I ran a 2-handed solo Return to Carcosa with Wini and Akachi. The campaign took a doubt-ful turn and I was faced against this monster in the last scenario. Absolute punishment. Akachi starts at 5 Willpower and I got her to 7 with the tarot card and Holy Rosary. Even then you are faced against 5 and 6-difficulty test to evade this, which is very hard to achieve unless you are also armed with some skill cards. It feels like another timer, that is much more punishing than doom on the agenda and will kill you much sooner. When this is paired with the location Recesses of your Own Mind , it really turns out the doubt route is an absolute hell for mystics and proof you need prior knowledge of the campaign in order to not be faced against impossible odds in Dim Carcosa.

Played this with Carson (on a certain infamous scenario with a lot of party wide direct damage and horror) and it was game saving. Particularly with how Carson’s weakness works. As soon as his weakness comes out you can reliably return it to your deck at the end of the turn at the cost of one horror. When your deck eventually thins down to only having one or two copies of hallowed mirror left in it, and you have a copy in your hand, you can just spam this with your actions each turn. 5 net healing a turn that’s reliable can outpace most damage and horror gimmicks, especially with an investigator like Carson that would otherwise gift most of his actions away. Overall this is one of my go to mid campaign upgrades for select investigators like Carson, Marion etc who can just use it so effectively.

If you are playing with Legacy content, this card found a new home in Isabelle Barnes: with it, Isabelle can safely commit out of her ass to any skill test she needs help to pass, or not bother if she know if she would fail, which also more or less gurantees she doesn't have to take direct horror in vain when using her ability and that she can trigger effects on skill that require her to pass (or fail). Add Survivor recursion like Scavenging, Resourceful or the new Do or Die to recover the mirror and Isabelle is a force to reckon with who can easily overshadow her sister.

This lets survivors Scramble To Reach A Garage Tool In The Foreground vs tests they had no business taking. Mandy can slap around a giant leech. Daniela can derp a 6 shroud clue. Tony can endure a Will(100) permadeath space god bite. Flex versatility is nice!

Makes this a big improvement over Scramble To Reach A Garage Tool In The Foreground, which was expensive, had to be done pre-emptively, and only worked on certain tests.

Now admittedly, it's a one-shot event. But if you're playing Legacy and want to recur it, you can still Scramble To Reach A Garage Tool In The Foreground.

I find it funny that the designers acknowledge Sleight of Hand was enabling game breaking shenanigans with high EXP Item cards and then they immediately reprint it even with other cards in the same core box having limiting recur effects by level (Hunter's Instinct).

Currently Chapter 2 doesn't have many strong non-exhausting Items and won't offer the same joy for a future Chapter 2 Guardian/Rouge to pull out a Winchester Model 12 out of their sleeve for 1 resource. But fast playing limited use Items at a resource discount then returning them back to your hand (or returning another limited use one) is always going to be close to the taboo line particularly if those Items cost 2 or less.

Best uses of Chapter 2 cards revealed so far:

• Mask of Silenus (1), 3 "guarantee" tests for your turn for 2 resources. Even better for Dexter Drake who can fast plop both the mask and Cosmic Flame into play at the beginning of his turn while engaged with an enemy.
• Dreamer's Chronicle, if you can stomach the 3 horror as Trish that's 6 potential clues for 3 resources, maybe you should bring Carolyn :).
• Scroll of the Pharaohs (4), same deal as Dreamer's just more efficient and can pick the damage upgrade instead.
• Winchester Model 12 (5), 3 resources to blast enemies for a round.
• Protective Vest (0/4), 2 resources to search some of your deck for a gun/upgrade and return a spent gun back to your hand.
• Thieves' Kit, can actually make money out of this deal (spend 2, possibly get 3) will definitely be good with Andre.

My Premonition is that The Necronomicon level card will be abused in the future through this card.