Hypnotic Gaze

This card needs combo effects to be good. Namely, consider using this with Jacqueline Fine around, Olive McBride, or Dark Prophecy. Also Eldritch Inspiration can make the damage to the enemy go off twice. Canceling the attack and not getting the return damage on the enemy is a subpar effect for how expensive this card is, so you want to try to get the return damage every time.

Also worth noting that this works on Elites, so this can cause some big bads to hit themselves for a bunch of damage, which can be very useful.

Soloclue · 2608
I feel like a ton of support for this card has come out since it was printed, but it's remained pretty obscure. In the right deck, this sounds pretty crazy good. — SGPrometheus · 841
It's a nice combo when you play Olive and/or Jacqueline. Outside of them, i think it's too expensive for a one time effect and not every scenario has a BBEG. Some dont even deal damage. — Django · 5148
Jacquelin will get a level 2 upgrade of this card. Cost -1 and you can choose the horror instead of the damage to be converted into damage vs. the enemy. Her using Grotesque Statue and Dark Prophecy on this, Yog-Sothoth would love to discard some cards. — Susumu · 381
I've been using it in a Diana deck (Path to Carcosa campaign) and can trigger the damage reliably, but it is expensive. I tend to keep it in hand for use against elites where the return on investment is high. I wish there were an upgraded (maybe XP: 2, with Arcane Research taken into account) version that just lowered the play cost by 1. — KillerShrike · 1
@ KillerShrike: Like I wrote before, this card will get an upgrade with Jacqeline: level 2 (so 0 xp, if you use 2xAR), lower cost by one resource AND the ablity to trigger horror from the enemy. Link to the spoilers of her deck: https://imgur.com/a/qPCL8Ts — Susumu · 381
Indeed; I got the five new investigator packs today and saw the upgrade with my own two eyes. Ironically, we finished Path to Carcosa and had one last hurrah with our investigators via The Blob That Ate Everything last weekend. We're planning to do The Forgotten Age next week with new investigators, so my Diana deck is getting retired...but I'm glad the upgrade of this card is in the card pool. Might come in handy at some point... — KillerShrike · 1
@Django, if you're using this card with Olive's ability, it says to pick 3 and choose to, resolving both. So, do you activate the damage twice (once for each token, if pulled)? — Deadlykipper · 1
Garrote Wire

As of the end of the Dream Eaters cycle, this is the only Rogue weapon that Preston can take. He probably doesn't really want or need it either since he'll be fighting at a 3, but hey, it could help you against rats?

Soloclue · 2608
Definitely the weapon for a millionaire — nungunungu · 4
A Rogue’s real weapons are other people. Also it’s kind of insulting that a garrote wire isn’t illicit — Difrakt · 1313
@Difrakt No no, it's perfectly normal for someone to just be carrying around a length of piano wire with either end wrapped around a dowel. Maybe they're a... out of work piano repair person? — SGPrometheus · 841
Yeah, I think I'll stick with my [American Psycho cosplay](/card/02032), thanks. — Jigurd · 8
I think it's a shame this isn't Illicit, since as a niche card that's extremely useful in certain situations, that extra bit of help in searching for it would make a big difference. Alas, it won't really fit in my Winifred Underworld Market deck for this reason... — Pinchers · 132
Anatomical Diagrams

This card is really good. Don't listen to the haters who say "if you want to support your fighter the stars need to align and you need to be together with them."

That's true most of the time, and when it isn't it's usually because they're coming to you--the enemy is in your face. That, or it's somewhere you both need to be.

For Daisy, Minh, Rex, Norman, and Ursula the 5 or more remaining sanity is rarely relevant. For Ursula and Rex it's even a decent trick just for defending yourself.

Pack it the next time you're running about at level 0. When your fighter lacks >+2 options for damage, this card is worth its weight in gold.

Swekyde · 65
I agree that is card is great for 9 sanity investigators, but I disagree that the "5 or more" clause is rarely relevant. Even for those investigators, it is common to cross that threshold during a scenario. And what are the enemies you most want to use Anatomical Diagrams on? Those that spawn late in a scenario, because they're typically stronger. — jd9000 · 76
My actual love for this card comes from solo, as it lets you evade enemies you might not otherwise be able to. — StyxTBeuford · 13043
We did a 4 player seeker team once, this card was really great in first scenario to support Minh as our primary fighter. 2 persons can play this card at the same turn for -4, so it's nearly an auto success when the enemy has 0 fight. — Django · 5148
Absolutely critical when playing solo as a seeker. — DelightfulDilettante · 367
Studious

Alright mathematicians, I've got a question that requires some technical wizardry. If I had the option between this and Stick to the Plan, which one gives me better odds of drawing a tarot in my opening hand? We all know SttP thins your deck down by almost 10%, making your opening hand around 1/6th of your deck, assuming the deck is "clean" (i.e. it doesn't have a bunch of clutter from the campaign). Studious here has a similar effect by allowing us to see more cards with our opening hand, which lets us mulligan into our tarot more often. With 6xp put into Studious, we start with 7 cards, about 20% of our deck, so we see about 40% of it if we mulligan as aggressively as possible, right?

I'm not pitting the strength of one card against the other; I'm just curious what the math bears out in this particular scenario. Assuming we mulligan the whole hand, and the deck is clean and only 33 cards, which gives us better odds to draw card "x"? How about if we have two copies? How about if we mulligan 3-4 cards instead of the whole hand? Where do the curves meet up?

Anyway, I was just deckbuilding earlier and started to wonder about it. I think only Lola can actually take both cards, so maybe it'll be useful to someone deep into building her. What say you?

SGPrometheus · 841
Two situations-one with each card--that further increase your odds: 1.) Roland or Zoey with Stick to the Plan AND 1x Astounding Revelation will thin your deck by 4 cards instead of 3. 2.) Joe Diamond with 2x Studious draws his hand & mulligan from a deck of only 32 cards, since his signature weakness is in his hunch deck. — Herumen · 1741
Not useful for Lola because Stick to the Plan is a Reaction Trigger ability on a Guardian card which Lola can't use unless she's in the Guardian role - which she can't be in until AFTER she draws her opening hand. — Death by Chocolate · 1488
Carolyn can also run Stick to the Plan with Surprised Rabbi. — Death by Chocolate · 1488
What’s Surprised Rabbi? — Django · 5148
@Django Astounding Revelation — TheNameWasTaken · 3
Oh yeah, I forgot that little wrinkle for lola. I guess it's just pure thought exercise then. "Surprised Rabbi" is Astounding Revelation, the card that gives you two bucks if it's in the search, which it always will be since SttP searches your whole deck. — SGPrometheus · 841
The answer is you should run whichever one your class restrictions let you run anyway, because they're both stupidly powerful cards. 2x Studious goes in every Seeker deck I make, and Stick to the Plan in every Guardian deck I make. — StyxTBeuford · 13043
Purely academic answer to a purely academic question: To make it simple assume you use your whole mulligan to search for a card you have one of. Your search is double your initial hand size. You search out of 31 cards (weaknesses don’t count) or 28 with SttP. Studious gets you 12/31~38.7% chance of drawing your card; two Studiouses gets you 14/31~45.1%. SttP gets you 10/28~35.7%. — Kergma · 11
If you hardmulligan for a 2-of tarot card in a 33 card deck with 2 weaknesses(so effectively 31): Hit at least 1 tarot: 54.8%. Same deck with Stick to the plan(effectively 28 card deck etc.): 59.5% Now, with just 1 Studious and hardmulligan for your tarot, which you have 2x in your deck, you see up to 12 cards before you keep 12: 63.2% chance to have it in your opening hand. With 2x studious, you see 14 cards: 70.7%. This goes to reinforce the old wisdom: deck thinning is a fairy tale. You want to draw more cards. To equal 1 studious(1 more card drawn, 1 more card to mulligan), you would need to remove 5 cards from your deck. — Mataza · 19
Copycat

This seems like a really good card for winifred. +2 minimum, you get to draw a card and can get this one back. Yeah for a few rounds this probably wont be good at the start but once cards like steadfast or unexpected courage are played this really develops quick.

vosh · 9
Does this combo with Winifreds passive? Do you control the other investigators card and thus draw a card simply by committing this from your hand? — misterdavidjaques · 1
it does say that you commit it to the test, so i think it actually does. i hadn't actually thought of that. — Zinjanthropus · 229
Upon inspection of the rules, I don’t believe this works. Nothing in the card’s rules says that you control the skill committed. Cards in discard piles are underway their owners control, and cards enter play under their owners control unless otherwise specified. In contrast, see “You Owe Me One!” that explicitly clarifies a change in control. While I wouldn’t be surprised if synergizing with her ability is intended, RAW I see nothing that makes this work beyond inference based on an understanding of the word ‘control’ that goes beyond the defined rules of the game. — Death by Chocolate · 1488
Ah, that makes sense. Another question is, does that mean that your team-mate is not allowed to commit a skill to the test if you're committing a skill (that they control) from their discard (with Copycat)? Looking forward to some FAQs on this. Will probably be some time. — Zinjanthropus · 229
The leaflet thing says that Copycat triggers Wini's ability, so I would say that you control the team-mate's skill that was committed. — Zinjanthropus · 229