Cool art, cool flavor, paired with a cool mechanic dripping with theme. I like Deliverance.
Deliverance most obviously avoids encounter card draws, where the more players you have in a game the better it is. At 1 player, it saves no encounter draws- at 2 it saves 1, 3 saves 2, and 4 players you save 3 encounter card draws.
Avoiding encounter draws isn't it's only strength though:
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The player playing Deliverance is usually better suited to draw encounter cards (high , solid and some enemy control, staples of the Mystic class). Having them absorb the encounter deck can be better for your weaker investigators, for example.
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Much like weaknesses, drawing encounter cards earlier is usually better than later. It gets the encounter cards out, leaves less to chance, and gives you a clear two rounds to deal with the fallout of the encounter cards.
With point 1 in mind, this card is clearly intended for an Calvin Wright, but investigators like Agnes Baker, a prepared Gloria Goldberg, Akachi Onyele, Amina Zidane and Father Mateo are great targets too. Again, mystics are really good at the Encounter Deck.
Do I think it's a good card in solo or two player? Not particularly. Three or four players? Yes, Deliverance is a simple and effective method of controlling the encounter deck.
....If you're brave enough to play it.
By the way, this card has a mechanical resonance with the weakness Overzealous that I like. The guy in Overzealous thinks he's the lady in Deliverance, but he actually just drew an encounter and gained surge for no reason.