Ethereal Slip

Ethereal Slip

I absolutely adore the concept of this card for a Luke Robinson deck with the ability to feign where "your" location is you can really lean into the team player/support role with his kit. Two is fairly pricey but you shouldn't have much problems with resources with Luke considering how many actions the Gate Box can save you. The major question I have for this card though that will effect it being either A- Bonkers awesome or B- Plain awesome is:

"Enemies and investigators other than Luke Robinson cannot enter Dream-Gate" As numerous FAQs have pointed out enemies cannot follow Luke into the Dream Gate even if he Moves out then Moves back in, if the enemy "Spawns" on Luke they are discarded, no EXP granted. (Even if it is a scenario important NPC such as the a certain Masked somebody).

So if this card is used while in the Dream-Gate onto an enemy in a connecting location is it- A. The Enemy cannot be swapped into the dream gate so the card cannot be played. B. The Enemy is Swapped with Luke into the dream gate then is discarded(not defeated). C. Luke appears at the Enemies location but the Enemy does not move as they cannot SWAP.

Grim-Rule dictates it'd be either A or C, but I am curious if someone has found an FAQ or somebody more knowledgeable than me can clarify this interaction.

Either way I am auto-including this in my 'Fellow Investigators are Chess Pieces' build.

RitsyReelz · 2
In my opinion, Luke in Dream-Gate cannot play Ethereal Slip. First, the enemy cannot enter Dream-Gate, so that the enemy stay its location; note that the reason the spawned enemy is discarded is that it has no location to stay. Second, target rule tells that you should choose the target whose game state is changed. Since the enemy is not moved, no game state of enemy is changed. Thus, Luke cannot play Ethereal Slip in Dream-Gate. — elkeinkrad · 498
Note that spawned enemy at Dream-Gate is discarded since they has no location to stay. It's not Dream-Gate's ablilty. If the enemy is already at a location, the effect to forcly move the enemy to Dream-Gate does not cause the enemy to be discarded. — elkeinkrad · 498
My instinct is to say it's C. Enemies only get discarded by the dream-gate when they try to spawn there , because enemies with no legal location to spawn at get discarded, enemies with no spawn instructions want to spawn at the location of the investigator who drew them (so enemies that Luke draws can't spawn at the dream-gate). But when they try to move into a location where they can't go, that's a different situation. And the rules say about Hunter enemies trying to move places they can't go : "If a hunter enemy would be compelled to a location to which the move is blocked by a card ability, the enemy does not move". So thats what I think happens there: Luke can move so he does, the enemy can't move (at least to where it wants to go) so it doesn't. — bee123 · 31
Agreed, target rule means it's definitely A (Ethereal Slip is unplayable from the dream gate). The undefined part of the rules at the moment is whether ethereal slip counts as a move for the purpose of movement effects. — suika · 9506
Thank you for the clarification and where specifically to look. "Target". Thank you all for the replies! This is an awesome community :) — RitsyReelz · 2
But I would say, Luke can still play the card from the Dream Gate with his "once per turn" ability. Not extremely powerful, but he could play the level 0 version for the effect of the level 2 version (still at 2 resources cost). — Susumu · 382
Yeah, Luke in a Dream Gate can play Ethereal Slip with his second constant ability to move any enemy to any location up to 2 connections away (taking AOO from enemies there if any) and move to that enemy's previous location, which is pretty decent. — Thatwasademo · 58
All revealed locations are connected to the Dream Gate, so the "up to 2 connections" restriction isn't really a limit. As long, as the enemy is on a revealed location, he can move it to any other revealed location, just like everybody with the level 2 version. — Susumu · 382
It's a limit on *how far you can move the enemy*. — Thatwasademo · 58
Oh wait, unless you mean you can count distance for the card through the Dream Gate even though the enemy can't actually move through it because it's moving directly? Huh. — Thatwasademo · 58
It was a brain fart from me. You are right. Since you have to move to the original location of the enemy, even though you can go to any location from the Dream Gate, it still must be two away from the enemy. — Susumu · 382
I don't see why you wouldn't be able to count distance through the gate. Nothing in the text suggests that the enemy would move one location at a time. You could even play this on an enemy that can't get to you at all (because all connections between the two of you are one-way). — TheNameWasTaken · 3
I agree with TheNameWasTaken. "Dream-Gate is connected to each other revealed location, and vice versa. Enemies and investigators other than Luke Robinson cannot enter Dream-Gate.", So technically at this point, all locations are two spaces are two away from each other (even though no one but Luke can enter the midpoint). — khoshekh · 7
So is the consensus that Luke in the Dream-Gate can play Ethereal Slip as though he's at Location A, choosing an enemy at Location B; and the result is that Luke moves to B and the enemy moves to A? (I can't find any official definition for "swap.") — szwanger · 2

Bandages

Bandages

This card is sooo good in William Yorick, especially the combo Bandages + Beat Cop. In recent game I played Beat Cop round 2 and then Bandages. The Beat Cop stayed in play whole game (18 rounds) and dealt around 6-7 damage...Killer! You deal damage to Beat Cop, heal with Bandages, enemy gets damaged. When used up, Bandages discards itself and Yorick plays it back after killing another enemy to keep on damaging with Beat Cop...

SergSel · 378
For the Yorick + Bandages + Beat Cop combo, what it does is to save you 2r per recursion of Beat Cop. Pretty good for econ, although if you're already running say Rite of Sanctification you won't need it. — suika · 9506
Interestingly, I ran exactly Blessed Yorcik in the campaign and Rite was good, but the problem was sometime to get my bless generation cards together with it. Bandages also helps heal damage from other investigators and Yorick himself and not needing to play Beat Cop from his ability lets you play something else, like in my case Favor of the Sun or Rite of Sanctification or Keepsake. I managed to pull of the combo in about 4 out of 8 scenarios (2 Beat cops and 1 bandages in the deck) — SergSel · 378
In addition to reduce the cost, it means you're paying for items, not for allies. This means Yorick can use Schoffner's to fund his beat cops and may open interactions with Bob Jenkins or that one seeker ally. — OrionJA · 1

In the Thick of It

In the Thick of It

This just opened up the game!

Holy moly!

Mystics can now start with Blood Pact! Agnes Baker, Akachi Onyele, Dexter Drake.

From now on every investigator that can and would take Charon's Obol, should take this card! It's a dangerous endeavour but it's fun and totally worth it in my eyes. And more importantly:

  1. Sefina Rousseau starts with Suggestion
  2. Tony Morgan starts with Marksmanship (To more easily deal with his weakness)
  3. "Skids" O'Toole starts with Lockpicks
  4. "Skids" O'Toole starts with Cat Burglar
  5. Wendy Adams starts with Try and Try Again.

Great fit without Charon's Obol:

  1. 40 card Mandy Thompson starts with Segment of Onyx, Easy Mark and Surprising Find!.
  2. Patrice Hathaway starts with Mind's Eye and Miss Doyle (I would use Short Supply as well :))
  3. Leo Anderson starts with Charisma
  4. Carolyn Fern just doesn't mind the horror :) That helps her getting a faster Stick to the Plan, or start with Ancient Stone to get a faster Ancient Stone (Thanks for the tip, @MrGoldbee)
  5. "Ashcan" Pete gets to start with 2 mental trauma. That allows him to use desparate skills right away. And this is the one gator who would now start with 2xInspiring Presence, and Newspaper and Yaotl!

Basically, "Ashcan" Pete got the most out of this permanent!

This is such a great tempo bust to the upper mentioned characters. I think, In the Thick of It has become my favourite card out the newest expansion just by existing!

Thank you, the design team, at FFG.

ambiryan13 · 179
Carolyn should take Ancient Stone (1). — MrGoldbee · 1493
Yep, good one! Thanks for the tip — ambiryan13 · 179
Since you mentioned Blood Pact (3), you might want to put Marie into the list of investigators that like it :) — jamalix · 1

Toe to Toe

Toe to Toe

How does this work with swarming enemies? Let's say Daniela is facing a swarming 2 enemy (that's 3 enemies total), can she chooses just one of them to attack her to play this card, or the 3 of them?

Thanks in advance

Balin · 33
x) Each swarm card attacks separately when enemies attack DURING THE ENEMY PHASE. x) Each swarm card can be attacked or dealt damage separately, but the host enemy cannot be defeated while it still has swarm cards underneath it. x) The host enemy and all of its swarm cards move, engage, and exhaust as a single entity. => So, no. A swarm enemy does not generally attack as a single entry. It's always usefull reading the keyword in the Rules Reference to clear this questions. — Susumu · 382
Do you mean it's just one enemy attack in this case, or three attacks total? I didn't fully understand your answer, sorry, English is not my first language — Balin · 33
Of course, this does not mean, that you will not get an AoO from each swarm card, should you trigger it. But that's because each swarm card count as a single enemy. You won't get an attack from other enemies, you are engaged with, from this card. Just the one, you are attacking. And you can even put extra damage on other swarm cards, without them having attack you, hence the swarm keyword allows that. — Susumu · 382
Ok, now I got it. Thanks! — Balin · 33
Swarm enemies attack each of there own. If the last paragraph I quoted would be "The host enemy and all of its swarm cards move, engage, ATTACK and exhaust as a single entity", this would be different. — Susumu · 382
Hey, if each swarm card attacks in enemy phase, so Daniela can hit each swarm and host with her ablility? Am I right? — Pawiu14 · 202
Yup — MrGoldbee · 1493
Does the enemy get exhausted after the attack? — Atshen · 7
If the monster dies from this damage, does it still strike back? — IceMagician · 1
@IceMagician The enemy attacks you first, because it is part of the cost. — snacc · 1021

Cryptic Grimoire

Cryptic Grimoire

What were they thinking.

It needs to proc once to break even in actions, and 3 times to break even in resources in the ideal operating environment. That's placing and subsequently pulling at least 6 curses (and not cancelling them) AFTER the tome has been played, each of which on a subset of Insight events. All that to break even INSIDE a scenario... not counting the prerequisite quest or the 8xp playset. And it has to compete in the hand slot.

lol?

MrButtermancer · 56
This is a totally viable card in a curse build, really not sure what your issue with it is. The other one, sure, pretty bad. This one's solid, though. — SSW · 217
I don't think the effect is bad per-say either. The main issue with this card is that the curse package is far more about 'playing tiny curse cards for huge benefits' than 'actively seek out curses. — dezzmont · 222
This is a good thing by the way: Curses should be far more about the benefits of the cards that generate curses, because a deck that wants to flood the bag with curses proactively for its own sake is almost 'meta-parastic.' Not only is it a strategy that only works with a very specific pool of cards, but it forces every other player at the table into that strategy. So it is sorta good that the seeker curse packages faceplanted hard. But if a 'care about curse' strategy ever takes off for real, this would be a good card in it, despite the fact a lot of insights already are fast. This is, in theory, limitless free actions and your friends can potentially proc it VERY fast. — dezzmont · 222
I have to agree with MrButtermancer here (is there a Ms. Buttermancer?). You're spending a card, a hand slot, a play action, 3 resources and 4 Xp on something that will maybe, on a good day (read: bad day) save you , I dunno, 5 play actions and 5 resources? It's not a great trade. — olahren · 3586
A good question to ask is 'How many times does this need to trigger for me to be happy with it?' 5 actually sounds quite nice, that is effectively 10 whole actions (if we evaluate the non-action benefits of making an action fast as offsetting the fact a resource isn't quite worth an action). Action compression especially is fairly useful in Seeker, so being able to use this to clear out a location even earlier with a fast play of one of the 'Investigate with a benefit' insights. But 5 triggers is a huge ask, it requires you to have 5 relevant insights that will meaningfully help you in hand when you need them, and 5 seperate curse draws after this is in play, which is extremely difficult to do in a timely manner. In that specific instance, your likely looking to not so much flood the bag as keep a steady stream: at 4-5 tokens you will expect a curse 1 in 4 draws, meaning you will get maybe a charge per turn if you can keep that level of curseness up. But that also means your failing around 40% more tests than you 'should,' or need to pass tests by 2 more to get the same expected result (because curse math is weird and trying to just pass by the expected average value of the curse doesn't actually help offset the curse that much). That means your looking at 10% of your tests failing specifically of those 4 curses, which means whatever you do with those insights better be worth it! — dezzmont · 222
Said math is on standard. Curses are more predictable (But affect more tokens) on easy, and get more volatile on harder modes (Because the wider distribution of results means the curse is a difference maker on fewer results, and partially offsetting the curse does more), and assuming one curse pull (The odds of getting two on a 15 token bag with 4 curses is like some odd 3%, so like around 1in 30 pulls). — dezzmont · 222
Every time I try to build around this, I ended up taking Farsight instead. — suika · 9506