Just to be clear, neither this version or it's upgrade can discard a treachery unless that treachery has the text "put X into play", correct? In other words, If I draw a hex or something, I have to resolve the revelation effect; I cannot have someone play this to cancel that card entirely (that'd be Ward of Protection lvl 2 if I really want that effect). Right?

As for this card itself, it's... well, it's not great. In a nutshell, what you're doing is replacing whatever conditions have to be met on a threat area treachery with the following:

• Spend 3 resources: discard this treachery.

But that's not the whole story since there are other things you've spent or are giving up in order to have this card, so it really reads like this;

• Spend 3 resources, 1-2 xp, and discard a specific card from your hand: discard this treachery.

To compare, here are a few common treacheries. Now I'm only looking at cards from the deluxe boxes and return to boxes since these are the only ones that will continuously pop up throughout a campaign. Obviously, it's preferable Alter Fate has some value beyond getting you through a single scenario. Look at the cost to get rid of it is and ask yourself if you'd rather pay the alter fate cost (because it is extremely costly):

• Frozen in Fear, Unhallowed Country, Melancholy, and Realm of Torment all share the same prerequisite: at the end of your turn, test (3), discard if you succeed. Do note these do not require an action, however you will need to wait until your turn ends to try the test.

• Dissonant Voices, Tough Crowd, Ooze and Filth, Lost in the Wilds, Deep Dark, Snakescourge, Whispers in the Dark, and Dreamlands Eclipse are all automatically discarded at the end of the round if you can manage to wait. Light of Aforgomon and Sordid and Silent might be around for longer, but you have some measure of control over that as well. Also, let's not forget that the first of these prevents you from playing events so it's effectively immune to alter fate.

• Idle Hands actually gives you something for your trouble, but the same can't be said of Violent Commands.

• Beyond the Veil is a good target since it has no alternative on the card itself, but there are also lots of other ways to survive this, the least of which is just to draw slowly or investigate faster. On the other hand, I don't think Cursed Luck from the same cycle is bad enough to warrant an Alter Fate.

• Entombed is a good target if you have low and low . Hunted by Corsairs is a similar kind of test, but any treachery with an option to test two different stats seems like you'll have at least one way of powering through.

• Voice of the Jungle, Dreams of R'lyeh, Bedeviled, and Wracked are all test (3), but do note that R'lyeh will debuff you -1 for the test and the same might be true of Wracked if you need to test it first.

• Words of Power and Deeper Slumber are both so you're trading 1 action for 3 resources, an xp, and a deck slot which doesn't seem like a good deal to me.

I like lvl 3 Alter Fate, but lvl 1 is massively inferior just from a numbers perspective. Unless you've got money to burn like Mr. Fairmont who I do think is ideal for this card since he can not only pay for it but also generate extra actions to mitigate that loss as well. Besides him, I suppose Stella might like it to get rid of those "end of your turn" treacheries so she can approach her turn undisturbed, but 3 resources and an action just seems like a lot to cough up. It does make you wonder what sort of threat area treacheries we might find in Innsmouth, no?

Also, question. Does either version of Alter Fate work on Straitjacket?

By the way, I love that the art is a depiction of The Tower • XVI, which was a subtle hint at the time the original Alter Fate released because we would see the tower released in the deluxe box a few months later. Nice touch, though curiously you can't use Alter Fate to counter it.