What about Syndicate after Hidden Cache nerfs?

[Mikroval]

What about Syndicate after HC nerfs?

I really liked Syndicate mechanics when I started playing GWENT. However I played mostly Skellige from the start, trying to build a decent deck, so I ignored SY for a while. Along came HC, a Leader Ability that obviously to anyone that can do math (and you should if you are playing GWENT) is just unbalanced to simplify my statement. I loath HC, but I still like SY, so as I got a few more scraps I started crafting some cards and opening some kegs.

Premise I don't have all SY cards, just most of them, but in general I don't find it a balanced faction at all. Spender and profit cards don't seem to interact well, coin generation has been a struggle for me, without Passiflora and Louisa-Savolla combo it feels a bit slow without many forms of control. Bounty system seems interesting but card synergy is a bit lackluster.

Basically, the more I play it, and the more variations I try i feel less and less optimistic about it after HC is gone (as it should be) in this form.

I have not tried concregate yet, so that is another topic.

Other things: i would like some more hoard cards cause I don't really think you have great options there, especially on the damage/control side, but then you might wanna nerf Saul...
If you increase coing generation, then the Borsodi brother might be too strong, dunno.
Azar I find mehh, what and who is he protecting really? It is usually an easy card to remove, and people usually cant remove Saul, Imke, Bincy or your spender after they are played, so they eventually tech up to play resets or other tall unit removals anyway.

Does anyone else feel the same or is just me being a noob at SY, cause I would really like it to be a competitive faction. The concept is good, but without louisa/savolla + passiflora and HC can it really be played competitively?

 

[Draconifors]

@Mikroval Post moved to a new thread.

(HC is not a particularly good abbreviation for Hidden Cache because for many if not most players it means Homecoming.)

 

[Pacifixer]

All SY decks look very similar, they haven't changed much for the past 6 months (the one and only exception is Congregate Gord deck). So when Cache gets nerfed, people will just return to those older deck lists.

SY is the most diifficult faction to play, because of its "passive mechanic" - Coins. On the other hand, out of all 6 factions SY has probably the best tool-set to deal with any kind of threat - Defender, Purify, Move, wide punish, tall punish, Lock, Seize, Poison, swarm, tall units, damage, boost, engines, tempo cards, thining, carryover, tutors - SY does it all.

 

[wonderboy870]

What about Syndicate after HC nerfs?

I really liked Syndicate mechanics when I started playing GWENT. However I played mostly Skellige from the start, trying to build a decent deck, so I ignored SY for a while. Along came HC, a Leader Ability that obviously to anyone that can do math (and you should if you are playing GWENT) is just unbalanced to simplify my statement. I loath HC, but I still like SY, so as I got a few more scraps I started crafting some cards and opening some kegs.

Premise I don't have all SY cards, just most of them, but in general I don't find it a balanced faction at all. Spender and profit cards don't seem to interact well, coin generation has been a struggle for me, without Passiflora and Louisa-Savolla combo it feels a bit slow without many forms of control. Bounty system seems interesting but card synergy is a bit lackluster.

Basically, the more I play it, and the more variations I try i feel less and less optimistic about it after HC is gone (as it should be) in this form.

I have not tried concregate yet, so that is another topic.

Other things: i would like some more hoard cards cause I don't really think you have great options there, especially on the damage/control side, but then you might wanna nerf Saul...
If you increase coing generation, then the Borsodi brother might be too strong, dunno.
Azar I find mehh, what and who is he protecting really? It is usually an easy card to remove, and people usually cant remove Saul, Imke, Bincy or your spender after they are played, so they eventually tech up to play resets or other tall unit removals anyway.

Does anyone else feel the same or is just me being a noob at SY, cause I would really like it to be a competitive faction. The concept is good, but without louisa/savolla + passiflora and HC can it really be played competitively?

1. He protects engines. SY has some of the best engines in the game. Not looking at card names now so I will use descriptive names. You have the seductresses and the other prostitute card that both essentially offer one point per turn. You have the hoard engine who goes up by between 1-3. You have the bug engine that keeps eating the flying ship and spawning new copies. You have the coin generating engines and the coin consuming engines. The sea jackal in particular can put up huge numbers very quickly at the end of the round. Likewise The other 4 provision card not only boosts itself by 1 per coin, but also gives three coins. Finally you have the finishing move with the doomed 11 point card. Put 17 points on a protected row and absent igni you are in serious trouble.

2. Hoard is as valuable if not more valuable than the opening coins. If they nerf the hoard reduction to one then the leader is not worth playing. At two the leader is still probably over powered given the insane value hoard cards can generate.

SY is stupid good overall. They have seize, high dose poison, their version of orders can be triggered immediately and multiple times. To make matters worse they have huge point swing capabilities. Good in length of round. NG is the best counter with locks and poison. NR can also complete with swarm tactics or heavy removal. All in all balancing the game means either boosting the other three factions or nerfing NG, NR, and SY.

 

[Mikroval]

(HC is not a particularly good abbreviation for Hidden Cache because for many if not most players it means Homecoming.)

Point taken

Post automatically merged: May 2, 2020

SY is the most diifficult faction to play, because of its "passive mechanic" - Coins. On the other hand, out of all 6 factions SY has probably the best tool-set to deal with any kind of threat - Defender, Purify, Move, wide punish, tall punish, Lock, Seize, Poison, swarm, tall units, damage, boost, engines, tempo cards, thining, carryover, tutors - SY does it all.

Guess they do have it all, but most other factions do the same. NG and SK are better equipped for control imo. The higher I go (rank 3 now) the easier Cache gets countered, so much so that I now hope to run into it. I'm sure its just a meta thing where decks are optimized to counter Cache, but playing it myself it feels a bit meh. Cache nerfs on their own will leave SY in a hard spot I think, but you have been here for much longer then me so I must take your word for it.

Post automatically merged: May 2, 2020

1. He protects engines. SY has some of the best engines in the game. Not looking at card names now so I will use descriptive names. You have the seductresses and the other prostitute card that both essentially offer one point per turn. You have the hoard engine who goes up by between 1-3. You have the bug engine that keeps eating the flying ship and spawning new copies. You have the coin generating engines and the coin consuming engines. The sea jackal in particular can put up huge numbers very quickly at the end of the round. Likewise The other 4 provision card not only boosts itself by 1 per coin, but also gives three coins. Finally you have the finishing move with the doomed 11 point card. Put 17 points on a protected row and absent igni you are in serious trouble.

I agree that there are a lot of good engines in SY (dire mutated hound my favourite in the game) but most of them are out of "classic 4-6" removal range at the end if their turn, so you need to plan for some talk removal beforehand, or Cache is your nightmare. In that regard I feel defender can realistically be played for Scenario or Imke. My observations, not necesarrily correct.

Post automatically merged: May 2, 2020

2. Hoard is as valuable if not more valuable than the opening coins. If they nerf the hoard reduction to one then the leader is not worth playing. At two the leader is still probably over powered given the insane value hoard cards can generate.

Agree, Hoard is a great mechanic that imo should see more attention. I kinda see it as bloodthirst for Skellige, but Hoard reduction per se is just huge, and thats the problem, it becomes hard to balance.