The Key and the Gate Review Part 1

Call of Cthulhu The Key and the Gate Staff Review

Our staff has put together a first blush analysis of the newly released deluxe expansion The Key and the Gate. We've used a one through five scale; five being the best. The cards are listed in numeric order. Our reviewers are listed in alphabetical order. Let us know in the comments how you feel about the cards in this pack!

Due to the length we'll be posting this review in 3 installments. This first installment covers cards 1 through 18, the Yog-Sothoth characters. Tragic has jumped in for the unique characters to give some of his in depth reviews.


[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_jeanne-dys-tkatg.jpg'] Jeanne D'Ys 9 out of 15

Danigral - 3 out of 5
The first card with the new Fated keyword, she does have a strong ability, but really only depending on the situation. You still have to worry about losing combat struggles with her so her ability is only situationally useful unless you're willing to lose her to wounding, or you have clear board advantage. Good, but a niche card.

dboeren - 3 out of 5
I'd give her a good look if I was making a Yog discard deck as two sizeable discards could be a big help, but outside of that context I'd probably skip her over as she doesn't really offer much else that's special.

Kennon - 3 out of 5
This looks like a potentially quite strong ability, but I'm a bit worried both about how quickly being Fated will bite me in the ass and by how much she encourages you to overcommit. Her ability only really winds up being particularly impressive as you add more characters to the same story with her, which leaves you in a tough position. If you overcommit on offense, sure you'll probably be able to stand a character for the arcane struggle (this is Yog, after all) but it will still greatly hamper your defensive options. If you wait to try to overcommit on defense, your opponent can throw off that plan any number of ways, not the least of which might be not attacking. Still, the higher skill than cost, decent icons and ability put her solidly in the middle for me.

Tragic
As the 1st card in the set I have looked at, for these are first impressions, I have to say that without an understanding of the full capacity of the yard play in this set I am hard pressed to give a final verdict on this card. Yet even so I find her ability is super strong, as are all the fated cards. Whether you're milling your opponent or fuelling your own discard you should be nearly guaranteed to see her effect go off twice a turn, baring surprise card intervention during the commit. She has to go in with other characters for her effect to trigger, knowing that she is weak with [Combat]'s means that deck building and piloting should prepare you for that struggle. So I see her effect going off in a attack and her surviving more often than not. If not you have probably forced a overcommit, which is exactly what you want as it makes her effect more powerful and even if she is dead you have gain enough value to justify her. Then due to her strong [Arcane] at 3 icons having her untap is a real possibility. The question now becomes what happens next. In defence you have less control over the story struggle and are much more likely to lose her in a [Combat] struggle. Is this a bad thing? That is the question. Are we trying to trigger fated? Or trying to trigger discard? Remember her effect triggers before the struggles resolve, so even if she is “fated” to die (yuk yuk) we still get use of her ability. With a 3 height domain cost and the possibility of large discard, I think she is still worth playing even if you plan for her to die on the 1st struggle and think of her as a kind of event and as a defender she can possibly force under-committing to stories. So all in all I see this as a really powerful card that will only be fully understood after reading the entire set and a knowing how the yard play works. She is a little fragile, but this shouldn't be a deterrent for using her as her death shouldn't scream inefficiency. She'll get some milling done pretty much regardless, and of course if she survives, that makes her even better. Just remember that board position is needed for her to trigger efficiently, either you opponents needs tons of stuff, or better yet you do so she may force mulligans, that is something to keep an eye on, the amount of cards that can not be played early. BTW I Love the art on this one!
[/CRB]

[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_claude-owen-tkatg.jpg'] Claude Owen 11 out of 15

Danigral - 3 out of 5
The first card with the Avatar trait, which I hope may see some tie-in with Nyarlathotep in the future(?!) Again, his ability is a double-edged sword since you are doing hard work for your opponent by resurrecting their characters for only a temporary board advantage. I would use it if I got some investigation from the deal, and had an easy way of removing my opponent's characters repeatedly. Otherwise, the ability is too expensive for what it does.

dboeren - 4 out of 5
The key here is "if a chosen character is still in play, return it to its owner's control". If you've done your job right though they often won't be. Yog isn't that high a faction on the combat totem pole so it's usually not hard to let your opponent commit, then throw their resurrected guy under the bus to lose a Combat struggle. OR, you can bring back a small guy to help you kill one of their bigger ones. Either way, it should be a net gain of one character for you and none for them. Other times, you may just not care - bring back your strong guy and their cost-1 weenie.

Kennon - 4 out 5
I do love recursion in every game I play, and Cthulhu is no different. This is a sweet effect to get back something huge that you've cheated into your discard pile, and whatever is most advantageous out of your opponent's. Sure, they might get the character back, but that's why you've included sacrifice outlets in your deck, right? Cthylla comes to mind as an interesting option to double the hurt on your opponent. Add a very flexible ability to solid stats and you have one of the most interesting cards in the set to me.

TragicAgain, this card needs a full understanding of yard play and a deck designed around it. How strong this card will be is a linked result of your discard engine. The real problem is that your opponent gains control of the character when you're done. This is not the kind of effect a player likes to trigger, we want to crush, maim and destroy the opponent, and if we can somehow kill his entire family in the process and drink his sweet tears of despair, well.. that's all good. So placing a card on your opponents board rubs us all the wrong way, and for that reason you had better have a good reason for running this guy. Now there are good and bad targets in your opponents yard, there are plenty of weenie characters that have low skill or low icon counts that will not really aid them much in the late game but what what you are really looking for are 0 toughness dudes and a targeted wound or destroy effect that triggers before the phase is out. Cards like Ravager from the Deep (Core) for example. Pull out a 0 toughness character, and a bulky AO for you, commit his character first then kill it with a card effect, like the one on Ravager from the Deep (Core) and then you can repeat this for ever as long as you have the kill effect in play. Again I need to see the entire pool but I would assume there could be good cards that have neat effects when in the yard. So this is a great way of using them on the board and their yard effects at the same time. This is just the 1st combo that springs to mind, there is a ton of ways to remove characters during commit and end of story resolution. So yeah.. this guys is a bit hard to play, as he can help your opponent, so he requires some defiant deck piloting skill to pull off and a deck designed for his effect. This isn't a card you toss in at the last minute, he is probably a card you pick right at the start and is part of the main theme of the deck. Just remember at 3 cost a commit phase you are basically removing an entire domain form your resource pool. Expensive is not strong enough a word for it if you plan on doing this for an entire game.
[/CRB]

[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_nadine-eskiy-tkatg.jpg'] Nadine Eskiy 7 out of 15

Danigral - 2 out of 5
She is efficient with some staying power, but unfortunately her ability doesn't seem to work as written. It should probably say “...all ready characters with skill of 4 or more to the same story...” Assuming that's what the ability intends to do, she also is a double-edged sword, but she can provide some situational advantage on the defense if your opponent has board advantage with big characters that he is holding back for defense. But that's very situational.

dboeren - 3 of 5
A good decoy character for big things. When you need to win that 3rd story but your opponent has big ugly Ancient Ones hanging around, she's your go-to gal. They'll follow her like a crow after a shiny object and you're free & clear. Toughness lets her do it twice too. However, that's still too niche in many situations, you might prefer someone like The Sleepwalker instead. Ironically, you might find her better mixed with cards that can INCREASE your opponent's skill.

Kennon 2 out of 5
Thanks, Danigral, for pointing out why her ability kept feeling strange to me when I read it. At the moment, she may actually be a 1 until that's fixed, but afterward, I'm uncertain. It surely has the look of a wide, sweeping ability to affect the board, and it is nice that you can build your deck to dodge being affected by her ability. Still, how many characters of skill 4 or more will be on the board at a time? I think this is a fake out.

Tragic
So apart from adding a new sexy scary sorcerer to the pool what does this card really do, as if that isn't enough? At first glance she looks a little strange. A force commit from your opponent of 4+ kill characters to the same story she is at, so use her in a attack to divert the opponents forces to a different story allowing you to win uncontested or easily at a different story and the card itself is well designed for this effect. She has [Terror] so she is not going to go nuts on you and she has +1 toughness so she can survive to fight a second day, as 4+ skill characters or pulling many characters at once means she is likely to lose all struggles in the resolution. So you're looking at her ability triggering twice in most situations. Is her effect any good though? Well I think it can be quite powerful if the opponents board is in the correct state. If they have high a [Arcane] count, so they are often untapped when you want to attack or just a heavy board presence, then this is a quick and easy way to clear a path to a story of your choice. The [Terror] and toughness suggests she is really designed to help with end game story resolution when your opponent has a clear advantage in board position or got their AO's out. Yet when you think about it, when else can this be used? 4 Skill is not a small number. Like if you're facing a Dark Young Swarm deck, this isn't going to clear a path to the stories, unless they are running +skill effects, and I hate game effects that require your opponent to trigger them. Yet, she is a very easy way to circumvent AO's and other late game characters that have high skill and also is a soft counter to skill ramp decks. This is the definition of a resource card and a typical example of the kind of deck building choices you need to take into consideration within CoC. This is a situational card, that works best against certain decks. Yes it is situational, this is bad, but as there is no way to sideboard in this game you need to build the side board, directly into the deck itself. Your deck should have counters to many situations that you may only have a chance of meeting in your local meta. If you run into a deck that it is not useful against, then you have a “free” resource. As in a resource that does not require you to discard a useful card. This card can be very handy if the conditions are right, as in “win the game” type useful. Though the correct choice is in most cases is to resource this card, so it is a low priority for inclusion. Only your own local meta will dictate if this card is good or not.
[/CRB]

[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_nikola-tesla-tkatg.jpg'] Nikola Tesla 12 out of 15

Danigral - 4 out of 5
This is just awesome. Not only is Tesla cool in real life, this is a character that your opponent must have an answer for, or else he is a ticking time bomb. I predict a new deck archetype: “The Tesla deck,” which dumps Yithians and sorcerers from this set into the discard and destroys its own Tesla and repeatedly resurrects it for quick story wins.

dboeren - 4 of 5
He's awesome, but only in a deck designed to make him so. Fortunately, most of this box *IS* designed that way with lots of out-of-discard abilities triggering. Watch out though, he's got a huge target on his head and keep a sharp eye out for abilities that can remove him without destroying him such as sacrifice, take control, return to hand, blanking, etc...

Kennon- 4 out of 5
Whoah! So Cool! Not only is it Tesla, but the art gives me a chance to make a comic reference. Props if you got it. Anyway, his cost to skill ratio is huge, though his icons leave something to be desired. Still, his abilities are really where it's at. This is the sort of thing that is going to be too awesome to build up and then find a way to blow up. Lather, rinse, and repeat for added fun.

Tragic
“Earth's only true Sorcerer” - Carl Sagan speaking of Tesla. This card is just all sorts of bonkers. The art is off the chain, it is Tesla, and .. oh.. IT IS TESLA!! It is a real shame he is not a sorcerer though, but beyond the thematic awesomeness of this card is the effect, and what an effect it is. Now, again, I am going through these cards in order, but I have a strong suspicion that there will be a large number of yard triggers all throughout this set. In addition there are a ton of mill effects to fuel these yard cards. Being able to place story success tokens at will, in any ratio, on any number of stories, as a addition to any positive effects from the yard card in the first place? Wow. I agree with Danigral, this could be a engine card for a new deck, it is that strong. Just the threat of this guy on the board and full of tokens will completely change the game. With no [combat] icons he is pretty easy to kill, so if he is full of tokens and in a defending position, this will really change how the opponent commits to stories. The effect is also strong in attacking, this why he has the [Arcane] icons. Then if worse comes to worse, you can just kill him off your self to force the trigger. Now again, he seems very powerful, but he requires yard triggers and I have yet to see the set and also requires a discard mechanism to put things in the yard in the first place. So this is not a card to throw in on a whim, you need to build around it. Still.. very very strong card.
[/CRB]

[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_wilbur-whateley-tkatg.jpg'] Wilbur Whateley 13 out of 15

Danigral - 5 out of 5
I love quad-cons, and he is pretty efficient, but his ability is amazing. First of all, it allows you to play one 1-cost spell a turn for free, using no domain. For this alone it pushes him up to a 5. He also has a very nice bounce effect, basically turning any spell in your hand into a targeted A Gate Opens. It does have a built in cancel, but if you have ways to recur your spells, it's also cheap discarding.

dboeren - 5 of 5
Solid statline, two strong abilities, and he even has semi-useful traits to key off of. Not to mention he plays well with his dad, isn't that touching? Cheap spells are awesome for Yog and giving them a secondary effect just encourages you to load up further on them - meaning you'll probably run Event-heavy with this version of Wilbur.

Kennon - 3 out of 5
This is a great icon spread that gives a lot of flexibility in struggles, but again, it's all that glorious ability text that really interests me. Cost reduction is always awesome, but his action is also great. It brings both solid potential character control and the ability to retard the opponent's draw all in one package. The opponent does have the option to discard to keep their character on the board, however, and at that point, it's a 1 for 1 trade, where your opponent gets to choose the least useful card in their hand. Add in that his passive cost lowering encourages you to actually play your spells, while his action encourages you to discard them for other effects instead brings him down to the middle for me.

TragicThis guy is a beast, lore wise and as a card. I think this art on this card is a little strange, you would expect this character to be much more bizarre looking if you read the Dunwich Horror. It is a shame he is not a truly disfigured and inhuman looking thing with really baggy clothing and stuff. Still art aside this is a pretty strong dude. For starters he is a 4/4/4. As in 4 cost, 4 icons (unique icons at that), and 4 skill. This alone makes him a great all rounder as a board filler. Then we have an effect that is just awesome sauce on the brain burger of Yog. Yog is by far the most spell centric faction. Many decks choose Yog as there splash solely for their powerful spell includes. At a 1 cost reduction many spells become 0 cost, and as the vast majority of spells are 2 cost they are a smooth 1 cost allowing for more uneven resourcing choices. His own 4 cost is an offset to this, though there are many ways to get him out cheaper when his cost reduction will be worth more to you. Then on top of this he has a targeted bounce effect though card discard, the discard of course fuelling other effects that Yog is famous for. Even with the weight that allows the opponent himself to discard to cancel the bounce it will still tap the chosen character, and it has no cost to trigger this effect, it is just a discard. So no need for resource management. So just to recap. 4 icons including a [Investigation]. A bounce / tap affect that can lead to easy uncontested story resolutions at 3 tokens a pop. A spell reduction effect to smooth spell deck functionality and on top of it all a healthy 4 skill. If you run a Yog spell splash, or a true spell deck, then this is your guy. The more spells the better. The only thing you need to be concerned at is the 4 cost, without a way to play this dude early you will find that his spell reduction ability less interesting, yet Yog is not short of play effects, so yeah.. I'm back to the start again... This guys is a beast!
[/CRB]

[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_professor-nathaniel-peaslee-tkatg.jpg'] Professor Nathaniel Peaslee 12 out of 15

Danigral - 4 out of 5
This has been spoiled before and there have been some musings about mitigating having to turn control over to your opponent. In combo he's very good, such as with Sentinel Hill. As a one time use, the ability is rather expensive, since a lot of good characters have higher skill, but even if you used him with skill reduction effects, your opponent would still need at least one Yog resource to pass him back to you.

dboeren - 4 of 5
I love this guy. You get to steal their best characters at the worst times and they have to avoid getting him killed or else you might do it again. Also like any take-control mechanic you can often net another character from the icon shift that happens when they switch sides. He's been talked about before, but he's just buckets of fun and is such a cheap threat. Tread carefully if your opponent is playing Yog too.

Kennon 4 out of 5
Hmm.... it can be expensive, but if you're not playing against someone with Yog resources, you get to permanently take their best character and reward them with one that does very, very little for them.

Tragic
This card is a lot more complex than it seams. The inclusion of a steadfast type effect on the ability itself makes him better by leaps and bounds than he otherwise would be. I assume the restriction was put there during play testing as with out it he would be next to unplayable. As you probably know steadfast means that you need to have x number of factions symbols among all your domains to play a card. This is a way of making 0 cost cards without effectually making them neutral. It is a neat idea and keeps some theme among the factions, as you need to play the faction to use the card. This is like steadfast but for the single domain you use to drain when activating his ability. So unless your opponent is also playing Yog, then he will not ever be able to simply duplicate the effect and snatch his character right back as his own domain will not have a Yog faction icon, and thus can not trigger the card effect. The question becomes if the effect is worth it in the first place. Snatching your opponents big kahuna and replacing it with a 1 skil, 0 icon guy is a bit of awesome no doubt, but when you think about it the effect is extremely expensive for what it dose. Good characters most likely have high skill, so you either need to invest in a 1,2,4+ domain pool, or something like that, to use his ability at all. Unless you have some kind of skill reduction. On the plus side there are hardly any control effect in Yog, I can only think of two as I type this Revelation of the Spheres (SOM) and Pulled from the Beyond (TUP) and one of them is a temporary effect and the other needs a way to peer at your opponents deck (Yog can do this very well btw). So at first glace he seams extremely expensive but also fills a unique slot in Yog. Most control effects have weight in the form of a temporary effect or support attachment, and as we all know any coc deck not running support destruction need to go back to the deck lab! This guy dose not have any of that, once his ability triggers you own that character for ever just as if you played him yourself, unless your opponent can pay the Yog faction icon to trigger the ability themselves. I mean even Stygian Eye (IT) has “go insane on untap” to weigh it down. So if you are running skill reduction then this could be the best capture effect around. With out skill reduction though the card becomes something very different. When people look at this card they instantly think of the big bad threat they can pull form the opponents board, but the real power is in early game rush. When you are first fighting for position and a single small wenie character can mean the difference between 1,2 or 3 tokens at a story. I feel this is where this card is really supposed to lie.. not in the skill reduced mega play combo of awesome.. but just a quick way to clear a character form your opponents board in the early game to aid rushing. As it is early game he may have a hand of higher cost cards that he can not play until his domain pool is built up, slowing him down and leaving him undefended. I know this is a long card evaluation but this is a complex card. So to put it simple... this is a rush enabler, play it early or resource it, resource it if you opponent is running Yog, if you have skill reduction it has some late game power but in late game pulling a single card that is not a AO from your opponents board is not a deal breaker as the board position will not last after his turn as his domains will be populated allowing him to play a new card at will in his next turn. Must … stop... writing.. and move to next card!!!!
[/CRB]

[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_fthaggua-tkatg.jpg'] Fthaggua 15 out of 15

Danigral - 5 out of 5
A very cheap and efficient invulnerable character. He can also keep your opponent's characters from going to discard, shutting down recursion strategies, but also the same for you. Right now, in my opinion, the best character in the box, especially if you're just running Yog in a mixed-faction build without all the Yithian stuff.

dboeren - 5 of 5
I've found his icon pumping to be a bit better on paper than in actual games, but don't overlook using his response to dump YOUR cards into discard to set up recursion effects - this can be a smart and unexpected play. Also, even if he never attaches anyone he's a cheap Invulnerable blocker and interferes with character recursion. Watch out for skill lowering effects that make him vulnerable to bad things as his base skill is pretty low.

Kennon- 5 out of 5
Invulnerability is a pretty powerful keyword, and having it on such a cheap body is not something that happens often. If I stopped right there, I'd probably be happy with the card, but once it's in play, it will keep growing and growing in size and icons with little your opponent can do unless they want to give you the chance to deck them easily, which turns out to not be a difficult proposition in Yog. I think there's a good chance this rules the board once it hits play.

Tragic
Wow, what a awesome card. I love this card. I am literally in love. The art is so off the chain with this card it is down at the playground mauling the local kids, and the effects? ohhhhh. Lets just break this sucker down... a three cost invulnerable character. I could just stop here. This is enough to include in pretty much any yog deck or a deck running a yog splash. I could stop typing and you would have enough info to mark this card as a include in your deck. Then we have the base effect as well. Now this is something else. This effect triggers of your opponents character cards deaths as well as your own, and remember when a card is placed on Fthaggua it is not going into the yard. This card breaks yard play decks. The Endless Snake decks, or to a lesser extent the All Mother deck can be completely shut down after some time goes by if they do not have a direct destruction or targeted sac effect to take this sucker out. Uroborus (WAB) can not trigger if there are no snakes in the yard. Of course they can discard to cancel and this could fuel their yard play, but it is also just as likely they will dump their answers to Fthaggua as well. At 2 skill it is weak to target effects that control it or destroy it so they are not going to be happy about discarding and possibly loosing their only answers. It fuels your own yard, now yeah it fuels theirs, but you have designed your deck around this card and yard play and that is a huge advantage. Forcing your opponent to play his deck in a way he wasn't expecting, but you were. Then if they do not discard he just gets bigger and bigger and more and more scary. The theme on this card is just awesome. I imaging it as a growing ball of unstable energy, becoming more deadly and terrifying as time goes on and sucking into it any creatures that fall before it.. then on death it explodes throwing the corpses of its victims everywhere (the cards go back to the graveyards of each player) It is just awesome in all the ways that count. The theme is there, the art is there, the card is a deck engine, meaning this will be a card you build your deck around. It is a 3 cost invulnerable!! I mean wtf. IT IS A 3 COST INVUNRABLE! This card is just good, it is just good. Keep in mind though the 2 skill, this is its weakness and where the opponent will find its answers, so keep that in mind when deck building.
[/CRB]

[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_yog-sothoth-tkatg.jpg'] Yog-Sothoth 10 out of 15

Danigral - 4 out of 5
A good version of Yog. I like the double terror, which adds a little buffer from icon-removal that is becoming more prevalent, and the built-in reducer. Sorcerers weren't that great previously since they always cost at least 3 for the most part, but this box comes with some decent cheap ones. Also, his ability turns into a soft removal which can interrupt the resolution of stories. He'll be a great deal later in the game.

dboeren - 3 of 5
Decent version of Yog, and he'll get better as more inexpensive Sorcerers come out. His Fated tokens can help remove any character, though a bit slowly, and really hasten the demise of characters that are already Fated. He doesn't combo as well with the old Wilbur Whately quite as well as you probably first thought either.

Kennon - 3 out of 5
He pushes a theme deck, which is certainly nice, but for the cost, his ability doesn't seem that great to me. Sure, he's probably going to still stand the chance to be a struggle beast, but I think I need a little time to play with the Fated keyword to see how much impact giving to characters is likely to have on the game. Still, it is likely to having some character control options, and the fact that it adds a success token to the character means that this can probably be a nice meta call to counteract opposing Fated characters if they turn out to be particularly troublesome.

Tragic
So finally we have Yog-Sothoth itself. The real question here is this this version better or worse then the older ones we have seen before. Yog-Sothoth (Core) and Yog-Sothoth (SfW). Now the poor old core version is out as this has basically the same cost reduction system but with a additional effect. So it is really between Yog-Sothoth (SfW). Now The Lord of Time and Space has the ability to play spells directly from the yard and that is so powerful, yet with out cost reduction it can be very hard to get on the table. Yet the cost reduction of The All in One triggers from sorcerers. Arguably a harder include for your yard. A spell you play and fuel the cost reduction, a sorcerer needs to be killed. Now granted you gain board presence, but it is simply harder to get the cost reduction to occur, and if you are discarding spells, or playing them, you are not weakening your board by removing characters you probably want for story resolution. Now remember I have not seen any more of the set than you have seen in the order of this article, there is no card database up yet I can search and my own copy of the set is still in the mail. So take the next few lines with a grain of salt. Sorcerers kinda suck. They have never really been a type I have gotten into and I have really tried. They are usually expensive at 3+ so getting them on the board, and then killing them off to fuel the cost reduction will be hard. Now there could be nice new low cost sorcerers and this would make it easier. Still I feel that The Lord of Time and Space has a better base ability but the The All in One has better icons so it more usable in story struggles and has the cost reduction, even if it is harder to achieve. So all in all I think it is very close between these cards and it will be your deck that dictates which Yog to use and not the cards power. Now lets get to the secondary effect. Now, I am at a bit of a loss here, I am just not sure I understand this effect at all. It adds a Fated 3 plus a token when stories have their tokens placed. Now the story resolution timing is still debated pretty hotly as there has still never been a faq that has addressed it in clear terms. So already people are going to be confused. What we do know is that the tokens are placed before the story is resolved and the investigation icon is placed before the skill and then undefended. So what we have here is in fact a way to remove characters form a story as the story resolves but before they uncommit (I think). Every time they win a story token you can pick a card and place a success token on that card, if they ever have 3 it goes to the bottom of their deck. This could really help in the removal of hard to deal with characters, clean off attachments on other characters as well or save your own cards from destruction. I am just not sure how to play this card. He is obviously late game and even with sorcerer discard he is expensive as you are most likely sacrificing board position. The real thing that gets me is that the effect triggers as the tokens are placed. Meaning that you are planing for failure. This is not a good plan for a deck idea. You do not want to be expecting your opponents to be placing tokens in the late game, in fact your entire deck design should be to stop that form happening at all. Yes the effect could remove some threats, but really if your deck is a good one the effect should be triggering on you, more than them. So you are going to be slowly clearing your own board. I can see boards in my mind with 2 tokens on everything on my side, and I think this is exactly how this card is supposed to work. Still I am unsure of how to play this card, or what kind of deck it should go into. I need to experiment with it and really see, at this time I am finding it hard to work out. I am thinking a lodge deck that triggers off cards going out of play, a syndicate deck that can play cards from the bottom of the player deck, I am thinking of monster deck that contain a lot of +x toughness so you can clear these tokens and save them. Still with out the ability to play from the bottom of the deck? I dunno. I really need time to experiment with this one, as I am finding it hard to see not only what kind of deck it would go in, but how you would use it at all. Still at 8 skill and (TTCAA) it is a beast at story resolution in its own right.
[/CRB]


[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_lost-oracle-tkatg.jpg'] Lost Oracle 7 out of 15


Danigral - 2 out of 5
Overall, just meh. Cheap and good to get the reduction for Yog, but too much self-mill just to slow down the game is a bad idea since you could just end up decking yourself.

dboeren - 3 of 5
A cheap weenie that your opponent doesn't want to kill, who can likely be used on both turns just to be extra annoying. If she's making you mill yourself, then she either doesn't fit your playstyle or your deck. What she should be doing is SETTING UP your discard pile for more recursion and more from-discard shenanigans from your Yithians.

Kennon - 2 out of 5There may sometimes be a deck that I'd test this out in, but generally, I'd like my one cost characters to have more impactful icons that arcane for the early struggles. Still, at least she is likely to die early so that you can start using her ability, but once you do, you're just stalling out the game without certain benefit to you and it's all challenge dependent. If I want a self discard engine, I think I'll look elsewhere.
[/CRB]


[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_wentshukumishiteu-tkatg.jpg'] Wentshukumishiteu 11 out of 15


Danigral - 4 out of 5
Wakkawhat? I think I'll call it Shiteu for short. Another great character. Yog is flooded with good characters at this price-point, but the two good icons, toughness, and fast is just very efficient. He's a good supplement in a mill strategy, too, better for sure than something like Hermetic Scholar.

dboeren - 3 of 5
Awesome name aside, he's a good option for a 3-cost character but for me just short of being a WOW. Nice but not great. I predict that someday Gugs will get some sort of booster and be back in fashion though and then he'll bump up a notch.

Kennon- 4 out of 5
Despite the fact that I'll never figure out how to pronounce that name and I sure hope I never need to, this is a very efficient package. Skill lower than cost is not unusual in CoC, so I'm willing to let it pass there, and the two card control oriented icons are a plus. Throw in the very useful Fast and Toughness +1 keywords and you have a surefire combination of things that I like.
[/CRB]


[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_hungry-star-vampire-tkatg.jpg'] Hungry Star Vampire 7 out of 15


Danigral - 2 out of 5
At first glance, he looks good, but when a skill 2 character might have the lowest skill, he'll just destroy himself. You have to be very careful with deckbuilding and playing characters, and you probably wouldn't want him in a deck that focuses on sacrifice effects, since that makes it easier for your opponent to dodge. The best way to get around it is to use skill buffs and ready him through winning arcane. If you do it in the ready phase, you're asking for trouble.

dboeren - 3 of 5
This one is hard to rate. On one hand, he can backfire something fierce. On the other, you'll seldom have more fun than when you're playing a deck designed around 3xHungry Star Vampires whether you're winning or losing and when he does work it's a strong lockdown effect. Look ahead to see whether he's going to eat the wrong guy so you can decide if steps need to be taken - playing a weenie or not committing him this turn. It can be worth an occasional sacrifice when he works well. Also, consider bringing your own skill reduction like De Vermis Mysteriis - it works wonders.

Kennon - 2 out of 5This looks like a really sick ability until you realize how quickly and how likely he is to eat himself. Oddly enough, he has toughness which doesn't interact with his ability to destroy. If he instead wounded a character with the lowest skill, then I could understand the Toughness as a safety net to let him stick around a turn longer to do some work or maybe find something else to eat, but sadly, that is not the case.
[/CRB]


[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_quantum-theorist-tkatg.jpg'] Quantum Theorist 7 out of 15


Danigral - 2 out of 5
Fun, but not that good. There aren't a lot of great non-Yog scientists, and you need at least one other out-of-faction to make him even a decent character.

dboeren - 2 of 5
Give him some time. There aren't that many awesome shenanigans for him right now, but there will be...

Kennon - 3 out of 5Sure, he's a bit weak on his own, and he's certainly vulnerable, but I do love splashing cards, and he gives the impetus and capability for a rainbow Scientist build. Do I know what this might look like yet? Nope. But he sure does encourage interesting things and will propel people to try out some new deck ideas, so I think he succeeds.
[/CRB]

[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_decrepit-wizard-tkatg.jpg'] Decrepit Wizard 6 out of 15

Danigral - 2 out of 5
A great cancel effect that unfortunately is just a little expensive. If you use it too much you'll choke yourself out of contention. It could be good to get resourced Yithians into the discard, but this character is too fragile to be reliable for when you need it.

dboeren - 2 of 5
His ability can save an important character once in a while, but most of the time it's too pricey unless you really needed to move that card to discard. Nor is he that great on his own due to lack of icon diversity.

Kennon - 2 out of 5I always like a good cancel, and while this is a rather expensive one to trigger, it could sure save you in a clutch. His cost to skill ratio is pretty nice, but I do have to say that I'm not very enthused about those arcane icons. If he had access to something a little more effective as well, I could rate him a little higher.
[/CRB]

[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_hand-of-aforgomon-tkatg.jpg'] Hand of Aforgomon 7 out of 15

Danigral - 2 out of 5
I love the idea, and I may play around with him some in some skill based decks, but without terror I don't think he'll be a great defender, and will get passed over for better characters at that price.

dboeren - 2 of 5
His main goal seems to be to help stall which is only usually good for discard decks and if I'm doing that I'd rather take a guy who helps more actively with the discarding. He can also make other characters vulnerable to skill-based effects that wouldn't normally touch them though, and he's certainly a plan-disrupter.

Kennon - 3 out of 5
While his cost to skill ratio is bad, it's pretty awesome that he brings other characters down to his level. He's pretty vulnerable, but could potentially slow down the opponent enough for you to proceed. What I really like, however, is his ability to combine with other skill based effects in order to offer up some really neat plays. In conjunction with some Hastur shenanigans, I could see Blind Submission really doing some work. Calling Down the Ancients could destroy any character that's committed to the same story. Crowbar could wound them. Dangerous Inmate could drive them insane.... There's quite a few things that I could see here.

[/CRB]

[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_yithian-scout-tkatg.jpg'] Yithian Scout 10 out of 15

Danigral - 3 out of 5
He (it?) tutors himself and mills, which means he is always useful in some way, and getting 3 out early will be pretty impactful on your opponent's deck in the long run.

dboeren - 4 of 5
A buzzing fly that you can't seem to get rid of. Keeping your other guys alive by blocking Combat, discarding a card here or there - sometimes maybe one your opponent wanted. I'll pay 1 any day for this card's annoyance value.

Kennon - 3 out of 5
A chump that replaces itself and has the potential to keep coming back again and again? I'll take it! It's not the most exciting card ever, but it's a respectable card to take some hits in story struggles to keep your more important characters kicking.

[/CRB]

[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_keeper-of-the-great-library-tkatg.jpg'] Keeper of the Great Library 9 out of 15

Danigral - 3 out of 5
Very solid in a dedicated Yithian deck as a support character for arcane and draw. Unfortunately it can't trigger with itself leaving play since it isn't technically referencing itself.

dboeren - 3 of 5
Only good in a dedicated Yithian deck. Don't expect the world, if he draws a card or two and hangs around a little while he's earned his keep.

Kennon - 3 out of 5
Solid in a Yithian themed deck. If nothing else, he combines nicely to make a draw engine with the Yithian Scout provided you can get the Scout to hit the discard pile (which shouldn't be hard.) The X skill is interesting, but again, only terribly relevant in a fairly dedicated Yithian deck. Sadly, he's another all arcane icon character which limits his usefulness at stories quite a bit.

[/CRB]

[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_scholar-from-yith-tkatg.jpg'] Scholar from Yith 13 out of 15

Danigral - 5 out of 5
He will always be useful throughout the game. Textbox blanking is just so good, let alone repeatable, untouchable textbox blanking, that removes traits like “Ancient One” so you can use him with other effects. Oh, and he's an investigator, so he'll pair nicely with MU Anthropology Advisor. I would throw this in any deck I have that has Yog.

dboeren - 4 of 5
Mainly I'd want him for blanking, but that does have the drawback that you have to play him first, then manage to get him killed, then pay 2 per use. However, blanking can solve a LOT of problems so he's still handy.

Kennon - 4 out of 5Wow this is on versatile character. While it's on the board, it's respectable at stories with some icon flexibility that can let you push for a quick win if the coast is clear. If you can get him killed or have a little self milling, it turns into a great source of character control. Text box blanking at will like that will be very potent.
[/CRB]

[CRB='forums/uploads/coc/med_scientist-from-yith-tkatg.jpg'] Scientist from Yith 11 out of 15

Danigral - 4 out of 5
Filtering can be very powerful to dictate what your opponent will see on your next turn. In a dedicated Yithian deck, you could do this every turn potentially setting your opponent back in board position indefinitely. He's pretty cheap too.

dboeren - 4 of 5
Great filtering and cheap, though it only works to best effect if you include a goodly helping of Yithians in your deck so he may not belong in every deck. When he DOES fit though, he's really cool.

Kennon - 3 out of 5
If I'm going to work at filtering my opponent's deck, I want it as a cheap and repeatable option, and this sure does it. The Yithian Scout and Keeper of the Great Library will both work nicely with the Scientist to supply a steady stream of Yithians for you to filter your opponent's draw turn after turn. Sure, the deck needs to be heavily Yithian themed to keep pulling it off reliably, but making sure that your opponent's most potent cards never see the light of day is going to increase your reliability.

[/CRB]