Can you play this card if you have no clues?

Doesn't seem like a cost, more of an effect but I am not 100% sure.

As far as I can tell, you can start the game with active, eg. at the top of your hunch deck.

If they wanted to make it unplayable without any clues, they'd have written " Then, remove Unsolved Case from the game." Having two separate sentences without a "then" means resolving the first is not a prerequisite to resolving the second.

I agree; "Remove Unsolved Case from the game" is a change to the game state and not part of the card's cost, and as rsdockery says it's not linked to the first clause by "then", so it is valid to play it even if you don't have any clues to get rid of.

I mean it still costs 4 resources (yikes!) so it's still pretty bad, haha.

9 minutes ago, Soakman said:

I mean it still costs 4 resources (yikes!) so it's still pretty bad, haha.

Only 2 since Joe's special ability kicks in.

Still, that means you either have to end every turn with 1 resource banked (+1 from upkeep) or be prepared to use two actions to get rid of it, so it kind of syncs up with weaknesses losing you two actions. If you can manage not to lose a clue, it's basically Hypochondria et al.

Whoah, I do not get this at all, this is probably my lack of previous LCG’s hampering my thought processes. So, are you saying that, assuming you have no clues, you can just pay the 4(-2) resources and remove the card from the game? But, if you happen to have any clues, you must also place one of them on the highest shroud location?

That is not how I read that card on first blush, but that is undoubtedly more fair than my interpretation!

And to pick up on @SGPrometheus ‘s point, it’s conditionally 3 actions if you have to drop a clue as well. Plus, as this sits in your (smaller?) hunch deck, you’re more likely to see it, I would imagine. Horrible!

Yeah, you're getting it right, @General Zodd : the card shows up on top of your hunch deck. You've got a turn to pay 2. If you have a clue, you're dropping it on the highest shroud location. If you don't have a clue, you're just spending 2 resources and an action to ensure you don't miss out on some xp. The reason you can still play it without dropping a clue is 'remove from the game' does change the game state. Compare it to Lodge Debts, for instance, which does a similar thing.

So a Joe deck a) needs to make sure it's not too broke, or if this shows up, you're taking two actions for resources and then spending your third playing this and b) needs to have swift ways of getting clues (Working a Hunch?) and moving clues (Vantage Point) to mitigate the danager that a clue will get dropped sooner or later, at, say, a crucial time!

6 hours ago, zooeyglass said:

Yeah, you're getting it right, @General Zodd : the card shows up on top of your hunch deck. You've got a turn to pay 2. If you have a clue, you're dropping it on the highest shroud location. If you don't have a clue, you're just spending 2 resources and an action to ensure you don't miss out on some xp. The reason you can still play it without dropping a clue is 'remove from the game' does change the game state. Compare it to Lodge Debts, for instance, which does a similar thing.

So a Joe deck a) needs to make sure it's not too broke, or if this shows up, you're taking two actions for resources and then spending your third playing this and b) needs to have swift ways of getting clues (Working a Hunch?) and moving clues (Vantage Point) to mitigate the danager that a clue will get dropped sooner or later, at, say, a crucial time!

Lovely, thanks @zooeyglass ! I’ve got it now, still getting used to the more nuanced wording of rules in FFG LCG’s...

Well... The key issue remaining, once we read it properly and understood the cost (2) and the freedom from clue loss (if youre lucky), it's still an action you really gotta do, and you get just that one and only chance to do it.

Thankfully loosing 2 xp is mild, all in all its a low-impact weakness, perhaps because at 2 willpower Joe is gonna be at the mercy of the mythos deck? Not gonna be fun running into Frozen in fear.