Momentum · ArkhamDB

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When I first saw this card, I probably had the same thought as you.

"Oh, that's cute, I guess."

This card is actually an incredible payoff for success rogue for two reasons.

Reducing difficulty is incredibly useful. Do a big skill test, this reduces the difficulty of the next one by 3, that's pretty much a guaranteed evasion or investigate on most scenarios. It means you can carry over the benefits of a big combo skill test to another one, which is real helpful if there's multiple things you need to accomplish.
Double or nothing. You use flashlight/stealth to get a free skill test, commit momentum and overachieve, then if you punch something with double and switchblade, you're attacking for 4 damage against a max difficulty of 4. (Originally 4 combat, -3 from momentum, x2 for double gets you to a difficulty of 2, overachieving requires getting at least 4) which is pretty incredibly reasonable, especially if you've drawn other stuff.

The card could be used as though it read "if you succeed by 3, your next skill test is automatically successful unless you reveal an auto fail" or "if you succeed by 3, your next skill test overachieves," so it's great as a flexible tool for setup AND payoff, which is the kind of thing rogue needed.

1/10/20

xeynid · 22

Agreed, this is the most important Rogue card in the set so far, save for maybe Three Aces. — StyxTBeuford · 12985 1/10/20

Combos really well with Wini's signature, Lockpicks, and Money Talks (in some cases). — Zinjanthropus · 227 6/26/20

Styx, I'm curious to hear about your thoughts on Three Aces. You seem to like it. To me, it seems very niche, like maybe in Mandy Thompson only or a deck that plays Mr Rook. As a Rogue card, when/who plays with Three Aces, and how? — VanyelAshke · 178 11/26/20

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.

8/21/20

Zinjanthropus · 227

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 8/21/20

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 · 227 8/21/20

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 · 227 8/21/20

...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 · 227 8/21/20

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 · 227 8/21/20

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 · 809 8/22/20

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 · 57 8/24/20

(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 · 57 8/24/20

So it sounds like the easy way to think about it is that the mathematical order of operations is reversed. — jdk5143 · 98 8/24/20

That's really useful information! Thanks for finding and posting that! — Zinjanthropus · 227 8/24/20

This card is fantastic and is basically a free emergency cache with streetwise. Boost streetwise on a test and commit this, succeed by 3 and basically carry over the streetwise boost to your next skill test. It goes a long way for economy in a class that can be very expensive. Behind easy mark and three aces, this is probably the next upgrade I shoot for in a standard rogue deck.

1/28/22

drjones87 · 189

勢不可擋

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