Hey Guys,

I am a brand new player to this game, having only been introduced to it last week by a friend at work. However, I have some past experience playing card games (MTG) in years past, so the concept / strategies / etc - are not entirely foreign to me. In any case, there are many questions I have based on reading the texts of many of the cards in the Core Set (which I just got delivered), as well as some of the expansion / Asylum packs I picked up as well. I wanted to set up a series of Questions on several cards at a time, and hope the Forum Veterans (or anyone who knows a good answer to any of these !) could chime in with their own answers to the questions, helping me to understand how to play the cards or the basic concepts/strategies behind them.

I'll only put up a handful of questions per list - like this - to avoid it becoming too big or unwieldy for someone to answer. I hope you guys don't mind clarifying some things for me !

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1.) Casting off the Skin (Yog-Sothoth Support Card - Spell) - "Choose one of your characters committed to a story. That character gains 1-Terror, 1-Combat for each character committed to that story until the end of the phase."

Question: This is probably pretty basic, but my reading of this would suggest that even if you had 1-character in a given story (and they were the target of this spell effect) that they would STILL get at least the 1-Terror, 1-Combat for "themselves" being at the story. In other words, you should count the target of the spell AS WELL AS all other characters (presumably on both sides, if your opponent put any characters in to oppose you). Is this a valid understanding of the card ?

2.) General Question on "Action" - the term appears on many cards / spells / characters / etc. My question is, at what specific points in a turn can you activate these abilities ? For example - some cards say "pay 1 to change this cards Combat Icons to Terror Icons" (EXAMPLE) until the end of the phase. Does this mean you'd pay it before you send the card into a story (in Defense or Attack)...or...what... can you choose to activate it at any point in the turn ?

Also, what is the functional difference between an "Encounter" (like the Intervention card for Agency) and a "Spell" - why is there a distinction in the wording ? Is this for fluff only, because Agency would not have "Spells" technically ?

Lastly for this section, when something has a cost of 0-to use (card cost) - Do you still have to use up a Domain to utilize it ? I think so (from reading the rulebook once since I got it, but cannot recall for sure). It would seem like a waste to have to use up a 2 or 3 resourced Domain for something that is meant to "cost" nothing, but perhaps that's part of the mechanics ? Any explanation would be helpful on that.

3.) Priest of Two Faiths - Agency Character - How exactly does his effect work ? I mean - I understand the basic effect, but from my reading of his card, it seems your only way to get solid use out of him is to use him in Defense (much like Ravager from the Deep) ? I say this because if you put him into a story while "Attacking" - his effect (choose an opponents (non-Ancient One) character...) would not be able to target anyone since, at the exact moment he is committed to the story, there are no enemy characters which would be at the story (yet) - - - is this a correct reading of the card ? Is he meant to be used only on Defense, AFTER your opponent has already sent in his characters to a given story ?

4.) Stygian Idol (or other such cards) - Is there any restriction on attaching MULTIPLES of the same card/Attachment to the same character ? Also, if a character (who has an Attachment that can be "exhausted" to produce a given effect) is exhausted (either from being committed to a story or from a card effect, etc. played by you or your opponent).....could something like Stygian Idol still be "independently" Exhausted ...to produce its own effect ?

Example: Character has Stygian Idol attached. Both cards are standing "upright" on your side of the board. Opponent plays card that Exhausts that character. Character is turned sideways to symbolize the exhaustion. Does his Stygian Idol attachment ALSO turn sideways and become exhausted from that effect, or can you still use that Idol afterwards, or "In reaction to" the opponent playing his "Exhaust your character" effect, so you still get the benefit of the Idol later in the turn ?

5.) Do the Yuggoth Contract Conspiracy Cards (may be some in other AP's I don't have yet) - Example would be Guardian of the Key card - effects boost BOTH sides characters, or only those of the person who put out the card in the first place ? This may have been discussed a bit in another thread, but I can't recall if any solid agreement was reached. Does anyone know if they (FFG) have clarified it officially or at any recent Tournaments, how it was played there ? This seems like an important thing to know since if the effects only boost YOUR characters, (you the person who played the card) - then it makes the Conspiracy a potentially valid concept to build a deck around.

6.) Drunken Hallucinations: Since the effect for this card ends at the end of the phase (the card you put into play dies off) - the only way to get use out of it is to use it at the "start" of your Story Phase, before you commit anything to any stories....but is there anything special about it being an "Event" card - as opposed to a spell, etc - ? In general - are Event cards useable / functionable just like "Spell" cards ? - same in all but name ?

7.) Yellow Muse - (Hastur character from Core Set) - It says while it is at a story, all OTHER characters (meaning other than it) lose Fast - if they had it. Does this mean that TWO Yellow Muses (either both from you or one from you and one from your opponent) at the same story would cancel each other out and BOTH would end up losing their Fast special ability ?

8.) Mi-Go Scalpel - (Shub-Niggurath Support card) - My question here is, when you activate it (Exhaust it) - and get to choose an icon of your choice (for each of your Mi-Go characters in play) ....for that character to gain..... do you actually get to "mix and match" what Icons you are granting to the character, or must they all be the same ?

Example: I have a Mi-Go Commander in play. I also have 3 Mi-Go Scouts in play. I put the Mi-Go Scalpel on the Commander...and exhaust it. Now...depending on how you take the wording of the card to be ....I could say "I choose Terror Icons - and will add 3-Terror Icons to the Mi-Go Commanders card"

*** Additional thought - I might be understating the effect - would you actually count the Mi-Go commander (himself a Mi-Go character that we control that is "in play" !) - for the boost effect of the card ? If so, then you'd actually be talking about 4-potential Icons being added to him. ***

Anyways...you could do it that first way I described....or...are you allowed to mix and match, looking at each Mi-Go character you have in play and stating, for each, what Icon you would like to add to the Commander ? If that way is allowed, you could say - "I'll take 2-Terror, 1-Arcane, and 1-Investigation" for the four Mi-Go's in play.

Anyways...which is the correct // official way to play this card - - - and am I right in thinking that, however you play it, it's a pretty strong/useful card !!?

9.) Thing From the Stars - (Hastur Character - Core Set) - Can I count only each Resource "type" once ...or do I get to count multiples of the same resource ? Example - I have a Domain with 1-Hastur, 2-Neutral, and 2-Cthulhu Resources under it.

If I tried to activate the Domain, would I be getting -4 to the cost to play Thing From the Stars because there are a total of 4-Non-Hastur Resources in the Domain I'm using to try and play it.... or would I only get -2 (1 reduction each from "Neutral" and "Cthulhu") - regardless of how many total Resources are there in those "non-Hastur" sections ?

(LASTLY)

10.) Performance Artist - (Hastur Character) - "Disrupt: Sacrifice Performance Artist to cancel the effects of a character or support card"

- Question: When it words it like this, does it mean sacrificing her could stop something like "Celano Fragments" from sending away a Character who has been committed to a given story ? Also - would it stop the special effect that someone like Thomas Malone (Agency character) has - where if he's still alive at the end of a story resolution, he can choose and destroy an opponents Villainous character who has been committed to that same story he was at ?

How would this work on something like Slavering Gug ? Opponent pays 4...and says "I'll wound your Predatory Byakhee".....you then say "No, I'll sacrifice my Performance Artist to cancel that effect. She gets put in your Discard Pile and the Byakhee remains undamaged ... right ? Also - the 4-resources your opponent used to try and activate the Gug's effect still remain "used up" right ?

I just want to know that I understand how this characters works and is meant to be used.

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Thanks to all who read through these and took the time (if they were able) to answer some / all of them. Your answers and experience will be a great aide to me and my friend as we play through this fun and engaging game !

Hi Rosh, hope I can help.

1. Correct. There are lots of effects like this - another example is Son of Yeb. He has 1 C, and gains a C for each Cultist character you control. The Son himself is a Cultist, so you automatically gain a second C icon from him, plus one each from any other cultists.

2. Check out the timing rules on p12 and flowchart on p13 of the main rules. This gives a clear breakdown of when an action, response, forced response or disrupt can be taken. The green boxes are the 'mandatory' bits of the phase, the white boxes are where cards can be played (characters and support in your ops phase, events in any phase), or where any actions / responses / forced responses can be taken. Disrupt is the only thing that can potentially be done to interrupt either another action or a green box eg story resolution, though note that the disrupt itself will let you know what it can be played against.

Encounter and Spell (and lots of others) are Subtypes. These don't have a rules effect in and of themselves, but lots of card effects interact with these keywords. Cultist as I mentioned above is an example of this. For spells there are cards like say Chant of Thoth which allow you to play Spell cards in a particular way. There are also Keywords, which are also found at the top of the text box, but these have innate rules effects, eg Toughness or Willpower.

And a 0-cost does not drain a domain to play. Remember to check for Steadfast though (faction icons to the left of the title) as they require you to have certain resources even though you don't actually drain them.

3. Exactly so. Principally a blocker - although unlike the Ravager, can work particularly well with another character if they have C or T icons.

4. No restriction on multiple attachments, except that, as usual, only one instance of unique cards (the ones with a black dot to the left of their title).

Characters and attachments exhaust independently, so exhausting the character doesn't stop you separately exhausting the attachment to meet the cost of an effect.

5. Discussed elsewhere, but not resolved to my knowledge. I play it that only the owning player gets the benefit, but that may well be wrong.

6. Yeah, this is basically intended to be used to get a medium-cost monster in to play cheaply. It also allows you to bypass resource matches. Remember also that there are many cards which have some effect on coming into play, this may be worth bringing the monster into play for even though you then sac it. (Sorry, I can't think off hand of an example )

7. Not a clue. Anyone else?

8. Attach to a character; count up the number of Mi-Go characters in play (including the attached character if he's a Mi-Go); add that number of icons of your choice to the character. So the Mi-Go Commander with 3 scouts could gain 4C, or 4T, or 2C 2T, or 1 of each kind, or whatever other combo of four icons you want. Yeah, it's pretty good - but then a Mi-Go deck is always very good for that mutual buffing.

9. Resource type means each faction other than Hastur, however many cards there are of each of those types. In your example it would be -2 to play. (ie your second interpretation is correct, although of course you'd still be draining a 5-resource domain, so wouldn't be getting it cheaply at all ... )

10. Go back to p12 of the rule book, it defines what things like 'triggered effects' etc mean. Also check out the FaQ as it's helpful for defining card effects vs game effects. In this case, card effect means essentially anything that happens because something on a card says it does, rather than because a game rule says it does - any Action like Celano Fragments, any Response like Thomas Malone etc etc.

And yes, your opponent says he's taking an action, he pays the cost, then you declare the disrupt and pay the cost (sac the PA) and cancel it. In both cases the cost remains paid.

Rosh87 said:

Hmm... if two replies come up, then it is because of some weirdness in the editing interface.

(5): We are still discussing this and hoping for an official ruling from Fantasy Flight. I play conspiracies with terms "Your..." to only apply to the person who played/controls the conspiracy card. But there are well reasoned arguments to the contraray.

(7): Yes. Suppose you have 2 Yellow Muses: Yellow Muse A (YMA) and Yellow Muse B (YMB). YMA removes FAST from every other character, which includes YMB. YMB removes FAST from every other character, including YMA. If there was a character with double FAST it would lose both instances of FAST (one from YMA and one from YMB).

Thanks for the rapid and helpful answers on this first Question List guys :-) I'll post another set of 10 in a week or so when I have some more issues/questions that I've encountered.