Preposterous Sketches

Preposterous Sketches

While usually Arkham Horror LCG is pretty good at avoiding power creep overall, or keep it at a minimum, this card has been hit full strenght by it: you cannot really justify using this in place of Deep Knowledge, when that cards costs zero and can also allow others investigators at your location to "take" your draws to draw cards from their deck instead, making that card even more versatile than Preposterous Sketches. And it doesn't even need for your location to have a clue, mind you!

This card is completely worthless if you have Innsmouth Cospiracy in your collection: about the only investigator who would run this in place of Deep Knowledge is Joe Diamond, who can reduce the cost to 0 by putting it in his hunch deck and play it without adding curses as long as he is somewhere with a clue

Even the upgrade isn't worth it, for 2 exp you reduce the cost of the card to zero: that is it. No extra skill icon, no removal of the clue clause, no extra effect: nothing. The fact you do not add curses is not worth the sheer versatility of allowing other investigators to draw, unless you are playing solo

About the only reason why I see anyone taking Preposterous Sketches over Deep Knowledge is because your team generates so many curses, you are not likely to be able to play this consistently (as you need to have 2 "free spaces" to put two curses in the Chaos Bag to pay the cost of playing the card, if you have 9 or 10 in the game you cannot play Deep Knowledge), which is honestly fairly unlikely even if you have a 4 members party all using curse-adding cards, as the high number of players means the curses will get flushed out at a quicker pace too.

So yeah, dead card: shame

HeroesOfTomorrow · 57
"This card is completely worthless", immediately followed by "here's someone who can use it". You know, it's fine for cards to be niche. You also might not want to deal with curses, or have a none-Joe way of making this card free. — SSW · 216
Yes, one seeker out of ten wants it: surely that does save the card from being completely outclassed in every way. And mind you, Joe has to contend with the fact has to randomly draw it from his hunch deck first too, and is unable to hold the card for when he wants to use it. So while it has a niche, it's not a good one, nor one that saves the card from irrelevancy. Also getting 2 curses in the chaos bag is a significantly better deal than spending 2 resources in essentially every difficulty, especially if you are not making use of other curse-adding cards, as they may, worst case scenario, cost you 2 skill checks, or may not. A loss in resources means you can play less cards. The real only reason you would actually pick Preposterous Sketches over Deep Knowledge is because you are not playing with curses at all, which means you can't pay the cost and use the card at all — HeroesOfTomorrow · 57
A none-Joe way of making this card free, as mentioned by SSW, would be "Crafty". — Susumu · 381
It's true, but Crafty costs 3 exp, Deep Knowledge zero: it's already bad when a level 0 card outperforms another level 0 card of the same class, the fact it is also better than its level 2 upgrade in most cases is ludicrous. I'm honestly starting to consider Deep Knowledge should get taboo to be chained 3 exp — HeroesOfTomorrow · 57
I get what you mean Susumu: you are not just saying "get Crafty to play Preposterous Sketches", that would be ludicrously inneficent given you need to find both cards first. You are saying "you might as well include Preposterous Sketches instead of Deep Knowledge if you are planning to use Crafty, so you get zero downside for the draw", and it's a sound reasoning... But I disagree: because those two resources that replenish each turn could be played on another insight or tool on top of the draw from Deep Knowledge: in fact Deep Knowledge might help you draw another card you can play through Crafty in the same turn! That's especially likely if you are also planning to use Farsight too — HeroesOfTomorrow · 57
My group is honestly not a fan of curses, so this still has it's place. Failing a Pilfer play just because someone put in curses earlier feels bad man. — Nenananas · 267
I agree broadly, but I do think you're understating the cost of deep knowledge's curses a bit. Sure , there's lots of curse-mitigation cards available but they do cost deck slots and xp that could be used for other things. And you can't entirely control who draws the added curses and when- you could end up paying significantly more than 2 resources for your two failed checks! Equally because it won't necessarily be *you* that draws the curses, other players may end up paying that cost for you. Some people are OK with that dynamic but not everyone is lol. Either way, it's a card that expects other players to account for its costs in their decision-making way more than the "typical" card. So while it's definitely more efficient than the sketches, absolutely no doubt there, it's worth bearing in mind when you play deep knowledge that you don't know exactly what its full cost is gonna be or who will end up paying it .. — bee123 · 31
Norman can play it for 1, still more than 0 but less than 2. — bugiel_marek · 24
I really don't think comparing 1 vs 1 is a good idea. Nothing is forcing you to pick only one. Get them both as I did in my Joe deck. — bugiel_marek · 24
"you are not just saying "get Crafty to play Preposterous Sketches", that would be ludicrously inneficent given you need to find both cards first. You are saying "you might as well include Preposterous Sketches instead of Deep Knowledge if you are planning to use Crafty[...]"" You are right, that was exactly what I was saying. And, yes, that does not mean, you have to take "Preposterous Sketches" in every Seeker-Crafty-deck. But there can be reasons to do so, either to avoid the Curses, or to have additional draw, if you want that. It's far from an auto include, but not "completely worthless", either. There are reasonable decks, that still might want it. — Susumu · 381
@bugiel_marek Norman does deserve an honourable mention given paying 1 resource is around the same opportunity cost of adding 2 curses, but I think adding 2 curses is way better than paying 2 resources. I think using one Sketches in the hunch deck and one Knowledge in the main one isn't a terrible idea, but putting a copy for both might be overkill. However, because these two cards have such a similiar effect, they can be used to "go over" the limit of two copies per deck, which is relevant in Seeker "Big Hands" (especially those using Forced Learning) builds which care more about drawing and holdings lots of card than what those cards are — HeroesOfTomorrow · 57
@bee123 Looks mate, that's a good point you are making: no one likes to deal with the bad choices of another player, but the way I personally see it in my game group is that we take every chance to win, if possible: if we end up making things harder for each other, that is fine, as long as the payout is worth it. We just warn people ahead if we are doing something that could put other investigators at risk. I still do hold the idea though, on a pure value stand point, adding curses is better than spending resources, because the latter is a guranteed cost, the former may or may not be a cost. Sure sometimes it causes you to fail a treachery test you really don't want to or trigger a retaliate or alert and that sucks: but two curses are few enough you may not draw them at all during the scenario, and like any player worth its salt will overcommit or raise their stats in other ways if there are curses around during an important skill check — HeroesOfTomorrow · 57
And rogues specifically can very cheaply nullify most risk with False Covenant if curses are actually a problem — HeroesOfTomorrow · 57
Sheer mathematical efficiency isn’t the only way to evaluate a card. There are many valid reasons to put Sketches in a deck. For instance, some groups may prefer to play without curse tokens, or players may prefer Sketches because it’s a better thematic fit for their deck, or maybe a deck that has plenty of resource generation prefers not to risk the curse tokens. I would like it if reviews wouldn’t label a card dead or useless, but rather just explained the reasons why they aren’t playing the card anymore. — Pseudo Nymh · 67
@Pseudo Nymh Well, I did kinda explain why I think this card is dead, didn't I? Whether you agree or disagree is another story. Beside I refuse to get into the reasoning of building lore-friendly decks: that is a completely different beast based on subjective opinions. Makes sense putting Relentless on Nathaniel, but that doesn't make the card good — HeroesOfTomorrow · 57

"Hit me!"

"Hit me!"

Combines very well with heavy furs.

Overall generally functions as a weaker Lucky. Lucky is a very good card, this is a playable card. This card is very fun which counts for a lot however. I'd love to see an upgraded version of this card that was a little more powerful so I'd want to play it more.

dubcity566 · 111
Lucky can't give you + — MrGoldbee · 1483
Plus eight on expert! — MrGoldbee · 1483

Map the Area

Map the Area

(links contain minor Night Of The Zealot card spoilers, which you've almost certainly played by now but hey just bein sure)

The PI thing pays the bills and all, but Joe really wanted to be a cartographer. Map is a great option for his Hunch deck:

  • It costs him -2 economy vs other investigators due to the "free" hunch draw and -1 cost
  • The discount takes it down to 0$...
  • ... which combined with its versatility makes it almost always useable when it surfaces.

With two in there, pop the first one in any medium/high shroud room- if he's not already in one, Joe can likely find one. He's really quite surprisingly mobile. High-clue 3-shroud rooms are great targets as tactis's review noted; the 3-difficulty Investigate isn't too rough at 6 skill, and the Map puts the room in 0-range for Flashlight & Keyring users.

But save the second one for late game, where it'll shine. A LOT of missions include a "boss" room- and not just literal bosses, but also final-act rooms and/or rooms with a ton of clues & shroud that hold XP. Map helps with both.

(Especially those intricate finales like "Investigate using , then test 7 to put a clue on the God Of Turmoil, then Parlay with against God Of Turmoil's HP to offer him a drink, then put the Lime in the Coconut and drink them both up, then...")

Assuming 12+ turns to complete most missions, and an efficient Hunch deck made of reliably playable cards, he can strategically park the final Map in his Hunch deck until that final encounter with confidence that it'll show up.

Once you've reached that final cell / temple / dimension / era / hill-people basement where they kidnapped your dog(!!!!), this card can effectively read "Your whole party gets +1 to every skill for the rest of the mission." And that ain't shabby.

HanoverFist · 744
But it suffers the same problem like logic reasoning in the hunch deck: you can't control when the card shows up on top of the deck. I suppose it is better to put it in you main deck so you can store it in you hand until the right circumstances appear. — Tharzax · 1
It's true you get more control if it's in the main deck, but my reckoning is that you actually do have limited control. With LR, you want it on hand to immediately use when a Terror like Frozen In Fear gets ya, which could be at any point in a mission. (It's also an excellent 2Will commit in a pinch, which you can't do from the Hunch deck.) With Map, you want it for the boss room- which is most likely going to be near/at the end, and is not quite so timing specific (you can afford getting it a turn or two late), and if you burn through as many of the other 10 hunches on the way there, your last copy of Map may be your last card in the hunch deck (guaranteeing it), or one of a few, increasing its odds. As for the first copy in the hunch deck, just pop it when it shows up- odds are very good that there's a clue-havin' room within arm's reach that will benefit. — HanoverFist · 744
Also, even without a boss room, I feel like it hits that Hunch-deck requirement of "Can I (almost) always play this for good value?", even if there's no boss room. With only 4book and 4fight, my Joe appreciated being able to boop one room into stronger odds whenever Map showed up. (For that same reason, even without the Hunch deck, I feel it'd still be worth taking 1 in the main deck.) — HanoverFist · 744

Winds of Power

Winds of Power

Feel like your Flashlight(3) isn't magick enough? How about your Fine Clothes? With Winds of Power, you too can feel like a real mystic by adding charges to your assets.

Whats that? You want to know how to use them? Sure, the trick is OH IS THAT A DARK YOUNG OVER THERE? ... ... stomp stomp stomp ... ... SLAM ... car screeching noises

thathatguy · 2
(you can't put charges on Flashlight(3), because it has a uses ability with a different use type) — Thatwasademo · 58
(fine clothes works, though) — Thatwasademo · 58
Tool Belt can do that, maybe... — elkeinkrad · 500

Ectoplasmic Horror

Ectoplasmic Horror

This feels...weak?

Mystic fight actions by default do 2 damage base form, with the exception of sword cane, so this is a 1 action weakness. If we have a few testless damage events like Gaze of Ouraxsh, String of Curses (Self Combo), Sweeping Kick etc. this becomes a none issue. The ease of dealing with this is compounded with the low fight test your doing. Now what if you have only 1 or none of your slots filled? Then this is annoying, but your a mystic so that's highly unlikely. If you don't get this early there's a good chance both your slots are filled anyway and its a 2 fight 2 hp monster.

This is assuming your dealing with it, your fighter will MAUL this card. But let's say ONLY mystics can interact with this, It's still not that big of a deal. Finally, 1 horror? for a mystic? that seems wrong. Mystics eat horror like candy, and if you're Agnes you laugh at this card as it kills itself for almost free.

This only really hurts if your going with the "make every slot an arcane slot" build, which feels VERY underwhelming, and If you were doing that for fun build I'd say the build is gimping you enough as is, just re-roll the weakness.

As is, maybe errata this to do damage instead of horror?

. · 35
I feel like it should've been the other way around: the more slots you have filled, the more tokens you draw. Still, that wouldn't prevent a Guardian swooping in and killing it like any other enemy. — Nenananas · 267
I suppose the intention behind this monster is the additional token draw which might produce additional usual bad effects from your spell — Tharzax · 1
Also... I just realized that this card says "the first time you reveal". Not "each phase", "each turn", nothing — DrOGM · 25
I'm pretty sure that it means "each time you attack/evade, revela extra tokens for each empty slot" and its worded like that because only the first token each time triggers it — Jota · 7
Honestly, it's a little weird that they made that a static ability instead of a forced ability like the one on, say, Arkham Woods: Lakeside. — Thatwasademo · 58