This card needs two reviews, so I'll keep them short.

You know that skill test you really want to succeed on, so you throw at +2 card and some resources at it until it becomes an auto-success, smugly pop out a token only to have your smile wiped from your face as you glimpse that all-red of an auto-fail. This is a pretty good description of how easy/standard games might spiral out of control, but it is still a rare enough occurrence that the inclusion of this card is almost definitely not worth the XP. The benefit of this card in standard is mostly that you can throw cards at problems where spending cards wouldn't normally be worth it, for example to try an Investigate check at a net + of only 1 or even 0. And then on those checks where you do your best to eliminate the failure chance but the bag just wont play nice.

The other review is for hard and Expert, where your experience using this card will become starkly different. The token bag at this difficulty is far less forgiving at this difficulty and you will find that sustained skill attempts just wont work like they do at an easier difficulty, throwing a character's unmodified 3 at a difficulty 1 or 2 problem is drastically less likely to succeed, this card re-enables that strategy to an extent. I don't think it needs any further explanation that a card that rewards failed checks becomes dramatically better in game modes where failed skills are more common.

Edit: Updated for the times.

TL:DR. Slotting Prepared for the Worst is worse then slotting another weapon if your goal is to have "any good weapon". Slot Prepared for the Worst only when you want to consistently field a particular weapon (Lightning Gun for example).

Prepared for the Worst, pretty good card, but only required in some pretty specific builds.

So, "tutor a weapon", really great for those times where you want a weapon in your hand, yeah? In deckbuilding Prepared for the Worst is largely interchangeable with weapons, card for card.

Here's the thing, if you want a gun in your hand. And fill your deck with guns, why bother with this thing? On one hand you play with so and so many guns and have this thing in your deck, spend an action and a resource (and card!) to fish for the gun, and THEN play the gun. Why not just, skip this damn thing, put 2 more guns in your deck, draw the gun straight from the start rather then bothering with this middle man?

So. For the explicit purpose of having a weapon, Prepared for the Worst is a hoop you just dont need to jump through anymore. There's a literal plethora of viable weapons now! .45 Automatic and .45 Thompson and Machete and Enchanted Blade and all the out of class stuff too! You can easily have a deck that's 50% weapons!

That said, Prepared for the Worst is still a great card, it just has a more defined purpose these days. The real point of Prepared for the Worst is not to ensure you have a weapon in your hand. The purpose of Prepared for the Worst is to have THAT weapon in your hand, you know. KNIFE!!! I kid, I'm of course talking about that investigator strength gun like Jenny's Twin .45s or Detective's Colt 1911s or a really big XP device like Lightning Gun or Flamethrower.

Bonus: It doesn't hurt that when Prepared for the Worst isn't needed for it's explicit purpose, you can chuck it at an investigate or fight action.

Honestly, I've not used Guard Dog a lot, but it seems to me that it's the Guardian ally for non-guardians. It can efficiently do 3 damage over time, for a reasonble cost, and it's quite nifty being able to invoke an attack of opportunity, soak it up and kill off an enemy.

However, let's face it, if you're a guardian, you probably just want to beat things - so Beat Cop is a more natural fit. And if you've got access to guardian level 1 cards, you could upgrade to Brother Xavier, who offers more, and still does 2 damage. He's better in every way.

So this leaves the place that Guard Dog shines as being with investigators with poor/moderate strength, and access to guardian level zero only. That's pretty much Jim, Rex, and Pete, and the latter two have better allies to take priority.

With Jim, though, Guard dog is pretty good, and it's health/sanity balance nicely compliments Jim's, and gives Jim a good way to do a little damage when he needs to.

Brother Xavier is a bit weird. Why would I want +1 in a Guardian card in my Ally slot? And he can soak up other investigator's damage. And if he's discarded he does damage, a bit like a Beat Cop (0)? What kind of strange combination is this?

Yet the thing is ... he's really good. That +1 helps an investigator like Roland or Skids avoid sanity damage from the encounter deck. 3 health / 3 sanity is awesome, and he can tank for anyone in his location. And should things get desperate, and you find yourself in combat, he can use all his health and sanity and then do a meaningful amount of damage to get you out of trouble. In short, he's awesome.

I think Brother Xavier is actually better than Beat Cop (2); only slightly more expensive, cheaper in terms of XP, and can do as much damage. Beat Cop only wins if you really need that +1 combat, and can live without that extra sanity and willpower...

Like Beat Cop (0), his major advantage is to combat, so fighting investigators like Roland and Zoey might want to think about him. For your 2 XP you get:

• +1 Health and +1 Sanity over the level zero Beat Cop.
• You can take damage (rather than discarding) to do 1 point of harm.

However, I'm not sure he's worth the investment of XP. Granted, he might be for Roland, who has quite unbalanced Health and Sanity; Roland could use him as a sanity sink, and use his damage to do additional harm to enemies, and he's a little cheaper than Brother Xavier which Roland likes (as he's often strapped for cash).

Beyond Roland, though, it seems expensive in terms of XP over Brother Xavier