Cult of the Yellow Sign

My take on this set: Compared to other cultist sets, the Cult of the Yellow Sign isn’t too bad. Their gimmick of taking clues from locations isn’t all that dangerous, in fact it can often be a boon for the players who will no longer need to use precious actions on investigating for those clues.
The role of this encounter set switches to “guys with doom on them” in Echoes of the Past, a role that we are used to see for this type of enemy. In that scenario, they are joining the Dark Cult and a few scenario specific enemies to become the driving force behind the doom counter.

What it does: Fanatics are slightly stronger than regular Acolytes, but as long as the investigator is holding any sort of weapon with extra damage, they should still go down in one attack. Fanatics spawn in a location with the most clues and will take one of those clues for themselves. To take control of that clue, the players will have to defeat the Fanatic.

My take: Fanatics are a vital component of the Echoes of the Past scenario where the “stolen” clue will be transformed into a doom token. Outside of that scenario, Fanatics can be straight up helpful because they allow investigators who are good at fighting to discover a clue at the same time.

Threat level: Low. They aren’t particularly tough. Their ability can be helpful and even when it isn’t, it’s not very threatening either. Their stock goes up in Echoes, but they are still one of the weaker enemies to draw there.

Dealing with it: Smack them and grab their clues. There’s nothing particularly special about these guys.

What it does: The Agent of the King is a Hunter enemy that is tough to take down at four health and fight. When it attacks, it not only deals a damage and two horror, but it also steals one of the clues from the player. The Agent is easy to evade, but defeating them will earn a Victory point.

My take: Agent of the King can be a problem if it spawns right on top of the group’s primary clue gatherer. Outside of that scenario, they are merely a tougher enemy than usual, but the victory point makes fighting them very worthwhile. Unless the group is already engaged with enemies from elsewhere, the Agent shouldn’t be a huge problem for any dedicated fighter.

Threat level: Mid. A credible threat on its own, but only becomes a real problem if it stacks up with other enemies.

Dealing with it: The low evade value looks inviting, but outside of non-fighty characters trying to buy time till the cavalry arrives, it will likely not see much use. The combination of Hunter, its ability and the victory point means that defeating the Agent will be the preferrable option.

What it does: The Edict will cause every cultist in play to steal one clue from the location they are at. Then, they gain a fight bonus for each clue and doom token on them.

My take: In Curtain Call and Dim Carcosa, this card isn’t too bad. Having the cultists grab clues from the locations is almost beneficial. Typically, the cultists will gain +2 fight from this, which will put even an Acolyte at fight 5, so defeating them will often require an extra action or committed card. Still, that’s in line with what we expect from a treachery.
In Echoes, all clues collected will turn into doom. This can make the Edict very swingy in that particular scenario as it can easily put two or more doom on the board.

Threat level: Low. High in Echoes. The low doom thresholds in Echoes can be toppled by this card’s effect alone, so King’s Edict can lead to players having only one turn for dealing with the fallout. Outside of that scenario, the increased fight stats the cultists gain for a turn are easily mitigated.

Dealing with it: The King’s Edict can only become a problem if too many cultists are allowed on the board at the same time. So dealing with those enemies proactively is the best way of making this card almost a freebie. It could be argued that keeping one cultist around to stop this card from surging could be beneficial, parking an Acolyte or Fanatic on a victory point location may even earn you that point for free.