This card is still broken if combo with the Research Notes , even after applying the taboo. The taboo on Research Notes says "max 3 evidence spent per round". However, it's not clear how this card works when it comes "max XXX spent". One can argue that there's no maximum limitation if using "Knowledge is power", as it ignore the cost and actually spend nothing. In this case, using this card on Research Notes can still collect around 10 clues by committing cards, ignoring the shroud value and using 0 action.

I think it's more reasonable if there's clear FAQ about how this card works when the chosen Tome or Spell has a "max" limition. Or just change the taboo on Research Notes to "max 3 clues collected per round in this way".

This card looks bonkers to me. It is not broken because there are a lot of fast events and you still have to pay them, but if you use a heavy event deck this gains you a LOT of actions during a scenario. And this is not restricted to events, making this even crazier to me. Of course, any except Vincent Lee can use this card and get some reward from it if you run a big hand deck.

I haven't seen many Joe decks with this card and I don't really get it. Joe Diamond may be the prime user of this card since he can use Occult Lexicon and Hallowed Mirror with this while running a big hand deck thanks to all the toys the provides. This assets provide 6 good events, and playing them fast during a game is a really powerful option. Joe also wants to fast some Insight events you may want in your Hunch deck like Preposterous Sketches, Extensive Research, Seeking Answers, No Stone Unturned, Glimpse the Unthinkable, Scene of the Crime, the cursed ones and even his weakness.

Hell, you can even use Guidance without losing any action to fuel up other investigators to dry the locations out of clues easily or to destroy a boss with 4 actions and +1 buff to all their stats. In bigger player counts, you can fast Map the Area and Breach the Door to support everyone in a high shroud location.

Harvey is the obvious investigator to run this. It got released in his Investigator Deck and he has the means to get a big hand reliably fast.

Daisy can also benefit from this since she has some strong events in her pool. She can fast Spectral Razor, Read the Signs, Parallel Fates, Delve Too Deep, Drawn to the Flame, Voice of Ra among others. She will gladly run Occult Lexicon too thanks to her totebag to enhance her killing potential with fast testless damage, just try to power up your damage using Gray's Anatomy with Daisy's ability. She may want to run 2 copies of Research Notes while fasting Bizarre Diagnosis and Captivating Discovery to enhance the "cluedropping" deck engine even further.

Shoutout to Monterey Jack. He has the level 0 pool and he can target Faustian Bargain, some big money do things events like Intel Report and Small Favor and events like Pilfer, Scout Ahead, Sneak By, Backstab, Eavesdrop and Cheap Shot. Monterey Jack has a benefit over all the mentioned investigators: he will usually have the money to play all this toys because of his and his card pool.

The real downside of this card is that it is EXP expensive. 8 exp for 2 copies is a lot, and you may want to use some spell slots in other cards as a investigator. Even though, in the proper deck, Farsight pay you a ton of actions. It requires to build your deck around it, so maybe during a campaign it can be harder to pull of since your level 0 deck has to to its work properly, but for standalone scenarios this is a fun card to try out.

Surprising mechanic changes when revealed on Joe Diamond's Hunch Deck, despite not getting any play discount. The effect allow using when anyone in your team discovered the last clue, yet cards on hand are closed information so no one knows you have Crack the Case until you happenened to be standing there and witness a job being done.

Hunch Deck turns it into open information and now it is visibly a clue bounty to everyone on the table, and we can even discuss exact amount of resources to share since Hunch is revealed at start of Investigation Phase but before anyone takes turn. Those who want some of the bounty but can't work on clues may play first and wait at the location to pick the last clue. I like the table talk that results from putting it in the Hunch Deck.

Similar effect when having Cryptic Research on hunch because it is similarly Fast, 0 cost, and with teamplay effect. The card being visible "virtually" adding itself to everyone's hand as long as they are at the same location. Now everyone can hedge their risk better thinking about the possible 3 card draws while looking at what they have now. (But it must be played in Joe's turn, so if they want 3 more cards to take the tests / setup they can ask Joe to go first and give 3 cards.)

Just a heads up that makes this guy slightly less scary. If the Sinister Aspirant performs his normal, enemy phase attack, he won't get his end-of-enemy phase doom. That's because enemies exhaust after attacking during the enemy phase. Players often forget that rule because those same enemies ready immediately after in the upkeep phase, but in this case it matters.

This card is clearly a dead draw, as well as unhelpful hand clutter, but is is also an opening-hand killer, like The Tower • XVI? The Tower explicitly says that it has to stay in your opening hand:

"If The Tower • XVI is drawn in your opening hand during setup (before or after taking a mulligan), you cannot replace it. It must stay in your opening hand."

This direction overrides the general rule that you discard and replace weaknesses during the drawing of the opening hand without resolving them. But Foundation Intel is trickier. It just says flatly that it can't leave your hand. Is that text ever "resolved" (and thus ignorable according to the opening hand rule), or does is it just there? After all, it isn't part of a revelation or forced ability.

Overall, my best reading is that you CAN discard this card during opening hand draw. There's plenty of space on it for more text, so if the designers meant it to apply to that step, they could have easily said so. And since we have the example of the Tower as a card that must stay in your hand during opening hand draw, it seems likely (though hardly clear) that this card, which lacks the specialized text, also lacks the ability.