Podstęp. Osłabienie

Task. Dreamlands.

Neutralne

Carolyn Fern deck only. Replacement.

Revelation - Attach To Fight the Black Wind to the current agenda. Carolyn Fern takes 1 direct horror.

Forced - At the end of the round, if any amount of horror was assigned to an investigator this round and it was not healed: Place 1 doom on attached agenda.

Tiffany Turrill
To Fight the Black Wind #12.
To Fight the Black Wind

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Reviews

Most grievously for Carolyn's deck, 'To Fight the Black Wind', presumably a metaphor for clinical depression [or for some convulsive disorder of the bowels?] makes many demands of her admirers in AH:TCG. Nestled furtively within lies power - to overwhelm and destroy!

Consider, first, "1 direct horror" discharged so stickily upon her when revealed [in such moments one imagines a sound as of a strained grunting] - the Forced is satisfied and the redheaded doctor is stricken with the "horror...assigned to an investigator this round" (that is to say, not to an asset). Doom is come. Absent an extravagantly drawful deck, the greater portion of investigators' draws dribble from upkeep. That is too late in the round for undoing Carolyn's distress. Were it an agenda's final round (by doom-allowance) no matter, but in likelihood Carolyn's bosom campaign-ions will submit to the indignity of an entire round per-scenario being taken from them, the price the woman charges for a grouping with her.

Little cost-effective remedy is to be had. Should it be the final horror necessary to defeat her, 'Cheat Death' would solve the problem - but what of that, unless it be thought a practical business to take a 5XP card to intentionally suffer 5 horror and hold your lingerings furtive on just 1 sanity remaining, until 'To Fight the Black Wind' is announced. Creative minds calling upon, say, 'Ancient Stone (Minds in Harmony)' or 'Key of Ys' will find no relief. Timing betrays the former, for that card's heal-on-draw reaction-trigger is realised "when" drawing; thus after the draw but before its' impact on the game-state resolves (that is to say, agenda-attachment and 1 direct horror to Carolyn) - and for the latter, the very distinction between assignment and placement that adjusts the destination of direct horror assigned to Carolyn to be placed on 'Key of Ys' ensures the Forced effect of 'To Fight the Black Wind' still dominates.

Some options:

  • i) Extra draws each time you take a turn with her, reducing the risk of 'To Fight the Black Wind' coming when hardest. Suggested deck options might be: No Stone Unturned/Eureka (when ready to receive it, intentionally pull it into your hand); Lab Assistant/Preposterous Sketches.
  • ii) Purpose to appoint when the card will come, swallowing slots of deck, of assets, of max. 15 Seeker/Mystic, and taking in resources, actions and cards in hand; and all of this for one task only and even that without surety. Say, of Carolyn, that she with 'Scrying' closely examines one's own deck; 'Alyssa Graham' goes down in play to keep looking at the top, riskily adding her own count of doom when the time comes. A mighty strain.
  • iii) Forswear her fully.
  • iv) Shrug the shoulders. Embrace damnation - and the doom-ation in whose company it travels. It's 1 doom.

Rounds yet to be played in the agenda bear the risk of additional doom; more serious, naturally, when attached earlier in its' doom-allowance. Obvious wisdom can be seen in keeping horror-heals ready [via assets in play / events in hand], especially multiple-target heals [e.g. 'Kerosene'/'"If it bleeds..."'] and/or action-conserving heals['Ancient Stone (Minds in Harmony)', 'Fearless'], but also there is prevention to consider - e.g. 'Brother Xavier' to be assigned horror suffered by team-mates; 'Dodge'/'Hypnotic Gaze' for cancellations of attacks, both against yourself and team-mates - and more importantly still that all investigators take account, action-to-action, the heightened consequences of choices that risk horror being dealt to them.

Cluny · 51
I'm pretty sure, since direct damage/horror "cannot" be assigned to other assets, Key of Ys won't stick it up, despite its forced effect. — SGPrometheus · 745
Assignment and placement are different game-effects. The direct horror from 'Fight the Black Wind' is assigned to Carolyn's investigator card, but placed on 'Key of Ys'. — Cluny · 51
I don’t think that Key of Ys actually stops the doom here. The damage is assigned to Caroline, then when it would be placed on her, it is place on the Key. Damage was assigned, but at no point before the end of the round was it ‘healed.’ This could potentially flummox her with any direct horror, not just from the Revelation. — Death by Chocolate · 1359
The Forced effect provides that doom results from assignment to the investigator, i.e. not to their assets. — Cluny · 51
Never mind - after consulting the rules again I acknowledge my error and that you are correct - clearly if assignment to the investigator is distinct from placement upon Key of Ys, then horror being assigned to Carolyn but transferred to Key of Ys does not assist the case without being healed in the usual manner. I have edited my review to accommodate this. — Cluny · 51
Because this weakness is attached to the Agenda, another option could be to take Mr. Rook and specifically trigger his ability in the Witching Hour so that TFTBW is discarded at the beginning of the mythos when the Agenda flips. I think Alyssa Graham is probably less risky though. Maybe even take Alyssa Graham + Scroll of Secrets even though that's eating up a ton of out-of-faction slots. — Zinjanthropus · 223
this is painful to read — Swebbers · 1

This has been updated to match my "Signature Weakness Project." I have done my best to make sure that the original content isn't altered too much, out of respect for any comments.

A very rare "attach to the agenda" signature weakness. Looking at the two elements, the effect and the discard condition, we get:

The effect: Attach to the current agenda. Carolyn takes a direct horror. If all horror generated isn't healed by the end of each round, add a doom to the agenda. While this weakness, like many, is pretty situational, it's still nasty in most settings, and can be scenario-ending. You never want to lose turns to "add doom" effects, and, unless you draw this at the Witching Hour or draw it on a low-doom agenda (or are lucky enough for all investigators to avoid or soak any horror), it's likely to cost you a couple of turns, especially since, if drawn during upkeep, the horror Carolyn takes from the card will generate a doom before anyone can heal it. The team can stick close and have Dr. Fern desperately heal instead of advancing the act, but that is its own kind of tempo hit, as is having everyone try to maintain their horror soak and own healing abilities. The only real mitigation is getting better horror healing (which Carolyn does as she gains XP) and have everyone mind their soak. This card is made slightly worse by the annoyance of having to track who gained horror each round.

The discard condition: Advance the agenda to which it is attached.

All in all, this is an above average signature weakness, maybe even way above in scenarios with high doom agendas.

Box vs book Since Foolishness, while cute as a button, is not the best Ally in the game, and this is a pretty harsh weakness, I suspect most players will choose the "box" over the "book" or including both in building a deck (the two signature weaknesses have a really bad synergy). Which is a pity, because I like the Dreamlands flavor.

With more XP you can heal sanity more efficiently (especially ancient stone - minds in harmaony with Mr. Rook). This makes it pretty trivial to heal horror and avoid this cards doom. — Django · 4854
Sorry for double post, Rook potentially allows you to choose when to get this card out, which is best when the agenda will advance anyway. — Django · 4854
There's always Alyssa Graham if you're really afraid of the weakness. Combo with Scroll of Prophecies to not have to worry about reshuffling it. Probably not worth the splash slots though, I suppose. — Zinjanthropus · 223
Came to look at this out of curiosity re: Live's sig-weakness-project, as I was wondering to myself "If you tier-listed all the weaknesses, which one WOULD be at the top?" Figured it'd probably be a tossup between this, and Crisis Of Identity. — HanoverFist · 660
It will be a while before I get to crisis of identity; I am only rating cards I have played fairly extensively or seen played extensively, and no one I know want sto play Lola.... — LivefromBenefitSt · 1022

Q: Pretty sure I know the answer, but is "heal" a protected verb (e.g. A card effect must explicitly say "heal" in order to prevent the forced effect here), or do all means of removal qualify as healing? (e.g. Tommy Muldoon's elder sign effect)

HanoverFist · 660
I would think Tommy’s ability is moving, not healing, but I don’t feel really confident about that.... — LivefromBenefitSt · 1022
As far as I can tell, you can just keep a Deny Existence on hand to prevent the horror which can make you worry free during upkeep, just like Diana and now Sister Mary. — LaRoix · 1628
I think the token that was assigned to the investigator would have to have been healed by the end of the round to avoid the doom, but it doesn't have to be healed from the investigator it was originally assigned to. So if Tommy Muldoon's Elder Sign moved the horror onto Peter Sylvestre and it was healed at the end of his turn, you'd be okay. But if Tommy moved it onto a Keepsake and defeated it, the token wasn't healed so the doom would happen. — Yenreb · 15