Hallowed Mirror
The first of the two Bonded Occult cards, associated with the Soothing Melody spell. The healing itself is pretty decent if you can be certain you'll draw multiple Melodies; if not, it's only worthwhile if you're desperate. Carolyn and Mark have the card draw needed to pull it off. From another direction, Yorick can pitch it (ideally to Cornered), then use his ability to play it without an action, making it much more efficient.
Its main draw is that it can heal damage from Allies. For Guardians, that's a very big deal. Beat Cop (2), Guard Dog, and Agency Backup can turn that healing into free testless damage. Now, you can use Emergency Aid for the same effect, but the Hallowed Mirror's free deck thinning makes it a solid alternative, and you can always use both. (Of course, Leadership can also heal Allies, but that's hardly worth the deck space).
It can also be a solid choice in cross-class slots. Ursula, Akachi, and Marie all have trait-based access to Hallowed Mirror, low health, and not much else in the way of damage healing. That can be crucial in TCU and Return to Carcosa, which both have plenty of direct damage to wear them down.
Its main draw is that it can heal damage from Allies. For Guardians, that's a very big deal. Beat Cop (2), Guard Dog, and Agency Backup can turn that healing into free testless damage. Now, you can use Emergency Aid for the same effect, but the Hallowed Mirror's free deck thinning makes it a solid alternative, and you can always use both. (Of course, Leadership can also heal Allies, but that's hardly worth the deck space).
It can also be a solid choice in cross-class slots. Ursula, Akachi, and Marie all have trait-based access to Hallowed Mirror, low health, and not much else in the way of damage healing. That can be crucial in TCU and Return to Carcosa, which both have plenty of direct damage to wear them down.
"I've Had Worse..."
The budget version of the level 4 mega-cancel. It's not going to protect you from massive hits like its big brother, but these days you have cards like Delay the Inevitable for that. This is just cancellation wrapped up with economy. Of course, Guardians are already used to spending experience on economy (cf Ever Vigilant and Stand Together); it's mostly a matter of whether you want to sacrifice a bit of that efficiency in exchange for more resilience.
For most Guardians, that's a poor tradeoff. You already have plenty of defensive options; you're better off using Stand Together to get just as many resources and also draw those instead. Even for sub-Guardians, it's mostly redundant. Skids and Yorick have better economy and defensive options. Joe could potentially make use of it, if he's going to be the main defender, but he usually shouldn't try that.
The main winner here is Diana. I'd confidently say that this card was designed with her in mind. Every cancel in her deck comes with economy; having even more economy built in makes this card a significant tempo boost. The other winner is Calvin (thanks to Spirit access), particularly when direct damage is a concern.
For most Guardians, that's a poor tradeoff. You already have plenty of defensive options; you're better off using Stand Together to get just as many resources and also draw those instead. Even for sub-Guardians, it's mostly redundant. Skids and Yorick have better economy and defensive options. Joe could potentially make use of it, if he's going to be the main defender, but he usually shouldn't try that.
The main winner here is Diana. I'd confidently say that this card was designed with her in mind. Every cancel in her deck comes with economy; having even more economy built in makes this card a significant tempo boost. The other winner is Calvin (thanks to Spirit access), particularly when direct damage is a concern.
Occult Lexicon
The second Bonded Occult card, associated with Blood-Rite. Don't let Blood-Rite's word count trip you up: The real meat of this card is the damage-dealing option. For the most part, you'll play Blood-Rite to either deal 1 testless damage to an enemy or to spend 2 resources to deal 2 testless damage. That makes it a combination of Mano a Mano and Sneak Attack, except without any restrictions. It also helps cycle through your deck, which can be quite handy. Using it just for the economy is horribly inefficient (unless you're playing it with Marie's bonus action), but the option's there if you need it (eg you happened to draw into I've Got a Plan with the initial draw).
For the most part, the Lexicon is stronger than the Mirror, if only because it's a Seeker card. Seekers naturally have enough card draw to offset most of the weaknesses of Bonded cards, plus it covers their lack of damage-dealing options while the Mirror is just one of many defensive Guardian options. Its biggest weakness is its hand slot, which can be critical. Once you get other ways to deal damage, you should consider replacing the Lexicon so you can carry more Tools. At level 0, though, it's a solid choice for any non-Joe Seeker.
For the most part, the Lexicon is stronger than the Mirror, if only because it's a Seeker card. Seekers naturally have enough card draw to offset most of the weaknesses of Bonded cards, plus it covers their lack of damage-dealing options while the Mirror is just one of many defensive Guardian options. Its biggest weakness is its hand slot, which can be critical. Once you get other ways to deal damage, you should consider replacing the Lexicon so you can carry more Tools. At level 0, though, it's a solid choice for any non-Joe Seeker.
Glimpse the Unthinkable
Have you ever had cards in your hand that you didn't particularly want at the time? Bear in mind that the only acceptable answers here are "Yes" and "I've never actually played this game." Here's Glimpse the Unthinkable, replacing all those useless cards with fresh new ones, and then drawing even more cards until your hand is full. This amount of economy is downright absurd, even in the Seeker class. It even shuffles those dead cards back in rather than discarding them, diluting your weaknesses. And with three intellect icons, it's never going to be a dead card itself.
The main downside is that it's a level 5 card. That's certainly reasonable for its effect, but it's pricey nonetheless. That said, I'd put it in the top tier of level 5 cards. If you can afford it, it's a great investment. It's only really a priority if you're playing Minh and regularly committing your entire hand (it's probably worth the 2 xp over Feed the Mind just for its reliability), but it'll never be a bad investment.
The main downside is that it's a level 5 card. That's certainly reasonable for its effect, but it's pricey nonetheless. That said, I'd put it in the top tier of level 5 cards. If you can afford it, it's a great investment. It's only really a priority if you're playing Minh and regularly committing your entire hand (it's probably worth the 2 xp over Feed the Mind just for its reliability), but it'll never be a bad investment.
"You owe me one!"
Here we have the Rogue counterpart of Teamwork. You can "borrow" one card from any of your allies. Unlike Teamwork, you can only transfer a single card (and not resources or anything else), only you can benefit, and you have to pay the costs yourself. On the plus side, it works regardless of your location, it gives both of you an extra draw, and (most importantly) it can target every non-signature asset and a good chunk of the events.
YOMO's speed and flexibility cannot be denied here. We've always been able to move high-level Items and Allies around with Teamwork, but it's a rather clunky process that ties up equipment slots. With YOMO, you can take those assets with a single action, and you're the only one who needs the spare equipment slot. Furthermore, you're not limited to Items and Allies: You can play any non-signature card that can be played except for events with specific triggers.
Here's an example: Lets say that Zoey and Finn think that it'd be fun for Finn to use the Telescopic Sight, using his natural evasiveness to bypass its downsides. With Teamwork, Zoey has to attach the Sight to her own weapon, get to the same space as Finn, and finally play Teamwork to transfer the weapon. This leaves her with two empty hand slots and potentially down however many resources she spent (though Finn can optionally transfer his own resources as compensation). With YOMO, Finn just needs to play the card while the Telescopic Sight is in Zoey's hand and attach it to his own weapon.
Of course, YOMO's limitations (only one card and only given to the Rogue) aren't completely irrelevant (if Zoey also wants to play with the Green Thompson, you've likely hit the ideal use case for Teamwork), but for the most part it's far easier to play than Teamwork. And that's before we start going beyond Allies and Items. If all of Marie's arcane slots are filled, you can have Wendy grab a spare Shriveling or Leo grab a spare Mists of R'lyeh. You can get huge talents like Drawing Thin, Well-Prepared, and Pathfinder onto any Rogue. You can have Preston lock himself behind an upgraded Barricade and control the battlefield with Services. Even the most minor of applications, where you play a Dynamite Blast or Cunning Distraction that its owner can't afford, are a significant boon to the team. Getting card draw on top of that is almost ridiculous.
YOMO's speed and flexibility cannot be denied here. We've always been able to move high-level Items and Allies around with Teamwork, but it's a rather clunky process that ties up equipment slots. With YOMO, you can take those assets with a single action, and you're the only one who needs the spare equipment slot. Furthermore, you're not limited to Items and Allies: You can play any non-signature card that can be played except for events with specific triggers.
Here's an example: Lets say that Zoey and Finn think that it'd be fun for Finn to use the Telescopic Sight, using his natural evasiveness to bypass its downsides. With Teamwork, Zoey has to attach the Sight to her own weapon, get to the same space as Finn, and finally play Teamwork to transfer the weapon. This leaves her with two empty hand slots and potentially down however many resources she spent (though Finn can optionally transfer his own resources as compensation). With YOMO, Finn just needs to play the card while the Telescopic Sight is in Zoey's hand and attach it to his own weapon.
Of course, YOMO's limitations (only one card and only given to the Rogue) aren't completely irrelevant (if Zoey also wants to play with the Green Thompson, you've likely hit the ideal use case for Teamwork), but for the most part it's far easier to play than Teamwork. And that's before we start going beyond Allies and Items. If all of Marie's arcane slots are filled, you can have Wendy grab a spare Shriveling or Leo grab a spare Mists of R'lyeh. You can get huge talents like Drawing Thin, Well-Prepared, and Pathfinder onto any Rogue. You can have Preston lock himself behind an upgraded Barricade and control the battlefield with Services. Even the most minor of applications, where you play a Dynamite Blast or Cunning Distraction that its owner can't afford, are a significant boon to the team. Getting card draw on top of that is almost ridiculous.
Double, Double
One would think you'd normally avoid Macbeth references in a world where witches are very real and know Azathoth's phone number, yet here we are. This is the game's second level 4 Exceptional card, making it just as expensive as the game-changing Gold Pocket Watch. Does it deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as that card?
Yes. Yes it does. Once per turn, it lets you play any event twice. That means you essentially double the cost to double the effect. Now, it does cost a non-negligible 4 resources, but doubling a single Emergency Cache will almost cover that... and you won't be doubling a single Emergency Cache. You'll be doubling Hot Streaks, then using your massive savings to get some unparalleled action efficiency.
A doubled Sneak Attack lets you spend 4 resources to deal 4 testless damage in a single action. A doubled YOMO gets you two cards in one action from any player (and don't forget you can use YOMO to play an event and double that instead). If you have either of those Bonded Occult cards, you can double the spells for free. A doubled Daring Maneuver on a Green Thompson shot will hit just about any enemy for free. Red Tony and Preston can double Lucky to get a ludicrous +4 when they would fail. It's normally a little dangerous to double events with skill tests (as you do need to make the test twice), but doubling Marksmanship or most of Sefina's spells is easily worthwhile.
Its one downside is that it is Exceptional, and (unlike the Watch) you want to play it early. Unfortunate news indeed for Rogues, who suffer from terrible card draw. Still, by the time you're able to get this in your deck, your Seeker friend will be able to include No Stone Unturned (5), and this is a seriously nice candidate for that card.
Yes. Yes it does. Once per turn, it lets you play any event twice. That means you essentially double the cost to double the effect. Now, it does cost a non-negligible 4 resources, but doubling a single Emergency Cache will almost cover that... and you won't be doubling a single Emergency Cache. You'll be doubling Hot Streaks, then using your massive savings to get some unparalleled action efficiency.
A doubled Sneak Attack lets you spend 4 resources to deal 4 testless damage in a single action. A doubled YOMO gets you two cards in one action from any player (and don't forget you can use YOMO to play an event and double that instead). If you have either of those Bonded Occult cards, you can double the spells for free. A doubled Daring Maneuver on a Green Thompson shot will hit just about any enemy for free. Red Tony and Preston can double Lucky to get a ludicrous +4 when they would fail. It's normally a little dangerous to double events with skill tests (as you do need to make the test twice), but doubling Marksmanship or most of Sefina's spells is easily worthwhile.
Its one downside is that it is Exceptional, and (unlike the Watch) you want to play it early. Unfortunate news indeed for Rogues, who suffer from terrible card draw. Still, by the time you're able to get this in your deck, your Seeker friend will be able to include No Stone Unturned (5), and this is a seriously nice candidate for that card.
Wither
The level 0 version was essentially a "backup weapon" for Mystics, used mainly to knock an odd-health enemy to an even multiple of Shriveling (or Shards of the Void). The level 4 version doesn't really expand beyond that niche, but it becomes very good at it. The built-in skill boost helps it keep up with your other spells, and that -1 health can be crucial. Say you're fighting a 3-health enemy. You use Wither to knock it to 2 so you can Shrivel it. If you pull a special token, it effectively falls to 1 health, letting you finish it off with Wither and save the Shriveling charges. If the special token makes you fail, you still inflict the health penalty and still fulfill everything you wanted from your action (so long as the token effects don't reverse that somehow).
Its main problem is one it shares with its level 0 version: As great as it is in its niche, I'm not convinced that the niche itself is worthwhile. The Mystic class's main advantage is its flexibility. If you're devoting a significant chunk of your deck and two arcane slots just to fighting, you're limiting your flexibility. Essentially, you're drifting from a Mystic to an unreliable Guardian. It's very good at what it does, but, sadly, what it does isn't very good.
Its main problem is one it shares with its level 0 version: As great as it is in its niche, I'm not convinced that the niche itself is worthwhile. The Mystic class's main advantage is its flexibility. If you're devoting a significant chunk of your deck and two arcane slots just to fighting, you're limiting your flexibility. Essentially, you're drifting from a Mystic to an unreliable Guardian. It's very good at what it does, but, sadly, what it does isn't very good.
Sixth Sense
Now this is something special. Sixth Sense is already a great card at level 0. The upgraded version is downright fantastic. In addition to a very handy skill boost, its special token effect goes from situational to amazing. Essentially, pulling a symbol token when you'd pass regardless lets you grab a free extra clue from up to two locations away. Pulling a symbol token when you'd fail lets you grab some other location's shroud and succeed anyway. And since this card has hardly any restrictions on its uses, you're bound to trigger that extra effect multiple times over the scenario.
This card is obviously at its strongest in scenarios with sprawling maps that force you to keep moving or split up the party, such as In the Clutches of Chaos or most of TFA. You can also play around the bonus ability by deliberately leaving lone clues on locations, expecting to pick them up later with a lucky draw (this is usually a safe bet, barring major sealing shenanigans or a particularly bland chaos bag). If you fully expect your group to clear each location before moving on, you're probably better off with Rite of Seeking. For the most part, that makes Sixth Sense a poor upgrade in Dunwich that grows in value in later cycles.
This card is obviously at its strongest in scenarios with sprawling maps that force you to keep moving or split up the party, such as In the Clutches of Chaos or most of TFA. You can also play around the bonus ability by deliberately leaving lone clues on locations, expecting to pick them up later with a lucky draw (this is usually a safe bet, barring major sealing shenanigans or a particularly bland chaos bag). If you fully expect your group to clear each location before moving on, you're probably better off with Rite of Seeking. For the most part, that makes Sixth Sense a poor upgrade in Dunwich that grows in value in later cycles.
Lure
The level 1 version of this card was an obscure bit of Undimensioned and Unseen tech with little value outside that scenario. The upgraded version adds a range option that makes it a good deal more useful. In general, the simplest way to use this is to attach it to a hunter's location to delay it by one turn. That one turn can prove invaluable in low player counts.
Of course, the downside to that use case is that Hiding Spot already exists at a lower level. If you really need to stick around, you can just drop a Hiding Spot, spend your spare action investigating or gearing up, and cancel the hunter's attack that way. Sure, the hunter will still engage you, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. For starters, you're up one action, so you're ready to evade it. Secondly, you leave the enemy vulnerable to counterattack, whereas with Lure you need to move over to finish it off.
There are, however, a few scenarios where Lure is the better option:
Of course, the downside to that use case is that Hiding Spot already exists at a lower level. If you really need to stick around, you can just drop a Hiding Spot, spend your spare action investigating or gearing up, and cancel the hunter's attack that way. Sure, the hunter will still engage you, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. For starters, you're up one action, so you're ready to evade it. Secondly, you leave the enemy vulnerable to counterattack, whereas with Lure you need to move over to finish it off.
There are, however, a few scenarios where Lure is the better option:
- The hunter is Elite. Hiding Spot doesn't work on Elites. Lure (incredibly enough) does. This is less relevant for scenario bosses, since you often need to confront those, but there are plenty of Elites you just want to run from, such as the VIPs of Carcosa, the Harbinger of Valusia, the Spectral Watcher, etc.
- You really don't want to confront the hunter. Sure, you could use Hiding Spot and evade it later, but you already know that you're going to leave it on the field forever, and engaging it will just make you risk failed skill checks and potentially nasty forced effects. Examples include enemies with Vengeance, the Spectral Watcher (which is invincible and only wastes your resources), Maniacs, etc.
- You can delay the hunter by more than one turn thanks to the location layout.
- You're surrounded by hunters (generally from nasty spawn instructions or because, thanks to that second point, you've left some alive). You can then drop a Lure on one hunter and use an effect like Hiding Spot, Cat Burglar, or Esoteric Atlas to bypass another, delaying all of them.
- You've just got an absurd amount of hunters mobbing together, far more than you can deal with in one turn. I'm specifically thinking of Heart of the Elders and its snake swarms here, though other scenarios can also pull it off.
Whether you actually want to include Lure depends on how often you expect to run into one of those scenarios. It's a fairly safe bet in TFA, a decent bet in TCU, and more debatable in other campaigns.
Eucatastrophe
Last but not least, we have a new level 3 Survivor card with the rare power to cancel the autofail. If your skill value falls to zero (which automatically happens with an autofail), and an elder sign would succeed (which should be the case if you have any business taking the test), you flip that failure into a success.
Note that Eucatastrophe, unlike Stroke of Luck or Seal of the Elder Sign, doesn't guarantee success unless you've covered every token except for the autofail. You're not going to confidently attempt high-difficult tests with minimal commitment or anything. It's mostly just insurance against autofails and extremely large negative modifiers, preserving your momentum when terrible luck makes you flub a test you should have passed.
That said, such insurance can mean quite a lot when combined with other cards from the Survivor cardpool. If you have both Eucatastrophe and Lucky in hand, you can reverse both small failures and large ones. If you have the upgraded Oops, you can guarantee damage against all but the toughest of foes. If you're using the Old Hunting Rifle, Eucatastrophe may well be a key card; a tripled or quadrupled autofail is normally a crippling weakness, but Eucatastrophe mitigates that quite handily (turn that jam into a BLAM!), especially if you can recur it.
As far as individual investigators are concerned, Wendy likely doesn't need it thanks to her innate ability, and Mateo can take it but probably prefers to save up for Seal of the Elder Sign. For everyone else, it's solid. Yorick and Silas are especially interested, as they have powerful elder sign effects and are the most likely to use Old Hunting Rifle. Certain campaign effects can make Eucatasrophe more attractive: symbol tokens that can cause automatic failure (or very high negative values), lots of "fail by X" treacheries (where you can tank a slight failure but not a complete one), or multiple effects that reduce your skill value. It also becomes stronger at higher difficulties, where even a very good skill level can get zeroed out by a -8.
Note that Eucatastrophe, unlike Stroke of Luck or Seal of the Elder Sign, doesn't guarantee success unless you've covered every token except for the autofail. You're not going to confidently attempt high-difficult tests with minimal commitment or anything. It's mostly just insurance against autofails and extremely large negative modifiers, preserving your momentum when terrible luck makes you flub a test you should have passed.
That said, such insurance can mean quite a lot when combined with other cards from the Survivor cardpool. If you have both Eucatastrophe and Lucky in hand, you can reverse both small failures and large ones. If you have the upgraded Oops, you can guarantee damage against all but the toughest of foes. If you're using the Old Hunting Rifle, Eucatastrophe may well be a key card; a tripled or quadrupled autofail is normally a crippling weakness, but Eucatastrophe mitigates that quite handily (turn that jam into a BLAM!), especially if you can recur it.
As far as individual investigators are concerned, Wendy likely doesn't need it thanks to her innate ability, and Mateo can take it but probably prefers to save up for Seal of the Elder Sign. For everyone else, it's solid. Yorick and Silas are especially interested, as they have powerful elder sign effects and are the most likely to use Old Hunting Rifle. Certain campaign effects can make Eucatasrophe more attractive: symbol tokens that can cause automatic failure (or very high negative values), lots of "fail by X" treacheries (where you can tank a slight failure but not a complete one), or multiple effects that reduce your skill value. It also becomes stronger at higher difficulties, where even a very good skill level can get zeroed out by a -8.
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