We get a Syndicate spoiler this week:

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp

Not my favorite Syndicate card for my play style but it seems like it could have some potential especially if you combo with a fighting faction.

it's a way to deal against sledge dogs for example or against agency guys boosted with a lot of combat icons by removing a combat struggle and a a good parade also against a Repoman. An 1-cost event to remove or add a combat struggle + possibly return the card in his hand, useful against all factions, it's a very nice card for me because it is very versatile.

If I could edit out my first thoughts I would. I agree with you, this is an excellent toolbox card. Smugglers makes anything with utility a bit more viable because he can unload your unused stock when necessary for something you actually need...

I do think Dadajeff hit the point !

This is a pure Toolbox card.

Playing Torch Singer, Tattoo Artist, this is really powerfull. Adding Parallel Universe will even produce worst effects for the opponent.

If you do consider playing a rush deck with Pure syndicate, this card is a must have .....

If you play Elite Hit Squad and might pay for the extra power, this is a magnificient defense card ...

That's why I consider it a nice addition to the actual meta... even if Syndicat still lakes some other powerfull characters...

Did Syndicate - EVER - have any good / strong characters, though - even back in the CCG age ? - or have they always stunk ? I keep thinking there are tons of great / strong / powerful Syndicate cards in the CCG archives that they simply have not reprinted over to the LCG yet...but maybe I'm dreaming..... ?

Yep, I used to play syndicqt in the earlier era of the game, and believe me, it has strong character.

Remind that the faction was designed to be the rush one ... It had characters which were really fun, like :

Discreet Physician
[syndicate] Arkham Edition C63 / Illustrator: Anders Finér
[Character] - Scientist.
Cost : 2 / Skill : 1 / Icons:
Game Text: Action: exhaust to choose a character. Until the end of the phase, that character gains an I icon.

This one was really fun, as you were able to use him to provide an extra icon to cheap characters. It was a great T2 addition.

Syndicate
Continental Agent
-
Type : Character
Cost : 3
Skill : 2
Icons : CC
Subtype : Sorcerer.
Game Text: Action: pay 1 to give Continental Agent an icon of your choice until the end of the phase.
Flavor text: "Money, darling. Try it sometime."

My all-time favorite. It was fun, as you were able to gain up to 3 icons. This was my favorite T3 drop. It was a card that was able to combo really well with the rush strategy and offers really nice defending option.

•Danny O'Bannion, Arkham Businessman
[syndicate] Eldritch Edition R61 / Illustrator: Terry Pavlet
[Character] - Criminal.
Cost : 3 / Skill : 3 / Icons: CCC
Game Text: Forced Response: after Danny O'Bannion enters play, exhaust all support cards. Action: pay 1 to return Danny O'Bannion to his owner's hand.

The leader of the faction had a nice "Jack Brady" disrupts and was a solid card, as long as you play the criminal strategy.

Hatchetman
[syndicate] Eldritch Edition R70 / Illustrator: Patrick McEvoy
[Character] - Criminal.
Cost : 2 / Skill : 2 / Icons: C
Game Text: While Hatchetman is committed to a story, it gains "Action: pay 3 and sacrifice Hatchetman to destroy all non-Ancient One characters committed to this story."

Hatchetman was one of the most potent defense card. As it was a rush character too, he offers multiples solutions to difficult T3.

Fugitive
[syndicate] Eldritch Premium I25 / Illustrator: Fergus Duggan
- Steadfast [sYNDICATE][sYNDICATE] -
[Character] - Criminal.
Cost : 2 / Skill : 2 / Icons: CI
Game Text: Willpower. Action: remove Fugitive from a story it is committed to. Then, ready Fugitive.

I LOVED this one so much he was th core of my beloved Miska/synd deck, based on commission abuse. He was the kind of character that forced your opponent to keep defense in order to counter it + offer a possible Investigation profit.

Danny O'Bannion's Cronie
[syndicate] Spawn of Madness F5 / Illustrator: Anders Finér
[Character] - Criminal.
Cost : 2 / Skill : 1 / Icons: C
Game Text: Action: exhaust to choose and ready another Criminal character. Until the end of the phase, that character gains CI. Limit once per phase.

Another super character in a criminal deck. I do miss this one.

Quite a Dame
[syndicate] Forgotten Cities C42 / Illustrator: Terry Pavlet
[Character] - Cultist.
Cost : 4 / Skill : 3 / Icons: AA
Game Text: Action: exhaust to choose and exhaust a character with fewer A icons than Quite a Dame.

Exhausting T3 (remind the cost reduction was fine in the previous day), it was a good blocker + allows the faction to benefit Arcane, which was fine, as the main problem of the faction was defense.

Wow ! Such nice cards ! Why don't they ever reproduce more of these now to help Syndicate not stink so much ? (relative to other factions)

Fugitive, Hatchatman, and Gangster's Mal are the three Characters I miss the most.

Side Note: I figured out a way to reintroduce a mechanic like "On the Lam" without it being broken. How would I go about submitting a card?

Tokhuah said:

Fugitive is fantastic, especially due to the 'undocumented feature' that allows him to ready after you resolved your stories. Problem with Syndicate right now is that they're a little low on cheap, willpower characters with investigation.Gangster's Moll I often found too expensive. Hatchetman's ability didn't come into play much since it costs 3 to activate, forcing quite a tempo loss if you want to keep it open to threaten your opponent.

Things that really haven't found a replacement are 7th house and Gun Runners Club. 7th house fits really well with the exhaustion theme, and GRC keeps the deck flowing by drawing tons of cards.

As for submissions, it's a little complicated, due to rights issues. On the old site, there used to be a form to submit ideas for AGoT, and it had all kinds of agreements in there where you give up the rights to your creation etc. Right now, there doesn't seem to be a standard procedure.

So, politeness, perseverance and some luck should be in order.

Oh man, I miss Continental Agent. The versatility of that card was fantastic.

The cost reduction rituals made resource management a bit warped so cost 2-3 was virtually interchangeable. RE: Henchmen running at a story with Panic in hand meant never holding on the resource in the end... I kill you know or Exhaust you later... It does not matter, the game was stupid level broken back then and I prefer not to look back...

Are people really having a hard time winning with mono (or close to mono) Syndicate? I would like to see what is generally being run because my deck is doing quite well at the moment...

Tokhuah said:

Syndicate being 19-5 and way ahead of the next faction (Agency at 14-10), nope (running 7 mono-faction decks). And this is with not having 3 of everything or using 50-card decks for maximum efficiency. Just seems no matter what you put out there, Syndicate will find a way to exhaust your people and win in 3-4 turns . I would really like to boost the other factions instead of weakening Syndicate to make the decks more balanced, but just can't come up with ideas. There isn't really anything you can do to stop all the exhaustion they have available, many of them from characters coming into play, so it's a double-tap, Syndicate gets a char AND prevents one of yours from committing to a story. Which of course leaves their Events that exhaust people fully available, with domains to spare.

Tokhuah said:

Should depend on the meta, really. In Stahleck my deck was really doing OK, but not stellar. It's a basic exhaust/rush version. Going down to 3 cards max means it's a little harder to get off panic consistantly. Also, the icon distribution is a little off, as I need to have investigation on about 50% of the cards to do the "Rush to Panic" finish - that is, set up the tokens 2/3/3 early then Panic for the win.

With so few removal options, and Descandant, Birds, Dogs and Steps around, it's easy to run out of steam quickly. Since I play rush, I don't really concider a late-game plan (because that would only slow down my early game) and sometimes things seem to drag and it quickly becomes harder to win.

I could adapt to a version with more skill manipulation and parallel universes to gain the upper hand. Still, Syndicate is quite low on skill by itself, so winning through PU is simply more efficient for some other factions.

Panic is fantastic, though. When you get one early enough, it might just slow down those birds when you are under steps. If you can create your own lockdown, Endless Interrogation becomes useless. Slip up, though, and it becomes very hard to recover, as there are so few win-on-their-own type of cards to topdeck in syndicate.