Card Reviews · ArkhamDB

Tired of getting tentacled?

Play Jacqueline Fine.
Transfig into Mateo.
Play Arbiter of Fates
Once per round for the rest of the game have a star instead of a tentacle.

Katarina Sojka becomes a fair bit better, Nkosi Mabati with sigil tentacle sure why not let’s get crazy!

9/20/25

slyguavas · 53

Dark Future still stops Mateo's ability though, so watch out (it's probably still a weaker weakness than his own) — Thatwasademo · 59 9/20/25

But Arbiter of Fates specifies "when you use Jacqueline Finn's ability", would you still be able to use it after turning into Mateo? — Gsayer · 1 9/20/25

@GSayer, yes. Your card still has the title Jacqueline Fine (on its back), as well as Father Mateo (on its front). All self-referential text still works. I think this combo is not quite as good as it sounds. Jacqueline Fine doing her thing twice per round once Arbiter goes down is already very good, whereas Father Mateo’s ability isn’t really needed each round, unless you’re aggressively searching for Autofails. But if you build your deck to do that—taking out generic Mystic good stuff in the process—you’ve got a bunch of Autofail searching trash to sift through each game until you find and play 1) The Arbiter, and 2) Transfiguration. I’m sure by the end game you can have some fun, but you’re significantly compounding the already annoying Mystic problem of needing a lot of set-up time to come online and start supporting the team. Personally, I would much prefer my mystic friend to be playing vanilla Jacqueline—or even vanilla Mateo—to something so janky and unreliable. — Eudaimonea · 6 9/20/25

Yes I wouldn't do it outside of four player, and while Nkosi is a bit mediocre, Katarina/Olive are probably legit anyway. — slyguavas · 53 9/20/25

Ah, I get you. I certainly like the way this build makes you look at cards—including some really mediocre ones—in a new light — Eudaimonea · 6 9/21/25

I also agree it's overall pretty janky; just pretty meme-worthy too — slyguavas · 53 9/21/25

I've ran this combo in my group and Dark Future is a lot more manageable when you find out that either an auto-fail or an elder sign gets rid of it considering you ARE Mateo after all! — MaleficMarby · 35 9/22/25

As thatwasademo points out, Dark Future prevents Mateo from turning tentacles into stars including for the purpose of getting rid of Dark Future — slyguavas · 53 9/22/25

It cannot be canceled no, but you still resolve as much of the ability as you can, as per the rules, so it's still treated as an Elder Sign, much like Jim Culver doesn't cancel Elder Sign but can still treat it as a Skull — Nenananas · 273 9/23/25

So you would fail (because automatic failure has priority) but still resolve one of the elder sign effects? — AlderSign · 448 9/23/25

I don’t think we have a precedent for this. Mateo’s ability is a replacement effect, and I’m not sure that we have a seen an inability to resolve a replacement effect be ruled as resolving both the original effect and the alternative one. — Eudaimonea · 6 9/23/25

I think so too. You would not be able to activate the reaction trigger, by the rules. — AlderSign · 448 9/23/25

I take that back and actually think Nenananas is right. — AlderSign · 448 9/24/25

There is definitely a rule that says, “If you can’t do all of something, do some of it.” The question is whether a replacement effect, when you can’t replace, is being partially satisfied by doing the original effect as well as the new one, or whether you’re doing something additional to the intended effect. — Eudaimonea · 6 9/24/25

Like, if you were at a location where “investigators cannot replace combat with other statistics for fight actions,” would you ADD Intellect to Combat for “I’ve Got a Plan!” and ADD Agility to Combat for Backstab?That doesn’t sound to me like “fulfilling as much as possible,” it feels like doing something different. — Eudaimonea · 6 9/24/25

What confuses me is the "cancel" part of Mateo's ability. Why is it there? You don't need that to treat the auto-fail as an elder sign... — AlderSign · 448 9/24/25

To me, that’s just an entirely redundant clause. It doesn’t factor into my reading at all because the replacement clause itself has a cancel or ignore baked in. If we were talking about Daisy’s Tote Bag, I’d say the same thing: I don’t think you can cancel the Elder Sign under Dark Future, so I don’t think you’d replace it with an autofail. — Eudaimonea · 6 9/25/25

Ravenous Myconid

Vincent Lee can only use this strain not the other two because of deck restrictions.

Still a slotless 3/3 soak for 2 cost ain't bad at all to work with, though not as strong as the other two strains hence it dodged the additional experience taboo.

For one resource and one action Vincent needs to put 4 growth on it. I cannot see the benefit of putting more than 4 as that is the limit of how much it can soak before it is defeated and then goes to the discard pile. What other assets can compete as a self healing soaking mechanism?

9/24/25

gromorthodox · 9

Lucky!

Just full cleared Midnight Masks with lv0 test decks for Amanda/Carson/George. Stumbled bad early because the encounter deck noticed we were lacking sustained sources of Combat and Agility. Then in agenda 2, George went on a heater of passing something like 11 straight tests at +0 or +1 with Artistic Inspiration + Lucky! backup. Don't bother looking up the odds, they're insane. Think about the game I would've missed out on if not for Lucky!!

Arkham teaches you that there is only one tail end of the variance curve and that it is very bad and you should invest in mitigating it. Every now and then, Lucky! reminds us that the other tail end of the curve does actually exist and that it's a glorious and beautiful place.

prezeden · 15

Daring

I think Daring is a good card in a level 0 Marion Tavares deck, where fight tests are often difficult to pass (many level 0 fight events don’t provide any skill boost or just +1). The evasion clause is also relevant, bringing her to a solid 6.

It fills a similar space to Wolf Mask and Lucky!. Less repeatable but lower cost and doesn’t take up any suvivor card slot.

9/23/25

Ramun · 869

Protecting the Anirniq

This could be an interesting combo piece alongside The Red-Gloved Man to reccur him cheaply when he discards himself in the Mythos phase. I can see a possible Trish Scarborough deck with this card and RGM in a Rogue extra-action build to get several power turns over the course of a game. Even without an entire deck built around the idea, you are still getting decent value out of it, especially if you run some of the cheap Seeker allies that mostly exist for their "on playing" effects like Medical Student or Laboratory Assistant.

9/22/25

FlowerOfAugust · 2