The Drowned City Spoilers Roundup & Review #4 - Transfiguration & Friends

[@WayOfHaQodesh]

Man, I remember when the Anarch version of this hit in Netrunner. It was tied within one faction and it was busted. This is even more insanity and only 2xp. Gonna be so many rules FAQ queries, FFG truly are opening a can of worms here.

[@MidnightEuler]

Another recommendation against Transfiguration in Norman. Transfiguration in Norman can make The Harbinger soft-lock your draw. You draw it, and it says, "Put it on top of your deck." If you didn't have burst card draw in hand or a way to shuffle your deck, you are now stuck under The Harbinger. I had this happen in City of Archives once.

[@Magnito33]

I'm surprised you didn't discuss Lola. Her rainbow deckbuilding means you can build almost any deck you want and then transform into someone who can optimise it. Lola can really get into character now.

[@sevento7]

And it is so thematic.

[@WayOfHaQodesh]

Is be interested, maybe in Lola using this card, but gotta know what and how it affects her 2 signatures and her weakness. Waiting till I hear how that works before getting excited for one of my all time favourite gators.

[@RobGoodwin-f2s]

Patrice may not want to use this, but somebody else might want to turn into Patrice. Let's say you start as Luke. You are now Patrice with a 30 card deck, higher level spell access, seeker cards and gate box.

[@rupert7565]

Friends in low places can search for ritual cards. Sefina, Gloria, Jim and everyone that has access to memories of another life(5) (if you get to choose a trait) have access to the lvl 0 search the top 6 cards. Dexter, Charlie Kane, Lola and Suzy have access to the upgraded lvl 2 (1.5 technically) search top 9 cards.

[@ChenowethGames]

It's Lola's time to shine! Fixing her stats and using her card pool to just do busted things with it. Sure you're Lola till you find transfiguration but once you do it's going to be insane.

[@Chiungalla79]

You will still have a role for the remainder of the game. Shift it when you draw your weaknesses, and discard cards when you do. But still sounds like a good idea. Not sure though if the insane card pool is worth the hustle in the curent environment. After all you have trouble to put all the strong cards from one classes card pool into one deck. To justify the hustle you probably would need one or more card combos which are otherwise impossible and insanely strong. Because it would be a hell of a feat to find Transfiguration and all cards for the combination.

[@nicmichaud7868]

​@@Chiungalla79 I don't think you keep roles

[@Chiungalla79]

@@nicmichaud7868 The role is given to you at the start of the game. What would take it away? It does not have the same effect anymore, since the card enforcing it is gone, but the weaknesses still trigger. Luckily they are tabooed.

[@nicmichaud7868]

@@Chiungalla79 My hunch is that by loosing Lola's front you also loose roles but I'll wait to see what the designers will rule on this. But even if you keep your role as long as transfiguration is the only mystic cards you have in your deck the weakness will do nothing. Because of the ''Then'' it won't discard the top card of the deck because you won't be able to discard a card from your role which will be mystic because it's the last thing you played as Lola.

[@rupert7565]

The black market exist, so for maximum jank you can draw the top 5 cards of the mystic to let anyone in the team get a chance of transforming. Or You Owe Me One it out of their hand, which has the all important text "under your control", which changes the "you" on cards to the one playing You Owe Me One.

[@grbartel1]

One weird note as Library Pass(5) is written currently, you have to pay the 1 resource every turn that you do not put a card attached to it on the bottom of your deck even if nothing is attached to it. This is because the ability triggers every turn and is a "must" so you have to choose an option that has an effect. I assume this is not what there intention is though. Beyond that I am not a huge fan of how much seeker is eating survivors design space (and arguably doing it better) with Artistic inspiration and Lucius's book of verse. They are both more flexible versions of Granny Orne(3) which can both help you pass tests, and help you get specific (or minimum) values if you are already passing

[@dragonhawk00]

I think Transfiguration just ended up in my Suzi box. There's too many options, and it is potentially very inconsistent, which as you pointed out with Sefina to Wini, could just leave you dead in the water. Edit: I think the two strongest use cases are going to be getting a better card pool, especially for things like EotE investigators, and crazy combos. Suzi and Lola were the first places my brain went with Transfiguration. EotE investigators tend to have pushed investigator abilities and statlines, due to their weird deckbuilding.

[@eyeofbraille4659]

Transfiguration into Darrell could be interesting. Sefina -> Darrell can play Damning Testimony (1 -> Fabricated Evidence) to get 5 Evidence at a stroke to use with his ability, while Daisy -> Darrell or Sister Mary -> Darrell can harness the unstoppable power of a Michael Leigh evidence engine.

[@jarrettpetrin1109]

So begins my long search of busted Lola combos.

[@Ahoge-dono]

Some ideas that come to me with Transfiguration: Lola can be a Nat Cho with Spectral Razors, Riastrads, or Improvised Weapons. An Amanda Sharpe with upgraded innates. A Minh Thi Phan without having to deal with a King in Yellow. Access to upgraded practiced cards, and a Bestow Resolve. Transfiguration Lola decks are basically what if you're X, with a wider but lower level card pool but no signature weakness.

[@Spanner1971B]

Alt Jim's reCharge ability can reload the Gatebox every turn. There might be something in this, but I don't think it's enough to make Alt Jim playabale.

[@lau2720]

I think that card could be useful as a backup plan once you turned into a Humunculus. Still beeing the same (or any) hero but without any more xp

[@waltercardcollector]

Transfiguration seems wacky! I remember them saying that The Drowned City was the last of the expansions that they had originally planned, so I'm not surprised that it came out in The Drowned City. I hope the future designers leave the wackiness in and don't design future investigators around Transfiguration's existence, but I also don't want it to end up as the second Forbidden card!

[@andrethannhauser6302]

Transfiguration is nothing you build your whole deck around. It's more like a versatile option for the late scenario. According to your final object you are able to change into the best fitting character concerning statline and abilities. IMO, Jacqueline fine might be the best character to change into, because of her +2 tokens ability. You couls even play the card just to make sure, another investigator manages to pass the final test, no matter if it's killing the end boss or getting the last clues. Actually you could even change into any investigator with the needed support ability.

[@rupert7565]

When I first saw that transfig was 2 xp I couldn't believe that the off class investigators got access to it, but then I looked at them and realised that non of them will ever likely want to give up there front. Pretty impressive design of off class mystics if you ask me. (treating Sefina as a mystic and not a rogue) Edit: I guess I forgot Sister Mary existed.

[@renosstefanidis1090]

Transfiguration on Daisy can turn you into an untabooed Mandy with 0-2 Mystic access. They might as well lift Mandy's 50 card deck taboo at this point.

[@bozojoyeux8712]

Going from sefina to wendy would be so great ^^ !

[@astutedunsparce4036]

If the Transfiguration basement(s) interaction is true, going from Sefina to Diana could be nice. Just have a full basement immediately with six brain. Could still get the cards in the basement out with the elder-sign (?) or play / commit with Twilight Blade like you said. There are still some cancels in Rogue that could be cute for Diana’s ability too like Narrow Escape. But personally, not a huge fan of Transfiguration.

[@astutedunsparce4036]

Forgot to say the other way around might not be so bad either (which is why I brought up Twilight Blade; it would be for changing from Diana to Sefina)

[@justthedecoy4687]

Wow. My custom investigators are going to shine with transfiguration

[@halforange1]

Can’t wait for the devs to design Underworld Transformogrification

[@sevento7]

I need to „you owe me one!“ my Preson into, well I don’t know… original Skids or something, just any ability and normal stats seem great!

[@RatherIncoherent]

@@sevento7 Oh, that's fascinating to look at in team building. Rogues even have some support for searching teammates decks with Black Markets.

[@Mokai]

I can't wait to use Transfiguration to turn Agatha Crane into Agatha Crane

[@OlafS-s6d]

Transfiguration thus is "at least" the insurance against staying a humunculus for the rest of the game. If i die for taking +1XP every game and got this in my deck...i change the humunculus to my original side..or something else for fun right ?

[@emergency.jergens]

Locked and loaded annoys me because they can’t seem to decide if they want gaurdians to be the gun class or not 🙍🏽‍♂️

[@RatherIncoherent]

I'm really hoping that we actually just see a cracked guardian card pool this expansion. They're competing for weakest class overall in my mind. I'd love to see nothing but great cards split between firearm support for Michael and event support for Marion.

[@themediater]

I've seen people say "oh rogue is the gun class now pretty much" but then they do keep giving guardian gun support cards in TSK and Hemlock at least, just not an actual gun for a long time. I think both classes are and will continue to be gun classes but yeah, the lack of a blue gun that is good is more and more odd.

[@renosstefanidis1090]

@@emergency.jergens Guardians are the de facto "gun class" in the game. I mean, what guns do you think FFG can introduce for the Guardian card pool that can outclass Flamethrower, Lightning Gun, BAR or the Shotgun for high xp Weapons, and the old trusty 45 Automatic (2) and Old Shotgun for low xp weapons. FFG keeps introducing guns for rogues because guns are finite, therefore not reliable for long. Rogues aren't meant to be reliable fighters, and therefore they either need to have high combat values or a bunch of rogue assets to compensate for their not-so-reliable tools. It is the same principle for Mystics too. All Mystic Spell assets that deal more than one damage per activation have charges, and the only asset that has infinite uses and can deal more than one damage with no other costs is the Cyclopean Hammer. Guardians are tailored to be the class that is more convenient to fight. And after Runic Axe, they already have all the weapons assets they need to be able to fight reliably. They don't need any more weapons, certainly no more guns.

[@eyeofbraille4659]

Locked and Loaded seems like it's made for Rogues, because they're the ones who want to play lots of little guns. It would turn Sleight of Hand Lupara into a 9 potential damage manoeuver, for example. But right now I believe only Lola has the deck access required to play that? I wonder if Michael McGlen will somehow have access to this sort of tech as well?

[@renosstefanidis1090]

@@eyeofbraille4659 I think Locked and Loaded is printed as a support to Michael and Guardians as well. Maybe his deckbuilding is like Neutral 0-5, Rogue 0-3, cards that use or add ammo 0-5.

[@greno1083]

This is more of a general question, but do you always run in the thick of it, even when playing blind or in trauma heavy campaigns?

[@RatherIncoherent]

@@greno1083 Yes, however I wouldn't recommend doing that AND ignoring blankets in TFA as I've done it and regretted it more than once.

[@DakonBlackblade2]

Transfigurations shouldn't exist, feels like fan made jank content. And yes ppl, I know I can simply not play the card, it does not make the design less absurd, it breaks the game, the rules are weird, toxic card overall. The game will pay dearly for its existence in the future, but I guess some people will have fun with it.

[@Nerdmeetsyou]

Feel like this might be the second forbidden card😅

[@TheShanicpower]

Let’s go Transfiguration gang! We have nothing to lose but our chains!

[@EyesOnTheTreeline]

Transfiguration is a rules NIGHTMARE and will probably just be banned for me. Let me give you some quick examples why: -If you change into Hank, and then die, you are now Hank forever. You replace the card that "is Hank" with his resolute version. You are no longer your original investigator at all. You are Hank now, congrats. Also, because of the rules clarifications given in the spoiler reveal you DO NOT get his signatures and you cannot play your old signatures since you are no longer that investigator. -If you count as both investigators then you have 6 actions (3 per investigator) and take two separate turns. -Technically (and most pedantically) the card does nothing. In the clarification they said that "in your collection" means the cards you had access to when you build your deck. You do not have access to other investigators while building your deck, so the card does nothing. I KNOW THAT THESE ARE PROBABLY NOT AS INTENDED BUT THAT IS WHY I SAID A "RULES NIGHTMARE" AND NOT A "FUN-NESS NIGHTMARE"

[@hannahvickery4683]

I mean sure, any card that is going to require new rules doesn't work without those new rules being created. That's part of spoiler season in any game. When the card is officially released, the rules will be updated to accommodate it.

[@EyesOnTheTreeline]

@@hannahvickery4683 For sure for sure. I just don't really need another "Luke Robinson" where the card basically has to come with its own entire page of FAQs to work. And this is by no means an exhaustive list of things that it will break. These were just the first three that came to mind. And maybe I'm completely wrong and I will love the card once it is cleared up and the rest of the set has come out.