Top 10: The most game-changing cards from the Core 2026

Intro

Something i always do after a new set has been revealed is going over the full spoiler and pick out the candidates that i anticipate to be the ones with the most long-lasting impact. Now, the Core 2026 is designed to be a new start for Chapter 2 and for the most part i do look at it from that lens on this site. But for this article specifically i want to look at the new Core from the perspective of someone who adds it to their full “Legacy” card pool. So while cards like Dorothy are going to be quite important for Chapter 2 players, they are of course barely a blip on the radar for anyone who can just run Milan or Kirby instead. Since the Core offers a smaller pool of cards than a full investigator expansion and also comes with some reprints, we are going to have to lower our bar for what makes the cut as a game-changer a bit… but i think we should still be able to point to ten cards that are relevant even against the backdrop of 10 years of product.
But before we get into that, as is tradition by now, a look at my predictions after Drowned City and how well they held up now that we actually played with the cards.

Looking back at Drowned City

Here’s the predictions i made last year: <Click me, I’m a link!>. Alright then, let’s see how well i did then. One point for each accurate prediction. Last year i scored 7/10, I hope to do better this time.

#10 – Eyes of the Dreamer: Sure. This is a somewhat relevant card, both as just a general level 0 investigation card and as an enabler for token shenanigans. Nothing *truly* gamechanging, but as the last spot in the list this is fine. I count this one in my favor.
#9 – The Survivor Investigate Package: I’ve definitely been overestimating Unconventional Method, it’s a lot more clunky than i expected. Contemplative is every bit as good as advertised however. I think i can’t give myself a point there on the pure outrageous fact that i snubbed Nautical Charts in this context. Unforgivable.
#8 – Cosmic Revelation: After the usual cries for taboo at reveal, it turns out that actually nobody gives a crap about this card. I was already fairly mild on it, but it’s just been complete silence around this one. Definitely can’t count this one either.
#7 – Gift of Nodens: I’ve seen some cool decks around this, done one myself. I also see it mentioned in discussions around new skills all the time. Clearly this had a lasting impact.
#6 – Luger P08: This is not the sort of card that gets a lot of talk, so let me reference arkhamdb for this one. Couple of decks on there, but almost all of them are Michael decks. My prediction was based on the Luger having importance outside of Michael too, so i think i can’t in good conscience count this as an accurate prediction.
#5 – Crowbar: Well, nobody uses it so i guess that makes me the idiot. Truly a “No, everyone else must be wrong.” moment for me. I still like it myself and i have used it to great effect in a couple of decks now. But if i am the only one, then I can not count this one as a win for me.
#4 – Enraptured(2): If anything, i placed this too low. I believe at this point everyone agrees that this card is just nuts and belongs on the taboo watchlist. Win.
#3 – Book of War: Gets talked about a lot and plenty of decks are being made around it. I probably placed it a bit higher than it deserves, it’s not quite as powerful as i thought. But definitely a card that belongs on this list and i will count it as a win.
#2 – Gatling Gun: Shows up in very few decks on arkhamdb. While a highlevel card like this is never going to have the same widespread impact as a level 0 card, this clearly didn’t make enough of a wave for me to count it in my favor. I believe i was right about the things i said about this gun, that it raises the ceiling for firearms and is only paralleled by the Flamethrower in how well it clears enemies. But apparently that’s not something that many are interested in, or at least not at that price.
#1 – Transfiguration: Literally one of the most unique cards in existence. This win was never in question. Like with the Gatling, there is only a small amount of decks with this on arkhamdb, but unlike the Gatling, Transfig is a card that is very much being discussed all the time and introduced deckbuilding options like no other card since Versatile. That counts.

So … 5/10 then, huh. Well, that could have gone better. For example i could have mentioned these five cards instead which inspired the community much more than Crowbar and Cosmic Revelation.

Nautical Charts: The big one. A contender for best level 0 investigation asset in the game now. This is a huge card, even without any special synergy. Just the ability to say that for the rest of the game you are only drawing Deductions is incredible and that’s just the floor of the card, synergies are everywhere in the Survivor cardpool and you’d almost have to purposefully avoid them not to have any in your deck. This should have been #2 on the list, possibly even #1.
Where’s The Party: And this might be #3. I found this to be just fantastic, even as just a generic draw. But that the enemy comes into play exhausted is sooooo good too. I am not sure why people talk about Kicking the Hornet’s Nest still, this is better on so many levels.
Antikythera: It’s just so good, i want to put this into every deck that can run it ever. All it asks from you is to take a test per turn. The easiest level 5 card to just put into your deck ever.
Memories of Another Life: Same, tbh. If you can run this, it is just objectively one of the best cards you could add to your deck no matter what it is you are doing. If Enraptured(2) wouldn’t blow the whole roof off with how outlandishly powerful it is with just a tiny bit of recursion, this would be the card with the most raw power in the Drowned City set. Getting turn 1 Leo De Luca for free is one hell of a drug and again that’s just the start.
Glimmer of Hope(2): I severely underestimated this one as well. This really plays a lot different from Glimmer(0). Where the level0 only exists as food for other effects, Glimmer(2) is actually genuinely good just on its own and solves a lot of the encounter deck for you by itself.

Ooof, not my finest hour, let’s move on quickly.

Looking ahead at the 2026 Core Set

Well then, here are my picks for the new Core:

#10: Second Sight. Similar to Eyes of the Dreamer and Sixth Sense in its role, it allows Mystics at level 0 to use their intellect for investigating. Unlike those other two spells, it can run out, but revealing 4 cultists is probably going to take a long time. The more relevant drawback compared to Eyes and Sense is the resource cost of 4. But for that you get the ability to trade in extra charges for clues… and that seems very worth it to me.

#9: Decisive Strike. Rogue has few combat events and the one that is most often played, Backstab, is notably a huge drain on resources. Decisive Strike then comes in with three relevant upsides: For one, it tests combat instead of agility. It gives a sizeable skill bonus while Backstab pretty much assumed you were holding a Manual Dexterity to go with it. And it actually makes money instead of costing money. All of these are fairly significant… but of course if you specifically need your combat event to deal 3 damage, then Backstab is still your best bet. While Decisive Strike is currently without a good home in chapter 2 due to both of the investigators only being passable at using it instead of actually competent enough that you feel good about spending your xp on this, there are several investigators with access to this card that have 4+ combat in chapter 1 and they may very well use this event to great success. I am particularly liking this as a possible supplement to Michael’s firearms for when the cops confiscate his stuff. And as a particular spicy pick, Marion can use it if she takes Gambits as her chosen deckbuilding trait.

#8: Prestidigitation. A fun card that can do a lot of neat tricks. Unlike its taboo’d sister card, Sleight of Hand, this one respects the cost of the card and it doesn’t bypass additional costs either, so i don’t see it break anything. For the most part, this is just a way to get some additional uses into play or maybe reuse an “enters play” trigger here or there. People are talking about putting this on the taboo watchlist, but i don’t see this anywhere close to that level. That’s not to say that i think this is bad, I’d definitely put this on a power level with something like Calling In Favors which is a similar tricksy card that switches cards in play around.

#7: Olivier Bishop. I can’t believe it took us this long to finally get our level 0 agility ally in Rogue. Seeker got there before Rogue! What a disgrace. Luckily, now that he’s here, he’s actually really good. I still put him on the lower end of these rankings, the need for an agility ally isn’t actually that high and filled exceptionally well with a couple of 3xp allies. At the same time, for investigators that aren’t here for the agility and only interested in the movement part i think i would still go with Leo De Luca in most cases instead. Undoubtedly a good card, but the Rogue ally slot is so stacked that Olivier doesn’t make a huge dent.

#6: Will of the Cosmos. There’s not a whole lot of clue events in Mystic, and this is a very good one. Drawn to the Flame is one of the staple cards that i pretty much always look at fitting somewhere into my decks and Will of the Cosmos is potentially even better. Splitting up the clue gain makes it a bit less desirable as tech against certain treacheries, but that Doom token is often a lot easier to handle than an extra encounter card is. Even without specific synergies this is just good value and i am always happy to see flexy cards that bypass the need for tests in Mystic. Anything that can distance the class from being only tied to Willpower is good. And for whatever that is worth, this is also a nice shot in the arm for doomplay.

#5: Gather Intel. Even on a full card pool, card draw at level 0 isn’t as plentiful as one would think, including in Seeker. Beyond Lab Ass (which takes an ally slot) and Deep Knowledge (which involves curses) things are already starting to go downhill fast. With that in mind, getting a fairly straightforward Draw-2 here that doesn’t cost an action is pretty big. There is a condition to it, but it’s one that is going to fulfill itself soon enough, you don’t have to do anything for it either. This isn’t a flashy card, but it’s one that will make your deck better just by making everything flow a bit better and more reliable and i foresee putting this in my starting 30 most of the time when building a Seeker deck. I’d also not be surprised to see this last until the end of the campaign more often than not.

#4: Cosmic Flame. Even though i feel a bit dirty putting yet another willpower spell asset on here when Legacy already has so many, i have to acknowledge how good these are. At level 0, Cosmic Flame is likely already going to just straight up be better than Azure and Shrivelling. While it has one fewer charges and can also lose a charge on revealing a skull, that is more than made up by only having to spend a charge on success and the ability to not spend a charge at all if all you want is deal one point of damage. Brand of Cthugha has similar benefits and is rightly lauded for it, but requires an xp to include. At level 5, this just straight up becomes one of the best weapons in the game. While it does lack the raw impact of a Flamethrower or Cyclopean Hammer, it does bring the ability to just (near-)endlessly attack with +2 skill and +1 damage without even taking a handslot. That’s immensely powerful before even taking into account that you can also spend spare charges for even more damage. There’s been people paying 5xp for Timeworn Brand before and Cosmic Flame is pretty much better in every way except for that one gimmick ability on the Brand. Outstanding spell asset and excellent weapon overall.

#3: Jim Culver. I’ll be honest with you, i never liked David Renfield much. Still don’t really. So i am very happy to see another ally with +willpower in the game. But Jim is similarly notable for giving Mystic a way to draw some extra cards, something the class is somewhat weak in. Getting the first two cards out of him is reasonably easy, anything beyond that is requiring some shenanigans, but that’s still quite novel. [EDIT: Oh good grief, i read Jim wrong. He triggers when YOU take a damage/horror, not only when it’s put on Jim. That is sooo much better even! Yeaaaah, he might be the breakout card of the set after all.]
His resource cost definitely is a huge issue, even in a full card pool Mystic tends to have a weak spot there which is why i don’t think he’s going to cause quite a Milan-level sort of upheaval to the class. But he’s definitely very very good and the tradeoff between him and Arcane Initiate (the other level 0 Mystic ally that can draw cards) is going to be interesting and truly a case-by-case decision with each deck because i think they are both on a similar level in terms of what they offer in power.

#2: M1911. Oh, i am not even kidding with this one. Having a proper good firearm at level 0 that is competitive with melee options? That’s been unheard of for 10 years… well, in Guardian at least. Rogue got there with the Wini deck and most recently the Bulldog. But in Guardian it was the .45 Auto or … well, nothing else that’s actually good really comes to mind at level 0. This is a huge boost for any fighter that wants to use any of the many firearm-related cards in the card pool without feeling like they have to justify even bothering when Machete or the .45 Thompson are right there to either go melee or two-handed. Since the situation around Guardian pistols is so dire, this doesn’t even make the .45 Auto obsolete, you likely are going to play both in many such decks. What a difference ticking down a number by one can make.

#1: Hunter’s Instinct. So, among the cards in the new Core, which one is most likely to just break something? Trick question, the answer is Isabelle Barnes of course. But among the non-investigators, i think Hunter’s Instinct is the card that is most likely to find something in the full card pool to go supernova with. We all know how good Scavenging is, and Scavenging can notably only recur Items assets. This can fetch events instead, a class of cards that is often balanced by the fact that they are one-shot effects. This is already very good when we consider that Izzie (or Patrice, Agnes and a couple others) can just get a Spectral Razor from her discard whenever she engages an enemy. But i am sure we can get much more degenerate here. But i don’t just put this on #1 because of degeneracy, i think this is just a good card to run in a fair way and get more out of your stuff. This will be a fun one to figure out and that i expect to put into lots of decks even as a plain value card that’s just returning some Look What I Founds and Luckys.

Honorable Mentions

As is to be expected from a small set that is not primarily targeted at adding more to the Legacy card pool, there is definitely not as much to talk about from a full card pool perspective as usual. But let me just address a few cards that i am sure i would otherwise be asked about anyways:

Logan Hastings is good and an upgrade over Beat Cop(0). Thing is, i already didn’t really run Beat Cop(0) anymore and i don’t think that Logan is good enough to compete with Beat Cop(2) either. Logan is going to see play, but i don’t see him as being as much of an upgrade to the existing options as Jim and Olivier are.
Counterattack i almost put on the list instead of Decisive Strike, but i feel like Decisive Strike is a bit more novel. Counterattack is definitely also good, but there are already a lot of cards that do similar things to it (even if they don’t do it quite as well as Counterattack does).
Aleksey Saburov gets overshadowed by Pete Sylvestre and Jessica Hyde, i think the skill bonuses on either of those are worth regenerating only either health or sanity. If you need both… run both.
Scrape By is just Lucky(1). Or Eucatastrophe(1), if you want to frame it that way. Fine card, but i don’t see what all the fuss is about.

And that’s it for this set’s “Gamechangers” article. My predictions for Drowned City were a bit of a mixed bag in terms of accuracy, maybe having a smaller set to pick the top 10 out of will improve my odds when we return to these once i do … that is a good question actually. When do i do the next one? I probably want to do a Gamechanger article for the new investigator decks as well and that’s definitely too early to review these Core predictions. Eh, that’s for Future Me to figure out.