I'll go first!
Dwarven Mercenary 3 strength, 5 Provisions
Order: Damage an enemy unit by 1
Charge: 1
Gain one charge whenever you play a Dwarf
Compared to.......
Witch Hunter Executioner 3 strength, 5 Provisions
Profit 2
Fee 1: Give bleeding to an enemy unit for 1 turn. If it has a bounty damage it by 1 instead.
These two cards are the same strength with the same provisions so one would think they would be at least somewhat comparable in terms of the value they can provide. The first thing to point out here is that the witch hunter card breaks even as soon as it's played. You have 3 strength and instantly profit 2 coins. The Dwarven Mercenary does not do this. You only get the 3 strength played and you hope it stays on the board to get further value. The mercenary will then give you 1 damage tick of value when you play another dwarf card. As someone who plays dwarf decks sometimes (hoping one day they will be decent) I can tell you these cards almost never stay on the board. They are easily killed by weaker cards in most decks and if they stay on the board you can at most get 9 points of value out of them (extremely unlikely).
The Witch Hunter Executioner if played correctly will have a bunch of coins saved up to immediately spend. So you play it and then you can immediately start mowing down enemy units with it. Since you can get all of that value as soon as you play this card it's automatically far better than any engine card in the game that uses orders and has to wait one turn to get any further value. The combination of saving value with coins and then getting a ton of removal with these cheap bronze cards is mind blowing.
Of course anyone playing Syndicate already knew what I just said about the witch hunter cards. But please take a look at the dwarven mercenary and maybe you will laugh at the power disparity as much as I did.
Edit: Ok now let's look at some gold cards between these factions!
Whoreson's Freak Show 6 strength, 6 provisions
Insanity
Fee 1. Give an enemy unit bleeding for 1 turn. If insanity was used. Damage it by 1 instead.
Compared to......
Pavko Gale 5 strength, 8 provisions!!!
Order: Damage a unit b 1
Cooldown: 1
Ok so right of the top the funniest thing about this comparison is that freak show has 1 more strength (which is a big deal) and not one but TWO less provisions than Pavko. That is so absurd considering that freakshow is a much more useful card. Anytime you run out of coins with freak show you can still trade damage to kill whatever you want within 5 points and then if you have the healer card in Syndicate you can just heal him right back up. Freakshow's other big asset is an easy way to spend your coins which you can just dish out as much as you want without any cooldown. Pavko Gale doesn't have any versatility. You play him and hope he stays on the board. If he does stay on the board you can achieve a whopping 1 ping of damage a turn. Wow.
Is this an example of power creep or was Syndicate just very poorly balanced?
Dwarven Mercenary 3 strength, 5 Provisions
Order: Damage an enemy unit by 1
Charge: 1
Gain one charge whenever you play a Dwarf
Compared to.......
Witch Hunter Executioner 3 strength, 5 Provisions
Profit 2
Fee 1: Give bleeding to an enemy unit for 1 turn. If it has a bounty damage it by 1 instead.
These two cards are the same strength with the same provisions so one would think they would be at least somewhat comparable in terms of the value they can provide. The first thing to point out here is that the witch hunter card breaks even as soon as it's played. You have 3 strength and instantly profit 2 coins. The Dwarven Mercenary does not do this. You only get the 3 strength played and you hope it stays on the board to get further value. The mercenary will then give you 1 damage tick of value when you play another dwarf card. As someone who plays dwarf decks sometimes (hoping one day they will be decent) I can tell you these cards almost never stay on the board. They are easily killed by weaker cards in most decks and if they stay on the board you can at most get 9 points of value out of them (extremely unlikely).
The Witch Hunter Executioner if played correctly will have a bunch of coins saved up to immediately spend. So you play it and then you can immediately start mowing down enemy units with it. Since you can get all of that value as soon as you play this card it's automatically far better than any engine card in the game that uses orders and has to wait one turn to get any further value. The combination of saving value with coins and then getting a ton of removal with these cheap bronze cards is mind blowing.
Of course anyone playing Syndicate already knew what I just said about the witch hunter cards. But please take a look at the dwarven mercenary and maybe you will laugh at the power disparity as much as I did.
Edit: Ok now let's look at some gold cards between these factions!
Whoreson's Freak Show 6 strength, 6 provisions
Insanity
Fee 1. Give an enemy unit bleeding for 1 turn. If insanity was used. Damage it by 1 instead.
Compared to......
Pavko Gale 5 strength, 8 provisions!!!
Order: Damage a unit b 1
Cooldown: 1
Ok so right of the top the funniest thing about this comparison is that freak show has 1 more strength (which is a big deal) and not one but TWO less provisions than Pavko. That is so absurd considering that freakshow is a much more useful card. Anytime you run out of coins with freak show you can still trade damage to kill whatever you want within 5 points and then if you have the healer card in Syndicate you can just heal him right back up. Freakshow's other big asset is an easy way to spend your coins which you can just dish out as much as you want without any cooldown. Pavko Gale doesn't have any versatility. You play him and hope he stays on the board. If he does stay on the board you can achieve a whopping 1 ping of damage a turn. Wow.
Is this an example of power creep or was Syndicate just very poorly balanced?
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