Dream Parasite

Dream Parasite

Important considerations, a.k.a, Why Dream Parasite Is Not The Worst:

-If you have Charisma to put Jessica and Peter out, which is not unheard of since that set up is amazing, the damage and horror will be healed passively by your allies.

-If you have Lucky! in hand, it can potentially counter Dream Parasite's -2 skill value.

-If you have Live and Learn in hand, it can redo the entire test and Dream Parasite will be gone for the 2nd try (although you will have to resolve the damage and horror).

-If you are Calvin, taking 1 damage and 1 horror gives you stats.

-If you are Silas, you can return Dream Parasite to your hand once per round, and dodge the damage and horror on a fail, because you did in fact still commit the card.

-Potentially, you can engineer what skill test this goes to. You can do something really easy that you can pass even with -2, such as a Flashlight on a Shroud 2, or you can do it on a low value test where you don't care if you fail or even want to fail, and can activate when you fail effects like Take Heart.

Soloclue · 2608
Interesting addition: if you have the weakness The Tower in hand, this card cannot be committed. (They'll still count towards your hand size, though.) — Prinny_wizzard · 251
Stella can ignore it with her uniques. — MrGoldbee · 1484
You could also commit it to someone else's test if their skill values is huge — OrionAnderson · 121
@OrionAnderson: Interesting observation; it only works if there is another player's test before your own, though. — AlderSign · 391

Shining Trapezohedron

Shining Trapezohedron

Not a review - may do that later, but if you ever hear about a card being referred to as "Rhydon", as in, the Pokemon Rhydon, it is this card. The name comes from a joke made in the Mythos Busters Discord and it stuck, so that's the nickname I'm pushing for it now. I mean, the name of this card is frankly very long and hard to say, so of course, it needs a nickname and Rhydon is as good as any. It sounds vaguely like Shining Trapezohedron, if you pronounced it wrong, which let's be real, you probably did at least once.

Soloclue · 2608
Annnnnnd if you're a Diana player, this card does include the "cancel" trigger. If you run Agnes, this is another way to trigger Drawing Thin, potentially without spending an action. — agentwestmer · 1
Ah yes, the fabled Shiny Rhydon — StyxTBeuford · 13043
I always planned on calling it Shining Trap. — Xenas · 7
I’m not a big fan of cute names for cards. I want that feeling of tension and horror. I mean, you do you, but it’s not for me. — LivefromBenefitSt · 1083
I love the part about Diana. — AlderSign · 391

Unspeakable Oath

Unspeakable Oath

By far my least favorite weakness in the entire game. The premise seems interesting enough, but it's the most frustrating thing this game has to offer. If I remember correctly you draw your weakness after you build your deck specifically so you can't build a deck around your weakness. If you're playing something like a guardian it's fine, but t's the second time in the last 5 or so decks I've made that I've drawn this card and have literally no way to deal with this weakness. If I don't have a card in my deck that does at least 2 damage (say almost any level 0 seeker deck) then you're out of luck. The worst part? the card isn't even interesting, all it does is give me a flat 2 experience drain that serves no purpose except to prevent me from actually getting a card that might be able to deal with this stupid weakness.

Vultureneck · 74
Depends on who you play this weakness can be more dynamic or interesting- Patrice for example gets hit by it harder. I also think it's easy enough to adapt your deck to it, as every class has fighting options they can XP into. It's just tough that first scenario, especially as a Seeker. I vastly prefer it mechanically to something really boring like The 13th Vision. — StyxTBeuford · 13043
Every weakness can be crippling if drawn by the wrong investigator, or just at the wrong time. I recently completed a campaign where my basic weakness was Drawing the Sign and I swear it cost me anywhere from 3-5 cards and 2 actions on almost every scenario. It was the most brutal run of luck I've ever had with a weakness. Still won the campaign though, so it can't have been that bad. This is at least interesting, and offers the possibility every time you draw it that it won't even damage you at all except for the marginal tempo loss that you when you draw any weakness. — Sassenach · 180
I'm pretty happy whenever I draw an Unspeakable Oath weakness, the fact that it can be ignored without consequences as bad as trauma or The Price of Failure makes it feel mild. However, the value of 2 experience per scenario does vary with campaign and player count: Dunwich offers less than most while Dream Eaters offers more, and larger teams are more likely to spawn VP enemies, have spare actions to pursue VP, and earn VP from cards with 'Deep' in their name. House rules about choosing weaknesses (like draw 2, pick 1) are quite common, which is perhaps as it should be — Patrice and Doomed both exist. — Spritz · 69
The only cards i know of that a seeker has that deal more than one damage is "I have a plan" and "strange solution" meaning I'd have to XP into level 0 cards, after I just got 2 less experience from this card. And I think weaknesses that hit really hard when they show up can be really interesting, this one is just "oh, guess I get 2 less XP this round" — Vultureneck · 74
In fairness, I've Got a Plan is a fairly common Seeker take- the one Seeker who doesn't take it also happens to be the one who gets Guardian weapons anyway. Ursula and even Rex and Mandy can spec into Ornate Bow. It's really not that hard to deal with as a Seeker, it's just more of a reach than some others. And fortunately, Seekers tend to not need as much XP to be great anyway. i really don't see this as that bad of a weakness at all, certainly not in comparison to something like The Tower. — StyxTBeuford · 13043
I don't see how this competes with Doomed for least favorite weakness. I think this weakness hits harder at higher player counts since investigators tend to be more one dimensional but even then Seekers (hit the worst by this card) usually have an off class set of cards in addition to I've Got a Plan. Daisy can use Shrivelling. Joe is fine. Ursula adds the Ornate Bow after the first scenario. Minh has Fire Axe. Mandy has many options with her sub-classes. Rex has his 5 splash cards so he has options including Dynamite. But this card will definitely hurt decks that don't include any cards that do damage because they are just focused on getting clues. For most this is barely an inconvenience. And it hits the Dunwich campaign harder than other campaigns. — The Lynx · 993
I’m unsure on damage timing. Can Blood Rite clear this? — Kergma · 11
I want to say yes because I believe the effect needs to be resolved in full, so it would be a full 2 damage. — StyxTBeuford · 13043
I believe Blood Rite can clear Bloodthirst — normally the phrase "one at a time" is used when this kind of effect is not intended to be simultaneous. — Spritz · 69
It is not much consolation, but every seeker can run Knife. Blood Rite is probably a much better plan tho. — Death by Chocolate · 1488
This has never been about which weakness hurts your investigator the most or has the most massive impact. Of course I like Doomed way more than this weakness, It's probably the most interesting weakness in the game. Any weakness in the category of "this experience drain is a short price to pray for such a mild weakness" already makes me hate it. And I get there are level 0 options for dealing with it, but I DIDN'T PUT THEM IN THE DECK, I like how some weaknesses can be detrimental in different decks, but this is the only one I've ever seen where I actually needed to change my deck because of it. — Vultureneck · 74
I guess I dont get the point of your complaint or your card review then. A weakness that makes you change your deck to deal with it means it’s not that mild. If you find it boring then that’s your opinion, but it’s certainly not boring in someone like Patrice who sees her precious hand size cut down from it. I dont really see how you separate the fun of a weakness from what it forces you to do to adapt to it since that’s kind of the entire point of weaknesses. — StyxTBeuford · 13043
I'd like to hear one other example of a weakness that made someone decide to spend xp to put level 0 cards in their deck. My other problem with is it is you don't even need to adapt, the card has almost no impact in the actual scenario, that's what makes it boring. Also Patrice is a very unique case, when talking about the general application of a weakness I don't think she is very relevant. — Vultureneck · 74
My point was that weaknesses can be more interesting depending on the deck, and I was just citing one particular example where this weakness has an interesting interaction in my opinion. I think generally this weakness is most interesting in people who can't fight regularly, and least interesting in Guardians who will fulfill the requirement naturally. — StyxTBeuford · 13043
Well while I still feel like it's a boring weakness and with a more circumstantial clear condition than the other unspeakable oaths it looks like I'm in the minority here. — Vultureneck · 74
@StyxTBeuford It hitting Patrice harder doesn't make it more dynamic or interesting. 13th Vision is a MUCH better designed card. — Tilted Libra · 37
People saying you can just take the Ornate Bow to covert this are silly. That bow isn't good in most Seekr decks due to taking two hands, and that is a huge investment just to cover a weakness. — Tilted Libra · 37
We've got "I've got a plan" (2) and "Occult Lexicon" (3) since the release of this review. So the complaint, that there are only level 0 versions are not ongoing anymore. — Susumu · 381

Moonstone

Moonstone

In addition to the ways described above to circumvent Moonstone play restriction, Unearth the Ancients should work. It indeed allows Moonstone to be "put into play", which is different from "play(ed". It may mostly be relevant in a Ursula Downs deck (maybe Minh Thi Phan as well), but still deserved to be mentioned.

Binoux · 27
Unfortunately, Unearth the Ancients only works on Seeker assets — which is a shame since Moonstone would be quite good in a level zero Ursula if there were an easy way to get it into play. — Spritz · 69
As Spritz mentioned, Unearth and Ancients only works on Seeker assets; however, Archaic Glyphs: Markings of Isis, if you have it, will work. I think it's debatable whether Moonstone is better in Ursula decks than the Tooth of Eztli though, which gives similar boosts (albeit only for treacheries), doesn't have a play restriction, and provides card draw. — iceysnowman · 164
Moon Stone is more useful but harder to play. I use both Moon Stone and Tooth of Eztli and use Dr. Elli Horowitz to search for Moon Stone, if not found I get Tooth of Eztli instead. — AquaDrehz · 204

Luke Robinson

Luke Robinson

There are a lot of good combos with him (some were already mentioned before):

  • Crack the Case when a fellow investigator finishes the last clue at a connecting location, and as his ability is per turn, you can also use an other event in your own turn.
  • Unfotunatelly Vantage Points doesn't work for his weakness, but you can also use it with the Box. It makes his location 0 shroud so it is auto-success other than auto-fail, and you can get a clue from any location to it. It pairs very well with Hawk-Eye Folding Camera. When you investigate the dream-gate you trigger the camera. You can do this multiple times in a game (ofc you need to put a clue on it to work) as per rules Limits and Maximums every time the Gate enters play it is a new instance. Alternatively you can use Dr. William T. Maleson or Quick Study to put a clue on your location. The later can greatly help if you want to investigate the weakness side of the Gate, and makes the investigation meaningful.
  • Barricade non-elites.
  • Shortcut(0) by wording causes a double move.
  • Time-warp an other investigators action from a connecting location (doesn't take up your turns event). You can even pull the other investigator back to your self if he/she moves away. Good if revealing location wasn't such a good idea, or if you only want to troll a little.
  • My favorite for a multi investigator game is Open Gate. You want to get your teammates from an other location? Or send them away? Put down a Gate on your location, enter the Box, then put down an other gate anywhere on the map by using his ability. You can even end up on a third location (and put a Gate there too).
  • Open Gate has an other good use. If there is already a Gate in play, when you draw your weakness, put down a Gate in the pointless reality, so you can move away without investigating. Its fast so you only have to move. Ofc you lose one of your Gate cards, but if you weren't ready for investigating the location it can be a good alternative. Edit:
  • Knowledge is Power is awesome to use shrivelling on neighborhood enemies.
vidinufi · 69