plan, which I find to be basically an automatic upgrade whenever SttP is involved. He may have a little trouble getting down something bigger like a Grete Wagner, but I've also had games where I've been sitting on 8-9 resources for most of the game. The draw from Boxing Gloves, the recursion from his and a Glory or Taunt can basically keep him going for the entire game in terms of cards, but it can really hurt your overall longevity and fighting ability if you miss both gloves and Randall in the mulligan. Try to get either of these out as soon as possible and Nathaniel will last you the whole scenario. A friendly seeker with No Stone Unturned or OBoL can go a long way if you miss the mulligan; if you're playing in solo or really paranoid, consider Prepared for the Worst. Crucially, if something like Crypt Chill comes by and leaves you gloveless, your brother can get them back for you.

• And finally the reason we build Nacho like this is his ability, which once per phase allows you to do +1 damage with an event. While that doesn't seem like much, it means the world when you can plan out your hits to be as action efficient as possible. 3 health Preying Byakhee annoying those Guardians with weapons that do +1 damage? Simply become the best Monster Slayer with a single punch. Or maybe you just don't want to deal with the bag at all and go Mano a Mano. Maybe you had other things to do during your turn, socking Tommy Malloy because he doesn't know how to take a hint. (On a side note, I've been running a copy of Handcuffs to deal with him more efficiently, but punching him three times at +4 from his fight value is just as feasible, it just takes more actions and risks more autofails. All in all it's a pretty tame weakness, and I can see it becoming even tamer if you have someone on your team who can easily evade him.) Just wait until the Swift Byakhee tries to come at you before making him see black stars with a nasty Counterpunch. You could've even used the boost during the investigation; if that Maniac comes charging at you during the enemy phase, Nathaniel has a mean +1 right hook ready to go. For this reason, Counterpunch and "Get over here!" are standout cards, because they allow you to attack outside of the investigation phase, and get full use out of your ability. Shoutouts also to Taunt, Dynamite Blast, Heroic Rescue and Ambush which are more niche, but provide similar out of turn damage. The variety that Nathaniel has in his fight/damage events to pick and choose which one he needs in the moment is what makes him stand out amongst all other Guardians. Of course, sometimes your deck doesn't provide, but generally even just having a couple events to choose from like Monster Slayer and a Clean Them Out can get your chain started, so long as your Boxing Gloves are in play.

Spoilers Ahead: To provide some solid numbers, Nacho Libre did 42 out of the 45 damage needed to defeat Subject 8L-08 in our two player detour to The Blob That Ate Everything, doing 9 damage to the heart both times it spawned. This was before he had upgraded his One-Two Punch or Vicious Blow, so his potential damage output can be pretty extreme (a double Vicious Blow One-Two Punch can do 10 damage in a single action). He took care of the Royal Emissary twice in Curtain Call with time and cards to spare, and could deal with Young Psychopaths without having to tank horror with ease. We were playing on Standard, but even on higher difficulties, starting at a base fight of 6-8 is nothing to sneeze at, especially if you have skills like the Guardian staple (and enabling even more efficiency with fighting by adding more damage) Vicious Blow, the appreciated draw of Overpower and Steadfast, which is not only helpful for attacking, but also dealing with the encounter deck which often targets .

Of course, no investigator is perfect, and Chopunch certainly is no exception.

His 2 means that clues are hard to come by without the help of Grete Wagner and cards like Evidence!. Even if Grete Wagner can boost you to 3 you're going to have trouble with high shroud locations, and you can't afford to take Flashlight when both your hand slots are filled without the help of a Bandolier.

The other most common trait tested in the encounter deck is and with a base 2 , you will find yourself just tanking the damage that usually comes with these tests more often than passing them. Most of the "event suite" doesn't have icons, apart from the Dodge you may be taking along with your Counterpunch and the that is on cards like Monster Slayer. For the same reasons, evasion is often not an option, and if there's something particularly nasty engaged with you and you don't have your gloves, or events ready in your hand, you may be in for a world of hurt. Randall can help you mitigate your damage if you're not using him as a delivery boy for your gloves.

Base 3 is standard as far as Guardians go, but his also standard Guardian lack of sanity means you'll feel it more than others would should you fail. Once again Randall comes to the rescue, giving you up to 3 extra sanity points if you have him in play. Also consider Physical Training to help you pass the more dangerous treacheries, or First Watch to avoid them altogether.

A weakness that doesn't come up often with Guardians is hand size. Nathaniel, if he is playing events with regularity, usually still has about 3-5 cards in hand. However, especially on lower player counts, there are definitely turns where no enemies spawn, and Nathaniel can be left with nothing to do other than gain resources or draw, as his low base doesn't lend itself to investigating very well. Unlike other Guardians, Nathaniel does not necessarily have many assets to lay down during these moments of peace, meaning there is very little he can do proactively if he doesn't see any action. If you get particularly unlucky and have nothing to fight for 2-3 turns, you can be stuck with a lot of events in hand with no use, forcing you to discard cards like skills that could help against treacheries, or events like One-Two Punch before a particularly nasty enemy comes out. Cards like Glory and Evidence! are also dead in your hand in this situation, though they have icons that can be committed to help investigation attempts. You may want to consider a copy or two of On the Hunt just to make sure that you aren't stuck with a dead hand and nothing to do.

The other classic Guardian issue is resources, but Clean Them Out is usually enough to carry you through a scenario. Emergency Cache is an option if you're playing expensive cards such as Grete Wagner or Dynamite Blast (and there's a fun Dynamite and Relentless combo, more on Relentless below). Stand Together is less selfish than Cache if you play with other investigators who need some money. Nathaniel in general isn't great at supporting fellow investigators, beyond a First Aid to patch them up every now and then, a "Let me handle this!" to potentially save a friend, or a Leadership to help someone with a test topped off with a sprinkle of cash. There is potentially an interesting tank build that could be built with him (more on that later) if you want to lean on supportive aspects of the Guardian card pool.

In short, One-Two Punch Man is very good at fighting, and is often reliant on fighting to get through other aspects of the game. He is mediocre at best outside of his element, and for that reason is probably very challenging for solo play. When left with nothing to fight, he often languishes and takes resource actions in a turn, or simply fails at trying to grab clues.

In summary, I think Nacho Man Randall Savage is one of the most unique Guardians to exist at the moment, swapping out the Enchanted Blades and Flamethrowers for ol' lefty and righty. He trades the video gamey feeling of grabbing a big gun and mowing down monsters for the absurdity of allowing others to ask you, "Did you just punch out Cthulhu?" The event suite he runs lends itself to a swiss army knife approach to enemies, almost always having the right tools for the job, and a unique build that feels unlike any other investigator (though Chuck Fergus and Tony Morgan can certainly try, and I look forward to seeing that build eventually come to fruition). Next time you're feeling particularly like you want to punch the encounter deck for drawing you three Ancient Evils in a row, give Nathaniel Cho a try. I promise you won't regret it.

Small note about certain cards:

I think Relentless is a trap. Your goal with Nathaniel is to deal with enemies as efficiently as possible, not to overkill them for resources. I did not activate it once during the 3 scenarios I had it in play from the beginning, though if you plan on using Dynamite Blast frequently by attaching it to Stick to the Plan, there is potential for a large payoff.

I personally prefer Grete Wagner for my ally slot over Beat Cop, as Nathaniel often doesn't need the extra ping and it allows you to help your cluer by defeating enemies, but Beat Cop can be taken if you are the only damage dealer in your group and you want to have the extra hits. Edit: Thank you to Death by Chocolate for mentioning this one! Tetsuo Mori is an ally worth considering as well, due to his ability to fish out your gloves if you missed them and Randall in the mulligan, or to recur them after a treachery like Corrosion discarded them. He's also a more supportive option, since he can tank any damage at his location, and allows your allies to use the search or recursion.

Cards like Grete Wagner, Evidence!, Scene of the Crime and Lesson Learned can be taken in solo mode to help you find clues. Edit: I somehow forgot about Interrogate

Galvanize has not been mentioned in this entire review, but it is an amazing card that both reactivates your Boxing Gloves for another use and gives you an extra action to do what you do best.

Never upgrade Monster Slayer. It's not worth 5 xp.

Safeguard is a great option to keep your less enemy inclined allies (Seekers in particular) safe by moving with them.

Versatile for Crystallizer of Dreams has great synergy with Nathaniel, with One-Two Punch (5) in particular giving an extra +4 after you use it. Just make sure you're packing a couple more draw cards than usual to offset the increased deck size.

Well Prepared is good if you can find the room for it. +2 every turn when used with gloves or Physical Training, which can also be tapped for its +2 during the mythos phase. Also a potential icon every turn with Empty Vessel, which is also a generally good card for Nathaniel if you can find the space.

Alternate builds: While I think the most fun way to play Nathaniel is a rough and tumble boxer who punches his way through every obstacle (as long as it's vulnerable to ) it is definitely not the only way. His limited cardpool (like every other starter deck investigator) somewhat limits his options, but Guardians do have some interesting cards to play with.

The tank build that was mentioned above would use Flesh Ward and allies such as Guard Dog and Tetsuo Mori to keep enemies off of others and focus attention on to himself. Mano a Mano could take out engaged enemies with ease along with pings from Guard Dog, and Counterpunch would probably be the card you'd like to recur most. Of particular note is that Boxing Gloves search for spirit events, so cards such as Stand Together, Delay the Inevitable and Heroic Rescue could be found to help allies after taking out enemies. Tommy Muldoon gets resources back for playing similarly, but Boxing Gloves can keep your hand full of support events as you take the blows and punch back.

A base 5 makes Nathaniel a great candidate for something like the .32 Colt, which is often held back by its lack of boosts, if you want to use weapons other than fists. On higher difficulties, it means something like a Flamethrower has a better chance to succeed if you're not feeling Mark Harrigan. Big guns in general are great on Nathaniel with his higher than average . It just leans toward more standard Guardian builds, and means ignoring his ability in favor of firearms. If you do choose to go this route, definitely try to Stick to the Plan, grab some Extra Ammunition, be Prepared for the Worst and Ever Vigilant. This route is rather expensive exp-wise, especially in comparison to most of the fighting events which only require 2 exp to upgrade (with the exception of One-Two Punch or a cheeky Dynamite Blast). Of particular note is that Randall Cho can pull out any weapon from your deck, so he's essentially an extra copy of Prepared for the Worst but even better, as he searches the whole deck and can even recur an expended weapon from the discard pile.

There's a completely goofy build I thought of to make sure Relentless triggers as often as possible, with the Mk 1 Grenades, Dynamite Blasts and Flamethrower being used to overkill anything and everything as much as possible, then cashing in that excess damage for things such as Agency Backup to help you get clues, and potentially more excess damage. Perhaps you even take Shotgun and Well Prepared to boost as much as possible and then put 10 excess damage on the talent. Nathaniel's higher than average makes those Vicious Blow and Shotgun thresholds easier to achieve.

This seems like it would be perfect for Luke Robinson. With Dream-Gate having a shroud of 1 and being connected to every location, this card is essentially pay 1 resource and discover 2 clues from any revealed location. Plus, while it is an event, you don't even need to use his investigator ability on it. Though I guess you would have to lean a bit more by taking St. Hubert's Key over Holy Rosary for instance.

Now Knowledge is Power can be use ti trigger the powerful ability of some tome This may use with the following expensive books

• The Necronomicon: Petrus de Dacia Translation (5) to trigger free 3 Damage to enemy.
• Pnakotic Manuscripts: Mind-Expanding Ideas (5) test without chaos token twice

I love this cycle of resource cards. We have Clean Them Out, Burning the Midnight Oil, this card, Voice of Ra, and Take Heart. The big advantage Sneak By has in this cycle is that basic Evade actions are pretty much par for the course for evasion characters. Basic fights are usually bad, and basic investigates are fine in high characters and otherwise need to be supplemented with Lockpicks or Flashlights. It's for this reason that I expect Sneak By to see the most play of all of them, along with Take Heart which is a staple of any one with access to it that expects to fail often, like Preston Fairmont. So Sneak By works especially well for not just evady Rogues, but for those wannabe Rogues in Survivor like Wendy Adams or, especially, Rita Young. Rita's Trick access hasn't done much for her historically, but this is a solid resource generator for anyone who isn't taking Drawing Thin for taboo reasons. You could now run this alongside Easy Mark, or alternatively you replace these with Easy Mark, depending on your curve. Last thing to note is the pips here. Though you're unlikely to commit this, you might if you find yourself flush in resources later on. I personally think this would work really well with Crystallizer of Dreams, just saying.

To really justify Daring Maneuver 2, you have to figure out exactly how important it is to have the insurance to succeed by 3. The question you have to ask yourself in a deck where you take the original is whether to upgrade it to this or to swap it for something more practical. Winifred Habbamock and really any skill happy Rogue probably took the og just for the pip, as it does suffer from the fact that, often instead of holding it in your hand, you could've just committed it, and that margin of +2 versus +1 is really narrow. +3 vs +1 is, of course, much nicer, and it drawing you a card means you get a much larger incentive to hold it back instead of commit it, which means it really should only be used to help your other succeed by triggers, and NEVER committed. The weirdest thing about this upgrade is that, even if you have no triggers, it at worst just draws you a card "actionlessly" (most likely you took an action to do a test, but assume you would've done this test anyway) once you succeed any test, which is solid deckcycling on its own. So, let's look at the triggers available:

• .41 Derringer and .41 Derringer 2. Using it for the former seems really weak in my opinion, as the Derringer is much more a weapon that exists to enable other succeed bys instead of needing the insurance itself. 1 extra damage on the og is ok, but the extra action on the upgrade is worthwhile, assuming you actually want to take that instead of...
• Switchblade 2. Again, same basic principle as .41 Derringer, except most likely you're Tony Morgan spamming actions into your shiv not really caring if you hit for 1 or 2. It might be good insurance for the original Switchblade, but last I checked no one on Earth is playing that.
• .45 Thompson. Okay, this one is actually exciting. For multiplayer, as a means to get enemies already engaged with other people, this seems more than solid. Fight values are also almost always 3 and 4, so the +3 here is relevant.
• Mauser C96 and Mauser C96 2. I really like these triggers. The succeed by 4 or more on the upgrade is incredibly generous, netting you a resource and the ability to re-ready a gun that is basically just a better .45 Automatic at that point. For sure, getting back a card, a resource, and letting you fight again if you really want to is nice, especially for 3 Rogues for whom it's less guaranteed.
• Beretta M1918. Probably the best use case of all the guns. If you're building a Daring Maneuver based deck with lots of succeed by triggers, you might as well use the gun that gives you the most bang for your buck. You'll likely succeed by 2 very often with that massive +4 boost, but succeeding by 4 is a bigger ask.
• Sawed-Off Shotgun. I mean, this is definitely not a bad use for Daring Maneuver, though I question anyone who spends all their XP into Sawn Off without the intention of just Three Aces-ing the test to perfection with Double or Nothing anyway. 2 shots? Come on. Daring Maneuver would have a place here were it not for the build existing solely to one hit KO a boss.
• Cheap Shot and Cheap Shot 2. Cheap Shot is not a particularly strong card in my opinion. Its main draw is the ability to fight an enemy engaged with someone else just to evade them and free your friend. It's a decent compression option in Rita and not many others, and Rita cannot take Daring Maneuver anyway.
• Slip Away and Slip Away 2. On the exact opposite side of the spectrum, Slip Away is an amazingly useful card. Keeping an enemy locked down for two turns instead of one can be really helpful (especially for upcoming Trish Scarborough). The key to both this and the upgraded Cheap Shot is that the level 0 trigger you can get from Daring Maneuver is the same regardless if you're using the level 0 version or the level 2 version (auto evade for CS, lock down for SA), while the upgraded versions of both cards let you retain the card for a later use, but ONLY if you succeed by 3, which Daring Maneuver 2 alone can guarantee, and not its level 0 counterpart. Constantly using Slip Away 2 for lockdowns seems like a great enemy management strategy, and Daring Maneuver 2 fits in nicely.
• Backstab 3 and Pilfer. Neither of these really benefit directly from Daring Maneuver 2 versus the original, but if you're running a Chuck Fergus deck, you might want the level 2 version anyway just from all the other succeed by triggers you have and for the card draw. Chuck and Daring Maneuver 2 certainly work well with Cheap Shot and Slip Away as well, so these cards are not unwelcome either.
• Burglary. Don't. Just use Easy Mark or "Watch this!".
• Pickpocketing 2. No particular distinction for level 0 vs level 2 Daring Maneuver, but more cards and resources while you're triggering other effects is not bad at all.
• Lockpicks and Lockpicks 1. Again, neither card particularly cares about the boost to +3 that Daring Maneuver 2 provides, however the card draw is welcome to mitigate some of the risk that Lockpicks inherently carries with it.
• Suggestion 4 and Suggestion 1. Same deal, no real consequence for using the upgraded Daring Maneuver over the original or vice versa.
• Opportunist and Opportunist 2. I really think this is the most interesting one of the bunch, because it implies, to me, that the 4 XP you would've spent towards Opp 2 is better spend towards Daring Maneuver 2, since the +3 satisfies the level 0 version of Opportunist. That said, only a handful of Rogue decks even use Opportunist 2 (I mean they're all basically Wini decks).
• "Watch this!". Once again, the +3 vs +2 is irrelevant. But a card AND resources if you just barely succeeded (eg by 0) is not unwelcome at all.
• Momentum. Well this is just gravy. You can turn your Daring Maneuver into an even easier test to stack more succeed by effects onto, and the limit is 3.
• All In. I heard you really like cards. This is probably the best skill card to use this on, no surprises. The only real caveat here is how you're triggering All In's megasuccess, as Three Aces is not an uncommon alternative.
• Lucky Cigarette Case and Lucky Cigarette Case 3. Oh mama. Yeah, so the original works really nicely with Daring Maneuver's +2, while the upgrade likes any boost it can get, so the +3 of Daring Maneuver 2 is certainly not going to waste. These cards are critical to any deck using Daring Maneuver in general, so much so that I'd say you shouldn't even bother using the card without having these in play. Because these are up for any of the other triggers you do, the real power of playing a card like Daring Maneuver is stacking those triggers. So a Lucky Cig 3 plus a Beretta test you Momentum'd and Opportunist'd that led you to only succeeding by 1 or 2 would be a fantastic place to play in Daring Maneuver 3.

Non Rogue cards:

• Alchemical Transmutation and Alchemical Transmutation 1. Intriguingly, both of these care about succeeding by at least 3, so you can actually get solid value from these in a Sefina Rousseau or Dexter Drake deck if you really want to.
• Dream Diary. Another succeed by 3, though only Lola Hayes can take the upgraded diaries and Daring Maneuver 2.
• Expose Weakness. A bit of a weird choice, but with enough draw this could be used to help sustain low fights for someone who might not be great at fighting otherwise. I'd look into this one for Trish.
• Feed the Mind 3 and Feed the Mind. Feed the Mind 3 actually has no limit, which is kind of hilarious, but the level 0 version caps at 3, so both do well with this upgrade. Again, only Lola can take the level 3 version of Feed the Mind with Daring Maneuver 2, though eventually we will have a Seeker 0-5 Rogue 0-2.
• Impromptu Barrier. So Finn Edwards, Wendy Adams, or Preston Fairmont I suppose are allowed to do this. Finn is the most likely to build into an evasion specialist build, and I should also mention that his effect also cares about succeed bys. Couple that with his free evades and this would work ok with Finn if it weren't for the costliness of a slot. That makes Wendy the next best candidate, and I'm sure there are plenty of Rogueish Wendy builds that specialize into things like Pickpocketing 2, Cig Case, Momentum, etc. Try it with Preston if you dare.
• Shotgun. Leo Anderson finally gets a moment to shine here. The big con for Shotgun is its limited 2 shots (a big reason why Flamethrower and Lightning Gun have long since eclipsed it), but Leo can at least justify it more using Swift Reload, Venturer, Contraband, or Extra Ammunition. I suppose if you're building a succeed triggering Leo deck with Lucky Cig Case, Momentum, Watch This, maybe Mauser 2 or even Derringer or Switchblade, you could make this work, but overall it feels a bit janky. Who knows? Give it a try and see if it works out well.

So, what did we learn here today? Daring Maneuver 2 seems like it'll be a very helpful cog in Succeed By decks, however its usefulness depends heavily on the number of triggers available. A lot of Winifred Habbamock and some Finn Edwards and Tony Morgan decks will probably find it worthwhile, as well as some future decks featuring Trish Scarborough or her deckbuilding mirror. The big competitor here, as mentioned several times is Three Aces, though one could make an argument that the two could coexist in the same deck just fine. Daring Maneuver 2, after all, at worst, cycles you into your Three Aces slightly faster, and it's not like you can constantly trigger either throughout the game, so having both on hand to keep things moving is fantastic. Such a deck would benefit well from a lot of the new Seeker cards, especially Cryptic Writings, so definitely look out for such shenanigans come Innsmouth.