Persona Carcosa

I have been playing, reviewing, and just overall immersed in Arkham Horror since it came out at the end of last year. I have even gotten involved in doing pack reviews for my local shop! Very soon the game is coming out with its second deluxe expansions and, oh boy, am I excited! Today I want to take a look at some of the spoiled heroes and how their unique cards are changing how the game works!

EDIT – This article does not hav any info from the leaked PoC stuff. This is all based off speculation and stuff from this reddit post.

Mark Harrigan

Mark seems like a really fun new investigator. Drawing in this game is a huge deal and getting a draw for doing what a guardian does best is great! Also he gets to start the game with this awesome card called Sophie, In Loving Memory. This card is unique because it is a double-sided asset. One side allows Mark to take on Damage to get +2 to a skill test, but the other side gives him -1 to all skill tests and it flips to this side when he has 5 or more damage. So will Mark be a tank type of character with a bunch of assets and events that allow him to take damage? I think so, I have some preliminary builds that revolve around healing Mark and keeping Sophie as a helpful presence in his life and not a horrible mistake. These builds use guardian cards that heal and have damage which can tank damage for him.  On Reddit, it was also spoiled that he can put any Tactics cards in his deck, so the build uses lots of the rogue tactics cards, such as Backstab and Elusive, for some added control benefits. We will see how he fairs as a protector when the set releases!

Minh Thi Phan

My SO plays lots of the Arkham Files games with me, and whenever she can she always picks Minh Thi. I am not sure how she was drawn to her in the first place, but much like Minh Thi was drawn to the King in Yellow, my SO is drawn to her. Anyways, this character is actually really sweet and allows for EVEN more teamwork in the game, which is the best. I really think this is the first time we have seen a serious support character. She lets all investigators gain a wild icon once per round for a skill they commit to a test. Her special lets you return one of the skill cards committed to this test, holy cow! Getting multiple uses out of a single skill card is fantastic and it can be another investigator’s skill card as well! She has solid stats for a Seeker who can use survivor cards. This is awesome because that means she can get even more benefits out of failing and has access to some pretty powerful cards, since she can grab up to level 2 survivor cards.

Akachi Onyeie

Akachi is a very interesting character. In the game she is all about closing gates and stopping the flow of evil from Other Worlds. In this game she is a spell powerhouse. Her ability, which is always active, allows her to add an additional charge to any card she plays with “uses (charge)” printed on it. The spoiler info says she can only have Level 0-4 charges, which seems kinda limiting at first, but if we look at it a little deeper she is getting so many extra uses of these cards it is probably a balancing mechanic. Being able to consistently add more charges to whichever spell you have open would be nice. What we need to see to make her good is a spell bouncing card or Scavenging-type for spells along with some non-mystic “uses (charge)” cards. Lots of potential, but I’m really excited to see what else the deluxe and cycle bring.

Lola Hayes

Lola is the final investigator we have spoiled right now, and she is mold breaker that’s for sure. First off, she is our first neutral hero, meaning she has no class and can have cards from all classes (level 0-3) in her deck. She does have to choose which cards she wants to play every turn, but that may not be so bad since the toolbox you could create with her would be crazy. Also, you get to switch roles once per turn as well, so that will help getting access to two roles in a single turn and react to bad situations. She also has a larger deck than any other investigator for a good reason. She has to include at least 7 cards from at least 3 different classes. This is on top of her having 4 copies of cards specific for her deck. So expect to see her deck towering over the other investigators on the table and expect her to be able to do almost anything and adapt to any situation.

So far I am really excited about the way the design has been done in this game. I can’t imagine how much different the second campaign will be from the first just based on the hidden keyword and the cards spoiled so far. I am excited to see what other investigator cards we get as well. I hope you enjoyed the consolidation of the investigator spoilers we have seen so far! Also, keep an eye out on my FLGS’s Youtube channel for my group’s coverage of the new packs and campaign reviews! LCG out.

-Kyle