Since nobody wrote a review of it yet: This card (and to a lesser, but not very low degree it's downgrade) is freaking nuts! Not only because of it's obviously useful ability to make all kind of debuffs to non-Elite enemies, gives a great toy with Abyssal Rot to fellow Alessandra or Trish players and even a nice econ option for yourself with Aember Rot, but it can be triggered in any player window, including during tests (before or after committing cards). This makes for a bonkers combo piece with the Innsmouth set of Spell assets, as the tokens revealed will count for the effect, and you put them back into the bag before the "actual" reveal token step of the test, so you might draw them again. Just notice, that there must be a non-Elite enemy to be targeted on the board.

You can soup up this cheeky trick with Olive McBride. Reveal 4 tokens normal, then for your fifth, with the new level 2 version, reveal 4 and cancel 2 of them. Note, that in case you draw 3 or 4 tokens with Olive, you can only count 2 of them, the cancelled ones are not considered to be drawn for the later effect on your Eye of Chaos or Armageddon. I repeatedly managed to first charge up my spells with enough charges to last an entire scenario, then used the reveals for extra damage or clues. Since you can't discover additional clues on a on your (only a connecting) location, I was less conservative with charges on the Eye than on Armageddon, because I would get extra charges later on, when there were no clues on connecting locations anyway. Obviously, Shroud of Shadows should be similar good in this combo. I did not take it, as I rather used Occult Reliquary for a hand slot for the Rod and did not have the deck slot for another card with additional arcane slot.

Of course, this can be abused for other skill tests as well. Like on the new set of upgrades of DreamEaters Spell events, which I'm pretty sure will foreshadow other Spell upgrades, based on the return on succeed by x design pattern we've seen in . Probably even Song of the Dead might be build around, though I would rather not. Just as I wrote this review, I noticed another one suggesting .35 Winchester as combo piece. As I mentioned in another review, it is a fantastic enabler for macabre depiction on Living Ink. Revealing the token you want on a test has never being easier than with this card.

Now let's talk about Macabre Depiction for a while, as it has not been done before. This customisation has become extreme valuable at the latest with the Hemlock Vale Investigator expansion. I played Kōhaku Narukami with Living Ink, Rod of Carnamagos and Olive McBride, and after I purchased Macabre Depiction (which I did before scenario 3), I never dropped below 3 charges. I always draw at least one symbol token, the turn I played it, so it got 4 charges at that point. Then, if I draw a symbol during the Mythos Phase, it might max out at 5 charges, at the start of my turn it dropped at 4 or 3 charges. In retrospective, my built would have been viable for a Torrent of Power, to be committed for 5 or 3 , and still being safer not to "break" than a Lockpicks (1) on an Easy bag. This is not a hyperbole.

Now of course, this build requires to go into blurse, but who with the Rod of Rot would not go into curses at least? Note, that you kind of have to take Olive (2) as well, as you can't use the Rod, while there is no non-Elite enemy on the board, because you need a target for it.

Kōhaku can check 6 boxes, so I took Shifting Ink and Eldritch Ink (, with being my initial skill of course) as well, the first was a bit of a wasted experience. I never played both copies, as Alessandra much preferred the feel of silk against her skin to an ordinary tattoo, and I never draw the second copy in time to spend it on Hank anyway. But the later was quite useful. With Gabriel Carillo and the tattoo, I got a base of 6, so was not solemnly depending on Eye of Chaos to investigate, although it was of course my main way to do.

Hank Samson wants, at least that's my believe, flip his investigator card as soon as possible. Since this is done by taking dmg/horror Toe to Teo may be of great use to him. Not only it gets the job done → kill/damage enemy but also gets him closer to flipping his investigator card.

You will never jam if you run this with Ancient Covenant and Favor of the Sun, though that only works once per round. The funny thing is that if you run this combo, .35 Winchester is a better gun if you can take it. It costs one more resource but has 5 ammo and is a level 0 card (plus 1 less but that shouldn't matter).

FFG's ruling that tokens revealed during the action for Rod of Carnamagos count as "revealed during this attack" means you get a pre-test reveal of 5 tokens to see if you can pull a non-negative one once per round. If you can fill the bag with tokens, you have a good chance of getting the bonus damage (even better if you're Jim) without needing to run other tech like Olive McBride, Nkosi Mabati, Favor of the Sun, etc.

Two drawbacks: 1) Rod takes a hand slot so you either also need Occult Reliquary or two investigators (though they don't have to be in the same location); 2) Rod's original use is anti-synergistic with this as tokens lessen the chance of drawing a non-negative token. If you are using it to boost the Winchester rather than its original function, you don't need to upgrade it though another drawback is that you can only have one per deck.