Rod of Carnamagos

Rod of Carnamagos

This is completely nuts with parallel Jim Culver. The more I play with it, the more I think it's the best card in the set.

Beyond the synergy previous mention about using the player window for a Eye of Chaos, Armageddon, & Shroud of Shadows:

  • It can choose a non-elite enemy anywhere!

  • It's , so as long as there is an enemy, there is no reason not to use it.

  • It's easy to trigger & triggers often!

  • You choose the rot & they have amazing utility.

  • You can apply multiple rots with a single use.

  • Abyssal Rot - MVP. Removes the main threat of most enemies. Choose wisely, there is only one.

  • Virescent Rot - locks down hunters, patrollers, & elusive enemies often neutralizing them.

  • Scarlet Rot - Helps rid monsters that spawn far away, are aloof, or ones with doom on them.

  • Putrescent Rot - Helps other Investigators with monsters engaged on them.

  • Aember Rot - Least used, but free resources! Pair with scarlet rot.

Two must includes are Favor of the Moon & Dawn Star! Favor can get a guaranteed trigger & dawn star can kill additional monsters when swarmed.

My personal best is 17 damage in a single attack, killing 3 enemies.

  • Fight with Armageddon.
  • use Rod of Carnamagos during skill test (revealed 2 curses)
  • used both Favor of the Moon to reveal 2 more curses + 1 curse pulled from the chaos bag after.
  • Spend both Dawn Star to negate the modifiers & deal +5 damage each.
  • 17 damage = 7 Armageddon + 5 per Dawn star + 2 rots!
Calprinicus · 6105
I think, Dawn Star would not work with the tokens revealed by the Rod. It does not count the curse tokens revealed during the test, it counts the ones, where it ignores their modifier. The tokens from the Rod are revealed, so they count for Armageddon and other cards, that care about tokens being revealed, but they have no modifier, and hence imho, their modifier can't be ignored by "Dawn Star". — Susumu · 371
Favor of the Moon is unique — OrionAnderson · 79
I second both Susumu (rod tokens dont trigger Dawn Star) and OrionAnderson (Favor of the Moon is unique) but its still a 10 damage action. Nice ! — drfrigof · 1

The Beyond

The Beyond

EDIT: This original review contained misinformation about the spirits you could attach to The Beyond. After reaching out to FFG, I have added some of their rulings about the card.

Official rules response from FFG:

  • Q: Do Jim Culver's spirits attached to The Beyond count towards ”synergy” traited cards like Close the Circle?
  • A: Yes; Jim controls The Beyond and any spirits attached to it, so they count for Synergy cards such as Close the Circle.
    • Alex Werner, FFG Game Rules Specialist
Calprinicus · 6105
You seem to have missed that the Spirit deck requires 10 *different* allies. — Eudaimonea · 5

Helping Hand

Helping Hand

While the name suggests otherwise, I find it hard to help others when only being able to commit either this card or another, not both. I think they should have added an exception for the "commit one card to other investigator's skill tests" rule here, because this one doesn't do anything by itself.

Of course, you can commit it to your own tests to have more control over it, or instead use existing combos (which there are some, like Anything You Can Do, Better, etc.), but personally I am still disappointed not being able to pair Helping Hand with another skill as a support-committer.

AlderSign · 309
I think the designers learned a lesson from Double Or Nothing and try to keep the ceiling pretty low for level 0 skill cards. I can't think of anything in the current card pool that would break if you could commit a second skill card with this, but it might have implications for future card design. The card pool already has a couple of shotguns and we're seeing more scenario effects that care about how much you over succeed. It's probably good future proofing to limit level 0 cards that can potentially blow out a skill test. — Pseudo Nymh · 61

Bianca "Die Katz"

Bianca "Die Katz"

About The British Bulldog: Bianca is not an enemy. Don't build your entire strategy on failing parley tests on Bianca to play the bulldog, because that does not work. Writing this here because I got caught into "wow here are 2 cards released in the same cycle with an obvious combo between them but actually no.)

adriendittrick · 107
Actually, I build my deck around this 'Enemy-Bianca' thing but I didn't focus around playing British Bulldog even I included it in my deck. — Laika_Young · 1
I'm not following this. The card clearly says 'Enemy' in bold print. — tasman · 1
I think what's meant is that you can't play the Bulldog by failing the parley test on Ally-Bianca (which I overlooked as well). Once she's transformed into Enemy-Bianca, THEN if you fail any Parley tests you can play the Bulldog. Sadly, Enemy-Bianca doesn't come with a built-in failable test the way Ally-Bianca does. — HanoverFist · 739

British Bull Dog

British Bull Dog

About Bianca Die Katz: she is not your enemy. Don't build your entire strategy on failing parley tests on Bianca to play the bulldog, because that does not work. Writing this here because I got caught into "wow here are 2 cards released in the same cycle with an obvious combo between them but actually no.)

adriendittrick · 107