Blood-Rite

Automatic, test-free damage is premium, especially on a level 0 card. This is especially great early in the campaign, where there tend to be a fair number of 1 or 2-health enemies this will completely wipe out for you. And remember that testless damage doesn't require engagement, which makes this highly efficient against things like Whippoorwills. Why the Seekers of all classes should get this effect I'm not sure, but hey, I guess it's consistent with stuff like Ancient Stone and The Necronomicon.

Now, strong as Blood-Rite is, Occult Lexicon won't find a home in every Seeker deck. It takes up a hand slot and therefore competes with investigation assets like Magnifying Glass. Multiplayer Seekers who can rely on teammates to deal with enemies may well skip it. But this is a great boon to solo Seekers. And even in multiplayer, testless damage is just so so good on higher difficulties. And of course, beyond the testless damage, Blood-Rite will also help you by drawing cards or gaining resources if you need that. It's a really nice effect for a level 0 card.

That said, I hate Blood-Rite, and do my best to avoid playing it. Why? Well, my answer can be summed up in one word: "thusly."

Seriously, "thusly discarded"? Who wrote the rules text on this card? What was wrong with "in this way"? Enchanted Blade does not say "thusly spent." Taunt does not say "thusly engaged." Twilight Blade does not say "to thusly play or commit a card." All for good reason. "Thusly" is absurd.

I cannot recommend playing this card. That will conclude this review.

CaiusDrewart · 3188
Would you say you have thusly concluded that you cannot recommend playing Blood-Rite? — suika · 9497
It might be there to clarify, that cards discarded by Blood-Rite drawing into Paranoia do not work thusly. — Susumu · 381
I meant of course Amnesia. — Susumu · 381
@suika: I would say no such thing ;) — CaiusDrewart · 3188
Sacrifice

This can offer good card draw when combined with Taboo Scroll of Secrets. Once you have Scroll of Secrets in play for a single resource and action, you will get 3 cards from Scroll (or a discarded weakness). And then, since Scroll of Secrets is a Mystic card (multi-class cards count as cards of both classes), you can get three more cards/resources with Sacrifice at a cost of one more action.

It nets out as two actions for a gain of three cards, but it is better than it sounds since there is flexibility in getting resources instead, it filters out weaknesses and it overall helps you move through your deck quickly.

One obvious downside is that it takes 3 rounds to payoff since Scroll of Secrets exhausts after each use.

xemxi · 12
As a Mystic you will have Mystic assets in play regardless of their cost. This card nets you the same, whether you sacrifice your Scroll or your Shrivelling. Sure, the Scroll was cheaper to play, but you probably would have played your Shrivelling as well anyway. — Susumu · 381
If you're Agnes, Marie, or Patrice, you can also Scavenge the taboo Scroll after discarding it. The other downside, though, is that it isn't spell traited so you can't tutor it with Arcane Initiate. — Zinjanthropus · 229
Dodge

I thought I'd write up a review of this old card, since I've seen widely varying opinions as to how useful Dodge actually is. My own evaluation of it has changed quite a bit over the years.

Dodge was well-received when it first came out. It's really nice that this card is cheap and reliable, that it works even against Elite enemies, and that it can help other investigators at your location. It compared well to the clunky and awful healing options that existed back then. It still compares well to the more expensive versions of this effect we've seen printed since.

Even so, my opinion of this card has really come down over the years. Nowadays, I almost never include this card unless I'm playing Diana Stanley.

The problem with Dodge is that it's situational, relatively low-impact, and grants an effect which can be covered by less-situational cards.

For starters, this is not good enemy management. You might see a newer player include this in, say, solo Rex to "handle enemies," but this is not a good idea. If you have an enemy on you that you can't deal with, Dodge is not the card you want to have in your hand--it will only Delay the Inevitable and offers no permanent solution. After you Dodge, you will be in the same bad situation as before, now down a card and resource.

Of course, if there's a strong enemy you can only kill over multiple turns, Dodge can help you (or an ally) avoid some damage in the meantime. But I've found this to be surprisingly uncommon. Unless you're running a build in which you're trying to get attacked with stuff like Guard Dog (and such a build certainly does not need Dodge), you're just not going to take a ton of attacks from enemies in this game. Most of the time, a properly-built Guardian should be able to clear enemies from the board or comfortably tank their attacks. Either way, you don't really need Dodge. It does serve as a failsafe in case things go wrong, like drawing the autofail against a Retaliate enemy--but that's not something you have to dedicate a card slot to. You can usually just tank the occasional hit from such things every once in a while. Most enemy attacks deal 2 or fewer combined damage and horror, anyway.

Furthermore, Dodge faces a lot of competition nowadays from healing cards that are actually good, like Hallowed Mirror. Healing effects address a lot of the same concerns as Dodge, but are quite a bit more flexible because they can help not only with damage and horror from enemy attacks, but with damage and horror from treacheries and locations (a much more significant threat in most scenarios.)

Yes, Dodge will on occasion have some very good moments (often involving Ancient One enemies). But is it worth lugging this card in your deck just for that? I don't think so.

So, all these considerations mean I've moved away from running Dodge in my Guardians, and I haven't missed it. The minor synergies that have been printed over the years, like Counterpunch, don't really move the needle for me.

But a final note on Diana Stanley, with whom I do tend to run this card. If you're trying to quickly increase her Willpower to cast spells (which is my preferred way to play Diana), then you need a high density of cancels in your deck. Dodge is more situational than I'd like, but at least it's cheap, and sometimes you or a teammate can deliberately provoke an attack of opportunity to enable it. I prefer it to really expensive cancels like Hypnotic Gaze or Hand of Fate, or unreliable cancels like Eldritch Inspiration, Defiance, and Read the Signs. But I see Dodge as a necessary evil in her deck, not something I actively want for its own sake.

CaiusDrewart · 3188
This very closely mirrors my own group's experience with the card. It used to be an auto-include in the early days of the game, but as the card pool has gotten larger, decks (even level 0 ones) can be so much better tuned and efficient, and situational cards such as Dodge fall in value both because the sleeker decks are better able to deal with enemies efficiently (meaning fewer stray attacks) and it takes up a deck slot that could be used to make it even sleeker. — Death by Chocolate · 1488
Yes, you've much more succinctly expressed what my review was trying to say. It's remarkable how this card's stock has fallen in my group. Back in the days of just Core or Core + Dunwich, I put two of these in all my Guardian decks. I even recall splashing for it as Pete in my group's blind Dunwich run. But now, with pretty much the sole exception of Diana, this just stays in the binder. — CaiusDrewart · 3188
I don't see, how this card is "more situational than you like" on Diana. It cancels attacks of elites on other investigators at your location. If there is no enemy in play, there is no real urge to level Diana up. I played a lot of Diana, mostly of the Desperate to Well Prepared version, I also published the decks for and imho, this is among the very best Diana cards at level 0, and will stay in the deck till the final scenario. For other investigators, I consider it, if they have exess to "Stick to the Plan" and a free slot on that for the card. It is preety nice as a one off, you can use, whenever you need it but don' — Susumu · 381
... but donoesn't fill your hand until or can't be found when needed. In my current Carolyn deck, I run it next to one-offs of "Dynamite Blast" and "Ever Vigilate". Not sure, if this is the best use for her, but she definitely doesn't need "Prepared for the Worst". — Susumu · 381
Hi Susumu, about Dodge and Diana: this is an interesting one. I think it just comes down to build. After a lot of experimenting I've found a way of playing Diana that works for me, and what I try to do is basically churn through cancels quickly and get her Willpower up. I don't have much time for using her non-Willpower stats, because on high levels it's just so hard to get anything out of them. — CaiusDrewart · 3188
So you can imagine, if I'm trying to crank up her Willpower quickly so she can start contributing, the fact that Dodge is literally unplayable with no enemies around can be a nuisance. Yes, it's a much better card than Dark Prophecy, which is a really terrible card. But Dark Prophecy will get me that +1 Will more reliably. All that said I do run Dodge as Diana because you just need a lot of cancels, the alternatives are worse, and Dodge can (as you say) have some really good moments now and then, which is more than I can say for some of the other ones. — CaiusDrewart · 3188
It's very situational because enemies attacking investigators is not common, unless you're deliberately going out of your way to take AoOs. And Dodge seems like one of the least useful things to Stick to the Plan because as CaiusDrewart points out, it doesn't solve any problems on its own. Diana has enough cancels now that you'd almost never consider this card after dropping it for I've had Worse. — suika · 9497
And I think Dodge is sufficiently situational that, if you're trying to play it quickly to boost Diana's Willpower, it's going to be hard to get meaningful value out of it. Unlike the premium cancels like Ward of Protection and Dark Insight which will generally provide good value even if you play them very aggressively. — CaiusDrewart · 3188
Yeah, deliberately taking AoOs (or having a teammate do it) so I can get Dodge out of my hand is pretty common in Diana. — CaiusDrewart · 3188
Regarding "Stick to the Plan" I still think it is a good card for Carolyn, because many Guardian staples competing for these three slots are not interesting for her. She doesn't need ammo cards for instance. But SttP is still very good for her to thin the deck by four cards (with the Torah Research Funding), and Dodge is among the cards, that are nice to have ready when you need them, but not to fill up your hand. — Susumu · 381
Regarding Diana: unfortunatly I still never can talk my group into playing on hard or expert. And (true) solo I consider standard challenging enought, I at least incorporated taboo into my solo games. I would actually apreciate opinions on my Diana decks from an expert veterant like CaiusDreward very much. I don't think, I build my Diana decks that different to his, getting will up was also high priority for me. But desperate skills in low XP decks and "well Prepared" later in the campaign was just a way to push the middling other skills in particular for the first few rounds, before she is kicking in will. — Susumu · 381
Hi Susumu, I'm looking at your Well Prepared Diana list right now. Great list! You're right that the basic strategy is the same as how I play Diana. I'll leave a more detailed comment on the list. — CaiusDrewart · 3188
I have to agree simply because this is how my experience with the game has turned out as well. Dodge was a staple until it was clear that you really just need to deal with the problem, so other cards end up taking priority. An unfortunate victim of power creep, methinks. I will note though that Dodge is still a contender for Diana, Carolyn, and Zoey since Zoey stomachs a tremendous amount of punishment. — LaRoix · 1646
Again, I think it is less a victim of power creep in individual card design so much as the inherent power creep of a broadening card pool. Even if the gradient of card value stays relatively consistent over time, you still put the thirty best cards in your deck, but the thirty-best now looks much better than the thirty-best then. — Death by Chocolate · 1488
I consider this as a very cheap alternative to Something Worth Fighting For. It usually saves you from defeat due to horror, but it’s cheaper, slotless, and uses no actions. Especially good for investigators with competition for the Hallowed Mirror/accessory slot such as Zoey. — An_Undecayed_Whately · 1312
Ariadne's Twine

There are a lot of Seeker cards that you would gladly forego your auto-resource to add a secret to, and this enables that interaction. I can mostly think of tomes so Daisy will love this, but some of those tomes are powerful enough that any seeker will take them, and this is akin to a third or fourth copy of those cards (or a second copy for the Necronomicon). There's also plenty of non-tome secret cards this benefits as well, making a secret-based deck more viable.

SGPrometheus · 841
Also very good in a deck using Mr Rook and Astounding Revelation. With this card effectively turning resources into secrets at a rate of 1 per turn, you can effectively get unlimited deck searches, which is ridiculous. I'd live to use this combo in a Mandy (Mystic) deck, to make use of Quantum Flux and Enraptured to create a super-reliable deck where you're never short of the cards you need. — Dam13n · 11
This is a dream combo with The Necronomicon (from Harvey Walters deck). It adds +1 secret per turn to necronomicon. Or even better, when you charge it first your Necronomicon can come later with +8 secrets (6 damage). — Kozz84 · 1
Hallow

EDIT 17/12/21

The main use of this card is not mentioned in a comment yet so I'll add it here:

This card is a must-have alongside Holy Spear. Indeed, using the big attack of the Spear forces you to seal an ever-growing amount of tokens on it, with no means to return them either to the bag or to the token pool.

Well look no more, seal tokens on the Spear to get high attacks, and free them to remove 1 Doom. It's literally a double bonus.


And secondly, if your teammate(s) are using curse in their deck, there is an obvious combo with Tides of Fate to clean a big number of tokens in one action with one doom removed.

This could for example be a good way to get rid of 5 tokens sealed on Holy Spear and 5 sealed on Dark Ritual, or with someone that would break the vow of the Geas

Valentin1331 · 77903
This removes the tokens from the chaos bag, Tides of Fate only puts curses back in the bag if there are blesses in the bag. Since this removes all 10 possible bless tokens from the bag, there's nothing for Tides to replace. The combo can in fact clear 10 curse tokens and remove 1 doom with no drawback. — SGPrometheus · 841
Parallel Agnes is probably the best at playing Hallow, as she can reshuffle Tides and Hallow after playing them. Currently she lacks good Bless or Curse generation, but there is one card coming in Into the Maelstrom that will help. — Zinjanthropus · 229