157 replies to this topic

[Yipe]

A criminal-focused Mono-Syndicate deck is definitely viable, even with Diseased Sewer Rats being relegated to the banned list.

Start with 1 part David Pan, Johnny V's Dame, and Marcus Jamburg.

Add in 2 parts Ice Shaft, Parallel Universe, Bound and Gagged, and Tear Gas.

Now season with a mix of skill reduction characters (like Tattoo Artist and Clover Club Torch Signer) and exhausting event cards (such as Intimidate, Low Blow, and Panic) and viola! You've got a fast, sneaky deck that will keep you opponent on their toes.

[kamacausey]

A criminal-focused Mono-Syndicate deck is definitely viable, even with Diseased Sewer Rats being relegated to the banned list.

Start with 1 part David Pan, Johnny V's Dame, and Marcus Jamburg.

Add in 2 parts Ice Shaft, Parallel Universe, Bound and Gagged, and Tear Gas.

Now season with a mix of skill reduction characters (like Tattoo Artist and Clover Club Torch Signer) and exhausting event cards (such as Intimidate, Low Blow, and Panic) and viola! You've got a fast, sneaky deck that will keep you opponent on their toes.

Yup, Yipe you pretty much nailed it. I don't currently have parallel universe in my deck but I've been debating throwing it in.

[Midian]

Paralell universe is still one of the best combat tricks for the skill-reduction syndicate deck. I have been taking it in and out of my Syndicate-Hastur deck since my first try at it.

[dboeren]

Yep, Syndicate skill decks are a well known archetype and perform very well. Although, if you're just starting out I don't know if you need to worry too much about competitiveness yet.

You can also make a pretty good mono-Syndicate deck using lots of exhausting cards and other tricks to keep opponents away from stories such as Kidnapping 101 (uncommiting) or Bound & Gagged (prevent committing). Cards like Panic! are very good here. Or you can mix the two. As long as you have a few key cards, the skill deck has ample room for customization to taste so you can fill that in with whatever you like.

After the Syndicate box drops there will probably be a whole new breed of mono-decks, but you can also mix them with other factions. Syndicate/Silver Twilight can add more suppression with some character bouncing and Protector of Secrets adding more "can't commit" control for example.

With Pit Boss, you might see a more toe-to-toe type of Syndicate deck that resists insanity and brings more Combat icons to brawl their way through stories a bit more.

[kamacausey]

3 johnny v's dame

3 tattoo artist

3 clover club torch singer

3 street tough

3 anarchist

3 triggerman

3 hard case

3 extortionist

3 mr. david pan

3 peter clover

3 marcus jamburg


3 ice shaft

3 bound and gagged

3 gun runner's club

3 the seventh house on the left


3 tear gas

2 eldrich nexus

[kamacausey]

That's my current list but it can easily be tinkered with for personal taste

[dboeren]

With so many supports, one possible modification might be tossing in a couple copies of Miranda Keeper (***) to help find them earlier. This may allow you to reduce the actual number of supports and still find them in equivalent time making room for more new cards.

I've been using a deck with her plus O'Bannion's Ledger (***) and skill reduction so that she gets extra Combat, find supports, and the Ledger kills zero-skill characters - it's a great deterrent. In fact, I had a game with it last night against a mono-Shub deck and the Ledger by itself shut down his Black Dog (***) and Lucas Corn (WaB).

Anyway, there are tons of ways to go - this is just one possible idea out of many.

[Yipe]

Yes, Miranda Keeper is a good choice. Though instead of O'Bannion's Ledger I've been trying out
The Necronomicon: George Hay Translation (TbtA). It combos well with Street Tough and Tattoo Artist.

Also, another staple card that works nicely in this deck, at least for me, is Fixer (SoA). With Bound and Gagged, Tear Gas, Kidnapping 101 or Parallel Universe, he's an excellent addition. For my opening hand I like to see him, Tattoo Artist and either Bound and Gagged or Parallel Universe. If I don't have at least 2 of those cards I will take a Mulligan.

As for being competitive, I played a mono-David Pan deck at the 2012 Portland regionals and did quite well. I also had
Feint (SoA) for a cheap surprise factor when it appeared I didn't have enough skill to win with David Pan.

[dboeren]

Yep, I've got 3xFixer in my deck too, such a good character for cost 1. I haven't tried the George Hay Necronomicon in the deck but it looks like a worthy option. You just need to make sure you've got a high enough skill character to put it on so I'll have to review who my candidates are. Tattoo Artist may help since she can boost your own skill where most of them only tear down enemy skill.

[Yipe]

Other good options for the George Hay Necronomicon are Street Tough (TbtA) and Elite Hit Squad (SoA). Normally I wouldn't play Elite Hit Squad but Johnny V's Dame makes them affordable.

I've played the "Big Trouble in Little Arkham" deck a lot, and I've found as a rush deck it's all about offense, which is another reason Elite Hit Squad is a nice choice. I would rarely block against decks that didn't have any investigation unless my opponent's domains were drained and I could be sure of coming out unscathed. Otherwise I would save all of my tricks while committing on my turn to ensure the maximum number of success tokens.

Parallel Universe played well with this strategy, especially as an end game move. Even if my opponent could out-skill my David Pan, I would often commit both him and Jamburg to one story, and then spread my other characters out to the remaining stories. David Pan then becomes too tempting of a target to ignore and generally speaking they would commit the majority of their characters against him. I would then return Jamburg to my hand to bring Parallel Universe into play at another story where I had skill superiority and secure the win.

[Yipe]

To add another twist, you may try mixing Syndicate and Hastur. With cards like Demon Lover (Core), Blind Submission (Core) and Stygian Eye (IT), Hastur pairs very nicely with a skill reduction/Marcus Jamburg deck.

[kamacausey]

To add another twist, you may try mixing Syndicate and Hastur. With cards like Demon Lover (Core), Blind Submission (Core) and Stygian Eye (IT), Hastur pairs very nicely with a skill reduction/Marcus Jamburg deck.

Syndicate and Hastur also make for a good discard theme deck. You get the clover club executive for discard plus cheap guys with investigation to help win stories and more discard like byakhee attack etc... and control elements like stygian eye and the seventy steps with hastur

[Unnamable]

Wandering Tinker might find it's way into such a deck, if I could only read the entire text?! I guess we'll see in January or maybe FFG employees will be gunslinging the new cards at Worlds?

[dboeren]

Wandering Tinker might find it's way into such a deck, if I could only read the entire text?! I guess we'll see in January or maybe FFG employees will be gunslinging the new cards at Worlds?

That seems likely, they'll probably have some Syndicate "challenge decks" going there.

[kamacausey]

Is the syndicate box really not coming out until January!? Surely they will release it before years end. I can't wait till January for my criminals! I need them now!

[dboeren]

I hope it will not take that long, but we all know by now that FFG's release dates are difficult to predict.

[Yipe]

While I'd love to have the Syndicate expansion right now, I'll be happy if it comes out by January.

[Unnamable]

Q1 of 2014 could have meant a March release but hopefully that will not be the case since FFG has it now officially listed as a January release. There were unfortunately no FFG employees spoiling unreleased LCG cards while gunslinging at Worlds. Were any unreleased cards spoiled at Arkham Nights? How was the turnout for Arkham Nights this year? I also noticed that the Cthulhu Core and the Dreamlands Asylum Pack series is due to be reprinted Q1 of 2014. Looks like a good start to the new year 2014 for the Call of Cthulhu LCG!

[blinovitch]

More Denizens of the Underworld news.

I've been wondering if we would see any as yet unseen big name characters in the Syndicate, like O'Bannion himself. Maybe?

[NuFenix]

Some interesting cards. Reminds me of Targ burn from AGOT.