Read the article here..

Wow!

To say that I am impressed and intrigued would be an understatement.

I like that Julia is making her debut as a neutral character. I'd expect that

as she is corrupted she will be transformed into a Cthulhu character represented

by an additional card. Erich Zann and the Grim Wraith are nice as well!

I'm curious about the Sleepwalker and Dr. Carson.

Nice article Nate!

World Record! Spotted the first typo in Summons of the Deep AP I 29 minutes after they were spoiled:

F10 Erich Zann, Someone really needs to hire a proofreader

blah blah blah

Fluff text: "Thereafter I heard Zahn every night... I was haunted by the wierdness of his music"

Carioz said:

You beat me to it! I was just about to reference my 'Encyclopedia Cthulhiana'.

The most vital aspect is that the cards play well and have the proper flavour but

these typos are now at a ridiculous level.

Well Za[h-n]n manages to be utterly useless and having a typo. Sweet!

Utterly useless? Seems like a fairly powerful ability to me.

First spoiler, bam, Julia Brown. That is a nice introduction to the LCG expansion beyond core - right to the protagonist. Three terror struggle cards, the promised theme is unveiled. Julia searches the deck for herself. Not unlike Day/Night cards Grim Avenger and Ravenous Hunting Horror. She morphs like a Brotherhood character. She's got Assistant avoidance. She's got HDY-lite recursion. She has healthy stats. She's only the third card to gain from each insane character, like Hildred. Of the twelve characters who gain +1 or more skill, surprisingly until now none did so based on insane characters.

Grim Wraith, speaking of grim, is like an Ezbekiyeh Gardens, screwing with struggles, again terror. The black ooze on the teddy bear is silly ookie. But that's surely a bad childhood experience of Julia's. Numerically, FFG not since the first three AP had six neutrals. And with Grim Wraith Shub card 15, again one faction gets a third card.

Zann is great artwork. I really love it, has all the ingredients - the high window to the void, the stark room, his creaky, eccentric, teetering mad look of vertigo. He's blurry and sparsely painted and impressionistic right down to the hair and vest and his lost eyes. I have heard criticism about cards with choices, which also looks to be the theme. Zann's editor also missed an "h" after Eric. But they got the title right. He is a great illustration. And his ability changes one basic struggle choice we've been doing the same since the beginning. I think it may have applications. And you gotta love three terror. Only nine Ancient Ones and three other characters can say that, and they all cost a whole lot more.

Carioz said:

Not only that, but "Erich" and "Eric" are both on the card. I'm still excited about the cards, but two typos (or really it's the same bad placement of the H) on one card is really, really sloppy.

Not a terrible start. The Grim Wraith could have used another T Icon or some more skill. I wouldn't have guessed that "sacrifice instead" meets the requirement for the Terror Struggle. I thought you'd still have to choose a character to go insane as per the FAQ (v1.3) Paying Costs section. At least we got Erich put back into Hastur and he did not end up Agency.

Grim Wraith is indeed lean with one Terror and 1 Skill. Only 13 of the 166 three-cost characters have only 1 skill. But it is a badass ability. Isn't it?

There are a few three cost shub characters with one terror and nice ability.

Erich Zann has been on everyone's want list for ever. Hastur seems most appropriate. Zann is a better Hastur fit than Charles. Agency's Terrible Old Man proves these behind the scenes battles are not always won. Though I like him. They got Pickman and Stanford right. And Dr. Carson is another wanted classic card that never was. 6/20 SD AP VII card titles are known, that's a lot for one day.

For Julia Brown, the game effect of the terror struggle is canceled, but "any costs that were paid to trigger that effect are still lost." Are both the struggle and the trigger bypassed?

Erich Zann is the first Musician subtype. It's the twenty fifth subtype.

jl_zao said:

Wow, the Eric(h) mistakes makes it even funnier: you see, rules as written Erich's ability works only when his almost omonimous Eric is committed to a story

@Kennon: yes, utterly useless: the ability doesn't work against anything with a T icon or willpower and the character needs to be committed to the same story as Eric(h) Za[h-n]n. The icons are nothing to write home about. To put into perspective: you play the yellow musician, opponent plays Daughter of the Goat. He spent 1 less and has board advantage.

im glad to finally see zann! depending what the rest of the cards look like a hastur/shub deck might be fun using those two spoiled cards.

and if they have a choose a character to go insane for winning effect with zann, i cant wait for the combat equivalent in the next pack.

I like the article : straight to the point and with three spoilers.

It would be nice if every other AP spoiler article was managed this way.

uesless or not:

finally erich zann!!

does anyone know the german metal band Mekong Delta? they released an album named The Music of Erich Zann. i liked the music a lot and also got interested in the stroy behind, and this was my entry point to lovecraft many years ago.

Good:

- The art continues to please my eye. That's one thing I'm happy has not changed since the CCG times. Very creepy, very lovecraftian.

- Julia can be ok... if the Sleepwalker is a huge monster.

- Article this soon after the Core! Nice job.

- Maybe we will see 6 APs during the next 6 months.

- Glad to see playtesters have had some kind of an effect.

- Cards are flavorful and fun for casual gamers.

Not good:

- The cards weren't very good... I'd go as far as to say pretty bad.

- Julia's stats are just okay... Although she's neutral and I'm already having tough time fitting more of those into decks (World champ cards and Nodenses and those take all my neutral deck space).

- Eric/Erick Zahnn is plain bad since there very rarely is a choice. And 3 terror isn't very exciting. Give him an arcane and, hmm, wouldn't be good even then but a bit less bad.

- The wraith is also very light on icons. It'd be okay for slowing down some rush decks, but those often have answers for 1 skill characters.

- Cards not much fun for competitive players.

Overall not happy.

Edit: Happy to see cards getting released in time!

Julia Brown. Well, she looks like an interesting start, but we'll have to see how the other versions or her (if any) or The Sleepwalker turn out before making any real impressions.

Eric Zahn. Nice. I like this one. Very handy for Hastur decks. A friends deck will get a boost from this one.

Grim Wraith. Standard monster type which I can't praise nor complain.

A couple interesting previews there, and the article has me even more interested for this set now. I just wish we knew when the release date was.

We have first prostitute in CoC LCG

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Brown

Veross said:

Ah,but:

"Despite her illicit occupation, Brown was a darling of the New York upper class. She received invitations to social galas across New York City, and her admirers nicknamed her "Princess Julia". She sometimes threw balls of her own in the winter as a way to attract new patrons."

That seems rather Hasturian... And what is a prostitude from the 1830's doing in 1928? She would be more then a hundred years old! Dun dun dun!!!

I hope I'll won't be too much off topic (and it's not critizise !!!) but I would like to know why spoiling next pack while we still did'nt receive a description of the 10th story card from CORE SET ...

I can't wait to see it's text ...

PRODIGEE said:

One of the reasons is that I have been a little busy... :/

I'll see what I can do, though...

Syndicate provides a number of ladies of questionable repute. Indeed, by defenition, all the syndicate characters are shady. The other syndicate molls had good cover though - Couriers, Gangster Molls, Torch Singers, Tragic Celebrities.

And what about the two chicks in the cathouse?

johnny shoes said:

Danny O'Bannion is a legitimate and upstanding businessman. The syndicate would never do anything illegal or immoral!

Danny's got the word Criminal stamped right on his subtype. Perhaps the reporters, columnists, editors, and photographers aren't corrupt. Marinus, Anton, William, the Construction Crew, the Street Preacher and the Dame might be bonny enough. But syndicate does not get the benefit of the doubt. Shady.

Whereas Julia's torturous road has just begun. And we've already passed judgement.