It must be cast at the precise moment of the attack, requiring the mage to split her dice pool or use Multi-Tasking. A Critical Fumble is a Direct effect that does the same amount of damage. This Rote allows the mage to remember large amounts of data with perfect clarity. It can be used to preserve specific memories or to retrieve largely forgotten ones. Mages who store too much information can experience side effects like confusion as sensory cues cause a flood of associated memories or an inability to remember without using the Rote.
Some mages find it necessary to 'purge' old memories to make way for fresh data.
Combined with other senses and Mind effects, the EMM becomes even more useful. For instance, the mage can flip through a book, then Multi-Task and have one task carefully read it from memory or 'rewind' her memory of a recent encounter to look for details that her conscious mind overlooked. During this duration the mage can look back just as if she were still experiencing the memory even to the point of noticing details for the first time. After the duration is up, the memory fades to normal levels of recall. To retrieve a forgotten experience, the mage rolls with successes read on the duration chart to indicate how far back she can remember.