69 Replies to “Investigator Decks: Visual Spoiler”

  1. On the beat, bounty, police dog (1), & stock ammo reload are all such fun cards. They are really fixing guardian right away—firearms are usable, resources are reasonable, and there are mechanisms for getting value out of downtime turns with no enemies…. all in 1 deck? I’d planned to stick with just chapter 1 but the Tommy deck looks like a must

    1. I’m particularly excited that my all dogs Leo deck is getting expanded. Sled dogs, guard dogs, & now police dogs! Gotta homebrew a support card just for dogs…

          1. Just be on the safe side and go with Charlie Kane. That way you don’t miss out on any dogs in the past, present or future. Can even throw in some Summoned Hounds. And the British Bulldog, if you want to be cheeky about it.

  2. Bounty and Stock Ammo Reload make me nervous in a way that’s hard to articulate.
    Did we need a 2x as good Extra Ammunition and a 3x as good Clean Them Out? Is there going to be so much combat in the new scenarios to justify this level of preparedness?

    1. Definitely not going to complain about a good money card in Guardian for once. Should be 2 or 3 resources fast most of the time which is good but not gamebreaking. Crack the Case is still better, to take the Seeker equivalent from chapter 1 as a reference.

      Stock Ammo is 2xp, seems perfectly fine to me? Definitely a good card, but Firearms need that sort of support to measure up to melee weapons.

    1. Yeah, this Researched card seems to hit a good balance point for once. The one with the encounter deck manipulation is probably the best one and also the one i’d be most concerned about if recharging the thing becomes easy, but overall these are just solid. Worth investing into, but not gamebreaking.

      1. Also none of them is a horrible option, but they differ a lot. In case, we get a reprint of “Shrewd Analysis” it is a worthy consideration: do I want to plan ahead, what I’ll be capable of doing or just take the XP discount.

        1. But to be precise: what I meant with being cheesy was also the research process of the level 0 version. If you have some means to not only add, but move around secrets, like ES, you can use the first three secrets just as net profit on other assets. Only the last one has to been removed by the activate ability, if you want to translate it. So I do hope, we won’t get some move secrets tech in Chapter 2, in particular not at level 0. Refilling to some extend with cards like “Truth from Fiction” is fine, imho.

  4. Should we be glad, that “Physical Fitness” is not restricted to moving to a revealed location? Seriously, I don’t get it, why they did it again on “The Grapevine”. This would be so much more useful, if it just needs a path of connections to the location.

    On the plus side, it might be good in Dexter, if you take “Bend Blood” in him. I doubt, a 5 XP event will be a priority upgrade in a “Mister asset” deck, but it would be sure fun to race through a few locations with enemies, then cast this spell. In particular, if at the target location is a certain enemy, which rumours at BGG say, will make a return in Chapter 2 Core Set.

    1. I used to play a lot of 3p and 4p. In that context “Can you get over here and help me with this enemy?” is a question the main fighter gets asked just about every round. The hunting dog is useful in that specific scenario, though I’d still upgrade out of it at some point

  5. Psychoanalysis is busted. Especially at level 3. What a great card. Totally eclipses all other horror heal. In 4p, that’s 8 horror, 4 cards, & knowledge of 8 more for 2R & 1 action. Everybody take ITTOI and have the seeker hard mulligan for this card.

    I’m looking at these from a legacy perspective exclusively. Don’t have the hobby budget to buy everything and restart, have to pick the best. But even in 2.0 it’s crazy strong.

  7. Out the Door (0 and 1) feels like an auto-add economy card to any investigator with green access. A man-dex with a HIGH probability of resource generation every time. What could be the downside??

    1. Yeah, that card is great. But imo, this Patel deck is very not worth it. It’s almost all cards that suck or cards I already have. Out the Door is one of the best rogue cards I’ve ever seen though

      1. On the matter of the reprints, i don’t think it’s actually that bad. Once you factor in that both Black Fan and the Red Clock both only come with one copy and that there are no Core Set reprints om Rogue around, this is just the same as in Seeker. And one of the reprints (WC3) is even from Return to Carcosa, which has been OOP for a long time.

        That there’s a couple clunkers and/or just kinda unexciting cards is possibly a bigger issue. I think i still come down on this on the end that the Rogue deck is worth getting even if you have a full collection. But i do feel that the Caro and Tommy deck do add some more things that feel genuinely new than the André deck does, meaning that you miss less if you skip it.

        I’ll be doing a full evaluation of these decks again in my Investigator Expansion Review for them, so that’s when i will dive deeper and find out myself where i land on this matter.

        1. Definitely looking forward to your take. Imo, there’s a handful of half-decent cards: Polished cane, extravagant ring, easy street, & pay your dues are all interesting. PYD is nice in session 1 with more 1 and 2 health enemies. But yeah, there’s not a lot exciting here.

          I rank the Tommy deck as must buy, the Carolyn deck as 50/50, and the Andre deck as only worth it as a completionist. But part of that is my perspective that it’s time to stop spending so much money on board games at this point in my life.

  8. I think, it is weird, that they printed “Out the Door” right next to “Watch This!” They are both Gambit skills, so even through niche synergy effects, WT will never be better. OtD has never the risk of loosing resources and even the better icons, if you are just comparing the level 0 versions. In theory, if you spend the two resources you gain on committing OtD (and all your other resources) during the player window after committing cards, you would even not loose these. (Might get relevant with a card like LCC (3), which we don’t have in Chapter 2 yet, when you really want maxing out over success at all cost to search your deck for a Red Clock and then draw the auto fail.) The only small positive on WT is, that it potentially grants you an extra resource, if you take the risk. Really looks like, they just included the card to troll Travis. (And WT was a great card in Chapter 1, OtD is just so much better, at the cost of being boring.)

    1. On second thought, what I said about spending the resources before you can loose them, this can become even more relevant, than I thought, because it affects the performing investigator. Consider the rogue committing this to a “Dark Horse” survivor!

  9. Definitely a couple new toys in the Rogue deck, but I tend to agree that so far I have marked this as the *last* of the starter decks I will pick up. I’ll probably buy all five, but piecemeal, so this isn’t the one I’ll grab first or second.

    1. I will say though, it’s pretty lame of them to print the same card in both Core ’26 and the Ch. 2 starter decks—especially when it’s already a card we have twice in chapter 1.

  11. Today’s (Tuesday) releases were mostly “saw that coming” and one totally terrible one, but I still think mystic is shaping up to be a powerhouse class in the Ch 2 setting. It says something that I never want to play purple but am itching to try both of these investigators and this kit!

    1. Are you saying sacrificial doll is terrible? Idk, token manipulation outside the ally slot always seems usable even if it’s a pain to pull off. I can see anyone with mystic survivor access using this with Alexa, Jessica Hide, scavengeable leather coat, etc. Definitely could be something there in a token manipulation Agnes.

      It’s very niche, but it’s not like a fame where there was no reason to print it.

  12. ALTHOUGH, so far the mystic pool is extremely limited in XP upgrade options between 0 and 5. Makes me wonder if there is an XP accelerant on store, or if the new intention of smaller campaigns means higher scenario payouts?

    1. Higher payouts per scenario for sure, but with a shorter campaign it still remains to be seen how easy it would be to fit 5xp upgrades into your deck. I guess it mitigates the sticker shock a bit. When you get 8xp in one go, it’s easier to get a 5xp and a 3xp card from that than if you’d get 4xp twice, where you’d be somewhat incentivized to go for multiple cheaper cards instead.

      I really hope we don’t get xp accelerants again in chapter 2, i would classify those as one of the few actual design mistakes in chapter 1. That does at least go for the Permanent cards, i suppose i wouldn’t be against something like a Delve Too Deep with Dilemma (meaning it has to be played as you draw it and can’t just sandbag it until the final turn). But i’d rather have xp work the same for all classes, that’s not really something i think is particularly healthy design space for player cards.

      1. Agree, except I do think Dilemma Delve is good. Guardian felt left out in the cold in the old environment: Seeker & Survivor didn’t need extra xp (though survivor got some anyways with pelt), Mystic got xp out their ears (but they needed it), and rogue was just profiting because they could. Guardian always felt the most resource-stretched of all classes, even on xp.

        I would prefer if Mystic weren’t as xp dependent this time around, and they look like they aren’t. I think the way the class was built in Ch. 1 almost required the xp help.

        1. I think overall I would tend to agree with both of these points. I’m hoping not to see something that makes it feel like a class has a total lurch in xp progress while other classes are getting higher and better, faster. Getting better xp payouts in-scenario incentivizes better (and probably repeated) play, I think.

        2. My initial take with Mystic is that the level 0 cards seem to be brought up in powerlevel, so the highlevel upgrades for cards like Jim or the spell assets aren’t as essential as they used to be.

          1. Yeah all of the Mystic level 0 spells are super functional now. Shadowmeld (5) and Second Sight (5) are very much luxury upgrades rather than necessities. To be honest, I’m looking for any recharge events/skills that come out before I’m looking to upgrade the actual spells, whatever the Chapter 2 equivalents of Recharge or Enraptured end up being. I’ll probably even take Jim Culver (4) before upgrading either of those—and he’s a luxury upgrade himself. I think Cosmic Flame (5) is the only one I’d be rushing to grab. Most of that has to do with the level 0 version being buffed, a little bit with the level 5 power level coming down. But I am happy to grab the level 5 versions eventually, they’re just lower priority with how much smaller the power gap between level 0 and upgraded has gotten.

  14. Feeling like there’s some designer in the studio who loves Jim Culver and took 9 years of videos calling him one of the worst investigators in the game reeeeally personally. NOW HOW DO YOU LIKE JIM CULVER???

    1. Huh. Jim ranked as one of the worst investigators in the game? I’ve seen a lot of antiquated advice recently. Jim is bad, Lola is bad, etc…

      Jim is an A or S-tier investigator at higher difficulties. I’ve seen skulls become, essentially, extra autofails on Hard/Expert. Jim turns those into 0s and can fetch them. It’s very strong in a format where investigators typically avoid the bag as much as possible. “Jim is bad” just seems something people were told back when Dr. Milan/Higher Ed was the meta and then just never re-examined it.

      This new Ally version is incredible, too.

  15. Only 1 more level 0 left in this deck, it appears. No idea what to expect, but confident it won’t be a skill. Expecting a reprint, mystic has been light on those. For upgrades I’m expecting an upgraded Consume Life & cosmic guidance. Maybe mirror form as well. And definitely a reprint of an xp card that we haven’t seen yet.

    1. As long as the missing card #9 fits in alphabetically (not a given, just look at Offering Bowl), the final Mystic level 0 card is an asset that fits in between Sacrificial Doll and Second Sight. “Scrying” and “Scroll” are two notable words that would fit in there… nothing in terms of reprints that’d be already on our radar, but considering that Seeker is doing some tome shenanigans, i wouldn’t be too surprised to see Scroll of Prophecies return. Scrying Mirror would be another “Item. Charm.” which Mystic apparently cares about now.
      I assume it’s something completely new, though. I am hoping for a good damage healing asset, something on the level of the horror healing tome that i previewed for Seeker.

  16. Feeling like the new Dexter ability could make a fun way to spam a couple extra uses out of a strong spell with Mirror Form and bounce it back so it doesn’t shuffle back into the deck. And he has access to Prestidigitation in the Core Set for more shenanigans. Purple still looking like the runaway class so far in Ch 2 to me.

  17. Today’s (Thursday) reveals are again mostly wins. Retribution (2), is a bit weak, but Robes, Whispers, and Blood Ward are all excellent. Robes is a big upgrade from Endless Night imo based sheerly off resource cost. It takes just 1 spell for Robes to pay itself off rather than 2 or 3 from the Ch 1 equivalent. Purple is definitely my favorite class of Chapter 2.

    Whereas I’ll buy the blue deck to support a Ch. 1 archetype I never was quite happy with (firearms) I’m going to buy the Purple deck based purely on what’s in the box. I’d be quite content to just run Marie’s deck as printed, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever felt that way about a starter deck.

    1. Hard agree. Banger cards again today, and a playable deck without even seeing the last slots tomorrow.

      One card will be Spiritual Intuition (3) for sure. The other three could be blank and it would still be a strong deck out of the box.

    2. Oh, i really like Retribution. It’s a Toe to Toe that doesn’t take an action and also can potentially dome big Elites for 4-6 damage. What’s not to like :)

      To me, Blood Ward is the mid one out of those four. I’ve not really had good experiences with Dodge-like cards and paying 2xp for one doesn’t sit right with me.

      1. I just see blood ward as “fast. 2 heal.” Which imo is super worth it given how much mystic plays around with their own health and sanity. So I think it’s conditional fast heal, the damage cancellation is either a cherry on top or a semi-annoying condition, but not a condition that’s too difficult to meet. For 2xp it’s still not peak power level but mid/late campaign as trauma’s building up I’m very happy to see it imo. You’re 100% right about retribution.

  18. Actually, I’m not sure you’re 100% right about retribution. To dome an elite for 6 damage/horror I’ve gotta take 6 damage/horror. Idk, in most campaigns I’m finishing each episode with like 1-2 health/sanity to spare. Maybe in a deck fully built around counterattacking and soak it could work. Like idk, a guard dog Diana Stanley

    1. Possibly you feed Jim Culver (4) to the boss monster, soaking *most* of it, netting you a card and resource, and instead dealing all the damage back to said boss monster? Could be a fun swing, at least, if not a big move that happens in every scenario.

    2. “Deny Existence” would also work, at least with the new distinction between cancel and ignore.

      Quote from the Grimoire of Living Rules: If an effect is ignored, it is considered not to have resolved for the purposes of card abilities. However, the corresponding ability or game action was still initiated, and thus other abilities can still react to it. (For example, while a “cancelled” chaos token is considered to have never been drawn in the first place, an “ignored” chaos token was still drawn, but neither its modifier nor any of its effects will resolve or be applied to the current test or ability.)

  19. The Tantrum House Spoiler is probably the worst entry ever. Not because of the cards, they are great, but how they presented them!

    I’m wondering, if the theme of the different decks is really teasing what to come, or more reminiscent of the past:
    Tommy: Innsmouth
    Caro: Dream Eaters
    Andre: Carcosa? (less pronounced than the rest, but “Center Stage” could be “Curtain Call” and Marcus & “Silver Tongue” “The Last King”)
    Marie: Circle Undone
    Miguel: Hemlock Vale? (hence his Hybrid weakness, there might be more to come)
    Couldn’t link the core gators to any campaign, though, except probably Trish to Scarlett Keys.

  20. Survivor starts with a bang. Already getting more balanced recursion than Chapter 1. And those traps are quite good. The evasion one especially is very powerful.

  21. SURVIVOR WEEK BABYYYY. My favorite class. I’ve been waiting for this. Immediate thoughts: the difference between how good Respite’s effect is and how terrible its art is is astounding. Miguel and his trap set already looks like his play is more ‘clever’ than the rest of the Ch 2 investigators. High degree of difficulty but high degree of fun, I think. Looking forward to all the rest.

  22. Really excited for any potential survivor-rogue. There’s so much synergy there. On the brink becomes almost useful by preventing 4 res loss from out the door. And Olivier bishop’s fast moves letting you purposefully drive your enemies into traps. The agility bonuses work to great benefit for both these things.

    Tbf, you can actually just do teammate synergy to get this stuff to work already.

    2. I may be wrong, but I’m not sure if on the brink would prevent the res loss from out the door.
      As I understand the timing, the test fails, the res loss triggers, and the card goes back to the hand?
      It’s more of a hunch, based upon on the brink not explicitly preventing the test to count as failed.

  23. I think I like the guy and the first impressions of his deck, but why is Miguel field dressing that obviously mutated deer? He isn’t gonna eat it, is he…?!

    1. Clearly he is lol. That’s one way to handle Hemlock Vale. Just gotta create a Miguel as a Hybrid enemy weakness for whatever he becomes by the end of the campaign after eating all those mutations.

  24. So we did get a new “Resourceful” after all. And it commits for willpower which Izzie loves. I’m kind of surprised by this, honestly—seemed like they were going easier on recursion. But I don’t mind it.

    1. I definitely thought “Fair Resourceful” when I saw Do or Die. Super powerful card with limiting the symbols and what you can fetch, so it isn’t the auto-include that Resourceful was. But still a damn good card.

      1. Honestly, I don’t see the difference. Icon-wise, it just exchanges Combat for Willpower which slightly changes who can max it out but not much. Harder for Yorrick, much easier for Patrice, Izzie, etc. You can’t grab a skill like unrelenting, which maybe was the most powerful use of it before, but I always used resourceful to grab either my key asset or an overpowered event like At a Crossroads anyways. If I buy this deck or were to ban resourceful, Do or Die would function the same way.

        Perhaps I wasn’t maxing it out and the real broken decks were using Resourceful to recur skills. But I suspect that Do or Die will be just as ubiquitous as Resourceful was once Chapter 2 fleshes out.

        The one saving grace is that it appears the signature survivor skill will be on the Brink, so no level 2 version of Do or Die (I think). I was afraid of upgraded resourceful since every class is getting a signature skill with 0 and 2-3xp versions (Vicious Blow, Deduction, Out the Door, Blood Curse / Fearless, On the Brink)

  25. Right now my biggest concern with the Miguel deck is resource generation. He is going to be able to take SO many actions with his native ability and the fact that so many of these traps are fast. For instance, he could play an event for a free action, then two fast event traps, and still have all three base actions to work with. Wondering if he can produce enough card draw and resources to keep up with that kind of pace in mono-red. (Accepting that that kind of turn is not happening every turn, of course)

    In legacy, you could Take Heart and Drawing Thin your way through this without blinking. Wondering if the final days of spoilers will show us some options for Ch 2.

  26. Hunter’s Instinct (2) might be the ultimate Patrice card. Enemy spawned? Let me just grab spectral razor out of my discard and get on with my day. She could probably do that with the level 0 too, but it’s just great.

    And I think the Winchester might as well be Yorrick’s signature asset. Canteen is one of the best horror heals in the game, and confirms Miguel’s strange diet: mutated deer to eat, and blood to drink. His weakness is a Hybrid, but he might be one too?

  27. Wait… Hunters Instinct (2) can be used to recur Transfiguration. That’s bonkers. Lola is gonna be on another planet once she hits 8xp using 2x transfig, 2x hunters instinct, and short supply. Should be able to transfigure into any investigator almost instantly with a hard mulligan.

    Also, Jamieson is an excellent ally. Any investigator running anchor chain should immediately include him

  28. Survivor seems insanely mobile with all of this movement efficiency. So far.

    Three more cards and Levelheaded (3) to go, and I’m certain Miguel will be my first character to get to the table out of the set. Can’t wait to see how all of this plays in real time.

  29. Thanks to Derbk for a diligent (and long) preview season!

    The last bit of Survivor looks like some fun toys to play with or not. Probably won’t ever buy that bow after trying to make Ornate Bow work a couple times and finding it more frustrating than effective. Not surprised to see Rabbit’s foot get re-insterted into the evergreen pool. And Timely Intervention (3) looks like an easy staple upgrade for mid-campaign. Strong as hell in Izzy.

    Looking forward to grabbing all these decks next month!

  30. Trying to predict the top 10 game changers

    Candidates from each deck:
    Tommy: Bounty, Stock Ammo Reload
    Carolyn: Psychoanalysis (3), Literary Analysis
    Andre: Out the Door (0, 1)
    Marie: Shadowmeld (0), Blood Curse (0, 3), Ritual Dagger (3), Retribution (2)
    Miguel: Daniel Jameson, Loner, Respite (2), Guerilla Tactics (0, 2), Lie in Wait, Field Dressing (1), Canteen (2), Winchester (2)

    Ranking
    10. Lie in Wait: Infinite source of 1 damage, even to aloof enemies? That’s crazy.
    9. Bounty: Guardians need resources
    8. Retribution (2): Lots of shenanigans against elites
    7. Literary Analysis: More good skills is good
    6. Psychoanalysis (3): Maybe the strongest card in these decks? But situational
    5. Shadowmeld (0): Super functional/ flexible level 0 mystics
    4. Loner: Free movement in a class that never had it is super strong.
    3. Ritual Dagger (3): An entire archetype
    2. Daniel Jameson: Probably the only ally that can compete with Peter Sylvester
    1. Out the Door (0, 1): I think this is the most auto-include Green card since LCC

    Most surprising omission (to me): Blood Curse (0, 3). Canteen also would’ve easily made it in if Peter didn’t exist. If this ranking is correct, I think it’s pretty clear that the decks go 1. Miguel, 2. Marie, 3–5 pick your favorites. I have Tommy up there, mostly because of firearm support and bc I think it’ll be a bit before I buy the core.

    1. 100% agree to put OtD (0,1) in the top spot. I also like the look of Jameson as an ally. Didn’t think the ally spot of Survivor would be as competitive as it is. I think DJ is the odds-on favorite, but a charisma and the little beagle added to Loner, Stalk Prey, and Decoy Trap have Miguel bouncing all over the map with crazy efficiency.

      1. Yeah, for Ch. 2 that is very true about Miguel.

        I did my ranking for a Ch. 1 context; certain cards are more valuable in Ch. 2 (e.g., Canteen) with cards like Peter Sylvester not existing as they do in Ch. 1. I think a lot of the blue and yellow cards get more appealing in the Ch. 2 context as well but are redundant in Ch. 1. The Old Compass looks a lot better in a Ch. 2 context too. Unfortunately, the Green cards mostly just miss in either setting.

        I also realized that all the cards I forgot to mention—Do or Die, Arcane Experience, Culver (4), Ultimate Sacrifice—are from Miguel and Marie decks too. Red and purple are clearly just a cut above here, especially for a legacy context, but in a Ch. 2 context they are great too. I do think I’m going to play that you can only do 1 of Do or Die / Resourceful, and 1 of Blood Curse or Promise of Power. Those cards are clearly designed on the assumption that you’re not using their chapter 1 equivalents to get 4 copies. Everything else is perfectly fine for legacy imo

  31. Iron Sights has an interaction with Service Revolver.
    The activation provokes attacks of opportunity that provoke the revolver giving you +3 for the attack.

    1. I guess?

      You can get that AoO from any action you do though. So you are still just trading an action for a +3 bonus that you could have used for something more productive. I feel like the whole idea of the Service Revolver is to *not* take up one of your actions.

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