I ran this recently in a Trish (2026) deck through The Forgotten Age, and I was shocked at how much extra money it was printing compared to the level zero version. It probably helped that I was stacking static boosts. The synergies for Item, Tool, and Illicit are appreciated.

If this is in your deckbuilding options and you're playing a or character and you need more money, this is a reasonable pick.

As of the release of Chapter 2, Jim Culver is the default ally in for Level 0 Mystic decks.

First, Jim is the only Level 0 Mystic Ally since David Renfield) to provide a passive bonus to Will. That alone makes Jim playable. There are only a couple of situations where a pure Mystic would not want to run him:

• You plan on doing a lot of basic Investigate actions and want to know the top card of the Encounter deck (e.g. Alyssa Graham)
• If actively benefit from Token Manipulation (e.g., Katarina Sojka or Olive McBride)
• If you built around the Doom mechanic (e.g., Arcane Initiate or David Renfield)

Second, Jim Culver draws cards. A LOT of cards. At a minimum. Jim replaces himself the first time you take damage or horror. If you get him in play early enough, you can expect to 4-5 cards across the scenario.

My partner and I just beat Carcosa for the first time yesterday. In Dim Carcosa, my partner's Akachi picked up the first 4 clues and a pair of fanatics spawned to pick up 2 more. I (as Minh) got to pick up the other 15 clues with this and deduction and wipe the entire board in one go.

I didn't draw my keycards for quite some time so it was in fact already act 3 with Hastur Lord of Carcosa on the board before we got anything going, so I can't quite recommend this as like. Optimized playing. But it is the most satisfying single action I have ever taken in this game.

Especially cause the two locations that didn't start on their damage version got got by me playing deciphered reality and deduction again on my second cycle through the deck. Truly a beautiful, beautiful scenario to take this into.

Edit: still think this is a good scenario to take this into but this is my reminder to myself that if I am not reading the FAQs on a card before playing it, I should not subsequently post about the experience before reading said FAQ.

I'm making a Hank Samson deck for FHV campaign and I was looking for an alternative for "Look what I found!", because his clue gathering skills are just that bad. 1 intellect is very rough. I found Gravedigger's Shovel and I think its not bad at all in my current situation.

A lot of other options I found are just very awkward on this character. For example, you want Peter Sylvestre, so you don't want to run Spectral Raven. You can't even effectively use Newspaper or any other clue gathering tool. I could run Flashlight or Old Keyring, but outside of 1 or 2 shroud locations, you are actually useless even with that due to 1 intellect. I also want to be exactly where my seeker is at all times, so I can tank for them. Thus, moving to a low shroud location isn't always feasible. I really I didn't like that.

Most importantly, FHV introduces some new fun combos that synergize with this. My deck is already doing the Pitchfork and Pushed to the Limit combo, so it made me seriously consider this card. I actually think this is a good flexible pick. I'm sure anyone who has played a dedicated fighter, knows the pain of having turns where you just do nothing.

If you are lacking enemies and need something else to do, you can just discard this from play for a clue, or use Pushed to the Limit to do the same thing. It's not the best, but the option is there, and its testless! It is a lot better than just gaining resources or drawing cards on dead turns. I do not think Hank has any problems fighting, so being able to turn your extra fighting cards into "gain 1 clue, testless" seems very appealing.

This is a card I'm likely replacing rather quickly when I upgrades, but it seems completely fine early in a campaign. I also can seriously consider the upgraded Gravedigger's Shovel for 2 clues!! I could be wrong as I haven't played FHV yet. I'll see after I do a few levels with it. I figure its more fun to use cards I don't normally use anyway.

I love this card in flex/support decks focused on evading.

It is common for scenarios to end up with the investigators gathered in a location trying to achieve something. I really like deploying a Decoy Trap there just to catch enemies as they spawn. It is a great way to handle enemies while everyone else keeps working towards finishing the scenario.