Take note: unlike the level-0 version, you will still be making / tests -- this means that you can only commit // icons to the tests. With the effect of Mind over Matter (0), on the other hand, you turn those into tests (and so can only commit / icons).

Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant!

The mechanical change of supplementing your and instead of replacing them means that people with already good or can now use it too.

A Roland or Joe can use this card to gain monstrous efficiency for a round (7 or more -before- adding weapon bonuses!), AND the card replaces itself too. Frankly I wont hesitate to say this thing is an autotake, especially on hard difficulties where staying ahead of the token bag gets very expensive. If you have level 2 access and fight with weapons, you want this card in your deck.

For non combative characters (I.E most folks) this thing is mostly a means to duck out of combat, which is not always worth the slot and XP over just taking a copy of Manual Dexterity. It's still worth looking at for big multiplayer groups for characters who can net 8+ and pull themselves or others out of a pile of enemies.

For an interesting left-field combo you can run Mind Over Matter with Strange Solution to get a full round of 3 damage attacks made at 10+.

Good, versatile, card.

Always hard to analyze a card before it comes out, but i must say that this seems like a pretty solid 2xp card. As we know from stuff like Lockpicks and Spectral Razor, adding two of your stats together for a test is really awesome. It should be an upgrade for any Seeker, but will obviously be stronger in some than others. The card draw is an added benefit that even sort of seems favorable compared to Manual Dexterity or Overpower. It also let's it combo decently with Ancient Stone. The one knock compared to Manual Dex is that you can't use it for Grasping Hands, or Ants!, unless you draw them during your turn.

I'm especially excited about using this with Ursula, as the ability to evade enemies at 8+ for a whole turn could really save her life. Kind of funny, as the level 1 version is kind of mediocre with her.

EDIT: This card is really good in Crystallizer of Dreams Ursula. You get to evade at an obscene value or actually be able to kill rats for a turn, then you can commit it later for +2 to an evasion. The card draw effect comes in handy in a event heavy deck, as well, especially if you want to go Farsight.

“Always Current” Environment Review

As per my last review, I'm reviewing this from the perspective of starter decks (like Harvey's) and the revised core being always current environment - which will become the established meta. Unless FF changes what they consider current environment, this should remain a constant and can be used for all deck building going forward. All the cards I discuss below, unless otherwise stated, are all also current.

Should Seekers use this? As other reviewers have pointed out, level 0 Mind over Matter allows you to test instead of or . For most Seekers, the level 0 version is usually good enough to not want to upgrade, as you can commit cards to those tests which you can't do with this card. This makes the additional XP for adding to or less worth it, as you can just commit what should naturally be in your deck (things with icons) to match the elevated skill value on the upgraded version. It draws a card as well, but that's largely irrelevant to a class which draws cards easily. Further, Magnifying Glass (as it only boosts investigate) doesn’t help with a boost here either.

The answer is therefore generally a no to this on Seekers. I think when you are using both Dr. Milan Christopher and Whitton Greene so your outside of Magnifying Glass is higher, and/or you have Encyclopedia (*cough* Daisy *cough*), then it’s a little more worthwhile if you have the XP to spare - but otherwise the base version is good. Lucius may also be an exception to this rule when playing focused.

Who then should use this? For non-current investigators, as other reviewers have pointed out Joe Diamond is a good fit - but I'd probably rather spend XP on boosting directly with a Beat Cop. Legacy Trish also uses it okay but it's a bit of a waste of XP, same goes for (currently current) Darrell.

The real answer to who should be using this is yo' boy, Roland Banks. Using Mind Over Matter •• you can add +3 to your tests (or even to your for specific tests) which is pretty decent for a fast card which draws a card to replace itself. Common allies, such as Grete Wagner ••• and potentially Dr. Milan Christopher then add additional boosts for a Mind Over Matter •• turn while making Roland more well-rounded at clue finding. As this is a singular event in your deck, you will need to lean in to card draw to find it, but Seeker tech and Glory help with that.

The real question is, when is Mind Over Matter •• worth it on Roland? Super boosts for a turn are fine, but you do need to spend XP to put this in your deck, when instead you could be running Grete Wagner with Beat Cop and commit things like Overpower to have a good boost on a Machete, .45 Automatic or a Roland's .38 Special fight action.

The main use case here is Shotgun. Shotgun is now the only current big gun (TSK, FHV and TDC are current environment at the time of writing). Previously, no one used Shotgun because Lightning Gun was instantly better than it in Dunwich Legacy - but without that competition Shotgun becomes worthy of consideration again. With Shotgun and just Mind Over Matter •• Roland fights at a 10 skill value, with Grete Wagner ••• and Dr. Milan Christopher or Beat Cop that becomes at 13. Bosses like Umôrdhoth often take the full 5 damage when playing on standard difficulty at a 13 test (it varies, but it's around 80% of the time normally, and you do 3 or more damage around 95% of the time).

While this is all combo-erific, I'd say this is a very solid option for Roland which hasn't been considered much previously but perhaps should have been because the damage potential per action is very high. As long as you have good card draw, I think this is a new standard for what good damage looks like in current environment. I've made Roland deck based on this to coincide with the review here, check it out here if you're interested.

TL:DR Roland with a Shotgun is realistically the main use-case I would consider for this card which is also always current environment. That said, it's one hell of a cool use case and I think the juice here is worth the squeeze to assemble the combo.