Doomed

I've been running this as house rule alternative text on The Bell Tolls for awhile now and been having a ton of fun:

  • Revelation: Put The Bell Tolls into play in your threat area. At the end of your turn: Discard The Bell Tolls. You are defeated. Suffer 1 mental and 1 physical trauma.
  • Log, under your investigator's earned story assets / weaknesses: "But somehow, you've defied your fate..."
  • Remove The Bell Tolls from your deck and search the collection for Overzealous and place it on the bottom of your deck.

The two main changes:

  • Gives you one last turn, instead of outright death. Have had a ton of fun with this in multiplayer as the person who draws it gets to plan our their final blaze of 3 action glory!
  • Does not outright kill, but simply replaces itself with another weakness. I chose Overzealous because it's generally regarded as pretty annoying. But, narratively, I always adore the idea of a doomed investigator surviving their fate against all odds... and get a bit cocky after ;)

In defense of the original:

  • I will say, that playing it in the above way has actually made me somewhat love this weakness and appreciate the original as printed text.
  • Recently, with the right / more experienced play group, we sometimes do opt to go with the text as is and simply plan ahead for the player who drew it to ready up a 2nd investigator. Oddly enough, the act of planning out that 2nd deck, sometimes makes them eager to die and switch! :P

TL;DR: they're your cards, have fun!

iBis · 3
I like your thematic narration, but I would rather remove the weakness from the collection, should somebody be uncomfortable with it. The consequence of just taking 1 or 2 horror and loosing out on the card draw without an action tax is just too little for at least the first half of the campaign, if all you get is an "Overzealous" down the line, which you might have drawn for your level 0 deck as well. — Susumu · 381
Forewarned

There will be scenarios where its downside won't even be a true cost. I've been playing dunwich right now and in most of scenarios you don't advance the act by collecting x clues, but instead use clues for other things or just have to clear some specific place to get to the next act, so you won't even lose one action by dropping clues. Fantastic card!

Dimerson · 8
Magnifying Glass

Ah, the good old Mag glass. Many years have passed, and i can honestly say from the bottom of my heart that i hate Mag glass even more now then i did back in the days. Sure, it was strong, but no way did i know that Seekers would be so over-the-top overpowered that a simple item that gives them +1 would be deemed as OP. Why, you might ask? Well, let me give you an example.

Imagine if Guardians had something like Mag Glass from the core set, which most of the community does not even see as problematic, but imagine a guardian asset like this: takes up an arcane slot for example, 1 cost-0xp fast asset that says you get +1 . Why would anybody in their right mind NOT play that card?

And they won't print it because it would immediately be auto-include in most Guardian decks. But even if they print such an insanely broken and not fun card, here's the fun thing; IT WOULD STILL BE WEAKER THAN MAG GLASS! (since mag glass gives Seekers the thing that they use all game long in almost all of their actions, it gets the job done and clues win you games, while fight is something that you need only when enemies show up and most of them end up being dead in the same turn). Every single thing about this card screams "VALUEEEEEE", and the fact that this card came out alllll the way back in the core set, it pushed designers into a bad alley of balancing future cards around cards like this and Dr. Milan Christopher which we already know is the best ally in the game at lvl 0. The worst part of all of this is that poor Rogues still do not have an ally that gives them +1 to play with at 0xp which does something usefull, Mystics again have no good allies at 0xp after poor David Renfield got nuked with the latest tabboo list and are again back to the good old Arcane Initiate which is pretty damn good but still not on the level of Milan.

This whole review might seem like a lot of complaining and not a straight up review, but i just wanted to tell the new players that they should not look at this card as a simple, poor +1 . It is insanely strong, and you will never feel bad to draw it and just slam it onto the table, because even in the worst possible outcome if you need to discard an asset because you have drawn Crypt Chill, you can discard this damn card which didn't even cost you an action to play and just continue doing what Seekers do, which is running around and clearing clues and drawing cards and winning the game. Just put your high enough, and that's it!! Even better when designers put something like a boss enemy to "balance" it out, so that Seekers cannot win the game just by themselves, which is the time for our Guardians to shine!

But wait, aren't most of the bosses and scenarios "balanced" out by having the ability to spend clues to deal dmg to enemies, or spend clues to move for free, or spend clues to.... you get what i'm saying? Well, the normal brain would then ask: "If Seekers get the best draw, best movement, best search, insane action compression, completely maxed-out stats or insanely strong abilites, i can deal dmg with Strange Solution and Ancient Stone, i can get easy money with cards like Crack the Case etc., why would i play anything else?". And that's where my group is at currently! With the full cardpool, there ain't no way in hell that any other class compares to Seekers, so we just stopped playing them. And it all started with this poor, simple card........

Blood&gore · 436
Don't get me wrong: Mag Glass is sure strong, couöld be even be called a staple. But comparing it to a hypothetical Guardian asset in the ARCANE slot is not doing justice. The arcane slot is not as competitive in the Guardian card, while seekers have a ton of interesting Tomes and Relics (and a couple of other cards), they would like to stick in their hand slots. A hypothetical comparable guardian asset would need to give you +1 fight while fighting (so no buff to break a locked door) and occupy a hand slot as well (so no 2 handed weapons without jank like Bandolier), not sure, if I would take this as an auto include, all the more, as most weapons give a buff to their fight ability themselves. — Susumu · 381
I agree with some of the broader points about the Seeker card pool being overpowered, but I don't feel that Magnifying Glass is anywhere near "over-the-top overpowered" as this review suggests. As the above commenter notes, the appeal to imaginary cards (that aren't really analogous) is odd and doesn't really prove anything. Also there's tons of competition for the hand slot (even in Seeker). I get why someone might not like Mag Glass but it's not breaking the game or anything. — Pseudo Nymh · 67
I mostly never used this card in my seeker decks because they normal have enough bonuses to overcome the shroud. One exception might be Rex due to his ability and his weak Stat. I think a good comparison in the guardian toolbox might be the machete, which is more expensive but does it's job much better than the glasses. — Tharzax · 1
Well-Maintained

I think Jury-Rig raises the usefulness of this card even further for the 6 investigators who can take both without buying Versatile (and I wouldn't buy Versatile for a single copy of Jury-Rig):

While I typically don't like assembling a three-card combo, Old Keyring + Jury-Rig + Well-Maintained is pretty strong. You won't get Well-Maintained back, but you will get the Keyring and Jury-Rig back.

Lantern only gives you -1 shroud instead of Keyring's -2, I think it's better for the Investigate combo because of no Uses (X) and you can discard the Lantern on demand, which allows you to wait until the combo is assembled and then "recharge" your Jury-Rig when empty.

Any Firearm + Jury-Rig + Well-Maintained is a great combo with this and Jury-Rig, as it allows you to recharge the Firearm AND the Jury-Rig, and obviously synergizes really well with Act of Desperation.

A Well-Maintained Backpack is really interesting for investigators who need to find their items and supplies, and / or those wanting to search their decks (anyone who can take this and Astounding Revelation or Surprising Find)

Well-Maintained says "Attach to an Item asset you control." Backpack says "If there are no cards attached to Backpack, discard it." As written, Backpack would not self-discard if Well-Maintained is attached. You would need some other means of discarding such as playing a second body slot over the first Backpack. — Pugtato · 1
@Pugtato correct, you need to "push" a backpack out with another body slot item. — DrMChristopher · 502
Survival Knife

Card text : " After an enemy attack deals damage to you during the enemy phase..."

Interaction against Retaliate enemy :

  • Retaliate : "Each time an investigator fails a skill test while attacking a ready enemy with the retaliate keyword..."
  • Enemy Phase : "... Upon completion of dealing the attack (and all abilities triggered by the attack), exhaust the enemy." (Though it would ready soon in Upkeep Phase, that's why no one bothered turning the enemy 90 degree after it attacks.)
  • Triggered Ability : "A ability with a triggering condition beginning with the word "after..." may be used immediately after that triggering condition's impact upon the game state has resolved."

Performing Fight against Retaliate enemy therefore has 2 potential outcomes in the case that you fail :

  • If it is exhausted before you trigger , Retaliate is disabled at the moment you are testing Fight against it.
  • Inversely if it is still ready while you are testing your Fight, you will get hit if you fail your counter-attack.

(More related rules : "After", "Deal")

Unfortunately "After an enemy attack deals damage to you" is not the same as "after an enemy attacks you". After damage dealing step it is still not exhausted yet. (Someone also asked before)

You will have to take Retaliate attack if you fail the test.


Therefore :

  • Enemy that gains debuff while exhausted, you will not gain that advantage during the counter-attack. (e.g. spoiler Carcosa enemy)
  • Sometimes exhausted enemy gains a buff. (e.g. spoiler Carcosa enemy, spoiler Carcosa enemy) Your Fight will not have to account for these buff just yet, as it is not yet exhausted.
  • Massive : "The lead investigator chooses the order in which these attacks resolve. " "The massive enemy does not exhaust until its final attack of the phase resolves."
    • If counter-attack can defeat it, choosing one with Survival Knife to take the hit first and defeating it saves the rest of the team from getting hit.
    • If it is both Massive and Retaliate (e.g. spoiler Carcosa enemy), Retaliate is not disabled no matter the knife holder take the hit earlier or the last.

Also unrelated, but Interpreting "You" When Taking or Being Dealt Damage : This FAQ has direct reference to Survival Knife so worth a read.

5argon · 11186
Good catch, but I think many people, including me, do not realize that it's possible retailate attack is not generated due to enemy's exhaustion. I believe this review will be more interesting if the backstory is given at the start of the review. — elkeinkrad · 500
I've been cobbling together a parallel back Roland deck for Scarlet Keys and are wondering if this will make me able to snipe the Coterie assassins out of the shadows? I'm reading the rules and nowhere does it say you can't attack the enemies in the shadows. — Chillstad · 35
could you confirm that an opportunity attack (either by retaliate, guard dog or toe on toe) represent enemy phase? That "during enemy phase" condition became subject of debate in my group recently, because technically we were still in the investigator phase when performing our actions. — nerdbert · 1