There's something to be said for the simple cards. Tentacle mouth guy is one such card.

Let's look at the numbers: 2 resources for 4 charges and a single hand slot, plus a ? icon, for 4xp. All tasty apart from that xp cost, both because it limits which investigators have access to the statue, as well as being a hefty investment in itself. That said, cards don't at the moment tax hand slots particularly, so adding bonus hand items isn't particularly punishing. Moreover, while in a scenario, paying 2 for 4 'double' draws is incredible value. As with all abilities, it's optional, so you can pick which tests you want to use it (before drawing the chaos token). And, by way of comparison, consider Wendy's 'redraw' ability, which, yes, is theoretically limitless, but costs a card for each redraw and, crucially, does not allow a choice between the two tokens (the second replaces the first - and could be the very same as the first).

One simply shouldn't underestimate the potency of choosing to double dip into the chaos bag. Even on tests where an investigator is feeling confident, being able to choose, for example, a instead of a -1 to trigger further effects (such as Agnes's ability) or vice versa to avoid them is incredibly powerful - after all, the statue is in the same faction as spells, from Shrivelling to Blinding Light, which come with additional risks for non-numeric tokens. Choice is crucial here: a normal skill test requires an investigator to overcommit to aim to mitigate the vicissitudes of the chaos bag; an investigator with the grotesque statue can, in a pinch, give themselves options, and options = power.

This is a really nifty card, giving a neat way to build a nice pile of resources. It's great with "Skids" O'Toole for Hospital Debts, and is really good with Hard Knocks ; it's can actually actually supply enough resources to make Wendy Adams dangerous. It's biggest cost is in actions, playing it and using it. As the FAQs say, you can also use it to burgle low shroud locations even when there's no clues still on them, which neat and good fun. Used right, it's (almost) like having an Emergency Cache on demand.

Even better, some investigators can pair it with Dr. Milan Christopher - and now your one action is more likely to succeed, and will get you 4 resources. Rex Murphy might also benefit in particular with this - if he succeeds by 2 or more he gets an extra clue, so you could be getting 4 resources and a chance of a clue too.

In my review on Scrying, I already wrote that cards that can "manipulate" the encounter deck are - generally - very strong. Ward of Protection might just be the best example of that strength. Pay 1 resource to cancel the non-weakness treachery card you just drew. It's the big "NOPE" card: Did you just drew Umôrdhoth's Wrath at a crucial moment? NOPE, you didn't. Drew a Grasping Hands with a low agility character that could possible kill you? NOPE, you didnt. This effect is just awesome, it's so strong the designers decided to build in a drawback, in that you have to take 1 horror after cancelling the treachery's revelation effect. A minor price to pay, in my opinion. With the deck building rules on the coreset investigators, the only investigators who can currently use Ward of Protection are Agnes Baker and Daisy Walker. Both have high sanity, so they can take 1 horror easily, and with Agnes, you can even turn Ward of Protection into a weapon.

With Ward of Protection being a spell, you can use your Arcane Initiate to dig for it. It doesn't cost a valuable action to use it and - as a cherry on top - Ward of Protection has a wildcard icon, so you can commit it to any skill test.

So what's not to like?

If I really have to point out a minor flaw in Ward of Protection it would be the fact that you can only use it on a treachery you draw yourself. So there is no way to help out a buddy who just drew a nasty treachery... Well actually there is.... If one of the investigators is using Scrying, you can plan the turn order in a way that the investigator who is carrying Ward of Protection gets to draw the nasty treachery so he can cancel it.

With the deck building rules for new investigators in the upcoming Dunwich Legacy expansion permitting the use of 5 lvl 0 cards form any sphere, I predict Ward of Protection becoming one of the most used cards to fill those "off-sphere" spots in your deck.

Most likely you don't have to read this review to know how powerful Scrying is.

Everyone who played The Lord of the Rings LCG by Fantasyflight games over the last years knows what nasty stuff the encounter deck will throw at you to ruin your game and the same goes for Arkham Horror. (Everybody who got busted up by Umôrdhoth's Wrath please raise your hand.)

So just like in LotR LCG, cards with an "encounter deck manipulation" effect are very powerful. There are different forms of encounter deck manipulation. Some examples are:

• cards that simply cancel the effects of a drawn encounter deck card
• cards that let you know what the next draw(s) from the encounterdeck will bring
• cards that let you move cards within the encounter deck..

Scrying let's you do the latter 2 things. Knowing that a very nasty thing will happen in 3 rounds (or that it won't happen) makes it a lot easier to plan ahead and decide what cards to play or to keep in hand. "Burying" a particular nasty enemy or threachery to delay it being drawn for like 8 rounds and at the same time controlling in what order the next 8 cards from the encounter deck will be drawn is even stronger.

After using Scrying, you know its safe when to to play Drawn to the Flame, because you plan using it knowing that you will draw Obscuring Fog at a location with no more clues on it. Or you can just prevent Umôrdhoth's Wrath coming into play for a lot of rounds. And as a cherry on top, Scrying let's you take a look and order the next 3 cards in the investigator deck too.

For me, Scrying is an almost auto-include for every investigator whose deck building rules will permit me to use it... IF I'm playing solo. Due to the fact that more players means more draws from the encounter deck each round, Scrying sadly loses a lot of its power in multiplayer games. If the team of investigators has to draw 2-4 cards from the encounter deck each round, Scrying just can't keep up. In solo-play however, this will be a card that we will be still using for years to come.

For most card players, getting the ability to search your deck for something and putting it into your hand is pretty awesome. For some CCGs, cards that do just that are more expensive just because they do that. It's a fantastic advantage to have.

But this isn't a CCG, it's Arkham Horror LCG.

On paper, Research Librarian seems perfectly suitable for any would-be Tome user:

• At 2 resources, it's a really good 1st action, 1st turn play.
• He comes with 1 health and 1 sanity, so he acts as a nice shield.
• I can't emphasize how crazy some people get over tutoring for a card.

So he should be an auto-include for someone like Daisy Walker, right? ...Eh, kinda.

Research Librarian's greatest strength is also his downfall. Should you happen to draw your tomes before him, he just becomes a very flimsy 1 health/1 sanity shield, which, for 2 resources, is not very efficient. He also takes up the ally slot, which could be better used to fit whatever you're building toward.

His only usefulness is, like I said, on action 1 of turn 1 to search for your tome. After that, feed him to Forbidden Knowledge or shield some of that Dynamite Blast you had to use. Otherwise, keep him in your hand for that agility test. He's a one off at best, at least in my opinion.