Syndicate is so broken...

[Philido]

If you're saying the card can't be balanced then maybe the card shouldn't exist in the first place. Plenty of cards from other factions have had to nerfed when they offer too much for too little. Why should this be an exception?

Frankly the coin system needs an overhaul because it can't be that the mechanic is outside the opponents interaction or do a single thing about it except watch it unfold.

And where am I saying it "can't be balanced"? I'm only stating that these two suggestions are way over the top and would result in another card being dead.

Post automatically merged: Feb 25, 2022

But that addresses the main issue with Syndicate and Coins, which is that it can be used whenever you want, and with no limitation to the amount of it. I believe the second option with a little balance to the cards in terms of provision/power might fix a few things. Then there's the whole KoB thing, but that is a very specific broken card, and not a whole mechanic/system.

I don't consider coins and fees to be a major problem in the game. Sure, you can remove two or even three weak engines at once if you are lucky, but this requires a full bank and almost always full leader commitment. Of course, if your opponent plays engines only and can't even deal with Freakshow that's bad, but no deck should be able to get away with going full greed mode. And the fact that Freakshow is even more staple than KoB despite being only six flat points for seven provisions tells a lot about the game.

 

[ShinAkira00]

I'm afraid I can't agree about Syndicate being broken. Jackpot is overpowered - agreed. King of Beggars is questionable at the very least - agreed. Freakshow is a powerful card - absolutely yes and perhaps should be more expensive (8 or even 9 provision points - it typically plays for much more). But putting limits on fees is the shortest way to kill the entire faction. How would even that look like? You put a bounty on a tall unit and you can use your WH Executioner once per turn? You would never get that bounty back. You play Street Urchins and can boost it once per turn? What about Scoundrel, Grand Inquisitor, Sea Jackal?

The problem with Syndicate started when they allowed excessed coins to be turned into boosts with Jackpot- that's basically it. Before it was introduced, Jackpot was one of the least popular abilities in the entire game. Also, if the entire faction was broken, we would see all sorts of Syndicate decks being played. Do we see them? No, this is the latest play rates:


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Jackpot plays for nearly 12% of all games, while 6 other Syndicate abilities COMBINED play for 2.32%. (I'm referring to the play rates in Pro Rank). And none of them has winrate above 50% - is this really a sign of a broken faction? Address the coin cap in Jackpot, turn it into something else and most of the problems will disappear. If the developers don't want to change the cap, then deduct provision points - something like the old Lockdown, 10 or 9 instead of the current 12.

As to the Coin system - I know that many people think otherwise but I don't see any major problem with coins. Typically, cards that generate coins have very weak bodies (Street Urchin, Beggar, Tax Collector, Sigi) or no bodies at all (Pickpocket, Fisstech, Swindle, Shakedown). The problem starts, again, with Jackpot that allows you to boost your units to high heavens (Sigi/Bilzen combo, for instance) with little or no care because you simply drown in coins. Carryover value is also quite limited - you can carry a maximum of 4 coins to the next round. It is certainly something and can be useful in many circumstances but it's not like a recipe for a sure victory.

When I see a Jackpot deck, my eyes roll back, my blood boils and I know it will be another boring game, with exactly the same cards and strategies as in the previous 99.99% of the games. But let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Syndicate as a faction is not super powerful and not that popular (with that one, obvious exception, of course).

Huh? What faction on that table has all their leaders at the top? Your argument applies to every faction. I know it's a chart but you don't read stats in a vacuum, players simply use the most successful leader. This isn't a new thing.
The difference here is SY has one mechanic that is used across the board. Yes you are correct, the problem became more prevalent when coins became more easily accessible but that simply means there's no way to buff the faction through coins without it becoming too oppressive. Ergo....the coin mechanic is limiting what they can do.
I've seen ppl use this same argument when several leaders were nerfed back when the devs decided that replaying cards was bad design. So it's curious ppl only become defensive when a dominating faction is in the discussion for nerfs but not for poor or mid performing ones.

 

[sequence5199]

There are so-many BROKEN decks and so-many PREDICTABLE decks.
Syndicate isn't the only problem.
Ever since they tweaked the leader and card abilities across factions, has anyone noticed that all the decks out there are the same?!
I love the game but I find myself getting bored very quickly.

 

[El.Zappo]

While SY is still strong, it's losing the power creep battle to NR and NG.