I want to build on the conclusions of @Tsuruki23 below: "You can teck this like a silver-bullet against scenarios that you know involve heavy backtracking or back and forths." It's very true -- in a generic scenario, in which you're simply using the Atlas for mobility, it's a mediocre card. Basically, you're paying 5 actions, three resources, and a 2xp card for 12 moves -- and that's if you manage to use all four secrets. But in certain scenarios, it's a godsend. I'll give four examples. Don't read this review if you want to avoid spoilers!

"The House Always Wins": That title has been quite true in my experience, until the Atlas came along. When you play this scenario second, you're faced, late in the game, with an almost impossible task. In very short order, you have to get to a locations three spaces away, parley with some fool, and then get to the exit, which is three more spaces away. In between are likely to be a gauntlet of enemies, guarding a pair of locations that form a bottleneck. The final agenda is likely to be running out, and even if it isn't, you only have a few turns to rescue your target before the Bubblebath from Hell squelches him to death. The Atlas lets you helicopter over ALL that. It doesn't just save you two moves; it saves you any number of fight and evade checks, and quite likely a bunch of damage and horror, too. Once you pick up your man, you can medivac him out of there with similar ease.

"Doom of Eztli": After you yield to your inner Indiana Jones and snag the shiny artifact at the center of the temple, you'll be faced with a tall order -- navigating back through the temple, which now forms a continuous, snake-filled tunnel. You can try to hack your way through it all, or... you can pogo-stick along with the Atlas. You can probably be home free in a single turn, with two bounces and a resign. And since you don't have to teleport EXACTLY three spaces away, you can just land on the empty locations and bound over the crowded ones.

"At Death's Doorstep": The Meiger party is a relatively tame affair until the Watcher and his spectral crew crash it. Timing your getaway can be difficult -- since you want to wait until you've rescued at least as many Lodge minions as the Watcher has dementor-kissed. If you have the Atlas in hand, you can resign in two actions from literally anywhere on the board -- one to hop to the exit, the other to resign. And if you still need to bounce around the map a bit for clues or anything else, the Atlas will help you do so while avoiding the Watcher.

"The Wages of Sin": This is one of the few scenarios in which all locations are always revealed. That means that from turn 1, The Atlas gives you exceptional mobility. You'll want it. It's a grueling, miserable, scenario that has you trekking back and forth across map, often while lugging a bagged witch who's casting curses on you every step of the way (if you've played it, you know what I mean).

I could go on and on! The general point is that every campaign has some scenarios that involve back-tracking and racing to the exit, and others that are more or less a forward march (think Essex County Express). I would recommend snagging the Atlas only for campaigns you know, and then only if you think the scenarios in which it's useful would be dicey otherwise. For instance, the Atlas is very helpful in "Doom of Eztli" and "At Death's Doorstep," but most players can handle those scenarios without special tricks. "The House Always Wins" (as scenario 2) and "The Wages of Sin," on the other hand, are downright brutal scenarios, and there the Atlas can have a huge impact on your odds of a good outcome.

I think this is great card for Wendy Adams. her stat is 4 & 4, so Suggestion test starts 8. Additionally, Moonstone gives 1 & 1. 1 Moonstone = 10, 2 Moonstone=12. This stat help to overcome difficult evasion attempt including first action Quick Learner, and trigger "success by 2 or more" effect.

Of course, this is also good for Sefina/Akachi who want to use Suggestion 4lv.

As time has gone on, many cards are released which can bypass the ability of this card. I'll introduce thoes cards in this review.

• Direct defeat: The effect only prevents "damaged" or "attacked"; non-attack defeat is permitted.

  • Waylay
  • "I'll see you in hell!"

• Discard or shuffle/place Deck: If ALL are in victory area, discard pile, or deck, game is ended.

  • Disc of Itzamna (lv2)
  • Close Call
  • Dumb Luck (lv2)
  • Mind Wipe: sadly, Mind Wipe also removes victory point and extra +1 health.

• Others:

  • Joey "The Rat" Vigil (lv3) + Scavenging: Since Powder of Ibn Ghazi is item, you can discard and return repeatedly. Then, you can place lots of clues on Brood, and your attacks will succeed except .
  • Double or Nothing

• Not work: "addtional damage" or "moving damage" doesn't work for this card. Thanks comment @ydycga.

  • Zoey Samaras's effect
  • Hatchet Man
  • Empower Self (stamina) + Vicious Blow (lv2
  • NotZ story asset
  • Forbidden Tome (Dark Knowledge)
  • Empower Self (stamina) + The Home Front

Heloooooooo, Preston. Since resources on your Family Inheritance aren't in your resource pool, you can spend the full amount on the compass every turn, getting 2 clues with an of 4. Dark Horse Preston is a real thing (I hear), and this will give him one strong investigate every turn.

For everyone else who can take it, I like it a lot; getting two clues in one action is a big deal, even if it's only once/turn. Although Minh might have trouble emptying her resource pool if she has Milan out, it's cheaper than Fingerprint Kit and doesn't have charges, which is big. Another big winner is "Ashcan" Pete, especially running Dark Horse. In a perfect world, you can Duke over to a location with 5 or more clues, use the compass, ready the compass with his ability, then use it again. If clues aren't that deep, just use your ability to ready Duke instead. The ceiling here is pretty phenomenal, but you're only at 4, 3, and 3/4 on each test, before other bonuses (and assuming you only have 1 buck from your upkeep). Also getting any benefit from the second compass use gets a bit tricky without Madame Labranche to refill your resources. At any rate, I'm interested in using this somewhere.

(EDIT: Updated for feedback and new FAQ.)

This is an older enemy, and a lot of this review may come off as obvious to more experienced players or has already been mentioned in reviews for other relevant cards, but I figured for the sake of those less experienced (or if nothing else just for fun) I'd write an extensive breakdown of this absolute monster.

First, the elephant in the room (the towering, invisible elephant): They can only be damaged or attacked with Esoteric Formula. The highest impact of this interaction is that your usual sources of extra damage are gonna get benched. I'll go into more detail on that, including a few workarounds, later on.

It has 6 Fight. That's a problem, but it's fair; your chance of landing a hit unaided against an invisible monster would probably be very low. Have your nimblest investigator pack the magic dust and grab some clues for those location effects. Mystics are at an advantage with their high , but with enough clues on your target, everyone should be able to hit consistently.

It has 3 Evade. That's a fairly lax difficulty for high investigators. Since it's Massive, and attacks for 2/2, you'll want someone to Evade basically every turn, if you can't secure the kill. Rita Young with Track Shoes and Peter Sylvestre is a star, she'll be able to dart around the map and keep threats down with aplomb.

Its health is 1 + 1. What this means is that in a 3-4 player game, at 1 damage per action, you won't be able to defeat it in a single turn. How do we get around that? If you're trying to get extra damage, you're gonna be ice skating uphill. (EDIT: No "additional damage"/"move damage" effects work.) Esoteric Formula uses , meaning Vicious Blow (and The Home Front) is out. Double or Nothing technically works, but is extremely inefficient—it brings the difficulty to an insurmountable 12, so you'll need a whole lot of clues or effects that can reduce the difficulty, all for one extra point of damage. Barring that, Zoey Samaras (via her ) and Lita Chantler seem to be the only ones capable of cheating out extra damage. Lita has amazing value here, but good luck getting her this far, un-sacrificed (to not one but two Ancient Ones!), with at least 3 mental trauma under your belt, and drawing her in time to make an impact.

For everyone who isn't a crazed zealot, leveraging extra actions is the way to go. Rogues should have no problem with that. MVPs here are Marie Lambeau, who can use Esoteric Formula with her free action; Stella Clark with Oops! and the usual gaggle of nonsense; and Tony Morgan, who in addition to being a Rogue can place bounties to get his free Fight action (but only on Brood that enter play after the game begins) (EDIT: He can use Bounty Contracts during scenario setup, thanks Nenananas!).

So that's some pretty sound strategy, but you're not interested in that. You came here for the jank, the cheese, the cherry-tapping, the Air Bud clause! Years ago, Django astutely pointed out the absence of the Elite trait, but at the time the options this opened up were less than stellar. Time went on, and more cards came out; these are mentioned in the comments of that older review, and have quite a few reviews of their own mentioning their use against this enemy. The two that take the cake here are Waylay and "I'll see you in hell!", because while the text on this enemy prevents it from being attacked or damaged by non-prescribed means, you can still defeat it any way you like.

Evade into Waylay + Resourceful is an easy combo for high Survivors (did I mention how good Rita Young is here?) that comes at a paltry two actions and a mildly spicy 3 resources. Mix in your favorite methods of guaranteeing success, keep the resources flowing as much as you can (On Your Own will help here, especially if your football friend ended up on the altar last scenario...), and if you’re feeling extra cheesy, recur it infinitely with True Survivor.

"I'll see you in hell!" is so-so by comparison given the cost, but with a favorable board state, it's a tactical nuke. Using it on as little as two Brood could still be considered a good value trade in certain circumstances. This is a questionable include for most Guardians, but Calvin won't hesitate.

If all else fails, swallow your pride and Resign. The better you did last scenario, the harder this one will be, and defeating all five is a tall order.