Ah, the good old Mag glass. Many years have passed, and i can honestly say from the bottom of my heart that i hate Mag glass even more now then i did back in the days. Sure, it was strong, but no way did i know that Seekers would be so over-the-top overpowered that a simple item that gives them +1 would be deemed as OP. Why, you might ask? Well, let me give you an example.

Imagine if Guardians had something like Mag Glass from the core set, which most of the community does not even see as problematic, but imagine a guardian asset like this: takes up an arcane slot for example, 1 cost-0xp fast asset that says you get +1 . Why would anybody in their right mind NOT play that card?

And they won't print it because it would immediately be auto-include in most Guardian decks. But even if they print such an insanely broken and not fun card, here's the fun thing; IT WOULD STILL BE WEAKER THAN MAG GLASS! (since mag glass gives Seekers the thing that they use all game long in almost all of their actions, it gets the job done and clues win you games, while fight is something that you need only when enemies show up and most of them end up being dead in the same turn). Every single thing about this card screams "VALUEEEEEE", and the fact that this card came out alllll the way back in the core set, it pushed designers into a bad alley of balancing future cards around cards like this and Dr. Milan Christopher which we already know is the best ally in the game at lvl 0. The worst part of all of this is that poor Rogues still do not have an ally that gives them +1 to play with at 0xp which does something usefull, Mystics again have no good allies at 0xp after poor David Renfield got nuked with the latest tabboo list and are again back to the good old Arcane Initiate which is pretty damn good but still not on the level of Milan.

This whole review might seem like a lot of complaining and not a straight up review, but i just wanted to tell the new players that they should not look at this card as a simple, poor +1 . It is insanely strong, and you will never feel bad to draw it and just slam it onto the table, because even in the worst possible outcome if you need to discard an asset because you have drawn Crypt Chill, you can discard this damn card which didn't even cost you an action to play and just continue doing what Seekers do, which is running around and clearing clues and drawing cards and winning the game. Just put your high enough, and that's it!! Even better when designers put something like a boss enemy to "balance" it out, so that Seekers cannot win the game just by themselves, which is the time for our Guardians to shine!

But wait, aren't most of the bosses and scenarios "balanced" out by having the ability to spend clues to deal dmg to enemies, or spend clues to move for free, or spend clues to.... you get what i'm saying? Well, the normal brain would then ask: "If Seekers get the best draw, best movement, best search, insane action compression, completely maxed-out stats or insanely strong abilites, i can deal dmg with Strange Solution and Ancient Stone, i can get easy money with cards like Crack the Case etc., why would i play anything else?". And that's where my group is at currently! With the full cardpool, there ain't no way in hell that any other class compares to Seekers, so we just stopped playing them. And it all started with this poor, simple card........

I think Jury-Rig raises the usefulness of this card even further for the 6 investigators who can take both without buying Versatile (and I wouldn't buy Versatile for a single copy of Jury-Rig):

• Carson Sinclair
• Tommy Muldoon
• Zoey Samaras
• Charlie Kane
• Lola Hayes
• William Yorick

While I typically don't like assembling a three-card combo, Old Keyring + Jury-Rig + Well-Maintained is pretty strong. You won't get Well-Maintained back, but you will get the Keyring and Jury-Rig back.

Lantern only gives you -1 shroud instead of Keyring's -2, I think it's better for the Investigate combo because of no Uses (X) and you can discard the Lantern on demand, which allows you to wait until the combo is assembled and then "recharge" your Jury-Rig when empty.

Any Firearm + Jury-Rig + Well-Maintained is a great combo with this and Jury-Rig, as it allows you to recharge the Firearm AND the Jury-Rig, and obviously synergizes really well with Act of Desperation.

A Well-Maintained Backpack is really interesting for investigators who need to find their items and supplies, and / or those wanting to search their decks (anyone who can take this and Astounding Revelation or Surprising Find)

Card text : " After an enemy attack deals damage to you during the enemy phase..."

Interaction against Retaliate enemy :

• Retaliate : "Each time an investigator fails a skill test while attacking a ready enemy with the retaliate keyword..."
• Enemy Phase : "... Upon completion of dealing the attack (and all abilities triggered by the attack), exhaust the enemy." (Though it would ready soon in Upkeep Phase, that's why no one bothered turning the enemy 90 degree after it attacks.)
• Triggered Ability : "A ability with a triggering condition beginning with the word "after..." may be used immediately after that triggering condition's impact upon the game state has resolved."

Performing Fight against Retaliate enemy therefore has 2 potential outcomes in the case that you fail :

• If it is exhausted before you trigger , Retaliate is disabled at the moment you are testing Fight against it.
• Inversely if it is still ready while you are testing your Fight, you will get hit if you fail your counter-attack.

(More related rules : "After", "Deal")

Unfortunately "After an enemy attack deals damage to you" is not the same as "after an enemy attacks you". After damage dealing step it is still not exhausted yet. (Someone also asked before)

You will have to take Retaliate attack if you fail the test.

Therefore :

• Enemy that gains debuff while exhausted, you will not gain that advantage during the counter-attack. (e.g. spoiler Carcosa enemy)
• Sometimes exhausted enemy gains a buff. (e.g. spoiler Carcosa enemy, spoiler Carcosa enemy) Your Fight will not have to account for these buff just yet, as it is not yet exhausted.
• Massive : "The lead investigator chooses the order in which these attacks resolve. " "The massive enemy does not exhaust until its final attack of the phase resolves."
  • If counter-attack can defeat it, choosing one with Survival Knife to take the hit first and defeating it saves the rest of the team from getting hit.
  • If it is both Massive and Retaliate (e.g. spoiler Carcosa enemy), Retaliate is not disabled no matter the knife holder take the hit earlier or the last.

Also unrelated, but Interpreting "You" When Taking or Being Dealt Damage : This FAQ has direct reference to Survival Knife so worth a read.

This card is absolutely wild. It's incredibly efficient for the price, with the most easily searchable keyword in the game (Research Librarian, Whitton Greene), gives a +2 boost at level 0 on an item which is unconditional, and further boosts the most important resource in the game; card draw, all the while giving 4 uses for 3 money for a single hand slot. Fingerprint Kit exhausts and has 3 uses while only giving a +1 boost and costs 4 resources. Further, the uses are secrets, which, while this isn't a strong contender to boost the uses, the fact is you can very easily with Astounding Revelation or Eldritch Sophist, or Truth From Fiction. Did you need more handslots to hold it and get more boosts with Magnifying Glass? Arcane Enlightenment is right there

In Daisy this feels like a no brainer because she has the extra action just to use this. Harvey loves this because its an easy and reliable way to proc an activation of drawing a card during his turn. Minh can use it to keep powering her Skill commitment engine. Ursula can also trigger it using her extra action. This feels good for Trish, and Joe, and Roland as well. Hell, if you're clueving with Jenny, Charlie or Lola it seems like a no brainer. Darrell may want this over test-at-0, just for card draw. Mandy likes it, Norman, Rex looooooves the +2 boost. Everyone who can take it should consider it. The fact it doesn't exhaust can make for incredibly powerful turns with Amanda if she has a Deduction under her, if you set up a turn to just investigate with this 3 times going bam bam bam. She needs a little bit more of a boost than the others perhaps, but its crazy how efficient this is compared to any other asset at level 0 that has the Investigate keyword on it. Even Luke who has a higher brain stat, could respec to using this for the first few scenarios going standard seeker with Dr. Milan and Magnifying Glass and this for test at 7 until he gets more XP to dump Sixth Sense (4) or your spell of choice. He can even be running Perception and Deduction with this and be perfectly fine until he gets some 10-20XP.

I could compare this with Cryptographic Cipher, but that at least has a potential of gaining you 3 free investigates. But dammit I will compare, because this gives you 4 investigates you were going to do anyway, with a +2 (where the Cipher had a -2 to shroud on the action) and you can draw an extra card most of the time. It costs the same amount of resources, and has 1 extra use. The power creep is real. The closest comparison in fighters is Glory. Guardians or any fighter have very few benefits at level 0 the way this just gives it to you. The upgraded Thompson turning bullets into money, or On The Hunt getting you money for killing, or the upgrades on Runic Axe. Outside of Investigator powers like Tony's Bounties or Zoey's engagement, there simply is no comparison with how well Seeker cluevers get rewarded compared to Guardian fighters.

Once again, Seekers simply receive cards that straight up reward them for doing what they do best in the most efficient way. Even if there were an upgrade for this, I have no idea what it would need to add to make this better, because I could see this being in a deck from campaign start to campaign finish. I would run this over Magnifying Glass simply because I get the boost, and if I'm drawing more cards, I get to my skills such as Deduction or any of my other good cards much faster that it's irrelevant.

The Scarlet Keys had so many good cards for every class, and many archetypes, but this is subtly one of the best and I could very well see it as a new staple.

If someone whats to know the translation of the gliphs: