Look at the wording on Nephthys - I know we can't quite see everything, but she seals tokens to her and features both bits of wording.

Some interesting cards in the preview for The Lair of Dagon - along with some "we're filling out a certain cycle" cards. The 4XP equivalents to Physical Training and Arcane Studies for Rogue, Seeker and Survivor, putting the classes back in balance again. I quite like these, as they can repay the resource cost on the turn they're used, but it can be a challenge finding a spot for them in a deck. Nephthys, a 4XP Guardian Ally who interacts with drawn Bless tokens Favor of the Sun, a Neutral Pact Asset that also interacts with Bless tokens Favor of the Moon, the dark opposite of Favor of the Moon - as you'd expect, really. The Stygian Moon, which I imagine could be a key card for a Seeker Curse deck Flute of the Outer Gods, an Exceptional Mystic Relic that needs Curse tokens and a Hand slot to mess with non-Elite enemies, without causing AoO. I do see two bits of terminology on cards from this pack that I just want to double-check my interpretation of - there are references to "releasing" sealed Bless/Curse tokens, and returning such tokens to the Chaos bag. As the release wording makes no reference of the bag, am I safe to assume that such tokens go back to the pools of 10 of each you have available, rather than going back into the bag itself? Haven't made use of the B/C mechanic yet myself, so just want to get these things straight.

If it has the set symbol, and is counted amongst the cards from the set, then it stays with the set, for me.

First time it's happened to me - sure, I've used Improvised Weapon when needed before when the group has needed something spiked, but never chased down a boss that was trying to run away... OK, Cornered being in play, plus a hand with Reckless Assault and Last Chance may have had something to do with the ploy working, but it was still funny to take it down with basic Fight actions. Turned out I was more at risk when I used Improvised Weapon from the bin the preceding turn, making the attack merely at +1 - and even on Standard, the bag doesn't normally smile on such chances in TDE.

We finished campaign B of Dream Eaters last night - while it took a while for Patrice to get going, as St. Hubert's Key was hiding from me, once she was in fully-operational mode (well, minus one Cornered), I was able to take care of business in Acts 2 & 3. Dexter, on the other hand, was having terrible luck with Clairvoyance and Azure Wrath (repeatedly pulling the tokens that hurt him), as well as pulling the auto-fail on what would otherwise have been a very useful Storm of Spirits... Didn't even phase Patrice when the BBG spawned on her in Act 3 - evade tanked it for two turns while dropping damage with Improvised Weapon and a scenario ability, followed by chasing it down when it moved off, and beating it to deal with her violin - he was on his Last Chance with her last attack, but it is amazing what 5 ? icons and a +2 skill value can do to an attack...

I think it depends on your group, and which side of the equation you're going to fall on - a Bless deck is more likely to be seen as favorable than a Curse build, for example. I'd say it is worth talking about before you start the campaign, and see if anyone else is interested in trying the mechanic out. There's also a case to be made for some characters from before Innsmouth that Bless or Curse is a thematic mechanic - Father Mateo, for example, or Zoey could be built as examples of Blessed characters, while Calvin seems fairly Cursed. It's also worth noting that we're only halfway through the block, so there will undoubtedly be more ways to interact with the tokens as the remaining Mythos packs emerge from the depths. It's part of the reason why it has been tricky to come to conclusions about the cards in each set. I don't know about Allonym, but I suspect a Bless/Curse retrospective at the end of the block could be an interesting exercise. I will say I haven't used any of the cards myself yet, but then I've been playing a Dream Eaters campaign with Akachi and Patrice, so they didn't really fit (and came out after we started, as I recall). I don't think the mechanic looks too tricky to use, though - just need to be aware of the triggers for adding or removing tokens from the bag.

I'm not Allonym, but I'll take a gander at the new cards from Devil Reef, having picked the pack up yesterday. Outside of the Rogue cards, most of the interesting cards had already been previewed. I will echo Allonym's point on the Bless/Curse cards - until the full cycle is released, we can't say with 100% certainty which will be good and which will be bad. Take any opinion on them with a pinch of salt. But, anyway, here're some thoughts... Guardian Keen Eye - 0XP We continue the cycle started in the solo investigator packs, with 0XP versions of cards we already have as Permanents. Now taking up space in your deck, and costing you 2 resources to play, we get the exact same ability we get at 3XP - we can trade resources 2:1 for skill bumps in Fight or Intellect for the rest of the phase. In terms of mirroring the 3XP versions, this is on par with Scrapper, but better than Higher Education or Streetwise, where the stat bumps are less efficient at 0XP. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of Keen Eye compared to Physical Training when Keen Eye is a Permanent - the resource-to-reward for the buffs seemed too high. Now as an Asset I have to pay for to get into play, and pay the same for the buffs? Not to mention actually see in my hand at some point? That's a no from me, especially when Guardians still generally have resource issues. Radiant Smite - 1XP - Bless/Curse Radiant Smite is probably one of the easier B/C cards to judge, given it doesn't rely on the tokens you draw for its effect. As long as there are three Bless tokens in the bag to be sealed on the card, you make an attack at +3 to hit, and +3 damage - that's pretty hefty for 1 resource. And depending on the deck, there may be an Ally in this pack who'll help you with your set-up. If you're playing a deck - or with a group - that will be adding Bless tokens to the bag regularly, this is probably a good card for you to consider. There is the potential downside of losing the Bless tokens if you miss, but given the size of the bonus you get from the spell itself, you're probably looking at an attack where only the auto-fail misses. Because of the choice of stats to attack from, I think there's only Carolyn from the Guardian pool where you're starting with a stat of 3 with this card, so as long as there's enough Bless token generation in your deck/group, it's probably worth consideration, at least. Seeker The Truth Beckons - 0XP Seeker movement tech, you say? That's always interesting. Being able to potentially move from one end of the map to the other can be very handy, depending on the scenario, though the fact you're physically moving through locations could lead to a number of unfortunate tests - I might not want this in TFA, for example. Because of its restrictions, it could be seen as a bit situational, but so long as you've checked your route before you use it, you should be fine - I'm not sure how many locations you have to get as a bonus to offset one action and one resource, but I'd guess moving three locations minimum is somewhat efficient. Having the Insight keyword means people who're interested in Joe Diamond might want to give it extra consideration - if it is in the hunch deck you get additional randomness on when it shows up, but equally you don't then have to pay anything to use the action. Being able to react to an enemy spawn could be very valuable indeed. I don't think it works, off the top of my head, but it'd be amusing if you could trigger Ursula's reaction mid-move. I'm pretty sure you can't reaction to take an action in the middle of another action, but you could still use the reaction at your destination location for the extra investigation. Gaze of Ouraxsh - 2XP - Bless/Curse A more typical B/C card, given drawing Curse tokens is required to get this event to kick at full potency. There are a number of elements to this I like - being able to split damage as needed is handy, as is not generating an AoO while using an Event. It's also testless damage, which is pretty handy for a Seeker - a class not lauded for its skill of arms. On the other hand, you need to have a lot of Curse tokens in the bag for this to not be a damp squib, and that definitely has the potential to make you unpopular with the rest of your group, especially if they're not engaging with the Curse mechanic themselves. At full power - 10 Curses in the bag - you're looking at around 1/3 tokens drawn being a Curse or auto-fail. That means that if you get that many tokens into the bag, you're looking at this doing ~3 damage - but it could spike as high as 8 if you're really lucky. Honestly not sure what to make of this one. Rogue Priest of Two Faiths - 1XP - Bless/Curse An interesting Ally, this one - cheap, for the soak he provides, and also helping you get a burst of Bless into the bag quickly. On the other hand, as time goes on his other allegiance comes into play, and a dark shadow extends over the chaos bag. Even without the B/C antics, 2/2 for 1 resource is a handy Ally to have. He has some cross-class synergy - free for Leo, for example - as well as keyword synergy. He might be useful for Father Mateo, but I'm not sure. Dropping 3 Bless tokens into the bag is useful, and probably worth his cost on its own - and if that's all you want him for, you can ditch him at the end of the turn without the Curse side coming into play. If you want to keep him around as soak, though, then you'll be poisoning the bag for everyone. I suspect this guy is quite nicely designed, in all honesty. Under Surveillance - 1XP This is a weird one, and not a card I'm that keen on at the moment. 3 resources to attach something to your location that triggers on non-Elite enemies, evading them (without them being able to ready next upkeep) and granting you a clue if there are any at the location. I can see some use cases for it - slowing down certain Hunter enemies, for example - but unless you know what's coming up in the Encounter deck, it seems far to easy to play this... to no effect. At least it doesn't appear to vanish if you leave the location, or at the end of the turn, though I guess this opens the way to some interesting questions about what happens if you're elsewhere when it goes off. I think the enemy would still be evaded, but would you still get the clue (if there was one there)? Mystic Blood Pact - 0XP ...and to round out the Talent set, here's everyone's favorite Doom sink, now in 0XP, 2 resource cost mode. And unlike Keen Eye, the bonus you get for each Doom has been reduced by 1, so for the potential cost of a turn on the agenda, you get +2 to one check. Obviously, for a Mystic being able to get more Will icons is always handy, though the Fight side of things is probably less useful. You can still use Moonlight Ritual to clear the Doom if you need to, and there are certain decks - hello, Marie - which will appreciate a way to get a Doom into play when they need it. On the other hand, you now have to luck into drawing the thing, and pay to put it into play - though the Spell keyword does allow for some discount options there - as well as generating that Doom to use it. The costs have gone up, and both the reliability and benefits have gone down. If you weren't keen on the 3XP version, I wouldn't touch the 0XP version either. Abyssal Tome - 2XP This is an interesting one. I'm wary of player cards which increase the amount of Doom in play, as you may have gathered from my thoughts on Blood Pact. A bit like Sword Cane, though, this is a way for Mystics to attack off Will without needing a spell, which definitely opens up options - would I risk running around with it set to one Doom, for +1/+1 on each attack? Maybe. Being a Tome, it's also an option for Daisy, while as an XP Mystic card Norman can run it as well - and both of those might enjoy the chance to hurt people with their brains, though both have competition for their hand/Tome slots already. I can see a few characters who might want to try this as an option, even if they never put Doom on it - about half the Mystics, or the two Seekers I mention above, will be attacking on a 5 in that case, and most of the rest will be using a 4. Hmm... Survivor Butterfly Effect - 1XP This feels very Survivor-y, in the sense of doing something at the last minute to offset what the bag has done to you and potentially pull a success out of a failure - or, at least, getting to the point where you fail by just enough to trigger half your hand. I like the flexibility it gives, too - if you pull a good symbol, you can remove a card you committed that you don't need, while if you pull a negative symbol you can commit more to force the issue. I'm not 100% certain, but I think this would allow you to commit a second card to someone else's check if you hadn't already done so, which is an interesting option - though you can't use it to let others help your check. Being a Survivor, you're on your own. Patrice normally has the skill cards to take advantage of this, but then you need everything to line up between the hand you draw that turn and the checks people need to make, along with drawing a symbol from the bag - other characters with Survivor access would probably find this more useful, as at least you can hold onto it until it is needed. Also, as another Blessed card, we find Father Mateo's out-of-class pool expanding a bit. Third Time's a Charm - 2XP Another piece of bag manipulation tech for Survivors to take advantage of. I like this one quite a bit, though I'm not sure who I'd run it in - giving a crucial skill check three chances at their draw, even if the bag effectively resets each time, feels really strong. Even on a higher difficulty, I'd imagine that gives you good odds on getting a reasonable token, even if it is still likely to be a negative. Someone may need to crunch some numbers here... As with Butterfly Effect, TTaC gives your group quite a bit of flexibility on passing a check, though you do need to take care of your timing windows on both cards. 1 resource seems pretty cheap for this effect. I'd hoped the keyword might open some interesting cross-class synergy beyond the usual suspects, but Calvin is apparently the only Investigator so far looking at Spirits - and he has access to it anyway. Neutral Manipulate Destiny - 2XP - Bless/Curse Our final card is a new spell, that takes advantage of B/C tokens in the bag to either damage enemies or heal friendly Investigators or Ally cards. Having checked the Innsmouth campaign guide, as this isn't a skill test, you're not burning B/C tokens to power the effect, which is handy. No AoO on an Event is always useful, too. For 1 resource, ending up being able to do 2 damage or heal 2 damage feels useful mid-game, though the random nature means you can't really rely on what result you're getting - unless the bag is getting stacked one way or another with B/C tokens. To maximise the potential you need someone to hurt and someone to heal at the same location, so at least there is no wasted potential. If you're not using B/C mechanics, this is a coin-flip as to which outcome you get. If your deck is using either of the token types, then you can lean towards that outcome - but due to the nature of the chaos bag, don't rely on it, as you know it'll generate the other token just to mess with you...

If we're just talking the core set, then the two signature weaknesses with player card types are actually those belonging to Daisy and Agnes - Wendy has a standard Treachery Weakness as a signature. Daisy's weakness is still an Asset, even though it has Revelation text which instructs you to put it into play when you draw it. All the Basic Weakness cards in Core are either Treachery or Enemy, so you don't have to worry about them. However, once you start to broaden your Basic Weakness pool with cards from other cycles, you may find weakness with player card types amongst those you might draw... And, of course, various characters - end even some items - may bring player card type weaknesses into your deck should you use them.

Different elements have different costs. Let's take this back to first principles... In order to play a non-Fast asset or event, you need to use the Play action. Putting the asset into play (or triggering the event) costs you that action, plus an appropriate number of resources. In the case of playing Sword Cane from hand normally, that's one action and two resources. Sword Cane then features both a reaction, and an additional action that allows you to do a Fight or Evade on a non-traditional stat. We'll come back to the latter in a moment. The reaction triggers after Sword Cane is in play, by which point we've paid the action cost and the resource cost. The reaction directs us to the action on Sword Cane, and allows us to use its ability without paying the cost. Let's look at that ability... Firstly, it has the standard action symbol, so normally when using this it would use one of our three Actions for the turn. Following that, as you identified, we have a secondary cost of exhausting the weapon, before we get to what the action does - namely, Fight or Evade off Will, which is always useful for a Mystic. Put all that together, and assuming we're not using Dexter Drake's ability, here's how it goes: Trigger Play action, paying costs (one action, two resources) while ignoring Attacks of Opportunity. React to this using the built-in reaction. Use the Action on the card to either Fight or Evade, but without needing to exhaust the card or pay an additional action. At this stage you could use the printed Action on Sword Cane again, at a cost of one of your three actions, and exhausting Sword Cane. Hope that's a bit clearer for you, chief.

Looking at Armageddon, you're performing a Fight action off Will, for +1 damage natively. Not bad, but it doesn't really live up to the card name On the 0XP version we currently have access to - as I think we're due to see more down the line - the wording is quite specific. Normally when there's a multiple trigger, we'd see "For each [curse] token that is revealed..." as a trigger for the second part, while this version just has "If a [curse] token is revealed...", which leads me to agree with Henryillusion that you only get the additional effect once, regardless of how many [curse] tokens get chained together in one draw. As an example of wording that can trigger more than once, check out Voice of Ra.

Yes. There's nothing on the Sword Cane card itself that means that playing it normally doesn't use the standard Play action, which costs one of your three actions for the turn. As you've probably noticed, you don't have to worry about an Attack of Opportunity, which is handy if you're planning on using it to Evade. Once it has entered play, you can immediately take the reaction to use the printed ability to exhaust it and either Fight or Evade as required. As the reaction states this doesn't use an action, you're getting it as a free action at that moment in time. Caveat - Given you've been asking about Dexter a lot, I'll point out that if you use his character ability to put Sword Cane into play, it doesn't cost you the Play action, you get the discounted cost, and can still trigger the reaction for the free Fight or Evade.

Exactly - there's a reason people aren't keen on Delve Too Deep being used in scenarios where Ancient Evils abound...

There's also a key phrase to look for with cards which add Doom to the agenda - and Ancient Evils is the prime example of it. Some Mythos cards which add Doom to the agenda include the phrase "This effect may cause the current agenda to advance." Cards with this phrase can trigger an agenda advance outside of the expected sequence. To take the chain of cards you described as an example, you started drawing encounter cards at 2 Doom, and saw a pair of cards that added Doom to that agenda, but in a sequence that didn't trigger it. Had your first Investigator drawn the Acolyte, and your second drawn Ancient Evils, it would've triggered the Agenda change in that phase, two turns earlier than might be expected.

Before Dark Revelations, I think those two were the most recent of the novellas. We've seen at least one reprint cycle of the first novellas, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the more recent ones get reprinted as well - however, I don't think FFG have said anything either way regarding novella reprints at this time. Of course, it'd help if their initial print runs on these weren't so damned small...

Also, brolim - if you're going to continue to play Silas, look up the Skill Test timing chart on pages 26 & 27 of the Rules Reference document Someone might correct me here, but I believe Silas' character ability would trigger at ST.3 or ST.4, as the card shouldn't be present in time for ST.5. Overpowered would trigger on ST.7, while Amanda's ability would trigger on ST.8. Aside - whoever thought having Amanda and Mandy as characters - in the same class, no less! - needs someone to "have a word" with them. Talk about needless confusion...

In Silas' case, when you use his reaction bounce the skill card back to your hand you're doing it before the relevant point in the timing of a skill test for effects like the one on Overpowered to register a trigger. You've got the advantage of seeing if your check can pass - or fail by the right amount, given he's a Survivor - before you decide if losing the card from your hand is worthwhile. In Amanda's case, the card basically gains a "When this skill test ends, return this card to under your character card" ability, which you would trigger after Overpowered realises the test was successful and that you have to draw a card.

Played Point of No Return from Dream-Eaters last night, with our non-Taboo group of Tommy (lead), Dexter, Trish and my Patrice (initially Desperate, and now Versatile). Didn't end up getting my camera out, but Quantum Flux was there in my last hand to avoid that horror damage - while the Watcher was in play on the table, so he didn't go back into my deck. On the other hand, I "made a friend" during the scenario, which meant that after I used Deny Existence on the Watcher's Hunter attack, I was able to banish it back to its own dimension - the discard pile - which I found amusing. Shame I don't get to keep my friend, though. Made it through the scenario pretty handily - Trish is a bit nuts when it comes to getting clues, and Dexter has his moments too. I was on general support and whatever my hand felt like helping me with on a given turn - though with a 51 card deck, you'd think I'd manage to avoid multiple turns where I pulled two copies of the same card...

I'm not sure what you mean by Hydro - was your initial draw a blessed token, into a second blessed token, into the Elder Sign? Assuming that's the case, you're on a +4 from the tokens. Elder Sign lets you commit a skill card to the test from the bin, so that checks out. Assuming you'd not already used Silas' reaction to bounce a card back to hand, that seems fine. As far as I'm aware ManDex's card draw would still trigger. I don't see anything wrong with what happened there, though it's a fairly unlikely series of events.

I take it you're referring to the top ability on Duke: Loyal Hound? A couple of points here - firstly, the action doesn't increase Pete's Fight stat by two, it replaces it with Duke's stat of 4 - a minor difference, but an important one. Secondly, the Fight stat change and damage bonus are specific to the Fight action which you get from using Duke in that way. After the action resolves, you revert to using Pete's Fight value. Fire Axe would have no effect on this Fight action. If you had anyone with a static +Fight bonus, like Jessica Hyde, then I believe that modifier would apply to the attack.

Aye, your sequence for this set-up would be: Draw opening hand Set aside any weaknesses in your opening hand, drawing new cards from the deck to replace them Decide on how many cards you wish to mulligan, placing those with any discarded weaknesses Set aside any weaknesses from your post-mulligan hand, drawing new cards from the deck to replace them Congratulations - you now have your opening hand! Shuffle any weaknesses or cards discarded to your mulligan back into the deck In the case of this scenario, assuming the correct note is in your campaign log, discard two cards from your hand at random into your discard pile Assuming you're playing core set only, that should cover everything. Once you start adding cards in from outside core, there may be elements that can change how things go here.

Can't say I blame you for that approach, phillos - there's a reason I'm not planning on playing Luke any time soon

When it comes to Asset cards, the game is (normally) really good at delineating between no action, free triggered ability, reaction and actual action, depending on the symbol used on the card. Wendy's Amulet is a good example of a "no action required" situation, though the "as if" element of the wording has the potential to generate tricky situations. Admittedly, playing a card "as if" it is in your hand is probably the least complicated of these scenarios. Daisy's Tote Bag is another example of an Asset with a constant rule on it - get it in play, and have even more books to read while the Guardian kills things... The useful side of Sophie gives us an Asset with a free triggered ability on it - that squiggle replaces a lot of text. You can use this ability in any player window, as long as you're able (and willing) to pay the cost. Heirloom of Hyperborea, on the other hand, gives you a reaction trigger - whenever X happens, you may do Y. In this case, it makes playing a spell an action that replenishes your hand, which is often handy for Mystics. Roland's .38 Special would be a classic example of an asset with an actual action on it, as indicated by the solid arrow. To use it, spend an ammo, then follow the sequence for a Fight action. Simples. Some Assets may also be Fast, like Finn's Trusty .38 - that makes getting them into play a Fast Action, meaning they can be played during any player window, and won't provoke an Attack of Opportunity, but the Fast nature will normally have no effect on the action on the asset, if there is one. You want to shoot someone with Finn's gun, it has the same action cost as Roland's.

No worries - I had a similar issue with a "missing" card when I was learning to play solo with the starter. Ended up hitting Google to see where this card was, or whether it was actually missing. I now make a point, when I open the cards from a campaign box, to get all the encounter sets together before I do anything else with it.

I've just taken a look at my copy of Innsmouth, as I hadn't taken the cards out of the plastic yet - they have player card backs, and come immediately after the Basic Weaknesses in the pack which leads with a copy of Tempt Fate. If they aren't with your encounter set for The Vanishing of Elena Harper (which they should be, as the set symbol in the top right indicates they're part of that set), maybe they're in with your weaknesses? @Mimi61 - If that's the card I think it is, doesn't it say to only pick one more if you draw an additional copy during one Mythos phase, rather than two more? Can't remember the title right now, or I'd double-check.

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