Hiding Spot

I am writing my first review here as I want to check that idea:

That card to me could do wonder on Zoey Samaras with a type of deck that wants her to collect most enemies possible, for example with "Let me handle this!", On the Hunt, Taunt (and Upgrade 1/Upgrade 2).

Let's say that in this situation, Zoey gets around 3 enemies on her, attacks a full round, plays Hiding Spot so performing 3 Dodge at once.

The cherry on the cake, she gets automatically engaged again, bringing her 3 resources or 2 resources and 1 test-free damage with Zoey's Cross

And the more enemies she has on her, the merrier!

Valentin1331 · 78317
That doesn't work, enemies won't disengage you just cause they gain aloof, you'd need a different way to achieve that, like warning shot (though hunters would come to you again in enemy phase an attack). — Django · 5154
Indeed, having aloof doesn't cause enemies to disengage from you, otherwise you would never be able to hurt aloof enemies as they would just disengage as soon as you engage them. But nice thinking — NarkasisBroon · 11
so instead I need to replace that one card with Cunning Distraction to have the effect that I am looking for... for much more resource, which would still repay fine when for example to 3 enemies re-engage while dodging all attacks. — Valentin1331 · 78317
Yes, Cunning Distraction would be better and mostly pay for itself when enemies re engage. — Time4Tiddy · 249
Déjà Vu

This card appears to suck really bad in the Innsmouth Conspiracy Campaign. It has mechanics which prevent its use, and then when you want to next use it, you are no longer repurchasing so can't use it then either.

MelinaPerez · 164
Innsmouth prevents you spending the experience it gives you in the level, not the spending of experience itself, Deja Vu is no more prevented than arcane research in Innsmouth. — Zerogrim · 295
Is there an actual ruling on this? I do hope you're right. — MelinaPerez · 164
Compare to the wording between heart of the elders part 1 and 2. [Investigators may not spend experience or alter their decks in between Scenarios V-A and V-B.] Innsmouth on the other hand uses [Record this experience under “Unspent Experience” in your Campaign Log, but do not spend any of it yet.] which seems to suggest to me that only the VP earned experience is forbidden from being spent, no other step of deck editing is prevented. — Zerogrim · 295
Tommy Malloy

Another enemy signature weakness. Looking at the two elements, the effect and the discard condition, we get:

The effect: Easy to hit, hard to damage, hard for Nathaniel to Evade, hits pretty hard. Normally, this is 3 actions to clear, although you can speed things up with Beat Cop, Counterpunch, or Survival Knife (probably with Bandolier). Guard Dog can also help. Handcuffs shenanigans are also a possibility. This card will pretty much cost you a turn, one way or another, but is rarely a danger to either the scenario or campaign.

The discard condition: Kill Tommy or put the cuffs on him; your choice.

All in all, this is an average signature weakness.

Voice of the Messenger

This is a fairly unique trauma signature weakness. Looking at the two elements, the effect and the discard condition, we get:

The effect: You take direct damage and trauma, mental or physical, your pick. Normally, this would be disastrous, but Calvin likes trauma, right up until he doesn't. There is no real mitigation, except not getting trauma outside of this card or, maybe, limiting drawing as much as possible. If the direct damage defeats you, you are getting 2 trauma, and once Calvin hits 6 trauma of either sort, you are out of the campaign. If you can get down Five of Pentacles, Until the End of Time, or any of the other soak assets, you can keep going with even very high trauma, but, if you draw this every scenario, you will be on very tight margins.

The discard condition: One and done. You take your trauma, and you take your chances.

All in all, this is an average signature weakness. It's managable but can end a campaign.

In case anyone is wondering, choosing any of the options does not result in two damage/horror, just 1 during the scenario. Trauma only does damage at the beginning of the scenario: [Check FAQ Here](https://arkhamdb.com/card/02165) — adjeprado · 6
Angered Spirits

Another trauma signature weakness. Looking at the two elements, the effect and the discard condition, we get:

The effect: It drains Akachi's charges by forcing her to exhaust spells to build up 4 charges on this card before the end of the scenario, or face a physical trauma. Since Akachi usually has plans for those charges, this is a bad situation. While her Health is better than Roland's Sanity, physical trauma is still no joke and can end the scenario, especially since, like the whole suite of trauma weaknesses, if Akachi is defeated before getting the requisite charges on this card, she gets bonus trauma! On the upside, other investigators in her location can move charges as well, although it's not that common to have other spells with charges floating around. The largest problem with mitigation is that you want cheap spells with #+ charges, and they pretty much all take up Arcane slots that you already have plans for. You could use Sign Magick or Familiar Spirit to get more Arcane slots, but that is increasing the cost overall. Useful, low-cost spells include Alchemical Transmutation, Clarity of Mind, Healing Words, Mists of R'lyeh, and Song of the Dead, and Akachi's ability makes sure they have plenty of charges. One significant advantage to this card over other trauma weaknesses is that you will generally have two spells out, and Akachi can exhaust both of them in any free triggered ability window, allowing her to fill this weakness in two turns, drastically reducing the danger of a very late game draw. Now that Brand of Cthugha (4) exists, it would be pretty easy to siphon some of those 9 charges toward this, assuming you weren't the primary killer on your team.

The discard condition: None, but, if you get 4 charges on this card, you disable it (and it does not get discarded).

All in all, this is an average signature weakness.

Like all task based weaknesses, this can turn into an auto trauma if you draw it during the last few turns and have not enough time (or charges) to pay it off. I'd recommend draw effects (guts 0/ 2) to get this out early or discard it with scroll of secrets. — Django · 5154
Generally, it is not worth including bad spells in your deck solely to mitigate Angered Spirits. Agree with Django that draw and economy to play your big spells again are better, especially if you can get your Spirit-Speaker out. — suika · 9511
It's still good, that the spells exhaust, not the angered spirit, so in any normal situatio, you should be able to satisfy the spirits within 2 turns. I agree with suika, it's not worth it to put bad spells into Akachi's deck. Also, Akachi is much better prepared against physical traumata than Roland against mental ones. Feet tests that deal meat damage are far less common than brain tests that deal horror. And I got her easily through "Forgotten Age" with the "Wish Eater", which ate the trauma damage as a side dish to horror from "Shrivelling" before it became any issue. I agree, this is an average, or even slightly below average, weakness, while "Cover Up" is one of the worst. — Susumu · 381
I am astonished by the fact that not only can other investigators trigger the ability, but also Akachi herself gets to trigger it to target a spell asset controlled by ANY investigator at ANY location. That's flexible! — AlderSign · 391