So... this card lets you cancel any card drawn from the encounter deck by you. This includes monsters which I guess if you're swarming in baddies or don't have an enemy handler can be helpful, but there are genuinely better ways to handle monsters. What this card doesn't let you do is cancel Ancient Evils drawn by another investigator. This means that this card has at minimum a chance to cause you to lose six actions (since there have to be minimum 2 investigators for this scenario to come into play), two cards and two resources. This only scales upwards the more players in the game.

I cant think of any monster that takes more than 2-3 actions to deal with except boss monsters, and they aren't in the encounter deck. Plus, On The Hunt basically serves the same function by spawning it with your fighter, for 1 resource and skipping the mythos draw for the fighter.

As such, this card is basically a never pick in my view as being unable to cancel Ancient Evils just isn't worth it any other benefit.

I was curious if there was any way to fannagle getting two people into a locked room with this, so I asked the dev team. The short answer is no. The long answer is the email below:

Thanks for the questions! For the answer to your question about moving into the Vault with Safeguard: The text on the Vault states that you cannot enter the Vault unless you control the [Elder Thing] Key. The text on Safeguard lv 2 allows you to move to a connecting location with an investigator AS they move. Here's the breakdown:

Since your investigator moves with your friend to the Vault simultaneously, and the Vault specifies you cannot enter unless you control a specific key, you are unable to move with your friend as they move to the vault, since you don't control the key, and the "cannot" in the Vault's unrevealed side is absolute. The wording on Safeguard also doesn't trigger off of your friend declaring their intention to move into a location: it only triggers as they move into the location. As a result, you can't use Safeguard lv2 to enter the Vault alongside your friend under any circumstance (in the situation you posited), because you don't control the [Elder Thing] key. Additionally, if you have the [Elder Thing] key, you cannot Safeguard with your friend who doesn't have the key into the Vault, as they cannot move into the Vault unless they control the key in the first place.

Please note, though: with the wording on Safeguard lv 0 ("After another investigator moves from your location to a connecting location, exhaust Safeguard: Move to that location."), you are able to follow your friend who controls the [Elder Thing] key into the Vault, as the timing of the move occurs After​ they move into that location. So oddly enough, Safeguard lv 0 is more helpful in this situation than the upgraded version!

Thanks for playing!

Not the greatest of clue finding cards, but can have a niche for investigators who are good at evading but not as great at investigating, such as Rita, Silas, parallel Skids.

The fact that you have to succeed by 2 is rough, but will happen often enough in, for example, a Rita Young deck that just stacks agility using cards like Track Shoes and Peter Sylvestre. And the fact that it's fast and 1 resource makes it easy to play when such an occasion happens. Just don't count on it as your main way of getting clues.

Another important thing to mention is that automatic evade cards such as Stunning Blow and Stray cat do not work with this card, since automatic evasion is not the same as automatically succeeding as an evasion test (by contrast, cards such as Hope or Stroke of Luck do synergize with this card).

Tl;dr Nice card to have if you're planning on evading (by) a lot anyway, but not a must include by any means and certainly not for every deck.

As SSW mentions in his comment, I felt rather underwhelmed when I first read this card and it is only recently that I realised how good it can be. Instead of reviewing scenarios when it can be beneficial, I am going to look at synergies with other Investigators/Player cards. Hopefully, that will help people to find a spot for it in their decks.

We do not know yet if investigating a location with an enemy will trigger an AoO. In this review, I consider that it does, following the Grim rule, but I leave that up to you. I will edit this review once there is an FAQ that clarifies the situation.

TL;DR: Use this card as it brings a lot of fun combos.

The card itself:

Pros:

• Does not exhaust to investigate connecting locations.

• Uses the "As if" allowing all the to resolve at the targetted location.

• Allows you to look at connecting locations Fast, saving Move actions, especially when there is a cul-de-sac.

Cons:

• Takes a hand slot that is often used for base skill boost - Magnifying Glass, Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, Dream Diary, Fingerprint Kit, etc....

• Does not reveal connecting locations, you can look at them, but not investigate there... Therefore it does not trigger Whitton Greene or Vantage Point.

Comparison:

Compared to In the Know, it costs less XP, is cheaper, allows you to look at connecting locations, and investigate connecting locations with no limit, when In the Know does not take any slots, does it for every revealed location, but only 3 times.

Synergies:

Investigators:

• Rex Murphy - Easy, go to a central location and empty all the connecting locations. Rex's passive will take a second clue of the targetted location and not on his actual location [See "As if" rule].

• Amanda Sharpe - The most heart-breaking thing to do with Amanda is to Move when you have a Good Card under her. Pocket Telescope allows you to stay where you are, and use all your actions investigating every connected location while your heavy skill is active.

• Trish Scarborough - Investigate at a location with an enemy to trigger the auto-clue/evade without having to actually be at the enemy's location, saving you some damage during the enemy phase. You will still have to Obfuscate the AoO.

• Luke Robinson - Investigate every revealed location from your Dream-Gate.

• Bob Jenkins and Dexter Drake for all the usual Items/Assets shenanigans.

• Ursula Downs / Monterey Jack - Move across the map to reveal a lot of locations and stop to investigate at a central location.

Player Cards:

• Hiking Boots - If you empty a connecting location while using the Pocket Telescope, you are now happy to move 2 locations away as the will trigger at the "As if" location of the investigation, bringing you to a connecting location to your connecting location. This combo shines in Monterey Jack as it allows you to trigger his passive without taking a single Move action.

• Shortcut - Play it during the test [See Shortcut's FAQ] to move two locations away.

• Pathfinder - Same as Shortcut, use it during the test to move 2 locations away.

• Working a Hunch - Use any window to get an extra clue at the targetted location.

• Lola Santiago/Delilah O'Rourke/Lonnie Ritter - Use any window during the test to trigger their abilities.

• Connect the Dots - Just the normal use here, just increases the chances of making it happen.

• Cryptographic Cipher - Use it during any of the test's windows to get another Investigate action for free at the targetted location.

• Ice Pick (3)/Deduction - Works like Rex Murphy, get an extra clue at the targetted location.

• Arcane Insight - Decreases the shroud of the targetted location for the rest of the turn.

• Quickdraw Holster - Shoot the enemy at the connecting location. Does not prevent the AoO.

• Crack the Case - Get the resources of the targetted location and share with the investigators at that location.

Splash cards:

•  - Dynamite Blast (3) - Use the test's windows to target a place 2 locations away / Alice Luxley / Beat Cop (2) / Solemn Vow / "Get behind me!" - Use any window to use the effect at the targetted location.

•  - Open Gates around your location,

•  - Mysterious Raven / Stray Cat (doesn't prevent the AoO) - "Look what I found!" that would bring clues at the targetted location (this one is a bit unclear, but for consistency matters, I think that makes the most sense this way).

Conclusion:

When reading this card without thinking about the synergies it can bring, it feels like it's going to take the spot of a more useful card like the Magnifying Glass or any Tome, just to be able to investigate one step further, when it is anyway very likely that you will go to that location anyway to move forward with the game.

But when looking at Investigators' Passives and other Player Cards, the number of delicious combos it can trigger make it one of the sweetest 0xp releases of The Edge of the Earth IMO. Just a shame that the ability does not reveal locations, but hey, I'd gladly pay 2xp for this (wink wink FFG).

Pretty awful card honestly. Tides of Fate essentially does the same thing from a game state perspective (fill the bag with curses, needed to trigger the curse spells) but as a fast action for 0 experience.

Maybe icing on a maxed out curse deck but definitely a low priority upgrade.