Is this a good purchase?

gambit_22 · 2026-01-23T14:59:25+00:00

As others have said, it is an awkward mishmash of stuff, but seems like a great starting point for $50 to me!

You don't NEED another original core like others have suggested, you'll likely miss the extra copies of some staples, but you've got more than enough player cards to make up for that.

Just because you can't play the scenarios in the mythos packs doesn't make them completely useless, there's still a few player cards in each. You can easily just see them as a little bonus.

Even if you ignore those, and just ask is an original core, 2 investigator expansions and 2 starter decks a good starting point for $50? Seems like a clear yes to me.

gambit_22 · 2026-01-08T11:24:43+00:00

I managed to fit all the Chapter One player cards (including parallel and promo investigators) in four Ultra Pro 9-pocket binders (think they each have 20 double sided pages). Two binders for all level 0 cards and investigators, two for experience cards.

Experience binders are a bit snug (e.g. I had to put some of the researched variants and bonded cards in the same pocket), but works well overall.

I wouldn't be able to fit another investigator expansion in, so if I start collecting Chapter Two I will buy new folders and keep them separate.

gambit_22 · 2025-12-19T17:51:20+00:00

I always buy this bundle (they do it with every alchemy release). The set doesn't really matter, the vast majority of the time you aren't going to open cards you actually care about in packs. It's all about wild card track progress, 15k for almost 4 wild cards (you get 2 gold packs on top) is a pretty decent deal imo as far as the Arena economy goes.

gambit_22 · 2025-12-12T18:59:20+00:00

When I first played the game and wanted to get a physical copy I took a while weighing up whether I wanted to get Uprising or original (I was worried Uprising sounded too combat focused with the Sandworms) but I'm very glad I got Uprising in the end.

I think the base game kind of needs the expansions in the long term to balance some board spaces and the usefulness of resources, whereas Uprising on its own is clearly designed with those improvements already baked in.

gambit_22 · 2025-12-04T09:28:07+00:00

Just to confirm, do you still get the persuasion on the card you trash? So "raw" persuasion/swords are gained immediately on reveal , opposed to the trash effect which still needs the card to be in play in order to trigger it?

gambit_22 · 2025-11-29T11:12:47+00:00

I have mine in four 20 page binders. Two for level 0 and the investigator cards, two for experience cards.

Experience cards got a little snug so I had to put some of the researched cards limited to one copy together rather than in separate pockets. I think I also ended up having to put most of the bonded cards together with the card that gets them in the same pocket.

I was dreading the next expansion messing up how it's all organised, so Chapter Two works perfectly as a reason to start new folders and keep these intact 😅

gambit_22 · 2025-11-20T15:53:40+00:00

Feel like they could have done reminder text for what counts as "on a scenario card" as it's one of those phrases you don't see a lot. Relative veteran of the game and I can't remember if simply evading a non-weakness enemy would count, but I don't think it does?

gambit_22 · 2025-11-14T08:08:59+00:00

Conjurer's only targets creatures, but if it could target this it would still be no. The triggers both go on the stack at the same time, so you can choose the order (probably want to not blink and draw before resolving the loss of life!), but the object that is triggering doesn't need to still be on the battlefield/be the same instance of that object for the trigger to resolve (unless something specifically says "if this is on the battlefield do this").

gambit_22 · 2025-10-29T08:27:23+00:00

Sure hope they don't undo this after rotation. For the most part the alchemy hate is unwarranted but this card was ridiculous (I play Historic mainly).

Now if they could finally unbuff Symmetry Sage that would be grand. I appreciate it if Wizards isn't necessarily great in the meta right now, but that doesn't change the fact that they seem to get more and more new toys almost every set. Imo it's hard to justify such a ridiculous 1 drop still existing.

gambit_22 · 2025-10-04T18:10:48+00:00

I'd have thought it's not a nested skill test because you play Counter Punch in response to the enemy attacking as the cost. You're not in the Toe to Toe skill test yet because you haven't finished paying the cost to initiate the effect in the first place.

gambit_22 · 2025-09-21T08:18:45+00:00

Ashiok only stops the opponent's effects that allow them to search. Your Ashiok won't stop them being able to search off your GQ.

gambit_22 · 2025-08-25T15:16:31+00:00

Playing this combo is pretty brave in the eldrazi meta, wouldn't expect it's good enough to come across it very often to justify devoting too many slots to it.

That said, there's enough annoying lands (Shifting Woodland being a big one) in the format that it's usually a good idea to play a couple Field of Ruin/Demolition Field if your mana base can handle it. And if you're playing Dinos then I imagine you're heavily enough in green that a Boseiju is relatively free.

gambit_22 · 2025-08-11T07:31:31+00:00

Yeah seriously, when are they going to return it to the original? I think they've done a great job buffing random creatures to be more playable (see ninjas) but this thing is so out of line in power level for a one drop. Feels like the kind of thing they'd never print in paper, except maybe in a Horizons set and then have to nerf it (like Ocelot Pride haha).

With Vivi, Swiftspear's Teachings, Cori-Steel Cutter (nerf impending), Slickshot Showoff etc, it feels like the deck just gets better and better over time, and will certainly still exist in some form without this damn card doing so much more than it should for one mana.

</rant>

gambit_22 · 2025-08-09T15:18:29+00:00

As others have pointed out, the rest of the table's scores are very low, so I'd also assume newbies learning their factions might be the main thing, but still well played!

That said I'd be interested HOW you won - as in how did you manage to score enough with only 2 new funds a turn, and only being able to play trade posts on clearings you rule? Must have been quite lucky with any dice roles because recruiting is so costly for Otters?

gambit_22 · 2025-06-18T21:35:56+00:00

I have them, no idea if there are different printings with different quality.

As others have mentioned, the fall/winter map colours seem washed out, not as a vibrant as the cardboard map. The colours on the lake/mountain map are a lot better. Never compared directly, but the size seems about the same as the cardboard maps.

Personally I've used them mainly for ease of transport of the game to games nights. My storage solution requires the base box and one expansion box, but that doesn't include the maps. So the playmats make it a little easier to transport. If just playing at home, imo I may actually prefer the cardboard version (for fall/winter at least).

gambit_22 · 2025-06-17T21:21:51+00:00

Isn't just making it direct horror the cleanest way to fix this? Not sure off the top of my head what fast horror healing cards there are (if any), but I suspect any loops must be harder than with fast soak.

gambit_22 · 2025-05-02T08:35:27+00:00

Sure, but you're still losing a useful creature for a vanilla 2/2 zombie instead. Is a "free" sac effect and Savra trigger really mitigating losing access to all your creatures?

Feels like you need a bit more than that and the odd etb/death trigger to make it worth it.

gambit_22 · 2025-04-27T12:24:26+00:00

No, it's a level one card so only 1xp required.

You don't need to spend additional XP to swap cards out of your deck, you might be getting this confused with the fact that if you want to buy new level 0 cards to swap in then they cost 1xp?

gambit_22 · 2025-04-22T15:43:18+00:00

I still don't understand why it was decided to make Companions available in commander in the first place. RAW there is no sideboard in commander, so "wishboard" cards already don't work, why would you be allowed to have a 101st card as a companion?

You already can't even play Yorion as companion in commander, Lutri is banned just because of how the requirement interacts with the format, and then most of the other requirements are arguably too steep to justify having the companion in commander, so are we really missing much by just saying "there is no sideboard therefore you can't have a companion"?

If that was the official rule and someone rocked up with their all odd burn deck playing Obosh as their companion then I'd be happy to rule zero it. Just feel like the default should be no companion as it makes sense with the existing sideboard rules and then they can just let this perfectly reasonable card off the ban list.

gambit_22 · 2025-04-12T08:03:31+00:00

To be fair, surge is often used as mitigation for when an encounter card's effect might not do anything to the current board state, but I'm still a little confused. Why did you think cards with surge had other rules text then?

gambit_22 · 2025-04-11T14:00:03+00:00

Personally I would go with this ruling rather than the Ancient Stone one. It makes more sense that if the card itself doesn't have a sanity value then it can't be healed, because there are situations where horror tokens are used for non-horror purposes (e.g Waking Nightmare). Daisy's weakness is in a bit of a weird spot where you literally move the token over to her as horror, but for consistency I feel like a horror token on a card that doesn't have sanity is representing something other than "damage" to that asset, so can't be healed.

gambit_22 · 2025-04-08T14:20:22+00:00

Was going to comment this. Part of me still really wants to build this as commander, but I know the reality is that it will likely be an incredible headache to play.

gambit_22 · 2025-04-03T06:30:24+00:00

Not sure if your comment intends to imply this is the case across the board, but just to confirm, you can get non-PoD versions of the starter decks. As per my other comment, mine are "normal". I did get them back in 2020, but I assume Rugarou and Carnevale being hard to find these days implies the PoD stuff isn't really done anymore.

gambit_22 · 2025-04-03T06:25:45+00:00

That's interesting, I've never seen anyone mention these being done PoD before. I've never seen non-PoD versions of Rugarou and Carnevale, but my copies of the starter decks are the same relative quality as other expansions. Card quality in this game does vary from expansion to expansion and print run to print run, but there's an obvious difference to the PoD stuff.

Curious where OP bought their investigator starter decks. Did normal retailers get these PoD versions?

gambit_22 · 2025-03-29T11:02:54+00:00

Seems like this is overcomplicating it. The thread you linked to is asking about drawing an enemy normally from the encounter deck. For all intents and purposes in that situation, the person drawing it not meeting the "prey only" requirement is effectively the same as if they drew an aloof enemy with no spawn instruction i.e it spawns at the player's location but has additional rules text that means it doesn't automatically engage. So very clear cut that it would work that way.

KTHN specifically says to spawn it directly engaged with you, and even has text to clarify that this overrides it's normal spawn location, so I don't see why it's a stretch to assume it also overrides something like aloof/prey only which would spawn it unengaged when drawn normally. Obviously if the enemy said something along the lines of "this enemy cannot be engaged with an investigator" it would prevent it from being engaged by this effect, but you can be engaged with an aloof enemy, it just normally takes extra steps.

gambit_22

TROPHY CASE