The History of the Guardian Class (Arkham Guardian Week 2024)

[@LittleBlueJug]

Can't wait for Neutral Week!

[@Krvsrnko]

Before jumping in the video - really loved this thematic week, hope we'll see these for the other classes on the future!

[@Jazza889]

Strongly agree, I thought the thematic week has been awesome to watch

[@BlackStarsRiseGaming]

S-tier video. The work and insights involved here are a WOW. I would have liked to see the OG Guard Doggo added to the presentation; otherwise, perfection achieved, gentlemen. Kudos.

[@PlayingBoardGames]

Guard Dog wasn't as relevant as Beat Cop was in the early days of Arkham, it's why he didn't make the cut. Guard Dog was always playable, but he aged up better over time.

[@BlackStarsRiseGaming]

@@PlayingBoardGames Interesting! He was a staple for me from the start. I guess I was in the minority. Thanks for the reply!

[@Chiungalla79]

@@BlackStarsRiseGaming It was certainly a staple for us as well. We had it in all our guardian decks in the beginning. But we dropped them later for allies that actually are meant to survive. Except for Tommy and Yorick.

[@Jump90]

You guys are a treasure, the amount of work and passion you put into Arkham is awesome

[@sammcginty3038]

This video was an instant watch the second that I saw it had been uploaded. Great job!

[@MtheRat]

Great video! And I really enjoyed this thematic week. Looking forward to the next one!

[@M-E_123]

Looking back on this now I'm wondering if those Dunwich Investigators were really intended to be in the Core Set - because they are essentially just their main class (with a very minor splash), and it's where most games would start you off (similar to the Investigator Starter Decks, which get no cards from other classes at all - but they teach new players how each class works very well). But then the Core Set needed to hit a certain card limit / price point, and the multi-class characters make the original Core Set player card distribution kind of work (with those horid 50-50 "recommended decks") - and along with that, the mentioned shift in scenario design away from "you all need to be able to do a bit of everything" meant the Dunwich Investigators were then pushed back to where their more focused design (Zoe is a pure fighter, Roland & Mark can do much more & are more suited to true Solo play) would be more appreciated. It's quite interesting to see how Investigator design has changed up from expansion to expansion - even different characters in the same class, or using similar 0-5 / 0-2 deck building seen to have different goals as to what the designers wanted to do / design space they wanted to explore. Very interested in seeing equivalent videos for other classes. Been some interesting stuff this week, but I think this is the highlight for me.

[@davidja1336]

This series is fantastic, looking forward to the next one! I think guardian has evolved the most over the life, maybe with rogue. Survivor doesn’t really count because it is always weird, mystic is basically all brain except parallel Agnes and maybe Diana or now Mateo, and seeker’s identity was and remains “win.” But really guardian has opened support as a viable build, done cross-class stuff through Carolyn and enabling Joe/Roland, created the bless build, built out tanking, lots of the glue of diversity across the game comes from them. Do you think they chose ones whose lore matches well - who fee like investigators who embody the theme from earlier games?

[@JKadenHarding]

Whew! It only took me about three days to get through this ... And it was worth it. Keep up the good work!

[@DownwardBear]

Amazing video guys!!! Also love the class theme week 👍🏻

[@davidko9289]

That was a great watch. Loved seeing the evolution of Guardians. Can't wait for the others.

[@nickm9180]

I loved this video!! Wasn't sure what you guys meant before hand about the history of the guardian class but this absolutely killed it. Going over how the meta changed and crucial cards in each set was amazing. Wish there was a super like on youtube videos.

[@rowdygiles3833]

-Butterfly swords are also really nice in Scarlet Keys to overcome the hiding enemies. -Enchant weapon is super nice and maybe my favorite guardian cards. -still sad that field agent is a 2-2 and not a 2-3 to mirror beat cop. Both in a compulsive way and also that "she can only get one clue before dying on the next one" way

[@steventaylor9962]

This was really fun to watch and take in. I came into the game around Edge of the Earth/Scarlett Keys, so seeing how it had evolved to get to that point was fascinating. Already looking forward to the next themed week!

[@chrisdeutsch4669]

As a guardian main, thanks for making this video! I find their history fascinating because I initially thought that this would be the class to become the strongest fighters (Tony and Michael make rogues the best fighters). The tank and support builds are fun as is the solo/flex cards that they have. Looking forward to the other classes.

[@gabriel0santiago]

Fanastic video, loved the dedication, congratulation for the hard work and impressive result

[@ollie67584]

I wish they taboo'd the aloof ability so that aloof enemies could be attacked by firearm/ranged assets, causing them to lose aloof. I get that it's a lot of rules baggage but you're already enfranchised enough if you're reading the taboo list.

[@devonrule1412]

Rather than errataing a ton of cards, I've heard the idea of a 1-2 XP guardian permanent that makes all your firearms ignore retaliate and/or aloof.

[@Chiungalla79]

Aloof is there for a reason: To cost you additional actions, and sometimes create tight moments with hard decisions. By tabooing it into irrelevance, it would make some enemies way too easy. And by expansion some scenarios too. Just think about this stupid Whippoorwill birds. Or the Albino Penguins. Their major way of harrasing investigators is by eating up additional actions. Most aloof enemies would become jokes if aloof would be too easily circumvented.

[@ollie67584]

@@Chiungalla79 Your example perfectly illustrates my point. If I have a .45 and a machete in play and I need to kill a Whippoorwill do I want to spend 2 actions to kill it with machete or 1 action and a bullet. Giving guns advantages over melee weapons creates decision points. At the moment melee weapons are close to strictly better, and unless I'm Rogue I never use guns.

[@Chiungalla79]

@@ollie67584 Lets say that's the case for a second. It's still a problem if your solution for the balance melee vs. ranged is worsening the balance investigators vs. mythos deck. The later is far more important for the game in total. AND I would argue that firearms are already stronger than melee weapons IF PLAYED RIGHT. Melee is the no brain less output solution. Ranged is more brain for more punch when it matters. The risk of running out of ammo in a well build and well played firearm deck are miniscule. And no melee weapons beats a well equiped shotgun vs. strong monsters.

[@Wolfis91]

Theme weeks, great concept, great execution. Would watch more of these in the future. 😊

[@jmac5831]

I really liked Guardian Week - I'm not normally inclined to play Guardian, so it was extra educational. Looking forward to future theme weeks!

[@necrotoaster94]

GREAT video, enjoyed every minute of it! 😊

[@tristianbarrett9008]

Loved Guardian week! I'm looking forward to the next one.

[@TheShanicpower]

Guardian week was great! I still have a few of them in my Watch Later, but I’m really looking forward to the other classes weeks.

[@MrKililae]

Great to get the history like this as a kinda new player :)

[@ManuDelande]

Thank you for this video, this is brilliant!

[@tengwenzhe3701]

love you content, get something to listen to for my long drive🎉

[@connwom1]

I really enjoyed this video and the whole week. Thanks

[@tjmincemeat]

2:07:54 damn, I feel called out for playing Mark Harrigan all the time lmao

[@barttopo3392]

I realy loved the guardian week. I'd love to see the other classes, too

[@LaboratoryGrey]

Enjoyed this video *and* Guardian Week.

[@MrBongoking]

Oh boy, I’m so hyped for Sled Dog week!

[@matthewmacomber6278]

Can't wait for the other themed weeks!

[@Solrd]

Really enjoyed this, and the whole theme week :)

[@dozensofdonuts8695]

2 and a half hours?!?! Whewwwwww buddy!

[@MikeB-nn4nh]

I would have been awesome of FF to have at least continued the Rt boxes up to IC.. and maybe a repurpose of those old blister packs to have cycle-appropriate art for the "core set" treachery cards - never needing to hunt through another campaign box for those sets

[@Sunprayer]

Can't wait for the seeker history - the becoming of the most op class in the game.

[@halforange1]

Great video!

[@fieserfactsack9635]

much better video than that random guardian draft challenge video.

[@ThousandEmu]

I actually really enjoyed seeing the guys excited about a bunch of medium cards. It felt like a celebration of guardian outside of the obviously powerful stuff, and was a good stage setter for this video. I agree that this video was killer though.

[@nickm9180]

Honestly could be cool for you guys to create three of the strongest guardian decks in each of your opinions with a taboo list. Feel like we haven’t seen what you guys think are the strongest decks with a full and updated collection

[@hammerdall]

No, don’t nerf Backpack (2). Buff Prepared for the Worst instead! Or give a lvl 3 upgrade that digs substantially deeper

[@kylelake5848]

Please tell me that, when Seeker Week comes around, we're gonna see a crap ton of Ariadne's Twine synergy