Im a fan of this card but in practice it's a bit of a downer.

(Daisy Walker exists, she can make any tome work, and this one isnt bad in her).

At 2 resources and some actions you get pretty big bonuses to a skill. If you target yourself you'll be getting +2 for, probably, 2 actions. If you target somebody else, it's 3 actions of fun! This card is a good way to supercharge a friendly fighter (How does that work? Are you reading a workout routine?) or power up a spellcaster ("You can do it, you have the power of Friendship!"), but because you only cash in on the buff twice yourself then it's of limited value to the user.

That said, upping your to 6 or 7 right before attempting to pick up from a 4 shroud isnt a bad idea, it's an option. But using it before making an attack means that your foe is getting an attack of opportunity, making it near-unusable in this manner.

This thing has 5 Secrets, there are implications there, and I think Amanda Sharpe might find it a helpful way to brute-force through a round where her skill cards didnt co-operate.

Try it, it'll probably be mildly useful but not groundbreaking. Frankly I love the fact that it has the same effect as the XP version but limits it with secrets, so it's just as powerful, but limited. I want to see more stuff like this.

Take a hit. Get clues. This card is ridiculously good (compare it to, say, Intel Report). But there is a couple mechanics to keep in mind of.

1) It has to be damage! A spooky type of enemy that deals no damage wont let you trigger this!

2) You cannot prevent the damage, it has to be at least 1 damage not negated and not resisted, so a Flesh Ward for example blocking a 1 damage attack would render this unplayable.

3) It has to be an attack, so any effects enemies might cause that deal damage dont count, only actual attacks.

So yeah, with those conditions cleared, have fun with your clues!

Obviously you ought to keep some horror healing handy to recover some of the horror (and damage) you will inevitably take for using this card.

Bigger enemy, more clues. Simple, effective. If a little specific.

This is not a Bread & butter upgrade, it is'nt nearly catch-all enough. But it's a brilliant way to spend 2 XP in order to keep your deck synergy functional, I.E, rather than upgrading from Evidence! into something completely different, you get this small boost that keeps the card revelant in the long run.

This ought the be among the last 30-something XP you spend in a deck.

This seems like a basic annoyance rather than a basic weakness. They aren’t going to kill you or blank cards or add doom; they are just going to sit in a corner and cackle at you, making your life just a little bit worse, and being a pain to get to and kill.

Always assuming you don’t have an use for Curse tokens (eg, The Eye of Chaos), in which case they are kind of nice to have lurking all Aloof off in a corner, like a nice aunt, except with more human hearts scattered about.

I suppose they could pick up doom from Mysterious Chanting and the like, so they might be more of a threat in some scenarios.

I was considering this ally in my Winifred's deck, but he costs 3 resources to potentially gain 9, netting +6 resources. Putting 2 copies of "Watch This!" can also gain me +6 resources and help me with my skill tests. I think he might be worth it in a Leo deck, played for only 2 resources as a free action.