One of my favourite Spirit cards. Keep in mind that it doesn't let you cancel peril, surge, etc., but it lets you immediately cancel the when revealed ef- I mean, er, the revelation effect of a really nasty treachery at just the right time. It can, however, deal with surge that's part of a treachery's revelation, like False Lead.

It does nothing against cards that do not say revelation at all (like most enemies). Still, it's an amazing card. Grab this and hope you won't have to use it. For 1 exp, the extra security is totally worth it.

Note: this is being written as of The Path to Carcosa with no mythos packs of the cycle published.

This is less a review and more a call to consider including this card, even before we know what it can upgrade into. We know that Strange Solution could be upgraded to the very powerful Strange Solution, Strange Solution, or Strange Solution and as Archaic Glyphs is much more expensive to "activate" we can expect that the eventual upgrade will be likewise more valuable.

But who should take it, while the upgrades are still unknown? Seekers who can afford to carry two fairly useless cards (with one useful skill icon) are reasonable choices but Akachi Onyele gives the best risk/reward opportunity and the reason is her fairly bizarre deckbuilding restrictions.

Akachi can take all mystic and neutral cards, as you would expect, but then can also take cards with uses (charges) up to level 4 and then occult cards of level 0. Guess how many cards with uses (charges) are not already Mystic cards (as of The Path to Carcosa)? If you guessed zero, you're right! And how many Occult cards are level 0? Precisely one: these Archaic Glyphs. So to make Akachi's deckbuilding restrictions make any sense at all, the upgrade for Archaic Glyphs will be a seeker card (Hand. Item. Occult. Tome) that will have uses (charges) AND will probably not have that many charges on it so as to make Akachi's special powers that much more valuable: namely the ability to automatically add an extra charge onto the card as well as being able to recover it back in hand with Spirit-Speaker.

This speculative review will be revised once we know all the upgrades available for Archaic Glyphs.

Everyday people with flashlights elucidate the darkest night, Mystics exhibit bombastic magical explosions of light!

General thoughts about the spell's usability can be found under Blinding Light(0).

So, what has changed between the two versions? The additional cost of 2xp have to be put into relation to the additional effect that the upgraded version gives you.

1. -1 play cost (which would already be a fairly marked improvement over the base version)
2. +1 damage on the ping, which transforms this card from "Evade with a ping" to "Versatile kill-or-evade"
3. 1 horror, in addition to "lose 1 action" on the special tokens.

This makes Blinding Light(2) a very potent backup for Shrivelling/Song of the Dead. The major interaction for Agnes Baker i see with Forbidden Knowledge, allowing her to reliably dispatch 3 health enemies.

Pros

• Evade and inflict 2 damage on one enemy during one action after succeeding a willpower test.
• Works against all types, including Massive and Elite.
• Needs no setup and can handle early-game threats.
• You can combo Blinding Light with other cards to maximize it's value: Sneak Attack and Pickpocketing.
• Fairly priced event.
• Drawing one of the special tokens empowers Agnes' reaction ability, she gets even more options in tandem with Grotesque Statue.

Cons

• Risk of failure included.
• Drawing one of the special tokens can result in a minor tempo loss, even if you do not fail the test, you lose one action and suffer 1 horror.
• One-time effect only, for emergencies.

Recommendations

• Instantly parley spoiler on the Midnight Masks scenario.

Everyday people with flashlights elucidate the darkest night, Mystics exhibit bombastic magical explosions of light!

Blinding Light is more or less a filler spell to protect the caster until the real killer shows up. It's main strength comes from the willpower test against the enemy's evade value. The majority of evil servants have higher combat skills than evade. Advantage of being an event: you can instantly use it. The damage is just a nice bonus.

Drawing one of the special tokens during the skill test is particularly nasty, because you will typically want to do things after you evade without taking Attacks of Opportunity. Usually, you can not save it for your last action, because what are you going to to with your first two? ...

This spell's ideal application would be invocating it as a last action against big monsters that you need to tank and whittle down over the course of several rounds than against small targets.

Pros

• Evade and damage one enemy during one action by a test of will.
• Works against all types, including Massive and Elite.
• Needs no setup and can handle early-game threats.
• You can combo Blinding Light with other cards to maximize it's value: Sneak Attack and Pickpocketing.
• The upgraded version Blinding Light(2) is significantly better.

Cons

• Drawing one of the special tokens can result in a minor tempo loss, even if you do not fail the test, you lose one action.
• High play cost.
• One-time effect only, for emergencies.

Recommendations

• Instantly parley spoiler on the Midnight Masks scenario.

Q: "When is a door not a door?" - A: "When it's a-jar."

Backstab is a conundrum, too. Thematically, it belongs to the rogue class like no other card, while game mechanics-wise it is barely seen in rogue decks. But i am happy to announce that with the appearance of Madame Rousseau, things could change in the future.

Backstab best suits investigators with a low combat and a high agility base.

Yes! Of course you got the same notion: i am speaking of 'my girl', Wendy. Backstab is one of the very few cards that give her reliable access to additional damage. Fire Axe is expensive, Sneak Attack costs two actions and the bat probably breaks. This, and the fact that Pete players often import Backstab into their Dark Horse builds, makes Backstab feel like a red card in disguise.

A ridiculous combo possibility exists with Double or Nothing, if you manage to pump agility up that high. As a rule of thumb, +2 to +4 over the skill check difficulty on standard difficulty, so roundabout 10 to 12 agility. Unlikely, one can pull this off alone. It is something you will definitely need another investigator to help out with, since realistically you will be unable go accumulate enough cards (Unexpected Courage/Manual Dexterity/Rise to the Occasion/Wendy's Amulet) for this ideal moment. Or.... brooding over succeeding skill tests - it should be pretty smart to just exile Stroke of Luck as last card in a three-card-combo.

For the sake of clarity it should be noted that Backstab makes you test your agility skill instead of your combat skill against the enemy's combat value. This implies that cards like Vicious Blow are not allowed to be commited to the skill test, as the rulebook states [RR V1.0, page 26, section 'skill test timing', ST.2]: "The investigator performing the skill test may commit any number of cards with an appropriate skill icon from his or her hand to this test. [..] Cards that lack an appropriate skill icon may not be committed to a skill test. [..]"

Pros

• Unconditional +2 damage.
• Needs no setup and can handle early-game threats.
• Possible power combo with Double or Nothing for a 6 damage blow.
• Can also be combined with Will to Survive for an assured hit.
• Almost an auto-include for Wendy Adams, the event can even be replayed with Wendy's Amulet later on.

Cons

• High play cost.
• Risk of failure included.
• One-time effect only, make it count!

Recommendations

• Very useful if you plan to fight in The Devourer Below. (spoiler)