Dropping clues has always been a bit of a weird archetype. One that, I believe, is like the opposite of doom archetypes for Mystics.

In almost every scenario, getting clues is a MUST to progress at least some part of the scenario. In some scenarios you'll even need EVERY clue on the board. This means dropping clues is like undoing your hard-earned progress. Reverse action economy if you will. In a way, it's the opposite of doom archetypes since those eat your future actions, while this one, in a way, eats your past actions. (Altho Doom can be taken care of before it fucks you up).

Then, comes Press Pass. Now returning clues to their location is no longer such a lost of progress when you can LITERALLY gain an action to get it back. Hell, using Deduction or Other investigation tools, you can actually get more than what you lost!

Scarlet Keys dropped this fascinating card, and I don't think that the community has yet delved some of the possibilities that this card opens up. A free action for a 2xp card is amazing. And it's in a slot that Seekers often have free (except for Minh who really loves that Grisly Totem)

The first trigger is simple: advance the act. Spend clues on a scenario card. These things happen every scenario. The card would be only slightly expensive for that lone power.

The second trigger, "placing" clues, used to be sort of novel. Players rarely used it because it seemed counterproductive to drop the very things you worked hard to obtain.

One approach we've seen lately is decks with Press Pass and often Research Notes to benefit from dropped clues. Then they find ways to trigger them with the new tech like Analysis, Bizarre Diagnosis, and Captivating Discovery. Some decks have noticed that once-unfavored cards like Forewarned and Quick Study are suddenly viable. These all take the approach of "Two Steps Forward, One Step Back" insofar as they lose ground on clues but seek to make up with more benefits.

We haven't yet seen decks that use more obscure cards. Some neat ones that drop clues include Dr. Maleson, Dirge of Reason, Mysteries Remain, and Unsolved Case. And these dropped clues can be scooped up at low effort by stuff life Evidence!, Roland's innate ability, Grete Wagner, Occult Evidence, and True Understanding.

I look forward investigators like Roland, Mandy, and Joe Diamond who can combine these older cards with the new tech. Soon we'll see decks that can avoid the action costs of the dropped clues... "Not One Step Backwards!" will be coming soon!

Press Pass is not a good card. Even clue drop decks may want to think twice before including it.

It's an accessory slot Leo de Luca. Except it's 2 resource cheaper, 2xp more, doesn't give any soak, and most importantly, is conditional on you playing out at least two other combo pieces to trigger.

An additional action per round is the strongest when you get it early, but when you get Press Pass early you get no benefit from it. Until you can play out your other combo pieces, this is a dead card. And after you've played all your other combo pieces, you still need to find 4 resources and an action to play it.

While seeker as a class is great with resource generation and cards, clue drop cards like Research Notes don't lend themselves to any sort of engine. So setting up and drawing through your deck to find your combo is slow and inconsistent, too. Unless the stars align (or you have a ton of XP), it's unlikely that you'll be getting actual acceleration from Press Pass until half the scenario is over.

Meanwhile, Eon Chart simply gives you 6 additional actions. Pathfinder gives you an additional move you can use every round, immediately. Farsight gives an additional event play every round. A Fingerprint Kit just gives 6 bonus clues. As far as acceleration goes, Press Pass compares poorly to just about every other way speed up game progress.

You can use it with The Raven Quill (Interwoven Ink) on Research Notes to ready Press Pass again and use it twice per round...if you don't mind dropping multiple clues per round for some reason.

The best thing I can say about Press Pass is that it's much better in specific scenarios that require you to drip-spend clues.