This card, along with Survey the Area, Defensive Stance, and Occult Theory forms a cycle of cards that boost two of your skills (Savant is a different breed, but is the Rogue 1XP version). The two skills are the ones that the Edge of the Earth investigators have a 4 and 5 base skill in (Lily excepting), so for those investigators specifically, these cards boost those skills to a modified skill of 9 (without any other modifiers in play). Number big! Why would you want to pay an XP for such a big number, when Unexpected Courage usually puts you in a good position to pass a test, or you want the draw off of Guts?

• You're looking for something to help you succeed-by-2 (although note that that's most commong in , and that class didn't get one of these cards (but hey, off-classes exist).
• If you're dealing with Curse tokens, this may make you feel more comfortable about a very important skill test.
• On Hard difficulty, this may be worth it more of the time when you must pull a chaos token.
• Occasionally you do need to pass a very tough skill test. Several locations throughout the campaigns ask you to test (5) to unlock something or another or avoid something bad. Being up by 4 should protect you almost all of the time on Standard,
• If you're playing with other EOTE investigators, having high stats means you have low stats in something else. Specifically with this card, Daniela can commit it to Monterey Jack's skill test, granting him 6 for a tough treachery. Jack could do the reverse with Survey the Area, allowing Daniela to try to pass a crucial test, again at a modified value of 6.

Because these skills only modify two skills, they also draw comparisons to Curiosity, Able Bodied, Steadfast, and Cunning. The classes and skills don't exactly match up to this cycle, but the main draw with those is that they are at 0 XP. This cycle needs to work at 1 XP because of the unusual deck-building requirements of the EOTE investigators. For other investigators, whether or not they want them is a case-by-case analysis. They're worth a look because you'd be paying 1 XP to put in a Level 0 card anyways if you really needed the skill boost. But most other investigators are not regularly testing two stats, nor do they need to boost them quite so high. 1 XP cards are tricky because the deck slot itself is extremely valuable, and you'd rather fill it with something that helps you do more than pass a single test. Plus, for another XP, you can test your class's main stat with the Overpower (2) cycle, and draw cards to boot.

I've written this review for Dauntless Spirit specifically because it boosts , which is always useful. It's Innate and a card, so it's easy to pick back up again. Many investigators should take a look, but I think Silas Marsh will make the most use out of it, giving him 6 for a treachery to avoid horror, but note that he can't pick it up with his effect.

A rare card to have for Rogue! Easy upgrade from Guts to make your deck more Rogue-like. I find I use the commit icons just as often as playing it, a flexible option to help other players beat the treachery other than the 4 cost if you happened to be at the same location. (Beat it entirely instead of drawing a new one.)

Every time this ritual comes into play, you have the chance to displace four non-elite enemies. You’re not exactly defeating the foes, which is good because in Edge of the Earth: some enemies punish you for defeating them. And it only works temporarily on hunters.

It also allows people to move from locations outside of their turns, which is again an EOTE benefit. (There are scenarios in Innsmouth where this could be useful, where you need someone to get to a location or onto a vehicle and they are elsewhere fighting off a monster.)

This is situationally useful, especially in campaigns with huge HP enemies or Vengeance foes. It’s probably not the best of the leyline books, but there is a use for it and that’s what a card should do: give you ideas to build around specific instances.

This is a rare Item, which Bob Jenkins already running Scavenging for other stuff can get back (with e.g. Lockpicks) when you feel like you already have enough damage sponge items to recurse. Instead repeatedly commit it like Unexpected Courage to make it quickly go to discard pile again rather than wearing it for soak risking having longer period you don't have it in hand to commit. A combo newcomers with just Revised Core and EotE can perform.

I'm a horrible numbers cruncher, I'm just here to say that I have been having a TON more fun with this card than I thought I would. I originally paired it with Short Supply in a Bob deck, but once I corrected that error it's been a blast. It adds a fun wrinkle to deck building and maybe offers a mathematical advantage? Who can say, that would depend on a number of factors. But it's certainly a tincture if you're having deck-building humdrums, and since you can take it from the start in many a investigator, it can really shake up an entire campaign (or two). There are also some particularly horrible includes for this card (Sefina comes to mind, considering it makes one of the worst weaknesses in the game even more difficult to deal with), and I do intend to give some of them a try.

Either way, I think you will find an unexpected smile on your face if you give this card a try, at least once you've managed to rack up the 40 experience points or so you need to make it worth it!