This is... not flashy at all, but a good utility card for "Big Hand" Harvey.

It's no match for Duke, but what is?

It's less good than Zoey's Cross or Jim's Trumpet, since you won't weep if you don't see it. It's less good than Sophie or Twilight Blade because it doesn't open up a totally new ability.

It's about equal to Roland's .38 Special, since it just lets you do what you wanted to do a bit better.

It's a bit better than Heirloom of Hyperborea, since it always lets Harvey do what he's good at as opposed to being good only in some builds.

It's better than Jake Williams, since you will always want to play it, and better than Jenny's Twin .45s, because it doesn't fill your hand slots. It's better than Becky, because Harvey doesn't have an overly-close attachment to his Vault that makes other investigators nervous.

This has been updated to match my "Signature Weakness Project." I have done my best to make sure that the original content isn't altered too much, out of respect for any comments.

Another flavorful signature weakness. Looking at the two elements, the effect and the discard condition, we get:

The effect: Stella takes a damage if she initiates a test of 4 difficulty or higher. The Encounter Deck isn't shy about tossing out 4- and 5-difficulty tests, and it's pretty easy to get into a fight with Enemies with a 4 Fight and/or Evade. In Solo, the is just enough of a cost that you have some serious thinking to do when this pops out of a Rabbit's Foot draw....

The discard condition: . That is all. It does get discarded, but Stella is not all that likely to deck herself.

All in all, this is a below average signature weakness. it shuts down Stella's shenanigans until you can clear it, but it is unlikely to cost you the scenario or campaigns.

A medium-troublesome Treachery, this rises to aggravating in Stella's decks, since, you know, she wants to fail (at least some of the time). It's not too hard to get rid of, but is a huge tempo hit in Solo. Still, it's no Overzealous...

As noted above, this looks best in Stella or Wendy with Leo, where you can leverage the -1 difficulty more than once. It's not terrible in anyone who can take it, but it gets better with more actions.

There aren't that many "at the start of your Turn" tests, so the "During or before" usually triggers only once. (It might make playing "A Thousand Shapes of Horror" unpleasant, but you are unlikely to have bought 2 of these before the second scenario).

Wendy could try to get extra actions with .41 Derringer (2) (unlikely with her ) or Haste. Quick Thinking works (assuming you play it during your turn; if you play it during someone else's turner Quick Learner doesn't have any affect at all).

I do wish there was a way to synergize this with Eldritch Sophist, just for the chess theme.

In addition to the considerations of the level 0 Robes, which I've written a review for, for 2 XP you get the following:

• Cost is reduced by 1
• A icon for your trouble
• "Playing that card does not provoke attacks of opportunity."

That last one is the big ticket item. We've all been in this situation: you didn't get Shrivelling in your opening hand, your apprentice is truant, and then you finally draw it during Upkeep, just for an enemy to spawn on you in the next phase. In the past, you used to dread these situations, especially if that enemy had some other nasty Forced effect if it hits you. Now you just laugh.

Sadly, these robes have the disadvantage of being in the Mystic card pool, which tends to be the most competitive in terms of upgrades. Of course, you can always Delve Too Deep or do a little Arcane Research.

EDIT: The cost reduction is actually also really nice and worth emphasizing. You're not just saving 1 resource on this upgrade--you're lowering the buy-in for a card that saves 1 on the first spell you play per round. That's a lot of savings.