Chuck Fergus

I'm a bit confused over how this card works or not works. When does the trigger for When you play an event actually trigger and resolve?

Under Appendix I: Initiation Sequence it says: When a player wishes to initiate a triggered ability or play a card, that player first declares his or her intent. There are two preliminary confirmations that must be made before the process of initiating an ability or playing a card may begin.

These are Check play restrictions and Determine the cost. I see the two points of injection either After declaring Intent or After resolving preliminary confirmations. If it is before validating preliminary confirmations this card makes it possible to play event during other player's turn and during other phases which I'm unsure if it is the intent. But otherwise if it resolves after it creates other problems that you need to be able to pass the preliminary confirmations before actually applying Chuck's changes to the event, thus always needing to have an action left and original resource cost needed.

This also comes together with how do you trigger the play of an event here, if you do it with the play action it makes it even illegal to go forward with it as a fast action as stated both under fast action and play action. Under play action it says: Cards with the "fast" keyword are not played by using this action (see "Fast" on page 11). And under fast: Fast Fast is a keyword ability. A fast card does not cost an action to be played and is not played using the "Play" action.

So I can see this card being either too generous, very clumsy or just mechanically broken depending on how and when, when you play triggers the trigger?

iro · 5
It's a 5xp card that you have to find and get into play and that takes a valuable slot; I don't think there's a way for it to be "too generous." I've been playing it in that mode, allowing me to play tactics and tricks during any free window. It doesn't feel broken; in fact, Leo de Luca frequently feels more useful, but perhaps I'm just not abusing any degenerate combos. — SGPrometheus · 821
I can agree with you there, paying 10 XP for two, and barely an upgrade over Luca. I just like when rules are clear, and from the rules I can find this is sadly very unclear, but I guess the card will be in the next FAQ. — iro · 5
The wording is the same as Fence so I don't see how that is problematic, (From the FAQs for that card: "[it] gives the card fast before it is actually played, so this is taken into account during its initiation sequence"). More problematic is that unlike fast assets, fast events can only be played at specific timing points specified on the card which are not specified on events that gain fast via Chuck. — pneuma08 · 26
From other cards that have been around a while (Fence, the Service assets) it's pretty clear that "when you play an event" means immediately upon declaring your intent, before checking restrictions or determining cost (which would align with the definition of "when" if you consider those two things to be part of the impact of playing an event). The lack of a timing instruction on the Fast ability it grants is a bit of an issue, but I think it's a sensible enough solution to treat it as though it read "That event gains 'Fast. Play during any player window.'" — Thatwasademo · 58
My question is how does this work with Double Double? Do both the first event and its copy gain the traits? — Mrehjiwurth · 1
We've been playing it as though it doesn't give the boosts to the second play, simply because Chuck says "when" and DD says "after", so it's a separate play. I'm not 100% sure this is how it works but it makes sense to me. — axefby · 1
Physical Training

Despite doing pretty much the same thing as Arcane Studies (4), this one is a whole lot more worthwhile for two major reasons:

  1. It's not in the same class as Recall the Future, which almost completely overshadows Arcane Studies (4) to the point where if I was going to run that card I'd almost rather just run Recall and Arcane Studies (2).
  2. It is in the same class as Well Prepared, and enables it quite nicely. It's possible that the weapons you run might also cover the 2 combat, especially once you've invested some experience (though not all do), but 2 willpower is a whole lot more difficult to find on assets (currently just First Aid and Armor of Ardennes in guardian assets that you can play under your own control). That means this card may effectively offer a total of +4 in free skill boost to a Guardian's most important skills every round, divided between up to three different tests.
Thatwasademo · 58
Thoughtful! — MrGoldbee · 1472
Daisy Walker

Surprised to not see any comparisons between Core Daisy and her Read Or Die version.

The front sides provide you a clear choice: Do you want constant extra actions, or do you want constant stat bonuses? With two or fewer tomes, Read or Die Daisy (Front) is just a purely worse version of the Core card, so to get anything out of it you should plan to have 3+ tomes in play - requiring a deck full of tomes, plus the actions to play them, plus the means to hold more (Daisy's Tote Bag, naturally, plus Arcane Enlightenment). In return for this lengthy build-up, however, you can eventually reach high levels of Willpower towards the middle of the scenario. In a way, this is reminiscent of Diana Stanley, but relying primarily on investigation rather than combat to see you through the early game.

The two versions of Daisy's deck-building are intriguing in their differences. First the overlap: both can take Neutral cards 0-5. Core Daisy can further take Seeker cards 0-5 and any number of Mystic cards 0-2. Read or Die Daisy loses some functionality in both aspects. Her cross-class abilities get dramatically reduced, limiting her to only 5 level 0 cards (though these cards can come from Guardian now as well as Mystic, there is relatively little in Guardian that will appeal to many Daisy decks). Her Seeker options are also dramatically hindered; in exchange for losing access to most high-level cards of her class, she gains access to exactly 3 tomes which the Core version can't include:

Ironically the Read or Die front may combo better with the Core back of Daisy than with the Read or Die back -- in the quest to build Daisy like an investigating version of Diana Stanley, it would be a shame to be limited to only 5 level 0 Mystic cards.

Finally, it seems worth talking about the two Advanced versions of her signature cards (remember that unlike the alternate versions of her player card, the Advanced cards must be used together):

  • Advanced Daisy's Tote Bag gives you a powerful reaction that further optimizes the action efficiency of Core Daisy's use of tomes while also allowing Read or Die Daisy to assemble her library more quickly.
  • Advanced The Necronomicon has the same Revelation and removal text that the Core Necronomicon weakness has, but the effect while the weakness is in play is more varied. Instead of simply auto-failing tests, the Advanced weakness resolves all of the other negative symbol effects. This can at times be worse than simply auto-failing (some scenarios have pretty brutal effects for drawing negative symbols) but at times could result in doing nothing at all (for instance, in scenarios where symbols have a "-X" effect). Moreover, since the value of each negative symbol is known ahead of time, you could hypothetically plan ahead and increase your check value by enough to beat all three negative symbols combined.

Thus, in most cases, using the Advanced versions of her signature cards gives you both a higher ceiling and a higher floor, with the weakness only making life worse for you in certain scenarios.

jmbostwick · 11
Thank you JM! — MrGoldbee · 1472
It is a pretty silly extreme, but the Parallel back can only get up to 13 tomes in play while the original back can get up to 14 tomes in play, (but then needs a Familiar or two to actually benefit from the capped Willpower). — Death by Chocolate · 1485
(+1 for either of you are playing The Forgotten Age!) — Death by Chocolate · 1485
Thanks for the eval of Parallel Daisy, it's a bit cumbersome that there isn't a separate page here for her (tho I recognize that would only partially help since you can mix and match fronts & backs). Rather unfortunate that Parallel Back also excludes Abigail Foreman, further reducing means of getting Tomes out there. OTOH, Edge Of The Earth brings us True Magick, an L5 Mystic Tome that lets you channel spells out of your hand... spells which that same Daisy has fewer of, after losing access to L4-5 Seeker and L1-2 Mystic cards. Still, there might be some tomfoolery to be had there. Since this review it looks like she also gained access to Schoffner's Catalogue (slotless and resource-refunding, thus a free +1 Will) and Book Of Psalms for some utility. — HanoverFist · 740
(stupid autopost on hitting return!) I'm also curious if anybody has found any fun trickery to be had with Parallel Front's once-per-game tome-bomb, or with the improved Elder Sign ability. Silas and Yorick are absolutely worth trying to rig towards forcing ES pulls for their recursion. Daisy's seems far worse, being limited to Tomes and lacking tools like Eucatastrophe, but both backs still have access to Olive McBride and some sealing tech. (Also just saw that PDaisy gets access to Astronomical Atlas, which is nice I guess) — HanoverFist · 740
I see two uses for Daisy's elder sign: recursion of Schoffner's Catalogue, which discards when empty; and possible synergy with Knowledge is Power for the discard/draw. Parallel Daisy now also has Key of Solomon if she wants to build curse tech, and Raven Quill (Spectral Binding) to get another tome in play without a slot. She still feels mostly inferior but she's more fun than she was on release! — Time4Tiddy · 246
Blasphemous Covenant

While the Ancient Covenant makes Bless tokens better but doesn't preserve them, this significantly improves Curse tokens (effectively a +3 to the skill test) but puts the token back into the bag where it can be drawn again (if immediately, blasphemies may occur, which seems only appropriate).

Is this a good card? Maybe? If the bag has a lot of Curse tokens in it, this only briefly and weakly addresses the problem. With only a few, it probably hedges a roll. We willll have to see the entire Curse token tech suite to know for sure.

I think it helps to translate the Cryptic grimoire: you add [cursed] tokens in the bag as quick as possible but if you reveal them during tests, they are removed from the bag. With Blasphemous covenant, you improve your chances to keep them in the bag. — AlexP · 252
Maybe? That would be a pretty focused use for a Permanent, though. I'm definitely anticipating the new mechanics to see how this all works (even if the tokens won't feature in scenarios outside of the Innsmouth Conspiracy. — LivefromBenefitSt · 1067
It seems virtually certain at this point that curse and bless will be driven almost entirely by investigator cards and hence feature in any scenario. — Whitemage · 3
And you have to draw another token, which may as well be the blasphemes tentacles, damn it. — rexhaha · 1
I think it's been suggested that Bless and Curse will only appear in Innmouth packs, since they would have to reprint the counter set for players who hadn't bought TIC. — LivefromBenefitSt · 1067
Better in solo! — MrGoldbee · 1472
why is this better in solo? — Makaramus · 5
Ancient Covenant indirectly helps preserve blessings by preventing them from colliding. — OrionJA · 1
Fewer tests — MrGoldbee · 1472
Yeah, in solo it might be close to "curses are just another +1". — Nils · 1
Do you still pull another token after reveling a curse token with this covenant in play? — hun · 1
@hun Yes, you'll reveal as many tokens as necessary for the skill test to resolve. You put this particular token back in the bag after the test ends. — SGPrometheus · 821
So, this card: — Innsmouth Conspirator · 63
So, this card 1) replaces the first Curse token's modifier to +1, 2) doesn't stop the Curse token from drawing more tokens 3)any additional Curse tokens drawn during the same skill test are -2 and doesn't get the +1 modifier. Really weak if this is the case. I'd rather run Paradoxical in Kohaku decks. — Innsmouth Conspirator · 63
The Black Book

I haven't seen many reviews for story assets so I figure I'd throw in my two cents here. I'm currently playing through The Circle Undone for the first time in my group using Carolyn Fern. While I can't speak to how good it is on other characters, I would like to point out the following interaction I had in my build:

Stick to the Plan, Ever Vigilant, The Black Book

Y'all. Ever Vigilant tells you to play the cards one at a time, meaning with the nut opener you can drop Black Book first, then just sink a ton of horror into the next asset you play using the ability. And then you get to repeat it each turn.

While playing as Carolyn, the built in resource generation from healing horror - and the fact that, of course, you'll be healing horror - means that the chances you actually die from using the ability is slim to none. And you'll still be able to afford other expensive cards sooner rather than later. And the stats that it gives are great for the campaign. I didn't believe anyone when they said you'd need for TCU, but yes, you absolutely do.

And look at those ICONS! Wow! It seems too good to be true.

TL;DR this is amazing if you're playing Carolyn Fern - definitely pick it up. Addendum: we aren't done yet so if you get massively destroyed for taking it in the campaign I'm sorry, I didn't know...

DanPyre · 61
This can be a great pickup with other characters as well, in general characters that have a large sanity pool and rely on intellect, willpower or both will love it. I recently took it in a TCU run with Luke and Tony and Luke used it to sling lots of events without losing tempo. Jim is also a big fan, because taking it adds another Skull token to the chaos bag. — PowLee · 15
It was fantastic in Calvin as well, for obvious reasons. — Death by Chocolate · 1485
The question is always -- do you want this enough for another Skull? Skull tokens aren't insanely bad in TCU (in the last 2 scenarious they start adding up), but it's a consideration. But, yes, it fuels Carolyn, who really suffers if no one will tell her their woes.... — LivefromBenefitSt · 1067
I would say a Skull is in some ways a net benefit as it dilutes the chance of a bad token slightly, like the autofail or a large negative number. Depends on TCU’s skull effects though. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
I used this with daisy and it was amazing, combine with Ancient stone - Minds in Harmony to heal up. The icons are also great for scavenging! — Django · 5108
I dont want to write review so just drop here:Trading sanity for resource doesnt worth it considering how expensive it is to heal. BUT! This is only if you are gonna die — Makaramus · 5
mmmm I pressed enter again... Well continuing. All you have to do is make sure you will not die from horror and this card is in theory in worst case free. Trouble begins after you start taking trauma wich reduces value a lot and making it a bad draw . Stats are still good I suppose but uses hand slot — Makaramus · 5
Also works great with Diana Stanley + I've Had Worse. Tap the Black Book to play a card, then play I've Had Worse to cancel the horror, then slide card under Diana. Very powerful. — micahwedemeyer · 60