Pit Viper

Hi, I just read the faq for this card (March 2024) and its interaction with cards like guard dog or similary that trigger reaction abilities...and I'm a bit astonished...

The question is: the Rules Reference for triggered abilities states literally "For any given timing point, all forced abilities initiated in reference to that timing point must resolve before any reaction abilites referencing the same timing point in the same manner may be initiated".

So why this forced ability doesn't trigger before the reaction one this time?? I'm a bit perplexed....

Piegura · 1
They're not "referencing the same timing point in the same manner". Guard Dog is "when" and Pit Viper is "after", and the difference between "when" and "after" is larger than the difference between a forced ability and a reaction triggered ability. — Thatwasademo · 52
In summary, the timing goes: 1. Forced "when", 2. Optional "when", 3. The event itself, 4. Forced "after", 5. Optional "after". (There are several more possible timings around the event, but I'm leaving them out for simplicity) — Thatwasademo · 52
Ok, I got it now!!Thanks Thatwasademo — Piegura · 1
Hand of the Brotherhood

Don't make the same mistake I did...this card only disables abilities of the actual locations, it does NOT affect abilities of cards controlled by investigators AT those locations. So feel free to gain that Lone Wolf resource, or to use any weapons or spells you might have to get rid of this of this enemy, or any enemies connected to it.

Blackhaven · 3
Heirloom of Hyperborea

In the original Agnes, there are better cards for this slot, so you should probably play the Unadvanced version of the signature asset and weakness.

In parallel Agnes, this card is excellent, especially when paired with Scavenging (2) (using Parallel Front for Agnes, and Original Back / Deckbuilding for Agnes). This card can take the damage used with you ability to play spell events for cheap and with recursion. It can also take the occasional horror from Shrivelling, Clairvoyance, and every mystic's favourite Ward of Protection. Once it's use up, recur it back with Scavenging and go again, playing an endless supply of cheap events.

It's not clear whether the horror taken by Agnes' weakness can be placed here. When I played this, I assumed I could tank the 2 horror onto the Heirloom because the weakness has a player card back, not an encounter card back, and thus is a player card?

This is definitely a signature card worth building your deck around. There are of course other ways to manage the excess damage taken from using your ability, but this card providing a great soak-to-cost ratio, and allowing you to draw a card every time you play a spell (usually going to be an event), really does cement Parallel Agnes as a solid investigator option for your next game.

KakuRainbow · 75
After you draw a weakness they are considered to be encounter cards. So you can't put their damage on the heirloom. — Tharzax · 1
After a checked the rules for weaknesses. It's ok to put it damage on the heirloom. Since it has only the spelltrait and no encounter card trait it's treated like any other player card — Tharzax · 1
The spell trait is irrelevant. There is no such things like "player card traits" and "encounter card traits", e.g. Pact cards exist in both pools (as assets, events AND treacheries). The relevant fact is however, that "Dark Memory" is an event, and that is a player card type. Only weaknesses with encounter card type (treacheries and enemies) switch to become an encounter card on reveal, "Dark Memory" stays a player card and hence can be soaked by the hairloom. — Susumu · 335
Heirloom of Hyperborea

In the original Agnes, this card should be considered nothing more than a skill card. A skill card that you can potentially recur with Scavenging.

In parallel Agnes, things are a bit different. The upgraded version of this card is much better for parallel Agnes, but this original version of the Heirloom still has it's uses.

But overall, as identified by reviewers 7 years before me, this remains one of the worst signature cards. Which is particularly brutal when you consider that Agnes also has one of the worst weaknesses in the game too!

KakuRainbow · 75
Grievous Wound

A terrible card that is actually somewhat useful in Hemlock Vale.

Enemies in HV have Elusive, meaning they disengage and move away after getting smacked once. Some of them have 5hp. Grievous Wound solves that problem.

As another review said, perfect for alternate Pete because it can be recurred every round, and also situationally nice for alternate Zoey, if you can stick it on a beefy enemy and let it bleed blesses into the bag for several rounds.

CombStranger · 245
Brilliant realization with the Elusive combo. Finally, Grievous Blow gets some time out of the binder! — NightgauntTaxiService · 288
It's also decent tech against enemies which reduce damage taken to 1, or punish attacks. — OrionAnderson · 44