Practice Makes Perfect

Crazy good when you have several options for Practiced skills.

A Roland Banks might try to hit Vicious Blow / Deduction / Leadership. A Finn Edwards might pull out a Three Aces to set up the combo (also Momentum and Deduction obviously).

Overpower and Perception are in the pool of hittable skills, good complements to Deduction and Vicious Blow respectively to make sure you do actually hit something. Mandy Thompson can pull and commit two skills simultaneously!

Getting a second hit from a whopper skill card like Deduction or Vicious Blow is great value all on its own. Also as a search mechanic you might manage to find some research goodies while you're at it.

The problem is that this is'nt just one card, it's 10! You need to make some olypmics level informed decisions about the deck youre building with this in (and really, Practice Makes Perfect is'nt the key card here, it'll all those other ones you're trying to get repeat uses from), but the end result is pretty cool.

Tsuruki23 · 2552
So far this card has been a standout for Roland, Joe, and I think most of all Mark. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
By Luke do you mean Finn? — Kergma · 11
Messed up with luke — Tsuruki23 · 2552
No mention of Minh? The Seeker who can make double use of double skills? Seems like an auto-include for her. — SGPrometheus · 821
I could see it being decent in Minh, but she doesn't have access to as many Practiced skills as Joe, Roland, Mark, or even Mandy — Zinjanthropus · 229
that being said, this was pretty solid in Ursula, and she has even fewer practiced Skills — Zinjanthropus · 229
Extensive Research

Gimicky, good inside it's niche.

If youre playing Higher Education, using Dream-Enhancing Serum and some other hand-size combos both existing and upcoming, this is a no-brainer good addition to that archetype. When set up you can easily expect to be playing this for completely free, routinely.

Tsuruki23 · 2552
Astounding Revelation

Love it, also hugely frustrating.

You need some "search" groundwork to make this thing useful, Mr. "Rook" and Eureka! are good startpoints. If you get an opening "Rook" and slam a couple Astounding Revelation in the first set of searches you'll be in a great spot to win the scenario, if you dont find an early Mr. "Rook" then you're a bit screwed as your draws will get muddled with an Astounding Revelation here and there.

If the wall of text on the in-depth review seems like a lot, here's a couple outstanding combos for this card other than Mr. "Rook":

This thing is frustrating, but trust me, it's strong.

Tsuruki23 · 2552
It is quite a wall of text, but this is definitely a card that deserves it. Very good and very intimidating. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Zoey can also love a single copy of Astounding Revalation for Stick to the Plan. It's basically a 0xp Another Day Another Dollar for Roland and Zoey that ALSO tightens the deck by another card. She could splash the other two with the same combos you've mentioned, but might want the flex slots for other things. — Death by Chocolate · 1473
Old Book of Lore

TL:DR. Very good even if your name is'nt Daisy Walker.

3 XP for a 1 resource discount and 2 instances of a 2 resource discount + a bonus action. Obviously the card is great, but it competes with other upgrade cards (you know, the crappy cards that stay crappy until upgraded...).

Obviously a Daisy Walker will be doing this upgrade at some point, uniquely though the limited nature of the discount brings Old Book of Lore into the limelight for non-Daisy people as a straight-up useful support mechanic. That said, the reason Old Book of Lore looks so worn is because Daisy just outright refuses to stop reading it.

Cool tricks:

  • The investigator getting the free play isnt performing an action, so no attack of opportunity. You can help a friend replace an empty weapon under pressure or play a key event, especially useful is said events are dramatically useful like Cunning Distraction, Backstab or Elusive.
  • Enraptured and Truth from Fiction get great value on this thing.
  • Put into play a skill pump or persistent boost that can then be used on every action in the players's turn.

The card is good enough for any to use (especially Mandy Thompson), it just feels bad to spend those actions when you could just be playing Daisy. So. Dont feel bad?

Tsuruki23 · 2552
Since Mandy Thompson can resolve two targets from the search effect, doesn't that mean she can spend a secret play two cards at a 2 resource discount? — Vultureneck · 74
@Vultureneck I think it does. "That card" on the Old Book of Lore refers to the target of the search, which is two cards in this case. — SGPrometheus · 821
How would this upgraded version of Old Book of Lore interact with "knowledge is power"? Is that card you play discount-able without paying a secret? — 1337duck · 1
Yup. No — MrGoldbee · 1470
It says no cost! — MrGoldbee · 1470
The pre-then part of this card's ability can still be triggered if it has no secrets, right? — MagnusLothar · 1
Dream Diary

Love skill cards, love this thing. I'll make this review simple and short.

Get an Unexpected Courage. This, in of itself is a brilliant mechanic, making Dream Diary unique among the research cards as being actually useful at 0xp. Also you get a skill, so it combos with Grisly Totem and can also be used on friends. It IS action intensive (takes 2 actions and 2 resources to start seeing a benefit, it starts getting good by the time youre using it for the third time) and takes up a hand slot but still. Very useful. Note that this cards's strength comes from flexibility, so if ALL you want to do is discover clues, look elsehwere, but if you want to make the occational , or test then Dream Diary is great.

All the upgrades then supercharge the mechanic by giving you a free Unexpected Courage to use every single turn that supercharges depending on which variant you go for, the options include being in combat, being at hard locations to investigate or playing the big-hand strategy. By the way, for those types that do nothing but investigating the upgraded variants are still totally worth it!

Brilliant card. Brilliant upgrades.

Tsuruki23 · 2552
Crazy good for Minh. Makes her weakness much easier to deal with, especially after upgrading. — SGPrometheus · 821
Note that nothing is stopping you from dual-handing this (I believe) with a translated copy of Dream Diary - giving you a ???? at the start of your turn and the ability to bring it back for one action (potentially free if you're Daisy, plus you can put them both in your Tote). I'm planning to try running them alongside Grisly Totem with Ming. — BlankedyBlank · 23
The thing that stops you is that you can only have 1 Essence of the Dream set aside, regardless of how many Dream Diaries you have in your deck. — JunkerMethod · 61
nvm misread — JunkerMethod · 61
Does this card work for interpreting dream if you commit to a friend's test? — Giffdev · 85
@Giffdev: I don't think so. The card text says after _you_ succeed by 3 or more. — Zinjanthropus · 229
Amazing with Daisy — Timlagor · 5
Can't decide if this is a good one to use with https://arkhamdb.com/card/04106 to save 3xp on the upgrade. 8 cards is a high bar but I don't like being engaged anyway and plenty happens away from 4 shroud — Timlagor · 5
I missed the FAQ entry on bonded -boy does that suck. I'm pretty sure I only want one upgraded copy but having a base version too might be worth it for Daisy only — Timlagor · 5