Card Reviews · ArkhamDB

Astronomical Atlas

In an Agnes Baker or a Lola Hayes deck, the Astronomical atlas can inform you that your weakness is on the top of your deck, which allows you to use Yaotl to discard it from the top of your deck.

Not good enough to include Astronomical atlas if you had planned to use Yaotl, but a good reason to include Yaotl if you had already planned to use the Atlas.

Of course the best solution (to eliminate weaknesses) is Scroll of Secrets (3): look at the bottom 3 cards and discard the weakness among the 3 cards if any. And combined with Astronomical atlas you can even eliminate 2 weaknesses among the 3 cards if necessary (but only Lola and alternate Daisy can have both cards I think).

1/13/22

AlexP · 248

Lesson Learned

I've played this game, true solo, a lot for the past year or so but never written a review. This card deserves a raving one! Consider how many locations there are at end game where you need to clear clues to win, usually 2/player. There's an enemy there to mess you up. Game over for him/her/it (!), if you have the health/sanity to give. My advice if you're playing solo: Include it as soon as you can, should you be able to. Finishes scenarios in a hurry.

1/13/22

Skrattmas · 9

Moonstone

FYI: If you take both Short Supply and Moonstone, then when your first turn of the game begin, if your Moonstone is one of the ten cards that get discarded, you can immediately play it right from the start. This is quite a neat way to start the game with +1 willpower and + 1 evade. This definitely would be something Patrice Hathaway want to do, but all other investigators who can take both cards should also seriously consider this little combo if they choose to take either Short Supply or vice versa Moonstone, including Lola Hayes (which pumps her willpower and evade to a respectable 4 from the start).

Correction: this does not work because Moonstone needs to be played from your hand.

1/13/22

liwl0115 · 41

It has to be discarded from your hand, not your deck — dscarpac · 929 1/13/22

yikes, you are correct. — liwl0115 · 41 1/13/22

But wait, can't you play Moonstone from your discard pile with things like Scavening (2) or the newly spoiled scarlet keys suvivor event? Moonstone only says "You cannot play [...] from your hand." — Miroque · 25 7/23/22

Just looking this card over (2 years later from the above comment) but you are correct: both Scavenging(2) and Salvage (the Scarlet Keys event you refer to) DO allow you to play it, as both are playing it from your discard. The reason Short Supply doesn't work is that it only discards cards- it doesn't have a built-in "Play" function the way Scavenging & Salvage do. That leaves only the ability on Moonstone itself, which fails to activate because it's condition- that you discarded it from your hand- was not fulfilled, as Short Supply discards from the top of your deck. — HanoverFist · 710 5/15/24

On the other hand, Forced Learning will give you a chance to discard the Moonstone as you draw it (for Lola anyway) — Theralius · 1 7/3/24

Pushed into the Beyond

Just a quick note for beginners: cards in your hand or discard pile are also controlled by you and can be chosen to satisfy the card condition. It doesn't have to be a card in play. (see page 16 in the reference guide)

1/12/22

Lindan · 1

Are they "assets" while in your hand, though, or just "asset cards"? — OrionJA · 1 1/12/22

This is incorrect. Cards will only interact with cards in play unless otherwise specified, this is why you can't discard from hand on a failed Crypt Chill. Cards will specify 'from hand' if it's an option. — SSW · 209 1/12/22

Yup, from "Ability" in the Rules Reference: Card abilities only interact with other cards that are in play, unless the ability specifically references an interaction with cards in an out-of-play area. ... The various types of card abilities are: ... revelation abilities ... — Thatwasademo · 56 1/13/22

So, even though you control the cards in your hand or discard pile, because those are out-of-play zones you can't have Pushed into the Beyond target them. — Thatwasademo · 56 1/13/22

Adaptable

Almost everybody can take Down the Rabbit Hole now using Versatile and In the Thick of It. Though you don't purchase the cards you swap you should be able to swap Down the Rabbit Hole on and off your deck.

During upgrading you can first upgrade your cards with reduced xp cost, then swap Down the Rabbit Hole for another card an then buy new cards.

During next upgrading do the other way round, first buy then swap and upgrade if necessary.

You could even use Adaptable twice to do it on the same turn.

Or am I wrong and abuse this too much?

1/12/22

GrueneLupenAufheben · 127

This had been declined in the FAQ: If I purchase a permanent card for my deck, like Charon’s Obol ( 308), can I later remove it from my deck? Not unless an effect explicitly allows you to do so. Generally cards are only removed from your deck if you purchase a new card and must swap out an existing card in order to reach your investigator’s deck size. However, since Permanent cards do not count towards your deck size, they cannot be swapped out in this way. There is no rule which allows you to remove cards from your deck at will. — Susumu · 361 1/12/22

However, with Versatile it still might work. Let's say, you have access to neither Mystic nor Seeker cards level 0. Then you might be able to swap out DtRH for "Shrewd Analysis", because that becomes your one leagal "other class" card, and you have to remove DtRH for it. Any opinions on that? — Susumu · 361 1/12/22

Instead of trying to be clever, why not just give your investigators +10 XP at the start of the campaign? It's your game and if you want to break the rules, go for it. And if you want to play by the book, remember that the design intent of cards that reduce XP costs or give you XP (ie. In the Thick of It and Arcane Research) has always been to slap them with a hefty downside. Besides, Susumu is right. 'Permanent' is almost as absolute as 'cannot'. — thinsilver · 14 1/12/22

The more I think about this, the more I'm convinced that it works (but is clearly not an intended use). Adaptable gets around the "no way to remove permanents" restriction (which isn't really a restriction; it's just an observation about how the rules don't intrinsically provide a way to remove permanents) because it is an "effect that explicitly allows you to do so", as per the FAQ. Also, since 'swap' is distinct from 'purchase', I see no reason why versatile shouldn't be able to add an EotE permanent to your deck inbetween any two scenarios. — Tynian · 1 1/14/22

Err, sorry, when I said "no reason why versatile", I meant "no reason why adaptable". I always mix them up... — Tynian · 1 1/14/22

The rules state "A card with the permanent keyword still counts as being part of your deck." Adaptable lets you "swap up to two level 0 cards out of your deck." The rule mentioned by Susumu is generally for normal upgrades. The card rules always overwrite the rule book. Therefore Adaptable should let you swap permanents out for other cards. — SpicyNugy · 2 8/3/22

I am not sure how this works with Down the Rabbit Hole though. Can you chose the order these cards resolve? Can you use Rabbit Hole to upgrade a spell, switch Rabbit Hole out with Adaptable, upgrade another card at no penalty, switch Rabbit Hole back into the deck, and upgrade a second spell discounted? This obviously feels way too silly to be allowed. It is a fun thought experiment and the rules should be clarified. — SpicyNugy · 2 8/3/22

This is now explicitly covered in a "Rulebook Errata" FAQ entry (v. 2.0, p. 2, emphasis mine): Add the following bullet point: “Once added to your deck, permanent cards cannot be removed from your deck **or swapped out of your deck** unless explicitly stated otherwise.”" — JoshWVS · 9 8/26/22