So with the release of edge of the earth there is new life injected into old cards as ever and I am here to try in vein to prove every card has its place, now the place wither occupies is a niche one, but less niche with a spicy little hotness.

Wither is worse than Swordcane because you can't evade. Wither is worse than Katherine(+big spell) for lack of damage. Wither is worse than Knife because even knife is cheaper.

Well.... Wither is a Spell and that means it has nice place besides (one of my new favorite cards) Prophetic, it now can be played for free and can give a boost to attack, if you are running Prophetic anyway (you should, its amazingly powerful) then wither I think just out competes a lot of other side weapons you'd use to finish of enemies.

A 0 cost asset that is very easy to search out of your deck with other good mystic cards seems like it could easily pay for itself, in Dexter you likely won't even end up losing an action to play it, and if you are going Dragon Pole route it gives you a very cheap approach to filling your slot with an emergency method to attack.

ALL this said.... Brand of Cthugha is an absolute monster of a card, which also only costs 2...so maybe wither will never enter the spotlight and just warm the bench for the new brand, but it has a use that's worth exploring and considering.

Edit: Two card corrections. C>K, Sword Cane>Dragon Pole.

This card is absolutely bananas on Lily. Out of the box, she fights at 7, but you probably have a Discipline boosting either or , which puts her at 8 (equal to Leo, Mark, Natcho, Akachi). Once you hit 15 xp, you can either put in the other Discipline stat to baseline fight at 9 or get Discipline to get that "Three attacks for one Action" effect. At 30 xp, you have both. This means she has the potential to do 15 damage in a round every other round or so while fighting at base skill of 9.

This item also turns boosts like Holy Rosary (or the upgraded version) and Brother Xavier into combat boosts that also protect you from the Mythos.

I realize Butterfly Swords are more in line with her theme, but the Hammer provides insane value for her, while also being a Relic for when that matters. Even on Hard, she will regularly test 4-6 above "hard" enemies without commits making passing by 3 pretty easy. It's also a decent target for Well Prepared for further flexible boosts.

Will this work with Gloria? IF find once she has teamed up with Alyssa she sails through the scenario until made to take a strength/foot test. Then she is stuck. It does limit her control for enemies she has to fight to Spectral Razor, Ethereal Form, or sword can without sign magik to hold her spells. But that is often enough.

The first investigator I thought of when I saw this card was Father Mateo, as he'll start the first scenario of a campaign with "Blessed" fully turned on --- 8 XP gives him:

1X Ancient Covenant

2X Priest of Two Faiths (Great with Calling in Favors! Even if you don't hit another ally you pull the Priest back to your hand, avoiding the token and you'll get to play him again later. If you hit another Priest he'll come in for free!)

2X Favor of the Sun (Your combo piece with Ancient Covenant)

Either 1X Holy Rosary (2) (probably preferred because it adds tokens to the bag) or 2X Radiant Smite (POWEFUL, but it pulls tokens out.)

You can use Book of Psalms (which adds more tokens) or Fearless (which I prefer because I like skills) to deal with the mental trauma you take to purchase this card.

A new fight spell, but also one that is much more flexible than Shrivelling. Shrivelling costs 3, and does a total of 8 damage, and has a horror downside to picking the wrong token. For 1 XP, Brand of Cthugha costs a bit less, gives a skill boost (necessary for avoiding the 'succeed by 0 clause'), but only does 6 damage. But you get to spend those charges as you need them, and none at all if you fail. Mystic spells that do 2 damage have always been in an awkward spot dealing with 3 HP enemies -- how do you do that last point of damage? Guardians with 2 damage guns generally have dealt with this issue with taking a basic fight action, maybe boosted with Overpower. Mystics can use Wither or Sword Cane, or worse, spend another charge of Shrivelling and waste the extra damage. Here you just need this one card, and only spend one charge. Granted, you will run out of charges quickly, but there are more and more ways to add charges these days or pickup Spells from the discard pile once you've pushed it out.

For Diana Stanley, this card's flexibility comes right in the "you MAY use" clause -- use your combat skill at the beginning of the game. You'll be fighting at 4 right out of the gate. Once you've cancelled a few more cards, switch to using your Willpower instead, without needing to switch Spells.

The "lose 1 action" penalty is a real bummer, though. If you're engaged with an enemy, you have to fight it right away, unlike waiting until your last action with Rite of Seeking. If you have another weapon or fighting spell in play, use that first to do one damage and finish the enemy off with this; if you don't, you'll need to get lucky. This is even more the case with the upgraded version, which has a penalty of losing TWO actions. Another good idea is to pack a few events or assets that deal testless damage, like Beat Cop, or powerful fighting spells, and use this card to do the last point or two of damage.