Is the current head to head race just between people who want to finally do Apparition stuff vs people who find it too risky without Gambler or are there more arguments for or against either action circulating?
The main argument against Red Rider Edition isn't the risk factor, actually. It's the fact that Boney told us this:
Boney, do we have an idea if we do the capturing an apparition action but don't make the bindings for it next turn, how safe is it to leave it between actions? Is there an established containment method we can feel secure in, or is it less certain it will be safe to leave it?
Any given containment method only works for a combination of a type of Apparition and a specific Wind. Mathilde will have to invent a new containment method for anything she catches, and how long a shelf life those methods might have can't be known in advance.
In other words, if we successfully catch a Red Rider, at some uncertain point in the near future we will need to spend another action to bind it. We don't know how soon. There are a lot of reasons people might or might not oppose this plan, but empirically speaking, this WoB swung the vote
dramatically -- Red Rider edition went from being quite a bit ahead to being neck-and-neck and often behind. It's one thing to start the Apparition action chain -- it's another thing to commit us to a
second action in the Apparition action chain before our primary current self-improvement project is complete. Personally, I went from being "eh, I'd prefer to wait for Gambler, but whatever" to "actively opposed to Red Rider Edition" as a result of that WoB.
This is one reason why Codifying and Swords has caught up so much -- it's viewed as a compromise option because it finishes off Branarhune this turn, for good, freeing us up to start Apparitions as soon as next turn, as well as doing three very solid Waystone actions.
Personally, I'd be willing to drop my approval votes for Windfall Edition if people on the Red Riders side approval voting Codifying and Swords are willing to do the same, for the sake of that compromise. I've currently got two people namevoting me, so my vote has the power of three.
