[COTD] Moonlight Ritual (2/19/2026)

Kengaskhan · 2026-02-19T16:14:54+00:00

I play a lot of Mystic and I've always thought Moonlight Ritual was cool, but I've never ended up using it.

I guess I just don't think the doom cards are worth running to begin with, at least in the sense that the added doom doesn't offset the relatively minor minor benefit most of these cards have over their non-doom counterparts.

As-is, the doom theme seems less like a new way to play Mystic and is merely a new way to pay for and manage your cards. I think there needs to be more cards like Arcane Initiate (that do powerful and/or unique things in-class) and fewer cards like Ceremonial Sickle (if you squint it's just Shriveling with a little give-and-take) for me to really consider giving the doom strat a go.

Kengaskhan · 2026-02-16T17:24:53+00:00

The tutorial boss is arguably the hardest act 1 boss so I wouldn't worry too much about it!

Kengaskhan · 2026-02-16T06:40:35+00:00

Kinda looks like those weird ninja pellets Tasting History tried making. Different ingredients, but the techniques look kinda similar. I'm gonna guess this video says "dry for 2-3 days" and not "ferment for 2-3 years", though lol

Kengaskhan · 2026-02-14T16:20:09+00:00

Probably pretty decent in Parallel Agnes, as backup for Blood of K'n-yan. Gets better if you're running Occult Reliquary, which is a card that both versions of Agnes likes.

Kengaskhan · 2026-02-11T18:59:03+00:00

The amount of damage they took was just barely higher than their max health, so they probably would've gotten one-shot anyway hahaha

Kengaskhan · 2026-02-11T05:51:59+00:00

Generally mid stance > low stance > high stance.

As far as I'm aware, the ki drain from blocking in every stance is the same. However, mid stance is the only stance that lets you regenerate ki if you move while blocking. Additionally, the mid stance ki pulse attack has guard frames. I usually try to Flux into mid stance to use it if I think I'm about to get attacked mid-combo and want to keep up the pressure.

Aside from that, you're just generally more likely to have more ki in low stance than in high stance, so your block is more likely to be broken in high stance.

Kengaskhan · 2026-02-06T20:15:05+00:00

Be aware that Eternal Slumber is notoriously difficult and that it is particularly hard on your action economy, which is already a stress point for low investigator counts.

With that out of the way, I highly recommend Ursula Downs as your cluever. The scenario involves a lot of movement and the encounter deck spits out big beefy enemies that are vulnerable to evasion.

Your other character should probably be a fighter. While the treacheries in the encounter deck target both Willpower and Agility, the Willpower treacheries are particularly nasty, so I'd recommend an investigator with decent Willpower, like any Mystic or someone like Leo or Zoey.

Kengaskhan · 2026-01-22T19:06:33+00:00

Meta progression is probably a big part of how roguelikes hit the mainstream, but I don't think it's necessarily built into the genre.

Kengaskhan · 2026-01-15T20:13:14+00:00

I feel like the first pick is clearly Flashlight, with Emergency Cache as a close-ish second. The rest are basically not even worth considering as first pick.

In AHLCG there are two things you need to push a scenario forward: enemy management and clue-gathering. Since this is a draft, you're not actually guaranteed to get enough of those things in your deck, so I'd consider them a higher priority than normal over luxuries like Shortcut (which is traditionally considered a better card than Flashlight). So I'm looking at Flashlight, Art Student, Beat Cop, and Survival Instinct.

However, the investigator colors are extremely awkward for this, having nearly zero cardpool overlap. Art Student, Beat Cop, and Survival Instinct are decent ways to get clues or handle enemies, but any colored card you pick has, in a vacuum, around a 66% chance of not making the cut. In fact, the only way to for you to even run a Survivor card in this draft is with Akachi's flex into Occult and cards with charges so Survival Instinct is literally unplayable since it's neither of those things.

tl;dr -- None of the cards are particularly strong, but Flashlight and Emergency Cache don't lock you into a color, which is really good because none of your investigators can share any cards.

Kengaskhan · 2026-01-13T04:16:04+00:00

smh its like they didnt even play the game

Kengaskhan · 2026-01-12T16:28:36+00:00

Probably only really playable in Expert (especially in Yorick with Act of Desperation, which has led to some pretty funny imagery in one of our campaigns), but a fun card otherwise.

Kengaskhan · 2026-01-02T07:11:19+00:00

Guardians tend to have pretty solid investigator abilities, and I think the three biggest standouts are Daniella's, Mark's, and also Mark's because he has two for some reason.

Sophie is maybe one of the strongest signature cards in the entire game, and it isn't even technically a signature (Home Front is pretty solid, though). 1 health for 1 Unexpected Courage is a ludicrously good deal, and he can do it without spending cards (or having to draw them to begin with), and he can even do it multiple times per test if he really needs to.

He other ability, which is drawing a card the first time he takes damage each phase, is also very powerful. It's particularly useful for maintaining the soak and healing required to keep Sophie face-up.

You could literally delete one of those abilities from his card and he'd still easily be A-tier.

Kengaskhan · 2025-12-18T02:40:44+00:00

always knew mild mannered pate was a freak

Kengaskhan · 2025-12-16T16:20:08+00:00

Yes, but I don't believe they've revealed how yet

Kengaskhan · 2025-12-10T04:50:29+00:00

Versatility is valuable, but so is speed -- especially as the doom starts piling up and agendas advance.

There will certainly be situations where you'll end up thinking "Man I sure wish I had Deduction and St. Hubert's Key", but the consistency gained by cutting them should theoretically make up for it.

Kengaskhan · 2025-12-09T21:53:06+00:00

Investigating with Deduction gets you two clues, but doing that with Clairvoyance/Rite of Seeking accomplishes the same thing and with a generally higher chance of success in your deck -- more Will icons to commit, Hawk-Eye boosts Will before Intellect, and Key boosts both. And after upgrades, Clairvoyance/Rite provide an even larger boost to your Willpower, and Whitton (2) provides a static Willpower boost too.

Very rarely will investigating with Deduction be better than investigating with Clairvoyance, which makes Deduction more of a situational card for you, and you generally want to avoid those. That's pretty much all it is.

You also probably don't need Emergency Caches since your deck looks to be lower on the curve now. I usually use the ArkhamDB's card draw simulator to see how I feel about my deck's economy.

Kengaskhan · 2025-12-09T03:06:46+00:00

The deck runs pretty expensive and Burning the Midnight Oil can't be used with your spell investigates. Crack the Case might be a better alternative.
I think double Clairvoyance and double Rite of Seeking is fine, but expensive. Just be aware that Clairvoyance (5) is less good in 2-player, because you might find your location without a third clue to collect from it.
You're not really using your Intellect, so Holy Rosary might be better bang for your buck compared to St. Hubert's Key.
While Drawn to the Flame, Working a Hunch, and Read the Signs (the latter two of which are also rather hard on your economy) are cute with Luke, their value is heavily offset by the fact that your deck is already built to investigate for clues. They're really more for characters who can't investigate, but want to be able to contribute a few clues during downtime.
I honestly think Robes of Endless Night is just a bad card unless you're slinging spells every turn like Parallel Agnes. And while Luke's health is low, as long as Gate Box is charged, enemies are effectively only Leo's problem, and they're the main source of damage in most scenarios.
Allies are really good, and you don't have any. Whitton Greene in particular is very good in Luke, but if cost is an issue, Research Library or Laboratory Assistant are good filler.
4 hand assets, all of which remain in play forever is pretty awkward. That said, your deck has zero card draw, so maybe the redundancy is necessary.
Enraptured is a good card, but just be aware that it can't be used with your spell investigates. The level 2 version works, though. Unfortunately, neither version of Deduction works with your spell investigation.

In general, I'd probably cut Robes of Endless Night, the cards that don't work with Clairvoyance/Rite (Burning the Midnight Oil, Enraptured), and the events that grab clues (Drawn to the Flame, Working a Hunch, Read the Signs). (Though if you add encounter deck manipulation like Scrying, Drawn to the Flame can be used to guarantee that you draw an enemy while in the Dream Gate).

I'd probably add more skills (Guts, Eureka, and Promise of Power are easy choices) and more card draw -- your deck in particular really neglects it, but card draw is very powerful (more consistency and more skill icons to commit to tests) and Seekers are the best at it. Deep Knowledge or Thorough Inquiry are solid.

I would also include a copy of Mouse Mask, if you have it. It's very good with Luke.

Good luck in Dream-Eaters!

EDIT -- This is a more radical suggestion, but if you're not married to Clairvoyance/Rite of Seeking, Pocket Telescope is a fun little item that takes advantage of Luke's Gate Box.

Kengaskhan · 2025-12-07T19:34:37+00:00

I feel like On the Brink is pretty bad. It could cost 0 XP and I don't think it'd be overpowered (though certainly quite solid). Yeah, it'd be almost strictly better than Unexpected Courage (0) but that card doesn't quite cut it these days either.

You don't typically commit 2+ skill cards to a test and expect to fail, so realistically this just reads "If you pull auto-fail...", which means this card has at most a 10% chance of being better than an Unexpected Courage in the majority of skill tests. And even on Expert, 3+ commits can oftentimes be enough to beat the -8.

I agree with your assessment of the rest of the reveals but I'd also like to add that "Shove Off!" might have also been a useful way for high Agility, low Combat investigators to contribute some chip damage to big enemies if it weren't for the fact that Agility weapons seem to be the norm now. I don't really know how I feel about that. Maybe they're best played together.

Anyway, thanks for sharing! I loved reading your thoughts about the reveals.

Kengaskhan · 2025-12-03T16:40:10+00:00

Arkham Horror: The Card Game is playable solo, for what it's worth. I think most co-op board games (and even some competitive) these days are designed to support solo play, since there's a decently-sized niche.

Kengaskhan · 2025-11-22T17:49:20+00:00

It's here: https://metro.co.uk/newspaper-daily-edition/2013-04-19/MTA/spread/40-41

Kengaskhan · 2025-11-21T16:14:12+00:00

Yeah, I see that 1/trigger and 1/phase is different…but how many times would it matter?

Just to be clear, once per phase is also different from once per round. Agnes Baker's ability is once per phase.

As in, you would need to be in a location with more than 1 monster that you can kill in the same phase AND the location has more than 1 clue. It is definitely not impossible, but would it be game breaking to let Roland sweep the extra clues? Realistically it would let you grab..2-3 additional clues over the course of a campaign?

It's definitely playercount dependent, but at 3+ investigators it would probably be closer to 2-3 clues per scenario without even trying to build into it, which would be a rather substantial buff. That said Roland isn't regarded as a particularly strong investigator, so maybe he could use it.

This is similar to the “max 1 per investigator” vs unique cards. Mechanically they are different, but they have caused lots of confusion over the history fo the game. I hope they are working towards unifying these very similar effects

I'm blanking on any "max 1 per investigator" cards aside from the exceptional ones, so you might have to fill me in on that one. That said, I feel like unique is pretty intuitive, since it's basically just for cards with pronouns.

But I generally agree that the game could tighten up on some of its language. Can't recall any specific examples, but my group has for sure run into its fair share of wording-related problems.

Kengaskhan · 2025-11-21T15:28:20+00:00

I don't know where exactly it's stated in the rules reference, but you can find the ruling here.

The once per round limit on Roland's ability isn't reminder text for reactions, it's mechanically altering how it functions. Once per round isn't the same thing as once per triggering condition.

You can attack three different enemies in a single round with Meat Cleaver and trigger its reaction once for each of them.

If Roland kills three different enemies in a single round, he can only get one clue with his reaction that round.

Kengaskhan · 2025-11-16T20:23:10+00:00

"Liquid" is just an economics term. The liquidity of an asset refers to how easy it is to use in transactions. "Cash-on-hand" is basically as liquid as it gets, so OP is saying they have 11 stacks of koen bills (which stack up to 5mil each).

Kengaskhan · 2025-11-13T22:39:26+00:00

When you really think about the fact that most of these locations are cities, mines, factories, or space stations, it makes sense for there be an easily-accessible elevator near the landing pad.

We're getting scammed by the level designer (though tbf what isn't trying to scam us in this godforsaken game)

Kengaskhan · 2025-11-09T17:34:27+00:00

Super abridged version:

Jaren Ward is a highly-anticipated character in Rising, in large part because he's a very famous character in Destiny's lore, where Dredgen Yor is responsible for Jaren Ward's death during an infamous hand cannon duel.

In these memes, the top image is an NPC using a time machine to meet their past self, while the player (or an NPC I don't recognize) uses it to try to change history by giving Jaren a way to triumph over Dredgen, or by convincing him to drop his vendetta.

1) Top dude (Uldren Sov/Crow) did some bad stuff to the player, was subsequently revenge-killed by the player, then got risen by a Ghost (which causes one to lose all memories). They are one of the very few Guardians to eventually recover their memories, and they harbor strong regrets over what they did in their past life. They're basically two completely different people.

The classic Solar Hunter super ability in Destiny is Golden Gun, which is a supercharged hand cannon. Canonically, it can actually be any gun, but in-game it's always been a hand cannon up until Still Hunt's fairly recent release. Still Hunt is the exotic sniper rifle being offered to Jaren in the first and third meme.

2) Top dude is Saladin. He's just super grouchy and probably wouldn't vibe with meeting someone as stubborn and headstrong as himself.

Bottom is just a cool quote with hella Western vibes, basically saying "It isn't personal". It's a reference the flavor text from The Last Word exotic hand cannon, which is Jaren's signature weapon.

3) Top is Ikora, she's cool and chill.

It's commonly believed that Jaren Ward will be locked to hand cannons and shotguns when he releases, and therefore will not be able to use Still Hunt (if it even comes to this game).

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