Dario El-Amin

I tried this card on a Jenny Barnes deck in SOLO Play on STANDARD difficulty. My idea was to stack his boosts with St. Huberts Key to get +2 willpower and intellect. Playing him though almost got me killed on the first scenarios of the Carcosa campaign. At first sight he may look playable, fun or even good, but believe me, he is BAD (considering the current card pool). Let me explain:

-He costs too much resources to play, wich makes it even more difficult to gather the 10 resources you need for his static boosts. This also means he is to expensive to effectively serve as a meat shield.

-He is waaaay to slow, specially on the early scenarios. Remember that you don't have Hot Streak from the start, so collecting the 14 resources you need to play him and get the boost will take forever, even if you are playing Jenny Barnes with Lone Wolf. Consider that you normally also have to expend resources playing other assets or boosting your skills with Hard Knocks or other talents.

-His trigger ability "Gain two resources" is not that bad on multi player, but in Solo play it's not very useful. Consider that on average you will be loosing one action per turn fighting enemies or resolving treacheries. If you then constantly use 1 action to gather 2 resources from Dario you will only have 1 action left to advance the game, meaning you will loose to the Agenda.

-There are too many better allies than him (Leo de Luca, Lola Santiago, Dr. Milan, Beat Cop, etc.) and there are many other easier ways to boost your intellect and willpower. The willpower stat is by the way not very important for rougues anyways (except for Sefina maybe) and you are better of boosting it with Talents like High Roller or Moxie.

-Even when I managed to stack this guy with St. Huberts Key, what he provides wasn't worth the enormous effort. By the time you have it all set up you would already have drawn Leo de Luca anyways, wich is a thousand times better. If you are going Jenny Barnes clue gatherer play Dr. Milan instead.

-With his wicked smile he tempts you not to use the 10 resources you have put on him for the static boosts. Soon enough you will find yourself not playing important cards or not overcommitting to important skill tests, just to keep him happy (charged with 10 resources). I warn you, the over commitment to this guy could mean your demise.

In conclusion/Summery: His smile fair as spring, as to put him in your deck he draws you. His tongue sharp and silvery, as to invest 14 resources on him he implores you. Your stats he boosts, as he swears to adore you. Though dues need be repaid, and the overcommitment will ruin you. His slow set up will snare you in bonds, as the Agenda advances glowing’, a fire. To gore and torment you, till the stars expire. XD

Alogon · 1145
I'm with you on this one. I don't think this card is worth it. — CaiusDrewart · 3198
There are more support cards for this archetype than there used to be, thanks in part to cards like Hot Streak 2 and Watch This! it is actually pretty easy to get back into a range where you can safely acquire Dario's bonuses. With that said, I don't think many investigators in the pool actually want that, aside from maybe a cluey Jenny. Finally, Pay Day gets a large bonus to output thanks to his action. Just something to consider. — Myriad · 1226
Dr. Ch. Milan is allot better than Dario El-Amin for Jenny Barnes clue gatherer. I guess if Dr. Milan gets taken by a yellow investigator you may consider consider Dario...but if you already have a clue gatherer in your team why would you play Jenny Barnes with a clue gatherer build? I would just go for combat to protect the yellow investigator. — Alogon · 1145
Ancient Stone

I think this card is a bomb. I think this immediately becomes one of the highest-priority Seeker XP cards. You'll still want to pick up Higher Education first, of course (which will conveniently help with identifying the Ancient Stone.) But I wouldn't wait too much longer to get this going. This card is going to make you win much more reliably.

Test-free damage is golden in this game. There's a reason why Agnes Baker is almost always ranked as a high-tier investigator, why Zoey's Cross is one of the best special investigator cards, and why Beat Cop II is one of the best uses of 2 XP. The primary source of challenge in this game comes from enemies, and being able to kill them or finish them off without any skill tests makes the game way, way easier.

So I expect this card to be superb. In addition to being test-free, the damage is quite efficient! Depending on circumstances, you may not have to spend an action at all. If you do have to spend an action to get a needed point of damage, you get a draw out of it.

Obviously, you can combine this with Cryptic Research, Search for the Truth, Analytical Mind, and the like, all of which are just absurdly powerful plays. But don't forget the simpler skill cards like Perception, Overpower, Eureka!, etc.

The synergy for Daisy with Old Book of Lore is going to be incredible, too, although the hand slot consideration makes this tricky for her. Still, that's going to be extremely powerful when it works.

I think the number of secrets you need to make this a good card is actually quite low. Even at four secrets, I think this card would absolutely be worth it. You should be able to get a lot more than that--I see no reason why you shouldn't get seven secrets on this thing--which makes this just amazing, in my opinion.

Finally, remember that reaction triggers are optional. So if you find yourself in a situation where you're drawing a card but the point of damage won't make a difference, you don't have to waste a secret.

CaiusDrewart · 3198
Yes, this card is fantastic! — mogwen · 254
What I wanted to say before pressing enter (grrr!) is that this card has a wonderful interaction with scavenging Minh! — mogwen · 254
And (Grrrrr!) that tou can take it back from your discard to play it again and deal an insane amount of damage or prevent your party from ever losing to horror! :) — mogwen · 254
Good call on the Scavenging interaction--it will absolutely be possible to get this into your discard, so that could be quite strong. — CaiusDrewart · 3198
I'm slightly concerned about this card, to be honest. I'm not sure the Seeker faction needed an effect this powerful. I feel like test-free damage could have stayed confined to the Guardian class and Agnes. Hopefully this card won't end up being quite as dominant as I suspect it might be. — CaiusDrewart · 3198
If you find the stone too strong, well, you can use shrewd analysis to add a little uncertainty, will u have the damage or the horror healing? I've build a Minh Deck like this, pretty funny — mogwen · 254
https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/7180/minh-thi-phan-archeologist-a-scavenging-schrewd-analyst-1.0 — mogwen · 254
Still, which card is better - Zoey's Cross or Lightning Gun? I would always be more glad of LG, therefore imo Acidic Ichor is still better option and first pick. Would I need both solution and stone in my Seeker's deck especially when that second one needs to be built around it to get real value? Well, I'm not convinced. — KptMarchewa · 1
@KptMarchewa: I'm not sure that comparison quite holds up. Is Lightning Gun a better card than Zoey's Cross in a Guardian deck? Sure. But Acidic Ichor is much worse than LG on high levels (it's cheaper, yes, but also far, far harder to hit with, which is a real problem). Conversely, Ancient Stone is probably going to be even stronger than Zoey's Cross, with the ability to more easily deal extra test-free damage to a single target. — CaiusDrewart · 3198
Not that Acidic Ichor is a bad route, mind you. That card is excellent, too. But I would actually say that Acidic Ichor requires more building around than Ancient Stone does. Acidic Ichor requires that you have a bunch of cards that boost Combat (or, again, you'll just miss), which is awkward for a Seeker. Not impossible, but awkward. Ancient Stone gets better if you have some good card draw, but that's probably something Seekers wanted to have anyway. — CaiusDrewart · 3198
All in all, I would say that on low levels, where the "test-free" part of Ancient Stone's test-free damage is not that important, and Acidic Ichor is very easy to hit with, I would agree with you that Ichor is the stronger pick. On Expert, I think the Ancient Stone is considerably better. Though both are good, and having both in play is going to be both affordable and very powerful. — CaiusDrewart · 3198
I am pretty impressed with both of these cards. Not only can you trigger them passively or with your own cards and actions, but you can also trigger them off location draws. There are a surprising number of locations in every campaign that let you draw cards! — Myriad · 1226
How do you get this into your graveyard reliably to scavenge? — QDI · 1
Note that because multiple cards drawn from a single game effect are considered to be drawn simultaneously and not one at a time, neither version of the Ancient Stone can divide a single 2+ heal/damage among multiple targets. Nor, on the wording of the card, is it permitted to spend fewer secrets than the number of cards drawn by the said game effect, e.g. you could not spend just 1 secret after playing Preposterous Sketches to draw 3 cards; it would have to be 3 secrets or else not use the Ancient Stone reaction-trigger at all. — Cluny · 52
@QDI This card takes up a hand slot, so you can get it into the discard pile just by playing another item over it. — Katsue · 10
During combat(or maybe ivade) test, I used thus stone to kill a 1-health-enemy. Then what happens next? Does the enemy die after resolving the test OR does the test just ends due to the defeat of the enemy? — imajjine · 1
Oops sorry for my typo — imajjine · 1
I’ve been combining this with Occult Lexicon/Blood-Rite. If you have the Stone out and 2 resources on hand, playing Blood-Rite creates 2-4 testless damage to any enemy at your location, no matter if it’s engaged with you, engaged with another investigator, or aloof. When you use it for 4 damage, you only lose 2 secrets from your stone, keeping more for later use. You could possibly have multiple copies of Blood-Rite in hand, setting up massive guaranteed damage, even against the toughest enemies in the game. Powerful combination, but it takes both hands! — mbooradley · 7
Any seeker can add Scavenging with Versatile to their deck. With seekr drawing and tutoring effects, they should have no problems with the increased deck size. — Django · 5163
Scientific Theory

Who Wants This?

First, this must be compared to Higher Education, as that gives you better pump rates for , Seeker's primary strength, and is a Permanent. If you take this, it's for the boosts.

So who wants this? Let's glance at the list:

But what about...Roland Banks! Sure...if he had any money. Maybe if you went with a clue-intensive Roland build with Dr. Milan and Scientific Theory. I think his Replacement cards from The Dirge of Reason would fit nicely into this deck. But Roland also gets by in low player counts by just picking up clues through his ability + cheats like Art Student and Working a Hunch.

The last thing I can think of is to use this in scenarios that want you to make checks for things other than clues - Where Doom Awaits and The Last King come to mind.

Overall, this card's time has not yet come. I expect we'll get a gator that has some fighting chops, and this will be a great include in that gator's deck.

PureFlight · 783
Acidic Ichor is a consideration here. Hitting with Acidic Ichor on Expert can be tricky (6 Combat is a great start, but not enough), and the card is rewarding enough that you might be willing to run other cards to support it. That said, I agree, this card doesn't have much appeal for most Seekers. — CaiusDrewart · 3198
It is also alright in a weird Carolyn build. But yeah, it is probably waiting for the Seeker fighter type. — Myriad · 1226
And Joe Diamond arrived. — Azriel · 1
Olive McBride

Olive Mcbride is a half-decent asset. Her shtick has been mathed into oblivion by better smart guys then I so I wanna add my practical 2-cents to the mix.

A note on the math: Numerical statistics aside, Olive guarantees that you cannot draw a particular token when you don't want to. This means that She's actually great when you're beating the test by +5 or +6 anyway to account for every token in the bag. Think of it this way: The worst token in the bag is , if you're putting lots of power into a test to get to +5/+6 then you can use her to ensure that the doesn't ruin your big swing, you'dd need truly awful luck to pull something like a -4, -5 and an in a single Olly trigger, heck you can even spend extra to account for this particular situation. In short, Olive McBride is good when you do really big skill checks.

Olly is however obviously bad outside her buddy-buddy investigators, namely Jimmy and Mateo. Generally though she isn't all that good for them, Jim's ability does good work even when she's not around and no campaign has enough skulls in the bag to warrant madly pulling tokens out for the fun of it. I'm a bigger fan of her for Father Mateo since she greatly increases the rate at which the shows up and that is good for us, in a pinch you can dig for the too for his 1/scenario ability. For Mateo especially she's good since you can trigger her on the occasional , or treachery that you don't think you're likely to succeed on, either you fail the test anyway or draw an for great profit.

My biggest negative realization about Olive McBride, and the reason I wanted to try her in the first place, is that I figured that she'dd increase my success chance at +-0 with Jim or Mateo, the fact is that she does'nt, all too often i'dd try at +-0 and the first token I drew was just plain 0, only to be followed by some minuses, failing the test. Also, attempting tests with Olly as Mateo at -1 or less, hoping to beat the test with an , is a waste of time, this very much broke the card for me so I've stopped playing it for now.

Second note on the math: Olive McBride has a funny success curve, don't trigger her when you're +1 or +2 over the skill check. Personally I quit using her at +3 (too many 2x(-2)'s!). If you're Jim then +3 or higher is the ideal spot to trigger her to net increased success rate, Mateo should go for +4 before triggering her.

Final note. As a practical note. Olive does interact nicely with Counterspell, Defiance, Hypnotic Gaze, and other stuff that manipulates or interacts with the token bag, but the very very best card in this interaction is Recall the Future. Normally you use Recall the Future to name a token that you can then use Recall the Future to cover, say trying a test at +2 and naming the -3. With Olive McBride you can name the most common token in the bag and draw a bunch of tokens, your chances are now multiplied to find the +2 bonus and game the test ("Oh, I drew a 0, -3 and -4, but I named the 0 with both copies of Recall the Future so I beat the test!"). This tactic is then a good complement to Father Mateos ability and his ability to start with 2 copies of Recall the Future in his deck.

Tsuruki23 · 2578
Ritual Candles also help with the math as well. I think if you go all in with bag/token manipulation it can do well. — Bronze · 187
Another thing worth noting is that she works incredibly well specifically with Seal effects in Mateo. Who cares what the negative modifiers are as long as you draw one Elder Sign? The more you seal, the better your chances are of getting the Elder Sign as one of your three pulls. Generally as Mateo, Olive helps you the most at tests you're either well under or well over in succeeding (in the former case, you can get an Elder Sign and beat it anyway, in the latter case you protect against the Autofail). Tests that are reasonable (e.g. +2 on Standard) are bad for using Olive. — StyxTBeuford · 13050
Probably worth mentioning that Olive combos pretty well with Wither and Sixth Sense, at least higher level versions that give you a willpower boost — Zinjanthropus · 230
On Your Own

This card is very powerful, when added to the combo of Will to Survive, True Survivor and 2x Resourceful.

What the combo does: Play Will to Survive and commit 2x Resourceful on any test to recover True Survivor and Will to Survive. Next turn play True Survivor to recover 2x Resourceful and any other skill.

You can repeat this as often as you want until you run out of ressources, which happens pretty fast at a total cost of 7 (4 + 3). Enter On Your Own: It reduces the total cost to 3!

I've only seen one deck (my own) that could pull of the old combo, but with reduced costs nearly every survivor should be able to pull it off. Maybe not Wendy because her Abandoned and Alone weakness destroys many survivor discard pile recurring.

You can use any version of Emergency Cache and Take Heart to gain more ressources. I think testless actions are very strong as you potentially avoid many bad icons that might hurt you or add doom, so even taking the "gain 1 ressource" action can be a good idea to keep the combo going.

Django · 5163
Limit 1 per investigator, so you only get to drop the cost to 5. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
Actually, the Will to Survive/Resourcefull/True Survivor combo can and mostly will be played over the course of different turns. So you do reduce the cost of the combo by 4, wich is simply amazing. If it's worth giving up your ally slot, that's another question. — Vstene · 29
Also, If you really want to execute the combo in one turn, Pete can ready On Your Own with his ability. — ak45 · 469
I meant over 2 turns. Playing true survivor on the same as will is wasting 1 testless action. — Django · 5163
And maybe some day with more sealing effects the Chaos bag will be empty or contain only the elder sign? — Django · 5163
Sorry, previous comment was for the another card "Crystalline elder sign". — Django · 5163
Ah right, I somehow misread the combo description and thought you said 2x On Your Own in there somewhere. Doing it over two turns makes way more sense. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
This card is definitely a step in the direction of making the True Survivor/Will to Survive/Resourceful dream come true. But it still feels a little janky, no? There are so many cards you need to draw! — CaiusDrewart · 3198
I‘m still waiting for buried alive from mtg: search your deck for 3 cards and put them into discard pile. — Django · 5163
I guess Daredevil (0) could be a step toward this combo working, as it can reliably discard your entire deck (minus weaknesses). Wendy can actually do this combo quite well without On Your Own or Daredevil (0), but with Wendy's Amulet (to recur Will to Survive and True Survivor), and Hot Streak (2) to pay for the combo. You need to thin your deck heavily to do it, which 2x Lucky Cigarette Case (with Relic Hunter) can do decently well. I almost made it to Depth 9 in Standalone Yoth that way once. — Zinjanthropus · 230