Summoned Nightgaunt

Absolutely. Bonkers. Insane. Card.

The only downside is the cost so perhaps not the ideal fit into a resource starved or , the icons are fine so taking this in your Roland Banks or the like isn't the worst idea, most of the time youll play the icons and ever so often you will actually play it and reap an incredible mobility reward (although that Khopesh is much better than it looks).

Summoned Nightgaunt does 2 things in one action.

  • Auto-evade multiple enemies at once.

  • Long range move.

So far as I know, you can trigger the card if only just to move, do correct me if I'm wrong. So even if only for the infinite ranged move this is a great card. In single player the movement options might be rather limited when using this card, not too many locations are revealed all the time, but the auto-evade bomb is a life-saving power. Perhaps this cards greatest downside is that the move does not seem optional, I might be wrong about that though so that's even better! Obviously the card will just get better and better with added player count.

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, , of every type will love this (dont forget the other option though). who don't take too much self-inflicted horror or resist it will like it too. I guess the only faction that's not particularly interested is . I'dd still like to say that in Forgotten age this asset would be well-liked by everyone and anyone.

Tsuruki23 · 2581
I got this in The Forgotten Age as Daisy Walker and it was absolutely amazing. I mostly didn't use it to move, I used it to repeatedly tank entire armies of bad guys while they were slaughtered by my team-mates. — Katsue · 10
Re: the rules issues, my take is that you must be engaged with an enemy because the card has the Evade keyword, but you can move to the location you're already at. — Katsue · 10
This is a pretty sweet card, but it does only have 3 whistles (and gets removed from the game when it leaves play), and I don't think there's any cards that can replace the whistles. It is pretty nuts though. It's like 3 better Elusives (better because it actually exhausts the enemies) — Zinjanthropus · 231
Khopesh of the Abyss

This does not look like a good weapon. Don't judge a sword by its.... Scabbard?

characters don't like it because it is only so-much better then a Machete or .45 Automatic and takes away a slot or you intend to get a big gun later anyway. But then. Whats the harm in an additional big weapon that doesn't count against deck slots? Consistency and efficiency is the name of the game and this big-ass sword is a great way to add a little weapon-finding consistency to your deck mid-campaign.

Non- might have dramatically different opinions. The massive +3 to hit can turn a mediocre fighter into a warmachine. "Skids" O'Toole, Finn Edwards, Diana Stanley, fighting at +6. Rita Young or Silas Marsh with their inability to gain superior in-faction weapons that will last them an entire scenario will be looking at Timeworn Brand as a main weapon, if you happen to find one of these on the way that'd be outright awesome, if only for consistency's sake!

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So, with the "who wants it" covered, lets look at what it does.

Its an infinite use +3 +1 damage weapon, at this moment that's the largest + infinite weapon in the game. So damn yes that's got the attention of the fighty characters.

And then there's the ability to literally teleport around the map, to wherever more opponents might hide. This ability wont always be useful. In solo you can expect a couple maps per campaign where you're chasing a Doom carrier or some scenario specific agent, the saved actions as you shift around the map, batman-style, are terrific, but definitely not always useful. This ability ramps up very quickly in usefulness when you're fighting the threats that come into play in a 3 or 4-player game though, also note that the Khopesh lets you bypass the Aloof keyword.

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So yes, I don't think this is ever a bad weapon to put into a deck that's interested in killing enemies and not hugely dependent on hand slots. Even if it's not as good as a Lightning Gun, just keep in mind the importance of consistency.

Tsuruki23 · 2581
Technically, Hungering Blade can get up to +3, but it takes a lot of time to do that, and you might take some horror if you draw Bloodlust at the wrong time. I think it's also worth mentioning that Dr. Elli Horowitz can grab this sword for you, as it's a relic. Ornate Bow is much better for this with Ursula, but I think some Jim decks also run Elli. Might be pretty good with him. — Zinjanthropus · 231
Ancient Ankh

The obvious: This thing is ideal for characters who like to use Lucky!, "Look what I found!" ETC.

The inobvious: It's an Ankh, a sign for immortality, so why this effect? Why because many many many encounter cards deal damage incremental to your failure! Rotting Remains, Grasping Hands, that kind of stuff, most scenarios have 1 or 2 effects like these, so even if you're not trying to change failure into success, the Ancient Ankh might very well be very useful, regardless of class, not to mention the flexible skill icons.

Tsuruki23 · 2581
The card does not work with Lucky! since it just makes you fail by 1, but does not set your skill value to skill difficulty - 1. — ak45 · 469
Notably, there's a bunch of those scaling effects in Guardians of the Abyss where you get this. Also, 3 additional horror soak can be pretty good depending on your deck, especially if you're running Key of Ys. — Zinjanthropus · 231
John & Jessie Burke

A tremendous card, way better than it looks.

First off John & Jessie Burke feature a beefy tank and they are very much expendable, this is one of those allies that you use twice or so and then are happy to tank damage and horror with before refilling the slot with a different ally. This of course gets expensive so the active ability better be good, which it is.

The ability deals automatic damage, auto-damage is always terrific, weakening enemies so that smaller weapons or just your fists might kill the enemy in one hit, not to mention the luxury of combining damage and movement. Furthermore, this ability allows you to bypass the Aloof keyword, that's a terrific bonus for certain scenarios (and campaigns, right dude?). Every campaign has Acolytes at some point and other 1-hp allies, John & Jessie Burke make a mess of these enemies.

If you want John & Jessie Burke in your deck and tend to do "full-campaigns" with the side scenarios added (as I do), consider doing their scenario before you do Rougarou, their ability to deal ping damage makes a variety of challenges in that scenario outright hilariously easy, not to mention to engage and kill the mutt easily.

In short, John & Jessie Burke boost survivability and your ability to react to enemies around the map.

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Obviously, like Monstrous Transformation, this card is best suited to specific deck types and my recommendation is to try and get this card into an ally based character who juggles Beat Cop, Venturer, Dr. Milan Christopher and other 4-cost characters with Calling in Favors. In this case John & Jessie Burke just become part of the rat-pack that you lug around.

In the absence of Calling in Favors John & Jessie Burke are still great in a deck that has just 1 ally in it, for example 2 copies of Beat Cop or 2 copies of Peter Sylvestre. John & Jessie Burkes's tendency to die away eventually means that they will greatly expand your survivability while you wait for your planned ally.

Finally, if you're a you'll probably consider Well Prepared at some point and John & Jessie Burke synergize wery well with it.

Tsuruki23 · 2581
You're right that this card is a godsend when you're dealing with aloof enemies. It shrinks a three-action sequence (move, engage, fight) into one action -- and you don't have to make the fight check. In some scenarios, this is almost unfair to the Mythos. I just solo'd A Thousand Shapes of Horror, one of the central challenges of which is getting damage onto a very beefy but aloof enemy. You have to engage the sucker and then pass a miserable fight check. The blessed Burkes make it all so easy. In this case, the deck was even kinder for me. I had the cat burglar for a free disengage after I'd Burke'd the poor fellow, so I didn't have to deal with his counter-attack! Moral of the story. If you know you're heading into a scenario that centers around an aloof, high-fight enemy, consider a visit to Egypt first! — Mordenlordgrandison · 464
_So Much_ better than the Ankh! Although, I suppose it depends on the deck — Zinjanthropus · 231
Deny Existence

Ward of Protection is often considered one of the strongest events in the game, since cancelling a critical treachery can be game changing. Deny Existence is a similar card, that has narrower coverage, but does a better job for what it covers. Compared to Ward of Protection, this card cost 1 resource and 1 horror less to play, and more importantly, it can be played after you failed a test on a treachery.

Imagine you are Agnes Baker and has 3 sanity remaining. You draw Rotting Remains. Normally you would be happy since you can usually pass the test with ease, but since an auto-fail draw outright defeats you, you may consider using Ward of Protection to cancel it. However, if you have Deny Existence in your hand, you may instead take the chance. Most of the time you will pass the test, and if you auto-failed you just play the card to ignore it. In this aspect, Deny Existence to Ward of Protection is like what Lucky! is to Unexpected Courage, that it has an effect even if you do not play it. But the cost is also favorable to Deny Existence. This shows how insanely powerful is the card.

Additionally, Deny Existence can cancel certain weaknesses, since treachery weaknesses are considered encounter cards. Notably it ignores Amnesia and Paranoia in their entirety. This is another really strong ability. Interesting side note: The card can ignore the direct horror from To Fight the Black Wind, and potentially preventing the doom as well.

Being able to ignore enemy attacks is the icing on the cake. Most enemies deal both damage and horror though, so Deny Existence usually only ignore part of the attack.

Not to mention the spell synergy (Arcane Initiate), ignore synergy (Diana Stanley) and event synergy (Sefina Rousseau) the card provides.

Deny Existence is such an excellent card, that it is hard to imagine not putting it in every deck that can take it.

ak45 · 469
The only failing this card has compared to ward is that it cannot stop cards such as Ancient Evils; you can still lose the scenario with this in hand. That being said, I agree that this is a very strong card. — SGPrometheus · 849
I expect this to be errata'd to non-weaknes treachery pretty soon — Adny · 1
Would this prevent becoming poisoned from [Pit Viper](/card/04078) if you choose "ignore damage"? — panchar · 1
Also, I guess card hyperlinks don't work in comment replies? — panchar · 1
It would. If all damage is prevented than damage was not dealt. It actually that verbatim in the rule reference under Dealing Damage/Horror that if an attack's damage/horror is assigned as a result of an attack then damage/horror has not been successfully dealt — Donel · 13
that if no damage/horror is assigned* — Donel · 13
Additionally, It was confirmed that this DOES work with weakness cards as they are considered encounter cards. Even better, Matt ruled that this DOES ignore Diana's weakness, as her weakness specifies "Cancel" and this "Ignores". — RobSan770 · 2
If I read it right, this card can nullify the whole 10 damage from Beyond the Veil. — Killbray · 12493
Does anyone know if this could ignore horror from Dark Memory? I ask because it is an event, which is a player card type, so I don't think it counts as an encounter card, but I'm not sure. — Zinjanthropus · 231
No it can' ignore Dark Memory. Weakness is a trait it doesn't modify card type. — vidinufi · 69