I think that the 4 resource cost is going to be prohibitive for most investigators. For 4 resources, you can play an asset that will help you actively advance the scenario such as Dr. Milan Christopher or Beat Cop. In my opinion, this card doesn't really deliver a powerful enough benefit to justify that cost.

Still, Carolyn Fern might want it for its flexibility and its potency. Any Mystics who are running 2 Arcane Research assets can benefit from its stronger horror healing ability early on, and Agnes Baker in particular would appreciate that. If the campaign has gone poorly, I can see some Rogue characters using their Adaptable talents to switch this card in towards the end of the game.

I think you'd only ever use it for the heal on traumatized investigators - if you use it for the one-off healing, it's mostly less effective than First Aid, and that's saying something, since First Aid is largely regarded to be an inefficient card.

I thought that this card was going to be pretty solid for people that can benefit from both of those stats. Certain investigators like Jim Culver, Marie Lambeau or even Wendy Adams to name a few. I'm giving it some more thought as to when you usually want the intellect bonus, the majority of the time it's on a dead-end where you will not be getting any help.

If you just need the than you're better off with Holy Rosary. And I'm not sure if taking it just for the is worth it alone.

Half of the time you'll be getting the bonus because most locations have two connected symbols to them, but the half of those locations seem to be the ones connecting to the locations you'll be getting close at in many scenarios. They're not the locations themselves where you will be picking up clues. I really wouldn't count on having the secondary benefit. It's an unlikely scenario but may eventually be a benefit in certain circumstances. I think overall it might not see play..

I think that this is too expensive for anyone but Calvin Wright to consider. I can see him needing to get himself out of a hole every once in a while. An investigator doesn't want to spend 4 for an asset that can heal once per turn. Even if it is somewhat a bit more flexible than First Aid. Only the second version of First Aid makes someone's list the majority of the time.

When Calvin Wright starts getting to that tipping point, he can lower his stats in a pinch to get to a safer ground. But, I still don't see it as that appealing.

Quite the sick single-handed weapon. Its direct comparison is to the Machete and of course this is purely better statistically. As it should be for 5 experience. When you break it down, it has a better bonus to hit than the machete and always provides a bonus damage. Whereas the machete only does the bonus damage if they are engaged with you (problem if on someone else and you need to do multiple damage or an evaded enemy) and only if it is the only thing engaged with you.

The cost is high for this weapon at a cost of 5, and the experience rivals that of the Lightning Gun. But we are talking about a weapon that doesn't have an ammo limit, and only takes up a single hand. Comparing firearms to handheld weapons isn't typically something done lightly. The firearm should have the advantage at these direct comparisons. But even so, once per game you can still swing very strongly with this weapon at something scary. Often you will only need to be making one or two hits like this per game anyway as a necessity. That is the problem that arises from something like a firearm. You occasionally run across something you might not want to waste an ammo on, but find yourself doing so anyway while you wait for the proper target or you try to deal with them hand and fist. This weapon has the advantage of waiting for that moment and then unleashing upon it. And you receive an excellent benefit of filling your hand with useful cards upon completion. Zoe obviously stands out with the will and str 4 that would provide for a serious swing when something shows up that needs to be cut down.

This should be up there with the most powerful weapons in the game if it is not the one at the top.

From my limited testing, this seems a really nifty card. By the mid-game you've probably got resources you want to ditch, such as empty spells like Shrivelling or Mists of R'lyeh, or possibly allies like Arcane Initiate, Alyssa Graham or David Renfield with irritating doom on them that you want to get rid of. Now you can bump them off for fun and profit.

At worst, this is an extra Emergency Cache, but it's best feature is it's flexibility, and it's ability to draw 3 cards. Amnesia or Paranoia just cleaned you out? This can help you recover.

The down sides?

First is that it requires XP - though 1 is reasonable, I think.

Secondly, you need to have an asset to to discard. This is a problem at the start of a game. I would always throw Sacrifice back during a Mulligan. Still, if you do have one early, for mystics icons are usually useful.

Lastly, if we see mystic builds that are very event heavy (Sefina Rousseau) or where they might not want to discard empty assets (Akachi Onyele) then it might not be the card for them.

I think there might also be a combo with Quantum Flux here, too. If you've used all your Shrivelling charges, you can use Sacrifice to push it into the discard pile, and then Quantum flux to pull it back to the draw pile. That feels quite a lot of work, though...