Spectral Razor is great and provides exciting flexibility for Mystics who want to handle combat but don't want to stack up charge-based assets. My favorite experience so far has been running a single copy in Father Mateo as a tidy little insurance policy for when the Serpents of Yig eventually show up. And I built a Patrice Hathaway deck for a friend that included two copies of the whole cycle (this + Read the Signs & Ethereal Form).

There two major rules points that are important to playing this card correctly, and which sent me frantically googling the first time my group tried to resolve one.

First: the consequences of "add your value." As other reviewers highlight, Spectral Razor is different from many previous cards because it adds rather than replaces the base skill being tested. The most obvious effect is that you're able to get big fight values very easily -- adding and can get you to totals of 6, 7, or 8 very often. But it also changes how you can further boost that skill value. Specifically, you can't boost this attack with pips on committed cards (like Guts), because according to the) rules for skill checks, players can only commit "cards with an appropriate skill icon" which are "[ones] one that matches the skill being tested, or a wild icon," and doesn't match Fights. However, you can boost your with many actions like those on Arcane Studies. The timing) rules of skill checks give windows before and after committing cards in step ST.2, and the final value isn't calculated until ST.5, when you "apply all active modifiers" to the base skill...that's when you add your . And, as the FAQ to Lockpicks makes clear, there's nothing stopping you from boosting a skill other than the one technically being tested.

Second: interaction with Aloof. There seems to be significant disagreement about this in previous reviews, but as I read it, Spectral Razor can be used to attack and engage an unengaged Aloof enemy. The difference comes down to the difference between Fight, which is an Action Designator, and "attack" which describes a mechanical operation that is a part of the Fight Action, but can also be triggered in other ways (for instance, Enemies "attack" investigators without taking Fight Actions). In the rules) for Fight, it states: "An investigator may fight any enemy at his or her location..." and it is the specific) rules for Aloof that intercede: "An investigator cannot attack an aloof enemy while that enemy is not engaged with an investigator." The difference in wording between "fight" and "attack" in these two lines implies that one can trigger a Fight Action against an unengaged Aloof, but simply couldn't resolve the attack portion of the Fight Action. This is where Spectral Razor's wording comes into play, allowing the Fight Action to start and then engaging the enemy in question "immediately before" the rules would prevent the actual attack.

Rules questions aside, this card has over-performed for me, and is a great option for asset-averse builds!

The totem gets better with any upgrade of Dream Diary, as it gives the equivalent of Unexpected Courage or better for free each turn. This fixes seekers (who are not minh) problem that they don't have cards to commit for the totem every turn.

Combining that with Dream-Enhancing Serum means you can hold on the first copy of other cards for longer, having a bigger chance of triggering the serums reaction. The totems draw effect also makes it more likely to trigger the serums draw.

In total these assets are pretty expansive ressource wise. So you should also facter in some economy cards like Emergency Cache, Crack the Case or Astounding Revelation (if you have search effects).

I love this card.

At first I figured I would just play it for the boots. But then, while playing a game, swarmed by monsters, some with really high agility, I was like, "man! I am screwed!"

And then, as if by fate and chance, I discover a Resign card on the board. The very goal to the game. And then you realize just how amazing this card is in a pinch. It costs nothing and you don't have to pull a coin. You just get out! That's an alive and fine investigator.

Wanna do some last minute clean-up, take an extra risk? This card let's you do that. You can spend your turn trying to milk XP or just try crazy stuff, and then get outta dodge.

10/10. Love this card. I would run 1 and just hope I can draw it when the situation calls for it.

While this card is too inefficient to consider in most circumstances, it shines when you are trying to nurse a traumatized investigator through multiple campaigns. I currently use this card to manage a Mark Harrigan deck with four mental and physical trauma. In a three-player game, you can usually spend a turn healing after this card hits the table. When used as part of a broader horror/damage mitigation strategy (i.e. Elder Sign Amulet, True Grit, etc.) it can be quite effective for scarred investigators hoping to save the world one last time.

I’m shocked no one has mentioned one of the most obvious upsides of this card: you use the shroud of your current location rather than the one you’re pulling from! This is great for clueless connecting locations, or at least snatching the last clue from a high-shroud location. It may also, rarely, save you a move action If you’re getting the last one.

Still far from an auto pick due to the fact that it’s an event, so its advantage is fleeting, but not a bad filler card at all.