I've used this card in my sefina deck for 3 games so far and noticed the following:

• Has a ~2/3 chance (depending on chaos bag) to function, so can be like a cheap 3rd or 4th copy of Shrivelling or Rite of Seeking.

  • Don't use it on cards with charges left, as this may kill the card with the charges
• As a spell, Arcane Initiate can "find" it
• It has two icons, so it's nice to commit to most spells
• As event, it can be used with Sefina Rousseau ability
• Grotesque Statue can be used to increase the chance of recharging the spell (but sefina cant play the statue)

Compared to its cousin Charisma, this card doesn't really see much love, despite serving an essentially identical function. With that said, you should watch this space because as more and more must-have accessories are released, this card will only increase in value. I'm willing to bet that a year from now (or even sooner), we will start seeing this card being considered a lot more.

As things currently stand however, there just aren't enough high-powered Accessory cards to merit purchasing Relic Hunter for pretty much every investigator.

The one massive exception is Zoey Samaras. Her signature card, Zoey's Cross is an absolute must-play when you draw it. It's so powerful that you'll probably think twice before purchasing any other accessory cards, as they'll essentially just be used for their icons if the cross hits the table first. This is a huge shame, as not only would Zoey really like to pick up an Elder Sign Amulet at some point, but she is also the only investigator who has access to both Holy Rosary and Police Badge, arguably the two strongest accessories in the game right now.

But with Relic Hunter, Zoey can fill her deck with these accessory cards and get good use out of all of them. If Zoey's Cross is the card you never want to leave your side (e.g., the accessory equivalent of Leo De Luca, Dr. Milan Christopher), the others are all expendable and can be replaced once they've served their purpose (Art Student, Guard Dog, etc..)

This card is a little weird, and it is best compared to another similar card, Mind over Matter.

For 1 resource you drop a foe's combat and evade rating by 2, this is a much stronger effect than increasing your own chances by the same value because: When you attempt a skill test, the result cannot go under 0. I.E, if you encounter foes that have 2 or less evade and fight values, evading or fighting them becomes pretty trivial once you drop those number's to 0. Swarm of Rats become autokill's for example, and so do Ghoul Minion if you just got the two actions.

So why isn't this autotake? I'll tell you, it's not just because of the severe drawback listed in it's play conditions. Against a foe that is harder to hit or Evade than just 2, you Immediately need to start backing up your tests with some actual stats, dropping a foe to 1 fight for example so that you can throw your Str of 2 at isn't that much better on, say, Hard difficulty. You'll need some other way to boost the attempt.

There is another upside to this card. Playing it to buff an actual combat character is a huuuuge play, especially if you're trying to kill some kind of boss, a -2 difficulty on every attack for 2 or 3 attacks is going to stack up a lot of extra hits

.

So, the comparison. Mind over Matter does a similar thing, but it's not limited by Sanity, and it's not team friendly, a fair trade-off because for character's the net benefit is mostly the same, usually a gain of +2 or more or , with Dr. Milan Christopher the gain can be enhanced. Dont forget that a isnt likely to have perennial support cards like Overpower, meanwhile Mind over Matter enables the use of Perception and the like to pump your fight value.

So, IF you do intend to take your brainiac out to punch some fools, this card is probably a bit better than Mind over Matter because of it's team utility and it's enhanced efficiency against low difficulty threats (Which can be an issue for pacifist characters to deal with), but if you actually intend to crunch some heads with your superb intellect then Mind over Matter is more reliably going to help you score hits on harder foes.

Edit: I'm a huge fan of equipping Norman Withers with Knife / Enchanted Blade, this card and Mind over Matter. One of the problems with combo cards like this one is actually finding it early enough to be in your hand when the circumstance arises. Norman speeds through a deck and can assemble all of those pieces faster than anybody else, also Anatomical Diagrams lets him autokill his weakness (barring autofail tokens).

This card feels really underpowered, bordering on unplayable. and is a lot of icons in any given bag. Relics you want to recharge like Grotesque Statue are nearly as likely to vanish on you as they are to come back.

I guess for the moment its an auxiliary purchase once you've splurged on Shrivelling (5) and Rite of Seeking (4) since you can just risk refilling them once they're empty. Still the lack of reliability means I'd probably just rather play around that eventuality than include cards which are just as likely to waste my time. Emergency Cache and even Contraband are better imo for the comparable supply and ammo items.

I think the thing that ticks me off the most is that if Jim Culver's ability was written slightly differently: you may choose to treat as , it would be exactly the buff this under-powered character could use to be both middling strength and really fun to play.

I'm not a fan of this card, but in it's defense there's a few kicker's I just want to make you aware off.

This is a attack so Skidd's can buff it with Vicious Blow and Vicious Blow for an 8 strength attack with 2 damage and 9 strength attack with 3 damage respectively (And Jenny might do the same for 1 less attack strength and 2 precious off-faction slots spent).

Additionally, the auto-evade part is less useful than you might think for a rouge character, usually you can dislodge opponents from yourself without issues, the second kicker is that this card is perfect for pulling an ally out of trouble. The mechanics let you bypass engaging the enemy and go straight for a reliable (for Skidd's) attack.

A relatively rare pairing of + icons on a card (The other 2 cards are Hard Knocks and Backstab). Mixed icons aren't a reason to include a card but it still lends a form of stability to it's usefulness.

Is it a good card? MEH. But it does a specialized job that may impress you from time to time.

Edit, Circle unbound: A new character just showed up that really blows up the usefulness of this card. Rita Young can smack enemies with this thing for 2 damage + evasion, for her the Agility conversion is outright fantastic as a means to actually land the attack, the free evade earns her time to do her thing, with weapons that tend to be action intensive,it's a good pairing.