When we have close to 30 leaders out of 42 which are unplayable, what is the point of creating a thread one one of them? - It is a valid question. While the rest of the leaders are not playable strictly because there are much better alternatives or the archetype they are supposed to support is weak and not having enough support, Lined Pockets is a unique leader in being horrible. I know that this is the very leader which broke SY and created such a toxic meta when it was released, competing with the SK Warriors, Detlaff, Foltest, etc.
What was it before the nerf? Order: Gain 1 coin. 5 Charges. Whenever you play a crime card, gain one Charge. The issue? Anyone who has remote knowledge of the game can see the nightmare this could have brought in. The charges didn't have a cap and you can play crime and get so many charges and then play in R3, Townfolks for big swings and use all the coins.
How it was murdered? Instead of gaining the Charges, the ability was changed to gain a Coin.
Why it is one of the most horrible leader abilities? To get the full use of the leader, you should add a lot of crime cards. And to make the more number of crime cards getting played useful (most of the times crimes only break even), you need to have intimidate engines on the board. Without the intimidate engines, playing more crimes is underwhelming and can't win any rounds. So, you need to add some 10 crimes, and some tutors and close to 10 intimidate engines. Now you are left with no cards that can use the coins you have gained. While there are couple of crime cards which don't gain coins, most crime cards gain coins. So, You need to have more crimes, more intimidate engines, and more fee cards and there is simply not enough slots. You can't have three unique types of cards. Most of the times, the coins go waste. So, overall, this is the most horrible leader, who may look good and playable on the first look, but in deed, you can't build a deck to make full use of this leader.
You need to have at least 5 to 6 spenders, you need to have Townsfolk who is the core cards of this leader, you need to have 8 to 10 crimes, you need to have 8 to 10 intimidate engines, you need to have some power plays, tutors, thinning card etc. Which is simply impossible to build. Why do you think Congregate is so powerful? Congregate doesn't care about spenders. It only concentrates on Crimes (and mostly non-profit crimes) and intimidate engines. That is the only reason Congregate is viable, it completely removes one suite of cards needed by other leaders. (BTW, whoever first thought of the congregate going full crime and intimidate with no-or-almost-no-spenders is a genius).
How to fix it? It should be reverted with some changes. On top of my head:
Order. Gain 1 coin. Whenever you play a crime, gain one charge. At the start of a new round, if coins and charges together is more than 9, reduce the charges to cap it at 9. (So that if you have 8 charges and 9 coins in your bank and the the end of R1 or R2, when going to R2 or R3, you will have only 5 charges and 4 coins in the bank)
This change can help this leader ability to concentrate more on spenders and care less about the intimidate engines. Since you can gain charges and use it instead of the coins. It can help the leader to optimize around Townsfolk, (and Igor may be), TheCardWhichBoostsByCoinsGained and can use crimes like Pickpocket, Eavesdrop without the worry of overflowing the coins and making the leader anti-synergetic with profit-crimes.
[PS: When I say it is one of the most horrible leader abilities, I don't mean it is the worst. That spot is reserved for Invigorate. Any thread or post about most horrible leader is for the second spot.]
What was it before the nerf? Order: Gain 1 coin. 5 Charges. Whenever you play a crime card, gain one Charge. The issue? Anyone who has remote knowledge of the game can see the nightmare this could have brought in. The charges didn't have a cap and you can play crime and get so many charges and then play in R3, Townfolks for big swings and use all the coins.
How it was murdered? Instead of gaining the Charges, the ability was changed to gain a Coin.
Why it is one of the most horrible leader abilities? To get the full use of the leader, you should add a lot of crime cards. And to make the more number of crime cards getting played useful (most of the times crimes only break even), you need to have intimidate engines on the board. Without the intimidate engines, playing more crimes is underwhelming and can't win any rounds. So, you need to add some 10 crimes, and some tutors and close to 10 intimidate engines. Now you are left with no cards that can use the coins you have gained. While there are couple of crime cards which don't gain coins, most crime cards gain coins. So, You need to have more crimes, more intimidate engines, and more fee cards and there is simply not enough slots. You can't have three unique types of cards. Most of the times, the coins go waste. So, overall, this is the most horrible leader, who may look good and playable on the first look, but in deed, you can't build a deck to make full use of this leader.
You need to have at least 5 to 6 spenders, you need to have Townsfolk who is the core cards of this leader, you need to have 8 to 10 crimes, you need to have 8 to 10 intimidate engines, you need to have some power plays, tutors, thinning card etc. Which is simply impossible to build. Why do you think Congregate is so powerful? Congregate doesn't care about spenders. It only concentrates on Crimes (and mostly non-profit crimes) and intimidate engines. That is the only reason Congregate is viable, it completely removes one suite of cards needed by other leaders. (BTW, whoever first thought of the congregate going full crime and intimidate with no-or-almost-no-spenders is a genius).
How to fix it? It should be reverted with some changes. On top of my head:
Order. Gain 1 coin. Whenever you play a crime, gain one charge. At the start of a new round, if coins and charges together is more than 9, reduce the charges to cap it at 9. (So that if you have 8 charges and 9 coins in your bank and the the end of R1 or R2, when going to R2 or R3, you will have only 5 charges and 4 coins in the bank)
This change can help this leader ability to concentrate more on spenders and care less about the intimidate engines. Since you can gain charges and use it instead of the coins. It can help the leader to optimize around Townsfolk, (and Igor may be), TheCardWhichBoostsByCoinsGained and can use crimes like Pickpocket, Eavesdrop without the worry of overflowing the coins and making the leader anti-synergetic with profit-crimes.
[PS: When I say it is one of the most horrible leader abilities, I don't mean it is the worst. That spot is reserved for Invigorate. Any thread or post about most horrible leader is for the second spot.]