- NB: ArkhamDB now incorporates errata from the Arkham Horror FAQ in its card text, so the ArkhamDB text and the card image above differ, as the ArkhamDB text has been edited to contain this erratum (updated August 2022): Erratum: The last line of this card's Forced effects should read: "... set them aside, out of play" instead of "remove them from the game." - FAQ, v.2.0, August 2022
支援. 手部
道具. 書籍. 密教
费用: 2.
每副牌組限制1張。
強制 - 在密教辭典入場後:在你的綁定卡牌中查找3張鮮血儀式。將其中1張加入你的手牌並將其餘2張混洗入你的牌堆。在密教辭典離場時,找出所有的鮮血儀式(不論其是否在場)並將其放在一邊,位於場外。(FAQ, v2.0)
FAQs
(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)Reviews
This works well with Ancient Stone: Knowledge of the Elders. If you have the Stone out and 2 resources on hand, playing Blood-Rite creates 2-4 testless damage to any enemy at your location, no matter if it’s engaged with you, engaged with another investigator, or aloof. When you use it for 4 damage, you only lose 2 secrets from your stone, keeping more for later use. You could possibly have multiple copies of Blood-Rite in hand, setting up massive guaranteed damage, even against the toughest enemies in the game. Powerful combination, but it takes both hands!
I've seen players comment on their experience with playing Occult Lexicon a few times during a scenario. Based on my understanding of the card, that's not possible.
Bonded cards have this ruling:
New Keyword: Bonded. If your deck contains a card which summons one or more bonded cards, those bonded cards should be set aside at the start of each game.
- Before scenario, set aside 3x copies of Blood-Rite into a pile.
- During scenario, play Occult Lexicon. You fetch the 3x copies of Blood-Rite from the set aside pile of bonded cards.
- You play another hand asset over-top of Occult Lexicon. Lexicon goes to the discard, and all 3 copies of Blood-Rite are removed from the game.
- Later in the scenario, you replay Occult Lexicon. The Blood-Rite cards have been removed from the game; they are not considered to be amongst your set-aside pile of bonded cards.
Right?
I think it’s worth mentioning that this (along with Hallowed Mirror) are Occult cards, meaning they can be taken by your favorite shaman and mine, Akachi Onyele! Blood-Rite is pretty versatile, the full suite netting you 6 cards over 4 actions (if you value such strict mathematical breakdowns) and can let you pitch cards you don’t need for resources that you probably do and some damage pings to boot.
Not saying it’s an automatic include or anything, but I think it’s got some good applications in her deck.
I do not like Occult Lexicon; it's not a bad card in any way, just the first four words in the text complicate matters significantly: "limit one per deck":
Given how long scenarios typically last, and the punitive aspect of weaknesses that punish over-drawing, Arkham Horror LCG tends to leave a sizeable stack of cards left in your deck by the time a scenario ends, where even cards you've included two copies of have a chance of not showing up for any one scenario. This makes single copies in your deck very unreliable, and depending on them showing up early is ill-advised.
And Occult Lexicon value depreciates significantly the further into the game you draw it. After playing only one copy of Blood-Rite, you've broken even in terms of tempo: one action to play Occult Lexicon and one action to play one copy of Blood-Rite nets you two cards, two resources, two damage, or any combination thereof in two actions, what you would've gotten with basic actions. To get a return on investment, you need to draw one specific card, play it, play the other card that just entered your hand, wait till you draw one of the two remaining copies of that card, and then play a third card; a feat made unlikely to occur often with the deck limit.
You could always tutor Occult Lexicon out, there's Backpack and Research Librarian for that, but I advise against it, as it compounds the slow nature of Occult Lexicon. Now instead of spending two actions to get something back, you're spending three. Tutors are much better spent on impactful cards that you would be willing to spend two actions to have now rather than one later (or one and zero respectively it the card is fast). Occult Lexicon enriches your deck with better than average cards with high flexibilty; it's immediate impact is lacking.
Now despite all that, there's one sterling example of when Occult Lexicon might very well be an auto-include; in a Marie Lambeau deck. Marie wants spell assets or non-fast spell events to make use of her special ability, and Occult Lexicon enriches her deck with not just above-average cards, but above average spell events, eliminating their slow nature somewhat as they might as well be fast cards when played with her additional action. In addition, Hallowed Mirror works exactly the same as Occult Lexicon in this regard (and Marie can take both, as the're both lvl0 occult cards), with their respective spells being all-purpose enough that you're happy with drawing either. With that in mind, you can treat Occult Lexicon and Hallowed Mirror as a pair of a single card, just like any other card that you can include two copies of, which eliminates the other downside of those cards.