So people wax happy for Jims trumpet in multiplayer, where it triggers very often. Do not be fooled, however, as even though the trumpet triggers 4x as often your allies are taking roughly 4x as much horror in aggregate. In this sense it matches the scale of the game in multiplayer, but it does not exceed it.

Although there is a catch. When Jim plays you can choose who gets the horror. In a 3p game with Jim Daisy and Roland, Jim can tail Roland and play his sweet soothing jazz, effectively moving some of the games horror load from fragile Roland to mentally hardy Daisy and Jim. This margin is where the trumpet is actually super effective in multiplayer.

that being said the trumpet can do work on its own in solo or 2p, provided you have the action economy to afford it. Further Jim's passives make him pretty hardy in hard and Expert difficulties, so don't let his unique asset scare you away from trying him there!

As far as exile cards go I think this is a miss where Flare is a massive hit.

My main concern here is the cost. 2 boxes and an to install and an to use the exile ability. The ability isn't bad, + 3 to evade is good. But already has good options for evading like Survival Instinct. Flares similar +3 to fight and + 2 damage seems much better and fills a needed slot especially in solo. Also it's an event so only uses 2 boxes and one .

Let's move on to the other ability. Pretty much Knife but it costs one more and one influence.

With the current register of Wendy Adams and "Ashcan" Pete I don't see a place for this card.

The Doom tokens on this card are removed when the Agenda advances, so it can be safely used on all of your Will and Fight tests, the turn that the Agenda is going to advance anyways (unless there is an Agenda that gets worse the more Doom it has on it when it advances. Can't think of one off the top of my head, but I wouldn't put it past them...)

This card can be combined with Lucky! and Lucky Dice, if you spend your last ressource on using them, as the game calculates the final skill value in step 5 of the "Skill Test Timing" (Rules Reference).

Did they forget the "elite" keyword on these monsters? Otherwise you can use the following cards, to get rid of them:

• Disc of Itzamna
• Close Call

However you don't get victory points, as an enemy needs to be properly defeated, to be added to the victory display.

Does the damage bonus from Lita Chantler work against this creature? It seems yes, because lita second ability is a reaction, that starts with "when", so it's effect happens before the trigger is resolved: "

"when an investigator...that investigator deals +1 damage."

So the damage is added to that from Esoteric Formula, not dealt by lita herself. So Lita's damage bonus should work with Esoteric Formula.