Taunt

Does this card have a place in a deck that isn't Zoey's? Yes, in one very specific case, which I'll get to in the last paragraph:

Taunt shares a theme with certain other fast cards; Shortcut, Working a Hunch, and Sleight of Hand, come to mind. Cards that involve a fast version of a basic action that any investigator can do, such as moving, discovering a clue, playing an item card, or engaging an enemy, as the above examples provide.

Thing is, some basic actions are more valuable, and needed more often, than others. Take the humble move action; every investigator is going to be moving between locations, in every scenario, from start to finish, regardless of class, role, or objective. It guarantees the usefulness of Shortcut, made even better when it's use can be applied to any investigator at your location, nor just the card holder. Same with discovering a clue, same with playing a item asset.

Engaging an enemy just isn't one of those actions. For an engage action to be taken, there must be an enemy at your location that's either exhausted, or engaged with another player. Even then, only the latter really calls for an engage action to be taken, and EVEN THEN it's completely optional, as all engagement does is eliminate the risk of the other investigator taking damage, either by your hand, or the enemy's. It makes justifying a card slot solely to be able to taunt faster very difficult, as it doesn't actually help perform a guardian's primary role, and non-guardians will be more likely to want to AVOID enemies, not Taunt them. So then why, other than being Zoey Samaras, would you want to include Taunt in your deck?:

To eliminate the downside of Flamethrower... yeah that's pretty much it. Flamethrower harshens the downside of not being engaged with an enemy, which makes engage actions more valuable, which makes Taunt more valuable. If you're running Flamethrower, consider running Taunt.

Lucaxiom · 4512
How many players there are in your party probably makes a difference. I ran this with Zoey and one other investigator and I never used it and swapped it out after a few missions. Four players though means more enemies, so maybe more useful? Also, being Fast means you avoid an attack of opportunity engaging a monster when you're already engaged (I think that's right?) which can be helpful. However, I don't think either of those really change much, and I agree that this card generally just doesn't cut it. — Octo · 103
Well, sometimes if you engage an enemy, it does more then just eliminating the risk of the other investigator taking damage. If you swing machete, it's +1 damage for every attack. Sometimes you just need the action to engage to kill the enemy and can't do it without Taunt. Of course you don't see machete as much as before taboo... Another thing is, if you are not sure, whether you are able to kill the enemy with your, let's say, last action, then engaging the enemy will also enable your seeker to use his/her turn instead of having to run away and fail with it. So I think it really depends on your group composition. — trazoM · 9
Small remark: one case of use was forgotten: aloof enemies. So in some scenarios, taunt is quite useful tanks to that — MoiMagnus · 63
Mk 1 Grenades

This is not a review so much as a response to the FAQ entry on the interaction between Mk 1 Grenades and Marksmanship. It ends with a statement that “the bonus +1 damage from Marksmanship would be dealt to the attacked enemy, and not to the other enemies at the location.” This is not necessarily true, it should be clear that the Grenades won’t deal ANY damage ‘to the other enemies at the location’ or even ‘the attacked enemy’ if you targeted an enemy at an adjacent location. Mk 1 Grenades damage ‘each enemy and each other investigator at YOUR location’ INSTEAD of its standard damage. Because it won’t deal any damage to the attacked enemy from the attack, it can’t deal additional damage for the same reason that Deduction can’t discover additional clues when used with Burglary or Unearth the Ancients.

If FFG wants the Mk 1 Grenades to work with Marksmanship, they would need to say ‘each enemy and each other investigator at the attacked enemy’s location.’ Or have Marksmanship work like Luke’s ability where you Fight as if you were there.

(If Marksmanship is used on an enemy at your location, of course the additional damage will apply if the condition is met.)

It does not make sense to differentiate between different locations. The standard damage effect is replaced in both cases, so I would say that the additional damage should not apply in both cases, if there is no (any additional damage is dealt to the attack enemy) clause. But there is. So it is what it is. — ak45 · 469
This looks as a completely unintended consequence of the wording. The FAQ implicitly answer that the interaction should work as expected (damages can be done at another location), and not as written (which would be "damage only work at your location"). Within the text of Grenades, "your location" and "the enemy location" are synonymous, hence interchangeable. While I agree that for interactions purposes, it would have been better to write "at the enemy location", I think it would have been more confusing as a wording than "at your location" — MoiMagnus · 63
I asked this question via the Rules Questions form on FFG. MJ's response: "Sadly, I think the two abilities as printed would be incompatible. Marksmanship allows you to target an enemy at a connecting location with its attack, but Mk 1 Grenades clearly states: “instead of its standard damage, this attack deals 2 damage to each enemy and each other investigator at your location (any additional damage is dealt to the attacked enemy).” It’s awkward, but I can’t really see any way around it; if you targeted an enemy at a connecting location with the grenades, only any additional/bonus damage would get dealt to the targeted enemy, and the rest of the damage would get dealt to each enemy and other investigator at your location, as it states. Sorry for the confusion! (I don’t think it would be particularly broken if you house-ruled it to work the way that makes more sense thematically though. I certainly wouldn’t slap the card out of your hand.)" — magistrix · 885
Arkham Woods

question: does this mean if I draw a -1 chaos token, and then a -2 with the additional chaos token, that these are summed together for a -3? Or does the "reveal and resolve" only apply to the effect of the additional chaos token, like drawing a tablet could cause you to take damage?

raigunn · 1
I believe you get the -3 — Weirdmarine · 3
You get -3. All special tokens effects are applied too. — jd9000 · 76
Impromptu Barrier

I am trying this card out in an evasion-focused Finn deck in multiplayer TFA (normal mode). It seems to be pulling its weight. This card seems a little easier to fit into decks than Improvised Weapon because most characters that will fight will want to trigger their Fight actions from an asset instead of from Improvised Weapon. You typically don't have an equivalent asset for evasions, unless you're using Stealth, which most players find only useful in solo mode.

The card also somewhat fits into "succeed by X" archetypes (in combination with Finn and Pickpocketing, etc.). Daring Maneuver paired with this card can help you occasionally evade another baddy and avoid annoying Alert keywords. It's not a mindblowing combo but can be helpful at lower XP.

iceysnowman · 164
Does the play from discard pile effect for the second evade require an evasion test? This does not say automatically evade like Cunning Distraction. — luccros · 66
You may be confused by the fact that "Evade" is both an action and an effect. Compare it to "Fight" an "deal damage" or "Investigate" and "discovre clues" which are clearly distinguishable. However generally when a card is talking about the action of Evading unless it's an action designator it says "Evasion attempt". "Evade" for anything that isn't an action designator always refers to the effect of a successful Evasion attempt, in other words it means "disengage from an enemy and exhaust it" directly. — Killbray · 12350
Late coming back here but thanks for the response! Still I am a little confused why Silas Net uses the phrase "automatically evade" whereas Impromptu Barrier does not. (Cunning Distraction may have been a bad initial example because it indicates the Evade action is being taken, but no skill test occurs - it is automatically succesful)). Silas Net and Barrier are very similar in that there is an initial Evade action taken with its respective skill test, then based on X an additional evade may occur. If evade is just an effect in this case, why does Silas Net need the phrase automatically evade? — luccros · 66
Crystallizer of Dreams

I finally had a chance to try this card out yesterday on my blind run through the first Dream Eaters scenario. I'm playing Tony in a group that doesn't have a dedicated cluever so I'm running both Evidence! and Intel Report to help out on the clues side of things. This card really pulled its weight ! The ability to play an event that nets you clues while then attaching it to the Crystalliser and commit it again for 2 book pips on a subsequent test makes Tony into a pretty reliable clue-getter. Despite being the least clue-focused of our 3 player group I came out with more clues than anybody else while still breezing through the zoogs. Great card. Can recommend.

I do have a question about the interactions with a couple of cards though, which hopefully some of you more knowledgeable folk can clear up. Firstly, how would it interact with Ever Vigilant ? Could you play this as one of your assets after EV is played and then still attach EV to it afterwards or does the discarding of EV occur before the reaction effect comes into play ? Secondly, does the reaction effect only kick in immediately after you play the event ? For example, could you play Well-Maintained onto one of your guns and then a few turns later when it gets discarded attach WM or would that not be allowed ? Delay the Inevitable is another event that could be affected by this if it turns out to be a restriction. I'd assume that it would be fine, but the wording on the card is "after you play an event", which could be interpreted differently.

Sassenach · 180
Ever Vigilant attaches to the Crystallizer just fine but events that don't get discarded immediately don't - the Crystallizer replaces the standard discard that happens when playing an event, but those event's don't have that, so there's nothing to replace. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
@thenamewastaken I think he's suggesting a sequence of: play Ever Vigilant, play Crystallizer (with ever vigilant), attach ever vigilant to crystallizer, which would not work. If the crystallizer enters play after the timing point that it's looking for, it can't trigger, even if the event is still resolving. Play =/= resolve. — SGPrometheus · 841
@SGPrometheus What does "After you play an Event" mean? It should be the timing point after complete execution of the event, right? The discard of Ever vigilant happens AFTER all three assets are in play. This discard can be replaced by the crystallizer, as it is already in play. — trazoM · 9
@trazom I might be looking at this from too much of a Magic perspective, but the only timing point when a card is "played" — SGPrometheus · 841
Part 2: would be after costs and targets are determined and when the effect goes on the stack (not that AH has a stack, per se). The parts you're describing are the resolution of that effect, not the playing of the card. Again, this might not align perfectly with the actual rules, but it aligns with MtG's timing rules, which i consider a gold standard. — SGPrometheus · 841
From Appendix I, I understand that the trigger occurs in step 4. — trazoM · 9
trazoM has it right - an event is considered played after its effects resolve. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
Appendix I says clearly that a card is only considered to be discarded (in the discard pile) when its initieted effect is resolved. This means that "Ever Vigilant" will discard after the chosen assets are in play, triggering "Crystalizer of Dreams" in the process, as trazorM rightly points out. — Alogon · 1144
Cool, that's handy. EV has double book pips so that's a pretty sweet combo. — Sassenach · 180
Wow, that's nuts. Good tech. — SGPrometheus · 841