Survey the Area

Skill

Practiced. Expert.

XP: 1.

Seeker

While Survey the Area is in your hand or committed to a skill test, it gains icons equal to your , and icons equal to your .

They won't believe you if you don't capture it on film. Hell, they probably still won't believe you.
Nicole Cardiff
Edge of the Earth Investigator Expansion #37.
Survey the Area

FAQs

(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)
  • Q: Can Defensive Stance, Survey the Area, Occult Theory, or Dauntless Spirit be committed to tests from beneath Amanda Sharpe? A: No. A card can only be committed to a skill test if it possesses 1 or more skill icons matching the skill being tested. As these cards only possess skill icons while they are in your hand or already committed to a test, they cannot be committed to a test from anywhere else (such as beneath Amanda Sharpe, or directly from your deck using another card effect). - FAQ, v.2.0, August 2022
Last updated

Reviews

When i first saw this cycle of skills i was, like many others, not impressed. But a strange thing happened and i have to say that i changed my mind about them. Story time : my friend was playing Monterey Jack and i was playing Lily Chen and sometimes we would find ourselves at the same location during the mythos phase. There are many threacheries that require you to test AGI or INT and usually have some nasty effects, and while i was sweating how will i pass this damn INT test he just said "i can give you +7". What? I said "you know you can only commit 1 card right"? And he just flashed me with this bad boy and it all made sense. These cards are not like our normal skill cards that give us a small boost for a test and usually come with a bonus effect that is the main reason why we took the card (not the boost itself), these cards are go big or go home boost style where on standard that means that only the autofail makes you fail. Ever since then we have managed to squeeze them in here and there, and they have worked wonderfully.

Blood&gore · 419
Yes! I noticed this in Occult Theory's review too. These cards feels like it basically let one investigator take over the test in place of another using what they are good at, as the stats came from investigator committing it. Great for covering 2 will / 2 agility investigator against random tests as the difficulties are usually 3~4, getting from 2 to 6~7 would be right at Standard's sweet spot. — 5argon · 9812
The other thing these cards bring is consistency. Inquiring Mind is good, but requires a clue be around. While Survey the Area limits which skills you can use it on, it'll always give you the flat number bonus (which can be improved with allies and such). — LaRoix · 1643
I'm a bit confused as to the original post saying - Q: "i can give you +7" - How does this give +7? Does he mean he can give Lily +5 with the Survey the Area card, to make it up to +7? — Morgoth · 1
He can give +7 because it's not the base stat (it's not written as for Rise to the Occasion), it's just "your stats", meaning the card gains a number equal to your base stat + the boost from your assets. — LegoKurow · 1

A Practiced card that can't be used with Practice Makes Perfect ..but potentially still very good as it is likely to be very helpful for evasion occasionally while still being at least +2 to investigate for most people who can use it and even better for some.

Timlagor · 5
Can it not be committed to a test through Practice Makes Perfect, because it has no icons while in your deck, and so has no appropriate test to be committed to? That's rough... — Flamy · 6
I don't understand the in your hand vs. committing to a skill test. Am I missing something? — OttRod · 1
It's not vs. Those are the only two situations in which this card has any icons, preventing it from being searched (in a deck or discard) to be committed, or for being put under Amanda Sharpe, as a couple examples. — Time4Tiddy · 245
Wow, I didn't realize you can't use this with Amanda, but I guess you're *technically* right about that. A damn shame--I wanted this specifically for her. — Pinchers · 128
I dont understand why it wouldn't be used with Practice Makes Perfect, it says on the card "search the top 9 cards of your deck for a Practiced skill", it did not mention anything about icons, with or without icons, Survey the Area is always a practiced skill card, I dont see any reason you couldnt use it with Practice Makes Perfect — asuss · 1
You're missing the rest of the text: "Search the top 9 cards of your deck for a Practiced skill and commit it to this skill test, if able. " -- You are not able to commit a card to a skill test unless it has the relevant icons or a wild symbol. This has no icons when it is in your deck, so you are not able to commit it. — dscarpac · 956
That's the reason why the card says "while ... in yout hand". So this card is in your hand has got already the relevant icons so yes, you are able to commit it. — BalteHazard · 1

This card makes any investigate action akin to using Lockpicks, for zero resource cost and no 'play' action (for one XP). What's not to like? Trigger all your 'succeed by x' cards, investigate those high shroud locations with little or nothing else committed, etc. with no setup.

Obviously Monterey Jack and Trish Scarborough both get a lot out of this card; they like to get clues and they like to evade/move quickly. Not bad for Ursula Downs either.

BlankedyBlank · 21
My favourite use is giving this to the guardian so they evade at like +7 for those occasional enemies you can't just punch. — Zerogrim · 292