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

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.

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.)

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.)

Out of various Dark Horse luxury upgrades, this sure is one.

To be fair, it's not a bad upgrade - a cost of 2 instead of 3 means that if you plan ahead with Madame Labranche, you can play this in one turn once you're able to keep Dark Horse flowing. In addition, the ability to ready the card when you fail means that you can commit cards or use other boosts to make a second attempt after you've spent your resources on the first one.

That being said, this doesn't particularly push the boosts or efficiency of Mariner's Compass beyond the baseline, nor does it gain anything which would push it to the (admittedly high) level of Fire Axe. This works fine as a luxury upgrade for the Dark Horse package, but it's still very much a luxury upgrade. If someone didn't want the level 0 version, I don't think this gives enough to make it worth taking in comparison.