Strange Solution

I'm shocked that the only review for this card is basically a joke.

Strange Solution is a fantastic card for Seekers, perhaps another example of how the designers seem to greatly favor this class of investigators. For the cost of a single test, which still draws you two cards, you gain the ability to upgrade the Strange Solution to a powerful asset that can answer any problem that exists in your team.

I'd like to also note that each of the upgraded Solutions can re-supplied with Emergency Cache (4), although that is a pretty heavy investment for Seekers, who have a LOT of options to spend their XP on.

The level of the identified solutions (4) does prevent any Investigators other than Seekers (and Monterey Jack, the Seeker in disguise) from taking this.

Judicator82 · 28
Yeah, many people in this community have started seeing Seekers as problematic and clearly too strong. This card is another example, even tho it came so early in the game, Strange Solution (4) Acidic Ichor should not exist in this game. When you desing the game where you win by getting clues, and stop — Blood&gore · 440
Continued : and stop the players from getting clues by throwing other stuff at them, it is okay. But if you give the main class that wins the game by doing what is needed tools to win the game in other ways like defeating enemies, best draw, best search etc. then you are creating a very unbalanced faction which clearly can do it all. Why then play the other class? — Blood&gore · 440
@Blood&gore for fun? But yeah, you're right. Seeker shouldn't have more powerful damage dealing cards than any other faction. — Nenananas · 271
@Nenananas It's a good thing that they don't have such cards, then. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
Yeah. Compare Cyclopean Hammer, available to both Mystics and Guardians: a mere 1 XP and 4 resources more for optional enemy-movement, a nice additional partial success window (say you have total Combat+Willpower 9, not hard for either class to reach - you would then have the same odds of dealing 3 damage as Acidic Ichor, only on a few token draws that would make the Ichor fail you still deal 2 damage), and, most importantly, *never running out of supplies*, which is absolutely vital in a large group and really nice for all but the fastest solo characters. — Thatwasademo · 58
There are far too many times when I've assumed "eh, I'll be fine wandering away from the dedicated fighter, I've got Acidic Ichor / Blood Rite / whatever other Seeker damage effects" and then the game has the nerve to deal me an enemy *two whole turns in a row* and I'm suddenly struggling — Thatwasademo · 58
Corpse Dweller

Could be trouble with that 5HP, or could be nothing if it's the first enemy drawn. For me, it was what prevented Zoey from taking a trauma when it spawned in the last round and discarded the ghoul with Smite the Wicked.

Signum · 14
Not quite nothing as it does gain surge. — Death by Chocolate · 1484
As a big time zoey player I can say reading that made me very happy. — Zerogrim · 296
Down the Rabbit Hole

Exile states "If exiling 1 or more cards would reduce your deck below your investigator's deck size, when purchasing cards between scenarios, you must purchase cards so that a legal deck size is maintained (when purchasing cards in this manner, you may purchase level 0 cards for 0 experience cost until a legal deck size is reached)."

But purchasing cards for 0 xp is still purchasing a new card, and thus has its cost increased to 1, right? So what if you have fewer xp than missing cards in your deck?

drensley · 5
If you don't have the XP, you definitely get the new level 0 cards for free. No way, the game lets you play with a deck below your investigator's deck size. The more interesting question is, if the ruling for "Exile" lets you purchase new cards for free, even if you would have the XP to spare. "When purchasing cards in this manner" might even overcome the general ability on DtRH, but I'm not sure about that and would not play that way until there is clarification. — Susumu · 382
You have to take Down the Rabbit Hole at deck creation, which means that if you have Exile cards you will have spent +1 XP each for the exile effects themselves. Getting the fill in the holes for free seems pretty reasonable, in that light. You're still paying more than you normally would for your respec. — OrionJA · 1
Not necessarily. A Test of Will, Leather Coat and Mr. Pawterson each have their (non-exile) level 0 version. — Susumu · 382
Dragon Pole

If your is 3 or 4, and you're considering Sign Magick, consider this instead. Dragon Pole grants an arcane slot with fewer restrictions, and also can whomp monsters without running out of charges or burning your hands.

But since the Dragon Pole largely obviates the need for a fight spell, it effectively opens up two arcane slots for two hand slots. Thus it's twice as efficient, for the same cost, as Sign Magick

All it costs is one extra hand slot.

MrWeasely · 42
You will still need the fight spells in later scenarios, when the enemies get toughter. If your willpower is 5, you get a base value of 8 on your Shrivelling (5), as you need later in any campaign. So "Dragon Pole" might be a decent weapon in a level 0 deck, but if you forgo the level 0 fight spells for it, purchasing the upgrades with AR (and possibly DtRH) get more expensive. I agree, level 0 "Sign Magick" is kind of meh, and "Dragon Pole" probably the better option, unless you want to go for the upgraded "Sign Magick" and have DtRH in your deck. — Susumu · 382
That's true. Cyclopean Hammer provides a good upgrade path along this line of thinking. — MrWeasely · 42
Handcuffs

Pretty fun tech card for Parallel Roland! He can accurately 'cuff enemies thanks to Directive - Due Diligence then proceed to drag them around the map like cans on a just married car. Keeping a waifu around provides great emotional support for Roland, since he can use Due Diligence again for a minimum of +4 Evade, +2 Investigate, and +2 Parley once per turn for the rest of the game. It also gives an incredible buff to Scene of the Crime, since it will now always rip 2 clues from whichever location you start your turn from (turn it into a fast action with Directive - Red Tape for extra fun).

Now, this combo typically costs 3 actions to pull off, since you need to Play Handcuffs, make the Evade check, then re-Engage the enemy. This is incredibly slow, but you can mitigate the issue somewhat by playing Ever Vigilant + Red Tape to play the Handcuffs as a fast action (provided you have not and will not be playing any other cards this turn). If, for whatever reason, you do not want to re-engage the enemy you can still use the aforementioned combo to effectively turn Handcuffs into a 1-Action kill, which helps out Parallel Roland a lot since he is locked out of some of the Guardians' best weapons.

Overall, 5/5 - would drag a snake man through the jungles of Mexico again

GoldPooka · 7
There’s also taunt and riot whistle to avoid the engage action — Django · 5164
Riot Whistle doesn't ignore the engage action. It gives you an extra action for engaging. it's an important distinction because it can still provoke AoOs from other enemies and count as an action taken for various situations (Pay Day, Take the Initiative, Scene of the Crime, etc.) — Death by Chocolate · 1484