At level 0
This card is a nice generic tutor for anyone who can take Rogue cards. Now you can tutor events or skills (or some assets) way easier (the Backpack (0) and Calling in Favors already covered most assets).
- Compared to the Backpack, if you hit 3 targets, it cost you 1 more resource. And if you're unlucky, it costs you less/nothing so it's kind of similar.
- Compared to Calling in favor, it goes 3 less cards-deep but could potentially target 2 more cards for 2 more resources. Again, overall pretty fair.
So yeah, this card is pretty nice at level 0 if you have a plan in mind with your Traits !
Which Trait(s) to choose ?
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Favor : If your name is Preston (or you are a rich Dilettante) and you like paying people to do stuff, take Favor ! It will find your other copy of Friends in Low Places and a lot of good cards (Black Market, Money Talks, Intel Report, etc.).
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Illicit : If your name is NOT Preston and you love the illicit life that TSK brings (Finn Edwards or Kymani Jones most likely though it is a bit in competition with Finn's signature)
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Talent : Right now this is one of the ONLY way to tutor Talent cards (the other one being Molly Maxwell and that's all I think) ! That generally includes cards that boost your skill tests (Hyperawareness, Hard Knocks, etc.) or nice niche effects (Pickpocketing, Scavenging, etc.). Jenny Barnes would love that with her average Skills. The tri-colored Talent suite from EoTE is also great because it also pays for all the cards you'll add to your hand, compensating for the "1 resource each" cost.
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Firearm / Weapon : If you want to kill things, you get the idea (hum hum Tony Morgan !).
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Ally : If you REALLY are into allies (Charlie Kane, Leo Anderson...).
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Innate / Practiced / Developed : If you're building a deck with a lot of skills. Winifred Habbamock seems the best with direct access to this card !
And more genereally any Traits that appear on your Deckbuilding Options or in your ability (Item for Bob Jenkins and Dexter Drake, etc.) OR, and more importantly, on the other investigators at your table (Charm for Amina Zidane, Relic for Ursula Downs, Tactic for Mark Harrigan, Tome for Daisy Walker, Bless for Mary, etc.). There is no limit if you coordonate your decks !
What upgrade(s) to take ?
1 □ Helpful. When you play Friends in Low Places, you may choose another investigator at your location to resolve its effects.
- Generally hard to use but if you synchronize your deck with your teammates this could be very good ! Give a weapon to your Guardian, a Book to Daisy, and so on. The possibilities are almost infinite. Otherwise not that good because your teammate needs a specific Trait 'ideally in common with your deck) and resources to add the cards to their hands.
2 □□ Versatile. Choose another Trait: ____. When you play Friends in Low Places, you may choose one of the looked-at cards with both chosen Traits to add to your hand without spending 1 resource._
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Pretty good if you have a very focused deck. You could go with Illicit+Weapon (for most Rogue guns), Favor+Service (for the Intel Report suite), Spell+Cursed (for the Armageddon suite). You may not hit every time but when you hit it's good !
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Alternatively you could go with associations like Item+Weapon to have a broad list of possible targets and an occasionnal cost reduction. This is safer, probably the best option.
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Finally, the last option is to go for totally different Traits like Item+Ally. You will never have that nice cost reduction but you will hit a lot of targets. This is a good option if you can pay for it !
3 □□ Bolstering. Each card added to your hand by Friends in Low Places gains a icon until the end of the phase.
- Very situational but good for a Winifred deck built with skills that share a specific Trait or two. A skill for her is half a card so every resource you invest is better invested. But if you hit too many targets with Friends in Low Places+Bolstering, you will lose the icon. It might be better if you have a lot of action (or play at high player count) so you can have enough skill test to commit your skills to.
4 □□ Clever. Instead of shuffling the remaining cards into your deck, you may place each of them on the top of your deck, in any order.
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THIS is the best option in my opinion ! You could chose a Trait not even existing in your deck, this would still be good ! For 1 action and 0 resource you can now rearrange however you want your next (up to) 6 draws and/or locate a weakness and prepare for it. Very useful if you draw a lot, a bit less otherwise obviously.
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Be mindful though, there is a big anti-synergy with cards like [Lucky Cigarette Case (3) (not the level 0).
5 □□ Prompt. Friends in Low Places gains fast and "play during any window".
- 2xp FOR -1 Action on 2 cards is very good. It will ease your setup if you had a bad mulligan, give you more actions to use your new cards or maybe take a resource before playing this card to make sure a target is not wasted because you're poor !
- It is even better after you bought other upgrades for this card. You could play it before another investigator takes it's turn if you combine it with 1. Helpful or you can play a weapon or soak while engaged with 7. Swift.
6 □□□ Experienced. Increase the number of cards looked at by 3.
- Another VERY GOOD upgrade. You get much more value by looking at 9 cards (generally a third of your deck at turn 1).
- Combine it with every other upgrades for more efficiency. 4. Clever is even better now that you can rearrange a third of your deck (more later in the game) !
7 □□□ Swift. You may play one of the cards added to your hand (paying its cost).
- This one is reserved to really rich people or low cost decks that don't rely on Skills. Preston and Bob are perfect because they're rich, have access to Survivor's cheap cards and need a lot of assets !
- If you can manage to pay for your cards with a +1 cost though, this is bonkers ! You get back the action you used to play Friends in Low Places so this event almost gains Fast.
Upgrade combinations
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"I'm a philanthropist rogue !" : 1. Helpful + 2. Versatile + 7. Swift (+ 5. Prompt) => 6/9xp Help your fighter to find and play their only copy of Flamethrower at the right time !
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"Sort them all !" : 4. Clever + 6. Experienced => 5xp Rearrange from up to 9 cards of your deck everytime you play this card and avoid your weaknesses for days. It costs 5xp so, sadly, it becomes a level 3 card and splash-Rogues can't take it...
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"I'm a skilled person !" : 2. Versatile + 3. Bolstering (+ 5. Prompt) => 4/6xp Choose two mutually exclusive Traits on Skill cards (like Practiced and Innate), add a lot of them to your deck, play first this round and then draw 2-4 skills with +1 to commit this phase !
Final thoughts
It's good, not broken or anything but good like every other Customizable card. I'd say Preston (with Favor / Service Traits), Finn (with Illicit / Weapon Traits) and Winifred (with any two Practiced / Innate / Developed Traits) are the best users of this cards. But everyone could make good use of it and adapt it to its deck/group.
Bonus idea : Combine it with the tri-color Talents from EoTE like Antiquary to pay for all the cards you will get (and pay 1 resource each) thanks to Friends in Low Places !