Syndicate seems utterly unplayable

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I've been trying for countless hours (note the plural) in Casual mode to complete the Gaunter's Ultimate Challeng quest for winning 3 games with your chosen faction, and I've only won a single game. I've been trying out different variations of Firesworn, each with almost no chance of success, regardless of the opponent. I agree that Scoia'tael isn't great at the moment, but how has no one complained about the terrible state of the Syndicate faction? I feel like I would have a better chance playing a slightly modified starter deck for one of the main factions than I am currently having with my Firesworn deck.

Alternatively, is it possible that the matchmaking doesn't work properly with Syndicate? I've noticed that every single one of my opponents have had reasonably polished decks, whereas when I was playing a lot of Scoia'tael last week, I often encountered newer players and people playing quest decks.
 
I chose SY this week and the first opponent I met by chance had a useless mission deck, the only thing he did was play bombs, he did his mission, I did mine, both happy, GG and to continue with the missions. :beer:
 
I've just blasted through a few levels with Syndicate. Basically, if you build a deck that isn't typical, you'll get better match-ups because the algorithm struggles to match you with anti-decks.

Example - I built a Wild Hunt deck. CDPR had obviously engineered things so building such a deck was obvious, and easy. I then found that matchmaking was VERY quick and often unfair. I then just revamped the Monster deck and threw weird crap in there, like Keltullis, the Crones, etc. - won more than lost, and even in losing never really felt 'cheated'.

So with Syndicate, don't go obvious. The clear thing to do is Firesworn. All the Mirrior cards are Firesworn, the devoition cards are Firesworn, etc. I build that deck, constant ugly matchups against META's. So again, I changed it - not one Firesworn units, some auto-includes (Borsodi, Philipa), then a solid mix of hoard cards, decent range of 7/8 prov cards and less 4 provs, mixed between coin gain and spend. Again winning more than losing.

There's some good cards, good deck for thinning as well, at least three viable summons. Philipa is still well OP. Think of Syndicate in terms of play card, do something. Don't rely to heavily on one archetype, like Firesworn - with that ridiculous Usurper garbage with NG spawning a bunch of agents, it won't work, so don't bother. Don't bother just with bounties either. It takes a bit of piloting, but it is viable at low level.
 
I've been trying for countless hours (note the plural) in Casual mode to complete the Gaunter's Ultimate Challeng quest for winning 3 games with your chosen faction, and I've only won a single game. I've been trying out different variations of Firesworn, each with almost no chance of success, regardless of the opponent. I agree that Scoia'tael isn't great at the moment, but how has no one complained about the terrible state of the Syndicate faction? I feel like I would have a better chance playing a slightly modified starter deck for one of the main factions than I am currently having with my Firesworn deck.

Alternatively, is it possible that the matchmaking doesn't work properly with Syndicate? I've noticed that every single one of my opponents have had reasonably polished decks, whereas when I was playing a lot of Scoia'tael last week, I often encountered newer players and people playing quest decks.

Yes SY is in a bad state, but you have to be selective in the matches. If you encounter a leader you are not likely to beat, save yourself the frustration and forefeit. Auto-forefeiting has made the game so much enjoyable for me, that in any given day I can play till I get 50 wins with any leader I want, including Invigorate (or so was the case pre nerf of harmony, good times). On the top side, you get 25 xp for forefeiting, so dont feel so bad about it, embrace auto-concede :beer:.

And yes, there are a lot of powerful decks on Casual right now. This wasn't the case prior Master Mirrow expansion. So nothing unusual in that case. During the next journey, things will go back to normal, as more people will want to compleate their journey-quests in casual, so that you will see more of the weaker decks, compared to this month.
 
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Sure...

So for the OP, try a more varied deck, avoid the archetype (which simply doesn't work), keep the provisions balanced and make sure you can a) get coins, and b) use philipa.
 
Well, thanks for the suggestions. The key is to not play Firesworn. I still think it's weird that the Firesworn archetype is so terrible when the recent support that the primary five factions received is so strong. Obviously, one could argue that the new Scoia'tael cards aren't great, but at least Symbiosis is really strong if your opponent doesn't remove any of your engines, unlikely as that may seem.
 
Well, thanks for the suggestions. The key is to not play Firesworn. I still think it's weird that the Firesworn archetype is so terrible when the recent support that the primary five factions received is so strong. Obviously, one could argue that the new Scoia'tael cards aren't great, but at least Symbiosis is really strong if your opponent doesn't remove any of your engines, unlikely as that may seem.

Technically Firesworn is also strong if the engines are not removed, in both cases it is difficult with so much damage to the meta.

I used that deck ↓ , it is not polished, it is the basic thing to win some games, you will use the bleeding to prepare Igni with several turns of advantage and what you will steal with Phillipa if necessary. The poison is for your units (the ship)

 
Er...five hours to get my three NG wins. It's my strongest faction. One just had far fewer cards than me: I think all bronze. Poor them, but they still nearly won. One bailed as I poison spammed because that's what I have most of apart from the new cards which actually seem rubbish. One, again, I got lucky. I did best (i.e. quickest) with SK because the cards had just come out. Took forever with MO and believe I have the 'delights' of NR, SY and probably not ST as they've been on a third time. I have had to resort to the 3 witchers to get those wins as well. So you have my sympathies.
 
I would recomend this deck instead; Minor adjustments: Flying redanian, Hammond, bomb heaver, mutated hound. Replaced with: Oneiromancy, Blindeye apothecary, Roderick de wett + any other 4p card.

 

DRK3

Forum veteran
Syndicate is not so bad, it just might give that impression because its new cards might not be as strong as other factions, or more importantly, might also not be as strong as the cards they already had.

Im not saying swarm is bad, but its not as consistent as previous SY metadecks.
Consider using Passiflora, if you're not encountering bomb heavers.
Check if you're encountering tall and/or wide punishes. I see a lot of SY players using those fallen knights because they're cheap, you can play many and if not countered they provide a lot of value while you're busy swarming.
Also Devotion might not be worth it, depending on how "Swarmy" your deck is.
 
My main deck is a firesworn/crime deck and I've been on a winstreak lately, 12 of my last 14. Granted I am only rank 6 now and I somehow haven't run into a lot of second wind, but I am beating everything else. List is attached. Main cards that must be included are Ullrich, ferko, whoreson, and fallen knights which are amazing.

 
Any swarm deck is rendered useless when SK can play their big dumb boat and get like 30 points.
Oh, and the powercreep has made it so older cards tend to be a bit weaker. So yeah, Syndicate got screwed.
Removal options are weak for Fireswarm, Damnation should be tweaked maybe add in a Devotion effect?
There's also that mindboggling Sacred Flame change but I won't go on another rant about that.
 
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I just made it to pro rank using Syndicate, but not with any cards from the Master Mirror expansion...or Passiflora.

Nope, just regular old school Jackpot Syndicate is the way to go. 6 poisons with fisstechs and the hounds. Luisa & Savolla. Both Borsodi brothers. With your round finishers being Tinboy in round 1 or 2 and Luisa & Savolla or Bincy and Gundren's Leader ability in round 3... with philippa there to steal engines.

The only Firesworn cards i run are 2 Eternal Fire disciples and excommunication. I usually lead rounds with these cards as people love to kill them, which leaves less removal available for the azar's scarab(s).

Still, winning with this deck takes some skill, as you pilot and mulligan it differently against different factions and it takes a lot of excellent coin management to fund all of your golds...i run imke, bank, + pickpocket and shield imke against all save NG.

Also run a bomb heaver and pellar primarily for the NG matchup. This deck also fared very well against the firesworn SY deck.
 

rrc

Forum veteran
I just made it to pro rank using Syndicate, but not with any cards from the Master Mirror expansion...or Passiflora.

Nope, just regular old school Jackpot Syndicate is the way to go. 6 poisons with fisstechs and the hounds. Luisa & Savolla. Both Borsodi brothers. With your round finishers being Tinboy in round 1 or 2 and Luisa & Savolla or Bincy and Gundren's Leader ability in round 3... with philippa there to steal engines.

The only Firesworn cards i run are 2 Eternal Fire disciples and excommunication. I usually lead rounds with these cards as people love to kill them, which leaves less removal available for the azar's scarab(s).

Still, winning with this deck takes some skill, as you pilot and mulligan it differently against different factions and it takes a lot of excellent coin management to fund all of your golds...i run imke, bank, + pickpocket and shield imke against all save NG.

Also run a bomb heaver and pellar primarily for the NG matchup. This deck also fared very well against the firesworn SY deck.
Yes, even in The Invitational tournament which happened last week, people chose SY as their 4th faction more than people who chose ST as their 4th faction. And even then, people didn't play Firesworm. Bushy who was the runner up ran a Blood Money with Passiflora (Passiflora is the strongest Scenario in the game)..

So, you can play regular old SY which is strong enough without using many of the new cards.
 

Guest 4398623

Guest
I've been trying for countless hours (note the plural) in Casual mode to complete the Gaunter's Ultimate Challeng quest for winning 3 games with your chosen faction, and I've only won a single game. I've been trying out different variations of Firesworn, each with almost no chance of success, regardless of the opponent. I agree that Scoia'tael isn't great at the moment, but how has no one complained about the terrible state of the Syndicate faction? I feel like I would have a better chance playing a slightly modified starter deck for one of the main factions than I am currently having with my Firesworn deck.

Alternatively, is it possible that the matchmaking doesn't work properly with Syndicate? I've noticed that every single one of my opponents have had reasonably polished decks, whereas when I was playing a lot of Scoia'tael last week, I often encountered newer players and people playing quest decks.

Only because firesworn is bad, it doesn't mean that the whole faction is bad. This is just one archetype to play SY, others are stronger.
 
In non-ranked it's weird that you're having so many problems because you easily find someone doing quests. On the contrary, I tried ST last week in ranked and it was really hard to win the matches, ended up doing it but after several losses in a row.
 
I must say I didnt have trouble at all winning with even the most obvious and simplistic firesworn deck. sure it's a bit of a lost cause against SK and sometimes NG but other than that it worked surprisingly well for me. guess it's not for everyone
 
i will give an advice to everyone.

Try to win in the seasonal mode, its really simple.

I was having some dificult to win my 3 games with SC a few weeks ago, so i played in seasonal and that was easy.

Also, i made the same with SC.

Almost used the same regular cards and wi the games

With the other factions i have good decks to win 3 matches
 
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