I've come back to the game for the start of the current season, been playing a lot, and I haven't faced a single Syndicate opponent. Not one in over a week playing 3-ish hours every day.
But is it ok now? Balanced or too nerfed? I just barely tried it back when it was released, never quite got to build a good deck with it, as I stopped playing for the last few months. I would like to build a deck now, I love the flavor of it AND I like to try new combos and different stuff which Syndicate seems to be full of... but I wouldn't want to be in a huge disadvantage, if no one is playing it because it's just too UP atm.
Syndicate is too limited and it's so one dimensional, an absolute bore to play with or against and very deal dependent. Philipa, Borsini, Professor, Defender, Witch Hunter, Moreelse, etc., all become auto include The Strategem is probably weakest of all of them too.
The problem, IMO, is that EVERYTHING in Syndicate is about playing at least two cards for setup. Gwent is unrelenting, you don't have time to play a bunch of cards, there's so much purify (vs bounty) or removal you're always going to struggle to really get things motoring. Even Philipa's OP mechanic isn't a huge problem, it's just inconvenient and you can lure it out with a 5 prov bronze most of the time. The worst card at the moment is that one that makes the next Tribute free. I mean, it's a really bad design. It's not like Stefan or Damian have deploy, so why does this card give a free pass to Savola? Ridiculously poor thinking.
The problem, IMO, is that EVERYTHING in Syndicate is about playing at least two cards for setup. Gwent is unrelenting, you don't have time to play a bunch of cards, there's so much purify (vs bounty) or removal you're always going to struggle to really get things motoring. Even Philipa's OP mechanic isn't a huge problem, it's just inconvenient and you can lure it out with a 5 prov bronze most of the time. The worst card at the moment is that one that makes the next Tribute free. I mean, it's a really bad design. It's not like Stefan or Damian have deploy, so why does this card give a free pass to Savola? Ridiculously poor thinking.
Mate, if I see that bloody Borsini card turn up in the later stages of R3 to basically remove everything, I actually feel quite sick. It's the worst tutoring in the game. Play bounty, get coins, destroy multiple cards, and it's 4 STR which is harder to beat these days.
SY can still be pretty strong if played correctly. But it lacks flavor atm. Players might say that they are playing this or that SY decktype or variant but to me it is always the same deck: Wild card to play double fisstech or slender + Graden in one turn. Then you add all the strong gold cards that don't have any synergies with each other (ok, except Luiza into Savolla) + witch hunter + hound ...
It's kind of sad becaue Syndicate is the youngest faction so you could assume that it is really shining and fun to play but it's not. I still wonder why SY got the 'mutant' keyword and nothing cares about it. Similar to the gangs that almost don't matter. You could do really interesting things with that like actually mutating these cards from one state to another. Maybe mutate them with poison or something like that.
But I also have to say that the overall state of the game is really good and the surprise expansion is fun and was good for all the other factions.
It's kind of sad becaue Syndicate is the youngest faction so you could assume that it is really shining and fun to play but it's not. I still wonder why SY got the 'mutant' keyword and nothing cares about it. Similar to the gangs that almost don't matter. You could do really interesting things with that like actually mutating these cards from one state to another. Maybe mutate them with poison or something like that.
But I also have to say that the overall state of the game is really good and the surprise expansion is fun and was good for all the other factions.
Syndicate is still quite strong if played well. Furthermore the coin mechanic is better than I initially expected. Nevertheless, within the current season I wouldn`t include Witch Hunter or Professor; definitely no auto include
Overall I think it`s still among the top 4 factions, sligthly before SK.
I guess players simply dont like Syndicate (i know i dont). Ever since it was released it was at the top of the meta or close to it, but lately i've seen it less and less, specially after the bounty nerf.
Since with the last expansion, the cards it got shifted it away from control, and players just love control, that may be a reason why it's seeing less play.
Since with the last expansion, the cards it got shifted it away from control, and players just love control, that may be a reason why it's seeing less play.
I don't think it is about its strength. The other factions got cool new stuff with the latest expansion, but SY didn't.
Syndicate is terribly flawed by design. The coin mechanic separates and isolates SY from the other factions. Creating this uninteractable coin mechanic after the artifact debacle... what were the devs thinking? SY was only popular because of the uninteractable and OP coin use. Now that the other factions got stronger, the SY coin stuff is simply uninteractable boredom. The coin mechanic should be a cross-faction mechanic (SY can focus more on it). Coins should stay with units so that they can be stolen. Then SY would finally be fun to play with and against and Arena wouldn't be so messed up as it is now.
Bounty got hit hard, between the limit to one bounty, the introduction of defenders that makes purify go in every deck and the increase in provisions of witch hunter executioner (which I don't really get, it was 3 power, 2 coins for 5 provision, possibility to give bleeding / ping if bounty. But you still have at 5p the counterparts of boost/vitality and the new bloody good friends )
And their defender got from being the best to being one of the easiest to remove (also double hit with 1 less power and no more coins on deathwish)
Apart from that, the other changes are in the range of what happened in the other factions. The seductress got upped to 5p, like the other "if x happens, boost self by 1" from each faction (so they're not pulled by portal, thank you CDPR). They're still kinda like a Swiss knife though, with coins being spendable to boost, damage, move, purify, destroy artifacts, copy, seize, etc. It's actually less brainless than before to find a good balance/tempo between gaining and spending coins. Yes, the first rounds are gonna be boring because SY players are just amassing coins, but later when CA is important, you can't really afford to spend one turn without any direct benefit.
That's very true. That's one of the thing they discussed in their live though, and arena is to be completely reworked next year. Let's hope something good comes out of it.
)And their defender got from being the best to being one of the easiest to remove (also double hit with 1 less power and no more coins on deathwish)
Apart from that, the other changes are in the range of what happened in the other factions. The seductress got upped to 5p, like the other "if x happens, boost self by 1" from each faction (so they're not pulled by portal, thank you CDPR). They're still kinda like a Swiss knife though, with coins being spendable to boost, damage, move, purify, destroy artifacts, copy, seize, etc. It's actually less brainless than before to find a good balance/tempo between gaining and spending coins. Yes, the first rounds are gonna be boring because SY players are just amassing coins, but later when CA is important, you can't really afford to spend one turn without any direct benefit.
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That's very true. That's one of the thing they discussed in their live though, and arena is to be completely reworked next year. Let's hope something good comes out of it.
Syndicate is very strong. I don't play them because they feel boring to me. Everyone does basically the same thing.
Currently I do not think that any version, outside of Igor and Shupe is even playable.
If one does not play these one just ends up with far too few points, even if one greedily maximizes one's points.
If one does not play these one just ends up with far too few points, even if one greedily maximizes one's points.