Arkham has a grudge against healing. I'm of the opinion that the usual theorycrafting arguments against slotting healing are overly simplistic; they ignore the fact that while healing does not directly help you win, there are times when the game simply becomes an endurance test and soak alone can't save you. There are also investigators who can put it to much better use than others, and interactions with other cards that can elevate it even further. Nevertheless, healing has historically been very weak and/or inefficient, and at the end of the day if you're going to slot it, it better be really good.

And this one is good! For 2 resources and an action, you heal 1/1 AND get a 1/1 soak. That's hard to compete with at level 0.

"But how can an ally be better than a slotless asset, like First Aid, or an event?". Because that problem is an opportunity in disguise!

Just a few examples:

• Along with all the other allies with instantaneous effects, Calling in Favors is going to be very powerful and versatile.
• William Yorick can recur this actionlessly after a fight, when he or his friends may need it (traditionally he may prefer more soak, but consider this in multiplayer).
• When Tommy Muldoon plays this he can sacrifice it, get his money back (in resources or bullets), and draw it from his deck again, ad nauseam, turning him into a mean team healing machine.
• Leo Anderson makes this an actionless 1-cost card, and it's non-unique, so he can put it under Mitch Brown, and since it can heal his other allies he can tank like nobody's business.

You may have noticed I've only mentioned investigators. I might be missing something but apart from working with Miskatonic Archaeology Funding I don't really see this contending in decks. That may change but for the time being I think the only seeker interested would be Joe Diamond, and he's half guardian anyway, and has other ways of staying alive.

Meanwhile, the combos are simply off the wall. In addition to working great with investigator abilities in this faction which I mentioned above, let's not forget the growing pool of allies who turn pain into gain. Beat Cop, Guard Dog, Grete Wagner, and the ultimate Agency Backup would all appreciate a medic. This is a lot like First Aid of course, which can be used multiple times instead of just having an instantaneous effect, but requires XP and another action to play and doesn't combo in the ways previously mentioned.

There is of course a cost not printed here, but one that looms over us all when we consider slotting allies, and that's the human cost. Is it high time Arkham's best and brightest stepped up and started helping with this eldritch horror problem? Should we perhaps consider not placing Massachusetts' next generation of medical professionals in harm's way? Do they get course credit? You decide!

DEFINITELY a lot milder than Norman's other weakness, which wasn't too much to deal with in its own right. is generally the cost to rid oneself of a weakness, so this fits right in there, and you probably are going to get rid of this as fast as possible - I mean, look at its effect, why would you NOT - so if this spends more than a turn plaguing you, you're... probably doing something wrong. No offense.

In any case, the Livre d'Eibon is so much better than Split the Angle, so it's a small price to pay for a MUCH better Signature.

When one thinks of "attacking with ," their mind immediately turns to the undisputed King of the Relics, the Ornate Bow - and Ornate Bow the whip is not. Sure, you don't need to reload it every round, and it's got fast, but... that's about it. And to be honest, that's to be expected, since the Bow is a deck staple of its own right, and the Whip is more of a supplementary card for Jack, getting him out of a pinch with any creepy crawlies by either delivering some more pain than usual or binding them up for a bit with a free evasion. Basically, what I'm saying is that if I go a game committing the Whip to a different test as a slightly more buff Manual Dexterity rather than playing it, then that would be fine with me.

Maybe if a certain runner could make use of it then it would be better, but alas - you can't use Signatures that aren't yours. Sigh.

If the Hallowed Mirror is in my play area all the game, after I used soothing melody, do these melodies go into my discard pile? can I use some cards to get soothing melody to my hand and re-usa again? Or after I used soothing melody and they are just out of game

After years of being hobbled with the sub-par signatures presented in his book reveal, the real thing is finally here, and it really helps cement Norman as the efficiency machine he was striving to be.

Previously, Norman struggled with some action-order constraints, and his deckbuilding had compatibility issues with skill cards and non-Fast events. Being able to swap his topdeck card at will frees Norman from a lot of these problems - and when the Livre is out, you're probably going to be using it every turn. Notably, as a Tome signature, it's probably the easiest one in the game to pull from your deck courtesy of Research Librarians. It's worth digging deep on a mulligan for this book or your book slaves, because you can usually investigate just fine out the gate with 5.

Traditionally, you'd use his ability to cast half-off Working a Hunch or cheapen an expensive asset like St. Huey's Key. Now that he's officially joining the fray, Edge of the Earth brings him lots of toys tailor-made for this book: Written in the Stars lets you topdeck that Deduction and throw it into a slew of Investigate tests, hoovering up 6+ clues in a turn. Astronomical Atlas accelerates your draw and, at its simplest, lets you get one more use out of a / skill before you officially draw it, provided you pass the test. When the Livre isn't discounting a card of your choice each turn, it's essential for setting up these big combos with the rest of his kit.

There are other conceivable uses for it in the Seeker wheelhouse - a Research-focused deck can topdeck the surprised rabbis it ends up drawing, ensuring no such cards are ever wasted. If you have mid-turn draw effects, you can do similar with Cryptic Writings, though swapping it into your hand through the Livre or the Atlas likely won't trigger the free-play effect.