Sign of Xelotaph

They were so careful with the limitations they put on Protective Incantation ("Group limit 2 copies of Protective Incantation in play.") and The Chthonian Stone/The Chthonian Stone (being unique) and then they print THIS?! I can even replenish this with Uncage the Soul!

With changes like these you can really see they want the game to go in a different direction.

EDIT - explanation: I indeed think this card is too powerful, especially with interactions like Akachi Onyele and Uncage the Soul, and that is also what the direction the game moves into is: Power creep, as what happends to every expandable card game at some point. With cards like this I just think it's becoming more and more obvious.

AlderSign · 326
I don't understand point you're trying to make here. I can't see what you mean in your last sentence. Is this card too powerful? If so why? And what's the direction you are taking abkut — bugiel_marek · 24
I agree this is undeniably better seal tech than the previously printed alternatives, but those cards are terrible. There’s a wide range between “stronger than Chthonian Stone” and “too strong,” and I’m not convinced this card winds up on the wrong end of that spectrum. — Eudaimonea · 5
I don't really think this is particularly strong power creep, if you can even call it that. Cthonian stone is unique yes, but can potentially last much longer, especially if you're stacking multiple seal cards like you're implying you want to. If you put two of these down you're guaranteed to lose at least one of them pretty soon. — Spamamdorf · 5
Katarina Sojka

Until you realize the auto-fail is also a symbol this sounds like an amazingly good card. The insanely increased odds to just fail the test, no matter how many Ritual Candles you pack, make this card hard to play, I'd argue.

But who knows, maybe you don't wanna pass the test (survivor tech, anyone?), or just fire Agatha Crane's ability, or have Seal of the Seventh Sign out (although it won't last long if you play this card)...

EDIT - Fun fact: In theory, you could be stuck in an endless loop if you put Katarina Sojka together with Seal of the Seventh Sign and people sealing the other symbols via Protective Incantation, The Chthonian Stone, The Chthonian Stone, Bulwark, Crystalline Elder Sign, Day of Reckoning, Dial of Ancients, Serpents of Yig, Sign of Xelotaph, The Codex of Ages, and/or Unrelenting. This is also a great example why knowledge should be made easily accessible to the players in any game - because I am not even sure if being stuck in an endless loop counts as "having the potential to change the game state" and therefore would allow triggering Katarina's reaction ability or not. Yeah, the chaos bag is not endless, but it is at least undefined, if not an unreachable state. So what happens when you do this?

AlderSign · 326
I'm not even sure this is good in Agatha. If you exhaust Katarina and then reveal a symbol token, you don't ignore anything and then Agatha's ability isn't active, is it ? That makes it really unreliable ... — aurchen · 63
That's true, if your first revealed token is a symbol, that's even more meh. — AlderSign · 326
I agree with the fact that pulling the Autofail 20% of the time sucks, but if that means that you pass 80% of your tests when using Katarina, it can be worth it. Especially if you pack some payoff like Sixth Sense (4). — Valentin1331 · 75476
If you're worried about the auto fail, since the wording is "when you reveal" and not "when you would reveal" it seems like you can grab one token and then decide you dont like it and reveal new ones, so it could be a rudimentary form of test protection? — Spamamdorf · 5
A typical mid-campaign scenario will have the elder sign, auto-fail, 2-3 skulls, and probably 4-5 other symbols IME. So Katarina is probably autofailing only 1 in 8 or so. — OrionAnderson · 99
The good but boring use for this is to hunt blesses for Ancient Covenant, making life boring since 20-whenever it was. — OrionAnderson · 99
I think the timing opportunity in question is the step of the skill test, not "when you reveal A chaos token". — AlderSign · 326
Some investigators can also mitigate the auto fail by taking the upgraded token of faith, which allows you to do the test again. — Tharzax · 1
Nimble

Another rogue card that got a huge glow up when Scarlet Keys and Hemlock Vale re-wrote the whole Rogue playbook.

Up to three moves as a free action is a potentially crazy power level for a level zero card. People run Shortcut to move once. People run Scout Ahead to move three times, but that costs actions and resources. (Both those cards do have other utility, which helps them earn their spots).

But as the esteemed Snacc noted when this card was released, Nimble's value is very situational unless you put some work into unlocking it. By default, the only way to intentionally start an agility test is to evade an enemy. Moving away after an evade can occasionally be a really good effect. But often enemies engage me while I'm at a location I still need to interact with, so I'm not interested in moving immediately. Also, opportunities to take 2-3 moves at once for real value are uncommon in most scenarios, and waiting for an enemy to spawn at the right time isn't reliable.

(All the same problems apply to Agility treacheries)

These days, though, you can investigate with Thieves' Kit or Forensic Kit and use this to zoom around on your own time. (Investigate a location with no clues on it if you have to). We can murder someone with a British Bull Dog and zoom away from the scene of the crime. Or Grift an aloof enemy before doing the same. This card is also the best argument I can find for actually using the Bolstering upgrade on Friends in Low Places, which will give it a wild icon letting you commit it to anything.

The Book of War

Some interesting or high-value Tactic events I came across:

There is Making Preparations, but Dilemmas are not played, so this doesn't work (also for this card, it wouldn't make sense to recur it).

It's funny that a lot of Tactics let you either avoid enemies or rough them up real good. Then again, it's sort of in the name.

AlderSign · 326
Astral Mirror

I'm really enjoying this as a combo with Blood of K'n-yan, though I do have a question:

Can you use the extra action to play an asset that takes up more than one hand slot? Like a sledgehammer? Or more pertinently, an Enchanted Bow?

I think you can play a two handed asset, since it goes into two of your handslots, which also included at least one of your handslots. But this might be a question of how strict you interpret the rules — Tharzax · 1
Weird edge case, actually. I think if they would have wanted to allow it they had written "a hand slot" instead of "one of your hand slots", but I honestly don't see any balancing reason not to allow playing a two-handed asset with the action. — AlderSign · 326