Hiding Spot

Please help me great when an enemy would become Ready at the end of the enemy phase? Don't enemies that attack normally during enemy phase exhaust, and only ready up in the upkeep phase? So if they all gain Aloof (they never discard the hiding spot) and normal enemies who attack, exhaust, who are these enemies that discard the hiding spot? How long can it last? Many rounds? What's the longest you folks have kept a hiding spot up for?

Quantallar · 5
Aloof enemies would discard this card, unless they either have been engaged with an investigator before gaining aloof (they won't disengage from gaining aloof and hence attack and exhaust in the enemy phase), or have been engaged by an investigator. If an enemy floats on the location with aloof, it (normally) won't attack in the enemy phase and therefore would be ready at the end of the enemy phase, which discards this card. — Susumu · 340
I guess you could extend it for a round by exhausting all enemies and then playing this, so the aloof effect would go away at the end of the following Enemy Phase, but even that is kind of using up actions that could be used to advance the scenario. n the other hand, I've never used it, I don't think, so what do I know? — LivefromBenefitSt · 1023
Power Word

Taking the FAQs above into account I tried the following out.

It is extremely effective to multi-Power-Word one hunter enemy, preferring a hunter enemy preying on me like Guardian of the Crystallizer or Bianca "Die Katz".

With "Thrice Spoken" and "Tongue Twister" you can have a ...

  • ... Charging Warrior -> "Go [1].", "Go [2].", "Go. [3]", "Betray [1].", "Betray [2].", "Betray [3]." -> Runs into a location and deals up to 3x1 damage to enemies with an an equal or lower fight value. "Killing 3 Swarm of Rats at 3 connected locations is crazy ... same is killing a 3 health enemy 3 locations away!"
  • ... Charging Evader -> "Go [1].", "Go [2].", "Go. [3]", "Distract [1].", "Distract [2].", "Distract [3]." Runs into a location and evades up to 3 enemies (maybe including itself) with an an equal or lower evade value. "Make Rita Young look like a sloth!"
  • ... (untabooed) an Ambulance -> "Go [1].", "Go [2].", "Go. [3]", "Mercy [1].", "Mercy [2].", "Mercy. [3]" Runs into a location and heals up to 3 allies for health and/or horror. "Make Bianca "Die Katz" a charging Lay-on-Hands-Paladina who heals 6 health for 1 action at a location 3 steps away!"
  • ... Charging Cluever -> "Go [1].", "Go [2].", "Go. [3]", "Confess [1].", "Confess [2].", "Confess. [3]" Runs into a location and discovers up to 3 clues if its health is equal to or higher than its location's shroud. "Get an On the Trail (3) once per turn!"

In all cases you can also change the resolution order to or skip any of the commands: eg. "Go [1].", "2nd Command [1].", "Go [2].", "2nd Command [2].", "Go [3].", "2nd Command [3]."

You go to the power-worded enemy and send it to it's target doing whatever you want. When the enemy is at least 2 locations away, exhausing or evading it is not necessary. If it is aloof from e.g. Existential Riddle you can even ignore this part because aloof enemies don't exhaust.

Your power-worded enemy becomes a freeking multi-functional boomerang.

You can support this playstype by taking cards like Word of Command and Lucid Dreaming to get the copies out of your deck very fast.

thrice spoken can command each OTHER enemy with power word — Adny · 1
Oh thx, you are right. I will edit my review the next days. — GrueneLupenAufheben · 116
Hallowed Mirror

Justice for Vincent! The mirror should absolutely be takeable by him. This card is very good but the fact that, of the two dedicated healers in the investigator list, Carolyn and Vincent, only Carolyn can take this card, seems like a pretty significant design oversight. If on Gray's Anatomy, "The card itself does not heal damage/horror..." but is takeable by Carolyn and Vincent, this card should be too. The card itself does not heal damage/horror, but it directly leads to a way to do so.

acquavaa · 2
vincent can absolutely take this — Adny · 1
Someone should tell the deckbuilder tool that, because it doesn't show up under eligible cards. — acquavaa · 2
I am not an expert and I could understand if I am wrong, but Hallowed Mirror does not have "healing" on it, so it cannot be taken. It's silly, and I think rules as intended would have it be something Vincent could take, but I think rules as written would say that bonded cards do not count towards being able to include something in a deck. — DjMiniboss · 44
FAQ under Empty Vessel. But apparently, it has been reverted, so never mind — Adny · 1
Ancestral Knowledge

Not every Investigator with access to level 3 Seeker is going to go hard on skills, though if you were already running 6-8, there is very low opportunity cost to this, because you can add some more flexibility cards while not changing your chances of drawing them. The downside is the interaction with Practiced Makes Perfect, meaning you're more likely to whiff on your first time through the deck (which, you're Seeker probably, so its fine). But My favourite interaction is the wording on the lightning bolt. "Draw 1 attached skills". Not "add to your hand". So this card, can, for Harvey Walters, guarantee draw 1 additional card for 5 turns in the game for when you don't already trigger it from a Eureka or Perception, or your Vault of Knowledge investigate trigger. At this stage in the game post Hemlock Vale, there are certainly enough skills, especially one's that cantrip already, that Harvey can just take a toolkit of skills, taking a Guts, Perception, Manuel Dex, or maybe Plan of Action, Eureka, Deduction, Survey the Area. Amanda loves this card, but I would posit that this card is also absolutely fantastic for any Harvey build and I would prefer it to Studious for the same XP.

Good spot! Although it is worth mentioning that it is double the XP cost of Studious, because this card is Exceptional. — snacc · 973
Harvey's ability reads "draws 1 or more cards from their deck", so that interaction doesn't work — aurchen · 1
Elaborate Distraction

Is this better than Cunning Distraction? Well, lets see. It's 2 resources cheaper, though still not cheap for survivor. And it has variability, you can evade or ping it for damage. AND you target all adjacent locations as well. For the measly extra cost of an additional action.

The value of this card really goes up in 3 and 4 players when you simply have more spawns, and also swarm enemies. Preston of course likes testless stuff and can pay any resource cost. If Rita can pay the cost in actions and resources, it generally syergises with what she wants to do. She (and Preston) can also store it under Bewitching. 1 of the actions spent can be viewed as either doing testless damage or a move she would probably have used anyway. This way, there was no test. I think you do need to be hitting 2-3 minimum for this to be worth the squeeze. At lower player counts, one hopes enemies aren't getting that out of control. But at higher player counts, 1 players turn, can really save the entire team a heap of trouble.