The King in Yellow

I did the entire Dunwich cycle with Minh Thi Phan. In eight scenarios, I drew this weakness nine times.

This is my favorite weakness in the game to date, as an amazing combination of theme and mechanics. It interacts beautifully with Minh Thi Phan's flow.

Minh Thi Phan is practically powered by card-draws. Literally any competitive deck of hers will have two copies of Guts and Perception, and probably Manual Dexterity and Overpower as well - to say nothing Resourceful, upgraded Lucky! and Cryptic Research once she's powered up a bit, and of course her very own Analytical Mind.

Two consequences ensue:

  • drawing lots of cards is what makes her pick up The King in Yellow; and
  • drawing lots of cards is what allows her to discard The King in Yellow.

Which is beautiful, because it means the King in Yellow is the reason Minh Thi Phan needs a lot of card-draw, but the high card-draw also means she's nearly guaranteed to draw it every scenario.

This means that The King has similar impact to other high-octane unique weaknesses like Rex's Curse, but where the Curse places a lot of tedious small roadblocks in your way, The King places one interesting giant roadblock. Really, it's like getting your own private miniboss to fight.

The other interesting thing about this is that you're obviously better off dispatching the King while also tackling a skill-test that somehow warrants six points of commitment. Upgraded Deduction is the most obvious candidate, but whatever you do you just know it's going to be impressive. Get ready to shout "ZHU LI! DO THE THING!"

(My alternative theory is that Min Thi Phan is secretly Batman and she's doing paranormal investigation to relax.)

That's assuming you don't autofail, of course, which can be so disastrous that it's practically a drinking story waiting to happen.

Obviously, this weakness is why Minh Thi Phan must have two copies of Unexpected Courage and Inquiring Mind, because how else is she supposed to reliably have six symbols to commit to a single skill-test? Rise to the Occasion is a dodgier proposition, because 6-difficulty Willpower and Intelligence tests are rare, and 4-difficulty Combat and Agility tests tend to involve doing things she should generally avoid, Batman-ness notwithstanding.

(For extra-fun thematically-appropriate headaches, get Drawing the Sign as your basic weakness, like I did! Hastur-obsessed much, Thi?)

sfarmstrong · 272
Nice review! I think that Archaic Glyphs: Guiding Stones is interesting card countering this weakness's impact since that icon overload is used to get a ton of clues. — KptMarchewa · 1
You can get 6 icons with inquiring mind, unexpected courage and her ability. This can easily make you forget you must commit at least 3 cards when the king is out. — Django · 5164
What do you think about Stroke of Luck, for guaranteeing success on that "big test"? She can recur the Strokes with Resourceful too. — duke_loves_biscuits · 1285
@duke_loves_biscuits doesn’t beat the auto-fail — Death by Chocolate · 1484
@Django it doesn't work - that book doesn't let to commit 2 cards for any test as long as it is in play, even for that "big test". — KptMarchewa · 1
Do wild skill icons match with any of the other four? The card text is "six matching". — KingsGambit · 15
@KingsGambit in case you're still wondering, yes <span class="icon-wild"></span> cards count toward the total. This is item 1.9 in the FAQ, latest version (V15) is here: https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/3a/f1/3af12e4b-68f2-4e63-981b-39ab5069d2dd/ahc_faq_v15.pdf — hackesackman · 72
Apparently comments don't use the same syntax as everywhere else, sorry about ^^that :) — hackesackman · 72
I'm not sure if they match or not. The How to Play guide says that "An eligible card bears one or more icons matching the skill type of the test being performed. A wild icon (?) matches all skill types." However, the Skill Test Timing items in the Commit step says "Each other investigator at the same location as the investigator performing the skill test may commit one card with an appropriate skill icon to this test. An appropriate skill icon is either one that matches the skill being tested, or a wild icon. The investigator performing this test gets +1 to his or her skill value during this test for each appropriate skill icon that is committed to this test." I could see it going either way. — Ruduen · 1021
Ah, didn't notice the above with the odd formatting. Yep, wilds can be used! — Ruduen · 1021
<script>alert("Hello! I am an alert box!!");</script> — plewis · 1
Where do you play this card, in your threat area (description) or in a hand space (icon)? — feripekun · 1
It uses a hand slot. You would have to discard something of you already had both hands filled. — flooze · 8
I have had trouble parsing wilds in the past. Luckily while playing in the marvel game at gencon, I got confirmation straight from the lead devs mouth to my ears (and it translates to Arkham) - A wild "becomes" what you commit it to. Basically the '?" ceases to exist when you commit it. So if you commit a "?" to a fist, it IS a fist. — Shufflefield · 1
Leo De Luca

I'm getting the growing sense that the Louisiana Lion is held in far higher esteem than he deserves. Even in my Jenny Barnes deck, he never quite managed to carry his own tremendous weight. In my "Skids" O'Toole and Finn Edwards decks, he might as well have been a blank card for all the good he did.

First of all, a fourth action will not make an investigator 33% more effective - not even close. Investigators run on cards and resources, and any kind of "once per round" economy the investigator has (including the usual card and resource during upkeep) will be spread much more thinly over four actions rather than three - fewer resources to pump into Hard Knocks, fewer skill cards to commit to tests, and fewer charges of Flashlight, compared to the number of actions you have in which to use them. You could always use the extra action to draw a card or gain a resource, but if all you want is some drip economy, why not just run Lone Wolf or Pickpocketing, which pay for themselves much more readily?

Second, unlike most of the other pricey allies, Leo doesn't give any skill bonuses - you'll be taking more actions, but you'll waste a lot more actions on failed skill tests. For example, Dr. Milan Christopher's +1 makes the actions you have that much more efficient, and he's cheaper to put into play and serves as an (admittedly slow-to-wind-up) economic engine. See also Peter Sylvestre, Cat Burglar, and of course Beat Cop.

Third, by occupying the ally slot, he prevents you from playing those other aforementioned allies.

Fourth, he's crazy-expensive, which makes him awkward to play in most situations:

  • Getting him out early costs one more than your entire starting resource pool. Unless you're lucky enough to draw him alongside Hot Streak, this is a crippling opportunity-cost; he's going to be your only significant asset for the first few rounds.

  • Getting him out midgame has a similar (but more manageable) opportunity cost, but he takes so many rounds to pay for himself that he may just barely break even by the end of the scenario, and in the meantime you've deprived yourself of the tools that might have rescued you from a dire situation if you had run a different card and not sunk a small fortune.

  • Getting him out in the late-game is usually a waste. If you only have a few rounds left, you should be able to spend six resources on something more worthwhile than two or three more actions spread over the remainder of the scenario.

And all of that assumes that you aren't forced to discard Leo early because of an Encounter card, which could be a serious possibility depending on the scenario, especially if he's your only asset in play at the time.

If anything, his relative economy actually gets worse for high-XP investigators. In the Rogue class, Streetwise is a fantastic way to pump skill tests, and it plays better with high-efficiency limited-use cards like Lupara, Deduction, and of course Double or Nothing, not to mention the highly efficient pumped "Watch this!". I'd much rather move once and take two amazing actions than move once and take three mediocre ones.

Therefore, Leo is at his best when paired with cards that can turn actions back into resources (or at least cards), so he can recoup his costs faster. Alchemical Transmutation is a strong combination (provided you have the for it), and Decorated Skull and Burglary are at least situationally useful.

I think the basic principle in play here is that extra actions are generally weaker than optimized actions, and those are more easily achieved with other cards.

sfarmstrong · 272
I never had a lot of success with leo in faction. But I never had a lot of success with this faction anyway. Anything they do, another faction do it better. And since we always play at 4 players, another player will do it better. However, it works reasonnably well with Wendy (particularly because of Will to Survive). — MoiMagnus · 63
And that's also one of the best target for Flare. (Assuming you are playing a Wendy-Charisma) — MoiMagnus · 63
He's definitely a good target for Flare, but I'd argue that, even then, I'd rather pull a Beat Cop, Milan Christopher, or even a Cat Burglar with it. — sfarmstrong · 272
Certainly if you are only succeeding with resource or skill boosts, then he doesn’t seem to add as much value, but if you already have high enough stats to succeed raw, an extra action is very powerful. At worst, yes, he’s just a card or resource. In the middle, he’s an extra move. But in any case, his bonus is FLEXIBLE, which is a huge boon. And his 2/2 stats aren’t irrelevant. Milan and Beat Cop 2 are both very strong allies as well. — Death by Chocolate · 1484
Don't get me wrong - an extra action is not nothing, and the flexibility is absolutely useful. It's just that it's rarely worth the ally slot plus six (or five) resources. The problem with the "you already have high enough stats" analysis is that that only helps you in situations where you're at an advantage to begin with (which, by the way, you're less likely to be in if your ally slot isn't giving you a skill bonus). The Rogue class in particular has more efficient ways to capitalize on that, such as upgraded Switchblade, Double or Nothing, or "Watch This!" — sfarmstrong · 272
For pure solo, Leo makes huge difference. Almost every scenario (so far) is a race against a kind of a doom clock and he will put you ahead of the pressure a bit. When there is no one else but you, you can hardly afford to waste more then few turns.. and having almost 1/3 more actions generally translates to having the act advanced far before the agenda clocks in - and thus better chances of win (whatever it means for you at the moment). — XehutL · 48
(err than..) — XehutL · 48
@XehutL, I'm not convinced that's the case, for basically the reasons that I set out above - he MIGHT be decent in a vacuum, but once you factor in the opportunity costs he usually slows down investigators slightly more than he speeds them up. If I'm wrong about that in solo, though, I'd be interested to see a review from you focusing on solo play. — sfarmstrong · 272
You said it yourself, rogues are efficient in gathering ressources. So, they can esily sacrifice their starting ressource pool (even their whole first turn) to create a big setup. Ressources will flow enough for you to tackle the chaos bag in normal. That being said, you can manage to have both efficiency AND number of action. I've played rogues a lot in both 1, 2 and 3 players and I never thought Leo being a bad card. — Palefang · 72
I think its a good thesis. @sfarmstrong isn — duke_loves_biscuits · 1285
I think it's a good thesis. sfarmstrong isn't saying Leo is bad, just that he isn't necessarily the best card in the game as others think he might, and if you only have 1 ally slot, you should consider the other "big allies" (Pete, Milan, Cop, Cat) as well, before reaching for the Leo automatically. I certainly prefer Milan in Finn, assuming I'm not playing with a seeker who calls baggsy. — duke_loves_biscuits · 1285
I wholeheartedly agree. I was actually thinking of writing a review saying that Leo was an overrated card, but you made my point for me. Now, I think Leo can be fine in the right setup, but a few strong actions are much better than a lot of weak actions, and with the wrong investigator Leo will be tilting you towards the latter. So he is not nearly the auto-include for Rogues that some say he is. I would almost always prefer Milan in Finn or Arcane Initiate in Sefina, for example. He can be good, certainly, but especially on higher difficulties, he isn't always good. — CaiusDrewart · 3200
I like the argument that you're potentially missing cards and resources. This comes from the fact that you're gaining actions, not rounds (which for example doom token removal gives you). You're not including the other important result of this link though! You're also not drawing encounter cards which are a huge drain on the same aforementioned resources. I just did 4 runs on the first scenario of Carcosa with solo Jim. The first three where bad. Then I included Leo and everything changed. — Nils · 1
The Codex of Ages

I think this card is pretty useful. Now, in multiplayer, taking away the Elder Sign from the group to give Father Mateo +1 Willpower is not the best idea. If Father Mateo is taking a lot of Will tests, it actually isn't that bad of an exchange in a 2-player game; but at higher player counts it does start to hurt the group. More importantly, removing the Elder Sign takes away fun from other investigators and will quickly make you the least popular player on the table. I don't recommend it!

But this card is still fine as a kind of janky Seal of the Elder Sign. Just wait until you need to Shrivelling V a high-fight enemy or Rite of Seeking IV a high-shroud location, or attempt some other similarly high-reward, high-difficulty test, plop down The Codex of Ages, and use it right away. The 1-action, 1-card, 2-resource cost of the The Codex of Ages is easily justified by the guaranteed success on a critical test, and of course Father Mateo's Elder Sign effect will make back some of that anyway. It's a strong play, and I wouldn't use The Codex of Ages for its icons unless I was desperate.

Obviously nice with a teammate's Double or Nothing for e.g. six clues from Rite of Seeking IV. That's a power move.

In solo I would think +1 Willpower would ordinarily be superior to having the Elder Sign in the bag, even considering how useful Father Mateo's Elder Sign is. So you probably want to just play the Codex in advance there, if you have time. This will also make it easier to use the Codex against enemies, something that would otherwise be tricky in solo (but less so in multiplayer).

CaiusDrewart · 3200
Too bad the Father can't play scavenging to reassmble the ashes, after burning his book. — Django · 5164
I've always called it like a cop "I'm going to throw the book at him!". In some cases, I was assuming he literally throws the book at the monster. — duke_loves_biscuits · 1285
@Django: Yah, Scavenging with this and Grotesque Statue would be pretty sick for Mateo. Oh well. — CaiusDrewart · 3200
And now, it's time to figure out whether or not the potential combo is worth throwing in Versatile for that single copy of Scavenging. — Ruduen · 1021
I heard somewhere that if the Serpents of Yig show up then they take the Elder Sign from this card but this seems incorrect to me. Serpents of Yig do not Seal anything; they have a Revelation to "search the chaos bag" for the Elder Sign. Now is said Elder Sign is on the Codex, I'm afraid the Serpent is s*** out of luck, isn't he? I also think that since the Codex says "seal" and not "search", that the Codex can seal the Elder Sign FROM the Serpents of Yig should they have if. — LaRoix · 1646
@LaRoix neither can steal from each other. Searching the bag is part of the Seal keyword. From the rules, "As an additional cost for a card with the seal keyword to enter play, its controller must search the chaos bag for the specified chaos token and place it on top of the card, thereby sealing it. " — Death by Chocolate · 1484
The main difference between the two is that since The Codex has the Seal keyword, you HAVE to be able to seal as part of the cost of the card, so you can't play it AT ALL if the elder sign isn't in the bag. The Serpants, however can enter regardless and might just whiff sealing the token if it isn't in the bag. — Death by Chocolate · 1484
Newspaper

This is a great card in the core campaign, especially for "The Midnight Masks", but its even better in "Return to the Night of the Zealot", as its still amazing in "Return to The Midnight Masks", but now pretty good for "Return to The Devourer Below" also, as the update has refreshed the need for intellect-based-investigation.

It's particularly great for Pete (as it works with Duke) and Minh, both of whom want to be searching anyway. Wendy's probably down with it too.

Decorated Skull

This card scales extremely favorably in 4-player games. If you've glossed over the Skull in 2-player (the most common format), but are invited to a 4-player, then do give it another look.

It sadly does clash with the Rosary for Akachi and Sefina, but Ursula, Leo, Wendy, or any of the other Rogues can make good use of it it in a 4-player game. I'm not sure I'd go as far as spending a splash-card for Pete, Rex, etc though.

Clashes with Wendy's Amulet, so I might not rush at that for her. — AndyB · 956
It also seems decent even in two-player for Zoe (who kills things all the time and doesn't have many other economy cards) or Finn (who kills things often enough, and doesn't have access to any must-run accessories at the outset). — sfarmstrong · 272