Card Reviews · ArkhamDB

The Endless Stairs

Q: Can "I'm outta here!" be used to resign during A Thousand Shapes of Horror's Act 2a: The Endless Stairs regardless of whether or not the bottommost location is revealed, due to Act 2a's constant ability? (Assuming, of course, that one's current Mysterious Stairs location does not prevent resigning.) I.e., what is "a 'resign' ability" specifically defined as, for the purposes of "I'm outta here!"?

A: No, you cannot! The bottommost Mysterious Stairs location does not gain the “Resign” ability until it is revealed, as per the text on act 2. Essentially, the resign ability only exists while the bottommost stairs is revealed; until then, there is no scenario card with a “resign” ability in play, so you cannot play I’m outta here. Cheers, MJ Newman

2/24/21

anaphysik · 97

Blessing of Isis

This card seems super good for Mateo and Mary. But using it for an entire campaign in three-player, with a bag often crammed full of blessings, it didn’t trigger tremendously often. The people who really want this card, rogues who can go through their decks fast and get both favors of the sun, can’t take it.

In four player, you have enough skill checks and people per location that this will trigger more often. In solo, it feels completely skippable; if you can reliably get two blessings in a row, you can probably just succeed without paying three XP and two bucks.

2024 Edit: Blessed blade(4) gives this card a shot in the arm. Because the blade can reveal bless tokens without removing them from the bag, Zoey has very good odds of triggering her elder sign when she wants it… When attacking enemies. Definitely worth another look after the Hemlock Vale pack.

2/23/21

MrGoldbee · 1484

If all you want is to basically guarantee success off of drawing a bless, ancient covenant is by far the better than this. This is only really useful if you have a an elder sign worth trying to force into play. Mateo is pretty much the only character who can have this who really wants it in my opinion. Nathaniel also has a pretty good elder sign, but not a lot of bless tech — NarkasisBroon · 10 2/23/21

Zoey has a great elder sign and a strong compatibility with many bless cards. Even with the bag pumped at or close to 10, though, this card isn't pulling its weight in a two-player game. It's 3XP for a possible extra damage that almost never triggers...I should have put that XP towards something that would guarantee damage. So far, Blessing of Isis is all style and no substance. — Pinchers · 132 2/24/21

Zoeys elder sign is ok, but given how easily guardians get access to damage, 2 damage per action is pretty standard, so +1 damage is +half an action and only triggers on fight checks so maybe a third of an action all told. By comparison Mateo's is an action, or if it's better, a card and a resource, so maybe 1 to 1.5 actions worth of value. I'd say Mateo's so I'd say elder sign is 4-5 times as valuable as zoeys. This analysis is a bit naive, but it helps to rank zoeys elder sign. It's not great, it's ok. It's one of the best guardian ones, but honestly most guardians have really sub par elder signs, which is the real reason the card is lacklustre in the current card pool — NarkasisBroon · 10 2/24/21

Mateo's got the best elder sign, we can all agree on that. :-D But maybe think of Zoey's elder sign as 1 testless damage on a free action--similar to her cross. If an enemy engages you, you fire the cross as a free action, and then pull the elder sign during an attack with a 2-damage weapon...that's essentially 4 damage in one action, which is a one-shot kill for the vast majority of non-elites. Pulling that elder sign (or cheating it out with Isis) gives you more momentum during your turn to engage an enemy off a friend, move to where they are, or hit a second enemy at your location. I'll make the argument that that's a full action, not a half-action. So at its best, yes, Isis would help Zoey kill much more efficiently, and keep those blessings in the bag for everyone to enjoy. I want to like this card... — Pinchers · 132 2/24/21

Assuming 18 chaos tokens in the bag along with 10 bless tokens, the odds of drawing two bless tokens is about 12%. So it won't be common but it's not impossible either. — togetic271 · 5 4/9/21

Agnes Baker

Just finished the Path to Carcosa campaign. Got a cheeky idea for next run ... play Agnes Baker and "accidentally" speak His name aloud once a phase. Get horror each time → deal damage to an enemy at your location. :D Need to pack some horror heal/soak though :))

2/23/21

TomLady · 10

and carolyn can heal all horror — elkeinkrad · 500 2/23/21

It's also fun if you are running key of us to play it down and then say his name thrice to summon great power — NarkasisBroon · 10 2/23/21

Yeah, I finally got to that resolution in Carcosa as well. (Was always defeated in the Asylum on my previouse runs.) I thought as well, this would be great for Agnes. Calvin could also abuse it. — Susumu · 381 2/23/21

Nothing is quite as fun as swinging a 20 combat Timeworn Brand as Calvin — StyxTBeuford · 13043 2/23/21

We did exactly this on our blind run of Carcosa. We didn’t know about the rule until we got there but... Jim had just met an unexpectedly final end in the preceding mission and our team suddenly had an opening for a new Mystic, so... Hey Agnes, wanna come to France with us? We referred to this strategy as ‘Candlejacking.’ — Death by Chocolate · 1488 2/25/21

Moment of Respite

Except for the rare direct horror effects, soak is equivalent to healing in most cases (exceptions: Carolyn & Agnes). Most classes have excellent options for horror soak at 0xp, either as allies or accessory slots. Even if the slot was previously contested, Relic Hunter and Charisma frees it right up at the 3xp cost.

Guardians have Something Worth Fighting For and Hallowed Mirror as the premier options, and spending 3xp to draw a card is probably not the best idea for such an XP hungry faction. Survivors have Cherished Keepsake and Peter Sylvestre. Seekers have their pick of disposable allies and Logical Reasoning. Mystics have the same, along with Rosaries, Keys, Fearless, and Deny Existence.

Rogues need horror soak or healing the most, and have the least options for it. There's Lonnie Ritter and Gregory Gry, both of which are only semi-disposable. Moment of Respite edges Lonnie out at 1 more draw for 1 less resource, and while Lonnie can soak damage as well, Rogues usually has that covered with Leather Coat and good . Greg covers 1 less horror, and though he can breakeven his own cost eventually, using him as a horror soak means that he usually won't live long enough to do so. Rogues also love their accessories, precluding something like an Elder Sign Amulet, and drinking their problems away takes quite a few more actions.

So for Rogues, Moment of Respite is the best horror heal/soak they have without going out of faction. In a pinch, they can even Double it!. Though it's still far from an auto-include: taking horror doesn't lose you the game unless you take too much horror. But if you've taken a trauma or two, or are about to face down the Rougarou, keep Moment of Respite in mind.

2/22/21

suika · 9497

For 3 bucks & 3XP tho? — MrGoldbee · 1484 2/22/21

Yeah this is horrifically expensive horror heal. I’ve not taken this card even in the most sanity lacking rogues. — StyxTBeuford · 13043 2/23/21

Try a single copy on Winifred and parallel Skids, who have no other good solution to horror, cycles rapidly, have no problems with economy, and a relatively XP-lite core. Other than that, it works decently on Preston and Finn if they aren't taking BMOC for some reason (mostly because some other investigator is using it). — suika · 9497 2/23/21

I was considering this, but in the end did not take it on Winifred either, even when I got her to 5 mental traumata. In the end, I took two copies of "Liquid Courage" (1). It was not really fun to play her that way and we lost the campaign, but I stayed sane until the end. I hard mulliganed every game for either LC, an ally or the "Gold Pocket Watch", because I knew, every mythos phase can likely be my last otherwise. I did not have "You handle this one", and this was probably my biggest mistake with her. — Susumu · 381 2/23/21

Yeah to be fully honest, I think even Rogues have better means of handling encounters and horror than this card, and I wouldn’t even include liquid courage in that discussion. Wini has great draw and has a tendency to play up her willpower more than other low will gators (since she likes to commit 2 cards anyway). Preston is a fair shout for this card but even there I think you have plenty of good options in Survivor that work more effectively for less XP, like Devil’s Luck. — StyxTBeuford · 13043 2/23/21

Forgot to clarify- Wini’s high draw means she can play all of her allies more readily, so she always has soak. I find Charisma to be a better investment for mitigating sanity. — StyxTBeuford · 13043 2/23/21

Her high draw still can be still not enough, if she doesn't find an Ally early. In "Rougarou" I draw a willpower treachery (Ripples on the Surface) in first and second mythos phase, 6 horror, game over for me, no chance to get any kind of soak before. I still waited a few more traumata (probably to many) until I bought into LC. I guess, I could instead have invested into 6 or 8 allies too, to reliably draw one into the starting hand. But paying 5 for a Leo, just to dodge a "Rotting Remains" seems also too expensive for me. — Susumu · 381 2/23/21

Wini’s stats, if you build her lean enough and with enough skills, are more like 3/5/5/7 since you can realistically commit 2 to every single test. Between LCC and a few cantrip skills, she should chew through her deck early enough that either one of sanity or willpower shouldn’t be a problem. Charisma is my go to when all else fails, and it is my main method of dealing with Tony’s low will and sanity. Of all the Rogues, Tony struggles the most with his sanity since his card access and fight focus make him more vulnerable. — StyxTBeuford · 13043 2/23/21

Limited* card access, though worth noting Seeker Tony gets Logical Reasoning and Survivor gets Devil’s Luck as well. — StyxTBeuford · 13043 2/23/21

I got through my deck most games, except Rougarou of course. I probably had not enought wilds (and only 4 will-pips: 2x LCC and 2x Crystalliser) to relyably get will to 3, though. This was my final deck: https://arkhamdb.com/deck/view/1122501 I wanted to try out a Trick/Taktic-deck with Chuck, and this excludes pretty much will-pips. He is much better for Sefina in my experience, but I also enjoyed playing Sef more than Wini. — Susumu · 381 2/23/21

Well not quite, "Watch this" also had a Willpower-pip. But this would have been weird to put on a will-test for WIni. And of course, "Liquit Courage, once I got it, but that was of course not for committing. :) — Susumu · 381 2/23/21

Winifred getting to 3 will after committing cards is still not a good place to be when testing vs DC 3/4 treacheries, and downright terrible on Hard/Expert unless you have Sure Gamble in hand. Tony's mostly fine without MoR since he almost always runs Lonnie Ritter, Pipe + Jacket + Lonnie is usually all the soak he needs, enough that MoR is a luxury upgrade for him. — suika · 9497 2/24/21

If you're considering 2x LC (1) + Charisma just to play a soak ally...just get 2x MoR. It's only 1 xp more, and much more action/card/resource efficient. — suika · 9497 2/24/21

I dont think Liquid Courage is worthwhile, but Charisma definitely is. You dont get Charisma just for the soak- Rogue allies are some of the best in the game. Naturally leaning into them is easy, and they come with soak conveniently. — StyxTBeuford · 13043 2/24/21

I sure didn't have enough soak with her. I started with Lonnie, who was just to expensive, in particular, because Ididn't need her fist in my weaponless build and I draw "The Tower" as my RBW. I hardly ever played her, and soon exchanged her to get one, then 2 Chucks as my only ally. LC was never something, I was planning for. Just, what I used, when I started each game with 3 remaining sanity. And it worked quite well for me. Sure, I needed an additional equipment round just to heal a bit, but that was OK in 4 players, as the others could cover me in the meantime, and I had the rest of the game to contribute. Better, then inevitably die in first or second mythos phase. I stil got my 5th mentl trauma afterwards, but that was near the end of "City of Archives", when we already were in last act. Rather funny situation: I earlier cleared a 2 VP location ad was about to die due to the horroro from second reshuffle of the deck. We had to draw more cards, than I had remaining in the deck to progress the act, so I went back to this location, because there was an option to reshuffle the discard into the deck. Well, of course I draw "Rotting Remains", while I was there, so all I gained was loosing us the XP again, I previously unlocked. I sure made some mistakes in my build, and there were severa unfortunate draws as well, yet I think, LC (1) was not the worst idea I had, at least not in a 4 player game. In solo, I probably would have opt out for MoR instead. But I agree with suika: pushing Wini up to 3 on willpower-tests seems not great to me, at least not spending preciouse wilds. If I had my second LCC and my second CoD in hand: sure I did this. It might at least save me one or two horrors, and draw me a card. — Susumu · 381 2/24/21

Another reason, why I considered LC (1): I kind of hoped, that I might get rid of "The Tower" with it. Well, that worked out maybe once. My hand was always so big, that I had to get lucky on this. — Susumu · 381 2/24/21

Yep, rogue allies are great for loads of stuff. Taking horror for you isn't exactly one of their strengths though. You really don't want to soak more than 1 horror on Leo de Luca or Lola or Chuck unless you're about to be defeated. As for the two allies who can repeatedly take horror for you, see the review above this hilariously long comment chain. — suika · 9497 2/24/21

I think, there are more: "Treasure Hunter" and "Priest of Two Faiths" are pobably the most likely usable as pure "brain shield". However, if I do such a low sanity rogue investigator again, I'm most inclined to try Tony with the Lonnie, Pipe and Jacket combo you suggested, also because I thin — Susumu · 381 2/24/21

(accidentally posted) ... also, because I want to try out some rogue weapons for once, and I suppose, most other rogues with low to average fight stats arn't that great with them. — Susumu · 381 2/24/21

I would also agree that it's not really (usually) worth committing up to 3 willpower in Wini. You just get the one draw, so it's a good way to burn through all of your wild icons, which could be used for actually productive stuff. Exception would be if you're running pre-taboo All In or possibly Pickpocketing (2), because you never run out of cards, that way. I have considered MoR, but it never quite makes the cut. I usually don't find that I get defeated before winning scenarios, though. There are only so many wp tests. Charisma highly recommended to get a little extra sanity buffer. — Zinjanthropus · 229 3/6/21

Unrelenting

"Ok, I'm going investigate this 2 shroud location. I'm at 2 int, but don't worry guys, I'm actually looking to purposely fail so that I can play my "Look what I found!" for twice as many clues as I would get from just investigating normally. And you know what? I'll commit a Take Heart for good measure. After all, more than 80% of the tokens in the bag have negative modifiers; we've drawn like, 3 -4's in the last few tests. I'm basically guara...

...aaaaaaand I drew a +1. Goddammit!!!1!"

Has this situation ever happened to you? Well boy do I have the product for you!

2/22/21

Lucaxiom · 4511

O yea, that's even more reason to love this. — Zerogrim · 295 2/22/21

It does give you a plus one to the test, so 2 to 2 is still one up with it. Weird situation where a card would be better in some scenarios without a wild icon. — SSW · 216 2/22/21

Shout out to Crystalline Elder Sign for sealing the dreaded +1 — StyxTBeuford · 13043 2/22/21

I've also seen it happen in a party with Stella and Mary that Stella is doing like a 4 Vs 7 test she wants to fail, and draws like bless bless -1 — NarkasisBroon · 10 2/22/21

I think there could be an interesting failure-heavy deck that takes advantage of this to seal good tokens, and SoH to add more bad tokens (Favor of the Moon could help make sure that you draw them). Could be interesting with OYO, as SoH can let you heal up damage and horror that you can no longer soak on allies. — Zinjanthropus · 229 3/6/21

You could use it to seal the special tokens that have terrible effects if you fail when deliberately failing. — suika · 9497 3/9/21