Detective's Colt 1911s

Let's talk about hunch deck. Of course you want to use it every turn, so the possibility to refill it seems great and it is surely if your hunch deck is made perfectly, so that you can use all the hunches each turn during scenario. But scenario usually have 14/15 turns and your hunch deck have 11 cards. So if you recycle i.e. 2 out of 11 cards, it means that there will be need for replenishing two more cards max and that is only if you did not reveal any . Therefore Detective's Colt 1911s ability is almost unnecessary and you can ignore it, unless you're certain that you have built perfect hunch deck and even if you did you have to deal with its low stats and high costs. Overall pretty disappointing signature.

Drostt · 161
Confiscation

I have now run through a campaign with this weakness and I can safely say that this is a new contender for the absolute worst weakness in the game (up against Agnes Baker of course). Flavorfully, it is a very good card, but shuffling each Firearm asset into your deck is absolutely devastating, even if you only have one or two in play (which you realistically always want to have at least 2). It is bad enough that I recommend taking Friends in Low Places just so that you can search out this weakness and draw it when you have a cheap gun, rather than later.

Vardaman · 2
I disagree with this review, and with the corollary reviews that talk about what an awesome card Confiscation is because it reloads all your weapons. It’s something you play around and that gives the character a strong identity. I love Michael McGlen’s design, and this weakness’s impact on your deckbuilding choices and in-game strategy is a major contributor to his strong identity. — Eudaimonea · 6
I've played Michael through Drowned City and while I know, from experience, that drawing his weakness can be painful at times, it makes playing Micheal interesting. In a way. Because you have to take this surprise into account when playing him. This and running out of ammo keeps playing Michael interesting. At times this weekness can be very helpful (shuffling big gun into deck). — bugiel_marek · 26
Yeah, and it’s cool the way he’s the big quiet guy in the corner you just know is packing but when the cops pat him down they only find the one gun. Then the action scene starts and he’s a walking arsenal somehow. The mechanics trick you into finding ways to be that guy, which is clever and good. — Eudaimonea · 6
The truly worst-of-the-worst weaknesses are the ones there are no solutions/playarounds for, and there are quite a few solutions for Confiscation (in the legacy environment, at least). On top of Friends In Low Places, there’s Robert Castaigne 4 and Joey The Rat to help you get guns back into play efficiently, and many solutions for getting guns into your hand (Underworld Market, for instance, as well as Michael’s built-in solution of Viola Case). All of these are cards Michael would get value from even if he had a different weakness. Yeah, this one can punch you in the teeth occasionally (especially at low xp), but a well-designed weakness should wreck you every once in a while. — Pseudo Nymh · 67
"Where's the party?"

I've got a question: could Luke Robinson (+ adaptable) use this from his Dream Gate, discard the enemy and yet draw cards? Or will it fails as "Kicking the Hornet's Nest" does because of its "then"?                                                     

Rotzi · 1
Interesting, it should work as you describe it, because indeed there is no "then". In most cases this will still just be a Pot of Greed, though. — AlderSign · 440
Yep. Should work. — Eudaimonea · 6
Katarina Sojka

Overall Katarina is probably a guaranteed include in any Curse or Blurse decks I'd make

I didn't quite manage to get a completely satisfying setup however if you seal most symbol tokens (probably don't seal the Elder Sign but it is an option) but the Skull you could use Katarina to reliably trigger Speak to the Dead which in turn can be used to bring back Call the Beyond which helps keeping Dayana or Seal of the Seventh Sign charged for example. Other good candidates are Blur and Close the Circle but Akachi has Spirit-Speaker so she could already charge them quite easily

The problem is there's no permanently reliable way to bring back SttD but you could at least do so twice with Uncage the Soul. Spamming CtB a lot would also add a lot of curses. I don't think Katarina and Favor of the Moon in this setup have a great synergy but it's still good enough to deserve an honorable mention. It helps keeping the curses in check, actually pays you and lets you gamble for your Elder Sign when you don't want to use SttD.

One option would be to use Dexter Drake and use Katarina to trigger his Elder Sign more often and bring back SttD that way but unlike Akachi Onyele, Dexter doesn't have access to Dial of Ancients it could however be traded with Teamwork. Dayana -> Recharge -> Use Call the Beyond on Dayana or the Dial could keep quite a big amount of the chaos bag sealed with just one trinket. Akachi's increased charge limit also generally makes her a better candidate for CtB

Also SttD can be used together with Sign Magick and Astral Mirror to reduce the action cost while not taking up as many slots.

Lastly you can use Katarina to try to bait out the Auto-fail on turns that are less dangerous to seal it on Dial of Ancients. Dayana but you'll still fail your check so that's only marginally useful.

Redsnabba · 1
Completely unrelated to the above setup: Katarina pairs extremely well with The Black Cat making pretty much any Investigator that's willing to spend 2 exp on versatile and 5 exp on The Black Cat pretty tanky and an Elder Sign +5 is very strong — Redsnabba · 1
Library Pass

"Q: Arkham LCG Library Pass (Level 5) Is it the intention to compulsorily require paying 1 resource if there is no Tome attached? A: Yes; if no Tome asset is attached to Library Pass (5) when its Forced ability triggers, you must still pay 1 resource. (Ruling, March 2025)"

This is a TERRIBLE ruling, even if consistent with the text.

That's not worth 5 XP. That's not worth 1 XP! That's practically a Weakness.

Lahsbee · 24
Before you ask, they totally meant to do that. — Eudaimonea · 6
I don't think it's a bad ruling per se; you only take this upgrade if you can cycle consistently, which is crazy powerful and even worth the 1 or 2 resources you have to pay on the off-turns. BUT: Thematically, the ruling doesn't make any sense, which I adhor. — AlderSign · 440
If you can quickly find the book you need, alongside all other tech card to support them, this can still be worthwhile, if you cannot, you are getting money drained. Yeah, imo risking to get your upkeep resources denied is not worth the risk of some broken combo, especially early in the game where the first resources you get matter the most. They should have just added "...if there is a Tome attached to Library Pass:" to the Forced effect — HeroesOfTomorrow · 71
Can you blank this somehow? Sadly it’s not a tool for toolbelt — Django · 5174
Unlikely. Permanents can’t have attachments. I suppose you can ensure you neither have a resource nor a tome on the pass at the end of each turn. Sweet tech to play around the card you spent 5 XP on. — Eudaimonea · 6
@AlderSign - it's a permanent, so it costs you a resource every turn for the entire game. In the absence of The Book That Should Not Be, are there really any tomes that make this worthwhile? Let's say you built an otherwise good deck. Out comes an upgraded Old Book of Lore. You are up one resource. Turn 2, even. Turn 3, it's now more expensive than just playing it. — Lahsbee · 24
Something like Pnakotic Manuscripts might be okay. One resource up front instead of 5. If you can spend the secrets fast enough in a worthwhile manner you can let it go the same turn. That's not bad. I guess. :-) — Lahsbee · 24
The vanilla combo with Scroll of Secrets ensures you get the Tome back after you bottom-deck it (instead of paying the resource). Recursion is good with a strong book, no? — AlderSign · 440
Yes, if you have a strong book in your opening hand and also a Scroll to recur it, you might go a whole game not regretting this card. The trick is you have to spend the 5 XP before seeing your opening hand and if you don’t have the good draw, you’re just paying the tax for no benefit all game. You’re gambling a lot on the proposition you’ll draw Scroll of Secrets + Pnakotic Manuscript every opening hand for the rest of the campaign. — Eudaimonea · 6
It's not that dire to lose a resource 2 or 3 rounds, is it? Doesn't mean the whole scenario is screwed. — AlderSign · 440