Delay the Inevitable

Delay the Inevitable is generally not very good in ordinary . The most reliable way to trigger the card is through an enemy attack, which Dodge does a better job. Sure it can cancel damage/horror from encounter cards, but there is no guarantee that you will draw those treacheries. The 2 resources upfront + 2 resources upkeep cost could also be painful. It has some use to protect a near-defeat teammate (literally delaying his/her inevitable death :D), but that is not a scenario that comes off too often in my experience.

That said, the card is oddly useful in the 3 Circle Undone investigators that can use it, in interestingly different ways.

Carolyn Fern has better econ to use the card, and has less chance to need to fight an enemy so Dodge is not as useful. Also, if you use her replacement cards, Delay the Inevitable can help to cancel the direct horror from To Fight the Black Wind, thus prevent the doom to be placed on the agenda.

Joe Diamond like the card in his Hunch deck. It is a 2-cost fast Insight, which is just perfect for the Hunch deck. It becomes essentially free (outside of opportunity cost), that you can play it with ease, and not be too afraid if it whiffs.

Diana Stanley may want the card as an additional cancel to fuel her ability. Part of the card's cost is mitigated through her ability. Note that Diana's ability only activates when the card actually cancels something, so the partial cost reimbursement is delayed. It usually is a downside, but it may be useful to trigger Diana's ability out of phase. Certainly worse than Deny Existence though, but Diana may nonetheless want both.

Fun fact: Delay the Inevitable (along with Deny Existence mentioned above) can cancel Beyond the Veil. Maybe not so funny to Yog-Sothoth though.

ak45 · 469
I feel like the cost is just outright too debilitating, especially if the card sticks in play for a round. — Tsuruki23 · 2588
It's also fun with the upgraded Dynamite Blast. — jmmeye3 · 632
Delay the Inevitable does have some advantages over Dodge. It can prevent you from damaging one of your Allies with a weapon attack, or save you from inflicting Horror on yourself with a card like Shriveling. — Katsue · 10
The fast keyword also allows you to play this card shortly before it's trigger comes up during your own turn. — Django · 5171
The card says to place this under the other investigator's control. Does that mean they pay the upkeep? — jemwong · 97
Seems like it could have some useful synergy with Forbidden Knowledge in a Diana Stanley Deck. Play this. Take a secret from Forbidden Knowledge. The horror from Forbidden Knowledge gets soaked by Delay, and Diana's ability gives a resource and a card draw. And Delay becomes accessible again as soon as Diana gets he Twilight Dagger out. — brssnyde · 1
(@jemwong) Yup, the "you" in the "Forced" section of the card will refer to the card's controller at that time, as per the section clarifying "you/your" in the FAQ. "Any other instance of “you/your” that does not fall into the above categories refers to the investigator who controls the card". I'd likewise prefer clearer wording, but the English language has its limitations. — Yellow_Peril · 4
Another fun fact for playing this with Diana, If you have the twilight blade out you can play this forever as long as you have the money ^_^ — NarkasisBroon · 13
Quick question, if I may: this card says you can attach it to any investigator at your location. If I do so, who pays for the upkeep? I assume the investigator with whom it's attached? Also, I assume it will still activate Diana's ability once it cancels the damage, even though it's not in control of Diana at the time? — Deadlykipper · 1
Yes, it's the controller of the card who pays the upkeep. (See Yellow_Peril's comment above; "you/your" refers to the investigator who controls the card in this situation.) This can indeed still activate Diana's ability, because Diana's ability cares about whether Diana *owns* the card that is cancelling/ignoring an effect, and not whether Diana is controlling that card. — iceysnowman · 164
I've been playing DtI with Diana in TCU with some success. I just managed the following: DtI under Diana, use Twilight Blade to cast it. Then play Rite of Seeking and Use the Black Book to pay with horror. Two copies of Death Approaches in my threat area so take 8 horror, all absorbed by DtI which then goes back under Diana to give me a card and a resource, plus both Treacheries discard. Quite an unlikely combo to set up but satisfying when you do! — jimrexdhc · 1
Does it work that for example you can play it right after you draw the symbol token on shriveling and have DtI cancel the horror? — jonklin · 515
unrelated but .... is that stella on the card art?? — Antiundead · 31
@jonklin There is no player window in a skill test after revealing a token, so at that point it is too late to play Delay the Inevitable. — Signum · 14
Interrogate

This card is in a lot perspective similar to Scene of the Crime, that it is hard to not make a comparison:

Similarities:

  • Cost 2, which is non-trivial in the resource-hungry class.
  • Gather 2 clues in 1 action while ignoring shroud-value and investigate-based effects. Great value! Combat fucused often lack ways to gather even a single clue, let alone multiple clues. Amazing.
  • Requires an enemy at your location. This is kind of annoying, since as a it is your job to kill the enemy at first sight. Spending an action on clue gathering may leave you insufficient action to finish off the enemy, or otherwise more vulnerable to auto-failing attacks.
  • Same set of icons ( + ), which is mildly useful.

Pros:

  • Does not need to be the first action. It adds some flexibility that you can move into the Humanoid's location before you use this card.
  • 1 of the 2 clues comes from any other location you choose, which may be useful if the enemy does not conveniently spawn on the hard-to-investigate locations.

Cons:

  • Literally unplayable without an enemy, while Scene of the Crime just become worse but still decent.
  • The enemy needs to have the Humanoid trait, which may not even exist for certain scenarios.
  • This card requires a test of usually 4, which even the best has a realistic chance to fail.

Sadly the comparison with Scene of the Crime is unfavorable. The flexibility that Interrogate offers, IMHO, does not outweigh Scene of the Crime's reliability. That said, Scene of the Crime is the single best clue-gathering card. As a card comparable to it, Interrogate is still quite a good card.

Reasons to run Interrogate in addition to Scene of the Crime:

  • Your party lack clue-gathering power.
  • You know the scenario will contain a lot of Humanoids, like those feature the Dark Cult encounter set. Better if you have access to Adaptable (Leo and Skids).
  • You are Joe Diamond and you want more clue-gathering stuffs in your Hunch deck, and/or need a way to pick up the lost clue due to Unsolved Case.
  • You have the econ to pay both cards.

Reasons to run Interrogate instead of Scene of the Crime:

  • You are playing Solo, that double clue locations are rare. 1 clue each from different locations often cleans both up, which is amazingly good for one action. Keep in mind that enemies are also rarer in Solo, so it could be a bit more situational.
ak45 · 469
Wear your Fine Clothes for better synergy. Could be good in Night of the Zealot, but not other big campaigns. — Ezhaeu · 51
Diana Stanley

Pros:

  1. Strong signature cards (especially Dark Insight)
  2. Decent intellect and strength
  3. +1 resource/ +1 card activated effect is strong incentive to play ignore/cancel effects, since it often makes them free cantrips. This also makes her deck cycle faster.
  4. Access to cards, which increases her potential for combat
  5. Potential for 6 base willpower in late game
  6. She starts with 6 cards (with Dark Insight as one of them), and if you mulligan you can get up to 6 new cards!
  7. I think her signature weakness is not as devastating as many others. You can choose which cards to ditch and which to keep for 1 horror. This actually helps clear space for new additions. But it also favors not relying too heavily on her willpower (see below).

Cons:

  1. Very low starting willpower. This creates a conundrum because cards like Shrivelling will be very difficult to use for part of the game, and hard to justify with access to cards like Machete. Upgraded spells that boost willpower should be easier to use. If you do rely heavily on willpower, it incentivizes playing your cancel/ignore effects earlier, and even potentially wasting them instead of saving them for harsher threats.
  2. Why choose Diana Stanley to wield Machete when you can use other guardians with 4 or 5 strength? I think you have to make good use of her cards and 3 intellect to justify this.
jmmeye3 · 632
where is it actually written that she starts with dark insight in her hand ? I know it was said in the article of her release, but it's not indicated anywhere on her investigator card if i'm not mistaken — aurchen · 300
It’s on the deck building side of her card — Gebbeth · 2
Nevermind, I missed that part of her card. Thank you — aurchen · 300
From reading the rules for Draw Starting Hands and Mulligan, I don’t think you can mulligan Dark Insight. Drawing the opening hand refers to the entire process, but when you look at Muligan, you see that the initial five cards are called the starting hand, and that’s what you mulligan from. For comparison, look at Sefina: her ability, which replaces drawing the opening hand, replaces the entire step - not just the pre-muligan starting hand. Therefor it was follow that starting with Dark Insight in her Opening Hand occurs independent (effectively after) the mulligan. For an alternative argument consider this part of the Mulligan rule wording: “to declare a mulligan on any number of the drawn cards“. Dark Insight was not drawn and is therefor ineligible for the mulligan. — Death by Chocolate · 1490
Thanks Death by Chocolate, I think you are right. If so, she has not have an advantage on mulligans. Starting with the Dark Insight as an extra card is definitely good though! — jmmeye3 · 632
Cancelling an attack is triggering her ability? I'd assume yes, but who knows. — Gatherey · 1
@Gatherey It certainly does. Attacks are a type of effect called a ‘framework effect’ which arises from following the game structure framework. Simply put an effect is a ‘thing that happens’, and Diana triggers off of all effects - regardless of whether they are the result of rules text on cards or in the general rules of the game itself. — Death by Chocolate · 1490
About Machete and Diana vs Guardians with 4/5 Str: she has access to most of main stat booster of Guardians: Beat Cops, Ace of Swords, Machete itself and Blood Pact can make up for the lack of Keen Eye. It's at least useful against trash mobs like Rats or Ghouls where you don't want to be spending a Shrivelling charge. — Éole · 14
Here, for your deckbuilding pleasure, is a list of the Mystic, Guardian, and Neutral cards with the words Cancel or Ignore on them: [arkhamdb.com](https://arkhamdb.com/find?q=k%3ATactic%7Csupply+t%3Aevent&sort=name&view=list&decks=player&spoilers=hide) — Dedalus · 6298
I think was there a copy paste error there Dedalus, here is the fixed link: https://arkhamdb.com/find?q=x%3Aignore%7Ccancel&sort=name&view=list&decks=player&spoilers=hide — bits-in-a-ghoul-tummy · 32
In the expert mode, 3 str almost means nothing. So Guardian combat system doesn't work. But use Mystic system, a 35 size deck and 1 start willpower sucks. What's more I don't think her weakness is a weak one. So I believe this girl is design for those easy mode. — Amarthiul · 8
It's actually been ruled that Deny Existence can be used to negate all horror from her weakness, so the weakness is pretty harmless assuming you keep Deny Existence on hand. It's often possible to have 4 willpower by round 2, so I don't think the low starting willpower is as bad as you think. — Chitinid · 14
She's a monster in solo. With 8-10 cancel cards (plus her signature one), she can very quickly (3-4 turns) get 4 cancel cards done, which gives 4 extra draws, 4 etra resources. Add in Renfield, Rosary, and/or the Tarot card, and she has will power 8/9/10. Wither and Sixth Sense make her a fighting/cluing monster. Early on, Ddelve too Deep and Drawn to the Flame enable get to do useful things while also getting those critical encounter cards. Upgraded Wither more or less never misses. And while she gets setup, her 3 in evade, fight, intellect enable her to do a bit. — Ludoquist · 1
I am very curious about if, in standard difficulty, she is better as a consistant physical fighter (machete, beat cop, heavy blow, etc.) or a mystical "hard carry" spelly fighter (she will start useless in combat but with potential to reach a ridiculous willpower). The Machete is amazing since you don't have a limited amount of charges or ammo, but with willpower boosted, the spells will never miss). I think it will may vary a lot accordingly with the other investigators in the group, but can't be sure about her in the ideal circunstances. Any ideas? — Venti · 1
After using Diana several times, it's clear that she is better as a late game spell caster. I use the latest taboo list so my comments about Machete are no longer valid. She does need some support to deal with early threats. — jmmeye3 · 632
A good support to deal with early threats would be St. Hubert's Key + 2x Arcane Research + Desperate skills. But as a matter of fact, she also can just up her willpower preety fast, so it is not strictly needed. But it was fun, playing her that way. — Susumu · 383
Deny Existence

This card is best with Diana, for whom (as long as you have an open spot beneath her) it replaces itself and gives +1 resource (same net bonus as Emergency Cache). It might be usable in some other decks, especially if you are trying to increase your spell count (for Arcane Initiate, etc). Awesome artwork, too!

jmmeye3 · 632
When using it with Diana, does this card stop Rites of Seeking from ending your turn? My gut feeling is no. It counters the "lose actions" part but the end turn line is an additional effect. Came up in a game last night but I think it'd still cause her to end her turn, she'd just do it with all her actions. — skanedog · 70
@skanedog Rite of Seeking is neither an encounter card nor an enemy attack, so Deny Existence doesn't even trigger. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
But ending your turn is also a different effect so it couldn't stop it even if it were an encounter card effect. — vidinufi · 69
Eldritch Inspiration

For reference, as of The Circle Undone, here is a list of negative effects that Eldritch Inspiration can be used to mitigate:

Alchemical Transmutation - Take 1 damage.
Astral Travel - Discard an item or ally asset from play, take 1 damage if you cannot.
Blinding Light - Lose 1 action.
Blinding Light (2) - Lose 1 action and take 1 horror.
Mists of R'lyeh & Mists of R'lyeh (2) - Choose and discard a card.
Recharge (2) - Discard the chosen asset. (Note: You still don't get the 3 charges in this case.)
Rite of Seeking & Rite of Seeking (2) & Rite of Seeking (4) - Lose all remaining actions and end your turn.
Seal of the Seventh Sign (5) - Remove 1 charge from Seal of the Seventh Sign.
Shrivelling & Shrivelling (3) - Take 1 horror.
Shrivelling (5) - Take 2 horror.
Storm of Spirits - Deal 1 damage to each investigator at your location.
The Chthonian Stone - Return The Cthonian Stone to your hand.

Here is a list of positive effects that can be doubled using Eldritch Inspiration:

Eldritch Inspiration - Can actually be used on a second copy of itself, but it won't quadruple the effect it will just triple it.
Hypnotic Gaze - Deal an attacking enemy's damage to itself.
Jewel of Aureolus (2) - Draw a card or gain 2 resources.
Recall the Future (2) - +2 skill value for this test (named , , , or token only).
Ritual Candles - +1 skill value for this test.
Song of the Dead (2) - +2 damage ( only).

Note that and on cards will count as triggers for this card, as per the Rules Reference. Father Mateo doesn't actually get an additional benefit from repeating his conversion of to , and Jim Culver's to 0 conversion is static and not a trigger.

The_Wall · 289
I like that this can save charges from Seal of the Seventh Sign. — Django · 5171
The interaction of the card with Rite of Seeking is interesting. If you have the card in your hand, You can safely use Rite of Seeking as your first action. Chances are you will not draw a BS token, since usually only ~1/3 of the chaos tokens are BS ones. You then ignores the drawback of Rite of Seeking without costing anything. It is like Lucky! in this sense. — ak45 · 469
I dont think it would work with Recall the Future or Jewel of Aureolus, since you have to exhaust those cards to trigger their abilities. — iceysnowman · 164
very usefull analis thanksh — el_cyd · 1
@iceysnowman I believe it does since it does only resolves the effect another time. It's not "you can trigger the effect another time", so you skip the cost. — Docteur_Hareng · 7
Father Mateo can get additional benefit via his elder sign effect through The Codex of the Ages, though, AFAICT. — BlankedyBlank · 23
I cannot see how come Father Mateo cannot use this card to double the effects of his special, once-per-game ability. It seems clear to me that the wording applies to the trigger on FM investigator card. The only thing not clear are the 'effects'. Are they: A) DRAWING THE ELDER SIGN and then you get to choose either free card&buck or additional action. This way you could first get a card and a buck and then an additional action, or the reverse order. B) you choose one of the aforementioned FM's elder sign options and THEN YOU GET ANOTHER OF THIS KIND i.e. you can only get 2xcard&buck or 2xfree action. The literal reading of FM special ability suggests the effects of cancelling the autofail is changing it into the elder sign (the A option above). I have a feeling the designers were thinking of the 'final final effects' (the B option above). — Mateusz_Nawrocki · 1