Hi

In my quite limited game experience, I never managed to lose a game playing agency, nor to win one when I faced it.

Is this faction overpowered? Or is it just easy to play by novices like me and my mates, so that it gives a false impression of power? As for now, we decided to "ban" it from our games, as they weren't really fun when the unstoppable blue cards were around.

The cards I'm actually using are the Core Set ones plus some Julia Brown packs.

Hi there, good to see another new player.

I mainly play Hastur decks, but the Agency are a firm second favourite for me, I play them quite a lot. The question of being overpowered depends on the cards that are being used, the cards that are circulating at my club seem to make Shub the overpowered one... The Agency also strikes me as an easy one for new players, so that could be why they seem overpowered. Once you and your friends get into the game more, the Agency should seem less powerful.

I agree, it all depends on the cards that are available to your group, each person's play style, skill in deckbuilding, and of course the luck of the draw. I've had games where my Agency/Yog deck was unstoppable and other games where I could barely do anything.

That's exactly why I love this game. Ok, some games were really strong (tactics of Jump or Messengers in the previous CCG days) and I'm still looking for decks to fight them.

Despite all that, I tend to say that Agency, Hastur and Shubb are actually the huge factions, followed in order by Miska, Synd, Cthulhu and Yog.

The coming of Arkham Secrets will change this a lot, so don't feel like there's gonna be no chance for the other factions to beat the leading ones . I'm actually working on a Yog deck and it's gonna be fine in a few packs, I think. The card pool will grow strongly right after the coming of Arkham Secrets ...

I think, and my test game results support this, that Agency is the strongest faction if you don't do a lot of fine-tuning your decks.

Agency works incredibly well when playing in Highlander format or when playing with basically random cards.

I've just completed my second round of pitting every faction combination against every other faction combination, this time incorporating the cards from the 'Summons of the Deep' cycle. And just as in the first round, Agency has been the most successful faction overall.

I'll post my new results in the old thread (if I can find it...).

I admit that The Agency is a hard faction to beat, what with their investigators, willpower and combat. I use a Hastur/Yog-Sothoth deck that I made with the core set and an Ancient Horrors Asylum Pack that has only lost once and it was to The Agency.

But saying that they're overpowered is just saying that the other decks are "squishy". It all boils down to strategy and card draw.

I agree with what Noble Heart said : If a deck is not able to beat an agency one, then, you must start building something better with the basis of your deck. One of my greatest victory in the LCG days is one where I was able to beat agency with the prodigy+Night Class.

What Jhaelen said do worries me more, as everyone in my meta do agree Agency was the topmost faction from the early LCG. It changed with Dreamlands. I'm not found of analyzing the whole pool with only 480 cards available. Of course, it's one of the most efficient faction, especially as it gives the human a lot more power that we had in previous aera.

But things will change a lot with Secrets and the future Yuggoth Contract. The only problem is that we'll have to wait, and I know this is something card gamers are not specialized in. Remember the game relaunch for only a year and the AP format don't offer a whole block of cards.

I'm still new to the card game, but I noticed that Agencywhile incredibly skilled at combat and decent at investigation, and able to withstand terror, ect.still can't do crap when it comes to Arcane. The total lack of spells can also be a pain. Don't get me wrong, shotgun blast is a great win-all card (unless you're dealing with Dagon), but there are times where I'd love to have an interrupt or too but can't stop the main problem...all I can do is kill stuff. In Call of Cthulhu, it's one of the few games where combat isn't the only focus.

Patches the Drow said:

Besides, this is exactly why you generally use two factions. E.g. playing Agency/Miskatonic is an excellent combo to negate the individual factions' weaknesses.

Yep, but what if the opponent of the agency deck wins both Terro and Arcane ?

Combat winning is a huge advantage, I agree.

But what hurts the most in agency is direct wounding, out of the story phase! Small price to pay, shotgun blast, pistols ...

The combination of the two type of wounding do provides them this extra power !

I think Agency does well because its basically the "Smashmouth" deck. Bring out a lot of skulls and some bewb cards to go insane, and start killing everything. Its a war of attrittion. Agency has problems when stuff keeps coming back from the discard pile.(and now a story has that aftect ).

Other decks are more subtle, but as each new AP and expansion has come out, the other factions have gotten some much needed lovin' and are catching up.