Slaughter Horse 2 – Tarot Cards Guide for Beginners

Now, what the hell are the Tarot Cards?

You should know the answer to this question if you’ve played about five seconds of the game. At the very start of each day, you’re prompted with a ring of cards and are forced to draw one.

These cards all have unique abilities that will shape the course of your day and night, while also consistently setting your luck. Luck of course is its own thing, but can generally be boiled down to “hmmm I wonder how much tomfoolery I can partake in today without anybody batting an eye”

While it isn’t generally explained in the game’s help menu, Luck plays a factor in multi-choice events and I *think* it also controls the chance for interaction between something that’ll help you, (Things like rumours or slander) or something that’ll hinder you. (Interrogations, Blackmail, The Newshound being a nuisance and scavenging for evidence in your home, etc.)

The order of the cards in this guide are completely random, having been put in in the exact order I had found them in my most recent games. Thanks to the random chance of drawing cards and how it has taken me a long time to find a certain few, I may have missed a card or two in this guide.

Most of the information presented is gathered from other discussions, update logs and my own personal experience during gameplay. While some cards are completely certain, take this guide with a grain of salt.

The Star

One of the more helpful cards, The Star is one of the easiest cards to find out on what it does.

Once selected, The Star will set your luck to 6/12 and will reveal itself as a faded image once you enter your bakery, but does not do anything to prevent events that might intercept you from entering your bakery for the day.

As for the actual effect of the card, it will unlock both “gossip” and “interrogate” options with any pony you speak with, regardless of information known, etc. Not only that, but The Star will completely remove any risk for taking any of these dialogue choices.

As for options such as invite and friendship? I’m uncertain if The Star does anything to improve your odds with succeeding with either.

The Magician

Arguably one of the most helpful cards, The Magician will be extremely handy throughout the game thanks to its unique effect. Once chosen, not only will the card grant the player with 10/12 luck, but will also force all investigative roles to stay in their homes for the night, meaning that the player will be able to make easy kills for them.

However, The Magician does not force ALL roles that hinder you during the night to stand down. Below is a list of the roles that The Magician does and does not affect.

Disciple – No effect.

Deputy – Forces role to stay at home.

Sheriff – Forces role to stay at home.

Detective – Forces role to stay at home.

Visitor – No effect, remains active.

Noble/Princess – Forces role to stay at home.

Guard – No effect.

Lookout – No effect, remains active.

Mayor – No effect.

Reporter – Forces role to stay at home.

Veteran – No effect, Veteran remains on/off alert regardless of The Magician.

Magician – Forces role to stay at home, but does not lower their shield once it is raised.

Preacher – No effect.

Naturist – No effect.

The Fool

While not an active hinderance, The Fool doesn’t exactly do anything good for the player either.

Once chosen, The Fool grants the player 4/12 luck and *seemingly* doesn’t do anything afterward.

The Princess

I haven’t the clue on what this card does, if anything at all; I haven’t played enough games with an active Noble/Princess to figure out if this card does anything in relation to them, but will update this part of the guide once knowledge is gained.

Once selected, the player is granted 11/12 luck. Lucky you.

The Ace of Knives

The Ace of Knives is one of the many cards that affect your current statistics rather than gameplay (to my knowledge). Once selected, the player is granted with 12/12 luck and has a chance for their suspicion meter to be lowered.

The Sun

The Sun is another card that will aid you during the night as it forces a certain role to stay at home during the night.

Once selected, the player is granted with 7/12 luck and the card will completely prevent The Lookout from acting during the night, leaving them open for an easy kill. Not only that, but The Sun also has a visual indicator on the town during the night it is active.

Ironically, this visual indicator is shown by the street lights blacking out, and is shown in the news the next day if the Newshound is still alive.

The Moon

Once again, The Moon is one of the many cards that affect the player’s statistics rather than affecting actual gameplay, acting as an annoyance rather than a direct hinderance most of the time.

Once selected, the player is granted with 5/12 luck and has a chance to lower the sanity of the player by a single point.

The Tower

The Tower is one of the few cards that actively hinder the player.

Once selected, not only is the player stuck with 2/12 luck, but from personal experience the card appears to drastically increase the chance of an interaction / investigation to trigger during the night, preventing you from committing murders or otherwise.

Again, this is one of the cards I suggest you take with a grain of salt. I cannot confirm if what I say is true or not.

The Knave

The Knave is a card that can both hinder and help the player depending on their current circumstances thanks to how it works.

Once selected, the player is granted with 9/12 luck.

Whilst the Changeling Spy is still alive, the avatar of the Spy will ‘glitch’ on the roster every once in a while. I haven’t been able to witness this event myself, but I *do* know that it happens. If you are able to see this, the Spy becomes a much easier role to deal with earlier in the game as you are essentially told who it is.

If the Changeling Spy is dead, however… A hidden countdown is decreased every time the card is drawn, eventually triggering an unavoidable event. I have only been able to encounter one of these scenarios, and it seems to primarily happen if the priest is the one to kill the Spy and is still alive.

You will be visited by a Changeling Drone once the countdown expires, informing you that the priest must be killed to avenge their Spy. You are allowed to either let the Drone kill the priest, or prevent it from doing so. I’m unsure if there’s a real consequence for disallowing the Drone to kill the priest outside of eventually having to kill the priest yourself.

Both options will still prevent you from doing anything for the night.

There may be more scenarios that I am not aware of.

However, once the event occurs; it doesn’t happen again in the same game.

The Lovers

[Pretend this line of text is a screenshot. I forgot to take one.]

Yet another card I’m unsure on. Once selected, the player is granted with 8/12 luck. This card appears to directly change your relationship between random ponies, regardless on if you have information on them or not. Usually, it seems to be for the better as the card will generally increase friendship by a noticeable degree, to the point where some ponies will even become best friends.

Death

Yet another one of the cards that affect statistics rather than direct gameplay.

Once selected, Death will stick the player with 1/12 luck and will occasionally raise the suspicion bar.

The Hanged Pony

(I had been trying to find this card for so long that I actually managed to remember to screenshot it with the very first chance I got.)

One of the most hindering cards of them all, The Hanged Pony can very easily end a game much earlier than you were anticipating if you draw it at the wrong time.

Once drawn, the player is stuck with 3/12 luck. Drawing The Hanged Pony will severely increase the chances of a lynch during middle and late game. The higher the town’s rage is, the higher the chance. By lategame, drawing this card means a lynch is almost certain.

If you keep your sanity high and your suspicion *very* low, you won’t have to worry about this card. Most of the time. Just don’t forget about friendship is all I’m going to say.

Even if the Mayor is alive, the chance that lynching is stopped is extraordinarily low, as I have never seen it happen before. Even if the town’s rage is relatively low and the Mayor is still alive, don’t get your hopes up if you find yourself on the platform.