Dr. William T. Maleson
Working on Something Bigger

Asset. Ally

Ally. Miskatonic.

Cost: 1. XP: 2.

Seeker
Health: 2. Sanity: 2.

When any investigator draws an encounter card from the encounter deck, exhaust Dr. William T. Maleson and place 1 of your clues on your location: That investigator draws another card from the top of the encounter deck, chooses one of those 2 cards to resolve, and cancels and discards the other.

Sara Winters
The Scarlet Keys Investigator Expansion #54.
Dr. William T. Maleson

FAQs

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Reviews

A very good upgrade in more ways than one to a card that's normally used for its high soak.

The first change we see is that you can now use this ability on ANY investigator rather than just yourself, which includes not having to be at their location. Just like Ward of Protection (2) this means you can always be ready to counter the Ancient Evils that the Guardian at the other side of the map drew.

Now for the real boost. The lv 0 version allowed you to draw a card, say "yikes!", shuffle it into the encounter deck, draw another card, and if you were unlucky say "even more yikes!" and wish you hadn't used the ability. And to make things worse you're simply postponing the danger as the first card is still in the encounter deck.

This card, however, gives you the choice between the two so you will ALWAYS negate the "even more yikes!" encounter card. Either you negate the first card that was bad enough for you to use this ability, or you negate the second card which would have been even worse. Dr. Billy T-M never misses! Additionally, the lv 2 card actually "cancels and discards" the card you choose. You don't shuffle the lit fuse into the encounter deck like before, it simply discards.

So not only does it supercharge the original ability, it also allows it to be used on the rest of the map. The downside compared to similar cards like Forewarned is of course that you (or your ally) must still resolve the lesser of the two evils. But this is a fair price to pay for an ability that can be triggered every mythos phase.

But why would you choose Billy over other cards that doesn't take a hotly contested ally slot like the previously mentioned Ward of Protection, Forewarned, and A Test of Will? The reason is that Billy doesn't care about your revelation effects. Billy doesn't care that there's a "Surge" written above "Revelation". Billy doesn't care that enemies aren't revelation effects. Billy sees a card he doesn't like and cancels it.

As for the cost, placing a clue down, it's not all downsides. Crack the Case, Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, and cards that only work while standing on clues like Inquiring Mind and Preposterous Sketches are easier to trigger. Not to mention Research Notes from the same expansion.

Incredible encounter deck manipulation. Billy has indeed been "Working on Something Bigger".

Droll · 12
I like the comparisson to WoP (2), which is a staple in any mystic multiplayer deck, and this card for the same cost in XP gives so much more, compared to the level 0 version. (Which is arguable much worse than WoP (0), though.) One caveat, still: I don't see real synergy with Hawk-Eye Folding Camera, as this card has "Limit once per game at each location" printed on. So you could not fast-cheese some extra evidence on the card, by clearing the location, dropping a clue and clearing it again. But other than that: a stellar review. — Susumu · 361
Thanks! — Droll · 12
whops, 2 comments instead of one. I should have clarified regarding the Camera that you're right you can't cheese it, but there are situations when you miss out on triggering the effect due to timing. I've experience that it's quite common to draw the camera after you've cleared a location or two, and that locations often gets cleared by other players if you're playing 3-4 players. In those situations its nice to have more chances to trigger the camera, but I wouldn't take Dr Billy JUST for that extra opportunity. — Droll · 12