THE CARD
Name: Gate of Deeper Slumber
Set: Mythos Dreamlands
Type: Location
Region: The West
Subregion: Oukranos Wilds
Location Attributes: Gate, Country, Site
Public Attributes: Forest, Inside
Sanity Gain/Loss: +1
Dimension: Dreamlands
Special Effect Box: You may use this Gate more than once but you must Flip a Dreamer Ally face-down for each subsequent use.
THE SOURCE
"So asking a formal blessing of the priests and thinking shrewdly on
his course, he boldly descended the seven hundred steps to the Gate of
Deeper Slumber and set out through the Enchanted Wood."
- The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, H.P. Lovecraft
CLARIFICATIONS
The Gate can be used more than once, as long as an Ally with the Dreamer Attribute is flipped face-down for each use after the first. The following Allies have the Dreamer attribute: Howard Lovecraft (Dreamlands), Randolph Carter (Dreamlands and Limited), Captain of the White Ship, Lin Carter, Basil Elton, and Etienne Laurent de Marigny. All the Allies with the Dreamer Attribute and the Dreamlands Attribute can easily be played in the West, where the Gate of Deeper Slumber is situated.
QUESTIONS
Q: Do I need to flip a Dreamer Ally every time I use the gate?
A: You can use the Gate once without flipping a Dreamer Ally face-down. You may then re-use the gate any number of times, but must flip a Dreamer Ally face-down each time you re-use it.
Q: Do I receive the +1 SAN bonus every time I use the gate, just as I lose one SAN for every use of other reusable Gates, such as 197 E. Pickman St.?
A: No. You receive +1 SAN when you arrive at the Location. The cost of reusing the Gate at the Gate of Deeper Slumber is flipping a Dreamer Ally face-down.
Q: Does the Gate of Deeper Slumber count as a Gate for certain Adventure requirements?
A: Yes, but only because it actually has a Gate swirl, not because it has the word `Gate' in the title. Partial titles don't count for Adventure requirements; this is in the FAQ. If the Location somehow loses the Gate Attribute (as your Current Location) it does not satisfy the Adventure Gate requirement.
STRATEGIES
Monster, Monster, Monster! - Because Allies can be flipped face-up as a Turn, having even one Ally with the Dreamer Attribute in play may be enough to allow the play of all Monsters in your hand during that round. Flipping an Ally face-up as a Turn and then re-using the Gate is as efficient as moving to a new Location with an unused Gate if you have no fast Travel Events (such as Zebra).
Card Advantage - Although one Ally with the Dreamer Attribute is enough to allow multiple use of this Gate, being able to flip multiple Allies to reuse the Gate many times is the preferred way of doing it. Being able to achieve this just once in a game might be enough to clear your hand of cards, giving you the edge over your opponents. From a defensive point of view, the Gate of Deeper Slumber is an Inside Country Location which avoids the main Phobia afflicting decks with Country Locations, Agoraphobia.
Knee Deep in Doom - A reusable gate which has a 1 SAN gain to visit is ideal for Knee-Deep in Doom. The 1 SAN gain offsets the cost of one monster played at the gate and the gate re-use penalty does not cost any extra SAN, unlike all Waking World Locations except for Stonehenge. So how easy is it to find Dreamer Allies in order to make free use of the Gate? Howard Lovecraft and Randolph Carter are very easy to play in Oukranos Wilds; The Captain of the White Ship can be played in most of the rest of The West. These three Allies are staple inclusions in many Dreamlands decks which makes the reuse of the Gate almost effortless. Any of the other Allies which can be played in Oukranos Wilds (including Allies playable at Sites and Country Locations) can easily be given the Dreamer Attribute using the Wine of Pnoth, which also provides a +1 SAN bonus, further reducing the cost of playing those expensive Knee-Deep in Doom Monsters.
The Great Menagerie - This Adventure becomes very much easier if The Gate of Deeper Slumber is used as one of the prime sites for playing Monsters. In addition to the Monster requirements, this Adventure also requires an Adventurer or Explorer. In Dreamlands, this requirement is met by Iranon the Explorer (Any Site) and The Hunter (Any Country), both playable at The Gate of Deeper Slumber (a Country Site). Play Joined with Randolph Carter and equip them with Wines of Pnoth, and most of the Monsters for this Adventure could be played in one Round. The only disadvantage to using the Gate of Deeper Slumber in The Great Menagerie is that it is not an Outside Location and as such, it is probably not worth including more than two copies in a deck using this Adventure.
The Hunter - The Special Ability of The Hunter allows him to be buried to eliminate the SAN cost of playing any one Monster to the Threat. The cost of playing all those Monsters for Knee-Deep in Doom or The Great Menagerie is reduced even more!
West is Best - If you're going to base all or part of a deck's strategy around The Gate of Deeper Slumber, it's worth thinking about going the whole way and using other locations in Oukranos Wilds and The West. It's commonly assumed that Country Regions are too slow and should be avoided, but Oukranos Wilds has the much-overlooked Zoog Chieftain to speed up movement, and Zebras can allow you to really fly through the deck. Many of the West Locations give +1 SAN, reducing the need for those dangerous card-discarding Temples, and many also have the Gate Attribute. Lastly, Oukranos wilds is home to the excellent Old Woman of the Enchanted Wood, a superbly annoying discard card.
Chorazin - One of the main problems with GOOs is that you must use a Gate to play them. It's often a dilemma whether to play the GOO or a defensive Monster when faced with large opposing Threats; playing the GOO might leave you open to attack, while playing the monster uses up your Gate (which may be very specific to the GOO) and wastes the opportunity. The Gate of Deeper Slumber allows you to play both, one after the other, as long as you've a Dreamer Ally. Regrettably, the only GOO requiring a specific location playable at the Gate of Deeper Slumber is Chorazin (Dreamlands Site / Lunar Eclipse). Where might playing Chorazin be useful then? That's right, The Great Menagerie; being able to use a GOO as one of the Monster subtypes is very helpful, and can provide quite a surprise.
COUNTER STRATEGIES
The best strategies to use against (ab)use of The Gate of Deeper Slumber are anti-Location strategies, anti-Ally strategies, and generic anti-Monster strategies.
Anti-Location Strategies - Wave of Oblivion, Green Mist of Doom, Cthulhu Rising (although this latter attack will only bury it). These discard methods may be a bit extreme, as The Gate is not needed for any Dreamlands Adventures and is just an efficient Monster producer, so Burying will be just as effective. Townsfolk Riot will drive them away. Yithian Mental Contact is not a good idea, as your opponent may be waiting for that final Monster to enter his or her Story Deck ... playing YMC just as your opponent arrives at the Location is ok though. Two cards from New Aeon which are particularly effective against this multiple-use Gate are Media Hyperbole and Serial Killer, both of which are playable in any Dimension.
Anti-Ally Strategies - If your opponent has no Dreamer Allies, he or she cannot re-use the gate. Use Ally Buriers such as Harney Reginald Opens Fire, or steal the Wines of Pnoth with Mi-Go, Thieves in Your Attic, or similar. Epidemics are an especially efficient method of slowing down this strategy, particularly Dysentery. Television (from New Aeon) will flip face-down all allies and keep them there; the Gate of Deeper Slumber is not a Tome location, so a Day event or the end of the Round is necessary to free them up again. All usual methods such as Black Binding will work too, but beware that decks using The Great Menagerie and Knee-Deep in Doom will usually put out a decent Threat so Defending Allies might never be affected (and Bypassing Monsters might be suicidal); in this instance New Aeon cards such as Fragmentation Grenade and Hitman from Medellin are useful.
Anti-Monster Strategies - Use all those surplus Allies and Monsters to your advantage. The Innsmouth Look might just tip the size of the Threat into Instability in the Mythos territory, a situation fairly likely if Knee-Deep in Doom is being played. Ill Omen is another solution to this problem; discarded Monsters will really slow such a deck down.