Cheat the System

Cheat the System

This card might be particularly interesting in a poor Preston build. With any of the 3-class talents in play, this is at the very least a fast Emergency Cache, he can play after his turn, for instance in the Enemy or Upkeep phase, so it is still readily available in the next Mythos phase on his Family Inheritance to either spend on Counterespionage, boost a skill test, or save it for the Investigation phase, if not needed. And Dark Horse still stays online, as long as he spends the 1 resource from Upkeep.

He could also cash in the money in the Mythos Phase, if he just wants to blow it into Moxie or Dig Deep on a test. Unfortunately, to potentially use it for Counterespionage, he has to decide, before he sees the card. If he has Antiquary and DH in play, he could play Counterespionage up to the 6 resource effect (using the resources from Antiquary, of course), and still start his turn with an additional resource on his Inheritance. But even with Bruiser or Crafty, which have (redundant to DH), he could still play it for 4 resources.

Susumu · 361

Ancient Stone

Earthly Serenity

Earthly Serenity

This is in some ways worse than Earthly Serenity (1), since any high negative chaos token will bring your skill value down to 0 and you will succeed by 0 and lose 2 resources. With Earthly Serenity (1) you would instead fail and not loose any resources.

While test on Earthly Serenity (4) is very slightly easier and you have two charges more it does not really outweigh the more severe punishment and easier to encounter punishment, especially on higher difficulties.

tdctaz · 48
I think that you could make that Argument on Blur (1) to Blur (4), where the penalty is either taking one or two damage. Damage is much harder to remove than resources to replace. But I do agree in general that for a high willpower mystic or survivor, that it's not worth three exp to maybe get a little more healing. — DjMiniboss · 44
I think if you're spending the xp on this, a simple solution presents itself: stay broke. Mystics are a great class for setting up and never needing resources again, while survivors have dark horse. — SGPrometheus · 797
Also, these cards look more like a "2 action event", than a real asset. You want to preferably use them in one highly over committed action, to heal 6 points of horror (or 4 with the lower level) at once. Succeeding by 0 is at that point less likely than (auto)failing, and a waste of an action anyway, because you gain no healing out of it. — Susumu · 361
An arcane is quite expensive for an event. All the more reason to empty it quickly to replace it. — Django · 5051
By calling it a "2 action event", I meant 1 action to play it, 1 action to use and empty it. So yes, no long commitment of the arcane slot. Akachi might also be interested to heal only 4 horror in 1 action with it, and use the 3 spare charges to tame her spirits. — Susumu · 361
It definitely is a lot stronger than it seems, especially in 'grinder' campaigns like TFA where you can be doing things correctly and still be staring down potentially lethal unavoidable damage. As Susumu said, the downside basically never matters if you are using it on a high WP character as you ideally just blad all the charges out in one or two actions and almost never will actually succeed by 0. Being able to give your team what is probably a full heal in 2 actions can swing some harder situations Arkham can throw at you. — dezzmont · 209
If the WP is high enough (like 5 in most standard bags) you CANT succeed by 0. In other bags, you can just try yo win by a number that isnt in the bag — Jota · 6
So, if you pass the test by 0, you can't spend a charge to heal? — CrovaxTheFallen · 1

Backpack

Backpack

Let's keep it simple: Any XP you spend on that fancy Exceptional item is essentially wasted if you don't draw that card during the scenario. Even hard mulligans can fail and leave you scrambling to get set up. This card is one of the best ways to make sure you pull The Skeleton Key or The Red Clock, and even if you are lucky during mulligan, you're likely running other items that it's still helpful to draw into early.

I pretty much always take this card before buying my expensive Item assets unless I'm playing a character who has access to repeatable card draw or better (or more specific) tutors like Mr. "Rook", Research Librarian, or Prepared for the Worst + Stick to the Plan.

mikecheb · 4
In rogue lucky cigarette case 3 is better than backpack. Or take both, they can find each other — Django · 5051
I think Trish may want this, but I agree most rogues probably want Lucky Cig Case 3, both for the tutor power and because modern rogue is basically 'built' around at least 2 cards a turn off Lucky Cig Case. — dezzmont · 209
Think of how many signatures and story cards are items....its a lot, like...a lot, back pack 2 makes it into so many of my decks that emergency cache often sees play just because backpack 2 is so good. — Zerogrim · 290

Dendromorphosis

Dendromorphosis

Anyone knows what happens if you are playing as Daisy and draw this card and also The Necronomicon: John Dee Translation?

I think rules state that you can discard a weakness, but if you do not have enough hand slots and nether Dendromorphosis nor The Necronomicon: John Dee Translation can leave play.

condedooku · 2
Interesting question. I'm not sure, but I would treat it like an Enemy, that can not spawn and be discarded. "Cannot leave play" is absolute, so I would say, the first card you draw, stays in your thread area, while the second simply cannot enter. (Unless of course, you have been smart and played the Tote Bag.) But I'm not sure, it's just the most reasonable solution, I would have. — Susumu · 361
This is one of the few cases where you can be overloaded on hand slots. See the faq on the encounter card "straightjacket" which is a similar situation — NarkasisBroon · 10
Straitjacket — NarkasisBroon · 10
dire jackets — MrGoldbee · 1441
Money for nothing — SGPrometheus · 797
There is one odd niche effect of being overloaded on hand slots with The Necronomicon. If you use other card effects to remove the last horror from The Necronomicon, it doesn't discard itself but it stops being unable to leave play. Normally that would mean you'd need to play another asset to overwrite it, but if you already have Dendromorphosis out it'll leave play that way. — Thatwasademo · 56
That's a great catch, NarkasisBroon! — Susumu · 361
Thank you to you all!!! — condedooku · 2