Umôrdhoth

Umôrdhoth

The FAQ provide a good explanation of why this last scenario is usually not much loved. Basically almost anything that you could try to shorten the massive amount of beating that the investigators stand to receive (3 damages and 3 horrors per each per round...) is disabled: no Lita, no Machete, no Cross... (Edit: the Machete works, it was an error on my part. Of course it has been duly taboo-ed but against this enemy one is fully allowed to disregard the taboo list, in my opinion!)

So, not only you have a huge, huge enemy, which was expected: but all of your "smart ideas" are frustrated.

It may hammer the point home... But is not a lot of fun.

Lord Phrank · 76
Looks like a solid target for pendant of the queen though — NarkasisBroon · 11
Pretty sure Machete works just fine, per the FAQ. — Kergma · 11
I also find it annoying that Zoey's Cross doesn't work on massive monsters--I think this ruling is both unnecessary and athematic (Zoey should be at her best fighting huge monstrosities!). I also think it would have been nice if Lita said "Monster or Ancient One enemies." But Machete does work fine--though I would certainly recommend using something a bit more powerful if your plan is to hack through this massive health pool. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
thank you for noticing my error, I was thinking about the various mechanics and got confused. Will fix it. — Lord Phrank · 76

Against All Odds

Against All Odds

I tried with Preston Fairmont already. It always be the dead card. It's hard to use effectively. Because you need 2 Drawing Thin and a Double or Nothing to guarantee success.

  • Example: Test Will 5: +4 Difficulty, *2 from Double or Nothing = Test Will 18 Then you take 1+18 Token from this card and Pay 2 resources to auto success from Preston Fairmont ability.

  • If you have no Double or Nothing you got only Test Will 9. That's just around half of Chaos bag. That's mean it's only 50% to success.

  • Compared to Eucatastrophe which can be triggered when you draw a -1 or more negative token. So you do not lost this card as Against All Odds. This cost you only 1 EXP for each copy Preston Fairmont was not allow to use level 3 survivor card.

  • Summary: There's no advantage for this card except you need specific Chaos token. Or for fun, pouring all Chaos token on the table. But that's the best bet he can do

Updated 02-02-2020

AquaDrehz · 204
I don't understand your point. You don't need to make the test more difficult to use this, you just need a find a test with a difficulty of 2 or greater. It doesn't guarantee success, it just makes it easier. — Sassenach · 180
I think he means using Double or Nothing + Drawing Thin to make a test so difficult that you reveal every token in the bag and then spent the two resources as Preston to automatically succeed with his Elder Sign. Which honestly sounds pretty good, as it's an autosuccess on a Double or Nothing test. That could be 4 damage on Fire Axe or 2 clues, plus any number of extra effects pitched in by the group. Preston also can't take Eucatastrophe, so this would be his closest option. I never thought of combining it with Drawing Thin, but that's a cool idea. — StyxTBeuford · 13049
Ah yes, I see what you mean. In this case though you'd have sent 4 resources for 1 auto-succeed, so it had better be worth it. In most case it probably won't be. — Sassenach · 180
Although... since you need to trigger 2x Drawing Thin to make this work then its effectively a free auto succeed, so maybe it is worth it. Could also work with Wendy, but it would be harder to trigger. — Sassenach · 180
Yeah DT pays for it, also the idea was to be Preston anyway — StyxTBeuford · 13049
Thanks, folk. I forgot that Preston can get it. This card is suck. But it's the best best he can get. — AquaDrehz · 204

Dream-Gate

Dream-Gate

Just want to point out the picture of Dream-Gate (Wondrous Journey) is wrong. This page shows Dream-Game (Pointless reality) twice. There's a sweet combo with Hawk-Eye Folding Camera and Vantage Point. You use your Gate Box, then Dream-Gate enters play. You play Vantage Point to move a clue to Dream-Gate and its shroud becomes 0. You investigate to remove the 'last clue' from your location and put a resource on Hawk-Eye Camera.

Ezhaeu · 50
yeah, I spent a couple minutes trying to understanding why people recommended those combos with a freakin shroud of 6-1=5, then realised it's not the correct picture — jd9000 · 76

Double, Double

Double, Double

Currently the deck builder allows you to put two of these in a deck. Being fuzzy on the rules for 'exceptional' I did that. Yes I realize it means I've been cheating for quite a few scenarios but I just want to say that having two copies in play is the most glorious thing I've seen in any game so far :p

jmccrary · 16
You could actually legally have two copies in play - one of your own, and one played from someone else's hand with You Owe Me One. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
Only if you don't care about losing friendships... — Sassenach · 180
Couldn't you use a second copy of You Owe Me One to take a third copy from a second (former) friend? — cb42 · 38
Depends on the investigator. It would need 3 arcane slots so it would have to be somebody with mystic access, although I guess Versatile is a thing. — Sassenach · 180
(1) Play 2 Sign Magicks as Sef, then steal 1 copy each from Jenny and Preston. Then have Skids give you his with Teamwork. (2) ???? (3) Profit? — bricklebrite · 533
Oops, Teamwork doesn't work on Rituals. I knew that card was crap! — bricklebrite · 533
Maybe play Double Double on "You Owe me One" to steal twice? I think that works. Now, if only we could figure out a way to get 5 copies in play... — bricklebrite · 533
The duplicated event still takes an action, so even with Leo you can only benefit from so many Doubles... unless of course you're using them all to double Ace in the Hole :p — jmccrary · 16
Why would the duplicated event still take an action? The trigger on Double Double tells you to play that card. See also Joey "the Rat" or "You owe me one". — Yenreb · 15
The duplicated event does not take an action. We have so many cards that work similarly that show this is the case- Easy Mark, Tony's Long Colt, Ever Vigilant, You Owe Me One, Joey, the list goes on. — StyxTBeuford · 13049
I think - I could be wrong- that @ jmccrary's point is that playing the event in the first place, before duplicating it, takes an action, so you need extra actions to use more than three Double Doubles/per turn. But honestly, if you've built your entire team around giving four copies of Double Double to Sefina, then I guess you're going to build in a way to use all four :). — bee123 · 31
Because it has the text "as if it were in your hand" and playing a non-fast event from hand requires an action, does that not mean the duplicate requires an action? — Halo99 · 1
It does not, as playing a card is not inherently an action. Playing is am action you can take, just like taking 1 resource is an action you can take. If a card tells you to gain a resource as a result of its effect, you dont pay an action for that resource. Same principle- this is a reaction trigger, and the effect is you get to play the event. It doesn’t take an action because its an effect that’s part of the react trigger. — StyxTBeuford · 13049
If you YOMO'd a couple of copies of this to Sefina, and were playing without the taboo list, you could get like a million extra actions with Ace in the Hole (by a million, I mean 12, because teams are generally limited to 4 players) — Zinjanthropus · 229

Calvin Wright

Calvin Wright

So, it felt wrong that the only review regarding Calvin was a negative one. As I'm writing this Dark Side of the Moon is the most recent pack and boy has Calvin gained a lot since his release back in the Forgotten Age.

Let me start off by saying: no, he is not the most powerful investigator in the game, probably not the strongest survivor either. But he is by no means weak or underpowered. His playstyle and strategy are very different, but he's a totally serviceable investigator.

In general, you should try to push the risk/reward with him: while you can use "Look what I found!" and Flashlight to get clues and Fire Axe to kill enemies without stats, Calvin is really at his best once he's got a 4-4-4-4 statline. With Cherished Keepsake and Leather Coat you can avoid getting killed, with Peter Sylvestre and the new Jessica Hyde acting as more powerful versions that take up an ally slot. If you want an ally that helps with your economy, Madame Labranche is perfectly fine with her 2/2 soak.

I think a lot of the tools I associate with Calvin appeared in The Circle Undone or later, leading to a lukewarm reception upon his first arrival. Cards like Meat Cleaver and "I've had worse…" are great, not to mention Five of Pentacles or Trial by Fire, two cards I think really push Calvin to the next level.

I find Calvin performs best in a flexible role that focuses more on enemy management but can get clues in a pinch. Survivor doesn't have a ton of clue acceleration and he's got access to some great weapons. Cough, Meat Cleaver, cough.

For his Spirit cards, please don't underestimate the value of these. Ward of Protection and Ward of Protection, Stand Together, "I've had worse…", Heroic Rescue, with Dream-Eaters also giving us Self-Sacrifice and Solemn Vow.

So, yeah. If you aren't sold on Calvin Wright, give him a shot. He might surprise you.

Veronica212 · 299
I agree, he’s respectable. I don’t think he’s amazing or top tier or anything like that, but with proper play he does fine. There are just a lot of cards out there that make it pretty easy and safe for him to sustain 4s and 5s in his stats. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
The other way in which Calvin shines is by being able to rush head first into danger. Not only this, early game he wants to take damage and horror to power him up. He really helps to mittagate those horrible starts that we all get sometimes when there's multiple enemies at the end of round one, for example. This is quite an esoteric skill that's hard to quantify but very fun to play. — Snakesfighting · 94
I had Calvin at 6/6/6/6 with "Dark Horse", the survivor tarot card etc. He single handedly saved the party. Calvin is ineffective as a solo investigator, but late game with other investigators, he can be a savior. — Lorkan · 7
I just had a vision of Calvin roaming the streets of Carcosa.... — Lindan · 1
The only way Calvin ever surprised me is seeing a Survivor performing badly with a level 0 deck — HeroesOfTomorrow · 59