Momentum

Momentum

Momentum is a pretty generically good card for Rogue decks that are planning on overachieving, but I think it bares particular consideration for Parallel "Skids" O'Toole. There are basically 2 reasons for this.

  • As a Practiced skill, it can be found by Practice Makes Perfect, which is gambit traited, so Parallel Skids can take it. In general, you're probably trying to dig out Three Aces, but it doesn't hurt to have an alternative choice if there isn't one in the top 9.

  • If you commit this to a test that you're way over the difficulty for (a Lockpicks test, for instance) you could reduce the difficulty of your ability by up to 3. This means that you can bet all 3 resources and be nearly guaranteed to double that. Add in Double or Nothing to go from 3 to 12 resources at no action cost.

Zinjanthropus · 229
What's the order of operations? If you use momentum to reduce parallel Skid's generator by three, does double or nothing double the 0 (zero), or does it double the 3 to 6, then reduce it by 3? Relevant to drawing thin as well. — jdk5143 · 98
I actually don't know. I was assuming that the momentum would come first, because it is the result of an earlier skill test, but perhaps I'm wrong — Zinjanthropus · 229
Looking at the RR (skill test timing), it doesn't seem as if there's a point specified when you determine the difficulty of the test. I'm guessing that it would be before committing cards to the test, which is when — Zinjanthropus · 229
...which is when Double or Nothing would start affecting the test? Then again, DoN modifies the difficulty of the test, so who knows. In any case, it should still work without Double or Nothing. I hope there is a FAQ entry for this at some point. — Zinjanthropus · 229
Looks like there is a FAQ on Rise to the Occasion + DoN, which is that it is a nonbo, because they are committed simultaneously, so you can't use the increased difficulty from DoN to allow you to commit Rise. I'm not sure what implications that has for Momentum because Momentum is the result of a previous skill test. — Zinjanthropus · 229
You commit Momentum to an investigation with lockpicks and succeed by three, reducing the difficulty of the next skill test by three. You activate your free ability; normally it's difficulty 3, but the effect from Momentum reduces this to 0. That is the difficulty of the test before you begin committing cards to it; therefore DoN would double 0 to 0. You spent 3 resources, so you'll get 12 back on anything but the auto-fail. — SGPrometheus · 821
From "Modifiers", in the Rules Reference: "Any time a new modifier is applied (or removed), the entire quantity is recalculated from the start, considering the unmodified base value and all active modifiers. When calculating a value, treat all modifiers as being applied simultaneously. However, while performing the calculation, all additive and subtractive modifiers are calculated before doubling and/or halving modifiers." Since nothing is preventing both modifiers from applying, it isn't really a timing question in the way previous commentators have been trying to address it. — Thatwasademo · 58
(tl;dr: if both DoN and Momentum try to modify the same skill test, Momentum always applies first -- the example skill test's difficulty becomes 0) — Thatwasademo · 58
So it sounds like the easy way to think about it is that the mathematical order of operations is reversed. — jdk5143 · 98
That's really useful information! Thanks for finding and posting that! — Zinjanthropus · 229

Miskatonic Archaeology Funding

Miskatonic Archaeology Funding

As of the release of the investigator decks, Seekers have access to 12 allies, 9 of which are Miskatonic traited:

The three allies that do not posses this trait are:

It's hard not to see this card as 2xCharisma with a 2xp discount that still lets you get 2 copies of Charisma for a huge suite of allies in your favorite seeker. Notably, your Rook or Dr. Horowitz (or any off-color allies you have) can go in your original or Charisma slots, so you're definitely not limited to 1 of those allies. The last line of text in this card might affect you a little, but probably not too much. Maybe that research librarian only takes 1 point for you or your art student/Maleson can't soak all the damage from 1 hit. But for the most part, you'll probably want to keep your key allies with only 1 horror on them to keep them around. In most cases you might be better off just telling that ally to call in a favor than letting them die from one hit. Or just let Rook get eaten by snakes :)

The biggest drawback to this card is the deck building cost of putting 6+ allies in your deck and potentially not having 4xp to buy this card after the first scenario. But hopefully as the seeker you can attempt to fix this problem by sweeping up all those VP locations!

This seems like a good card for any seeker, but who do I think benefits most from this? The Librarian herself, Daisy Walker will love all her fellow bibliophiles, especially Library Docent with Old Book of Lore (3) and The Necronomicon (5). Note that the Daisy Walker back cannot take this, along with all the other secondary seekers. Honorable mention for Joe Diamond who can now fit Alice, Milan and additional utility allies if he so desires.

Last but not least, I just want to mention that this card is wonderful in The Dunwich Legacy, for [SPOILER REDACTED] reasons, especially in true solo.

davilimap · 282
Handily, it turns out that the Campus upon which Pete Sylvester is the Big Man is, in fact, Miskatonic's. Which could be of interest to certain Minh builds, and is just a "... Huh." type footnote for Rex who has far better things to do with his 5 off-color cards. — HanoverFist · 739
Rex could turn into a group psychiatrist with 2x Peter and 3x Solemn vow. — Django · 5108
Clarification question: Is the text saying that you cannot assign more than 1 damage/horror to a SINGLE Miskatonic asset or just overall? Because if the former is true, spreading damage/horror to your two Miskatonic allies, and then potentially sending the rest to your primary ally, really isn't that much of a handicap. — TheDoc37 · 468
It must be one in total. Otherwise it would be worded "No more than 1 of that damage/horror can be assigned to EACH Miskatonic asset", and it would be frankly too good for 4 XP. Not so sure about the last sentence of the review. The man from "The House Always Wins" is not so great for his ability for a seeker (except maybe Joe Diamond), but he is unmatched soak for looking behind the veil and be able to talk about it. Not so with this card. Fun fact: it will also care for the janitor. — Susumu · 371
Yeah, it's 1 in total from the amount of damage/horror you just took. Can't apply it to each Miskatonic ally. SPOILERS: Also, to clarify, The Dunwich Legacy can give you a total of 5 allies, 3 of which are Miskatonic traited, so even if one or two of those don't interest you, the extra space for allies seems really good. — davilimap · 282
Not a fan of the Forced ability. They signed the waiver, they knew what they were getting into! — MiskatonicFrosh · 344
I feel like Versatile would be a fantastic way to fill your deck up with allies after you've grabbed this. Possibly even worth getting 2 copies of versatile if you're also going heavy card draw with your deck. — Tacomental · 21
side note: Dr. Eli Horowitz should really be Miskatonic. Maybe she's from the Community College nearby since she's stealing all the Relics from investigators' hands. — Krysmopompas · 360

Nimble

Nimble

Parallel "Skids" O'Toole might be able to make this pretty effective because he can trigger a 0-difficulty test (during any window) that can have agility icons committed to it. If you really need to move across the map, you could even Double it. It's almost like a mini-Elusive when used this way. or like a super Track Shoes. Could be used with On the Lam (particularly the advanced version) to engage a bunch of enemies and move them somewhere conveniently out of the way. Or to reveal a bunch of locations at once. If a team-mate has Safeguard, you could even bring them along for the ride.

EDIT: Note, also, that Skids can recur this with his , or in some cases tutor it with one of 4 Daredevils. Never take move actions again!

Zinjanthropus · 229
Or YOU take Safeguard with original back and your team-mate commits Nimble to your special ability to drag you around! :) — Death by Chocolate · 1485

Déjà Vu

Déjà Vu

We need to talk about your Flare.

Well, okay, 2 Flares is the minimum, okay?

Now, you know it's up to you whether or not you want to just do the bare minimum. Or... well, like Billy, for example, uses 14 Flares over a campaign, okay. And a terrific smile.

People can get an ally anywhere, okay? They come to Survivor decks for the atmosphere and the risk mitigation. Okay? That's what the Flare's about. It's about fun.

Look, we want you to express yourself, okay? Now if you feel that the bare minimum is enough, then okay. But some people choose to Flare more, and Deja Vu encourages that, okay? You do want to express yourself, don't you?

Okay, great, great. That's all I ask.

HanoverFist · 739
I’ve got your #Flare right here, buddy. — Hijinx047 · 9

The Chthonian Stone

The Chthonian Stone

Three xp is a lot for a card that's not your fight or investigate spells, but for decks looking to seal a lot of tokens this is a strong upgrade. Not only is it 33% cheaper, the charges on it mean you'll have to replay it about 33% as often as the level 0 version. Combined, that's a pretty massive cost reduction for the sealing archetype. Akachi can take it even further, and anyone can add charges to it to extend its lifespan, although that effect would probably be better spent on Seal of the Seventh Sign.

I like this a lot for the decks that want it.

SGPrometheus · 821
Yeah, it's a good improvement. It's not even a bad choice even if you're not planning on doing a seal all tokens deck. Sometimes certain symbols will carry effects that are as bad if not worse than an autofail so it's a good countermeasure against those. — LaRoix · 1645
Those 3 charges add a lot, it makes this card useable without seal of the seventh sign. — Django · 5108