Burn After Reading

I am thinking about an interesting interaction between this card and all the new customizable cards. Please, follow my logic and tell me If I'm right.

  1. Each copy of customizable cards is considered to have the level which is equal to the half of marked checkboxes rounded up. So three marked checkboxes make every copy of that customizable card be level 2.
  2. You need to exile a level 2 card or higher to triger the 2nd part of the Burn After Reading effect (removing Doom). Therefore any customizable card with 3+ marked checkboxes is a valid target.
  3. Marking any checkbox on the customizable card upgrade sheet allows you to add that card to your deck (without paying any additional cost. It will be considered as purchasing a card). So if you mark at least one checkbox between the scenarios, you are allowed to add that exiled copy of the card back to your hand. Not as if it was something game changing, but may make some difference for the Déjà Vu archetype.
chrome · 68
Assuming 2 copies of a Customizable and 2 of Burn after Reading this is 8xp to remove 2 doom over a game. Eeeh... Not particularly game winning in my book — fiatluxia · 68
and 4 clues anywhere. — MrGoldbee · 1495
Assuming that Burn After Reading and the customizable are a good fit for your deck and worth including on their own, this is pure gravy. Not game winning, no, but a very nice bit of bonus value that could be the tipping point for including both cards instead of either. — Sorden · 1
You could max that out with 2x Deja vu and fotune or fate to remove 3 doom for only 1 xp for custom card (after initial xp cost). Though in my experience doom is rarely the limiting factor, rather damage/ horror from treacherys — Django · 5165
It doesn't matter if the customizable is good for your deck if the game plan is to exile it from your hand — fiatluxia · 68
The new taboos also mean you can burn Signum Crucis and get 2 clues, 1 doom for a grand total of 1 XP, which feels notable. — Lailah · 1
Also it does matter whether the customizable is good for your deck. Once you're getting to 8 XP for this combo you might as well just buy Deja Vu x2 and feel good torching whatever you find. — Lailah · 1
@Lailah hm, yes, indeed. An interesting interaction with the unchained Signum Crucis seems both legit and funny. — chrome · 68
Thank you for this trick! I'm finding Pocket Multi-Tool works very nicely for this trick; it has numerous cheap upgrades, you want both in your deck for consistency, but you can only hold 1, so once it's installed, the second copy is wholly Burnable. — HanoverFist · 756
Crystal Pendulum

I like this a lot in an Ancient Covenant / Favor of the Sun deck, especially Father Mateo because he can get Bless fully online at the start of a campaign with his 5 Bonus XP plus 3 from In the Thick of It: Ancient Covenant, 2X Favor of the Sun, 2X Priest of Two Faiths, 2X Radiant Smite.

  • I miss the Sanity Soak that Holy Rosary provides...
  • ...BUT in AC Bless with Favor of the Sun I know exactly how much my test will succeed by any time I choose to use my Favor rather than drawing a token, or can just hope that a token will come out even if I don't (and Nkosi Mabati makes those odds better).
  • You can still upgrade to Holy Rosary (2) if you feel you aren't getting enough tokens into the bag (but my deck is also running Book of Psalms to heal the 2 Mental Trauma I took for In the Thick of It and add ).
The Raven Quill

Assume I attach The Raven Quill to e.g. Archaic Glyphs.

When I identify Archaic Glyphs by placing the third secret onto it, I have to discard it. The Raven Quill is attached and gets discarded with it. What happens with the reaction effect on The Raven Quill at the end of the game?

It says "When you resign or the game ends: Either mark a checkbox on The Raven Quill's upgrade sheet, or reduce the experience cost to upgrade the attached asset before the next scenario by 1.".

For this effect to work, The Raven Quill needs to be in play, am I right?

Same goes with other "unidentified" and "untranslated" assets like:

If it wouldn't be the case that The Raven Quill needs to be in play to have it's effect working once played, you should be able to trigger it twice.

  1. Play named asset
  2. Attach The Raven Quill
  3. Identify / Translate the asset -> Discard Asset + The Raven Quill
  4. Play 2nd Copy of named asset
  5. Attach 2nd copy of The Raven Quill

That should be enough to trigger both instances.

Some might even argue if you could repeat that multiple times with Scavenging and discard recycling e.g. with Minh Thi Phan.

It's strange ... If discarding The Raven Quill and disabling the reaction effect seems kinda dumb. The other way seems dumb too ... Help me.

Since you can only upgrade an unidentified card max twice per campaign (once per copy, unless there a multi-level card I'm not thinking of) seems like this isn't the greatest use of Raven Quill either way. But it definitely doesn't trigger if it's not in okay at the end of the scenario. — Pseudo Nymh · 67
*if it's not in PLAY at the end — Pseudo Nymh · 67
Just to be sure, there are two copies of Raven Quill in the expabsion pack, right? It being unique doesn't mean it is exeptional? I only have one copy in my investigator expansion :( — founchopf · 2
Can you upgrade this card parking boxes with his hability in a investigator Who only have acces to lvl 0 cards? — Ponso · 2
Dirty Fighting

Decent card for Rogues or other Fighters with access to Green (2).

  • Even low Fight, high Agility investigators can take advantage of it using the Ornate Bow (3).
  • Ideally, you'll want to combine this card with a way to get a free evade action, like Stealth (3), Blur (1 or 4), or one of the Rogue events that Investigates or Fight, then auto-evades and returns to hand.
  • Based on the wording, it might even be possible to use it to Fight something at a far away location, provided you can somehow evade the enemy there (ie using Decoy, Pendant of the Queen, etc). I'm not 100% sure if this really works
Daerthalus · 16
The reaction gives you an action that can only be used to attack the evaded enemy. The fight action you do is still a separate action so it’ll check the range on initialion, as always. So you can’t attack a remote target, unless the weapon/ spell allows you to. — Django · 5165
Thanks for clearing that up. So, it does work, but only with a Springfield M1903 (4), a Telescopic Sight (3), or in conjunction with Marksmanship (1). — Daerthalus · 16
Really good in Rita Young (it's a Trick) who already takes advantage of evading. — DrMChristopher · 509
Why would you think that this reaction would not work on a ranged enemy when we have a ruling from survival knife showing otherwise? — legrac · 115
FAQ settles it. — AlderSign · 418
Explosive Ward

I'll compare this to Spectral Razor since they fill many of the same use cases

Pros:

  • Testless damage. Depending on your difficulty this could be very valuable
  • Potentially Costs 1 less if you're targeting low health enemies like Acolytes
  • Synergy with arcane slot increasing effects such as Familiar Spirit
  • Synergy with empty arcane slots, clearing the way for a beefed up Eldritch Initiation

Cons:

  • Anti-synergy with standard arcane slot spells (unless you managed to spend all the charges already)
  • Must be engaged. Razor comes with a free engage to deal with pesky aloof enemies
  • Increasing the damage potential still requires you to pay one more resource per damage. You can easily reach Dynamite Blast cost but for situationally less payoff since you're always targeting just one enemy.
  • Only target non-elite. This a deal breaker.

In my opinion the best reason to run EW over Razor is to lean into that big payoff explosion. This requires you setting up assets to maximize your slot conversion which will be a significant resource and card investment. All of that setup to be able to target basic enemies only is a let down.

For most investigators Razor will get you more mileage. The only Mystics who I can see potentially taking Ward are those who cant reach useful + scores (so just Marie Lambeau?)

mordequess · 95
I ran this in a daisy deck and it was very nice, just 2 cost, deal 2. gave me more reliability than spectral and got a plan and less cost than occult invocation. — Zerogrim · 296
Sefina w/o Double Double loves it. Even with, actually! — MrGoldbee · 1495
Amina with Ectoplasmic Horror RBW is regretting not having this in her deck. — coldtoes · 28
What also bugs me is the anti-synergy with Uncage the Soul :( — AlderSign · 418