Not terrible, not great. Good for very specific characters, anybody else just doesn't have the deckspace.

Open Gate is fun, whatever else it may be. Opening a gate to create shortcuts is fun, when you pull it off usefully it's a YAY moment!

• That time where you create a short shortcut to cut through an annoying spot repeatedly (1st Scenario of Carcosa comes to mind).
• That time when you set up an initial gate and create another gate wherever you happen to wind up at during the scenario to escape back to the startpoint through (2nd Forgotten age for example).
• Some maps have you running back and forth in general and setting up a major network node speeds your back and forth moves greatly (2nd Core).

The thing about this card though....

You tend to play this card in places where you HAVE been, and it wont help you get places you're actually going to. The only times this is helpful is when you backtrack for some reason or if a map isn't ushering you in just the one general direction (which most maps have a tendency to do), in many maps you're only netting one action saved, sometimes two, depressingly often zero.

In multiplayer it's WAY more helpful, one character can pepper locations like Hanzel & Gretel and the other dudes skip-step in their wake. Going faster than them other characters is needed for this to be possible, it's not unusual for a character to surge forward to get clues or an enemy, you can plan rounds where a vanguard is dropping gates and the others follow suit to catch up. You can easily save your team half a dozen+ actions in this way, even if you never actually used the gates yourself.

Synergies for Open Gates include:

• and movement cards. Shortcut, Elusive, Pathfinder, Think on Your Feet all help you move faster, covering more ground (and staying ahead of your friends) helps set up good gate spots. There's also Astral Travel and Mists of R'lyeh, the latter in particular will find you spots to place gates in a jiffy. Also Arcane Initiate really helps you set up a network that much faster.
• Luke Robinson is all but printed for Open Gate, or vice versa, you'll often be in the circumstance where he can pick 2 viable locations to go, place a gate on one, investigate the other, then place another gate to move to the previously gated location, saving 2-3 actions in the process. He might also put a gate at a friends's spot, move a few locations, then gate somewhere around his new spot, allowing the buddy to move 3-4 locations in one action. For Luke Open Gate is a much more reliable staple than for other folks.
• Norman Withers doesn't have as much flexibility, but he tends to dig DEEP into his deck every map, when he does find Open Gate he can often play it for free, which is great incentive to just drop it in order to save himself or his friends just the one action or so (while also digging even deeper in the deck!).
• Daisy Walker can run very fast, and she can get the pieces quickly with her Old Book of Lore engine, efficiency wise they are a bit worse for her than Luke and Norman but as for deckbuilding and finding the bits it's smooth sailing for her.

I frankly wouldn't even try Open Gate for other characters than the above, Akachi Onyele and Agnes Baker aren't fast enough and it would wreak havoc on their tight decks and cost curves. Jim Culver doesn't have the deck-space and there's no synergy, he doesn't struggle so much for actions as for consistency, same with Father Mateo. Sefina Rousseau likes to mess with her events and there's already a thousand good options. Diana Stanley has other stuff to do with her time, movement support is something that should be directed AT her, not From her. Patrice Hathaway can certainly find them fast, but they'll drip from her fingers long before you can put them in the right place and actually set up a good network.

Pretty great card.

Whichever copy you draw first nets you the skill pump for free, costing 0 means you can play Physical Training and pump a LOT more and faster then usual. Instead of saving up for a Beat Cop you might just pump that much more! The often big issue with Physical Training(0) is the risky moment when you play it, will it be useful right away or is it a cost commitment that just wont pay off, it's a BIG commitment. Physical Training(2)? Not so much.

The second copy is pretty much an Unexpected Courage, the first copy too if you decide you cannot afford to pump.

Hey guys, just a heads up, this is still a fine card.

I have a hard time spending XP on purely defensive cards, but in terms of sheer horror tank value you can get in a single action Elder Sign Amulet is undisputed champion.

Many powerful heals require 2+ actions, First Aid for example which gives Bulletproof stiff competition takes 5 actions to get full use out of (and is limited). Elder Sign Amulet is 1 action for a whopping 4 more sanity to work with, there is no other card in the game that nets you so much sanity in so little time.

The action efficiency is important, lots of characters scramble for actions. In solo, actions are your most precious resource. If you're trying to multitask clues and combat in a team, you definitely don't have actions to spare! In a team where you're the key performer in a particular role (the only killer, the only cluer). Elder Sign Amulet is a go-to card for the characters who have sanity trouble but no actions to spare.

Obviously the exact same is true for Bulletproof Vest and health.

Officer Pawterson costs 2 less resources and prevents 2 less pain, I don't see either card as being better, being free makes the card better in certain decks, worse in other decks.

Key of Ys is nice for horror tanking, but Key of Ys is less a card you use for tanking than it being the side-effect of using Key of Ys for massive buffs. Heck, grab Elder Sign Amulet and use it to cover your Key of Ys.

The only card that completely overwhelms the Elder Sign Amulet is Deny Existence, where preventing any trigger of 2 horror effectively nets you as much tanking as the Amulet would but for 0 actions and no cost while also being there if you have trouble with other stuff.

Hey guys, just a heads up, this is still a fine card.

I have a hard time spending XP on purely defensive cards, but in terms of sheer HP tank value you can get in a single action Bulletproof Vest is undisputed champion.

Many powerful heals require 2+ actions, First Aid for example which gives Bulletproof stiff competition takes 5 actions to get full use out of (and is limited). Bulletproof is 1 action for a whopping 4 more health to work with, there is no other card in the game that nets you so much health in so little time.

The action efficiency is important, lots of characters scramble for actions. In solo, actions are your most precious resource. If you're trying to multitask clues and combat in a team, you definitely don't have actions to spare! In a team where you're the key performer in a particular role (the only killer, the only cluer). Bulletproof Vest is a go-to card for the characters who have health trouble but no actions to spare.

Obviously the exact same is true for Elder Sign Amulet and horror.

Leather Coat costs 2 less resources and prevents 2 less pain, I don't see either card as being better, being free makes the card better in certain decks, worse in other decks.

The only card that completely overwhelms the Vest is Deny Existence, where preventing any trigger of 2 damage effectively nets you as much tanking as the Vest would but for 0 actions and no cost while also being there if you have trouble with other stuff.

This card, like all the exile cards, feels expensive, but it is worth the cost, sooo unbelievably worth the cost. The card basicly reads, if used right: +1 Round.

Time is often your biggest hurdle in Arkham, time until the brain doc's get ya, time until something freaky starts biting your ankles, time until your window closes and the game is over. At 2XP and 2 resources the cost is quite fair, think of that moment in Midnight masks where the agenda is about to advance due to some nasty combo of cultists, or when the mid-map boss shows up to grind your next few rounds to dust, smart application of the Doom negation wins maps and saves lives and minds.

At 2XP a-pop not every character likes it that much, a lot of characters will have quite literally an overflow of XP when they hit 20+XP in a campaign, "Ashcan" Pete and Silas Marsh for example are just, DONE levelling up at 26 XP, this might seem like a lot of XP in a Dunwich campaign or Zealot but post-Dunwich XP is quite a bit easier to come by.

This very much a card, but at 2xp there's lots of folks who can do a surprise Fortune or Fate, I wouldnt jump at a chance to burn XP from a Tommy Muldoon deck but when you need an extra round, you need an extra round.