Blood on the Altar

Hello Dear Readers! After the Easter break we’re going back to business. Fantasy Flight Games doesn’t give me too much of a breathing room, releasing Mythos Pack very quickly. I have very little time to test new cards, not to mention writing posts about something different than the newly expanded card pool.

This time we got the highly awaited permanent talents. You can read some general points about them in one of my previous posts. Now, however, we put our fingers on all of them and could finally see how they work in a real game, not only theorize about them.

Designers have created five very distinct talents, each granting bonus in a unique way. They also seem to follow a pattern – each boosts two skills, one of which can also be boosted by the non-permanent Talent of the same class. Talents differ greatly in strength and character. Some of them are more situational, some more consistent etc. Based on my observations, I have made the following ranking (from the strongest to the weakest).

Guardian card has won the competition by a very small margin. It has couple of advantages, all adding together to a great combined effect. 

First of all, it boosts a great pair of skills. Combat and Intellect are the most commonly tested skills, so increasing them comes in very handy. It’s also worth noting, Combat is the most important skill from the perspective of a Guardian character, and therefore investing in Keen Eye allows us to free a spot in the deck by dodging Physical Training.

Secondly, it has a great cost-benefit ratio, provided we can cleverly plan for it. It boosts consecutive skill checks, helping to deal with a problematic enemy or a nasty location.

Both Guardians should be able to reap the benefit of the card. While Roland usually investigates bit more, Zoey has more resources to be able to pay the activation cost.

It is another very strong talent, almost on par with Keen Eye. Its most obvious strength is the cost-benefit ratio – a boost of two for a mere one resource. 

It is not the end of its advantages, though. One must also notice a great choice for the skill pair it increases. Each Seeker is more interested in one skill of the pair. Daisy will be very happy to find a way to reliable boost her Will for spellcasting. We can expect more spells-heavy builds for her to arrive soon. Rex, having a very strong way to boost his Intellect in order to keep investigating at 2+, might finally be free to look for alternative builds to the Scavenging-based. Maybe also a Spell-based one? I would personally try to give him Leo, to investigate even more times per turn. Another card coming to my mind is Opportunist – not only nicely fitting the idea of passing by 2 or more, but also staying in your hand, ensuring Higher Education will be usable.

Higher education is a very thematic card, too. Seekers are naturally inclined to card-drawing; hence a hand full of cards sounds like an interesting requirement. Not to find yourself unable to activate its ability, you should not only plan ahead during the game (spending an action on getting an extra card, if needed, or waiting with playing particular assets), but also stock on card-drawing cards.

Survivor card starts the list of “Tier 2” talents. It follows the pattern of the talent cards from the core set as it boosts the skill by one per each resource spent. In fact, if not for the permanent keyword, it is an exact copy of Hard Knocks.

Obviously, just starting in play (and therefore saving deck space, actions, cost and reducing the luck-dependency) is quite an advantage. Still the card does not provide the extraordinary effectiveness of blue or orange talent cards. The skill pair isn’t too useful, neither. While Wendy can put Agility bonus to a good use, the Combat part is less satisfying. Arguably Pete could use either Will (since he already starts with Will of 4 and therefore uses spells quite often) or Lore much more, while for Wendy it’s almost useless. It leads to some suboptimal deck choices, or ditching Scrapper altogether (and Survivors are already low on high level cards to take).

 

At the first sight the card looks quite well – bonus of 3 for 2 resources seems like an effective way of succeeding test. To evaluate a boost one needs bit more complicated mathematics, though. As outlined in the previous post, not all boosts are equally profitable and with +3 you run at a decent chance to overinvest.

Furthermore, I cannot understand why Agility is chosen to be featured in a green talent again. With the exception of Backstab and a very rare evasion, Rogues do not use it too frequently (in my games at least). Intellect boost was highly anticipated, though, and plays just perfectly. While Rogues have mediocre Intellect, they’ve had no means of helping with the investigation so far. This is the first reliable boost, albeit an expensive one.

Streetwise is obviously stronger for Jenny, who has abundance of resources, than Skidds. But even with him you can pull the talent off, if you pair it with Hot Streak or two.

I was initially very excited about this card. A huge boost at a 0 resource cost helps the costly Mystic decks. I also like the thematic side of the card. However, adding a doom token is a steep price. There are few scenarios, when you’d be willing to do it.

The first one is obvious – just before Agenda advances, as it doesn’t speed up to malevolent plot at all. This might very rare, though, depending on the scenario and not always timed well with your needs. You could try to do it one turn earlier and use the skill 3 times. You could also use it if failing test would mean too much of damage. Lastly, in scenarios, which pose biggest challenge due to other constraints (tough tests, Behind the Veil etc.) and not particularly the doom-enforced time limit.

Unfortunately, all of those circumstances are rather rare, making the card extremely situational. Moreover, even though Combat boost is useful (opening brand new possibilities for both Agnes and Jim), Agnes’ Will is already very high and a whopping +3 bonus won’t be probably worth a doom token.

Maybe we’ll see some cards manipulating the doom tokens on the assets (or providing more benefits for having them, like Marie’s special ability). Until then Blood Pact is rather underpowered.

The talent cards are the highlight of the expansion. However, there are six more cards in the expansion, some of them very useful. Let’s review them in the usual class order.

Prepared for the Worst is yet another strong Guardian card. Guardians definitely hit the jackpot this time. It has multiple benefits over including a level 0 weapon. First off all, once you start exchanging weapons for the stronger variants, you can use it to find the stronger one, effectively adding more copies of costly, high level cards (like Switchblade or Shotgun) at cost of 0 XP. 

Furthermore, it allows you to include only the exact cards you find most useful – if you prefer Machete, you don’t need to stock on .45 Automatics just to have redundancy and vice versa.

Finally, it is much more effective, if drawn once you already have a weapon. It features 2 handy icons (compare with the Agility icon of .45…). The only drawback compared to just putting an additional weapon to your deck is the cost of 1 resource and an action (obviously you might also get super-unlucky and not find any weapon within first 9 cards, but this is highly unlikely).

I like Preposterous Sketches, too (it seems we’re getting quite some strong cards in this expansion, huh?). So far a card allowing you to draw another three was only available for a hefty price of 4 experience points.

Obviously there are many advantages of Cryptic Research over the newly released card. It is fast, not only costing 0 actions, but also freely playable when engaged with an enemy. It can be used on another investigator. It does not costs any resources and does not have any requirements to play.¹ The last two are trivial, as clues are common and Seekers usually have many resources.

On top of obvious advantages it also provides good synergy with the Higher Education featured in the very same expansion.²

All in all, Preposterous Sketches are very close to the power of a solid 4 level card, so it would be foolish to consider it anything but a great card.

Rogues expand further on their resource theme with Lone Wolf. Please note the timing of the card – it is enough to start the turn alone to gain the benefits, hence you can also use it in a team with a bit of planning (though it obviously absolutely shines in a solo game). It is yet another solid card, building a strong economy and providing very quick return on investment. Unlike Burglary, it doesn’t require you to spend any further actions on it, it’s enough to just keep it in play (and keep to yourself).

While Assets seem to provide the strongest changes to strategy (due to their lasting effects on the game) and you can’t reliably plan the deck strategy on the event/skill cards, they are the much needed icing on the cake and too often get overlooked/underrated. I am glad the designers keep coming with more of them (particularly skills). 

The first one is a Mystic card – Defiance. It builds up on the Mystic theme of manipulating the symbol tokens. It is partially a situational card, as the nastiness of a symbol token varies strongly between scenarios (and even within them), which is partially compensated by the Wild icon on it.

It is hardly an auto-include. Unfortunately to assess its strength you need to know if you get more tokens during the campaign (effectively doubling, or even tripling the chance the effect of the skill will trigger), while due to level 0 it makes most sense to put it in the beginning of the journey. 

Survivor skill is even more situational. Being at -2 at the beginning of the skill check is rather a rare occurrence. And even than the card itself by no means guarantees a success. I would much rather include it in the deck, only if I know how it will be used.

I believe it will be used for fighting by both Survivor characters and Agnes, since an Enemy with 4 strength is already tough enough and they all can use Fire Axe to boost their chances further. Similarly Pete/Agnes can include it, if they anticipate investigating a Shroud 4 location.

I am not entirely sure about the card's interaction with Double or Nothing. If it does work as I'd imagine, though (meaning - you can commit Rise to the occasion, if the doubled difficulty is higher by 2 than your skill), it crates a powerful synergy.

I very much like the thematic side of the card. After all, Survivor archetype reflects an ordinary person faced against terror of the Mythos world, prevailing only due to their resilience, resourcefulness in face of the threat and luck. Thus despite being ordinary and unexceptional they use some inner drive to deal with the challenge.

The new upgraded Emergency Cache does not invoke any strong emotions in me. It is a nice choice for investigators that need more cards (Wendy, Pete, Seekers with the talent, maybe Agnes, as she relies on drawing the assets) or a good pick if you don’t want to ditch any of your cards but want an improvement.

What are your favorite cards? Have you found some interesting interactions? I’m looking forward to hearing your feedback!

All images are courtesy of cardgamedb.com and fantasyflightgames.com

1 Technically speaking, Cryptic Research has the drawback of having no icons, however playing it allows you to get more icons to use at 0 cost. 

2 Maybe the education the talent refers to is an Art School? Would also fit with the Art Student card, huh?

Essex County Express - New cards

Fantasy Flight Games is releasing new Mythos Packs at a very decent pace. Not long after the previous card-discussing post it’s time for a new one. Essex County Express has arrived, bringing 12 new player cards (2 from each class)! I will give cards more a detailed look this time. Please let me know if you found it useful!

There are two new neutral cards with the permanent keyword, granting investigators an extra slot. At a reasonable cost of 3 experience points you can try some fancy combinations of assets. As of now, Charisma is definitely the stronger one. There are multiple strong allies out there (not to mention few you can get during the Dunwich Legacy campaign). There are multiple valid combinations, so I don’t think it’s worth to mention all of them, just please keep an eye on following options. You can have two copies of the same ally in the game (particularly Beat Cop), just make sure it’s not a unique one! You should also be aware of possible using the extra slot to play one time effect allies (Seekers have two at this moment) If you are really planning to center your game on allies, two copies of Charisma might come even more handy.

Charisma is a cool and needed card.
And makes me want having Charlie Kane even more!

There are significantly fewer strong accessories as of now, though one can think of a good use for Relic Hunter. Particularly Waitress-Witch Agnes seems to be the best candidate as of now. I personally wasn’t able to fit any copies of Rabbit’s Foot in her deck, but it seems to be a valid choice, particularly with the new permanent talent around. I have also encountered different ideas, some of which seemed controversial or suboptimal to me. First one was Roland with Elder Sign Amulet and Police Badge – just too much XP invested, in my opinion. The other was Zoey with a Holy Rosary and Zoey’s Cross – rather a debatable idea of filling the out of class slots with Holy Rosary. Accidentally, Police Badge sounds like a decent option for her, if the goal is to boost her Will. With Relic Hunter in the card pool we can hopefully expect to see more accessories in future Mythos Packs.¹

One may just wonder, why being a Relic Hunter gives you an additional neck to hang a necklace on.

The list of “slot adding” cards does not end here. Guardians got Bandolier, an elegant solution to their constant hand – related issues. While not allowing them to reach quite the Kali level, it provides a much needed help. Guardians have been struggling with the hand slot limitations pretty much since day 0. Regardless of what do you need more slots for – to put a Flashlight/Magnifying Glass, or just to be able to pull out both Shotgun and Machete, Bandolier provides a strong help. A requirement to use the extra slot for a weapon is trivial, as you’re going to have one anyway. One extra health is just a cherry on top. Bandolier is in a way a similar card to Book of Shadows – giving a free slot, but occupying another one. However, it fills a rather less useful slot and costs no XP.

The next Blue card is an absolute blast. I was waiting to finally include it in my decks since I’ve seen the preview. You all know, how much I love the team cards and this one is not only playing right into the theme. It is also a very strong one! For one action and one card you get 4 resources and 4 cards. Moreover, usually spreading the gain is much more effective, as excessive cards need to be discarded.² AND it has two Will icons! What a great card and what a headache for Guardians – they have so many great cards to consider already, when leveling up.

Usual graphics rant:
Why is one investigator and ghost?
What kind of strange glasses does the other one have?

Seekers got one upgraded and one un-upgraded card as well. Art Student is rather on the weaker end of the spectrum. Clue for an action is not terribly efficient – unless you need to deal with Locked Door – kind of situation or a tough location, you could just as well investigate. Bit of a damage/horror buffer dos not sound too strong neither, as she occupies the ally slot (more about slots and opportunity costs here). The best idea to use her would be for a character with Charisma, particularly Roland, who needs extra Sanity the most. In this way she reminds a bit of Laboratory Assistant.

The upgraded Deduction is a card we saw coming. Not only because of the previews, but also due to the role it fills. It is nicely balanced; getting full benefit out of it is not too easy. Cost of two XP makes it a viable choice for Roland (and possibly more incoming investigators, who can take cards of level 0-2 from a single second class). With more and more of similar cards, Double or Nothing will get even stronger - can you imagine getting 6 clues with this synergy in a single action?! It also begs the question, if we’ll see similarly upgraded versions of Vicious Blow, Fearless and (tougher to imagine, as the design would have to be non-obvious) Opportunist and Survival Instinct.

Rogues finally got a good weapon! While stocking on different interesting little cards, they have been so far lacking a pure power, easy to use means of fighting and investigating. We’ll have to wait more for the later to come; a strong weapon has finally arrived, though. Switchblade’s 0 level version is very poor, the stronger 2 XP one is definitely superior. The Combat boost provides a decent shot at succeeding and – more importantly – at doing some serious damage, further expanding the “succeed by 2 or more” Rogue theme. While still not a perfect weapon (it’s basically a fast, unlimited uses version of .41 Derringer), it finally gives Rogues a chance to deal with enemies at cost of 2 XP. It will definitely be an auto-include for me.

Easily the last taken Green card.

 "I'm outta here!" sparked quite a discussion on a Polish AH:TCG group I am member of. A very strong observation has been made – many cards with two icons can be seen primarily as committable ones. Option to play them for their “real” effect is merely a nice addition. One can compare them with the neutral skill cards – they also primarily offer two icons. So is the new level 0 rogue card – you will use it very rarely. You can, however just commit it at any Agility test for juicy 2 icons.

There is one problem with this view – skill cards allow you to draw a card, if you pass the test. It is a very strong effect, basically a FREE ACTION. It is not to be easily disregarded. In fact, it costs 2 XP to upgrade Lucky! to a stronger, card drawing version! Therefore, having a non-skill card, that will be used just for icons, in most of the cases sounds like a poor choice to me. You could theoretically want to have more 2-icon cards and choose I’m outta here! or Oops! For this purpose, but it’s rather unlikely. 

Resigning is sometimes a valid option (and in rare cases even a way to win a scenario!), however the card seems very situational. I am not sure if I’d include any copy without knowing in advance it’d be useful in a particular scenario. And I rather prefer not to optimize decks for scenarios (as mentioned here). The card deserves some extra credit for being a very thematic one (by thematic I mean – very character – suiting one, having a strong RPG feel).

My favorite class (Mystics) did not get any obvious powerhouses this time, though they do not have a reason to complain neither. Level 3 version of Shrivelling, offering an extra Will boost is a decent card. While Agnes might not need the bonus too heavily, it’s a life-saver for Jim. Along with Book of the Dead he can become a very proficient fighter. It is bit unfortunate, it is not a level 2 card – Daisy and other future characters limited to 2 level cards could really use the bonus. 

*SPOILER ALERT* The card makes much more sense, when put into long term perspective. We happen to know there will be level 5 version of Shrivelling. It makes sense to take a lesser one on your way (due to the rule, allowing you to pay the XP cost of level difference only), not to have “saved XP” not yielding any benefit. *SPOILER ALERT*.

Hypnotic Gaze is another card, gaining an extra edge when used by Jim (told ya huh?). And another one, allowing players to use symbol tokens to their advantage, which is a nice design touch – not everything has black’n’white effects on the gameplay. At first sight It seems bit costly, compared to Dodge. However, it is mostly due to it not exactly being a Mystic-themed card (avoiding damage is not a typical Mystic thing), while Dodge fits perfectly in the Guardian archetype. To get beyond your usual capabilities, you must pay a higher price. While Jim gets an extra token he can use to trigger the second part of Hypnotic Gaze, it has added value for everyone. Daisy is particularly interested in avoiding damage and should consider having a copy or two. Agnes will be very happy about the “Spell” trait.

The only high level Survivor card.

Survivors once again got a nice interesting card. Newspaper is a very unusual boost to investigating – only working if you have no clues. It is very hard to establish how useful this card is, without knowing a particular scenario. There are scenarios like “Midnight Masks”, in which it might help you a lot. There are also quite a few, during which you only spend clues once or twice – it would make Newspaper significantly weaker than a Flashlight.

Newspaper is obviously weaker than Magnifying Glass. It is to be expected, though – Seekers excel at gathering clues, hence their clue related cards have to be the strongest ones out there. It is much more interesting (and useful!) to compare it with a Flashlight. They both provide a boost of two. Flashlight’s Shroud reduction is a bit more handy, though. First of all, reducing the Shroud to 0 all but guarantees succeeding (only auto-fail chaos token would cause you to fail the test). Secondly, it provides a stronger help, when using Double or Nothing!. Finally, it helps with locations which are not investigated using Intellect. Flashlight is a bit more expensive. Most of the value difference will be decided by how many times you are able to use them. For Flashlight the answer is simple, it has 3 charges. Newspaper’s uses, as I mentioned before are uncertain – in some scenarios you can definitely use it more often than 3 times. In some, just once or twice (particularly if drawn later). A good item for both Agnes and Pete to get their first clue (Pete can use it first while investigating on his own, using Duke at the 2^nd try.)

Lure makes me a bit worried. It’s a 3^rd Survivor level 1 card in a row, which means there are not too many high level red cards to take. It’s made even worse by Flare and Fire Extinguisher being Exile-based cards. Moreover, Lure is not too strong of a card, neither. To use it efficiently you need a triangle of locations, one of which contains hunter enemy, one with the character himself and a 3^rd one, where you plan to go. As already discussed earlier, two icons do not make a situational card good by themselves. Lure would be definitely a better card if it lasted one more turn, effectively keeping the monster trapped or at least making him to chase it for longer. It hurts even more, as the card costs 1 XP, I wouldn’t be sure if I’d include it even if it was a 0 level card.

TL;DR version:

Strongest/Weakest card: Stand Together/Lure 

Most/least thematic cards: "I'm outta here!"/Relic Hunter

My favorite/ least favorite card: Switchblade/Art Student

¹I am also still waiting for a cool Tome for Daisy! Even a stronger version of Encyclopedia or Old Book of Lore wouldn’t be too bad.

²Not to mention the law of diminishing marginal utility, which just as applicable in board games as in real life.

Miskatonic Univeristy - New Player Cards (vol I)

Hello again, my dear readers! Based on your reactions posts about investigators build a good and needed cycle. However every now and then it’s good (and necessary since we’re running out of investigators anyway) to write about a different subject. The recent release of Miskatonic University creates an opportunity and need to share my thoughts about the new player cards.

There are 13 new cards – 2 neutral ones, 2 for each class and a whopping 3 new Survivor cards (2 out of them use the new exile mechanic introduced in Dunwich Legacy rules).

A first glance over the cards made me quite optimistic already – they seem to be on the stronger end of the spectrum and one can easily see a game play situation/deck they would fit well. Even the ones I don’t particularly fancy still seem to have good uses and match particular play styles.

I do not plan to have a very detailed look at all of them, would like to make some general points about them instead - particularly the ones that might be less obvious. I have chosen 2 cards to describe in more details in a separate post – Song of Dead and Brother Xavier.

Guardian cards seem to be an attempt at creating different Guardian sub-types. Emergency Aid not only provides an enormous boost for existing allies (more uses of for Beat Cop [2] and Guard Dog), which is rather obvious. It also delivers yet another healing card in Guardian’s arsenal. And since they are usually paired with low-Stamina characters, it is an additional opportunity for a support/healer role to be added to Guardian characters. You can read more about the sub-classes in upcoming post.

It's bit funny to use Pathfinder for extra movements... in a museum

Seekers are given yet another quick movement card. I guess this is the direction designers wish to develop the class. I’ve got a Plan on the other hand (sort of along Whoops) is another of the cards that provide some means of fighting to less-fighting classes. Such cards are not only necessary to make solo playing enjoyable, but also do not disturb overall class archetype too much, while making deckbuilding far more interesting. After all, these are only singular cards. They do not allow to consistently deal with monsters, but rather to manage “back to the wall” circumstances or give them something to do, when team is facing a “boss” enemy. Their existence also arranges for another layer of decision making – should I keep the card for later and ask my team fighter to relieve me now? Or should I rather use it now, to allow him to do some other job he’s currently busy with?). Both of these cards are very strong, so Seekers (and Roland) get a substantial boost.

I have mixed feelings about the Adaptable card. This comes back to my approach to the game. I like to treat it as a role-playing experience. Granted, it’s easiest during first run of the campaign and somehow manageable during next few runs. And it is definitely getting much harder afterwards. You can’t make yourself forget content of the cards, resolutions etc. Therefore, willingly or not, you do plan your actions based on the knowledge you’ve gained. However, using Adaptable for the purpose of deck changing, in order to adjust it to scenarios feels… well a bit like cheating. As very well pointed out by KP The Aficionado (link to the whole great article at the end of the post) – if you decide to swap level 0 cards, you might as well take Adaptable, so it’s cost-effectiveness is terrific. Contraband is yet another Rogue – support card, slightly underpowered in order not to become grotesquely overpowered in the future, when some multi-use asset comes into the card pool. 

I am a big fan of teamwork cards.

Mystic is my beloved class and yet again they got really awesome cards! Delve to Deep is easily my favorite card in the whole set. First of all, it is incredibly thematic. It reminds of Lovecraft characters, who decide to pursuit the blasphemous knowledge despite knowing that curiosity might lead to their demise. Further on, it builds on Mystic’s tendency to deal a lot with the encounter deck (Ward of Protection, Drawn to the Flame, Scrying…). Lastly, it has a very unique and powerful effect! Great stuff! And in the later stage of the campaign it can easily be replaced, as experience gets less and less important (cards bought in the beginning of the campaign stay with you for its whole duration, while the ones acquired later for fewer scenarios).

In a popular vote for the best card of the mythos pack
held among all the Shuffle's authors
Delve Too Deep won, getting 100% votes!

Survivor cards deserve mostly few words about the exile mechanic. I am a big fan, as it adds yet another layer of decision making. They also seem to have a reasonable cost and extremely thematic uses (designers even considered a very role-playing aspect of the fire extinguisher – using it as a blunt weapon – truly a nice touch!). The 0 level card is rather on the weaker side, though one might see a good use for it, particularly in bigger teams, more prone to have multiple enemies at one location.

Important note - if you don't find an ally you DO NOT exile Flare

Last, but not least, the neutral cards. It becomes quite clear to me now, there are 2 categories of neutral cards. The first category encompasses staple cards, needed, or at least very useful for investigators of every class (and pretty much everyone) – 5 double icon skill cards, Emergency Caches etc. The other one includes cards that are weaker than their class – restricted friends. You use them to have some means of covering your class’ weaker sides or just for the synergy/combo related benefits (think: Knife, clearly an inferior weapon to any Guardian stuff). The two new neutral assets clearly belong to the latter one, providing a weaker way of healing or a combo opportunity for Agnes (possibly more of clever synergies will show up in the future).

So we’re 2 expansions in and so far Mystics got almost exclusively strong cards, while other classes more of a hit and miss ones. The class ideas are getting clearer with each pack and I’m already biting my fingernails impatiently waiting for next cards.

What are your favorite new cards? Which one do you consider the strongest? Let me know in the comments section!And definitely check out Delve Too Deep's post about the new cards.

Addendum: Here is the second part of DTD's analysis (with quit few guests on board.

 All images are courtesy of cardgamedb.com and fantasyflightgames.com