Eye of the Djinn

Eye of the Djinn

One crazy interaction that exists is with Skid's parallel ability. Instead of testing at base 3 you can increase that number to 5 since the Djinn doesn't specify which skill test type it has to be. On standard and easy this means you can gamble 1 resource and all but guarantee a resource every turn barring the tentacles. If you actually commit cards, it gets even crazier.

Also, a question: Can you use this during the Mythos phase? It says "during your turn" so I'm not entirely sure.

Darvete · 577
There are no player turns during the mythos phase, so the eye can't be used then. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
There are some rogue cards that let you take an action as if your turn, but these are are after the test initiation on Mythos cards. — Django · 5165
It's actually pretty incredible with the favors, because you can basically just get yourself a free action and unexhaust the eye of the djinn. Lair of Dagon cannot come soon enough! — Zinjanthropus · 231

Elusive

Elusive

It’s hard to tell if this is actually worth two XP. It’s a teleport for free and zero actions that I can get you anywhere except to the boss. But there aren’t a ton of situations where you just want to ignore all your responsibilities and get to the end when that end doesn’t have a resign ability. And if that point, "I’m outta here" is cheaper. As a panic button, it’s pretty great, but for 3XP more, will you eventually get cheat death instead?

MrGoldbee · 1496
I'll push hard on this. Elusive is a much more flexible and useful card than Cheat Death. This protects you in much the same way as Cheat Death, while also acting as an I'm Outta Here if you need it. But really what it does is it saves you tons of actions. You don't have to evade, you don't have to commit cards to a test, you can just go anywhere on the board without spending tons of move actions. Some maps encourage this more than others, but in the right campaign this card is absolutely stellar even with the taboo XP increase. — StyxTBeuford · 13052
Great points! — MrGoldbee · 1496
As a note, sometimes you actually want to ignore all your responsibilities and get to the *BEGINNING*. Zoey, Jenny, and to a lesser extent Tony all have painful weaknesses that involve the farthest location, which on a large map can be otherwise impossible to deal with, even when the investigator's actions aren't needed to complete the act. Also relevant to large maps can be VP locations that the investigators chose to ignore in favor of progressing the scenario, but which they later realize would be safe to clear later on if only an investigator could get there again (mild spoiler for Dream-Eaters: a situation like that can easily occur in Point of No Return). — anaphysik · 98
It is very useful in Campaigns with large maps and side quests, including the signature weakness sidequests meantioned by anaphysik. It can also be useful for "jumping over" enemies you don't want to deal with as well as serving as a super evade. — LivefromBenefitSt · 1091
I would say that Elusive is still a bargain at 2xp. I was including it in all my solo Rogue decks, and it was always useful at least once. Eventually I decided that it's too strong to include in Wini decks, but had to backpedal on that when I started trying to do solo Innsmouth. It helps even out the really poor 1p scaling a bit. — Zinjanthropus · 231
Taboo'd again, lol — MrGoldbee · 1496

Soothing Melody

Soothing Melody

Interesting use of this card with parallel Agnes (she can take with parallel card back). Using her new ability it costs 1 damage but it is shuffled back to her deck. As damage is important resource for her it can worth it. Netting the use of this card with her ability:

  • Costs 1 action.
  • Uses 1 card but it is then shuffled back to her deck and a new card is drawn so it nets to no card use.
  • No resource cost.
  • 1 damage is spent then you can heal 2 damage/horror, netting to healing 1, preferable healing 1 damage

For 1 action getting a damage healed while costing nothing else is a good possibility for her to sustain her ability. (Ofc playing mirror will take 1 action and 2 resources but after that you can play this card indefinitely)

While taking the "normal" back have other possiblities (Like Jessica Hyde or Leather Coat+Scavenging/Scavenging) if someone goes full parallel this can be worthwhile.

As Heirloom of Hyperborea takes the same accessory slot Relic Hunter is desirable, especially that she can draw 2 cards with each use of this card netting for 1 action cost to heal 1 damage and draw 1 card

vidinufi · 69
I find the draw somewhat excessive given the very thin deck and the draw from Heirloom, parallel Agnes really doesn't lack for draw. Nor does she want too much draw either, as that might mean she'll deck out and draw Dark Memory again! Rather, I see Soothing Melody as one of the very few tools available for the parallel back to soak the damage from her ability. If you have to take Relic Hunter to fully use it though, I'd just spend 2xp more for a copy of Deny (5) for healing. — suika · 9508
That can be mitigated by simply purchasing multiple copies of some great cancellation spells like Deny 5 and Ward 2. Purchasing more than 2 copies in her deck means you start inflating the deck size, which curbs the DM problem. Even without that, playing Mirror throws three Melodies into your deck, so the draw on them is just mitigating their own inclusion, and Heirloom exhausts so you're not really going to be getting more draw out of it most of the time. I think this is an excellent call out for parallel Agnes, and in fact og Agnes with the parallel back might like it a lot as well. You probably do Relic Hunter for it since in either case sanity might be a problem and Rosary is just too efficient of soak and will boost to not run. — StyxTBeuford · 13052
@Styx: heirloom doesn't exhaust. Agreed that you'll want relic hunter for Rosary, but you really want all 3 accessories out in play at the same time, so it'll cost you two copies of Relic Hunter. It'll make for a pretty silly looking 0xp deck that runs 3 accessories at the same time, or you'll have to waste XP buying level 0 cards. I agree that it's a necessary card for parallel back Agnes, but mostly because she doesn't have much better options, not because it's a particularly good. Though OG Agnes if she doesn't run upgraded Heirloom can make better use of it since the slot is less contested. — suika · 9508
Wow I swear I thought it exhausted. Even so, the impact to your draw is unlikely to be that significant since her deck is spell heavy to begin with. At any rate, more draw is typically desirable, even with Dark Memory. — StyxTBeuford · 13052
Also, if you are worried about decking yourself just don't trigger the heirlooms draw for a turn or so while you play a few spells to fill your deck up — NarkasisBroon · 11
Very true, the draw is optional — StyxTBeuford · 13052
Indeed, it just means that the draw effect is wasted, reducing the action efficiency of Soothing Melody somewhat. — suika · 9508
after i used this melody, does it go into my discard pile? — BoomEzreal · 8

Double, Double

The Truth Beckons

The Truth Beckons

This card is no Shortcut, that much is for sure. It's not fast so you have to get at least two moves before it does anything, and it costs a whole resource too. Your target has to be unrevealed, and not only that but your path toward that target will be interrupted if any locations along the way are also unrevealed or if there are non-aloof, non-massive enemies between you and your destination. But, for all those conditions, there is no built-in upper limit to the number of moves The Truth Beckons grants you, and in the right scenario, you can easily move three or even four times with it. To make this work, you need to either double back along a long path where you revealed multiple locations, or you can chase after a teammate who went out of their way to reveal a bunch of locations, in which case you can "leap frog" them with The Truth Beckons to the next unrevealed one. Not every scenario is going to have opportunities like this though, and while you might be satisfied that this card wasn't completely dead if it grants you just a second move, it will be strictly worse than Shortcut in that situation. So, where does The Truth Beckons pull ahead of Shortcut?

Slight spoilers for some scenarios ahead, in particular the location layouts.

Obviously, completely linear scenarios where you are crammed in with your teammates like The Essex County Express are right out. If this card is in your deck for a scenario like that, it's just its lackluster icons. A lot of Exploring in The Forgotten Age results in new locations being revealed in a linear fashion and players moving to and revealing new locations as they put them into play, so you can probably forget this for the majority of that campaign. In the core set mini-campaign, The Truth Beckons is probably okay for The Midnight Masks as the city of Arkham is quite a sprawl, and you might double back to search remote locations for cultists and clues.

Carcosa contains a couple of scenarios where this is a winner, though. As the most compelling example, The Unspeakable Oath ends by asking the players to trek all the way out from the depths of the asylum to escape, a task which is made difficult by the fact that the exit is a whole five locations away. Happily, unlike a lot of "resign to escape" endings, you do not start off revealing the exit, so in an ideal scenario (maybe you ask a teammate to clear out enemies that spawn along the way) this card generates four move actions and comes close to ending the game on the spot, which is unparalled value for a level zero card. Bonus points if you get your buddy out too using their Safeguard!

Spoilers over now, back to general analysis and a conclusion.

The Truth Beckons is far too narrow and conditional to be a staple movement card, but there are scenarios where it has the opportunity to blow you away with just how many actions it can generate. Foreknowledge of what you're up against helps a lot - don't play this into a scenario you know nothing about - and so does collaboration between you and your team to make it work. This is another level zero card that really makes Adaptable shine too, so any Rogues with access to The Truth Beckons should keep this card in mind. When it comes to interesting deckbuilding, I think the "narrow but situationally powerful" design of cards like this blows the "universally good but rarely fantastic" design of things like Shortcut completely out the water. I am delighted that a card like this exists, even if it won't make the cut over Shortcut in the majority of decks.

Trinity_ · 204
I'm running this card with Amanda in Innsmouth Conspiracy. It has been exceptional on the big Arkham maps. Last night in In Too Deep, we had to backtrack a long way to get a key to a flashback location. It couldn't have happened without this card. — acotgreave · 894
(to clarify: I backtracked a long way to a previously revealed location, and then my teammates cleared the way for me to move 5 locations to the next unrevealed one, ahead of the other investigators) — acotgreave · 894
There’s also a and unintuitive benefit of this card that it lets you slip past massive enemies. This is for the same reason that Zoey hates them - there is no actual timing point when a massive enemy engages an investigator (see the FAQ on Zoey’s page for more details). Instead, investigators at the same location as a massive enemy are inherently considered to be engaged. Thus, The Truth Beckons lets you wander past them! (Just not if you started engaged with one.) — Death by Chocolate · 1490
@DBC you da real MVP — Pinchers · 133
this card is stupid good in Pit of Despair, but generally very good in most Innsmouth scenarios — Zinjanthropus · 231