Occult Theory

Occult Theory

I tried this with Daisy Walker and +5 is useful. There are many things you can't afford to test twice like sticky curse treachery that needs an just for a chance to have a go.

Or plainly for Ward of Protection-like experience on fail-by tests that can be used to help others while grouped up. Baked in the game rule it limits helping commit to 1 card, meaning that it is an ideal use case of a card that gives a lot of icons in one.

In a pinch that you really need Deduction to activate on high shroud location the +3 side can also be used. In turn this can save deck space since it is like 2 utilities in one. It is quite a swiss knife for her.

Speaking generally for all other cards in this series, there is no need to worry about incompatibility with other skill shenanigans. This series of cards are "power helping commit" (not for yourself) that gives a ton of icons and can flex to 2 icons all in one. You should play like it is designed, that is to help others so only your single commit is enough to pass. It can also restore turn flexibility in spending Activate action to have a go at critical scenario tests when racing against doom. e.g. I want to use 3 actions to setup, but I am also the one with high to pass the test at the current location. I can let others test instead and pitch a single skill card, appearing as if I am the one testing, as the card "draws power" of investigator flexing the skill.

In my opinion to justify including one :

  • Willing to stick to others more than usual, at the same time having other same-location team play cards in the deck. (My Daisy Walker will be using Old Book of Lore and Encyclopedia to prop up the other investigators and also having Disc of Itzamna to catch spawns, so Occult Theory feels great to have on hand. Or maybe Guardians that aims to use Taunt, Stand Together, "Get behind me!", Teamwork, etc.)
  • Running out of deck space to include components for your main combo, needed to compress skills to a few cards.
  • or that the card is covering must be able to get +4 at least to worth it, since these 2 stats are abundance in treachery test where likely others can spontaneously benefit from a single helping commit each mythos phase. The stat pairs chosen for these cards aren't random, all cards in this series touch or one way or another (but not both), highlighting the treachery-passing power of each one. Meaning that you should find someone with 4 or 4 to translate to those stats and can include the right card.
  • The other side not or should be able to get +3 at least, otherwise it is not flexible enough to worth the XP.

It is not easy to find someone that can actually get +4 on or while having +3 on the other one. I just look through all investigators and filtered all the +4 / users with at least +3 on the other side (in parentheses), for your reference.

5argon · 9171
Don't forget that these cards count your other boosts in play, like Dr. Milan or, if you really needed to, any money you spend on Hyperawareness before you commit this card. This makes them a lot more useful to investigators not on your list, and Lily Chen likely will have higher stats anyways. — dscarpac · 931

Stella Clark

Detached from Reality

Detached from Reality

I agree with this previous reviews that this weakness is not a problem most of the time, but I can think of two occasions when this can cause a real problem. The first instance is where the act deck instructs players to be at a certain location at the end of the round before it can advance. Drawing Detached from Reality during the Upkeep Phase is a major blow to your tempo, forcing the investigators to waste an entire round until Luke can get back from his trip to the Gate Box.

The second occasion is the fact that for the whole of the next turn Luke is trapped and is not able to help the other investigators without major effort. Especially in solo having a cultist spawn and being unable to defeat it before it tips the agenda over can be very frustrating.

General_Ferere17 · 2
It is a card that does some funny things. Recently , I had it work the other way. I got out of a turn twiddling my thumbs in the Dream-Gate when I drew Detached from Reality in upkeep and in mythos the agenda flipped and moved all investigators to Somewhere Spoiler-y That Had Just Appeared — bee123 · 31

Occult Theory

Occult Theory

Despite being a Practiced skill card that can potentially give upwards of +4 to +6 to an investigator's Will or Lore, Occult Theory is largely made irrelevant by its restriction on only having icons when it is still in your hand or committed to a skill test. Since Occult Theory has no icons outside of those select circumstances, Occult Theory becomes a dead card when attached to cards like Astronomical Atlas and is never a valid target for events like Practice Makes Perfect or even Written in the Stars (since those cards have no icons while they're still in your deck). The card is still potentially playable as a Hail Mary for Investigators that need flexible skill dedications, but there are no actual combos or tech involving Occult Theory when Mystics already have access to numerous great Level 0 skill cards.

At the same time, Occult Theory compares poorly against Level 0 Mystic cards and doesn't provide good enough stats to meaningfully compare with other upgrades that cost experience. Investigators with access to Mystic Level 0-1 who need a large dedication to pass a Will-based skill check can just cancel treacheries like Ward of Protection and Deny Existence, while Mystics who need to gather clues can just use their will to investigate using cards like Rite of Seeking or Read the Signs rather than try to boost their Lore to compete with Seekers. And even in the event that an investigator still desperately needed a flexible skill dedication, Mystics already have amazing skill cards like Promise of Power that give +4 to every stat that they can filter out of their deck with Practice Makes Perfect or Astronomical Atlas. Occult Theory is the answer to a non-existent problem for Mystics, and even in the event that an Investigator wanted to try the card out, they should already have access to strictly better option within the Mystic card pool.

Telosa · 53
Occult Theory still gains skill icons when committed to a skill test, so it should still work with Astronomical Atlas — RexMars · 2
Hey I'm having problems understanding the limitations on this card. If I use Practice Makes Perfect and it finds the card and commits it, would it not add the icons to the test? if so, I take it like it would work... please help if you can — MartinGM · 1
@MartinGM Practice Makes Perfect reads "Search the top 9 cards of your deck for a Practiced skill and commit it to this skill test, if able." If you use Practice Makes Perfect and find Occult Theory in the top 9 cards of your deck, you would be able to select Occult Theory for your target, but would not be able to commit Occult Theory because it doesn't have any icons unless it's in your hand or already dedicated to a test. However, you WOULD get Occult Theory added to your hand if you succeed on the skill test. — Telosa · 53
@RexMars Occult Theory and Astronomical Atlas don't interact that way. Astronomical Atlas reads "Exhaust Astronomical Atlas: Look at the top card of your deck. If it is not a weakness, attach it facedown to Astronomical Atlas (max 5 cards attached)" — Telosa · 53
You can attach Occult Theory to Astronomical Atlas, However, Atlas's second ability reads "Commit a card attached to Astronomical Atlas to an eligible skill test. If that test succeeds, add that card to your hand instead of discarding it." By definition, Occult Theory doesn't have any icons while it is not in a player's hand or already dedicated to a test, so it would never be an eligible dedication to any skill tests. Occult Theory just turns into a permanent, dead card attached to your Atlas--taking up space but not actually doing anything. — Telosa · 53

Neither Rain nor Snow

Neither Rain nor Snow

Here are some rule notes for Neither Rain nor Snow. Notice that this is NOT offical ruling, but my interpretation of rule book. Please comment if you think something is wrong or another rule for note.

  • You can resolve some fail effects (like Take Heart) an cancel the other fail effects.
    • The fail effect includes "if you fail..." and "for each point you fail by...".
  • You couldn't cancel the failed effects if you return NRNS by Try and Try Again or Grisly Totem.
  • You can play cards or trigger effects stating with "when you (would) fail" like Lucky! or "after you fail" like "Look what I found!". In addition, you couldn't cancel the forced effects with "(when/)after you fail" like Atychiphobia.
  • Another investigator cannot commit NRNS by Copycat. (After FAQ 2.0, this is legal.)
  • You couldn't prevent discarding Baseball Bat with or jamming Old Hunting Rifle with .

Interpretation:

  • This effect is delayed effect. If you confront multiple forced/delayed effects, you determines the order as priority of simultaneous resolution. Therefore, you could determine resolving some (good) failed effect before you resolve NRNU.
  • To maintain delayed effect, NRNS should remain commited to cancel the failed effect.
    • The triggering timming of TATA is preceded, so that you couldn't cancel the failed effects if you return (see next bullet for detail).
    • If you resolve NRNU effect, the effect of Grisy Totem is canceled, so you couldn't return NRNU; if you resolve totem effect first, you couldn't cancel other fail effect.
  • "after you fail (ST6)" is the early time point comparing "if you fail (ST7)"; see the review at Take Heart. When you resolve the effects with "after you fail", you cannot resolve the effect of NRNU.
  • When you commit Copycat, you temporally control the target card. Since the signature card cannot be controlled by another investigator, you cannot commit NRNS by copycat. Notice that I guess the control ruling from the offical guide in wini pack. It states that wini can draw a card when you commit copycat (and another card commited by copycat), and wini should commit 2 cards to draw a card.
  • Baseball Bat or Old Hunting Rifle is not a effect from the failure, so NRNS don't cancel.
elkeinkrad · 483
I believe you are correct on all counts. The key phrases to look for are "if the test fails..." and "for each point this test fails by..." those are the effects that NRNS cancels — NarkasisBroon · 10
Thanks to commit @NarkasisBroon. I'll add this one! — elkeinkrad · 483
this is how I think of it: — zakglee · 1