Thanks to this card, any 4 of the Dunwich investigators who aren't above taking things can work together to create a garbage can lid that has 7 other, smaller garbage can lids hidden inside of it.

Has science gone too far?

EDIT: No it has not, due to the play-from-garbage-only clause on shield, which I overlooked. Wow. What a literally garbage card.

There are plenty of sad stories behind this location... Most often, it is a place where one of our beloved investigators is buried forever. An extremely hilarious place for the first blind playthrough.

This is a neat card thematically, but let's do the math.

For the purposes of this, let's assume actions, cards and resources are an equivalent value, since you can always spend one action for one of either. They aren't, but weighting the value of actions and cards is even more unkind to the skull.

Playing this out costs one action and one card, starting you at a -2 deficit for no return. You have to do this early on, because things need to die around you before you can actually use it, and you can't guarantee when that will happen.

Clicking once costs one action for one resource and one card, so you're still at a net -1 deficit.

Clicking twice costs another action, so you've now broken even. You've now spent three actions and a card to gain two resources and two cards. That's equivalent to not playing the skull at all and simply clicking for the cards/resources, except with much less flexibility, and you're wasting your accessory slot for the privilege.

It's not until the third activation, requiring three dead enemies/allies and four invested actions to actually start to come out on top economically, and only barely. At that point you've heavily invested in improving your basic Get Resource/Draw Card action, something you (ideally) aren't actually using in the back half of the scenario.

That said, the upgraded version is phenomenal, if you can stomach 3xp. Assuming you can play it out and wait for three things to die around you (or two with Akachi), you can jump from a -2 deficit at install to a net +3 payoff on the first click. It even compares favorably to the elite ciggs, which continues to only draw one card/turn. It is a shame that 3xp prices it out of Leo or the ever-hilarious Bow Wendy decks, but Tony and Akachi can make great use of it.

Ludicrously good card for any evasion based rogues: you don't always care about exahusting enemies when you attempt to disengage with them, especially if they are not hunters nor if there are no clues in the location or reason to stay. This card makes it trivial to evade most foes given that rarely there are ones with more than 5 agility, and it's very good to trigger effects on evasion too

This card is straight up broken with Kymani: it allows them against any 2 agility foes to test for a base of 7 against 0, which is more than enough to discard anyone that does not have health value per investigator, of course you still want someone paired up with them that can take care of elites and victory enemies in the old-fashioned way... (Although Kymani can as well by fighting dirty with a chainsaw, it is just exp pricey) And it only gets more ridiculous with its level 3 version allowing them to defeat enemies with one action

It's even good in multiplayer: you evade a foe and leave them active to be engaged by the local guardian that cares about engaging enemies for special effects, making it a very versatile ability in the right hands: to top it off, it's ludicrously cheap too for Rogue standards, who have more than enough money to spare.

Absolutely brilliant card, don't understimate it like I did, especially if you are planning a trip to the jungle...

I recently played through Scarlet Keys with a Gray's Anatomy-focused Joe Diamond deck, dual-wielding Survival Knives. Is it efficient? Absolutely not, but it's fun.

In a vacuum, one click for +3 damage on the next attack sounds great, but considering most basic weapons (and certainly any you spend XP on) deal two damage per attack, you're netting out to spending the same two actions to deal the same four damage, but the first action provokes opportunity attacks, you're required to spend a second action to inflict anything, and three actions only nets you 5 damage instead of 6. You can alleviate these by combining it with weapons and upgrades, but you're going to be sinking a lot of cards and XP into something objectively less efficient and flexible than a big stick, and you've already sunk 5xp on the book itself.

So where does it shine? Testless damage. Blood-Rites and Ancient Stones as mentioned in the other review, but my favorite is Alice Luxley. One action to set up with Grays, one action to investigate, get a clue and deal four damage to any enemy at your location. No ammo needed, no engaging enemies, just mashing your best skill and blasting things while you do it.

The (currently) Joe-exclusive Survival Knife combo is also effective, but very niche. Using Gray's on the third action and triggering the reaction in the enemy phase nets you 5 damage for a single action, but the stars have to align to set up that scenario. More often you start your turn engaged and are left to the usual Grays > Stab two-action combo, which is frustratingly inefficient against common 2-health enemies.

It should also be noted, if pairing with the The Raven Quill, that the Supernatural Record ability is XP-cheaper and more effective than actually buying a second copy of Gray's Anatomy. You effectively get three copies of Gray's in your deck, as well as the ability to pull them from your discard in the event that it gets Crypt Chilled or similar. The total resource cost is higher, but you're already paying that for the ability to avoid AoOs.