Mr. David Pan

How can this guy not be restricted? you can translate hes ability to "He has 4 of every symbol"

Not exactly... by that logic he also translates to "give most of your opponents crappy characters 2 or 3 of every icon." The otherwise unremarkable Cannibal Ghast becomes one of the most efficient cards in the game. He's also incredibly vulnerable to almost every sort of removal that exists.

 

He's a really good card and worth putting in a lot of Syndicate decks, but he's hardly unstoppable.

Agreed, he's a good card but if you don't support him with more skill manipulation your opponent can benefit as much as you do from him since they also will be gaining lots of icons.

 

Mainly what he does is changes the rules of the story and up the stakes for having the more skill.  He's strong only if you can take steps to ensure that your side is in the lead.  Now, it's viable to do so, but it will take a concerted effort across the deck and you can still run into bumps in the road if your opponent happens to have high skilled characters.  Also, having his text box blanked can be pretty bad, much worse than on most characters.  Or if his skill is reduced this too can cause a large negative swing.

 

And finally, he's unique so he can only be at one story at a time.  So even if the Syndicate player is gaining an advantage there, you've still got two more stories without Mr. David Pan.

He flips the game completely if you dont have a high skill character or a removal to stop him.

 

One card that can morph the field completely is OP in my opinion, same could be said for temple of ryleh, kopesh and such but atleast they have the restriction to keep them under control. 

If Pan were restricted, Parallel Universe would have to be too. Then, you wouldn't be able to use them together, meaning Syndicate never needed Pan in the first place because Parallel Universe was already available to everyone. And then Syndicate wouldn't be any better at skill versus skill than anyone else. Pan can't be everywhere because he's unique. And if you don't have a way to wound, destroy, bounce, blank, sacrifice, steal, or just flat out-rush Pan, then that's your deck's problem. Pan is no more OP than the Inner Council, Grete, or August Lindquist. Note that Syndicate is the only faction to never appear on the restricted list. Maybe the Syndicate paid off Fantasy Flight in true Syndicate fashion?

Pan is very strong, but also sometimes a mixed blessing.

When I have direct removal I am almost always looking for ways to get two kills for just one card and when the opponent is playing Pan it's almost a given that I will be able to. I have swung many a game against syndicate, because after they commit using Mr David Pan, I use direct removal on him then get to win multiple struggles they were expecting to win, including the combat struggle.

Good point, RP. That's PhD level play right there.