To assess this weapon, you need to see it for what it is.

1) This is a weapon, it gives a fight boost and some random bonus damage. Random bonus damage is not hugely viable.

2) This is a Bless token generator, as of yet one of rather few, it will generate an inconsistent volume of tokens (more consistent at higher playercounts, but then it's also harder to maintain a high density of the tokens in the bag).

So, Blessed Blade is a card that does 2 things, cards that do several things are allways interesting because if just 1 or more of the mechanics are useful, the card will see play.

Bless tokens vary a lot for different playercounts. A lone Bless character in a 4 man team isnt able to keep up the bless volume, cashing in on a Radiant Smite for example is tricky, for the big team bless tokens will generally be quickly found and generate a few extra successes per map, which is nice. On the flipside a Solo bless character (or someone in a duo) can hog all the tokens for synergies (Radiant Smite).

As a weapon, the Blessed Blade depends on a high percentile of Bless tokens to be lethal, otherwise it's just a fancy knife! The blessed blade synergizes with it's own tokens, so as explained above, a solo character is more likely to be able to build a bag full of Bless and stand to score bonus damage on half or more of all his tests.

TL:DR from the above. Blessed Blade is essentially a team-support weapon in big groups, and a bit more of a killer in small groups. But when is blessed blade a good choice?

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Blessed Blade is a good choice when you need a sidearm or backup weapon, often you will find an enemy with an awkward health total or a very low health total, where taking a series of random swipes with the Blade is more useful than swiping with a Timeworn Brand (because it generates a bless token) or conserves your charges on Enchanted Blade, Shrivelling or any guns you might have. You might take 2 in deckbuilding, or stuff just 1 copy in your deck because it's just a backup weapon.

To synergize the blade, any bless generation is good, Sister Mary is a natural fit, I think at least 1 copy is almost mandatory for her. Any cards that build up the token bag with bless (Book of Psalms for example) will really buff up the blade and cause you to land 2 damage hits.

A trick to use when you use this weapon is to find circumstances where you'dd be fine with or without bonus damage. Often this involves playing 2 weapons together, for example Enchanted Blade and Blessed Blade together. If you encountered a Ravenous Ghoul you could lead an attack with the Blessed Blade to see if you got bonus damage and exhaust for a bless token, then finish with Enchanted Blade one way or the other. Then with the same sword combo you might encounter a bigger Icy Ghoul and this time swipe twice with the Blessed, and if the Ghoul survived, finish with Enchanted again.

The bless tokens in of themselves are useful in general, especially if you have some mediocre stats at 2 or 3. With a decently bless filled bag a 3 character stands to pass a couple tests that you've given up on in the mythos phase, 3 will go much further when trying for clues and 2-3 stands to get out of trouble in a coupele tries. Building towards this game-state is a useful benefit of Blessed Blade by itself.

Last but not least, as of writing this we've only seen a few Bless cards, and Blessed Blade + Sister Mary + Radiant Smite is already a rather cool lineup, I cannot wait to see what else is coming. Every new method to generate Bless tokens is going to make Blessed Blade that much more lethal and every new source of Bless tokens will make it that much easier to set up the next bless-themed combo card.

Blessed Blade will see play, and you should try it, even if only to push the Bless gimmick.

When I consider "deal 2 damage" effect, this card seems good comparing other "deal damage" cards.

• Mano a Mano (2lv): Mano a Mano only can target engaged enemy at first action.
• Blood-Rite: Blood-Rite is more flexible and can deal 2 damage. However, bonded card occupy hand slot and needs 2 resource cost.
• Coup de Grâce; Coup de Grace deal 1 damage and immediately end your turn.
• Sneak Attack (or 2lv); Sneak Attack can only target exhausted (or not engaged for 2lv) enemy.
• Small Favor: Small Favor can only target non-elite, provoke AoO, and needs 4 resources (for 2 damage).

This card can deal 2 damage to any enemy at your location; there is no condition (engaged/exhausted/non-elite) at all. Also, this card has cheap cost (1 resource) and does not provoke AoO. Moreover, this card is neutral card. For , this card has spell trait for combo such as Arcane Initiate, Robes of Endless Night, Dayana Esperence, or De Vermis Mysteriis. It's the only problem that "deal damage" effect does not guarantee (and has only 50% chance). Adding may help to increase this chance, but this means that you may only consider this card with deck. (I'll omit and doesn't consider "heal 2 damage" ability in this review.)

But what if the chaos bag has no ? Then, it's always selected "deal 2 damage" effect whenever no token is added into bag! The token can be sealed at Crystalline Elder Sign, The Codex of Ages, Serpents of Yig, or Day of Reckoning. Furthermore, Jim Culver and Daisy Walker can do by theirselves. Jim can treat revealed as by his ability. Daisy must treat revealed as (or , , ) with The Necronomicon.

As a rule, investigators are especially good in the campaigns they arrive in. And since almost all of Ursula’s reviews are from 2+ years ago, it’s worth revisiting her post Return to TFA.

Moving and investigating is great. You often want to move every turn, unless you have In the Know and active teammates. The forgotten age offers a move that doesn’t seem like a move: the explore action. Multiple scenarios require you to explore over and over, with text like “when you successfully explore, reveal and move to a new location”. And if Jake Williams is around, you also draw a new card. Combine him with fieldwork, and you can move to a location your group no longer needs to be, evade an odious enemy you don’t want to deal with (Starting at a +6), and then come back and investigate again with Pathfinder at a cost of two actions. Just leave a clue or two around.

Over the course of a regular adventure, Ursula will take more actions, and when you take more actions in your specialty, you complete the scenario faster. If you go faster, you see less of the encounter deck, which means fewer obstacles.

That’s why Ursula is often pitched as the best solo seeker; she can outrun her problems, adequately deal with the encounter deck, and compress essential moves into essential investigates. (When she gets Pathfinder, she can turn one free action into two. The expedition journal can turn a free explore into a move and an investigate.)

Now that Rex doesn’t get two clues for every investigate and Mandy had her infinite combos broken, Ursula is back at the top. She’s a character who will make a new player feel very effective, especially when you’re busting out TFA.

(Also, if you’re curious about universities in Boston that would’ve existed in the 1910s and offered archaeology degrees, most likely Miss Downs went to Boston University. Go Terriers.)

With the 10/15/2020 taboo giving this card icon to activate instead of , the whole cycle is quite a bit more likely to see play.

Truth be told, this much was obvious. But I want to touch on a particular interaction that the Scroll of Secrets has going for it:

It can bury weaknesses in investigator's decks.

Now I don't necessarily mean "if you happen to hit an investigator's weakness in the bottom three, you get to punt it into their discard pile." No, what I mean is "My sick-nasty Winifred Habbamock deck happened to draw Doomed as her basic weakness, while our Rex Murphy player drew Offer You Cannot Refuse and I hate it."

Enter, Scroll of Secrets. Not ONLY do you have the option to dropkick these weaknesses into the Shadow Realm, you ALSO have the ability to effectively negate them by always choosing to put any player cards from the bottom of the deck to the top. In doing so, you end up 'pushing' any weaknesses not drawn closer to the bottom of the deck and away from the top, regardless of whether or not they're necessarily relevant to the scenario at hand. Because if it means you get another scenario out of your 30XP character who is waiting for The Bell Tolls, it's worth it.

Now I just need to convince our Rex player to pick up the second one so I don't hear that damn bell.

TL;DR interesting corner case in flipping cards from the bottom of your deck to the top to avoid being Doomed.

Getting three cards for an action and zero bucks is extremely powerful. It can protect you from the encounter deck in Dunwich and night of the zealot.

You’ll have to deal with the curse tokens sooner or later, which means spending experience points. Which makes total sense for a card with the keywords of both insight and cursed.