Just looking at the numbers--1 resource for 2 Health & 2 Sanity--Dr. William T. Maleson has the best cost-to-stat ratio of any ally currently in the game (as of The Path to Carcosa). Though he is unlikely to unseat his tenured colleague Dr. Milan Christopher, he is still a good choice as a second ally with Charisma; as a cheap, effective damage/horror sponge; as a target for effects that discard assets; or for investigators for whom Dr. Christopher's resource generation is not crucial.

Once per turn, his effect lets you cancel an encounter card at the cost of 1 clue. The good news: His effect is a reaction, so it doesn't cost you an action; being reactive, you can decide whether to use his effect after you've drawn the encounter card; it cancels that troublesome encounter card; and the clue paid to do so is placed on your location, so it can be picked up again with Roland Banks' effect, etc. The not-so-good news: This effect only works for encounter cards you--not other investigators--draw; the canceled encounter card is shuffled back into the encounter deck, not discarded; and a new encounter card still has to be faced. So, basically, unless you're using some sort of scrying, you've chosen what lurks behind curtain #2 to buy a reprieve against what's revealed behind curtain #1.

Is this effect worth it? That largely depends on how bad the avoided encounter was (compared to the new one drawn) and whether you needed that clue (and, if so, how effectively & quickly you can re-discover it). Maybe that was your only clue, so your Survivor investigator can use Newspaper to easily scoop it back up. Or, perhaps your Seeker investigator is keeping extra clues on himself/herself for "I've got a plan!" or Rex's Search for the Truth, so can drop one without slowing the pace of the game. In any case, you're likely to use Dr. Maleson's effect on an "as-needed" basis rather than every turn, as opposed to other allies whose effect you might use each turn.

There's another use for Dr. Maleson's effect, though. Being able to put a clue back on a location with no clues can benefit several cards, including Roland Banks, Roland's .38 Special, Cover Up, Inquiring Mind, Preposterous Sketches, etc. Dropping a clue on a location in order to get that extra +2 from Roland's .38 Special or to use the 3 icons from Inquiring Mind can make the difference between success & failure. And, since Roland's Core signature weakness, Cover Up, only works on clues as they are discovered, dropping one and re-discovering it in order to remove a clue from Cover Up can potentially save Roland some mental trauma. [I've actually encountered all three of the above situations when playing Roland.] [EDIT: A couple upcoming cards--Forewarned & Mysteries Remain (a spoiled alternate signature card for Roland)--also enable you to drop a clue at your location, perhaps indicating that more cards may use this mechanic.]

From the above, you can probably tell that I think Dr. William T. Maleson is a good fit for Roland Banks, for both his effect and as a cheap horror sponge. His effect may not edge out the first-choice Beat Cop or Art Student for Roland, or Dr. Milan Christopher for Seekers, but his super-low cost & good stats alone make Dr. William T. Maleson a good fit for any investigator that has a deck slot for him.

Here's hoping FFG releases an experienced version (or two) of Dr. Maleson (Working on Something Even Bigger/Truly Huge), perhaps with his effect upgraded to discard rather than shuffle the canceled encounter card and/or to allow his effect to target any investigator at his location.

One of my favourite Spirit cards. Keep in mind that it doesn't let you cancel peril, surge, etc., but it lets you immediately cancel the when revealed ef- I mean, er, the revelation effect of a really nasty treachery at just the right time. It can, however, deal with surge that's part of a treachery's revelation, like False Lead.

It does nothing against cards that do not say revelation at all (like most enemies). Still, it's an amazing card. Grab this and hope you won't have to use it. For 1 exp, the extra security is totally worth it.

Note: this is being written as of The Path to Carcosa with no mythos packs of the cycle published.

This is less a review and more a call to consider including this card, even before we know what it can upgrade into. We know that Strange Solution could be upgraded to the very powerful Strange Solution, Strange Solution, or Strange Solution and as Archaic Glyphs is much more expensive to "activate" we can expect that the eventual upgrade will be likewise more valuable.

But who should take it, while the upgrades are still unknown? Seekers who can afford to carry two fairly useless cards (with one useful skill icon) are reasonable choices but Akachi Onyele gives the best risk/reward opportunity and the reason is her fairly bizarre deckbuilding restrictions.

Akachi can take all mystic and neutral cards, as you would expect, but then can also take cards with uses (charges) up to level 4 and then occult cards of level 0. Guess how many cards with uses (charges) are not already Mystic cards (as of The Path to Carcosa)? If you guessed zero, you're right! And how many Occult cards are level 0? Precisely one: these Archaic Glyphs. So to make Akachi's deckbuilding restrictions make any sense at all, the upgrade for Archaic Glyphs will be a seeker card (Hand. Item. Occult. Tome) that will have uses (charges) AND will probably not have that many charges on it so as to make Akachi's special powers that much more valuable: namely the ability to automatically add an extra charge onto the card as well as being able to recover it back in hand with Spirit-Speaker.

This speculative review will be revised once we know all the upgrades available for Archaic Glyphs.

Everyday people with flashlights elucidate the darkest night, Mystics exhibit bombastic magical explosions of light!

General thoughts about the spell's usability can be found under Blinding Light(0).

So, what has changed between the two versions? The additional cost of 2xp have to be put into relation to the additional effect that the upgraded version gives you.

1. -1 play cost (which would already be a fairly marked improvement over the base version)
2. +1 damage on the ping, which transforms this card from "Evade with a ping" to "Versatile kill-or-evade"
3. 1 horror, in addition to "lose 1 action" on the special tokens.

This makes Blinding Light(2) a very potent backup for Shrivelling/Song of the Dead. The major interaction for Agnes Baker i see with Forbidden Knowledge, allowing her to reliably dispatch 3 health enemies.

Pros

• Evade and inflict 2 damage on one enemy during one action after succeeding a willpower test.
• Works against all types, including Massive and Elite.
• Needs no setup and can handle early-game threats.
• You can combo Blinding Light with other cards to maximize it's value: Sneak Attack and Pickpocketing.
• Fairly priced event.
• Drawing one of the special tokens empowers Agnes' reaction ability, she gets even more options in tandem with Grotesque Statue.

Cons

• Risk of failure included.
• Drawing one of the special tokens can result in a minor tempo loss, even if you do not fail the test, you lose one action and suffer 1 horror.
• One-time effect only, for emergencies.

Recommendations

• Instantly parley spoiler on the Midnight Masks scenario.

Everyday people with flashlights elucidate the darkest night, Mystics exhibit bombastic magical explosions of light!

Blinding Light is more or less a filler spell to protect the caster until the real killer shows up. It's main strength comes from the willpower test against the enemy's evade value. The majority of evil servants have higher combat skills than evade. Advantage of being an event: you can instantly use it. The damage is just a nice bonus.

Drawing one of the special tokens during the skill test is particularly nasty, because you will typically want to do things after you evade without taking Attacks of Opportunity. Usually, you can not save it for your last action, because what are you going to to with your first two? ...

This spell's ideal application would be invocating it as a last action against big monsters that you need to tank and whittle down over the course of several rounds than against small targets.

Pros

• Evade and damage one enemy during one action by a test of will.
• Works against all types, including Massive and Elite.
• Needs no setup and can handle early-game threats.
• You can combo Blinding Light with other cards to maximize it's value: Sneak Attack and Pickpocketing.
• The upgraded version Blinding Light(2) is significantly better.

Cons

• Drawing one of the special tokens can result in a minor tempo loss, even if you do not fail the test, you lose one action.
• High play cost.
• One-time effect only, for emergencies.

Recommendations

• Instantly parley spoiler on the Midnight Masks scenario.