Don't get why Bonded is being pushed so hard. Every revealed faction so far has a bonded tag in one of the cards, and they all (bonded cards) seem underwhelming to boot.
EDIT: I know the new location card is probably why, but there are so many keywords that can be explored more than bonded imo. Rupture and adrenaline come to mind. Bonded isn't really something I would throw into my bounty deck, and sacrificing provisions for the location seems like a waste.
EDIT: I know the new location card is probably why, but there are so many keywords that can be explored more than bonded imo. Rupture and adrenaline come to mind. Bonded isn't really something I would throw into my bounty deck, and sacrificing provisions for the location seems like a waste.
Savvy huckster:
From a value perspective he is a 6 for 4 and a 8 for 4 if bonded. Do not consider it to be a valuable target for Mushy Truffle.
Also there might be better alternatives in the 4 provision spot:
- Bloody Good Fun: for both Indimitate and bounty control heavy decks
- Dip in the Pontar: for both Indimitate and bounty control heavy decks
- Fence: Combined with Off the Books
- Fisstech + Fisstech trafficker if you go for the poison package
- Sea Jackal as a spender
- Vigilantes in witch hunter focused decks
- Witch Hunter and Slander in bounty deck
Evaluation: I would give it a 2 out of 10. From a value perspective it looks decent as Scapegoat also did. But it´s not really fitting in any SY archetype. So I guess that this card will not see competitive play-
From a value perspective he is a 6 for 4 and a 8 for 4 if bonded. Do not consider it to be a valuable target for Mushy Truffle.
Also there might be better alternatives in the 4 provision spot:
- Bloody Good Fun: for both Indimitate and bounty control heavy decks
- Dip in the Pontar: for both Indimitate and bounty control heavy decks
- Fence: Combined with Off the Books
- Fisstech + Fisstech trafficker if you go for the poison package
- Sea Jackal as a spender
- Vigilantes in witch hunter focused decks
- Witch Hunter and Slander in bounty deck
Evaluation: I would give it a 2 out of 10. From a value perspective it looks decent as Scapegoat also did. But it´s not really fitting in any SY archetype. So I guess that this card will not see competitive play-
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This card screams of filler. Why would you play this when you have Beggar? Beggar is 1 less power, but 3 coins and 5 on bonded.
So, out of the 4 SY cards revealed, only the special seems somewhat decent.
Trash filler card just like Scapegoat. Tamara would require more Witch Hunters but they didn't deliver.
I get that SY is overpowered but that is no reason to waste resources on stuff like this.
I don't think the Witch Hunter archetype will perform well enough on its own. And that is sad since the way to fix SY is to focus more on archetype synergy and less on overall faction synergy since that leads to simply picking one mathematically optimal deck.
If Savvy Hukster is trash as people are claiming, what about Vrihedd Officer? 
Savvy Hukster is 6 without bonded and with bonded he is 8, with 2 coins which can (and most probably will) be used for damage. Officer plays for 5 and with bonded 7. If 6 and 8 is trash and dead on arrival, when is the death anniversary for Vrihedd Officer
Savvy Hukster is 6 without bonded and with bonded he is 8, with 2 coins which can (and most probably will) be used for damage. Officer plays for 5 and with bonded 7. If 6 and 8 is trash and dead on arrival, when is the death anniversary for Vrihedd Officer
Don't think I have ever used the officer (actually had to boot the game just to look this one up because I'm that unfamiliar with him). Not a fan of bonded to begin with though (save for the dwarves and beggars). I would strongly consider the officer to be dead. Was he even used in his "prime"?If Savvy Hukster is trash as people are claiming, what about Vrihedd Officer?
Savvy Hukster is 6 without bonded and with bonded he is 8, with 2 coins which can (and most probably will) be used for damage. Officer plays for 5 and with bonded 7. If 6 and 8 is trash and dead on arrival, when is the death anniversary for Vrihedd Officer
Because SY has better bonded units. Beggar on bonded gives 5 coins. Playing both means a total of 8 coins. Seductress on bonded boosts by 1 for each unit of special your opponent plays. However bonded is still bad overall and inconsistent. If you want to push it as an archetype, you must do better than Watcher, Illusionist and Savvy Huckster.If Savvy Hukster is trash as people are claiming, what about Vrihedd Officer?
Savvy Hukster is 6 without bonded and with bonded he is 8, with 2 coins which can (and most probably will) be used for damage. Officer plays for 5 and with bonded 7. If 6 and 8 is trash and dead on arrival, when is the death anniversary for Vrihedd Officer
I just see no reason to play any of these bonded cards because of how bonded in general is.
I don't like playing "consistent" decks a lot (I do have some exceptions in very specific decks, mostly NG), and bonded as a mechanic is either needing a lucky draw or consistency. My favorite decks outside of meme realm are ones that don't need thinning or consistency tools. You work with what you have and that's it. Bonded feels like an undue limitation in this regard. If I don't have both in hand, then I'm not getting full value, and at that point, I might as well have better performing 4 provision cards with better synergy.
I don't even play beggar for its bonded ability. I play it as a condition for my Collusion deck for the tag.
I don't like playing "consistent" decks a lot (I do have some exceptions in very specific decks, mostly NG), and bonded as a mechanic is either needing a lucky draw or consistency. My favorite decks outside of meme realm are ones that don't need thinning or consistency tools. You work with what you have and that's it. Bonded feels like an undue limitation in this regard. If I don't have both in hand, then I'm not getting full value, and at that point, I might as well have better performing 4 provision cards with better synergy.
I don't even play beggar for its bonded ability. I play it as a condition for my Collusion deck for the tag.
They're about the same. Officer has Elf tag for synergy, Huckster has nothing. Both trash.I am not saying Savvy Hukster is good. Please don't mistake me. All I am saying is, if Huskster is bad or trash, what does it say about Office. We all know the answer. That was just a rhetorical question.
Bonded units can be powerful if they are bonded effect is engine-based.
Crow Clan Preacher combined with Gedyneith alchemy can be very, very strong.
Sly Seductress + Passiflora can also be an awesome engine.
Alba Pikeman bonded means 2 random damage each turn.
Cutup Lackey even means 4 random damage after playing a crime card.
For bonded deployers the bonded effect appears to be less valuable. Maybe Celaeno Harpy is an exception as it can bring +6 if bonded and consume available.
Regarding the new bonded units:
- I consider SC watcher of the valley and NG illusionist to be a very unstable bonded combo which can offer huge rewards if it suceeds.
- SY savvy huckster does not offer enough rewards from my perspective.
What I would prefer:
Body 2, Shield
Profit: 1
Deploy: Damage an enemy unit by 1.
Bonded: The first time you gain a Coin each turn, remove shield and deal 2 damage to an random opponent unit with a status.
Completely forgot about your list, and definitely agree about bonded engines being better. Especially since the first 2 are provided with their scenarios. I do run those in some of my decks, but haven't played any of those 4 in a long time.
Edit: Your suggestion with hukster would definitely added some synergy to bounty and purge, and would make me reconsider the possibility of running it in a bounty deck
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SY
I appreciate the effort to push bounty archetipe away from "kill everything in one turn" decks, but as long as Freakshow and Drill stay the same, nothing is going to change.
The Brute - situationally great, situationally terrible, on average probably not worth 13 prov.
Octavia - on the first glance, this card looks insanely strong, but she's only as good as the cards she pulls, so we'll see.
Purge - Synergistic payoff card with some additional synergy, i like that. Unfortunately it's probably not going to see much play since you can replace it with Dip in the Pontar, that plays for 6 and requires no synergy.
Savvy Huckster - filler, and not a good one.
Suggestion:
Freakshow:
Profit 2, Charge 3
Fee 2 (Melee): Damage an enemy unit by 2 an remove 1 charge.
Deathblow: Gain 1 charge.
Every allied turn, on turn end, gain 1 charge
This should prevent the card from killing everything, while allowing it to kill something on deploy and potentialy lot more if you can keep it alive for few turns or only last-hit.
Drill:
Profit 2
Fee 2: Damage an enemy unit by 0.
Increase the damage by 1, if Drill is adjacent to 2 Crownspliters.
Increase the damage by 1, if you controll at least 2 other gold crownspliters.
Increase the damage by 1, if you have at least 4 other crownspliters on this row.
Increase the damage by 1, if you have at least 1 crownspliter on the other row.
To play Drill efficiently, you have to meet multiple conditions and that can't be done in a single turn.
I appreciate the effort to push bounty archetipe away from "kill everything in one turn" decks, but as long as Freakshow and Drill stay the same, nothing is going to change.
The Brute - situationally great, situationally terrible, on average probably not worth 13 prov.
Octavia - on the first glance, this card looks insanely strong, but she's only as good as the cards she pulls, so we'll see.
Purge - Synergistic payoff card with some additional synergy, i like that. Unfortunately it's probably not going to see much play since you can replace it with Dip in the Pontar, that plays for 6 and requires no synergy.
Savvy Huckster - filler, and not a good one.
Suggestion:
Freakshow:
Profit 2, Charge 3
Fee 2 (Melee): Damage an enemy unit by 2 an remove 1 charge.
Deathblow: Gain 1 charge.
Every allied turn, on turn end, gain 1 charge
This should prevent the card from killing everything, while allowing it to kill something on deploy and potentialy lot more if you can keep it alive for few turns or only last-hit.
Drill:
Profit 2
Fee 2: Damage an enemy unit by 0.
Increase the damage by 1, if Drill is adjacent to 2 Crownspliters.
Increase the damage by 1, if you controll at least 2 other gold crownspliters.
Increase the damage by 1, if you have at least 4 other crownspliters on this row.
Increase the damage by 1, if you have at least 1 crownspliter on the other row.
To play Drill efficiently, you have to meet multiple conditions and that can't be done in a single turn.
I feel the opposite about purge's possible playrate. I'm actually making room for it in my bounty deck because of the synergy it gives, but I do run mostly Witch Hunters in that deck and on average for me, Purge should be able to get 6 damage by the time I would intend to play it, plus giving me another bounty target for vigilantes to ping. My intended play order would be (also assuming everything sticks and isn't locked): Vigilantes, Witch Hunter, Witch Hunter Ex, then purge; then, in theory, I would have eliminated the first target and hopefully the second same turn if my first bounty target was high enough power, didn't get boosted out of range, etc.
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For Brute you could've summarized him as being inconsistent. A 13p card should not be so hard to setup and so difficult to get value from.
Octavia is as good as the card she can pull, correct. A plus is that she is versatile, same as current Vanadain. The crux is that she can be a brick and that other than Scoundrel, I don't see the need to pull others. Fabian is awful, Ignatius is too costly, Brute is for the most part the kind of card you want to play in your last 1-3 turns.
Purge is good in a pure Witch Hunter Bounty deck because in such a deck you have a lot more chances to increase your damage and get that deathblow. Odds are higher for Witch Hunters to stick around. In any other deck... it probably gets replaced by DitP.
Savvy Huckster is just awful. I feel that these cards are only pushed around because of Mushy Truffle. Only that it is not worth playing Mushy Truffle if the bonded target is this card. Or Watcher. Or Illusionist. SY has better Bonded units. Beggar gives 3 coins, 5 coins on bonded. Seductress is an engine, especially good against decks that play more cards in their turns.
As for your suggestion, I don't know how CDPR will implement charges for a spender. SY has no units with charges. Technically speaking coin limitation acts as a substitute for charges for SY. SY has units with cooldown such as Arena Endrega, Eternal Fire Priest, Hvitr & Aelydia, Igor, etc. But no unit with charges. Adding charges in SY beats the purpose of the overall coin mechanic IMO.
As for Drill, that kind of complexity makes it unplayable. An unwritten rule in Gwent is that the harder the setup for a card to get value, the more unlikely is for that card to get any play.