Toe to Toe

I just wanted to add a little note of great value here, since the other reviews here already cover it nicely: when an enemy attacks, they exhaust and do not attack again in the enemy phase. They do stay engaged. Exhausted enemies do not make attacks of opportunity.

Imagine you go toe to toe with an enemy, then you you become besties for the rest of the round because they stick with you even when walking!

It’s weird an I like it. Please correct me if I’m wrong! See rules for enemy phase for the exhaust rule.

Weges · 92
The enemy does not exhaust due to Toe to Toe. The enemy exhaust only if they attack during eneny phase 3.3. All other attack does not cause exhaustion. — elkeinkrad · 500
It seems that another review covers Daniel's ability, but it's not common case. — elkeinkrad · 500
Yeah, it would make Daniela's ability to evade totaly moot and AoO much less of an issue, if the enemy would exhaust when attacking outside of enemy phase as well. Note, that they semi-erratad "Watcher's Grasp" in the Return to Box, because this card let the Watcher exhaust, because it attacks, as if it were the enemy phase. — Susumu · 381
Research Notes

This card is insane. Why? Because you can have two of them out at the same time.

With two of these out, every clue you drop gets you 2 free-ish clues that you can discover off of any location, ignoring shroud values.

All you do is alternate between using one research notes, and then the other, so you're always using the one with the most evidence on it. So having two of these out is sort of like having a permanent The Skeleton Key, that makes shrouds 0 instead of 1, lets you pick up as many clues as you pass by, and doesn't have to be moved from location to location... provided you can generate enough evidence.

The limiting factor here, then, is in how many clues you can drop per turn, to fuel your Research notes. Thankfully, there's a few strong repeatable clue dropping effects you can utilize:

Quick Study is by far the best option. You can have two of them in play, letting you drop 2 clues per turn, and it gives you skill boosts on your research notes, allowing you to hit such high values that you could clear out a location in a single test late in the game, regardless of what token you draw.

Dr. William T. Maleson lets you drop an additional clue each turn, at the cost of taking up your ally slot. Given that the Research Notes action isn't an "Investigate" action, you can't use Dr. Milan anyways, so this isn't a huge deal.

Captivating Discovery lets you "prime the pump", so to speak - just slam it down once you have both research notes in play, drop 3 clues, and you can get a total of 6 evidence in play, which should be enough to keep you going the rest of the scenario. The fact that this card also draws 6 cards for you on top of that is ridiculous, and also lets you dig for key cards to enable your combo if you aren't quite there yet.

Forewarned only lets you drop a single clue one time, but treachery cancellation is an incredible effect, and this deck turns its downside into an upside. At only 1xp a pop, this is an auto-include.

The only question, then, is what investigator to use this combo in. All of the key cards are level 2 or lower, so you have a TON of options you can use. Personally, I like this card in a Geared Up Parallel Daisy Walker deck. You can use Backpack and Schoffner's Catalogue to fully set up your combo on turn 1, and then just... get to discovering clues! Plus, since Research Notes is a tome, one of your actions discovering clues each turn is free!

Honestly, I suspect this card might be get taboo'd, sooner rather than later. Being able to discover almost all your clues by testing 0 instead of a location's shroud is kinda bonkers... at level 0, no less! But I'm definitely looking forward to at least ONE completely broken playthrough with this card...!

Neofalcon · 23
Vincent can also run this alongside Geared Up and Schoffnwr's Catalogue. He has less synergy with tome actions and raw Int tests, and his Bonesaw would like a hand slot, but he has interesting options to consider as well. — Death by Chocolate · 1488
oh, and for even more consistency, yeah it may only be a level 0 tome, but it is an absolute build around, so maybe it's worth running Raven Quill to find your second copy, boost your test for more success, ready other assets (such as Quick Study!) and/or save a hand slot. — Death by Chocolate · 1488
You should probably also consider arcane enlightment for additional tome handslots — Tharzax · 1
There's actually a number of great choices for additional hand slots now. You have Arcane Enlightenment, yes, but you also have The Raven Quill, which can make one of your Research Notes slotless, while also helping you tutor for it, or the new Astral Mirror if you aren't putting anything in your arcane slots. — Neofalcon · 23
Get around Haunted! — MrGoldbee · 1483
With 2 Press Pass, you got a super solid engine… 100% going to try that out — Valentin1331 · 77320
I think this is probably busted with Amanda. Skip all the geared up nonsense. Just drop perception 2 under your card and start hoovering up clues. — DAAAN · 1
I would house rule this card as 'limit 1 per investigator' and limit the trigger to the owners' cards. — Weges · 92
Glimpse the Unthinkable

Glimpse is useful for putting your skills back in the deck for practice makes perfect, and drawing cards again for the dream serum. You can also put your research cards back in, if you threw them during upkeep instead of discovered them during search. If you play this as Harvey, whose deck this came in, it automatically draws you two cards, while letting you put things in your deck that you can’t afford and hopefully getting things that will help you now. Combine with calling in favors to replace your damaged Miskatonic friends. Or try and draw your weakness while someone has Delay the inevitable or dark insight ready.

Plus, even if you have the perfect hand, two book icons will always be useful as seeker.

MrGoldbee · 1483
Also good in Roland. — MrGoldbee · 1483
Ghastly Possession

Just a small review to express how much better this card is compared to the already highly praised Enraptured.

I have used and loved Enraptured in almost every Deck that can use it: Daisy Walker, Luke Robinson, Jacqueline Fine, Sefina Rousseau, Father Mateo, Jim Culver, Marie Lambeau, Carolyn Fern, Gloria Goldberg, Patrice Hathaway and even some Mandy Thompson.

It is hard sometimes to reliably succeed test as a primary , but the boost from St. Hubert's Key and Read the Signs helped tremendously.

Here, for 1xp, I now have a instead of a (which is great for ), I replenish at least 1 use, and I add the crazy versatility of reloading literally anything with uses. The only downside is that you can only replenish the uses of an asset that you use Ghastly Possession on, so it must involve a test of any sort.

You can find here the list of all the assets which would receive at least 2 uses from Ghastly Possession, if they involve a test. The outstanding ones IMO are:

Valentin1331 · 77320
Sadly, we need to commit Ghastly Possession to "a skill test on an asset" to replenish its uses. It means that we can only refill the asset initiating test. At your current review, the following asset is illegal target: Grotesque Statue, The Necronomicon, and Scrying Mirror; for Strange Solution, only Acidic Ichor & Freezing Variant works. Of course, Ghastly Possession is really good skill, I think. — elkeinkrad · 500
Thanks, I did this in between 2 meetings and forgot this aspect half way through. I'll edit :) — Valentin1331 · 77320
a big one is definitely shotcaster. only card that can refill that — Zinjanthropus · 229
My friend ran this in a Norman deck with the good old Astronomical Atlas + Livre d'Ebon loop. After a few rounds of intense fighting his Shrivelling (0) ended up with 10 charges. Just imagine what a monstrous cluever he would be if it was Divination (4) instead. — koaexe · 30
I'm also playing this with Norman and it's pretty busted. Written in the stars and astronical atlas let me keep my divination topped off. It's funny how the best part of the card is probably just the last bit. — SpicyNugy · 2
I'm curious how the term replinish works. My interpretation is that you can't put more charges on the asset then it entered with. This is how replinish works for cards like prophetic. And that means you can't have ten charges on Shrivelling like the above example. Any thoughts on this? — SpicyNugy · 2
On Runic Axe, it is quite clear that "replenish" is capped inside the uses value. In this case I interpret it like this : For example of .45 Automatic, if it has 2, 3 ammo then it doesn't get any ammo. If it has 0, 1 ammo it is increased to 2. — 5argon · 11109
If there is a hard limit on the number of uses it should say (limit X uses on Y asset) or something. Compare Ornate Bow to something like .45 Automatic for example. Similarly I believe Akachi playing Runic Axe means it enters play with 5 charges, even though its replenishment effect should only get it up to 4. Also if your interpretation is valid then The Red Clock is useless because it enters play with 0 charges. — koaexe · 30
At least my interpretation is that replenish and add are just like cancel and ignore - two verbs that do basically the same thing but have very minor differences in where they can be or are used. — koaexe · 30
"Replenish" means to restore something to a former level, or condition, not exceed it. Ghastly Possession, by definition, cannot grant uses beyond an asset's limit. — JosieBean · 1
Akachi playing the runic axe means it enters play with 5 charges, but its replenishment can't take it above 4. Incidentally, 5argon is just objectively wrong on this one; 'replenish half' means it gets (up to) half of it back. You go back to 4 shots if you have 3 ammo (It can only go back up to the original uses), you gain 2 ammo if you're at 0, 1, or 2. Thanks for the Shotcaster S/O btw, I totally missed that. — Lailah · 1
This card makes Norman (with Astronomical Atlas) a good friend of every investigator who loves assets with "uses". — bugiel_marek · 24
The Mastermind

Just for easier reference when viewing this scenario;

The ability on this card, once translated, reads:

Each Distortion location gains: "Spend 1 clue: deal 3 damage to Eixodolon. (Group limit once per game)."

Soul_Turtle · 493