Daisy begins the ritual. She's never attempted it on something this difficult before. It will take all her knowledge to unearth an ancient with this level of power.

She speaks the word of the incantation. The translation had felt nearly impossible to piece together at first. It was mentioned in hushed tones in certain texts, reprinted in partial in others, in Sanskrit here, Sumerian there. Through months of intense study, she had finally reproduced it in full.

A glowing seal appears in the middle of the pentagram she has drawn in the dirt as she mutters the words. A wizened hand breaks through the dust. Then an arm. And finally, the truest sign that she had succeeded in her task, a neckbeard.

Trailing slime as he pulls himself upwards out of the seal, Dr. Milan Christopher grunts. "Hrumph! This better be good. My clan was about to raid the Deadmines, and all our other DPS are shit."

Sure, the other reviews are mostly focused on how this card works as an economy card, and I agree that using it to summon Dr. Milan Christopher makes it the equivalent of a fast Emergency Cache which I think is quite good, but I would like to focus my attention on a very important word in this card's ability: Investigate

This card is an investigate action - and one that lets you control the difficulty. Declare a Magnifying Glass and you are making a difficulty 0 Investigate check. "Okay, but why is that useful?" I hear you ask. "You've just paid a resource, a card, and an action to play a free, fast card!"

Yeah, that would be pretty dumb. But here's the thing. Let's say you're Rex Murphy and commit a Deduction. Now you just need a 2 (-4 or better) to pick up 3 clues from that action.

If you want to be even greedier, have your rogue buddy Double or Nothing. It's still difficulty 0, but now the Deduction offers 4 clues in an action. All sorts of silly shenanigans open up when you can Double or Nothing a difficulty 0 test such as Quick Thinking, but sadly not "Watch this!".

But this isn't just about the action compression, the best part is that you control the difficulty, even on a high shroud location, which could reach 5, or even 6 with an encounter card.

Still don't feel like you need this in a pure seeker? You'd rather just pay for Higher Education and Archaic Glyphs Understandable. This is a low enough level combo that it can still be used by secondary - or even tertiary seekers. Roland Banks can struggle to pick up a bunch of clues off a high shroud location without enemies to take advantage of. Even if you're still using Deduction, you succeed with a -2 to Unearth an Art Student and grab two clues.

Is it still a pretty finicky card? Definitely. Do I think you should auto-include it? Probably not. But open your mind to the possibilities, and keep an eye on this card in the future as more synergies become available. I expect this card to eventually be the center of some pretty silly combos.

What does this card really do...

For 1 resource, and a sucessful Investigate (X) action you get to play a Seeker asset of cost X for free. If the Seeker asset has the Relic trait you draw a card too.

There are only 3 Seeker asset at this time with the Relic trait.

• Tooth of Eztli: Mortal Reminder, Cost: 3
• Ancient Stone: Unidentified (1), Cost: 1
• Disc of Itzamna: Protective Amulet (2), Cost 3

Assuming you choose a 3 cost Seeker Relic.

• If you suceed the Investigate (3) check you end up saving two resources.
• If you fail the Investigate (3) check you lose a resource, an action and a card.

Doesn't seem worth it, unless you are playing on Easy.

Additional Synergies:

• Having Dr. Christopher Milan out. (+1 Resource and his +1 Book passive bonus helps with the test)
• Playing Rex Murphy. (Suceed by 2+ to get a clue too)
• Playing Ursula Downs. (Free investigate action after moving.)

I tried this card in my pure seeker Ursula Downs deck that focused on mobility. I was playing on STANDARD difficulty. In my experience this card is mediocre or even bad if you plan to use it just to enhance your economy. The problem is that in order for this card to be worth, you have to use it to play a card that costs 4 resources or more, because if not you are just saving 2 resources or even less , which is quite bad considering that Emergency Cache gives you 3 resources without the risk of having to pass a test to get them.

The fact that the only seeker asset that costs 4 is Dr. Milan makes things even worst because you want to have him in play before using Unearth the Ancients, not only because of his reaction ability but specially for his +1 intellect. What I mean is that without Milan's +1 Intellect you are probably just sitting at 5 or 6 intellect at best and this makes passing the 4 investigation test quite a gamble without committing any more resources or cards (which would make playing Unearth the ancients meaningless). This situation gets even worst on Hard or Expert difficulty and if you consider the negative affects of failing a test if you draw the wrong chaos token. This card is therefore almost useless to summon the only asset it would be worth using it for, namely Dr. Milan.

The bonus card if you use it to play a relic is also mediocre, considering that there are not much seeker relics as of now (3 I think) and they cost 3 or less resources.

Some smart player would say: Hey but you can use this card in combination with Ursula Downs ability and the asset Fieldwork to make it worth but the answer will still be this card is bad, because if you play Unearth the Ancients with Ursula's ability you are not getting a free action or making it fast, remember you could have most likely used Ursula's ability to investigate normally, get clues and get closer to victory. Fieldwork is good to have indeed if you are using this card, but having to pull a combo to effectively use a card with a mediocre effect is obviously not worth your time and effort.

You can of course also use this card in combination with Rex Murphy's ability and a cheap asset like Magnifying Glass and even maybe a Double or Nothing to get some free clues in a high shroud location. I personally haven't tried this cheese strategy yet but I think that it isn't great either (and I am not even sure if the rules allow it). It lacks consistency because you need to much conditions to pull it off and there are allot easier ways to investigate in high shrouded locations for seekers.

In conclusion I think it is a pity that such a thematic card has no place in the current meta. I hope that in the future an XP upgrade will make it worth considering.