A Watchful Peace · ArkhamDB

Paz vigilante

Evento

Espíritu. Bendecido.

Coste: 1. PX: 3.

Superviviente

Como coste adicional para jugar Paz vigilante, busca en la bolsa de caos y/o en cartas en juego un total de 5 fichas y devuélvelas a la reserva de fichas.

Rápido. Juega esta carta cuando fuese a comenzar el paso de «robar cartas de Encuentro» de la fase de Mitos.

Sáltate este paso de la fase de Mitos.

Romana Kendelic

La guarida de Dagón #269.

Latest Taboo

This card's ability gains: "Remove A Watchful Peace from the game."

FAQs

No faqs yet for this card.

Reviews

EDIT: A WATCHFUL PEACE IS GONE (CRAB EMOJI)

Taboo, please.

How to ruin the game: Pick Stella or Silas.

Upgrade into 2x Quick Learner, 2x Drawing Thin, Grisly Totem, Signum Crucis, 2x A Watchful Peace.

Add even more draw to set up faster.

When the drawing thins and totem are down and you have a signum and peace in hand: do the hardest possible test on your first action, increasing its difficulty by 6, adding 8-10 . You fail, so Signum Crucis comes back to hand, and you have an infinite bless generator. Use survivor BS (Resourceful, True Survivor, Eucatastrophe for Silas) to recur A Watchful Peace nearly every round.

Already tested this personally with Stella, and around the halfway point in the scenario we just stop drawing encounter cards, only faltering once or twice when my recursion is exhausted - but I draw through my deck so fast that I get the pieces back quickly. It gets quite boring. Compare this to Hallow - that card wants 10 just to pause the clock, but this card eliminates threats completely, so doom doesn't even matter because nothing comes to slow your progress on objectives.

3/29/21

Erdjo · 323

So a five card combo with two permanents totalling 27xp is good, stop the presses! But seriously you have to build an really specific deck, generate a ton of blessing, have a whole bunch of sacred covenants to insure you don't just draw out all your blessings, and this allows prevention of encounter phase, but seems like with this much effort constantly being spent you probably could just solve anyones encounters anyway. — Zerogrim · 292 3/29/21

I’m with Iron on this one- this is an incredibly easy and efficient card to use and reuse. 5 bless is hardly an ask when Keep Faith already gets you 4/5 of the way there. You don’t need all the combo pieces for this to be exploited. This card was an instant taboo as soon as I saw it. But the good news is, it’s pretty easy to fix. Just have it remove from game, done. Because the real abuse of this card is that you can feasibly stop every encounter draw with disproportionately low effort. Skipping one draw is already worth picking this card up, because encounter draws are the main method the game uses to stop you from winning. — StyxTBeuford · 12985 3/29/21

This card is so dumb. Even if you restrain yourself and recur it just a couple times per scenario it's still way too strong in my opinion. And of course it is possible to recur it far more than that. I'm really surprised this card made it to print like this. — CaiusDrewart · 3125 3/30/21

Mistakes happen. Like I said, this is probably the easiest taboo ever- RFG puts this card exactly where it needs to be imo. — StyxTBeuford · 12985 3/30/21

Agreed. Maybe they could take the opportunity to reign in some of these recursion loops at the same time... — CaiusDrewart · 3125 3/30/21

Yeah, I'm with you on "playing this card every turn is dumb" but the problem isn't this card, it's that survivor can pick 2 survivor events of pretty much any cost, and play them every turn. That engine is what needs taking apart (forbidden taboo on drawing thin shuts it down massively, for example — NarkasisBroon · 10 3/30/21

@Zerogrim - I don't see what point you're trying to make. What does the amount of xp have anything to do with what this card is capable of? It's not like these 5 cards are your entire deck; you still have a lot of room for fighting and cluing and whatever else you're interested in doing. And "needing a bunch of covenants" is completely wrong, it's very rare that people will draw out all the blesses you've added. And you can just go last every round. — Erdjo · 323 3/30/21

"survivor can pick 2 survivor events of pretty much any cost, and play them every turn" I feel kinda dense, but I don't understand how that's done. I can see 1 event with Silas, 2 times with 0xp cards, and 2 times with any survivor cards. I must be missing something as I don't see where Drawing Thin comes in. — khoshekh · 5 3/30/21

@khoshekh Resourceful can be recurred with True Survivor. Silas can Eucatastrophe and occasionally just elder sign his Resourcefuls. — Erdjo · 323 3/30/21

@khoshekh DT serves as huge card draw and as a way to add +4 difficulty to add a huge amount of blesses every turn with Signum Crucis. — Erdjo · 323 3/30/21

Yeah Drawing Thin's effects are subtle but massive. Being able to force any test into almost certainly a fail makes take heart so much more powerful, and massively powers up grisly totem 3 and lucky rabbit's foot 3. Any survivor with 3 XP (9 if you play taboo) can have 2 drawing thins and a grisly totem 3 down, and take heart in hand. This means as an action they can go "I'll investigate this location, it's shroud 2 so I'll make it difficulty 6, commit take heart and trigger grisly totem, I fail because I'm books 2, so I can gain 4 resources or draw 2 cards from drawing thin, gain 2 resources and draw 2 cards from take heart, and use grisly totems ability to return take heart to hand after the test fails. So now every turn I can, as an action, draw 4 cards and gain 2 resources, or draw 2 cards and gain 6 resources. Then at 6xp (12 with taboo) you add in a copy of true survivor which can recur 2 copies of resourceful, and another skill for 3 resources, and those resourceful a can recur true survivor and any other survivor card, so you can use that other card every time you run through the loop. And then you add in the other survivor recursion abilities, which are many and varied. The reason drawing thin is what makes the difference is that it provides a draw engine, a resource engine, and a way to guarantee really difficult tests which survivor thrives on. Honestly if drawing thin didn't give cards or resources, just allowed you to increase the difficulty by 2 once per turn it would still be really powerful — NarkasisBroon · 10 3/30/21

Drawing Thin is tabood already and not the issue here. It’s as Iron is saying- True Survivor, Resourceful, Silas’ ability, etc. — StyxTBeuford · 12985 3/30/21

Do you even need to recur this for it to be stupidly powerful? Even played once, it's four ward of protection (5) in a single card. The bless requirement is just a formality in the class with the best bless generation. It's only natural that recurring an incredibly strong card becomes stupidly broken, so I don't think it's the recursion that's the problem, it's just this card being over the top. — suika · 9389 3/30/21

I think the topic of recursion is important here because it is the main enabler for a lot of good cards being pushed into taboo discussions. But I do think that conversation is one that exists outside of just this card. I agree that Watchful Peace is already a 3XP worthwhile card if it worked exactly once per game. — StyxTBeuford · 12985 3/30/21

I also wouldnt say it’s directly equivalent to 4 wards. You play Ward in response to a draw, you play this without knowing what you’re avoiding, and presumably you will draw them next turn (if this worked only once). — StyxTBeuford · 12985 3/30/21

I'd say a good comparable for this card's effect is the Gold Pocket Watch--you don't get the Doom prevention, but you do get what is usually important effect of that card. So, I expect this to be really good for 3 XP, even if played as a one-off. — CaiusDrewart · 3125 3/30/21

*usually the most important effect, I mean to say. — CaiusDrewart · 3125 3/30/21

@BigIron because XP is measure of power, if a combo takes say 100XP it doesn't matter how good it is, no one can play it, if you can break the game at 0XP Taboo should approach without question, so there is a line there, how much XP do you have to spend to break the game before its fair, because wendy's 2XP break never got taboo'd and it requires a fraction of the setup this does. — Zerogrim · 292 3/30/21

Right, I get that. It is fair to say that a broken combo deck that takes say 30 XP to run a crazy combo is a different story from any single card breaking the game. Watchful Peace is absolutely in the latter category though. Resourceful just to play this 4 times per deck cycle instead of 2 is really strong value for little effort (essentially no actual action expenditure) and very little XP investment at all. — StyxTBeuford · 12985 3/30/21

Yeah, 9/10ths of a GPW - that doesn't remove itself from the game - for about 1/3 the cost feels broken. Never mind that the bless token "cost" is completely negligible in a deck that's interested in this. — SGPrometheus · 809 3/30/21

generating 20 blessing and then spending them on peace is not trivial to get those four peaces, especially in a multiplayer game where you would be denying anyone else using blessings for your combo to work. — Zerogrim · 292 3/30/21

& You still get a doom. — MrGoldbee · 1443 3/30/21

@StyxTBeuford, in response to "It’s as Iron is saying- True Survivor, Resourceful, Silas’ ability, etc". And how do you pay for true survivor and watchful peace every turn (4 resources, while simultaneously getting 5 blesses in the bag (1 or more of your actions) and playing true survivor (another of your actions) leaving basically one action spare per turn for economy. Because I'm pretty sure you pay for it with Drawing thin. Drawing thin is the reason Silas can 1. Have the draw to get all the pieces of the combo. 2. Have the economy to keep the combo going, and 3. Put 5 blesses in the bag every turn with signum crucis. — NarkasisBroon · 10 3/30/21

I was just referring to recursion in general. You can recur a lot without needing to pay for all of it immediately, recursion is still very strong. I’m not advocating for a Resourceful ban or anything like that, I’m just pointing out the strength of recursion is what makes cards like this that dont RFG worth looking more carefully at. — StyxTBeuford · 12985 3/31/21

I promise you DT is not required to make recursion worthwhile, nor do you need every combo peace to make recurring things a good idea. — StyxTBeuford · 12985 3/31/21

Piece* — StyxTBeuford · 12985 3/31/21

I actually doubt that RFG will balance this without an additional Chain or a limit X per game. Multiple investigators can play this card, after all. — suika · 9389 3/31/21

suika might have the right of it, maybe it has Delve Too Deep's (max twice per game) mutation — NarkasisBroon · 10 3/31/21

Stupid sexy Silas! — Zinjanthropus · 227 4/2/21

Limit twice per game is likely, as thematically investigators shouldn't have this much power over the Mythos. Sylas can effectively turn off the mythos deck, at which point its just a game of pick up the clues while Sylas repeats a combo. — darkernectron · 8 6/18/21

This card finally confirms my suspicions that Silas in a shirt is a force stronger than the woodwinds used to keep the Blind Idiot God asleep or a legion of federal marshals at your back.

I love this game, but I'm not sure how this card made it to print. As others have pointed out, I think this would be perfectly fine if it had a Remove From Game clause attached to it--though even then I think it'd be a steal. Hell, I think this card would see play if were exiled after use and max once per game like a certain other red-flavored card. It's that good.

I'm playing Mary in my blind run of Innsmouth and one of the other players is running Silas. On a whim he grabbed a couple copies of this, and, without any real attempt to abuse it, we nearly trivialized the first scenario it hit the table. About halfway through that same scenario we agreed to house-rule the RFG clause, because it's just too easy for survivor to keep this jank going, even for a bunch of scrubs like us. If I can break it, I know we're in trouble.

Anyway, looking forward to the taboo version of this otherwise quite fun and powerful card. My OCD, though, will remain forever tweaked that "RFG" was never properly printed on this card. Somehow.

3/31/21

Sandmole · 41

A Watchful Peace ironically has caused quite an uproar! — StyxTBeuford · 12985 3/31/21

I just wish it were due Silas' stunning physique and wistful gaze, not a degenerate game effect! — Sandmole · 41 3/31/21

To be fair, I think it was equally lauded for it's sex appeal as it was panned for it's bustedness — Zinjanthropus · 227 4/2/21

The most powerful card in the game

The payoff for playing this card is gigantic, especially in higher player counts. In a 4 player game it skips a minimum of 4 encounter cards, and sometimes more because of surge effects. It works no matter the type of encounter card either, so perils and enemies are indiscriminately blasted from existence.

You could argue that you don't get to choose the encounter cards you want to cancel, and that you're not really cancelling them but instead delaying them. Both those points are true, but ultimately every time you play this card in a 4 player game you're seeing 4+ less encounter cards during the scenario.

When played early you get incredible tempo setting up and getting ahead of the game. Played late you get certainty in closing out the scenario or pushing for more victory points.

What's the cost of this incredibly powerful effect you ask?

1 resource
5 bless tokens

Now Survivors might not have the most powerful economy but 1 resource is a pitiful amount even for them!

Ah, but it costs 5 tokens, those must be difficult to come by at least? Nope, turns out blessing generation is incredibly easy. Even in class Survivors have great access to easy low cost generation with:

and also the neutral:

Tempt Fate (0)

It's fairly trivial to keep the chaos bug stuffed full of tokens all game with very little investment.

But wait, this card is in Survivor , a class with a primary mechanic of card recursion. Even with a simple 0xp investment of 2x Resourceful and 2 x Scrounge for Supplies, both already commonly played cards, you can play this 6 x per deck rotation. With further Survivor shenanigans you'll be able to replay it much more than that.

Not only is the effect incredibly powerful it's also very un-fun, Arkham is a game of fighting against the odds and battling against adversity. You'll occasionally be able to breath a sigh of relief as your Mystic plays a Ward of Protection against an Ancient Evils. However, this card allows you to pretty much skip the challenges that game would try and throw at you.

It's so powerful that if you're only aim is to win then I can't see any Survivor deck not spending their first 6xp on 2 copies of this. I don't know what happened in the balance meeting when this card was discussed. I can only assume that it was thought that generation would be much harder than it actually is, as a number of bless based card in this cycle seem way overtuned. Once you realise bless generation is trivial this card is obviously busted just by reading the text box.

Summary:

Incredibly powerful effect
Very low setup and cost to play
No downsides
Easily recurred

Absolutely needs taboo, completely game breaking.

4/25/21

bobblenator · 461

Most powerful card in the game? It's not called Gold Pocketwatch, although they forgot the "exile after use" clause until errata. — Mataza · 19 7/22/21

This card does seem like it will be highly OP in most cases when there is no VP in the encounter deck. Our group would do everything possible to get every VP that comes onto the table, even if it has not been drawn. For those scenarios when all VP is in play, this would be great late game. I do agree that using it constantly like Big Iron mentioned would make it boring, to a degree, but having other ways to mitigate the encounter deck is always a plus. This would make TCU significantly easier now since only one person can start with this bad boy off the bat. I am happy my boy Mateo just getting more cards from other classes he can use with reliable use.

3/30/21

gmmster2345 · 2

Funny enough I was thinking about how WP as a powerful, taboo worthy card might not be used as much just because of groups who want to comb through the encounter deck to get all the VP possible. I do think the utility of never drawing though outweighs the additional XP, but for high score games the extra VP is desirable in its own right. — StyxTBeuford · 12985 3/30/21

One nice elegance is that in big groups, where this is best, you also have the best change of finding all the VP enemies anyway — NarkasisBroon · 10 3/30/21

You can still Delve Too Deep to get extra xp and at last draw some cards from the encióounter deck — vidinufi · 67 6/13/21

Wendy Adams can easily ruin the game from scenario 2 with FOUR EXP. 1XP for 3* easy mark and 3XP for this card. Assuming you get two keep faith and an easy mark in your hand at the start of your round, and your deck consists of 2 easy marks on top and a watchful peace at bottom. Your amulet is in play. This situation can easily be reached by drawing 3 cards per round, and discard everything else at upkeep phase. The you rearrange your deck with your amulet when it's almost empty.

Action 0: Spend 4 resources, place both keep faith on the bottom, add 8 bless. Action 1: Play easy mark, get 6 resource and draw a peaceful watch, while placing 3 easy marks on the bottom. Action 2&3: Draw two cards, both being keep faith. Upkeep: Draw one card, which is easy mark. Mythos phase: Play a peaceful watch, and now your hand and deck is identical to the previous round, so you just loop forever. Plus: You can do something else if you get more actions from Leo or Haste, and more resources and cards from DT and take heart.

In fact, this card is rarely used in our group because it destroys the fun of playing AHLCG. The game is boring when you break it. This deck also requires no thinking at all while playing. Just drawing drawing and drawing and then looping looping and looping.

The ultimate boring game is to combine a Wendy skipping every encounter cards to a Baker removing every doom. That gives everyone else infinite actions and resources, lol.

4/26/21

Tzolkin1065 · 155

I don't think this card necessary needs tabboo, you can absolutely build a game breaking engine around it, but self regulation can come into play before that happens. You can put this card into a deck without insane recursion and it's just a powerful event that can give you a breather when you need it. It doesn't break the game or make the game boring if you don't allow it to, and it serves as a brief respite in scenarios such as The Secret Name where you the encounter deck can come hard and fast. — alp · 8 4/30/21

Self regulation is not a valid argument for a card to be taboo or not, because the taboo list is already optional. — StyxTBeuford · 12985 4/30/21