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"?                                                     

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.

"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.

What a loaded card!

One of the main issue the basic version of "Watch this!" had was that it was only worth using on skill checks you were likely to pass, which for most Rogues would be only Agility, as it is their usual best stat, while their second best, Intellect, cannot benefit from the basic skill card in normal circumstances, lacking the matching icon.

Enter the level 3 version of the card , which simply converts all of the skill icons into wilds, that can be commited to any skill check!

That makes the card ludicrously easy to use, and makes it easier to fulfill the clause to get cash from it, as you can commit it to whatever trivial skill check you run accross

But what is great about this is that it turns "Watch This!" from exclusively a utility/economy card to a mix between utility, economy AND defense, as the three wilds are immensely more helpful to deal with treacheries than the lone Will pip of the basic version.

This gives the card amazing versatility: if you don't care about money, you can just use this to save your butt against a bad treachery that would punish you badly for failing its test!

Some people compare it as being an overpriced upgrade to Unexpected Courage, and I couldn't disagree more: the combination of both its resource genration and skill bonus, makes this much, much more versatile than UC, and far easier to slot in and use in many situations. You sometimes have to choose between skill cards that either give you strong effects (like Vicious Blow) and cards that provide high skill bonus for a number of situations (like Survey the Area) but "Watch this!" does BOTH at once, which is far more value than what most skills have to offer, and its versatility makes it that much easier to cut down the need to run similiar cards to fulfill different functions. It makes your deck more compact by combining multiple uses of different skills into one card and give you the option to replace overlapping skills with something different.

That is without considering the great synergy it has with other Rogue cards, and the "overachiever" archetype: it can help you reach a high result to trivialise your next test with Momentum, give you 3 wilds you can look for with either Daredevil (a card which really likes finding wilds that are eligible to any test) and make it more likely for you to get max draw with All In

I don't think this is a luxury upgrade at all: I think this is definetly worth considering for any Rogue that has access to it and is running the basic version or Unexpected Courage, or is making heavy usage of Rogue skills. It's just a brilliant card that is ludicrously easy to use and slot in any deck, which is what all skills should aspire to be.

Rod of Animalism seems niche, and it is. It has two core flaws that make it challenging to play:

1) It's hard for it to pay for itself since you need to get it into play before you play your creatures. If you're playing enough creature allies to want it, odds are high that you end up drawing the creatures before you get the rod.

2) It's always in constant competition with Charisma. Yes, charisma costs two more xp for half as many ally slots, but it's a permanent, which guarantees you reliability, frees up a slot in your deck, takes no action to draw, resources to play, or actions to play. Those are all incredibly significant advantages for Charisma.

There are, however, a handful of investigators that can make it work.

William Yorick can make use of it in a creature-recursion deck making use of his ability to recycle cheap assets to let him search for clues with Mysterious Raven, evade with the Stray Cat, and kill enemies to keep endlessly recycling with the Guard Dog. In a Yorick creature deck, you're much more likely to be playing your allies over and over again, and having 0-cost items in your discard is incredibly valuable for Yorick. You are still likely better off with Charisma, so it's important to note that you are likely only aiming for the rod if you have other allies you are excited to play with Yorick, and there are plenty of amazing allies he has access to. Imagine a Yorick deck with Pete Sylvester as a horror soak in his main ally slot, a Mysterious Raven that can be endlessly recycled for testless, actionless clues with the raven's downside fully mitigated by Pete's endless resolve, that still has space for a beat cop or a story ally. Comboing Pete with the raven essentially means that Yorick has an ability that says "play Evidence for free every time you kill an enemy".

Daniela Reyes can make this card work for two reasons: she already has 3 incredible allies that she really wants to play with in Aquinnah, Pete Sylvester, and Jessica Hyde, which would already take two charismas to make work. At the same time, many of the available creature allies are uniquely good for her. Two guard dogs are absolutely essential for Daniela, as they work seamlessly with her ability. Unfortunately, the remaining creatures are somewhat lackluster for her. Miss Doyle could find a place with Augur to mitigate Daniela's 1 book. Here, it's not a case of Charisma vs. Rod of Animalism so much as a question of whether it's worth adding a Rod of Animalism on top of the two charismas you were already planning to have.

Charlie Kane loves allies, and will already be including double charismas as one of his first upgrades. Six allies is lovely, but eight is even better. Miss Doyle (whose accompanying cat does not take up an ally slot) is uniquely excellent in a Charlie deck, with all three cats potentially being useful depending on your build. Unfortunately, the Black Cat, isn't actually a creature, so you really need another animal or two to make it worth picking up. Could be excellent in the rare case when you pick up a creature story asset like Anyu, aka the only sled dog that isn't a trap, or in a monster-hunter build where you can actually make use of the improved guard dog. In a Charlie deck, the rod is probably never going to pay for itself; it's really just a way of getting even more allies.

Here's hoping they eventually create a Rod of Animalism(4) that becomes a permanent, Miskatonic Archeology Funding style, which would dramatically improve this card and make it a viable alternative to charisma for anyone who wants to include a few creatures in their deck instead of just for a handful of investigators.