Card Reviews · ArkhamDB

Transfiguration

Tired of getting tentacled?

Play Jacqueline Fine.
Transfig into Mateo.
Play Arbiter of Fates
Once per round for the rest of the game have a star instead of a tentacle.

Katarina Sojka becomes a fair bit better, Nkosi Mabati with sigil tentacle sure why not let’s get crazy!

9/20/25

slyguavas · 53

Dark Future still stops Mateo's ability though, so watch out (it's probably still a weaker weakness than his own) — Thatwasademo · 59 9/20/25

But Arbiter of Fates specifies "when you use Jacqueline Finn's ability", would you still be able to use it after turning into Mateo? — Gsayer · 1 9/20/25

@GSayer, yes. Your card still has the title Jacqueline Fine (on its back), as well as Father Mateo (on its front). All self-referential text still works. I think this combo is not quite as good as it sounds. Jacqueline Fine doing her thing twice per round once Arbiter goes down is already very good, whereas Father Mateo’s ability isn’t really needed each round, unless you’re aggressively searching for Autofails. But if you build your deck to do that—taking out generic Mystic good stuff in the process—you’ve got a bunch of Autofail searching trash to sift through each game until you find and play 1) The Arbiter, and 2) Transfiguration. I’m sure by the end game you can have some fun, but you’re significantly compounding the already annoying Mystic problem of needing a lot of set-up time to come online and start supporting the team. Personally, I would much prefer my mystic friend to be playing vanilla Jacqueline—or even vanilla Mateo—to something so janky and unreliable. — Eudaimonea · 7 9/20/25

Yes I wouldn't do it outside of four player, and while Nkosi is a bit mediocre, Katarina/Olive are probably legit anyway. — slyguavas · 53 9/20/25

Ah, I get you. I certainly like the way this build makes you look at cards—including some really mediocre ones—in a new light — Eudaimonea · 7 9/21/25

I also agree it's overall pretty janky; just pretty meme-worthy too — slyguavas · 53 9/21/25

I've ran this combo in my group and Dark Future is a lot more manageable when you find out that either an auto-fail or an elder sign gets rid of it considering you ARE Mateo after all! — MaleficMarby · 35 9/22/25

As thatwasademo points out, Dark Future prevents Mateo from turning tentacles into stars including for the purpose of getting rid of Dark Future — slyguavas · 53 9/22/25

It cannot be canceled no, but you still resolve as much of the ability as you can, as per the rules, so it's still treated as an Elder Sign, much like Jim Culver doesn't cancel Elder Sign but can still treat it as a Skull — Nenananas · 273 9/23/25

So you would fail (because automatic failure has priority) but still resolve one of the elder sign effects? — AlderSign · 451 9/23/25

I don’t think we have a precedent for this. Mateo’s ability is a replacement effect, and I’m not sure that we have a seen an inability to resolve a replacement effect be ruled as resolving both the original effect and the alternative one. — Eudaimonea · 7 9/23/25

I think so too. You would not be able to activate the reaction trigger, by the rules. — AlderSign · 451 9/23/25

I take that back and actually think Nenananas is right. — AlderSign · 451 9/24/25

There is definitely a rule that says, “If you can’t do all of something, do some of it.” The question is whether a replacement effect, when you can’t replace, is being partially satisfied by doing the original effect as well as the new one, or whether you’re doing something additional to the intended effect. — Eudaimonea · 7 9/24/25

Like, if you were at a location where “investigators cannot replace combat with other statistics for fight actions,” would you ADD Intellect to Combat for “I’ve Got a Plan!” and ADD Agility to Combat for Backstab?That doesn’t sound to me like “fulfilling as much as possible,” it feels like doing something different. — Eudaimonea · 7 9/24/25

What confuses me is the "cancel" part of Mateo's ability. Why is it there? You don't need that to treat the auto-fail as an elder sign... — AlderSign · 451 9/24/25

To me, that’s just an entirely redundant clause. It doesn’t factor into my reading at all because the replacement clause itself has a cancel or ignore baked in. If we were talking about Daisy’s Tote Bag, I’d say the same thing: I don’t think you can cancel the Elder Sign under Dark Future, so I don’t think you’d replace it with an autofail. — Eudaimonea · 7 9/25/25

Absolution

Absolution is high-variance. In a clean Standard bag (9 numeric / 7 symbols), playing it at X=0 usually nets you about one or two Bless tokens — but there’s always the chance you just pull three normal symbols and get nothing. You can pay resources to reveal more tokens and improve the odds, but the costs ramp up quickly.

The real use case is when you already have a decent number of Bless tokens in the bag (say 5–7) and you’re looking for healing. That way you’re less likely to whiff, and you won’t waste value by running into the Bless cap.

The problem is reliability: to be around 80% sure of healing three or more horror with five Blesses in the bag, you’d need to dump about 11 resources into this card. That’s absurd.

If you want steady Bless generation, Keep Faith is the better tool — 2 resources for a guaranteed four Bless tokens, no fuss, no gamble, no action (!). Absolution is only worth it if you’ve got a pile of spare cash and need the healing right now.

If you’re running a big-money Bless Rogue who can casually throw double digits of resources into a single play, Absolution can turn into a flashy full-heal + max Bless refill. Niche, but stylish. Possible combo with Hallow?

9/16/25

Dedasda · 11

I don't get this card either. Maybe in a symbol-sealing deck that improves the odds that way? — AlderSign · 451 9/16/25

I could actually think of some use in combination with prophetic. If you didn't use the resources this round you could play it and draw 5 tokens for free. — Tharzax · 1 9/17/25

The numbers just aren't there. It should be like 5 or 6 +X, or maybe 3+2X — OrionAnderson · 145 10/5/25

Dr. Milan Christopher

As a new player and play through each campaign from the beginning without T list, I would say before Fingerprint Kit is accessible, Dr. Milan just boost the price-performance ratio of one investigating action for a seeker. Just compare Deduction and Vicious Blow, it shows that 1 clue has the same value of 1 damage. But comparing Seekers and Guardians, while they are both doing their duties (seeking and guarding), what can a seeker (Rex away!) get while a Guardian has dealt 2 damage and earned 1 card with 2 actions and nothing else paid (.45 Automatic in play) ? Only 2 clues and nothing! And what if seekers have Milan in play like .45? For 2 actions, seekers can get 2 clues + 2 resources, which is finally equals to 2 damage + 1 card. Dr. Milan in the early campaigns is not that broken.

Edit: Simply thinking, are you willing to change Beat Cop's trigger ability into 'Attack. After you successfully attack: Gain 1 resource.'. It's definitely better than Beat Cop (0), but considering its upgrade and all the weapons, the answer may be yes, but never will be absolutely yes.

9/15/25

DCY · 1

Btw, can anyone teach me how to blue my key words and add symbols? — DCY · 1 9/15/25

Yeah, you write # and then get suggestions. For the symbols I am not sure, but you should be able to create a decklist and look at the commands in the textbox there. For some reason it's more helpful then the one for reviews. — AlderSign · 451 9/15/25

Nevermind, symbols are written with $. — AlderSign · 451 9/15/25

As written, he's the best moneymaking card in the game. 1 action, then $2-3 a turn a game for doing what you were going to, at +1, with soak. — MrGoldbee · 1520 9/15/25

Yes, let's say seekers can use an entire turn to earn $2 + 2 clues with Milan, while guardians may earn 1 card + 2 damage with Machete, rogues may earn 4 cards with Luca, mystics may earn 4 clues with Rite of Seeking, survivors may earn anything (at least three card draws). Even the best seeker card benefits less than other class? Pity. — DCY · 1 9/17/25

He falls off in Solo however, as there are overall less clues, so recovering from the cost is a bit harder — HeroesOfTomorrow · 79 9/18/25

Solo is — MrGoldbee · 1520 9/18/25

basically a different game. — MrGoldbee · 1520 9/18/25

It indeed is: if you play Solo as you play 4 players, or even 2 players, you lose. — HeroesOfTomorrow · 79 9/19/25

Bum's Rush

I received a rules form response confirming that the final sentence (letting you move the targeted enemy) happens regardless of whether you succeed or fail the evade test:

Hello [Voltgloss],

Thank you for your interest in Arkham Horror: The Card Game.

The final sentence of Bum’s Rush is not dependent on the previous sentence; regardless of if you succeed the test, you can move a non-Elite enemy with the effect.

Feel free to reach out to us if any more questions arise!

Sincerely,

Alex Werner, FFG Game Rules Specialist

9/12/25

Voltgloss · 397

Like Iron Maiden already sang: "Tell me why I had to be a Powercreep" — AlderSign · 451 9/13/25

There’s a rules forum? Or do you mean form? — Django · 5209 9/16/25

Rules form, yes, thank you. Apologies for the typo. — Voltgloss · 397 9/24/25

George Barnaby

George Barnaby: Upkeep Phase
Hint: I want to go into the upkeep phase with the same number of cards in hand and in the boat.

According to the April 2025 rule, the maximum number of cards in George Barnaby’s boat is 5. If I have X cards in hand and X cards in the boat at the end of the investigator phase, then during the upkeep phase I draw 1 card and go 1 over my hand size limit. I then discard one card down to X. I trigger my ability and place that discarded card into the boat (not into the discard pile) and draw another card. At the end, I have X+1 cards, as would normally happen, but I also have one extra card in the boat, ready to be committed.

Big problem: If I do this and the second card I draw during the upkeep phase (the one from the reaction) is Cast Adrift, since checking hand size is a process that is still resolving, I discard my entire boat, and my hand size limit becomes 0, causing me to discard my entire hand in the Upkeep phase.

Small problem If the first card I draw during upkeep is Cast Adrift, while checking handsize and discarding to 0, I can still use my ability and keep one card in the boat and one in my hand.

9/12/25

MarcMF · 12