Investigator Expansion Review: The Core

Introduction

A while ago i made a series of Investigator Expansion Reviews, meant as a part of my Buying Guide, to evaluate the player cards in them from the point of view of a new player. The goal was determining which box is suitable to pickup right after the Core. So what i ended up with was a comprehensive list of mini-reviews for all player cards… except the ones from the Core itself. Let’s correct that. Today I will go over all the Core cards. While this is obviously not evaluating the cards as an additional pickup (after all, everyone starts with the Core), i will still try to see if the investigators in it are properly supported or if they need help. And if so, where to get it.
Many of the other rules from previous threads still apply: I will ignore the optional list of taboos, again because this is aimed primarily at new players who shouldn’t care about taboo yet. The ranking I use for cards is Bad < Okay < Good < Excellent < Staple with each of those spanning quite a range. I use something like “Okay to Good” or “Good to Okay” when I want to specify whether it’s on the upper or lower range of that rank. Please don’t take these rankings too seriously and more as a guideline, cards need to be evaluated in context and compressing these contexts down into just one word is really unprecise. I still find it useful for this overview as a shortcut to put the cards into relation quickly. In some cases i will differentiate between whether i look at the card in the context of just the Core or in a wider card pool.
This review assumes the Revised Core.

Alright, let’s goooo.

The Investigators

The Core introduced the standard deckbuilding rules of being allowed to take up to level 5 of their main class and up to level 2 of a side class. All five of these follow these rules. Roland is Guardian/Seeker, Daisy is Seeker/Mystic, Skids is Rogue/Guardian, Agnes is Mystic/Survivor and Wendy is Survivor/Rogue. So all five classes are used as a main and as a side class once. Later expansions introduce all 20 of these “5/2” combinations (with exception of Seeker/Rogue which we are still waiting for with baited breath because that’s one hell of a card pool… but i am getting ahead of myself!). These cardpools are quite big and flexible and, provided the investigator abilities aren’t too limiting, can be taken in various directions. Obviously this sort of flexibility is perfect for Core Set investigators.
One thing that is very important to note about this set of investigators is that it’s not weaker or “dumbed down” from what comes later. These are fully fledged investigators that might as well have been released in a modern box and nobody would bat an eye. Daisy and Agnes in particular rank among the more powerful within their class even. Only poor Skids is generally considered to be underpowered, everyone else is perfectly up to par (or better) with current releases. To give a quick rundown on every investigator and their place in the current game:
Roland Banks: In my mind, he’s somewhat of a reference to measure other investigators by. He’s not too strong, he’s not too weak. He has access to cards that can turn him into a nice hybrid character that can both fight and clue on the side. He never particularly excels at something, but he never disappoints either.
Daisy Walker: Incredible. Playing a fully powered Daisy deck with a full card pool feels like cheating because it’s just so nuts how much that bonus action gains you. Her side class goes a bit unused though, it feels a bit tacked on. Daisy is an exceptional clue getter, one of the best.
Skids O’Toole: His flat statline sadly doesn’t mesh well with either of his two card pools and his investigator ability to trade resources for actions is priced just a bit too conservatively to put him in a place that is comparable to most of his rogue and guardian colleagues. He’s not unplayable, but he is considered underpowered, both by Core and by full card pool standards.
Agnes Baker: Mystics are all about that willpower score (at least for the first couple years of releases… they are trying to shed those shackles currently) and Agnes sports a lofty 5 there. That immediately makes her very good with much of the mystic card pool. She also gets a very, very good investigator ability on top and a side class that can do a lot of funky things. Agnes is one of the best Mystics around and thanks to her ability, she especially makes for an excellent combat mage… as soon as you get something in addition to the Core.
Wendy Adams: Thanks to high willpower and high agility, plus the ability to retake tests on demand, Wendy is very resilient to whatever treacheries the encounter deck throws at her. If it has a test, she can probably deal with it. Of course she pays for it with a basically nonfunctional fight stat so she will use the tricks from the Survivor class to contribute to the clue effort and handle enemies through evasion. She makes excellent use of her side class. In fact she is the best user for many of the rogue cards that deal with “oversucceeding” while you still have a limited card pool.
I’ll look at the card pools in more detail now, let’s see how well these investigators are supported.

Guardian

.45 Auto: Okay. The epitome of just good enough. It’s expensive and limited by ammo but ultimately getting extra damage and a fight bonus for your attacks is important enough that you play this, even if it’s just due to a lack of better options.
Physical Training: Okay, but only barely. Paying 2 upfront for the privilege of paying more later is something that Guardians rarely can afford to do. This does its job and it’s not bad as such, but usually not what you want to be doing. Skids can use this to convert money into willpower. He won’t like doing it because he’d rather convert it to actions, but sometimes you are stuck with a Frozen in Fear, you need to get rid of it and your options on just the Core are limited.
Beat Cop: Staple. If your guardian is not playing Guard Dog, they are likely playing Beat Cop, at least until they get more options from later releases. But even on a full card pool, Beat Cop absolutely has a place as a reliable source of fight, soak and an incidental damage on his way out. Just a good package.

First Aid: Bad. This is very inefficient. Paying an action heal 1 point is rarely worth it and you certainly don’t want to spend 2 resources, another action and a card just on being allowed to do this bad trade… and then still also be limited by uses.
Machete: Staple. Possibly the best level 0 weapon in the full card pool. It gives you exactly what you want (+1 fight, +1 damage) without taking up uses like the .45 Auto. And it’s even cheaper than the pistol. It has a drawback in that it can only be used if you are engaged with what you are fighting alone. This means you have to engage enemies off of other players to hit them and the Machete becomes a dead card if you get swarmed. But in spite of these drawbacks, Machete is just very reliable because the situations where it is dead can be worked around.
Guard Dog: Staple. Testless damage is incredibly powerful as it bypasses a lot of defensive mechanics that enemies can have. It’s even better when it doesn’t even require you to take an action (aside from playing the dog). Guard Dog delivers 3 testless damage (or more if you can heal it) while also keeping your own health safe with 3 health soak. Guard Dog vs. Beat Cop is one of the first important decisions to make for Guardian decks and it’s one that stays relevant for quite some time. Often you will find that the correct answer is “Both. Both is good.”

Evidence!: Okay to Good. There’s a bunch of cards in ArkhamLCG that trade a card in your hand for a clue without taking an action. Usually these have some sort of restriction on it or extra costs. In this case, it costs a resource and requires you to kill something. Both are workable, but the trade “card for resource” is one that is not always desired in the first place. Especially a fighter might want to rather go with something more offensive, but it should be said that Roland is particularly someone that is interested in this effect because it stacks with his investigator ability.
Dodge: Okay to Good. Effectively trades a card for some health and/or sanity. This card has its fans, but personally I don’t think this is particularly worth it unless you know you have to tank something that hits particularly hard (like, say… a Ghoul Priest. Or Umordoth).
Dynamite Blast: Good. To get the obvious out of the way, 5 resources is a whole lot. But this card is a problem solver that does something few other cards can. It deals testless damage, it does so in connecting locations and it can hit multiple enemies. This thing can do many actions worth of damage and is truly spectacular when it meets its potential. Of course there will be situations where this sits in your hand, but the big kabooms when it works are worth it.

Vicious Blow: Staple. Incredible card that gives you burst damage. When enemies that have 3 health show up, committing this to an attack with your .45 or Machete will allow you to drop those enemies in one hit. That is incredibly useful. It will take a long time until you even consider not running this card in your fighters. For some, that day might never come.
Extra Ammunition(1): Excellent. Does exactly what it’s supposed to. Gets you an additional 3 attacks with your firearm for just 2 resources. That is less costly than playing a new weapon, so this is usually worth playing if you have firearms. Different guns will of course scale differently with this. Getting 3 shells for the shotgun is certainly a lot better than getting 3 bullets for the .45. But either is perfectly fine.
Police Badge(2): Good. You spend an action and 3 resources to either take 2 actions later yourself or to give those to someone else. In the meantime, you can enjoy some bonus willpower for treachery protection. This is pretty good but often a bit of a luxury thing. 3 resources is above the usual rate for a net extra action, so you’d need to get some value out of the fact that it banks those actions for later, that it can transfer the actions to someone else, out of the willpower or out of the fact that this is an item that can be recurred with some tricks. If any of those additional perks do it for you, that needs to be worth 2XP and the accessory slot and you have a deal. It’s a fine card, but i rarely end up playing it.

Beat Cop(2): Staple. If you are playing Beat Cop, you will want the upgrade. Getting extra health and extra damage pings out of the card is incredibly valuable and easily worth the 2XP. The ability to deal damage without being sacrificed lets Beat Cop(2) also be a thing to upgrade into if you decided on Guard Dog for your initial deck.
Shotgun(4): Okay to Good. The big gun of the Core Set and honestly it’s a bit of a weird one. It’s expensive and it only has two shots. That means that a set of Extra Ammunition is pretty much mandatory if you want to play this. It takes up both your handslots, so you won’t be able to use another weapon alongside it (until you get ways to acquire additional hand slots in Dunwich and other later expansions). You do get a massive +3 to your fight value, but pulling a particularly bad token will blunt your shot even if you end up hitting. Shotgun has high highs, but equally low lows and is a bit of a gamble.

First Aid(3): Okay to Good. A massive upgrade from the level 0, it more than doubles its effectiveness due to healing 2 points of damage/horror and getting an extra charge. It also gains the ability to heal allies which is when this card starts to really shine. If you use this to extend the life of your Guard Dog or Beat Cop, you don’t only get value from the damage/horror prevented, but also from the extra testless damage those allies can now dish out.
“I’ve Had Worse”(4): Okay to Good. This fills a similar niche to Dodge, in that you will consider this if you expect that you need to tank some really nasty hits. Negating 2 damage and 2 horror from the attack of a Ghoul-Priest and collecting 4 resources for it is a big game! But if you end up only using this to cancel a regular 1 damage, 1 horror attack you only get 2 resources for it. This is fine, but paying 4XP for it feels kinda bad and you will be hard pressed to keep this in your hand for a long time, sitting there useless until you finally get to the final boss… when you might not need the resources anymore and might as well have played Dodge. There’s a level 2 version of this in Circle Undone that offers a much better cost/effect ratio and is excellent, but the level 4 version is often hard to justify.

Most useful: Machete, Vicious Blow, Beat Cop
Least useful: First Aid(0), Physical Training, I’ve Had Worse(4)

Verdict: The Guardian class is mostly defined through being the fighters of the bunch, but also for being the selfless supporters and healers. The cards in the Core Set are mostly concerned about the fighty part of Guardian, with only First Aid being a (very mediocre) nod towards the supporty part. I really would’ve liked something like Stand Together here to show that Guardian is more than just guns. That being said, this card pool does have some real bangers in it, with First Aid(0) really being the only card that is just unplayable. The rest all has its place, at least for a while.
The Guardian of the box, Roland Banks, is a rather well-rounded character that can do a lot of different things. His investigator ability wants him to defeat enemies, so that’s his primary role and for that job he gets some solid weaponry here, two great allies, the ever important Vicious Blow and some events that help him stay alive. That leaves little room for complaints!
Skids can use most of these as well, but is of course limited by his fight 3 which needs some help to really properly use that Machete or .45 Auto. That is a Skids problem though, not one with the Guardian pool.

Seeker

Magnifying Glass: Staple. This is maybe the best value that you can get for just 1 resource. It doesn’t even cost an action. You just show up with this card in hand, slap it on the table and enjoy being more competent at seeking now. Hell, you might even want to throw down two of these.
Old Book of Lore: Alright, so this is where we need to talk about Daisy. Daisy is amazing, her ability to use a book ability for free each turn is incredible. But it warps the perception we get of every tome to the point where we pretty much need to look at it twice. Once for Daisy. And once for everyone else. Old Book of Lore is especially relevant for this distinction because it can pretty much be considered Daisy’s actual signature. Like… if you play Daisy, you play OBoL. Staple. Just always. No exceptions. Getting to plow through your deck every turn without an action is absolutely amazing and the backbone of why Daisy is so powerful. Old Book of Lore is still Good to Excellent for non-Daisy investigators though. Taking an action to draw a card is something that comes up from time to time and OBoL pretty much enhances this basic action to draw 1 out of 3 instead of just the top card. Most investigators would want this effect, but the hand slot is the limiting factor. As an example, if you are Roland you would probably want a Mag Glass and a Machete or pistol instead.
Research Librarian: Excellent. Searching your whole deck for a thing is very good. Research Librarian basically acts as extra copies of your Tome cards as long as you have a free ally slot and 2 extra resources for it (although it should be said that a certain event from Dream-Eaters makes sure you don’t have to pay the 2). These limitations keep it from being a staple, as your ally slot as a seeker is usually spoken for by someone we are going to talk about very soon.

Medical Text: Bad. This is just First Aid again, except even worse. While this doesn’t have limited uses, it can’t heal horror. And healing damage even requires a test which makes you deal extra damage instead if you fail. Absolutely horrible. Even with Daisy’s free action, this is just awful.
Dr. Milan Christopher: Staple. This is the reason the seeker ally slot is spoken for. Milan is a class-defining staple card, even more so than Beat Cop. He gives seekers that all important +1 intellect value while also fixing their resources. He costs 4 upfront, but will quickly pay for himself and then start to generate lots and lots of value. This card is fantastic and even in a full card pool has very little competition (although it has gotten some recently).
Hyperawareness: Okay. Actually decent. When compared to Guardians, Seekers tend to have a bit more in terms of spare resources (often thanks to Milan). This allows them to invest into important investigations with this. It also gives them a way to emergency evade something they can’t deal with otherwise. Drops off massively in value with a more opened up card pool.

Barricade: Bad. A very situational card that has a hard time ever mattering. There are some niche meme things that can be done with it on a full card pool, but in the Core this is near-worthless.
Mind over Matter: Excellent. Doesn’t look like much, but is actually very potent. While this can not be played in the Mythos phase, this is still a lifesaver that handles a lot of different challenges. Maybe the most important one during Night of the Zealot is that this allows Daisy to discard a Locked Door treachery that is blocking her from progressing.
Working a Hunch: Okay. Like Evidence earlier, this is one of those cards that trades for a clue. No condition this time, but it costs 2 resources which is rough. I don’t like playing it, but on a smaller card pool it does its job and it at least comes with good icons when you don’t want to spend the resources on it.

Disc of Itzamna: Okay. Seekers are bad at handling enemies, so this does fill a niche. It is very expensive though and needs to be played upfront. It does its job, but i am usually not happy about having to play it. Later sets give it some extra legs through its Relic trait and the possibility for easier recursion.
Deduction: Staple. Again, a card for a clue. But what sets Deduction apart is that it doesn’t cost you anything. It even brings an icon to your test, making your other clue more likely. It’s drawback of course is that the test could fail, but as a Seeker you have your ways to make that as unlikely as possible.
Magnifying Glass(1): Good. A very cheap upgrade. The cost is reduced by 1, all the way down to zero. Can’t really beat that cost. The ability to return the Mag Glass to your hand allows for freeing up a handslot when you draw something better, but is not terribly impactful. This is not an important upgrade by any means, but at 1XP this is just good convenience.

Cryptic Research(4): Excellent. The only drawback here is the 4XP cost. The effect is insanely good. Drawing 3 cards without even spending an action is a huge deal and being able to spread it around to your more clumsy teammates (like that guardian that has not been able to draw a weapon for four turns) can be even bigger. Once your card pool gets fuller you will find it harder and harder to pay 4XP for this card, but this is going to be great for a good while.
Encyclopedia(2): Okay. The important part here is that the +2 skill value persists through the whole phase. So you can spend 1 action to give +2 to all three of your teammates fight actions, for example. If all you are doing is spending an action to enhance one other action, this is not worth it, but if you can set up the more valuable scenario often enough, this can do some good things.

Seeking Answers(2): Okay. A card for a clue. Requires a test, doesn’t enhance this test, costs a resource. No huge requirements and can potentially grab a clue from a more difficult location. This is only slightly better than Working a Hunch or Evidence (if it even is better), so having to pay 2XP for it is very unattractive.
Old Book of Lore(3): Excellent. An great card to have in play, as it’s of course the OBoL, but better. It’s one cheaper (the difference between 3 cost and 2 cost is so much bigger in practice than one would think) and it offers another two discounts and two bonus actions through its secrets. That’s huge value on top of a card that was already great. The only thing that stops the upgrade from being a staple is that for the most part the level 0 is good enough already and i would rather put the 3XP towards other cards that are in more dire need of upgrading.

Most useful: Deduction, Christopher Milan, Magnifying Glass
Least useful: Barricade, Medical Texts, Seeking Answers

Verdict: The two things that Seekers do is draw cards and find clues. Both aspects of the class are very well represented in this card pool. We are introduced to 3 different versions of “card for clue” and a couple ways to increase the intellect score to make sure that investigating comes up with results. Old Book of Lore and Research Librarian show off the card draw/card selection aspect and Cryptic Research gives a suitably powerful capstone for that theme.
Daisy is interesting in that she is very closely tied to a specific group of assets, she really likes her tomes. She gets an extra action to use them, her signature gives her more hand slots for them. Encyclopedia and Old Book of Lore are both good cards for her, but since Medical Texts is kinda bad, they are also the only things for Daisy specifically here. Still, that’s enough since as a 5 intellect Seeker she doesn’t need that much help in the first place.
The Seeker cards up to level 2 (so everything except upgraded OBoL and Cryptic Research) can be used by Roland as well. How far to dip into your intellect is one of the more interesting deckbuilding decisions that you can do for Roland – either is viable, but he plays notably different as a primary fighter that just picks up clues when defeating enemies or as a hybrid character that dabbles in both.

Rogue

Pickpocketing: Good. This card’s value rises and falls with the value of evasion. The early lifecycle of the game didn’t really make evasion a competitive way of dealing with enemies (compared to fighting them) and that limits how useful Pickpocketing is. It is absolutely a relevant card in the more modern state of the game and Wendy is a particularly good user of it.
Switchblade: Bad. No fight bonus, no extra damage unless oversucceeding by 2. Skids has trouble getting that +2 even when fighting rats, nevermind a ghoul. Wendy has fight 1. I am not sure who is supposed to use this card in the Core. Even outside of the Core, this has near-zero application.
Burglary: Okay to Bad. As long as you are able to pass investigates, this can offer you resources for actions. This is fine, but having to play a card for an action and having to invest a resource beforehand stings. Skids will find little opportunity to pass investigates (and when he does, he probably wants the clue to advance the game) and Wendy might not want the resources. So this doesn’t really have a home.

Leo De Luca: Staple. Having an additional action is amazing, actually i’d go as far as saying that taking 4 action turns instead of 3 action turns is what drew me to the Rogue class in the beginning. Leo gives that fourth action, no conditions asked… as long as you pay him. In a fuller card pool his status as a staple isn’t quite as certain as it is for Dr. Milan, but he still sees plenty play.
Hard Knocks: Okay to Good. A somewhat necessary evil if you do want to make use of the cards that require oversuceeding for bonus effects. Although that is only hinted at in the Core, Rogues are able to get a lot of resources and a talent like Hard Knocks allows channeling that into stat bonuses. This has serious tension with Skids in particular though as he really wants to turn that money into actions instead.
.41 Derringer: Okay to Bad. Speaking of necessary evils, this at least gives you +2 fight which shores up one of Skids weaknesses. Oversuccess is still a crapshoot in the core, though. And at just 3 ammo you can’t really afford misfires.

Sneak Attack: Okay to Good. Turns evasion into damage. In the core, this is valuable for Skids and Wendy alike and also has its use in the wider card pool.
Elusive: Excellent to Staple. Not only are you ditching your enemies, not only are you getting a free move, but you are actually teleporting to any revealed location. That is very, very good.
Backstab: Good. Since it doesn’t offer a skill bonus, this can fail a bit too easily. And when it does you spent 3 resources and a card on nothing which hurts a lot. Wendy’s ability to redraw tokens gives her good chances of being able to use this. In the wider card pool, Backstab also gains importance – both because investigators with 5 agility become a thing and because enemies with 3 health become more frequent so Backstab hits an important damage threshold.

Leo De Luca(1): Good. Somewhat similar to the Mag Glass upgrade in that it is very cheap and only barely moves the needle. The reduction from 6 cost to 5 cost means you can play Leo first turn now without having to Emergency Cache or use a resource action beforehand and that is nice. Just dont be the guy that plays Leo into a Crypt Chill without another asset on the board. #lessonlearned
Cat Burglar(1): Good to Excellent. A very underappreciated ally in the modern card pool that offers a very competitive package of a stat boost, an evasive ability, a free move and decent soak and all for just 1XP. His only fault in the Core is competing with Leo De Luca.
Opportunist: Okay to Bad. This has a place in the wider card pool (specifically for Winifred), but for most applications the numbers are just bad on this one. You aren’t oversucceeding by 3 anytime soon with Skids or Wendy in the Core. And if you are, for example through a Lockpicks test, you probably didn’t need Opportunist in the first place.

Hot Streak(4): Good to Excellent. Hell yeah, finally some cards that let Rogue do something the other’s can’t. 7 resources is a lot and this card will set you up nicely. Playing this first turn is just beautiful. The full card pool has enough resource options that you will not want to pay 4XP for this later on, but in the early context of the game this is great.
Sure Gamble(3): Good to Excellent. And here’s a way to pass one of those oversuccess tests. A bit of a pity that it takes 3XP to do it in the Core, but we got there in the end. Sure Gamble gives rogues an ace in the hole to use on important tests. They are literally cheating at the card game and that is just something very special – and powerful.

Lockpicks(1): Staple. Allows Skids and Wendy to investigate at skill 7. That’s as good as Daisy with Milan and a Mag Glass. Sure, it’s only once per turn and if you are unlucky you will eventually run out of lockpicks… but that is still downright spectacular. And it’s just 1XP. Amazing.
.41 Derringer(2): Okay. The “if you succeed by 3” text might as well not exist until you get some of the more fighty investigators that can run this. But crucially, this upgrade lowers the threshold for an extra damage by 1, so this is roughly on par with the .45 Auto(0) from Guardian.

Most useful: Leo De Luca, Lockpicks, Elusive
Least useful: Switchblade, .41 Derringer(0), Opportunist

Verdict: Alright, Rogue. My favorite class in the game, but certainly not in the core. Rogues gain lots of resources and take bonus actions. They get strong effects that require oversucceeding tests. The resource angle isn’t particularly explored here. Maybe if Burglary was actually playable, but as is it’s just the level 4 Hot Streak that the core gives to rogues for their resource superiority. Bonus actions are present through their ambassador, Leo de Luca. Cat Burglar and Elusive give free moves. Switchblade and Sure Gamble are fast. So we got the action advantage represented in a respectable fashion. There’s a bunch of oversuccess cards here too. Sadly they are all kinda bad or at least they are so in the context of the Core but i suppose we count it as representation.
Skids O’Toole is a rogue that has middling stats in both intellect and combat. With little except the lockpicks to support his intellect and a Guardian subclass he is pushed towards a fighter role which he can not adequately fill. The rogue weapons are certainly not helping in that regard. His ability requires economy that doesn’t exist yet either.
Wendy won’t touch any of those weapons either, but she will gladly make use of several of the rogue cards here. In what is a bit of a wild twist, somewhere between Sneak Attack, Backstab and Close Call, she becomes a better enemy handler than Skids.
I find this rogue pool highly disappointing. At least the Revised Core now has Lockpicks, the original Core didn’t even have that :| The worst part is that Rogue is going to stay lacking for a good while if you follow the releases in chronological order because it takes all the way until Forgotten Age until there’s a green investigator that can actually oversucceed a test (after which it goes straight back to a 1/1/1/1 in TCU, lol). Long story short, get the Winifred starter deck. She’s the cheat code to enjoying green cards and she will unlock all those oversuccess cards in Core, Dunwich and beyond.

Mystic

Forbidden Knowledge: Okay to Good. Taking 4 horror for 4 resources is a steep cost, but if you are able to turn this drawback into something you want you can get great value out of Forbidden Knowledge. Agnes is of course one of the investigators that can use this incredibly well, triggering her damage ability on demand.
Holy Rosary: Staple. Willpower is love, willpower is life. Mystics are tied heavily into that skill and will often stack it as much as they can. Even in a full card pool, this is the best way of adding +1 will to your accessory slot. The 2 sanity soak it offers are also quite valuable.
Shrivelling: Staple. If you sometimes consider vanilla ice to be too spicy, i have the perfect card for you! The default fighting spell and the template for several others to follow in later expansions. Has a good bunch of charges for its cost, deals unconditional +damage and allows using your strongest attribute. Agnes even turns the drawback into an upside, allowing her to sometimes deal 3 damage in one attack. This allows wizards to cast “gun”.

Arcane Initiate: Staple. When most of your deck is made up from Spells, Initiate almost just straight up draws a card each turn. She even tanks a horror for you. And all that for the low cost of a measly resource. The doom she enters play with means that you will want to get rid of her before the agenda advances or you will want to wait playing her until the “Witching Hour”, when the agenda would’ve advanced anyways.
Scrying: Bad. Doesn’t really do a whole lot. Reordering the encounter deck can be okay in solo play, but solo play doesn’t afford you the actions to first play this card, then use it a couple of times without advancing the board state.
Arcane Studies: Okay. Like guardians, mystics usually don’t have many spare resources to spend on stuff like this. That being said, this does boost willpower.

Blinding Light: Bad. It’s like a much more limited version of Mind over Matter, allowing for an emergency evade with your best attribute. Unlike the surprisingly flexible seeker event, this one is rather costly and comes with a significant drawback. The kind of drawback you REALLY don’t want to see on an enemy control spell.
Drawn to the Flame: Staple. Remember all that talk about a card for a clue? This takes an action, but gives two clues for your card. No test. No conditions. No resources. It just works. Well, you might have to contest with whatever you draw from the top of the encounter deck, but honestly, mystics are pretty good at that.
Ward of Protection: Staple. If whatever you draw from the encounter deck (no matter if its during the mythos phase or from your Drawn to the Flame) is bad enough, you can just say No to it and it goes away. Costs a horror, but if it stops am Ancient Evils or a Grasping Hands, that’s easily worth it. Note that this only works on cards you draw yourself and not on enemy cards. Counterspells for those exist (and they are actually also called Ward of Protection…), but not in the Core.

Blinding Light(2): Okay. A significant upgrade. Reducing the cost and increasing the damage turns a rather rotten evasion card into something that actually deals decent damage on top of the evade. The possibility of losing an action to it is still a massive turnoff, though.
Fearless: Good. With all the horror we are taking from our own cards, having some heal available isn’t half bad. Fearless only provides a single icon in addition which makes it a bit questionable value for a full card, but this is at least playable.
Mind Wipe(1): Okay to Good. Has some fancy uses, although those are probably not going to come up often enough during the Core scenarios. Crucially, it doesn’t work to remove Retaliate from an Elite like the Ghoul-Priest. This is a tech card that you use because you have something specific in mind that you want to adress, a card that only gains value once you possess some intimate knowledge of campaign contents that you want to prepare for in advance.

Book of Shadows(3): Bad. Trading a hand for an arcane slot is usually not what you want to do, especially not in the Core where you barely have enough assets to even take up those slots. Most certainly you don’t want to spend 4 resources on it either. The book also has an ability to refill charges, but an action per charge is an outlandish ask. This is one of the few cards in the game that is just straight up unusable.
Grotesque Statue(4): Excellent. This offers greatly increased chances to pass four tests of your choice for 2 resources. That’s a very good rate and you can even do some fancy things with it being an Item asset to recur it once its spent. 4XP is a lot, but this is indeed very impactful.

Rite of Seeking: Excellent to Staple. Not quite the evergreen staple that Shrivelling is due to that drawback of potentially ending your turn. Even if you play around it by only using it on your last action, this does require some concessions to make it work without much risk. That +2 skill value is a godsend however and getting additional clues with each charge is very important. You might outgrow this card once you have alternatives, but that doesn’t take away from Rite of Seeking being quite good for just 2XP.
Scrying(3): Okay to Bad. This however…. So, Scrying 3 at least fixes Scrying’s biggest problem, that action cost on its activation. That does give it some legs in solo play. Outside of that, the impact is just not worth 3XP though. And that it gains an extra drawback is completely uncalled for.

Most useful: Shrivelling, Holy Rosary, Ward of Protection
Least useful: Scrying(both), Book of Shadows, Blinding Light(0)

Verdict: Spells and Willpower. For way too long, Mystics are all about those two. They can do everything and they can do it with just the one skill… but in exchange they need to find an appropriate asset first to do their thing. Both of these aspects shine through very clear in this set, with several spell cards that replace tests for willpower tests and cards that enhance willpower. Mystics do also deal in chaos bag manipulation, which is represented here by Grotesque Statue. They also have impactful effects that come with drawbacks attached, like Drawn to the Flame. Horror/Sanity is a resource that many of their spells draw from. The primary themes of Mystic are actually well presented here, if anything i would’ve liked another one or two spell assets.
Agnes is a very archetypical mystic, with 5 willpower for maximised capability of using those spells. Her survivor subclass and 3 agility actually give her another venue to explore as well. As does her investigator ability which is yet another way to handle enemies. The core mystic pool has lots of cards in it that can trigger this ability on demand, so she is firing on all cylinders immediately. It’s a bit of a pity then that she doesn’t get an upgraded Shrivelling in the Core set, that would’ve really cemented her capabilities. A similar thing goes for a level 0 Rite of Seeking that would’ve allowed her to be more flexible right from the start. She can still get some clues in the first scenario through Drawn to the Flame and Look What I Found, but an investigation spell would’ve just made sense here. If you want to fix this, there are two way: Either get the Dunwich Investigator expansion which will have exactly those cards (Shrivel 3 and 5, Rite of Seeking 0 and 4) or the Jaqueline Fine deck which has full spell suites for fighting, investigating and evading.
Daisy with her 3 willpower has trouble using many of these cards competently. Something like a Ward of Protection is of course always awesome, but if she wants to shrivel a ghoul in The Gathering, she probably is going to need to find a Rosary first to bring her to skill value 4. Of the five core investigators i found her to be the one that is using her subclass the least. Ultimately that’s fine of course, the Seeker cards are great after all.

Survivor

Leather Coat: Staple. Sets a standard for healing and damage prevention effects. If your healing card doesn’t beat 2 points for an action and zero resources, then it will have to have something else to make it competitive with this baseline. In context of the survivor class, item assets have a tendency of being able to return from the discard pile, which makes Leather Coat very valuable as a cheap way to keep yourself alive.
Scavenging: Excellent. And here’s one of the poster children for recursion enablers. As long as you can oversucceed investigate tests, you can replay your spent item assets. Agnes and Wendy aren’t really the best users of this card, but this is an important card and centerpiece of the Survivor class in the full card pool.
Baseball Bat: Okay. Getting a +2 to combat is great, but there are two problems with this asset. The first is that it uses two hand slots. That stings a lot as it means you won’t be able to have a backup weapon ready for when the bat eventually breaks. The other problem is that the two investigators that can use it in the core are Wendy who has 1 fight and Agnes who has 2 fight. Neither of them want this. And in a wider card pool you can usually do better.

Rabbit’s Foot: Good to Excellent. Making the best out of failed tests is one of the cornerstones of the Survivor lifestyle and this is one of the signature cards for that. When played early, this can draw quite a few cards over the course of a scenario and move the needle in the survivors favor even when they fail at stuff.
Stray Cat: Okay. Not a great use for the valuable ally slot, but Stray Cat can do some neat things for you. The most important thing about Stray Cat is that its ability doesn’t require a test which can be a great help to get a Nightgaunt off your tail.
Dig Deep: Okay. Survivors aren’t exactly rich, but Wendy with her rogue access certainly can be (once you get cards beyond the core). Willpower and Agility are the two skills most often tested by the encounter deck, making Dig Deep a reasonable way to defend against Grasping Hands and Rotting Remains alike. That being said, something like Lucky or just an extra Guts in your deck is probably going to be better for you.

Winner Winner Turkey Dinner: Okay. If you are surrounded by enemies, you can use this to distract them with a Thanksgiving meal. Very expensive and honestly you shouldn’t even let it come that far… but you might actually consider running this for its icons. A willpower and a wild icon is quite good on a level 0 card. Can evade an Elite, so this can even buy you a turn against heavy hitters like Umordoth.
Look What I Found: Staple. One of the best clue events in the game even with a full card pool. Picking up two clues because you are bad at seeking is such a classic survivor move.
Lucky!: Staple. Speaking of signature moves… If you failed, but not excessively so this allows you to cheat and pass after all. This is incredibly valuable. Most investigators need to commit their cards to the test before they draw their token, Survivors are (mostly) uniquely able to first draw the token, then modify their skill value afterwards.

Survival Instinct: Good. Trading a card for a free move is very solid and this gains even some bonus value when you are engaged to multiple enemies.
Aquinnah: Bad. She’s just too expensive and too limited. 5 resources is a lot and while it buys you 4 sanity soak, it also takes up the valuable ally slot. Her ability is potentially powerful but you need two enemies at your location to do anything.
Close Call: Good. Turns evasion into removal. That is simply a very solid effect that buys you some safety for a moment.

Lucky(2): Okay. Not exactly an exciting upgrade. Doesn’t improve the primary effect of the card in any way, it simply tacks a “Draw a card” onto the textbox in exchange for 2XP. It’s not awful, but we can do so much better.
Will To Survive(3): Good. Remove the uncertainty of the chaos bag from your tests for one turn. That is obviously very impactful, but 4 resources is also a lot to ask for it. The card has its fans, although i don’t really like it much myself. It’s kinda hard to set up the board situation where you get full value out of this that across your 3 actions that would warrant paying 4 resources and 3XP for it. But the potential is there.

Aquinnah(3): Okay. Fixes the most glaring problem of the level 1 version, she can now mirror damage back to the same enemy that attacked. That turns her into a bizarre version of Guard Dog that soaks horror instead of damage. Guard Dog is fantastic, Guard Dog doesn’t cost 3XP and 4 resources though. You can make this version of Aquinnah work, but she still asks for too much in exchange.
Eucatastrophe(3): Excellent. This thing is fantastic. Not only does it turn a botched test into a success, it also triggers your Elder Sign effect. Sadly this isn’t relevant for Wendy, but future Survivor investigators have some sweet effects that can be triggered with Eucatastrophe. Due to Wendy getting nothing extra from the Elder Sign trigger here, Euca isn’t all that relevant in the Core (honestly, Lucky(0) is better at that point) but this is a card to keep in mind for later.

Most useful: Lucky(0), Look What I Found, Leather Coat
Least useful: Aquinnah(0), Lucky(2), Stray Cat

Verdict: Survivors is the class that makes the best out of a bad situation. A test that fails can still have positive results for a survivor, even when it’s a different one than the one originally intended. Sometimes, like with Look What I Found, failing is even preferred. This class is also the one that is able to manipulate test results after drawing the token (manipulating it beforehand through the token bag is Mystic), with effects like Lucky and Eucatastrophe turning fails into passes. When taken to the extreme, Survivors don’t even take tests anymore, either as a blanket effect (Will to Survive) or through automatic success effects on cards. Once the cardpool is more open, Survivors become masters at using their discard like a second hand with lots of possibilities to recur cards over and over. Scavenging does point towards this here already.
Wendy is very resilient, between the Survivor tricks in the set and her own investigator ability she can pass tests easier than other investigators at the same skill value. She can do a good job of handling enemies through evasion temporarily – or more permanent through some events like Close Call or Backstab. Meanwhile, Lockpicks allows her to pick up a clue most turns. This flexibility makes her a great choice for solo players in particular.
Agnes can use most of the survivor cards as well. Leather Coat, Lucky and Look What I Found are particularly interesting for her.

Neutral

Knife: Okay to Bad. Look at it as a damage event. You can use it once to deal 2 damage to something. And that’s fine until you have better cards. Fine. Not great. Just fine. It does it’s job. Barely.
Flashlight: Staple. You’ll never really stop playing Flashlight, as it’s just a very efficient way of giving some clue capabilities to investigators that aren’t great at it otherwise. The trick is that reducing a 2 shroud location to 0 shroud means that you can only fail on the tentacle, no matter how bad your intellect is. Even without that interaction, three charges of +2 skill is super solid.
Emergency Cache: Staple. This is the gold standard that other resource cards have to measure against. Not really much to say about this one. You need resources to play your cards. Even a deck with a low curve will want some extra cash to set up its assets quickly in the first couple turns.

Staples. Alright, so these four skills are all staples and generally referred to as “The Core Skills”. That should tell you something about their importance already! They enhance a test and they do so without costing a card, an action or resource. That is just very good value. Your deck will want a certain amount of skills because you usually don’t have enough resources and actions to play everything anyways. As long as you have a solid base skill, playing the accompanying core skill card is pretty much never wrong. I usually don’t run these if my base skill value is low. Passing a test with skill 1 isn’t going to happen, but at skill 3 it still isn’t likely enough. The best value is probably going from skill 3 or 4 to skill 5 or 6 with these as it turns a test that was risky into a relatively sure thing.
Guts, Manual Dexterity: The willpower and the agility skill are the two exceptions to what i said above about not taking them when I am low in a skill. These are still worth considering because they are the two skills that the encounter deck tests you on regularly. Especially when facing treacheries with scaling effects like Rotting Remains a Guts can help you even you fail because it can be the difference between taking 3 horror and taking 1 horror. Some of it is also born out of necessity. Committing both a Guts and an Unexpected Courage into one test might just be the only chance for Skids to shake off a Frozen in Fear.

Unexpected Courage: Staple. A bit of a different beast than the other four Core Skills in that it doesn’t replace itself, but it can commit to any skill test. That sort of flexibility is valuable. I rate this one a notch below the other four because i just really want that card draw. But it’s hard to argue against Unexpected Courage because it’s just always relevant.
Bulletproof Vest(3): Good to Excellent. Are you sick of having Daisy die whenever an enemy sneezes her way? This will help. It costs a chunk of XP, but at 2 resources for 4 health it is very affordable in terms of resources and puts Daisy’s health reserves on the same level as Roland’s. This is a good pickup if you got some trauma during a campaign and feel the need to address that in a way that doesn’t set you back a bunch of actions.
Elder Sign Amulet(3): Good. This is a similar deal to the Bulletproof Vest, with the same sort of situations leading one to want it. Roland starts on 5 sanity and has a weakness that can deal mental trauma to him. An Elder Sign Amulet can give him the necessary buffer to not go insane. The amulet does take up the accessory slot though, and that is a much more important and valuable slot than the body slot taken up by the Vest. As a result, the Amulet sees a lot less play. On the other hand, this is not much of a concern in the Core Set. And sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do when trauma stacks up.

Emergency Cache(2): Okay. Let me just copy/paste my comment on Lucky(2) because it’s the exact same thing here: Not exactly an exciting upgrade. Doesn’t improve the primary effect of the card in any way, it simply tacks a “Draw a card” onto the textbox in exchange for 2XP. It’s not awful, but we can do so much better.
Charisma(3): Staple. Ally assets are among the most impactful things that we can play. Consider that an ally not only has some ability, but also soaks damage and horror for us and you might even consider Charisma as a viable alternative to Bulletproof Vest, Elder Sign Amulet or indeed both. The use of allies is mostly limited through two factors: They tend to cost a bunch of resources and they use up an ally slot. Charisma solves one half of that equation. And it does so on a Permanent card, meaning you have no variance with it, it’s always in play. Charisma is a very powerful enabler for lots of shenanigans or just straight up good value.
Relic Hunter(3): Staple. Doesn’t have quite the significance that Charisma has, but as the game releases more and more things that take up the accessory slot, it’s getting there. Accessories are usually high impact assets and being able to use multiple different ones (or two of the same in some cases!) can be very potent. Unlike Charisma, Relic Hunter usually doesn’t provide extra damage and horror soak except in some exceptions… accessories with soak do exist, the Holy Rosary in the Core for example. The good news with Relic Hunter in comparison to Charisma is that accessories are often fairly cheap, so wanting to fill additional accessory slots doesn’t strain the resource situation as much as it does for allies.

Verdict: This is all great? Emergency Cache(2) is a bit of a fringe card, but upgrading into it is honestly not unheard of, even in a bigger card pool. Knife is a card you grow out of quick. The rest of Neutral is all just staple cards to varying degrees.

Surge

That’s it for the Core Set player card overview.
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