This card has nothing to do with the bless/curse gimmick of the cycle; just another addition to a no-resource playstyle right next to Dark Horse and Fire Axe.
With a twist.
I want to say this is really is just the investigation version of Fire Axe. You know the one: very nice if you plan returning to 0 resources frequently and gives you a method of returning to 0 with some bonuses if you have a couple resources to shave off. However, there are some differences to keep in mind that make it much less ideal to such a playstyle.
1.) It costs 3 as opposed to Axe's 1 while still taking up a hand slot, so this isn't an easy play from a no-resource deck. You could play it to GET to no resources, maybe.
2.) This card expects you to have a good investigative stat already. Each additional resource committed to its test gives you a bonus of +1 as opposed to Axe's +2. The consistent extra clue for having no resources is great, but you need to be able to reliably pass that test on your own because the compass ain't gonna help you. And also because.....
3.) This bad boy exhausts. Pull the brakes, stop the presses, you get ONE use out of this each turn. To be fair, if it didn't exhaust, it would be an incredibly busted card, netting you a potential 6 clues each turn at lvl 0. However, this also means that you'll likely (preferably) need a couple other methods to help you gather clues more efficiently, and to do that you usually need...........resources. And your minimalistic lifestyle thrives off starvation.
Now, this doesn't necessarily mean this card is bad, but it does mean that you really shouldn't just run this expecting it to be your no-resource Flashlight or something. Fire Axe you could do that with because it was inexpensive and, frankly, didn't need to you to be broke in order to get use from it. Being broke was a fantastic bonus to an otherwise good budget fighting tool. You can't do that with the Mariner's Compass because the +1 to 1 resource bonus isn't worth the 3 resources it takes to play it. The compass, costing you 3 resources and a hand slot, expects you to have absolutely nothing before helping you at all, so if you pull this out AFTER using other cards, it can help you MAINTAIN your momentum. It is not something to LEAD with. This makes the compass very unwieldy and hard to pin down with its use, but if you can hit that stride, playing cards, living your life, and THEN coming back to the compass, I think this card's consistent clue-gathering boost MIGHT be worth the cost for admission. Or you could slap a compass to each wrist and just go nuts.
Personally, I don't see myself including this card anytime soon; I dislike the fact that it demands a decent overhead, and then tells you to get on the ground and lick its boots. Once you hit 0, even if you have ways of gaining more resources, there's only so many times you can go back DOWN to 0 without running out of ways to climb back up. There's a couple of consistent resource replenishers like Drawing Thin or Lone Wolf, but you're still very much limiting your freedom with what you can do with your cards and still get the most out of this. Remember, when you're not using it, it's just burning a hole in your hand (slot).
To each their own, though. If someone told me they found great success with this card, I wouldn't be shocked, but I'd definitely ask to see their deck.
