Foresight

The most powerful encounter-cancel card in AHLCG. If you know the encounter card, you can achieve Ward of Protection (5) with no resource and sanity cost. Moreover, you could play it for another investigator at your location. More important thing is that you can cancel weakness. Unlike other cards, there are NO weakness restriction. Additionally, it works for Peril encounter, I believe (since play timming is before you know the card is peril).

However, it's hard to use this by itself. You should know the encounter/player deck to play it. It means that you need to use Foresight with some supporting cards. However, it's not hard work when you firstly see this card.

  • Scrying/Alyssa Graham: Scrying/Alyssa is the best way to look cards for mystics. If you're Gloria, I think you already use this. One problem is Arcane/Ally slot to handle it. If you have enough slot, this card will be good way.
  • First Watch: Here is the best solution, I think. Play First Watch. Look before dealing cards. Then, naming what you just looked. It seems that the investigator do not draw the encounter card from the deck when resolving the First Watch according to the FAQ 2.0, so that it does not work.
  • Parallel Fates: 0-level is not robust, but 2-level is robust. I don't use those yet, but it will be helpful.
  • Norman Withers: Norman Withers usually reveal the weakness before drawing it. It means he cancel his weakness by Foresight. However, it's not true for The Harbinger. The solution is simple. You may use replacement set :)
  • Mysterious Chanting: Some encounter make you search encounter deck and draw what you want. If you're not first-run, you may know which is in encounter so that naming it.
  • Search Cards: I'm not sure I can play Foresight AFTER search BEFORE draw a card. Currently, my party plays Foresight as a ruling that I should name a card before search deck. Even if this cases, searching can increase the probability. If you're Agnes, you may play Word of Command to search Dark Memory and discard by Foresight without effect.
elkeinkrad · 500
I think the search card thing works with foresight, its no more OP than just using alyssa graham every turn on the top of your deck. guess I haven't used that combo, is it that much of a game break to have a generic weakness counter tech? (given some weaknesses have counter tech anyway) — Zerogrim · 295
Does Foresight work with First Watch? What I'm worried about is that the cards each player is drawing is not "from the encounter deck", but rather from those that were dealt to them? — slyguavas · 49
I think it works with First Watch. This is because First Watch states "look" and "deal" and "draw" the encounter cards. I think that the cards are still in encounter deck before drawn, since the cards are only looked and no physically moved. — elkeinkrad · 500
This is great with Alyssa, wether for weaknesses or encounter cards. Also note that compared to most counters, this also cancels SURGE and ENEMIES. — Django · 5148
Thanks for the comment @Django. I edit the review to state about Alyssa also. — elkeinkrad · 500
Scroll of secrets can set this this up also, either for the next player's encounter deck draw, or somewhat less reliably for any player deck. — SleepyLibrarian · 44
Review suggests that Norman could intercept a weakness card other than Harbinger. Norman's forced effect says that if his revealed top card is a weakness, he must immediately play it. Does this mean there's a window in there between Reveal & Draw where Norman could Foresight away the weakness? — HanoverFist · 746
Answered my own question, it was pointed out that this card is played in response to the draw being triggered per its own text. So, yes it can. — HanoverFist · 746
I'm sorry for late reply, but I check the comment now. For other reader, I simply write the reason. Noman's Forced ability just states "draw" the weakness, so after the top (weakness) card of the deck is revealed, it is drawn. Thus, Foresight can be played; it is Fast card with specific timing, so we can play at that specifi timing. — elkeinkrad · 500
However, The Harbinger is just an exception. After The Harbinger is revealed, due to its constant ability, "card in your deck cannot be drawn", it is not drawn. Thus, The Harbinger is not drawn, so Forsight cannot be played since The Harbinger cannot be drawn. — elkeinkrad · 500
It's noted that the text with "cannot" has priority in this game, so even if Norman's Forced ability, The Harbinger is not drawn until ->-> is triggered. — elkeinkrad · 500
Tempt Fate

Lets talk about this card, with dummy probabilities. Because numbers are tricky and I think I can explain it simply.

First off, this is a "cantrip", it's a cheap/free card that draws another card. Why is that very good? Most arkham decks have a few cards that you cannot go without, your most important cards, for example a weapon for a fighting , spells. Having a cantrip like Tempt Fate means that when youre sifting through your 30 card deck to try and find those key cards, you're actually sifting through a 28 card deck.

But, it is'nt "free", it comes with the bonus / penalty of and tokens.

Without going into exactly how, / tokens are inversely more powerful depending on how many tokens on a chaos bag net you success or failure. When the chance of success is low, is more powerful, the inverse is true for .

I.E. If you're doing a lot of tests that you know you'll win just barely (most of the time you'll be avoiding to do tests if your chance to beat it are negative!) then curses really hurt you, similarly if you do a lot of tests you know you'll just barely loose, then the blesses will help more then the curses hurt. This effectively means that Tempt Fate hurts consistent characters with good baseline stats, but helps risky characters with a glaring weakspot (Like many folks who find themselves doing tests from low starting points.) Incidentally, this means that strategies can be very helpful to middling characters like Roland Banks, who find themselves throwing repeated Investigate checks at shroud 2 or 3 locations.

To explain it more detailed: You can calculate the most common token draw from a bag pretty easily, many // tokens are net -1's or -2's on standard, and on standard -1's and -2's are common. If you test such a chaos bag with a baseline of +2, and then add blesses, your chance at success increases only by the amount of tokens in the bag that a bless might help with (a -3 or -4), but because those are less common than the opposite, the blesses help less then the negative effect had by a similar number of curses, because there are more tokens that a curse can turn into failure, than there are tokens that a bless can turn into success.

For example: If you have five -0's in a bag, and three -2's (and nothing else), and you're testing from a baseline of +1 over the difficulty, then if you add a bless into the bag, there are 3 tokens where bless + token replaces failure with success, if you added a curse instead, there are 5 tokens where curse + token replaces success with failure. I.E, in this case, adding a curse hurts more then the help gained by adding a bless.

Tsuruki23 · 2568
Bob Jenkins

Bob Jenkins has a bit more flexibility with his starting deck compared to his fellow Eote investigators, because he can easily swap in level 0 cards later with Adaptable should he want to. Not a huge deal, but maybe interesting if you want to upgrade one of your level 0cards

schafinho1 · 55
Promise of Power

1 commit to effectively turn many a test into an "autofail or succeed". I really like it and with or without teck, I do reccomend it.

If youre playing solo, taking this card along with a little bit of curse teck can be clutch, a Blasphemous Covenant can juggle the curses provided through Promise of Power indefinitely, effectively turning those curses into a permament enhancement for the rest of a scenario.

Tsuruki23 · 2568
Sword Cane

Did the other reviews already tell you this thing is good? This thing is good.

This is, undisputably, the best card in Innsmouth. Yes it's "weaker" than some of the 4+ xp cards, but seriously, the safety, speed, flexibility, this card does sooooo much work that you're straight up spoilt for choice.

First off. This thing fights. characters typically rely on charges for fighting, which mean's that the wrong health total (say, a 3 health foe when you have a Shrivelling, or a 4 health foe when you have a Shrivelling) is doubly expensive to deal with. The staff helps with that. It also means you can routinely knock out a 1 health foe like Acolyte.

Second. It evades. Getting away from a Hunting Nightgaunt or similarly large monsters or unwinnable fights is key, to buy time for when you can actually beat them later. Or just to conserve other fight resources.

Third, it's responsive. The round that you play this thing you get extra power! For that one turn you can do 2 damage if you attack twice, evade 2 enemies, or get two chances to do one of those things once.

Lastly, there's combos! Dexter Drake has that innate ability to play it as a free action, effectively netting a free action attack/evade, there's also Sleight of Hand which can do the same.

All in all, this card is so good that I frankly question any deck for a 5 that doesnt include this thing.

Tsuruki23 · 2568