Looking at this card more recently (TSK is the most recent release at time of writing) and I think this card has settled into an okay spot in the card pool. It doesn't stand out, but it doesn't stand out too much in some lists.

For one, "big hand" is now a well-established archetype, with cards like Laboratory Assistant and Dream-Enhancing Serum helping increase your hand size and cards like Dream Diary and Farsight rewarding them.

That being said, a skill whose only purpose is "having a bunch of icons" is usually a tough sell because it competes with skills that do something, even if that's just drawing another card. The fact that this produces a bunch of icons is at least a mark in its favor, since those tend to be broadly useful in most scenarios.

If I were to include this card in a deck right now, I'd want to lean into 's ability to manipulate skills with cards like Guided by the Unseen, and use something like The World • XXI to make sure I can commit this without going below 7 cards.

If I'm doing that, I think the Archaic Glyphs are where I want to be? And while this is most certainly not the best Glyphs deck, it could be a lot of fun.

Two final points both related to committing this to other investigators. One of the nice things about a triple card is that it can help lower- investigators help with getting clues. If you're playing Minh Thi Phan with her Analytical Mind, this isn't a bad card for that. And then there's the new Bestow Resolve which could turn this into . That's pretty nice.

I've recently been running a big hand Daisy deck and holy moly this card is freaking amazing; it's an absolute crime that it doesn't have an upgrade. Even on Hard difficulty, I gain pretty reliable card draw with my clue discovery, accelerating set up while also filling my hand. The cherry on top is it being a Tome, of course, being one of the few tomes that allow for clue-gathering of ANY kind with your tome action (and being the ONLY one that affords an investigate action proper tmk).

Outside of Daisy, I'll caution that you shouldn't JUMP on this card as its biggest standout is accelerated drawing power while investigating. That's always nice for the average investigator in general, sure, but if you don't really need the draw, Flashlight is frequently the better option since it's cheaper and reduces difficulty as opposed to buffing your stat. In addition, there are cards like Magnifying Glass, Fingerprint Kit, Deduction (minus the hand slot difference), etc. that are better suited for bolstering your investigative ability proper than the memoir.

But yes, that's if you don't need the draw, and many Seekers love drawing cards not just because some of their class set affords it, but because in many cases it DEMANDS it. Minh Thi Phan is often busy committing cards so much that her draw needs to keep up the pace (which is half of why Analytical Mind is one of the most critical gator signatures in the game imho), and of course Harvey needs in-turn draw in order to make ANY use of his ability. Grim Memoir pairs needed draw with EXACTLY what a Seeker wants to be doing without forcing them stop the clue-gathering in its tracks, drop their pants, and spend an action or two cranking out cards. Try pairing this with the Ancient Stone suite for pretty consistent procs, all the while gathering clues like you want to be doing.

Maaaaan, I really hope this gets an upgrade of some kind. I feel like it comfortably fits its lvl 0 spot, but it can be quite the impactful lvl 0, especially smack dab in the middle of the class it's a part of, and I'd love to see what kind of different ways they could take this card. Or even just double-down on its base function, that'd be fine, too.

After playing with this card for a while, there were some investigators that definitely had better uses with this card. Usually used in:

• Characters who can easily find Hyperphysical Shotcaster or recur it (= almost every ).
• Characters who would like some consistant fight/investigate option that their deckbuilding options doesn't support (= no , )
• Characters who can boost their primary stats through multiple ways

Notable examples that I found:

• "Ashcan" Pete: boost with St. Hubert's Key, Plucky. can use Duke to trigger Scavenging to recur Hyperphysical Shotcaster.
• William Yorick: boost with Beat Cop, Ace of Swords. Has innate recursion ability, can easily set up Scavenging with Short Supply + Yorick's ability
• Harvey Walters: boost with Dr. Milan Christopher or Whitton Greene, Death • XIII, Celaeno Fragments, Practice Makes Perfect. His innate draw engine allows him to find pieces more reliably.
• Rita Young: boost with Track Shoes, Peter Sylvestre, Fight or Flight. Has no access to rogue assets. Can recur Hyperphysical Shotcaster through Scavenging, and can get good burst damage with Dirty Fighting+Hyperphysical Shotcaster.

This is a very good card in multiplayer, 3 times. Or 2 if you pull the tentacle.

What characters can use this well (can buff intellect) and also can recharge this card?

Ursula can regain one charge with eldrich sophist and red clock, but that's expensive in xp and you can only have one clock in your entire deck (also hope you have both other cards available). She can also take Skeleton Key if you've got high shroud locations.

Akachi struggles to get enough intellect to use it well, but can easily recharge it with mystic cards, and starts with one extra charge.

Daisy has a tome that can add one charge per turn (one action for one charge isn't usually good, but she can ignore the action cost once per turn), but is usually too busy using tomes to investigate, and has already spent her resources.

When going for R3 Heretics doesn't end in the victory pile, meaning are still 0 but you won't earn any xp from them.

A quick houserule would be considering Heretics under the act as if they were in the victory display.One could also count those under Erynn for the in order to spice things a little.