This is a hard card to review because it's power fluctuates madly from scenario to scenario.

"Text printed on a scenario card" basically means treachery tests, unique location tests, parlay tests and anything printed on an act/agenda. This specifically means you cant use True Understanding while investigating, attacking or evading.

The limitation and the essential nature of the game basically causes this card to most often trigger during defensive tests during treachery draws and thus, the card is drastically more likely to trigger if your ability to pass tests is good to begin with. This, most common, way to get True Understanding to trigger means that you need to be located where clues are when you attempt the test, this by itself can be tough.

Another consideration when evaluating this card: 1 Clue might not actually be useful to you to begin with, Rex Murphy, Mystics and Seekers with Archaic Glyphs tend to pick clues up in bulks of 2 so the single clue wont always be useful to begin with. Thus it's better to use this card in a deck where picking up clues singly is a common occurrence (For example when Daisy Walker or Norman Withers are around).

.

Now the flip-side. True Understanding might at this point seem like it needs a pile of things to compile to be worth taking, but when they do the incredibly strong result is most definitely worth the wait, a free, action-less, resource-less, clue tacked onto a successful treachery test or something more scenario unique. You can always try to plan for using True Understanding by ending rounds on clue locations (like many characters do for Evidence! or Scene of the Crime) or by bringing the test to the location via common treacheries like Frozen in Fear.

.

TL:Dr. Hard to trigger, extremely useful when it does.

Will add some pieces of data I was looking for when entered this comment section and didn't find it fully. I will repeat something of what was already mentioned, trying to make my own review pretty comprehensive. Everything turned out to be in the rules, though, but who reads them before they need it? DISCLAIMER: I will be using some encounter cards from different cycles as examples, so if you care about that sort of spoilers, don't follow my links).

• What is "skill test from an ability"? I was sure that ability is only what is triggered, but I was wrong. Yes, there are triggered abilities (if a scenario card has any type of arrow, triggering which you initiate a skill test, you can commit this card, e.g. Bedeviled), but also: constant abilities (an effect that simply exists and doesn't have any specific point of initiation according to the rules. As I understand this card fits), forced abilities (something after word "Forced" that initiates a skilltest. In theory, bc I didn't find examples) and revelation abilities (skill test after word "Revelation", so, yes, basically half or even more cards of the encounter deck, like our favorite Rotting Remains or Crypt Chill). That's when I got true understanding what is this card about.
• What is "scenario card?" From rules: "Scenario cards include act cards, agenda cards, location cards, treachery cards, enemy cards, and scenario reference cards." and "Weaknesses with an encounter cardtype (such as enemies or treacheries) are considered to be player cards while they are in their bearer’s deck, and are considered to be encounter cards while they are being resolved, and once they have entered play". So you can find some clues while committing True Understanding to Searching for Izzie. And don't forget that abilities on weaknesses in threat area or attached to the location can be triggered by other investigators in the same location (yes, pure Jenny can spare her out-of-class card room for something more appealing while her seeker can watch her back). Above mentioned Bedeviled now can also be taken away from Finn with some additional use by your seeker. And, basically, any parley action with skill test can be assisted with True Understanding. This chatty Cathy Poltergeist! Always spills the beans.
• TL;DR the card is not that situational as one can find and, given you can commit it not only to your own skill tests, you are unlikely to find yourself in a situation when it's been uselessly sitting in your hand for half of a game without any chance to be triggered. It's much more easier to use it than, for instance, Evidence! while it is an actionless and 0-resource cost way to get a clue. The test, you need to pass, can also be easier than the location's shroud value.

Core encounter sets scenario cards which has a skill test on it :

• The Midnight Masks : 2x False Lead
• Ghouls : 3x Grasping Hands
• Striking Fear : 3x Rotting Remains, 2x Frozen in Fear
• Chilling Cold : 2x Crypt Chill
• Nightgaunts : 2x On Wings of Darkness
• Locked Doors : 2x Locked Door
• Agents of Hastur : 2x The Yellow Sign
• Agents of Cthulhu : 2x Dreams of R'lyeh

This is a top-tier card that continues to fly under the radar. For zero actions and zero resources this grants a clue. And in a game where every scenario is a race to advance the Act Deck via clues, it's hard to overstate how great that is!

Yes, you do have to pass a test on a "Scenario Card". But between location actions and treacheries I've never had this be a dead card.

If you're running Milan Christopher and have resources to burn, Working a Hunch with its $2 cost is just as good, but in decks without him I argue that True Understanding is the superior pick.

This should be a staple in every deck that runs Deduction, because it's essentially 2 more copies of Deduction. Happy hunting!!

I'm noticing a discrepancy between the text as printed on the card and as written on this page that significantly affects the efficacy of this card. There is no posted errata so I'm wondering if this is an error.

EDIT. I realize now the text discrepancy would not have an affect on this card's performance.

Based on the following entry for Grounded, I think this can be committed not only to "Test [skill type] (difficulty)" tests printed on a scenario card, but also to actions which are themselves a skill test, if the action is being triggered "from an ability printed on a scenario card": arkhamdb.com

Q: What consistitutes a "skill test on a Spell card" for the purposes of cards like Spirit Athame and Grounded? A: A "skill test on a card" is any ability that directly prompts a skill test, either through the template "test skill (X)," or by initiating an action that is, in itself, a skill test (for example, any card with Fight, Evade, or Investigate action designators).

By this interpretation, some cards (not exhaustive) which do work with True Understanding: Green Room (https://arkhamdb.com/card/03055), The Man in the Pallid Mask (https://arkhamdb.com/card/03059), Spires of Carcosa (https://arkhamdb.com/card/03091), Reading Room (https://arkhamdb.com/card/03134), Searching for Izzie, Of Life and Death (https://arkhamdb.com/card/06301), Moon-Forest (https://arkhamdb.com/card/06218), arguably Feathered Serpent if you don't have a scepter (https://arkhamdb.com/card/53047), Cubic Ooze (https://arkhamdb.com/card/85041)