Eye of Chaos

Asset. Arcane

Spell. Cursed.

Cost: 5. XP: 4.

Mystic

Uses (3 charges).

Spend 1 charge: Investigate. Investigate using instead of . You get +2 for this test. If you succeed, discover 1 additional clue at this location. For each token revealed during this investigation, you may discover 1 clue at a connecting location or place 1 charge on Eye of Chaos.

Alexandre Honoré
A Light in the Fog #227.
Eye of Chaos

FAQs

(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)

  • Q: Under FAQ 2.0, section Card Ability Interpretation 2.23 ("For each" or "for every"), an effect with "for each" gets bundled together if possible, but can be resolved as separate effects if that's impossible. How does this affect the Level 4 Armageddon/Eye of Chaos/Shroud of Shadows? Do you resolve all the curse token effects as a single cumulative effect once you're finished drawing tokens, or are they resolved as separate effects, one each time a curse token is revealed? A: Each curse token is resolved as a separate effect (one at a time, as they’re revealed from the chaos bag), because each reveal requires a specific choice to be made: add 1 charge, or deal damage/discover a clue/move.

  • Q: I use Eye of Chaos to reveal Concealed Mini-Cards. During this investigation I reveal 3 curses. If this investigation succeeds, can I get clue at a connecting location? And if this investigation fails, can I get clue at a connecting location? A: You can expose 1 concealed mini-card per card effect. In the case of Eye of Chaos, using it to expose a concealed card replaces all clues you would have gotten during that investigation, including any you would have received upon revealing curse tokens. If you reveal any curse tokens during the investigation, regardless of if you pass or fail, you can resolve the last sentence on Eye of Chaos. But again, if you’re exposing a concealed mini-card at your location or a connecting location, you can’t gain any clues from the investigation. (Rules Forum Answer, June 2024)

Last updated

Reviews

I thought I should just point out the differences from the L0 version because it took me more than one second to notice.

  • +2 willpower to the test
  • Bonus effect triggers FOR EACH curse revealed, rather than just once.
  • Extra willpower icon

I haven't played with Curses enough to know whether this triggers twice enough to make it worthwhile, but it seems like it'd require a full bag of curses to get good value out of it. I think I'd generally be happier with the extra clue from Rite of Seeking or Clairvoyance, despite their downsides.

Lovetann · 3
The big difference is if you're able to keep generating curses and keep pulling them, then you can charge them up essentially infinitely. Probably less of an issue with someone like Akachi or Dexter, but still a very big consideration for a team that works with curses. — SSW · 217
Having done a Leo+Rex ALL the curses strategy I can say if you prepare for it you can totally just keep the bag full of curses and be basically fine. — Zerogrim · 296
The rub with blurse is that filling the bag with bless or curse is way easier than almost anyone anticipated. So yes, you can definitely stack curses on this thing, and what’s more, the failure or success of the test has no baring on the curse effects. So even if you fail, you could pull several curses and get tons of clues on adjacent locations. — StyxTBeuford · 13052
I am currently working through a 3p campaign with Gloria using Eye of Chaos (4) and Favor of the Moon for clue-finding. I think the +2 Willpower is excellent for helping handle the curse -2 modifier. — SocialPsientist · 149

How to use this properly...

1.) In the Thick of it with level 2 grotesque statue. 2.) Backpack. 3.) Finish the first scenario with at least 4 experience. You can upgrade both spells to max with only 4. 4.) Tides of Fate with a high bless generation partner. 5.) Set to intentionally fail an investigate using the totem and only draw curse tokens (also clearing curses from the bag while doing so). If you can throw take heart into this test, all the better! 6.) Charge this up to ridiculous levels (8+ uses) and now you have a rite of seeking on tap with no downsides. Very powerful combo with only minimal experience and setup.

drjones87 · 206
I'm VERY confused: which totem ? Why do you want to fail ? How can you be sure to only draw cursed tokens ? It looks like a lot of work when you can simply use Twila Katherine Price, Recharge, Winds of power, Enraptured, Eldritch sophist, ... to get more charges. — AlexP · 296
Is is possible to reveal lots of curse tokens during single investigation even with statue? Although we find curse with 3 times of statue, the expected number of curse tokens is less than 2 with 10 curse in bag. — elkeinkrad · 504
In the Thick of if gives you enough xp for only 1 Grotesque statue. Even with 2 backpacks, your chances of getting one within the first 5 turns are, scientifically speaking, very slim. Furthermore, I'm not sure you're playing the game according to the original rules, because you literally cannot "upgrade both spells to max with only 4" experience points. Each copy costs 4 experience points. Meaning 8 in total. And lastly, in order to charge this to 8+ uses, you would have to pull 6 or more curse tokens in a single test (the first activation, the one you intended to fail removes one charge, leaving you with just two and each subsequent activation removes yet another charge). Even if you blew all 3 charges from Grotesque statue on the first reveal the chaos token step (which I'm almost sure you can't, because of the 'instead' wording), you would have a little over 85% of getting one curse token. A single. One. And about 0.2% of getting 6 in a row. Sooooo... no. This is definitely not how to use it properly. — Almevirian · 7
*all assuming you would have all 10 curse tokens and a standard 16 other chaos tokens in the bag — Almevirian · 7