This is really good in Jim, particularly in TFA and Carcosa due to the nature of their Chaos bags. Both bags have a tendency to just be Skulls + 1 other symbol based on your route.

Let's look at Echoes of the Past on Hard. For Jim, assuming he has Recall the Future in play and names the Cultist/Tablet/Elder Thing (whichever there is two of in the bag, which is how the bag will be unless you Doomed out at the party), the bag is:

7/17: 0 or greater 2/17: -1 4/17: -2 2/17: -3 1/17: -4 1/17: -5 And as always, 1/17: auto fail

Assuming for another investigator that the Skull is passed when at -2 you're looking at a change from 64.7% success to ~76.5%. That is quite the gain, and Jim pulls significantly further ahead once the Skulls breach -3, which isn't unheard of in this scenario after the mythos phase.

The thing is this card effectively gives you that same ~12% boost to your success rate until you actually need it. It's just like Lucky! in that sense.

Lucky! is more powerful per use of course, but you don't get it back every single turn. Playing more aggressively against the odds and knowing you have a way to get there anyways allows you to conserve your resources and gain tempo.

Just be careful to name a token that will actually make you pass a given test. Recall is not optional. If you call your shot, you get your +2 so make it something that actually counts. Especially vs Mythos tests you might not care about, try to name something you only have a 1/17 or so pulling.

Still, I encourage you all to try this in your Mystics and off-class Mystics. Lucky! is a genuine consideration in any deck that can take it, so don't sleep on Recall if your deck building restrictions don't allow taking it.

2 resources and 1 card for 1 action, but 2 cards and 1 card worth 3 actions, so 3 actions for 1 action? Not an impressive card among all those rogue cards providing action. But when export to other factions with Versatile, this ability become priceless. Seekers draw cards so easily, that you can almost consider cards as free. So 2 resources for 1 actions now? If there is any card can get resources as efficient as 1 action (you don't have to count in any cards spent!) for 3 resources, then the combination will become 1 free resource! And then you just use the free resource for more actions! Here is a deck for example.

I think a good use of this card could be with Agnes Baker or on another level with Patrice Hathaway. Combined with Scrying or Scrying(3), you can see 3 cards of your deck, and decide to discard the one you want, especially Treachery Cards. Moreover, correct me if I'm wrong, but Patrice Hathaway can choose the order of the cards in her discarded hand, making Yaotl sensibly more powerful.

The lower cost and ability to reload are pretty great, as are the two skill icons. Combos beautifully with Well Prepared and the Bandolier, ensuring that you don't waste your Shotgun or M1918 BAR rounds on weaker enemies.

Wow! Most tomes are only good for investigators whose names rhyme with Crazy Stalker -- but this might be the rare exception. Assuming I read this right, you peruse the top nine cards of the encounter deck, choose one, and then discard a copy of that card that is currently in play. In other words, if there's a conglomeration of spheres squelching around your map, and you find his twin brother in your 9-card draw, you can discard said conglomeration. Or if someone has a hex or a miserable Frozen in Fear in their threat area, and you find the match, you can discard that too.

This is impressive versatility! Each time you crack your codex, you have a decent chance of discarding literally any non-elite encounter card currently befouling your board -- whether it's an enemy or some treachery, whether it's at a location, in your threat area, or attached to the act or agenda deck.

Let's think about this. We have some cards that let us discard enemies, like the Disc of Itzamna, or Persuasion. We have a couple that can cleanse your threat area -- Logical Reasoning and the very fancy Cheat Death, which you'd only use in an extreme situation. I don't know of any player card that can pick off cards attached to the agenda deck. And here comes this codex that can do all three! All three three times!

Of course, the the codex does come with some chanciness. You may not find the duplicate you were hoping for in your 9-card draw. If there are only a couple encounter cards on the board, you might whiff altogether. The codex gets better and better as the encounter deck dwindles, and as encounter cards start to pile up on the board. It depends on the scenario, but it seems to me that in a three-player game, it doesn't take long for the board to start filling up, and thus for the codex to become reliably useful. If you play it with 3 or 4 encounter cards on the board and 20-25 in the deck, you'll probably get to discard something, even if not your first choice.

So who should take it? In my view, anyone who can... As with all tomes, Daisy can use the action for free -- always nice. Mandy can potentially discard TWO cards from play, which sounds amazing. But really, I think it's great for any investigator. Joe and Roland might prefer to keep their hands free for weapons, but sheesh, the codex can be a pretty dang good weapon in its own right!

If you want to make the Codex a key part of your deck, consider including means of extending its usefulness as well. You might take Astounding Revelation, which will let you add secrets to it, or Knowledge is Power, which will let you use the Codex without burning a secret. For an item this good, it's worth eking as many applications from it as you can!