Suggestion

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.

elkeinkrad · 515
My only concern with using this with Wendy is the 3R and that she can get to 6 or 7 Agi at which point she could evade almost anything without it. For example she could have any combo of Moonstone, Tarot, an ally (Cat or BMOC) or the Trench Coat. She could take an asset like the Trench Coat that gave her some extra soak instead of Suggestion. Jenny loves this card though. — The Lynx · 1024
Sefina can use it to dig cards out of the depths of her deck without having to draw her weakness with LCC (3) — Zinjanthropus · 233
A great choice for "retiring" non-Elite enemies with Kymani — Amante · 10
Brood of Yog-Sothoth

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.

elkeinkrad · 515
All of these are great! I actually used Hatchet Man when I was trying to play Dunwich with Wini, to good effect, but I'm especially impressed by the Scavenging one. Mind blown. — Zinjanthropus · 233
Matt has confirmed that additional damage and “move” damage don't work. Check https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1952154/article/28459812#28459812 and FAQ of Poltergeist on ArkhamDB. Other tricks are still helpful though! — ydycga · 1
oh, thanks for giving information. I edit review :) — elkeinkrad · 515
Mind Wipe works with Bury Them Deep though :) — Athe · 12
KATE WINTHROP JOINS THE FRAY! Her signature Aetheric Current: Yoth can voop the walking barn here into the deck for a faster victory. Alternatively, her favorite lil' carnivorous mushroom takes one look at this big boy and says "LUNCH!". (That one's not Kate-specific, but Kate was uniquely built to deliver on-demand oversucceeds, making it a natural fit for her.) — HanoverFist · 768
Mariner's Compass

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.

SGPrometheus · 857
Incredibly dubious to say this is somehow cheaper than Fingerprint Kit, since you’ll be pumping resources into it constantly to get the 2 clue benefit. — StyxTBeuford · 13072
Brood of Yog-Sothoth

(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.

Or Mind Blank and kill it. It's not Elite. — MrGoldbee · 1513
Mind Wipe is good in a pinch. It removes the VP, meaning it gets discarded, and might get drawn after the encounter deck gets reshuffled. — MiskatonicFrosh · 365
But you can just use the Mind Blank to deal most of the damage and Formula 1 damage. :) — Death by Chocolate · 1504
True! You'd have to wait until the next investigation phase to finish it off though. I still don't think it quite measures up to the two I mentioned, but points at least for allowing people to use their more conventional cards, and for the Dayana Esperence combo. — MiskatonicFrosh · 365
@Death by Chocolate - Sorry, that won't quite work out like that. Mind Wipe also wipes all the additional HP, so if you use it on an already damaged Brood or damage it while it's being wiped, you'll defeat it right away. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
Tony actually can place his bounties on Broods that start in play, as Investigator setup starts before scenario setup — Nenananas · 273
@TheNameWasTaken You’re right! I feel silly for missing that. — Death by Chocolate · 1504
Hatchet Man is a good one, especially in solo. I do think that, on the whole, though, the challenge of this scenario doesn't scale well to lower player counts. You have far fewer clues that you can add to it, even if you can set the location effects up (which is, itself, rather difficulty to do). The difficulty of the enemy's fight value doesn't scale at all. You will probably only get 1-2 with a low wp investigator. I think I got 3 with Wini, thanks to card draw and AYCDB. — Zinjanthropus · 233
One-Two Punch

You might wonder, does the automatic success mean that I can’t apply skill cards to the first test? Actually, you can. You don’t skip:

ST.2 Commit cards from hand to skill test.

That means your team can pile on vicious blows, quick thinking, overpowers....Which means this is an excellent first attack against bosses. And the second hit, even if your boxing gloves are gone, it’s going to take you to a +8, a fighting chance to hit any foe in the game. With regular boxing gloves, that’s +9, advanced ones +10, and you probably have a beat cop or other ally to give you that +1 bonus...The cost of course is five experience points and two bucks.

The upside is you can recur it with Nathan’s elder sign. And it’s a tactic, so you can guarantee to have it when you stick to the plan. It’s an investment in xp, and shouldn’t be your first purchase because the level zero version of this card is pretty good. But when you need the bust the toughest of skulls, you’ll be happy to have this.

MrGoldbee · 1513