Card Reviews · ArkhamDB

Guiding Spirit

Wonderful card for certain investigators, namely those with decent investigative power and innate resilience.

Top of the list:

Wendy Adams with her high , and ability.

"Ashcan" Pete with his high and ready made soak from Duke.

Minh Thi Phan with great and high enough to really benefit.

Take note that Guiding Spirit only exiles if defeated, I.E killed. If you play over it's ally slot to discard it (for example: your other copy of Guiding Spirit) or it gets discarded by a mythos card, it will not be exiled. High willpower and secondary soaks (Lieutenant Pawterson and Peter Sylvestre ) will basically make it so that your spirits will never go away.

8/7/19

Tsuruki23 · 2581

It's also non-unique, so you can stack them for a double boost and spread out any horror between them. Minh probably gets the best use out of this card, since she begins with a higher baseline stat and is likely to be doing way more investigating than any of the survivors. — Sassenach · 180 8/7/19

I'm gonna agree that this fits best with Minh. No one else with access to Survivor 1 cards can protect it as well and take advantage of the extra intellect. Pete is a close second. — StyxTBeuford · 13051 8/8/19

Good cathc, ill add Minh — Tsuruki23 · 2581 8/8/19

While I do think it probably achieves its greatest potential in Minh or Wendy, I actually liked this a lot as a backup horror sink for Rita (until I could find Peter). That was a solo run, so the +int was actually quite helpful (in combination with Flashlight, and/or to be able to LWIF on slightly higher shroud locations). — Zinjanthropus · 231 6/4/20

[Tommy Muldoon](/card/06001) loves the Spirit too, as he is pointing him to some treasure. +2 net ressources when the spirit dies, a nice effect when he is around and then he keeps coming back because of Tommies ability. Solid ally. — jcdenton · 10 10/13/20

Tommy cannot shuffle Guiding Spirit back into his deck because it would be exiled — suika · 9506 4/14/21

Occult Lexicon

I think it’s worth mentioning that this (along with Hallowed Mirror) are Occult cards, meaning they can be taken by your favorite shaman and mine, Akachi Onyele! Blood-Rite is pretty versatile, the full suite netting you 6 cards over 4 actions (if you value such strict mathematical breakdowns) and can let you pitch cards you don’t need for resources that you probably do and some damage pings to boot.

Not saying it’s an automatic include or anything, but I think it’s got some good applications in her deck.

8/6/19

Nerindil · 5

I think running Lexicon with Akachi is a pretty good idea! She tends to be dependent on drawing key assests and has a very powerful signature card -- Blood Rite helps you find them while potentially helping you pay for them. Additionally, Arcane Initiate can draw Blood Rite, and Akachi probably doesn't mind using a hand slot for the Lexicon. — Spritz · 69 8/7/19

On the other hand -- having given it more thought -- spending an action to play the Lexicon so that you can spend actions to play Blood Rite so that you can spend actions playing spell assets so that you can finally be useful may not be the best plan. On the other OTHER hand, if you are reliably beating up enemies testlessly while doing the above it looks a lot better, it's just expensive. — Spritz · 69 8/7/19

Yeah, using Blood Rite for card draw is not super great since it draws two cards - one of which you could have drawn instead of it and the other of which you could have drawn with the action used to cast Blood Rite. It is still valuable for its flexibility and testless damage. (And it does add more targets for Arcane Initiate.) — Death by Chocolate · 1484 8/7/19

I played this card with Carolyn, but i think it's too slow and blocks one handslot that could hold a weapon (meatcleaver in her case). It also costs 3 actions to draw the Lexicon and the 2 rites that are shuffled into your deck... — Django · 5164 8/7/19

I published a Minh deck a while back which was built around this card. She can take Research Librarian to tutor for it and Scavenging to fetch it back when it leaves play. combo that with Mag Glass(1) which can be used to bump it from hand at will and it means that you can continually recycle the Blood Rites without needing to draw them from your deck (although Minh has draw for days in any case) — Sassenach · 180 8/7/19

You don’t need to draw them with that combo, but having to spend another action and two resources seems a much steeper price - especially for Minh. — Death by Chocolate · 1484 8/9/19

Sure, you wouldn't want to do that if you don't have to, but it does mean that you're not stuck with having to draw through the deck and allows for you to play Blood Rite multiple times in a scenario — Sassenach · 180 8/9/19

that sounds like it gets a lot better with Scavenging (2) if i understand you correctly — Zinjanthropus · 231 6/4/20

Arcane Research

Man, this might be my favorite Mystic card. I expect it to get Taboo'd at some point, maybe with that replacement ruling reverted back to the original, because an essentially free 14 XP (because you always take two) is just too easy to take in this game. Even Agnes should consider it despite the anti synergy with her ability- her Mystic/Survivor card pool gives her decent access to horror soak, heal, and prevention (you can always try and infinitely recur St. Hubert's Key with Scavenging for example) which makes the 2 horror she starts with not too big of a problem. But let's check in now and see what spells we can upgrade to as of The Circle Undone wrapping up:

Blinding Light Blinding Light 2 for 0 XP

Clarity of Mind Clarity of Mind 3 for 1 XP

Deny Existence Deny Existence 5 for 3 XP

Mind Wipe 1 Mind Wipe 3 for 1 initial XP

Mists of R'lyeh Mists of R'lyeh 4 for 2 XP

Rite of Seeking Rite of Seeking 2 Rite of Seeking 4 for 0 XP

Scrying Scrying 3 for 1 XP

Shrivelling Shrivelling 3 Shrivelling 5 for 1 XP

Sixth Sense Sixth Sense 4 for 2 XP

Ward of Protection Ward of Protection 2 Ward of Protection 5 for 1 XP

Wither Wither 4 for 2 XP

Also in Return to Carcosa we're getting a lower level Suggestion, so look out for that Sefina Rousseau and Akachi Onyele.

So which of these upgrades do you shoot for? Remember that you only get the benefit on the first spell you buy, so a chain of three cards like Shrivelling to Shrivelling 5 is going to take 4 scenarios to reach if you want the full discount. In other words you'll get the benefit 7 times in a standard campaign (though side stories will help you out quite a bit). There's a few up there that stand out to me:

Obviously if you're going to be a fighty Mystic it's a good plan to move through the Shrivelling chain. However you might find you have XP to spare in which case it's probably better to spend the XP for the other upgrade sooner, making you more powerful more quickly (and increasing the liklihood of picking up enemy Victory points later). Instead, I recommend using AR's savings in other areas.

If your name is Diana Stanley or Agnes Baker then I strongly recommend Deny Existence 5. If you plan on running Diana with Dayana then I even more strongly-er recommend it.

Mists of R'lyeh upgrades into a big +3 bonus and an added charge. Particularly good for Jim who is just a bit lower in than anyone else, and also valuable for that one campaign we all know where evasion is super useful.

Ward of Protection 2 is usually considered superior to its overcosted counterpart upgrade Ward of Protection 5, so probably just go up the first step in this chain and then stop. This is especially true in higher count multiplayer, and especially extra super true for Diana in multiplayer. In solo with a less fight capable mystic you could eye 5 instead, or else skip the chain entirely.

Jim should probably always take Sixth Sense 4 since it becomes a very consistent multi clue gathering tool for him, assuming you're building him in the traditional manner of drawing more spooky tokens.

8/6/19

StyxTBeuford · 13051

This card is insane. We played a group of 4 Mystics in Carcosa with 2 copies of Arcane Research each. We ended with 40+ xp worth of cards each at the end of campaign. — Ezhaeu · 51 8/9/19

I only take one with Diana. She can't afford two mental trauma. — Tilted Libra · 37 6/10/20

I took two with Diana in Circle Undone, and did not regret it. It was particular nice with St. Hubert's Key and Desperate skills, which could then be used right at the beginning of a scenario, when she was still comparable week on willpower. — Susumu · 382 8/16/20

Diana absolutely can afford two mental trauma, as you'll be prioritising "I've had worse..." and other damage-mitigation cards anyway. Once you get two copies of Deny Existence (5) in your deck and have your Twilight Blade in hand, she becomes absurdly tanky. — snacc · 1021 8/6/21

How in any way is the 2 trauma for "In the thick of it" balanced, when this broken card, or two if them can gain you add much as having the Charon's Over, without any downside other than two measly trauma? This is ridiculous. I like that Charon's Intel exists, even like in the thick of it, but as yourself if you'd like to see a red version off this or guardian version for weapons, yeah, that's be fair, but no, I wouldn't like to see it because it breaks the balance of the game. — Quantallar · 8 5/26/24

Colt Vest Pocket

Funny gun and most certainly, bad.

The Colt Vest Pocket is native to a small and specific theme/archetype of who sneak assets into play quickly, it's a build based on the mechanics of cards like Joey "The Rat" Vigil, Sleight of Hand and Fence, I.E you play it quick and action free and deal the damage easily and efficiently.

A few other cards exist to support this, Fence can be used to play Pay Day, so that's a source of economy for the build. Narrow Escape can be used to play the gun when Fence or Joey "The Rat" Vigil are unavailable, certain characters might use it with either variant of "Eat lead!".

Many of the aforementioned cards, notable Joey "The Rat" Vigil, Fence, "Eat lead!" and arguably: Pay Day, are all rather shaky or outright BAD cards. Colt Vest Pocket is by no means the sort of gun that warrants doubling down on a variety of bad cards to try and make them all work properly.

If a character arises who can somehow play weapons the way Leo Anderson can play his allies, then Colt Vest Pocket will rise to recognition, otherwise it will remain on the bottom of the barrel, ready to be scraped up by folks who want to push the limits of deckbuilding.

Edit: After a little extra testing, I got to admit that a Finn Edwards deck with Sleight of Hand and Leo De Luca to get some actions stands a half-good chance to make this card shine. The free evade and extra action can give you space to safely get 3 shots from the gun, Sleight ups that to 4 shots. The card is still bad but it's passable for a 0-xp deck, they are, after all, not particularly powerful at level 0.

8/5/19

Tsuruki23 · 2581

I think there's more support for it than you give credit. Borrowed Time, Swift Reflexes, Quick Thinking (and Double or Nothing), and Ace in the Hole all give you extra actions (as does Skids' ability). You can very easily with Skids have a 5 or 6 round turn, which allows you to use the Colt's 5 charges, which is potentially 10 damage in one turn, which is actually pretty insane. That said the build as it stands is agreeably shaky. Without Beat Cop Skids would just be fighting at 4, so it's fairly likely to miss on that big health enemy you're trying to take down in one go. — StyxTBeuford · 13051 8/6/19

There’s also a cute synergy with The Golden Pocketwatch since repeating the Investigator Phase gives you two turns to unload it before the round ends. — Death by Chocolate · 1484 8/6/19

So the problems with this card are: (1) you have to jump through a lot of hoops to take extra actions in order to capitalize on it, and (2) most Rogues only have 3 combat and would rather use weapons with +2 boosts. So if the Colt Vest has a home it is with an investigator who has access to green cards, has a very high combat skill, and can take extra actions in combat. Hmm. — Spritz · 69 8/7/19

Hmm. :) — Death by Chocolate · 1484 8/7/19

Man, it's going to be a sad day for Skids once Dream Eaters gets released. — StyxTBeuford · 13051 8/8/19

My thought too. Poor guy lost all of his niches progressively as other folk got released. — Tsuruki23 · 2581 8/26/19

He’s still got Alice Luxley and Ornate Bow. I believe in a future where Skids becomes a reverse Roland. — StyxTBeuford · 13051 9/15/19

Something Worth Fighting For

Something Worth Fighting For is a funky card. It's a relatively bad card, in that it highly inefficiently does just the one thing that loads of other cards do better. It negates a bit of horror at the cost of 3 resources, an action and a card. Compare this to, say, Beat Cop who gives you + or Art Student who picks up a clue or Dr. William T. Maleson who does 66% of Something Worth Fighting For's work at 33% of the cost AND has damage tank AND an ability.

In case its not obvious yet, the reason Something Worth Fighting For is still worth a card slot in rare few decks is this: All of those other cards are allies!!! Without access to Cherished Keepsake or Holy Rosary there's is a very real dearth of horror tank options that aren't allies and even those two are accessories, therefore occupying a different contested slot themselves (a problem that characters can attest to).

So, Something Worth Fighting For occupies the weird niche of preventing horror without filling any slots, more like a healing event (Logical Reasoning) than an asset. Certain characters will find Something Worth Fighting For occupying a key niche: Expand your horror tank without interfering with your allies.

Oh, there's also an ability text? Yeah you can just ignore that, you can bother to dig it up for the niche cases where a friend is literally 1 horror from death and you playing Something Worth Fighting For might help them reach the final clue or resignation location. 90% of the time, this is YOUR horror soak.

It's not a bad 1-off for dudes like Roland Banks or Mark Harrigan whose weaknesses cause horror, to be upgraded asap to "I've had worse…".

8/5/19

Tsuruki23 · 2581

also useful for Diana Stanley to cope with her signature weakness Dark Secret — An_Undecayed_Whately · 1337 8/31/24