Down the Rabbit Hole

I wonder, how this card interacts with (non-level 0) Myriad cards. Initially I thought, they should cost +3 XP, if you take a set of three. But the rule for Myriad states: Additionally, when you purchase a myriad card for your deck, you may purchase up to two additional copies of that card (at the same level) at no experience cost. Because "no" is not a numeric like "0", you could add to, I do now think, that you can replace cards into them just for +1 XP.

Susumu · 381
I think your interpretation is correct. — SGPrometheus · 841
AFAIK that's correct. Those cards have a cost, that cost would be increased by DtRH, but the myriad rules mean you don't pay any cost for the additional cards. — CombStranger · 288
In the Thick of It

For me the best use is in an "Ashcan" Pete deck:

  • 1) you start the game at 3 remaining sanity and thus can commit the Desperate skill without using your precious off-class slots for Arcane Research or St. Hubert's Key,
  • 2) you start the campaign with 3 XP that can be used to upgrade one copy of Peter Sylvestre or 2 copies of Yaotl to have a 2nd use of your Desperate skills.
AlexP · 275
That's a very good poin, I wasn't thinking about. Using it as a Desperate enabler for an investigator, who doesn't care about the other benefit from "Arcane Research". (Though, this might vanish over time, if we see more upgradable Survivor-Spells.) — Susumu · 381
Pack a Thermos; it's immediately buffed to the 2pt heal by this. — HanoverFist · 746
You still need at least 2 horrors on Ashcan and you probably have Pete Sylvestre to soak horror. — AlexP · 275
Unearth the Ancients

For me there are 2 ways to consider this card:

  • as a way to save on resources to play assets, ideally Relic ones (and eventually draw cards), for example the Forbidden Tome or the Ancient Stone,
  • or as a way to have a much easier investigate action in a high shroud location.

    The 2nd use can lead to very interesting combos: with Magnifying Glass + Deduction / Deduction for 2 or 3 clues with a 0-difficulty test, with Magnifying Glass + Dream Diary to improve your chances to "interpret the dreams", with The King in Yellow (and probably the Magnyfing glass) to have immediately an easy investigation to get rid of the weakness if you lack symbols for other tests, with Scavenging to play while getting a clue the asset you got in your hand because you succeeded you previous investigation by 2, ...

AlexP · 275
Unearth the Ancients

Contrary of the review above, I think this card is actually very good, for having playtesting it. It's the ever vigilant equivalent of Seeker. Yes, it requires you to have three cards in hand to play it to its maximum effect, but with seeker card draw, it's not much a problem. Like Cryptic research, it's not a good card by itself xp wise, but it will greatly enhance your deck when you'll include it. If you play with higher education, the difficulty of the test becomes trivial. Let's say you pay for a 3 cost and a 4 cost asset, you test at difficulty 7 and you're Ursula. It means you need roughly 4 resources to crack the test in standard. For one card, one action and 4 resource, it nets you 7 resources, three actions (two play action and an investigation). That's a total of +5, which has the same value as a hotstreak lv4, for the meager risk of getting the autofail. It gets better with 5 intellect character, or if you manage to land your int tarot turn 0. In asset heavy decks, this card is a god sent. The additional draw from relics is a bonus at this point.

mugu · 258
So what you're saying is, it's nothing like Ever Vigilant. — suika · 9505
Or to be specific: given a lot of support, this card has the potential to act like an Ever Vigilant that costs twice as much XP. — suika · 9505
It can work, unlike the previous version, but being powered by higher education the most broken card in the game isn't really a point in its favor. Ever Vigilant also isn't great for saving money, but for always being a possible turn 1. — Mataza · 19
And if you draw the autofail you pretty much lose the scenario. Wasting 4 resources, 1 action and a card for nothing — fates · 54
It is actually a great card. And Higher Ed isn't the most broken card in the game. — Krysmopompas · 366
In the Thick of It

2 traumata for 3 XP don't look great at first. You can trade 5 XP for healing one trauma in the interlude after "Threads of Fate", albeit I think hardly anybody would do this. But XP even before the first scenario are most powerful. You will have the cards you purchase from them for 8 scenarios (not accounting side stories). However, I see options, how to net gain quite more than that from this card.

Like already mentioned by Pawiu14, Calvin might be interested in the traumatas themselves. I'm not sure about that. I have not played him yet, but by experiences from coplayers in "The Forgotten Age", I've seen it can be a clutch to get him through this campaign, so starting right off the bat with additional ones to what you will get from your weakness, might be rewarding at first, but risky later on. But in a campaign, that doesn't dish out traumata in interludes, this should be a whole different thing. Starting Parallel Roland with 8 XP, like suggested by fiatluxia looks interesting, to start a campaign with Stick to the Plan and Ever Vigilant.

, who want to go Down the Rabbit Hole might consider that for the dualclass Spells Brand of Cthugha, Divination, Blur or Earthly Serenity. Taking three of these cards at deck creation effectively gives 6 XP, avoiding the penalty from DtRB to add them later. Not sure if that's worth it. Arcane Research nets likely more than DtRH for most and 4 traumata is a bit much.

Charisma (or for some Relic Hunter) is another solid pick, offsetting the traumata with additional soak options, keeping your allies or Holy Rosary longer in play on top of the additional value from whatever you play with it.

But the combo, I'm most eager to try out, is sending Nathaniel Cho into the rabbit hole. Thanks to this card, he can take Versatile at deck creation and then the Permanent. This is also true for any other investigator with any other of the new "Limit 1 per deck. Purchase at deck creation."-Permanents, they could not take otherwise. But NaCho in Wonderland seems like the most striking combo out of the bunch. He has a lot of events, he might be interested in upgrading. The same goes to Allies like Beat Cop and (to a lesser degree) Grete Wagner, his Boxing Gloves, Safeguard, possibly Backpack or Bandolier. Not all these cards will be great at level 0. You might take On the Hunt just for the rabbit, so your level 0 deck might be worse than without this setup. But I think, the XP acceleration should be worth it. It should be also OK to pay 4 XP for a Charisma or Keen Eye later in the campaign (in particular, if you want to upgrade Grete), or 7 for Stick to the Plan and 2 for Ever Vigilant. The later could also be purchased at deck creation for 1 XP, since Versatile costs only 2, but I think, a Mano a Mano (1) would be the better pick at that time.

Susumu · 381
I know it adds 3xp for you right away but can you spend it right away? I know everyone is leaning that way and I'd certainly think so but does anyone know for sure? — JourneysintoArkham · 7
Bullet point 4 of "Deckbuilding" in RR: "Most investigators have 0 experience to spend at the beginning of a campaign, which means that they may only include level 0 cards in their decks. Some investigators, and/or some campaigns, may provide a player with additional experience at the beginning of a campaign, which can be used immediately to purchase higher level cards." I think, this clarifies that you can. — Susumu · 381