This might be a long shot... assume you cannot use Ever Vigilant on items in a Backpack ??

I’m assuming the ‘as if’ clause on Backpack means you can’t...

cheers!

Ever Vigilant says you can play three cards from hand. Cards under Backpack can be played as if they were in your hand. So yeah, this works.

What do you think the problem with the "as if" is?

Thanks! I think I tied myself in knots on ‘as if’ meaning they are not in yr hand when ever vigilant is played so cannot play them with it... I.e. you can only play them using the basic play action...

4 hours ago, gazzagames said:

Thanks! I think I tied myself in knots on ‘as if’ meaning they are not in yr hand when ever vigilant is played so cannot play them with it... I.e. you can only play them using the basic play action...

Yeah, some terminology can be confusing at first. The cards are as if they are in your hand, so yes, you would play them with a basic play action paying their cost. Ever Vigilant, in this case would be the card you are playing with your basic play action and it’s text is what you are resolving, like any other event. Ever Vigilant just happens to be an event about playing cards and reducing their cost without having to take the normal play/pay actions. Like events that let you find extra clues without having to take the normal investigate action, or that do extra damage without having to take the normal fight action, or letting you move without the normal move action etc. I don’t know if that makes it more clear or more confusing!!
Cards under Backpack don’t count toward your hand size either, which is nice, (unless you are Harvey who wants endless cards!). There are other cards which do similar things. Stick to the Plan, for example. Allies that search your deck and attach cards to themselves. Investigators who put cards under themselves to the same effect.

Ever Vigilant and Backpack(2) could actually be a pretty genius combo, which I haven’t tried. I never liked Backpack(0) much. Unless you are playing Mandy, it doesn’t search enough cards to consistently get even 2-3 that would qualify, often coming up with 1 or none, but the upgraded version is not bad. Patrice has made good use of it, to keep some of her cards available to play beyond one round. And Ever Vigilant is such a great card. It’s a Stick to the Plan must have for me!

14 hours ago, Mimi61 said:

Yeah, some terminology can be confusing at first. The cards are as if they are in your hand, so yes, you would play them with a basic play action paying their cost. Ever Vigilant, in this case would be the card you are playing with your basic play action and it’s text is what you are resolving, like any other event. Ever Vigilant just happens to be an event about playing cards and reducing their cost without having to take the normal play/pay actions. Like events that let you find extra clues without having to take the normal investigate action, or that do extra damage without having to take the normal fight action, or letting you move without the normal move action etc. I don’t know if that makes it more clear or more confusing!!
Cards under Backpack don’t count toward your hand size either, which is nice, (unless you are Harvey who wants endless cards!). There are other cards which do similar things. Stick to the Plan, for example. Allies that search your deck and attach cards to themselves. Investigators who put cards under themselves to the same effect.

Ever Vigilant and Backpack(2) could actually be a pretty genius combo, which I haven’t tried. I never liked Backpack(0) much. Unless you are playing Mandy, it doesn’t search enough cards to consistently get even 2-3 that would qualify, often coming up with 1 or none, but the upgraded version is not bad. Patrice has made good use of it, to keep some of her cards available to play beyond one round. And Ever Vigilant is such a great card. It’s a Stick to the Plan must have for me!

Thanks!! It does make more sense when I think about it like that... and thematically the combo makes sense!

Yes I am thinking the lvl 2 backpack with Joe Diamond as he can’t take stick to the plan... with a perhaps versatile and maybe a Studious (or 2) to help setup the combo...

1 hour ago, gazzagames said:

Thanks!! It does make more sense when I think about it like that... and thematically the combo makes sense!

Yes I am thinking the lvl 2 backpack with Joe Diamond as he can’t take stick to the plan... with a perhaps versatile and maybe a Studious (or 2) to help setup the combo...

All good options. Just keep in mind that versatile adds cards to your deck, making it harder to for the ones you may need or want to come up. Put more ways to search your deck if you go with Versatile. Seekers have lots of options. Old Book of Lore (3) is a good one you can use over and over to search and gives you two times where you don’t have to take another action to play what you found. And if course Mr Rook is also good for 3 deep searches, plus other allies who search, or Eureka etc.

Joe Diamond has always been one of those investigators I want to love, but his hunch deck never worked that great for me. It seemed clunky somehow. Norman Withers’ ability, which has similarities, seems to be more useful. I haven’t tried him in a long time though and there are a lot more insight cards to choose from, so maybe it’s time to dust him off.

Joe Diamond is definitely one of the tougher investigators to play.

One of the trickier distinctions in the game is actions that let you do things that are named the same. In this case you have the "Play Action" which lets you "Play" a card. But other effects can let you "Play" cards as well.

EV+Backpack works because Backpack's as-if comes into play when you "Play" cards. There are other cases where things will limit you to the basic action - Brute Force and Clean Them Out are good examples here. Backpack doesn't have the same restriction.

The key to getting Joe Diamond to work for me was to not build around his hunch deck. He went from being one of my least favourite investigators to one of my favourite, and the only Seeker I enjoy. Practice Makes Perfect helped, of course. Next Joe Diamond build will probably involve Farsight, but I digress.

With Backpack + Ever Vigilant, one thing you can do is play Backpack as your first Ever Vigilant card and then play the assets it finds for you as your second and third Ever Vigilant cards. The wording "one at a time" in Ever Vigilant is important for that play!

15 hours ago, Allonym said:

With Backpack + Ever Vigilant, one thing you can do is play Backpack as your first Ever Vigilant card and then play the assets it finds for you as your second and third Ever Vigilant cards. The wording "one at a time" in Ever Vigilant is important for that play!

I've done this before with Tommy Makes for a heck of a first turn setup play.

2 hours ago, Buhallin said:

I've done this before with Tommy Makes for a heck of a first turn setup play.

17 hours ago, Allonym said:

The key to getting Joe Diamond to work for me was to not build around his hunch deck. He went from being one of my least favourite investigators to one of my favourite, and the only Seeker I enjoy. Practice Makes Perfect helped, of course. Next Joe Diamond build will probably involve Farsight, but I digress.

With Backpack + Ever Vigilant, one thing you can do is play Backpack as your first Ever Vigilant card and then play the assets it finds for you as your second and third Ever Vigilant cards. The wording "one at a time" in Ever Vigilant is important for that play!

Hmmmmm that is even better!! Thanks both for the input!!

yep I’ve gone with practice makes perfect... it’s rather handy with the guardian skills!!