Ancestral Knowledge

I must admit: I always ignored the "attach facedown" clause of cards like Diana Stanley, Crystallizer of Dreams or Backpack. I always considered this is fiddly and doesn't matter. Likewise, I thought, the facedown wording was just there to emphasize, that these cards are out of play, and therefore not eligible for effects from e.g. Well Prepared or Crypt Chill. But you could for instance choose without memorizing the order any card below Diana, if you use her Elder Sign ability or Twilight Blade. I always considered the cards below cards open information, even if they were "facedown". That's why I let them faceup on the table anyway. But on the other hand, Sefina Rousseau and Stick to the Plan do not have the "facedown" wording, and I'm not sure why.

With this card finally the issue gets very important. Because drawing cards at random and placing them facedown reads like, that you are not supposed to know what you initially got below and what you will get, when you trigger the ability. Is that's really how this card is supposed to be played? An action-free draw for 5 turns is still great even at random, but far less powerful than Stick to the Plan, which lets pick and choose and adds deck thinning for the same XP cost. I will still probably take this card in my next campaign as first upgrade playing Minh Thi Phan, but I would appreciate knowing if this card can be played even stronger, and you are just obligated to get random cards out of your deck during setup.

Update 2021-06-28: It had been confirmed in FAQ 1.9, (see the FAQs paragraph above) that I played half a "Return to Carcosa" campaign wrong. (Which was fine, I applied Grim Rule in the absence of official clarification.) I was happy to have the card, even in my weaker interpretation. However, it did have its disadvantages with Practice Makes Perfect. Because I never knew, how many Practiced skills were attached to this card, it was sort of a gamble to play PMP before the fifth round of the game. And by that time, it might happen, that I drew additional Practiced cards from my main deck. Looking forward to playing the card like intended for the second half of the campaign. Or will I? I will probably attach the cards faceup from now on.

Update after finishing the campaign: It turned out, that this card is really dinging PMP. I had 11 (not bonded) Practiced skills in the end, only kept Eureka! and Resourceful as Innate, yet the event still sometimes whiffed. That's not to say, AN is a bad card, but I would reconsider, if I might swap out PMP for something else with it. Also, a card I was never considering, Surprising Find, would be completely anti-synergetic with it. So while it sure is a great addition to any skill-heavy seeker build, you have to take this into account.

Susumu · 381
Just a quick note: Stick to the Plan is exceptional so it costs twice XP as much as Ancestral Knowledge — ErynnWoodward · 1
No, because "Ancestral Knowledge" is also exceptional. They both cost 6 XP. However, FAQ 1.9 was released today, and there is something else, I have to update with the review. :) — Susumu · 381
Esoteric Atlas

This card is brilliant for Carnevale scenario.

SPOILERS BELOW! BEWARE!

Encounter cards always teleport you somewhere you don't wanna be. Some dudes enter play in the middle of nowhere and interrupt your game. Now you can jump back & forth and do your job. Nice.

There is a caveat though: locations are only connected clockwise in this scenario. So you can jump forth (but not back!) with this card. It seems pretty useless at first, but gets indeed better later, when all or at least most locations had been revealed. — Susumu · 381
Detached from Reality

I've had mild salsa spicier than this weakness.

I... suppose it costs you three actions, at most? You're chilling in the Bad Place for a turn - where enemies can't get to you, mind - and spend that turn prepping for the future with card draw and resource clicking, or you could try your hand at flipping to the good side, putting that off-class to work and avoiding the measly two horror that ending your turn in the Nihilism Cube gets you.

Speaking of that two horror: trifling. You have NINE SANITY, and even if you're in the danger zone, you made sure to bring some horror mitigation with you, right? ...right?

Anyway, on to the third part - you get yote outta Mannish Baby's Stand at the end of your turn, to ANY LOCATION YOU WANT. Remember that prep that we were doing while stuck? Yeah, go to the place where they need you the most and let loose.

To sum up: this isn't a weakness, it's a free fourth charge on your sleepy passport that you have to use immediately.

supertoasty · 40
Totally agree. They could have easily made this a proper weakness, but they didn't. — Susumu · 381
"Pass a 6+ inv or lose a turn" is rough. — MrGoldbee · 1487
I will push back and say that it's basically always 2 horror whenever you see it. It's not worth investigating a 6 shroud pretty much ever with Luke, particularly one that doesn't help you advance the scenario. 2 horror on 9 sanity on top of the 2 horror from Arcane Research does add up and makes Luke effectively a 5 sanity gator. That said, between Mystic card pool and Gate Box, you don't have to worry much about mental trauma. But it is something to keep in mind for things like Ward of Protection or Shrivelling. — StyxTBeuford · 13049
I agree with Styx, but Mystics also have some pretty decent horror-soak allies, and probably the best "healing card" with "Deny Existence" (5). I didn't have any horror-issues, when I recently played him for the first time through Innsmouth. I think, the "Dream Gate" should not unflip at the end of the round. The bad side could just as well be connected to all locations as well, but you would have to pay 2 horror each time you want to leave it. This would put incentive to investigate it. — Susumu · 381
Burned Ruins

It's worth noting that although the additional doom isn't great, it does result in clues being permanently 'destroyed', and so Act 1b will result in fewer clues being put on The Hidden Chamber than normal. If health/sanity pressure are more threatening than doom pressure (or you can stack up a bunch of doom during the 'witching hour' before an agenda advances), this can be quite a boon in saving actions for R2/R3. (The fact that you 'fail' the investigation doesn't matter, since the goal is simply to remove clues, not collect them.)

In fact, there's even some benefit in Blood on the Altar to faster agenda advancement -- firstly, more sacrifices means an easier time with Undimensioned and Unseen (and thus Where Doom Awaits), which may be worth more than a story asset; secondly, if none of your unique allies have been Kidnapped! yet, then prematurely advancing the agenda can ensure that you have enough turns to beat the scenario in between one getting Kidnapped and them being sacrificed.

anaphysik · 97
Searching for Izzie

This weakness might seem worst. However, if you don't apply taboo list, this weakness may be thinkful. Why? Jenny could earn lots of resources and cards with the combo of Double or Nothing + "Watch this!" +All In. In that case, your deck tempo is very very fast, and you should meet your weakness oftenly. But, this weakness is attached in somewhere so that you don't need to consider while attached. This weakness need to be resolved just before the game ends. Well Connected or Streetwise is good for this.

elkeinkrad · 500
This is easily one of the worst weaknesses in solo- it often just becomes mental trauma. — StyxTBeuford · 13049
The problem isn't necessarily that Jenny can't beat the Investigate (though sometimes she indeed can't, especially in Scenario 1 or 2), but that it requires a ridiculous amount of actions to deal with. Most of the time this is going to be a 5+ action cost weakness, with a mental trauma attached if you ignore it. That's pretty painful. Personally I don't think the double action cost for the Investigate was needed. Nonetheless the silver lining is that this doesn't cause immediate damage to your board state (besides missing a draw from drawing the weakness), so it usually won't lead into any kind of death snowball where you get locked down by treacheries/enemies/weaknesses for several turns. And in that respect the high action cost is fair, since it is one of the few weaknesses that doesn't immediately sting. — Soul_Turtle · 494
Yehah I fully agree. It's often just not worth it, especially if it gets pulled late scenario. In solo, I pretty much always eat this card unless the map is small. — StyxTBeuford · 13049