Father Mateo
The Priest

Investigator

Believer. Warden.

Mystic
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 3
Health: 6. Sanity: 8.

When an investigator reveals an chaos token: Cancel that token and treat it as an token, instead. (Limit once per game.)

effect: You automatically succeed. After this test ends, either (choose one):

- Draw 1 card and gain 1 resource.

- If it is your turn, you may take an additional action this turn.

Magali Villeneuve
The Forgotten Age #4.

Father Mateo - Back

Investigator

Deck Size: 30.

Deckbuilding Options: Mystic cards () level 0-5, Blessed cards level 0-3, Neutral cards level 0-5.

Deckbuilding Requirements (do not count toward deck size): The Codex of Ages, Serpents of Yig, 1 random basic weakness.

Bonus Experience: You begin the campaign with 5 additional experience (does not affect the number of weaknesses you must take in Standalone Mode).

Mateo Castile's life has not been easy since he became a priest. Recent decades in Mexico have been wracked with instability and conflict. Father Mateo struggled to balance his faith with the pragmatic concerns of preaching when the law told him he must not. But this is not what has assaulted Mateo's faith at its core. The nearby murders and kidnappings were not politically motivated, as he had suspected. A gruesome and horrid cult thrives at the heart of the brewing war. How, Mateo wonders, could a kind and loving God allow what he saw that night to exist?
Father Mateo
Father Mateo

FAQs

(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)
  • NB: ArkhamDB now incorporates errata from the Arkham Horror FAQ in its card text, so the ArkhamDB text and the card image above differ, as the ArkhamDB text has been edited to contain this erratum (updated January 2022): Erratum: This card’s ability should read: “When an investigator reveals an chaos token..." - FAQ, v.1.4, September 2018

  • Clarification: If a skill test both automatically succeeds and automatically fails, [for instance by drawing and with Olive McBride while playing as Father Mateo], the automatic failure takes precedence, and the test automatically fails. - FAQ, v.1.3, May 2018

  • Automatic Success/Failure: Some card effects make an investigator automatically succeed or automatically fail a skill test. If this occurs, depending on the timing of such an effect, certain steps of the skill test may be skipped in their entirety.

    • If it is known that an investigator automatically succeeds or fails at a skill test before Step 3 (“Reveal Chaos Token”) occurs, that step is skipped, along with Step 4. No chaos token(s) are revealed from the chaos bag, and the investigator immediately moves to Step 5. All other steps of the skill test resolve as normal.
    • If a chaos token effect causes an investigator to automatically succeed or fail at a skill test, continue with Steps 3 and 4, as normal. - FAQ, v.1.7, March 2020
Last updated

Reviews

Mateo's investigator ability is one of the most impactful in the game, because it will change the way your group plays, and even what cards they may put in their decks.

Every now and then, you will come across tests which you cannot afford to fail. Suppose someone draws Rotting Remains with 2 sanity left, or the guardian has one last action to take out a monster with doom. Some particularly nasty agendas have tests that add a weakness to your deck on failure. Normally, you can buff your skill test up to the point where you would pass on every token except the , and hope for the best. Mateo allows you to guarantee that test will succeed. And he can do it from anywhere on the map (except when he's napping).

It provides a similar benefit as cards such as "Eat lead!" and Grotesque Statue. However, unlike those cards, his ability

  • does not need to be declared before the test. Can be used to pass retroactively.
  • can be used on any investigator's test, even those not at your location.
  • is available right from the start of the game. Costs no resources to use, and no actions to install.
  • Costs no XP
  • not a card, so you don't need to draw it. Cannot be forced to discard it from hand.
  • cannot be blocked by cards such as Whispers in Your Head (Doubt) or A Baleful Welcome, although Stubborn Detective and Self-Centered can.
  • depending on the investigator, often gives a nice reward for drawing the

The first point is crucial - if you succeed on the test (and if you threw everything at it, it's very likely that you will), Mateo's ability does not get used up, and is available to use on the next test. Even though it is a once per game ability, it really protects your team all the way until you need to use it, and saves your defensive cards like Ward of Protection and "Let me handle this!" for when they are truly needed.

Mateo also enables the group to perform riskier strategies by making high leverage tests safe, such as grabbing multiple clues using Deciphered Reality, or gathering multiple enemies together to unleash a Storm of Spirits. Your guardian can now Shotgun the monsters without accidentally murdering the seeker. Notably, cards that becomes stronger the more you succeed by benefit the most. All In is now safe to play without risking your entire investment, and Archaic Glyphs becomes repeatedly abusable.

The fact that Mateo starts off with his ability ready to use shouldn't be overlooked. Even Seal of the Elder Sign, the ultimate combo card, requires you to both draw the card and be at the same location.

Of course, there are a couple of reason why he doesn't steamroll over every scenario - namely, boosting to pass every token in the chaos bag is expensive, and eventually, you will draw a that you can't accept.

Remember that his ability is a reaction, not forced - so you don't have to trigger it if you don't want to.

Deckbuilding

Mateo's relatively balanced statline makes him less reliant on using his willpower for everything, although you can certainly go that route if you want. Personally, I like St. Hubert's Key which buffs his willpower and lets him handle the lower shroud locations, freeing up the seeker. Shrivelling is a mystic staple, but if you have a guardian on your team to tackle tougher monsters, Enchanted Blade works very well too, with a fully charged stab having a good chance of taking out Serpents of Yig. It is also cheaper and has no risk of self damage. With his 3 , Manual Dexterity will get him out of most scrapes.

If the team is relying on Mateo to pull off his miracles, it makes sense to take cards that let him continue to do that. Seal of the Elder Sign is worth the two copies, and Premonition and Time Warp complement this role.

Mateo has access to Blessed cards. There aren't too many of them, but the stand out one is Alter Fate. The combo with Dayana Esperence is extremely powerful, and only accessible to Mateo and Marie Lambeau. If you want to abuse it, pack in Enraptured.

Other than Dayana, Arcane Initiate is a good ally choice, for fishing out the high XP spells.

The Codex of Ages is a good card that you will probably end up keeping it in hand until you need that , because the seal effect is too painful to keep up, especially in multiplayer. It's a little expensive, but part of the cost can be made up for by either of Mateo's abilities. Playing it triggers an attack of opportunity, making it not so great for monsters, but excellent on mythos cards like Locked Door or Entombed. Keep in mind that Serpents of Yig prevents you from playing the Codex (although the reverse is not true).

jemwong · 94
There's a lot of insightful stuff in this review, particularly in regards to Mateo's once a game ability. In my opinion that is by far the nicest thing about taking Mateo in multiplayer games- it really can be a lifesaver. However I disagree with most of what you said in regards to deckbuilding. Olive McBride is by far his most essential ally. The math on Mateo is weird in that he can take tests at +0 advantage or even below 0 and still pass because of his Elder Sign, and Olive McBride is a big part of that. You can use her on a test you shouldn't pass and possibly pull out an Elder Sign- because it's autosuccess, it doesn't matter what the other token you resolve is (sans Autofail, but you reveal 3 tokens, so don't choose that one). Blessed gives him Fortune or Fate and Eucatastrophe, which are very stand out in my opinion (Alter Fate is also good). The former is anti-Ancient Evils, and the latter is an easy way to turn a botched Olive test into a massive success. I find all of those more worthwhile than the incredibly expensive investment that is Seal of the Elder Sign. And while we're on the subject of Elder Sign fishing, it's weird to me you didn't mention Seal cards once. Seal is a fairly middling effect on its own, but with Mateo who is fishing for Elder Signs in the chaos bag, he needs any boost he can get. Sealing tokens makes it that much more likely you'll pull out the Elder Sign, so Chthonian Stone and Seal of the Seventh Sign are huge helps here. Unfortunately Protective Incantation is quite expensive, but if you can keep it in play and not miss the spell slots then it could be alright. Finally, the big problem all of this creates for Mateo: he's expensive. In XP (even starting with 5), in resources, in set up time. Making Mateo work takes a lot of resources, and it's personally why I would take Rosary over Key every time. Key is too expensive. Finally I don't see how Mateo could ever really justify Enchanted Blade. Shrivelling is just better for him, especially in a Seal build where spooky tokens aren't as common. Better to start at 4 or 5 base with Rosary than 2. — StyxTBeuford · 12917
I don't like the Olive + Seal combo for a few reasons. The biggest one is that Seal reduces the number of tokens remaining in the bag, making it more likely to draw each of the remaining ones. You draw the elder sign more often, but also the auto fail. Olive counters this, but she only works once per turn, and more importantly, she only works for Mateo. In a multiplayer game, all other investigators have a higher chance of drawing the auto fail, which hurts much more than the higher chance of drawing the elder sign. If you want to be able to guarantee high leverage tests by overcomitting skill icons, this is bad because you will likely be forced to use Mateo's ability much sooner. The seal combo also requires a lot of cards and resources to maximize success, so it is less reliable. With regards to the other cards, Ward of Protection is cheaper, even with the horror, and will counter enough sources of doom that I'd take it over Fortune or Fate. Eucatastrophe requires your final skill check to be 0 to work; the thing is that the two stats that are often involuntarily tested are Willpower and Evasion, and Mateo tends to do well enough on them, at least on standard. If you're testing the other 2 stats at their base values for fight/investigate, the payoff is probably not enough to use Eucatastrophe on. Shrivelling is definitely the better weapon, but for a support role Mateo, the blade is sufficient to handle smaller monsters without Shrivelling's drawbacks. You can spend 0/1 charges on a 2 fight monster, and 1-2 charges on a 3 fight monster, and have a good chance of hitting. Call the guardian or battlemage for 4+ fight enemies. — jemwong · 94
Even on standard you’ll get a test eventually where you will be able to use Eucatastrophe, and again Seal can actually help that by as you said making the autofail more common, but that’s not necessary- like Lucky! or Live and Learn, you will eventually be able to use it, and you’ll be glad you did. Mateo’s Will is effectively much lower than other Mystics since it’s only 4 and he has no Seeker access for Hawk Eye Cameras. As for seal hurting your teammates, while that is technically true it is also effectively not as bit of an impact on them as it is on an Olive using Mateo, and in fact it is why you have to use Seal of the Seventh Sign in such a build, since that does directly kill the autofail. Regardless of the merits of seal, it seems remiss to have a review of Mateo’s deckbuilding and not mention it in some way, positively or negatively. As for Fortune or Fate, I don’t see why you wouldn’t take that card AND Ward of Protection. I still don’t see myself taking Mystic E Blade for him since he’s very reliant on spells even without Seal of the Seventh Sign and his fight is low, but if it works it works. — StyxTBeuford · 12917
Here are some numbers on Father Mateo testing at parity with and without using Olive McBride. I am using the starting Hard Dunwich Legacy bag as an example. Probability of success WITHOUT OLIVE: 1/4 or 0.25; Probability of success WITH OLIVE: 3/16 + 37/455 or 0.269 . I am assuming that the symbol tokens have negative modifiers and no "reveal another token" effects, which is admittedly not always the case. But do consider that these numbers get smaller throughout a campaign as more tokens are added to the bag. — Spritz · 66
On the flipside most of Mateo passing using Olive at parity is also him getting an Elder Sign (0.2 chance in a bag of 15 tokens before seal). Seal improves these chances. — StyxTBeuford · 12917
This is better than just passing a test and also applies to being at any point below parity. Using Olive means he’s going to get about 3 times as many extra actions in a game as he normally should if he tests once a turn. — StyxTBeuford · 12917
Dayana Esperence + Alter Fate is available to Lola Hayes as well. — Yenreb · 15

Sadly, I think the good Father is pretty bad, at least as Mystics go.

Firstly, he seems to be missing a stat point (at least compared to the mono-colour + trait template that Mark and Akachi set,). Although Silas too is missing this point, so perhaps it is deemed that "Blessed" and "Innate" is better than "Tactics" and "Spells", which might be true for Innate, but certainly is not for Blessed.

Compared to Agnes or Akachi, he is considerably weaker. He is missing the 5 willpower, which as we know from Jim is huge, but he is also missing the free damage or the spell charges, both of which are considerably more powerful than his own once-per-game (OPG). Compared to Marie, he lacks the investigation options or bonus actions. He compares more favorably to Jim (the current weakest mystic), but even here he loses out. Jim has more support cards now, and is generally seen to be more of a solo-investigator, and has the any-5-splash. Mateo's low strength means solo can be an issue, as he has very little options for the extra 1 point of damage on 3-health enemies if he can't find his Shriveling.

His unique asset (Codex of Ages), is good if you want to pass a single test, but its expensive, uses a hand-slot, and is especially bad in multiplayer where sealing that Elder Sign for more than 1 or 2 turns hurts the whole group. It has uses, eg, with a big Storm of Spirits play, or a Double or Nothing, but these are pretty situational. Combined with his OPG, which can only trigger on a tentacle, and you have two very niche abilities, neither of which really shine.

Then you have his weakness (the Serpents of Yig)... and by god will you hate this guy. His 3 health means that, unless you have Shrivelling5, it will take 2 shots to kill at least. He is difficult for you to deal with without big spells, his damage is pretty high, and he seals the token. He's worse than the Silver Twilight Acolyte, which is one of the worst weaknesses you can draw, and adding spiky-weaknesses to a spiky-class is never great. Every now and again, you will draw the Serpents in turn 1-3, before you can find your Shriveling or Mists, and it can be crippling.

So you have:

  • Bad statline (possibly missing a point)
  • No non-purple blessed cards released or announced yet
  • Niche OPG and signature card
  • Terrible weakness
  • Better options available

So where does this leave you? Well, his one saving grace is the +5 XP he gets at start (or in standalone). This is meant to make up for all of the above. You have lots of options here, but they tend to fall on one of the following lines:

  • (1) is to jump-start whatever build you were planning on playing. (eg, upgraded Shrivellings, Spirit Atheme). This is the approach taken in this solo deck here (https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/5564/solo-mateo-cheats-his-way-through-forgotten-age-1.0). This is probably the "best" approach, although if you were looking for the best, why did you pick Mateo?

  • (2) is to go for something kooky, that you wouldn't normally plan to afford, like Seal of the Elder Sign, Song of the Dead or Blood Pact, straight-away. This does allow you to explore a new direction, as Mystics normally are tight on XP, and need everything for the basics (Shrivelling + friends). This is the approach taken here (https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/5655/the-mostly-holy-father-a-k-a-miracle-mateo-1.0). This is probably the more "fun" approach, just ensure you still have enough game-plan to achieve what you need to. Spending all the XP on the Seal, could also be a little spiky - you might never draw it.

The impact of this XP boost can be high, especially in the first 1 or 2 scenarios, although towards the end of the campaign you're likely going to notice it less.

Overall, having played the Father in a few campaigns now, I've found him to be weak and a bit boring. I'd like to see him have many more cross-colour Blessed cards to open up his options before I'd want to play him again on Hard.

I agree. I also found Father Mateo a little bland, and the fact that Blessed cards are doing anything for him is a little sad. I think he's definitely competitive with the other Mystics early in the campaign. The 5 XP makes a big, big difference. But later on it's not as noticeable (the difference between 35 and 30 XP is far smaller than the difference between 5 and 0 XP), and he feels very vanilla. — CaiusDrewart · 3004
*Blessed cards are not doing anything for him, is what I meant. — CaiusDrewart · 3004
Having now seen a couple of the Blessed cards (in preview, not yet released), it seems they are going for a buffing and protection theme, potentially unlocking Mateo as a "Support-Mystic". This is a cool direction to go in, and I would certainly love to re-evaluate the above critique once that is possible. For now though, its a waiting game... — duke_loves_biscuits · 1213
I don't understand the hate for Jim, who can play the odds incredibly effectively. His ability nicely negates lower will, balanced stat-line boosted with "0" Skulls makes him a proficient backupfighter/investigator even if none of his spells come out. — Eruantalon · 104
Matheo's elder sign is really strong.(auto-success +free action) With Olivia McBride, he usully draws it 4-5 times in a game. Add Eucatastrophe for extra fun. — DeadGuy · 19
@Eruantalon The problem with Jim is that you usually boost yourself up to beat Skulls anyway, as Skull modifiers tend to be the least bad chaos tokens. So in terms of odds Jim is only relatively effective when he has little hope of passing anyway, which is similar to how Mateo plays. — StyxTBeuford · 12917

We'd heard there was a trait for cards

That you could play because you pleased the Lord

But you don't really see new blessed cards, do ya?

And it stayed this way: cycles fourth and fifth

blessed purple cards just took the ps

Your decklists composed no Hallelujah

.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, hmm

.

Custom Ammo felt so strong, but we needed proof

Without gun access its just a spoof

The first blessed blue card made was no use to ya

The insults didn’t even stop there

Wish Eater at level 4 felt unfair

like they were withholding Hallelujahs!

.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

.

Then Innsmouth came like none before

Our jaws drop down and hit the floor

And suddenly I felt we barely knew ya

swaths of new cards that bore your mark

on a new voyage we could embark

With a bold new set of tokens for Hallelujahs

.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

.

Well, maybe there's a design above

They even work well with Olive

The token fishing deck still held true to ya

from covenants galore and Money Rites

Keeping your Faith to fuel Radiant Smites!

You’ve finally got some cards, OH HALLELUJAH!

.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

StartWithTheName · 63216

Father Mateo needs an updated review given his cardpool has vastly expanded with Innsmouth and Hemlock Vale. Use his starting XP on Ancient Covenant plus 2 Favor of the Suns that can immediately suck up from cards like Keep Faith, guaranteeing one nearly automatic success per turn for 6 turns. Pretty good for a starting deck!

From there, Mateo has access to many and cards that focus on blessings, allowing him to go multiple routes. Trigger your effect with Blessing of Isis (even if your "real" has been sealed by The Codex of Ages or Serpents of Yig), discount your assets with Rite of Sanctification, or skip the mythos phase with A Watchful Peace.

Father Mateo was dismissed as limited when he was first released due to a really limited cardpool, but that's no longer the case. Pair him with Sister Mary for the ultimate Holy Dynamic Duo!