This card is the best for Patrice Hathaway and makes her nearly invincible since she always gets "heal" back at 5 cards during upkeep phase. Moreover, this card can help her utilize useless cards in her hand every round.

Also, if you don't want to deal with Watcher from Another Dimension and are happy with 4 cards each round then Idol of Xanatos can be extremely helpful.

While Michael was printed in Edge of the Earth, he actually seems like he was (at least partially) designed to work with one of the Scarlet Key investigators: Charlie Kane.

He's not bad in other investigators, see the other reviews for that, but he's well worth consideration in the politician. He gives two static boosts and soaks a ton, plus his first doesn't exhaust, so on turns where you're not fighting he just gives you a nice big bonus.

Additionally, because Charlie is limited to only level 0-2 non-Ally cards, it can be hard to find big pockets of damage for him. Events can be one way, but Michael Leigh offers another solution by turning your 2-damage .45 Thompson into 3-damage Lightning Gun. And using Bonnie Walsh, you can potentially get this bonus damage multiple times in a turn when fighting bosses.

While the 5 XP is certainly an investment, I think that players looking for a "fighter" archetype Charlie could seriously consider Michael.

Played this in my latest Harvey Walters deck and it was kinda insane. Since it's a new card, i wanted to test it a bit and see how it is in practice, because i was not very warm about it, but it proved to be very valuable. In the end i had 6xp in it as it was just pure value. I took Refined+Empowered and 5 times i gave my friends 4 cards for 1 action, which is just ridiculous for Guardians or Mystics as they generally do not draw as fast as Seekers or Rogues.

All in all i was very pleased with it, it does bother me a bit that it takes up a hand slot so i could not run my trusted Magnifying Glass + Occult Lexicon, but my group could handle enemies easily so i could swap my lexicon for this, and in the end it proved to be the right choice, since giving my Guardian 4 cards couple of times is enough to make him draw all of his best cards and deal with enemies

Conclusion (beginning with the end in mind)

To me, Alchemical Distillation is an excellent flexible support card when playing in larger groups (3-4p) with significant XP invested in the card (6+) when you can reliably succeed at a difficulty 3 skill test without significant costs (ex: you have a base intellect of 5 and a static +1 boost on Standard difficulty, as "up by three" checks are quite consistent).

Introduction

This is probably my favorite Customizable card released with The Scarlet Keys expansion. I don't think it's the strongest card, I don't think it opens up new builds or new strategies, and I don't think it's auto-include for many (if any) deck designs. And still, for me it's the most fun of the new Customizable cards. As of writing this review (starting January 29, 2023) there are only 11 published deck lists on ArkhamDB that include this card, which is the lowest number of all the Customizable cards. Hopefully this review provides helpful perspective into this card and will encourage other players to try it out!

For context for my review, I usually play in 3-4p groups on Standard difficulty.

The Bad

I'm going to start by describing what I think are the top three reasons why this isn't a good card.

First, Alchemical Distillation requires a skill test for getting any of the benefits. If we're looking at level 0 cards to compare Alchemical Distillation to, the current card pool includes several ways to get 2+ test-free resources, card draw, damage healing, horror healing, secrets, clues, and movement. For example, Emergency Cache is a great example of a card for 2+ test-less resources that is still very playable in the current card pool. Using an action for the chance of a benefit isn't as good as a guaranteed benefit, esp. at Hard/Expert when symbol tokens can be particularly painful. Beyond test-free ways of getting benefits, there are also many action-free ways of getting these benefits, such as Crack the Case.

Second, Alchemical Distillation requires a hand slot. Seekers have many excellent options for hand slots. As with Emergency Cache above, the classic Magnifying Glass (0) is cheap, Fast hand slot asset that Seekers are continuing to get excellent value from. Using up one of your precious hand slots with a vial of blue fluid without an immediate benefit is a cost.

Third, Alchemical Distillation provides very little value without investing XP in it. This is certainly a matter of opinion, and for me "more resources" or "more cards" isn't particularly inventive, new, or ground-breaking given the other options available at level zero (per the above points). This is very different for me from Empirical Hypothesis, for example, which is strong and playable into the finale of a campaign without any upgrades. Even liking it as much as I do, I struggle to put it into beginning deck of mine at level 0 rather than playing it as an upgrade down the line.

"With so many reasons not to like Alchemical Distillation, why do you like it so much?" I'm glad you asked!

The Good

I believe that Alchemical Distillation has three strong benefits going for it that make it a personal favorite and different from other cards.

First, Alchemical Distillation is reusable. While 3 supplies isn't a particularly large number of uses, you do get several uses in a single card which is significantly more than single-use events or skill cards.

Second, Alchemical Distillation has flexible targeting, namely it can provide a benefit to any investigator at your location. This makes it an amazing team-strong support card. There are certainly other support cards that target other investigators, such as Logical Reasoning (4) and Soothing Melody (via Hallowed Mirror) and Crack the Case, so this card is not unique in this regard. Even so, it's still a strength of Alchemical Distillation, especially combined with the next benefit...

Third, and I think most importantly, Alchemical Distillation is incredibly flexible. For example, it's not the only horror healing card, and it's not even the best team-strong horror healing card, but it can heal horror and give you resources. Or card draw. Or movement. Or a charge. Or a secret. And similarly for the other benefits: it's not the only or best team-strong option, but you get so many different benefit options in a single card. And that's why I like it so much: It's a full toolbox of support and healing in a single card.

Making the Most of Alchemical Distillation

Because I believe that the major benefit of Alchemical Distillation comes from the flexibility of the card options, I believe that taking most (if not all) of the 1-xp upgrades are great options:

• Healing damage/horror provides significant resilience for your team
• Additional charges/secrets provides significant staying power for key assets
• Even providing movement allows your team to more efficiently move collectively (trading one of your actions for two movement of someone else), perhaps also avoiding enemies and location effects

The 2-xp upgrade for entering play with +2 additional supplies is a "take it or leave it" upgrade for me. I think it's a great option when you have the xp to spend and you already have other upgrades, and I think Alchemical Distillation is pleasantly strong without +2 supplies. You also have the option of Emergency Cache (3) among other cards for adding more supples if you want that option without putting the xp into Alchemical Distillation itself.

The real upgrade decision point for me comes with deciding between Empowered vs. Perfected. Let's compare the two options:

• Empowered: 4-xp upgrade, increases the difficulty of the check by 2, increases the value of the effect by 1. If some benefit is good, then more benefit is even better! I think that this upgrade really shines for the Enlightening upgrade (place 1 charge/secret on an asset) as the benefit is doubled. And overall, more is more. Each use of Alchemical Distillation becomes more effective and providing the most-needed benefit when you use it.
• Perfected: 5-xp upgrade, adds a "succeed by 2 or more" bonus effect, provides two different benefits. If getting one benefit you need is good, then getting a second benefit is even better! Need card draw? How about some extra resources to go along with them to help you pay for your cards? Need horror healing? How about some resources as a faux-Carolyn Fern effect? Each use of Alchemical Distillation provides more total benefit to the target investigator.

For me, the majority of the time I'm going to choose Perfected as my key upgrade for Alchemical Distillation. The "succeed by 2 or more" mechanic is more forgiving than increasing the difficulty by two, and providing two different benefits plays into the versatility of the card more than providing more of a single benefit. That said, I think both upgrades are incredibly playable, so if you prefer Empowered then by all means go for it!

"But what about taking both Empowered and Perfected? Why choose only one?" This is definitely an option: you can spend 9 xp to get both of these upgrades. For myself, I usually don't think that this is a good combination for three reasons:

1. This leaves only 1 xp worth of upgrades left over, which means you can only get one of the four 1-xp upgrade options which provide the core of the flexibility of this card. In general, I prefer having more of the 1-xp options as that's the core value I see to Alchemical Distillation.
2. Combining both Empowered and Perfected suggests that you're going to be regularly aiming to test both together, effectively aiming for a skill test difficulty of 5. Hitting a skill check of 5 is certainly achievable, and it's still significantly harder than aiming for a difficulty of 3. For me, it often means someone is committing at least one card, or I'm committing resources (ex: Higher Education), or there's another effect needed (ex: Encyclopedia).
3. This is less of a mechanics point and more of a cognitive point about playing the game... For me, having both effects leads to more time required to figure out how I want to use Alchemical Distillation on any given turn. Do I want two boosted effects from Empowered + Perfected at the highest difficulty? Do I just want to aim for one boosted effect? Would I rather have two non-boosted effects? What if the other player has a card to commit? Etc. I'm sure that with more practice I (and my teammates) could go faster with making these decisions, and for now I find it to be a greater time cost.

In light of all of the above points, my overall preferred build for Alchemical Distillation is:

• Rush 6+ xp to get Perfected plus at least one of the 1-xp upgrades (as I find non-Empowered, non-Perfected Alchemical Distillation to not be that compelling and overall I prefer Perfected)
• Get 3 or 4 of the 1-xp upgrades
• If you're fine with having just 3 of the 1-xp upgrades, then also get Refined for more uses

Where/When/Who to use Alchemical Distillation?

This is already lengthy, so I'm going to be a bit more abbreviated here. :-)

I find Alchemical Distillation to be most compelling in 3-4p parties because, in general, support-focused actions require a lower proportion of the total party actions on any given turn. Put another way, if I'm one of four investigators and my turn is "play Alchemical Distillation, Activate it, Activate it" then I'm only using three actions of the total twelve actions on support. For myself, I find support actions in 2p games to often take up too many of the total actions unless there's an immediate need (ex: you need the 2 damage healing to avoid possible defeat).

I also find Alchemical Distillation to be most compelling after a couple scenarios because I always want it to have 6+ xp invested in it before I find it to be valuable. Accordingly, build your deck with an idea for this being an upgrade after 2-3 scenarios of xp. After scenario 1 also works if you're okay with rushing it as your primary upgrade.

If you're looking for a specific suggestion, I've really liked playing Alchemical Distillation with Daisy Walker. Her base intellect of 5 is strong for the skill checks. Daisy's Tote Bag reduces the hand slot contention. Down the Rabbit Hole helps with making upgrading it more efficient (though this likely means you're starting with the level 0 version of Alchemical Distillation and not using it for the first scenario).

What do you think?

Thanks so much for reading this review! Let me know what you think of Alchemical Distillation in the comments.

Looks like we've got another -class boss killer! Here's a four-piece combo, which I offer as one way of abusing the power of this tome for virtually testless burst damage, keeping in mind the restrictions outlined in the FAQ above (i.e.: no excessive stacking to unleash a +12 attack or whatever). What you'll need in addition to this card:

• The Raven Quill with "Living Quill" and "Spectral Binding" marked, the attached asset being Gray's Anatomy itself. The former upgrade saves you from AoO, while the latter ensures that you have your hands free while carrying the book around and using its . XP cost so far: 7 (5 for the book +2 for the Quill); both hand slots are still free at this point.

• Occult Lexicon or Occult Lexicon (3). Obviously the upgraded version would be better, but with the difference amounting to 2 damage, you may just as well roll with the vanilla book if starved for experience (like on your way to Dunwich or Carcosa). XP cost in total: 10 (or still 7); hand slots required: 1.

----- Important side note: to unleash this combo, you need to hold at least one copy of Blood-Rite in your hand as well as two or three resources in the bank (two for the vanilla Lexicon, three for the upgrade)!!! -----

• Ancient Stone (Knowledge of the Elders). As usual, you want to have as many secrets stacked here as possible, but seven seems a good number. Then again, since our damage output in this combo stems from three combined sources, there's no need to obsess over having more than seven secrets. In fact, in one go, you'll need only two or three, depending on whether you're using the vanilla or the upgraded Occult Lexicon. XP cost in total: 14 or 11 (depending on the lexicon); both hand slots are filled now.

So how do we pull this off after all this preparation?

1. Move to the same location as the boss, then use Gray's Anatomy's , choosing the damage option, obviously. No worries, thanks to the raven's gift, you won't eat an AoO, meaning you may take this action right under the boss's nose! This is the test that you actually need to take --- and to pass to your satisfaction --- to make this combo work. That's why I wrote above that this is only VIRTUALLY testless damage. But testing your strongest stat against 1 shouldn't be this hard. Let's say you've aced the test, giving you the +3 damage we'll need in a second.

2. You play Blood-Rite, which conveniently neither triggers an AoO nor requires a test. Depending on your version of the Occult Lexicon, you spend 2-3 resources to inflict the same number of damage. Added to this is the +3 from Gray's Anatomy, meaning you actually inflict 5-6 damage. :-)

3. But wait, there's more! As part of the effect of Blood-Rite, you've just drawn cards, right? This triggers your Ancient Stone, meaning you spend some secrets to dish out another 2-3 damage (depending on how many cards you've drawn, which in turn depends on your version of the Occult Lexicon). This brings the damage count up to 7-9. And all of this reliably, i.e. without having to test against the presumably high stats of the boss. And this is even BEFORE the dedicated fighter(s) of your team has/have moved in to do their thing. If you're playing true solo, then the boss might already be dead now.

Although you need some 11-14 XP and several different cards to pull off this combo, I don't think it's too janky. All of the cards involved are strong also outside this particular setup, so by including them in your deck it's not like you'll get value solely out of this combo and never in other situations. And of course you try this combo only if you KNOW that there's a boss coming up. So I acknowledge this might be less manageable in blind playthroughs.

Finally, note that the damage you need to inflict to get the +3 bonus may come from any source. So, if you've moved to the boss's location via Shortcut, Pathfinder, Eon Chart, etc., or if Carson Sinclair has gifted you an additional action, or if you're Daisy Walker, you still have three actions to take at the start of this combo, which in itself requires two (or merely one, if Blood-Rite is played off of Farsight). After this combo, then, you have one left to use Gray's Anatomy once more as your final action. This is sure to benefit the fighters of your team. And again, since the boss is in all likelihood hard to hit, simply have your buddy use the of a Beat Cop or whatever to deal 4 "testless" damage! :-D

PS: Shoutout to the YT channel Rather Incoherent, which taught me the Ancient Stone-Blood-Rite combo à propos an overpowered Harvey Walters deck: www.youtube.com

EDIT: fixed the damage count under step 3. The correct totals are 7-9 damage (rather than 7-8).