I just picked up the Secrets of Arkham Expansion which contains the Azathoth card. For those of you who don't have it in front of you the text line for this card reads...

Response: After Azathoth enters play, each player must sacrifice all characters not named Azathoth and all support cards he controls. At the end of the turn, you are eliminated from the game.

Now I'm not the worlds greatest at strategy but from what I'm reading this would end the game for me. Is there a card that counters this effect or some reason I would ever want to play this card? Better yet could someone give me an example of when it would be used in play? Because I can't for the life of me figure out why I would want to put this card in my deck.

Thanks!

 You use it when you have won two stories. I'm not sure if it's a guaranteed victory then, but I haven't memorised all cards. Yet.

You could also play Azzy to clear the table, then slap down more characters for your side (especially those with I icons). IIRC, blanking or removing Azzy from play before the end of the turn also prevents you from losing, so get those sacrifice/destroy abilities ready before playing Azzy.

But don't let him get to your discard pile and have your opponent win and then resolve The Secret of North Woods Story:

"Each player puts into play all characters in his
discard pile."

It leads to an embarrassing loss .

Yeah, the idea behind the card is probably to play it to grab a close victory that you wouldn't be able to achieve if your opponent was able to defend the stories.

Note, that you could also choose not use the Response, though having no icons, Azathoth is a pretty weak character for a six point cost.

Also, from a story flavor standpoint, there is absolutely no reason you should ever want to play Azathoth.

Dam said:

So the trigger for his (her? its?) "You lose" ability is him being on the table at the end of your turn not blanked? I read it as "As soon as Azzy hits the table the clock is running."

I believe the Azathoth ability is considered passive so it no longer has an effect if leaves play or is blanked. 

WARNING: Unless you are playing some trick deck for fun games do not use it... really, get your hand off the history eraser button you fool!

Tokhuah said:

That sums it up in hilarious fashion!

I too had problems understanding the Azathoth card. I learned it the hard way. It was my wife's turn and then she put it into play and she immediately declared herself the winner. Of course I was wondering how she managed to declare herself the winner when the card says "At the end of the turn, you are eliminated from the game." The key phrase she pointed out was "At the end of the turn..."  I was left with no characters or support cards to control, she had Azathoth, she was leading by two stories and three tokens, she was still in the middle of her TURN. She won the her third story and immediately the game ends.

I didn't speak to her all evening after that game and that card she played . LOL!!!

Tokhuah said:

It isn't a passive. The Response once triggered creates a lasting effect. I don't believe it matters if Azzy is in play or not. If you didn't win, you lose.

Penfold said:

Azathoth has both a Response and a passive. If you look at the card you can see that there is a nice line break after the Response. The Response is what causes all character to be sacrificed. The passive is what causes you to lose at the end of the turn.

 Sorry, I didn't look at the card, just teh original posters wording. Yes, because the "lose the game" effect is a passive, it must be in play for it to initiate and resolve, so if it is not in play, there is nothing to resolve.