Normally, I'd would entertain the idea of having a chance to not exile a card, especially if it's determined by a moderate difficulty test of a skill that many investigators in this class excel in, and also gain a 1 resource discount for 1 additional XP.

But the very same pack that introduces this card also contains a card that lets you return its cheaper variant back to your deck for FREE in between scenarios. Both copies, potentially. Understandably, you might not have Unspeakable Oath, or maybe, you really don't want to chance exiling your Test of Will. This pack gives you an even CHEAPER alternative with the exact same effect. The only thing that this card affords you over its Lvl 0 version is that the effect is guaranteed to happen in Lvl 2, but then you have to pass the exact same test in order to keep it from being exiled. If you weren't confident enough in passing that test to settle for the Lvl. 0 version, what makes you think that you can salvage the Lvl 2? In that case, you're just flushing an extra XP down the drain; I'd rather take my chances on the Lvl 0.

The biggest benefit this card is supposed to give you is saving your XP from having to dump it into upkeeping its exiles, and you know what, if you just bought 1 copy for the fun of it and wanted to see how far you could get without losing it, then sure, this card obviously has more sustainability over time than Lvl 1. But if you're including this in an exile deck or planning on buying 2 of these, just use Lvl 0 for lower difficulties and Lvl 1 + Deja Vu for higher difficulties. This card really has no place in your deck given the alternatives. If you don't have Unbreakable Oath, just pretend these cards are Lvl 1 problem solved :)

TL;DR: Think of the key as a late-mission MP support Event, not an Asset. It competes with no slots, and you don't have to play it until/unless it's needed. If 3R and 1 action to trivialize an entire 3+ Shroud 8+ Clue location for EVERYBODY in your party seems worth it, then it doesn't matter when you draw your one copy- you'll always be happy to see it.

+++

I recently completed a 3P Carcosa as Tony Morgan; the key here was a late upgrade in the "eh why not" vein after getting all his other needed upgrades. It ended up being a relief to see on each remaining mission.

Left me wondering why it never really got much in the way of reviews, but I think I can see why- it looks deceptively cumbersome. 3R to play, 2 actions to place & recover, only 1 per deck, Lockpicks exist, etc. But here's the thing: in 3-4 player MP, all of these become unimportant... a single use of the key will pay for itself.

• Fast. No need to play it til you need it, and ultimately costs only 1 action to place it at a destination.
• NO SLOT. Did you notice that? Some assume the key is an Accessory or Hand item at a glance, and thus in competition.
• Item. You can tutor it with Backpack, which many Rogues enjoy running.
• You likely want it late. High-shroud spots often reveal near end of mission. This reduces the 1-per-deck risk.
• Scales hugely in MP.

That last one's the biggy. It's rare that a campaign doesn't have at least one location with 3+ shroud and 2+/Investigator clues. In SP you can clear that with an event or skills. In 4P though, the Skeleton Key becomes an 8-charge Flashlight that your whole party can use in addition to any other investigation skills they have.

If you can get the key to work on 1 hard room in a mission in 3-4 player MP, it's a terrific and reliable value. The uninstall/reinstall effect is neat, but distracts from the fact that it should pay for itself with a single use.

(FUN FACT: Preston & Dexter & Sefina aside, everyone who can take the Key has 3+ base INT, and is thus themselves now investigating at a minimum of +2 after using it.)

(edited to add Sefina to sub-3 INT investigators, thanks to all who noted this in comments!)

Just to be clear, neither this version or it's upgrade can discard a treachery unless that treachery has the text "put X into play", correct? In other words, If I draw a hex or something, I have to resolve the revelation effect; I cannot have someone play this to cancel that card entirely (that'd be Ward of Protection lvl 2 if I really want that effect). Right?

As for this card itself, it's... well, it's not great. In a nutshell, what you're doing is replacing whatever conditions have to be met on a threat area treachery with the following:

• Spend 3 resources: discard this treachery.

But that's not the whole story since there are other things you've spent or are giving up in order to have this card, so it really reads like this;

• Spend 3 resources, 1-2 xp, and discard a specific card from your hand: discard this treachery.

To compare, here are a few common treacheries. Now I'm only looking at cards from the deluxe boxes and return to boxes since these are the only ones that will continuously pop up throughout a campaign. Obviously, it's preferable Alter Fate has some value beyond getting you through a single scenario. Look at the cost to get rid of it is and ask yourself if you'd rather pay the alter fate cost (because it is extremely costly):

• Frozen in Fear, Unhallowed Country, Melancholy, and Realm of Torment all share the same prerequisite: at the end of your turn, test (3), discard if you succeed. Do note these do not require an action, however you will need to wait until your turn ends to try the test.

• Dissonant Voices, Tough Crowd, Ooze and Filth, Lost in the Wilds, Deep Dark, Snakescourge, Whispers in the Dark, and Dreamlands Eclipse are all automatically discarded at the end of the round if you can manage to wait. Light of Aforgomon and Sordid and Silent might be around for longer, but you have some measure of control over that as well. Also, let's not forget that the first of these prevents you from playing events so it's effectively immune to alter fate.

• Idle Hands actually gives you something for your trouble, but the same can't be said of Violent Commands.

• Beyond the Veil is a good target since it has no alternative on the card itself, but there are also lots of other ways to survive this, the least of which is just to draw slowly or investigate faster. On the other hand, I don't think Cursed Luck from the same cycle is bad enough to warrant an Alter Fate.

• Entombed is a good target if you have low and low . Hunted by Corsairs is a similar kind of test, but any treachery with an option to test two different stats seems like you'll have at least one way of powering through.

• Voice of the Jungle, Dreams of R'lyeh, Bedeviled, and Wracked are all test (3), but do note that R'lyeh will debuff you -1 for the test and the same might be true of Wracked if you need to test it first.

• Words of Power and Deeper Slumber are both so you're trading 1 action for 3 resources, an xp, and a deck slot which doesn't seem like a good deal to me.

I like lvl 3 Alter Fate, but lvl 1 is massively inferior just from a numbers perspective. Unless you've got money to burn like Mr. Fairmont who I do think is ideal for this card since he can not only pay for it but also generate extra actions to mitigate that loss as well. Besides him, I suppose Stella might like it to get rid of those "end of your turn" treacheries so she can approach her turn undisturbed, but 3 resources and an action just seems like a lot to cough up. It does make you wonder what sort of threat area treacheries we might find in Innsmouth, no?

Also, question. Does either version of Alter Fate work on Straitjacket?

By the way, I love that the art is a depiction of The Tower • XVI, which was a subtle hint at the time the original Alter Fate released because we would see the tower released in the deluxe box a few months later. Nice touch, though curiously you can't use Alter Fate to counter it.

Play this in Akachi. Not for the ability, but for the fast charge jank.

1) With Spirit-Speaker out, you can immediately discard this and convert the charges to resources. This is a net gain of 2r at fast speed.

2) The charges on this can be fed to Angered Spirits. The charges on this thing by itself can clear Angered Spirits over the course of 4 rounds.

3) The charges can power 2 Torrent of Powers with 2 charges spent on each.

4) Occasionally, you might actually use the ability. Note that Obfuscation does not require you to exhaust to use it, meaning that if you exhaust it for Angered Spirits, you can still use it just fine.

Basically, think of this card as paying for a slot with 4 charges on it at fast speed for 2r, and you got a few tricks available to you. It does take an arcane slot, but a lot of Akachi decks try to have support for extra arcane slots anyway; this concept best fits into one of those styles of decks.

This card is very strange. 4 icons is a lot. 4 icons is amazing. However, it happens to also be a Mystic card, which means the wilds are mostly going to act like pips. Adding a curse token to the bag is not that steep of a price in my opinion, especially if you're leaning into it with maybe one or two other cards that let you mitigate or benefit from curse tokens, though it remains to be seen what those payoffs are. Either way, 4 icons is a lot, and it can even be used to help evade if you don't have a good spell in play.

Realistically I see this as a staple for Amanda Sharpe. All of her stats being at 6 is amazing. Sure, she'll add up to 3 curses to the bag that turn, but that might actually be a good thing, again depending on the payoffs for curse tokens. Patrice Hathaway also likes it, as she's already happy to commit all of her cards in a turn, and this is just a very easy one to throw down.