Best Summons of the Deep yet. I’ll let the tacticians lead the usefulness charge, but visually these are great cards, really.

Agency Groundskeeper is the best looking agency LCG character yet, saving Thorff. He’s trimming vines that glint with mean beady eyes, as they ensnare him. Bertolini’s third and best card until... Watch out for the bees! He reminds me of King of the Hill Dale. Repo Man looked like a puddle of rust. This is much more flavorful. This card is strong, if similar to many AG characters, from Legrasse to Shadow Team to Thorff and Greene. But add exhaust support and location destruction and he looks cool. Thematically clicks.

A Call for Help shows Greene drowned in the background and Julia calling Dr. Carson for help. A nice looking event, and enmeshed in the plot. The first Michael Williams card I like. It is missing the reveal, and is a high cost event…if this were MU or Shub. But this is new to Agency and helpful.

Strange Librarian on his high ladder outstretched for that last remote tome. Notice below the ceiling chandelier and assistant looking up both from way below obscured by spider webs. Rather nice. Still waiting for a non dweeb MU character. Hello Dreamlands? Chess Prodigy and Plaigiarist were off beat but more memorable than the stereotype rut.

Arcane Grifter. Wow! No Fugitive Scientist, but that was a top five. Notice the Ghoulish thrill roller coaster in the background. Wait ‘til you see him by his circus tent. Can anyone else place Girovagu and Rondel? Characters are small but. Bertolini, yes. Just great.

Byakhee is fine. He’s got a combination of the apocalyptic Mi-Go and Byakhee backgrounds and Visitor From the Spheres danger from above / comic ignorant cityfolk below look. Strong, seventh, and cheapest byakhee.

Dimensional Worm is an almost. It’s got that high cost shub independently cool insane beast feel. It’s just not Displaced Cthonian, another top five. Or other super great shub monster either. Why not? He’s in the same street as Displaced Cthonian, causing similar but more gelatinous explosive hell. He’s too computerized. The Dimensional effect is great, though electronic. But the perfectly rendered brick buildings and fire escape are…well, cop out would be too mean.

Also, I’d like to take this opportunity to say that the cards have a pixilation, a tiny cylindrical with dot formation, that is still adequate. Side note, the way the cards are inserted is interesting. Probably same as always, but I noticed. The card types are in alphabetical order – char, cons, event, and supp, by faction / number. Characters alternate in quantity: 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 3. Next is the one conspiracy. Then the events 1 3 3 1. Support 1 1 3 3 1. I’m sure it’s more complex and I’m not being clear. Review to be continued.

Nice Review ! Please forge ahead.

Chick

johnny shoes said:

I found the artwork on that one too cartoony to be any good.

Clever Zoog is Patrick McEvoy’s 17th fixed set card (or tenth, if you’ve maintained the will to ignore those seven conspiracies, oof). It’s a Zoog alright. Fluffy at first, he’s like Bill Murray’s plotting gopher sitting in colorful long grass. Add his purple tentacle nose and the dripping purple dreamlands mushroom thing of czfhang he’s munching. Spooky. It’s a little dreamy, but too subtle to my taste. Still a nice one cost neutral that could lead a zoog raid at arcane. They are knowledgeable but I thought the cats raided them.

Struggling Artist, boring. Just as Henning got his corny homage, perhaps this is Chris Griffin’s self portrait – the artist as she sees herself peering through the looking glass. There are contrasts to the two artists, but they’re still both a 21st century model. She trades in her brush and apprehension for a knowing sorceresses in yellow cloak, ok. Better adhere to the Julia look so far created. It’s a quality image, but a yawner. Is that George Harrison in the background? My sweet lord.

Fountain of Youth. Nice purple image, framed well. Nice second arcane icon really looks cool. But the title stems from centuries of images and expostulation. This new take brings it underground to a rectangular pool, but not much else. I’d prefer the classic pond with waterfall hidden by dense jungle. And even a poor tactician like myself wonders why you’d want your opponent all refreshed for his turn.

Path of Blood is like another Blood Magician, but with fire blood and long hair. He’s a very acceptable strong active image...for an event. Good enough. I think we’ve come to expect less beauty from an event card. I hope an argument of exceptions is forthcoming.

Total Eclair is a great neutral (when I write the real title it makes it into a link to buy a book, you try it). This card just looks right. It’s hard to describe. The illustration isn’t over the top great, but it satisfies on a couple levels. The neutral card brass chrome look always works if well defined. Too many examples exist to enumerate, oh alright– fighting blind, historical society, wta, incomp machine, I am it, political demonstration, carnival, kindness, limehouse docks, limbo transit, and ghost town to name a bunch. Here we see a possible Byakhee invasion over a gilded age reeling interesting skyline. A dame in just the right attire looks up apprehensively. I wish it were a night card though.

Stealing the Glory is one of those functional images. The message is clear and the scene is terrific – basically, there is no honor among thieves. One guy opens the sarcophagus with a crow bar. A shaft of light hits, as he removes the glow in the dark sword of somethingorother. He looks up to a pistol in his face. “Thank you for leading me here, now give it up.”

Thanks Chick. The Big Show, I hear you about Groundskeeper. At cost three he should have a little more dignity than groundskeeper willy. Better for a cost one card. We've increasingly seen lots of -hard to name - less somber, comedic, comic book cthulhu, altered theme, goofier, lighter, garbage pail card, illustrations. Groundskeeper seems tame and acceptable by comparison. I smile, not cringe at it. Errata from previous: Not Strange Librarian, Shortsighted Librarian. To be continued.

While I'm happy with a lot of this set, I'm unhappy about a few things. Call me a stickler.... but:

1. Bite Marks F68: Are they in some sort of Biohazard suit? I don't claim to be a history buff, but they look like they're rocking something beyond the 1920's. A little too out of the theme/flavor for me. May just be my opinion though.

2. Summoning Circle F74: "( X is the number of "arcane" icons on the characters knelt for the cost)"; Knelt? KNELT?!..... WRONG GAME!

3.Fountain of Youth F80: Starts with a "IF" all caps. Probably my most annoying complaint, but it still kinda bugs me.

While I can understand some errors now and again (**cough** Steve Clarney **cough**), I hope I won't be seeing similar things like this in the future. I just hope whoever does quality control on the future Asylum Packs does a better job.

The art of this AP has been the typical mixed bag for me.

In concept and excecution, Stealthy Byakhee, Pagan Hall, Clever Zoog,

Descedant of Eibon and Total Eclipse are the cream of the crop. Was there a

'special' meaning for the 'g, h' in the Eibon piece? I won't bother to speak of the mediocre

work. The least appealing is Stealing the Glory. A truely uninspired scene and an amateur rendering.

Shadow Sorceress ranks second worst. Where are the 'shadows' ? There is absolutely no mythos

atmosphere here. She looks like a poorly costumed convention goer! The computer generated light

effects are not helpfull. I applaud the attempt with Coffee House. The smokey atmosphere is nice but

the card function does not match the theme of the artwork. The flavor text reads,

"They really don't come for the coffee" but coffee would actually stimulate

explaining the readying where cannibus or hashish would generally achieve the opposite.

These are mere details that only a critical analysis notices.

Overall I'm pleased with 'Tides'.

Are those cards from the "Tides"?

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp

Nope! Those are the three spoils from Julia Five, Oh Oozy Nebulous One!

tear gas = targ!!!! i know its a agot card but i always wanted to see it in coc.

Amazing nobody spoiled the cards yet !! W'eve got 4 cards from the "Tide" on the Cénacle, just go there and take a look to the "news" section !

http://cenacle-hd.bb-fr.com/le-jeu-et-son-actualite-f25/spoiler-terror-from-the-tides-t1125.htm#11343

PearlJamaholic said:

So they're rebranding AGoT cards for Cthulhu? That explains the knell thing I guess......

Donald4 said:

there has always been similarities with some of the factions. misk is the drawing faction, where martell is in agot. stark is the first house in the sets and its pretty much aggro kill, just like agency is the first faction in the coc sets. ive even built some of my coc decks based on what ive seen and played in agot. but targ has the reduced to 0 and dead thing and syn always had the skill reducing stuff. it was only a matter of time until we saw 0=dead. recently agot started using a winter/summer theme like we have day/night.

I've never played AGoT, but is its play style anything like CoC? Are they basically making two games that are the same thing but with a different theme? Hence the comments coming about interchangable cards? If so... that makes me a sad panda.

Dark Young said:

no they are both their own games. but you see some things in common. agot is in some ways more strategic, and its usually a longer game. but i havent played agot since it went lcg so things could be different. coc has the resource system which agot doesnt have anything like that. in agot reduced to zero and dead makes more sense since its strenght in that game, not skill.

PRODIGEE said:

jhaelen said:

Too bad I can't read French, but thanks for the link, anyway!

You're welcome on the cénacle (you can go there and Speak English if you want to, most of us do speack both languages!)