Terror In Venice Review, Part 2

In part two of our Terror In Venice review for the Call of Cthulhu LCG we take a look at Shub-Niggurath, Silver Twilight, and Syndicate. We are going alittle more free form with the reviews this time. The cards are in numerical order and our reviewers are in no particular order, let us know in the comments about what you think of the cards!

[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_malocchio-tiv.jpg'] Malocchio

dboeren - 3 out of 5
I consider him better later in the game, whereas early on he may be a little weak. A good character, but not one I immediately reach for and if your opponent is running a similar faction to yours some icons could be scarce. Maybe take Forgotten Explorer to help the odds a little on having some Investigation.

Danigral - 4 out of 5
This card is odd because it runs a little counter to Shub’s strengths in character recursion, but that doesn’t matter because it looks at any discard pile. He can be a 4-icon dude with toughness, with very little effort. I misread him the first time I looked at him.

jhaelen - 2 out of 5
I'm not sure what to make of this card. Best case, we're looking here at a character with one icon of each type, Toughness, and skill equal to his cost. There's only a handful of characters with all icon types, and none of them in the Shub faction. Only Nyarlathotep matches all of these characteristics. Apart from that, though, his most interesting feature is his unusual combination of subtypes. When looking at (unique) cost 3 characters, I mostly look for interesting abilities, and in that regard Maloccio fails.

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
Malocchio is a pretty cool character. With a small amount of effort, Malocchio can very quickly, if not immediately, gain the full gamut of possible icons. With Toughness +1 being a nice cherry on top it and becomes one of the strongest ‘vanilla’ characters you can have for the cost.

Kamacausey - 3 out of 5
Cool idea for a character but I don’t think it’s enough to see him in competitive play. The fact that he is unique hurts him too bad imho. I’m not sure he would see competitive play if he wasn’t unique but still. Awesome flavor though and he is a decent character for his cost.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_savio-corvi-tiv.jpg'] Savio Corvi

dboeren - 3 out of 5
Really good, *if* there is a Conspiracy in play. So, build around that and be careful about when you win the Conspiracy as you’ll lose your perks. He’s quite solid in the right deck though and I love that all your characters get the benefit and not just Shub characters. Cultist is just icing, although there’s not much that really stands out to use it for. It’s just there for whatever.

Danigral - 4 out of 5
What’s cool about this guy is his versatility in deckbuilding. His night ability is fantastic to grant your weenie rush characters fast and terror, essentially making them impervious to terror at stories. You can use him as your Night card, but you don’t have to if you really don’t want to run a conspiracy. The immunity can be really good against regular decks, but also gives the trade-off of making him vulnerable to day cards if your opponent is running that.

jhaelen - 3 out of 5
Now, that's more like it! While he's rather unimpressive when there's no Conspiracy in play, he grants a big boon to his controller when there is one, and becomes virtually indestructible at the same time. So far only Black Dog and Insect Swarm featured the Fast keyword in the Shub faction. Since he's luckily not Loyal he works well with every faction, including the human factions who potentially gain an even greater advantage from the gifted Terror icons than Shub. So, if Conspiracies become a big thing in the future we'll be seeing a lot of Savio Corvi (and I'd up my rating to 4).

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
Basically nothing without a conspiracy in play, but once one is there… wow. Immune to any card effect (keep this separate from game effects) that is not a Day effect, your whole team gains Fast and a terror icon… that’s some hot stuff. He’s a survivor, decks seeking to wipe the board often will love and hate him. Decks weak against seeing a lot of terror will hate him. So far, probably one of the best candidates for a ‘big character’ deck.

Kamacausey - 4 out of 5
I really like the potential of this guy. Yes, there has to be a conspiracy card in play for him to be good but you won’t be playing him unless you are running conspiracies. Once a conspiracy is out he is a pain in the arse to deal with and he gives all of your characters terror and fast. Yes please. Like already mentioned a couple of times before me he will be stellar in a weenie rush deck. I see him paring up with m.u. nicely.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_ghoulish-scavenger-tiv.jpg'] Ghoulish Scavenger

dboeren - 3 out of 5
He’s a reasonable (not great) value for 2, but you’re paying for potential. We need to get things cleared up about exactly when he can trigger, but the sudden appearance of two extra Combat can make bad things happen if it’s not restricted to the resource phase. All it takes is one attachment to make him pretty strong.

Danigral - 3 out of 5
While I probably wouldn’t run x3 because it’s not as good early game, I would definitely put at least 1 in a Shub deck. Just one card can turn him into a formidable beat-stick. The “Action:” is bad templating since resourcing is a framework action, and doesn’t happen in the player action window, but I think we can argue for intent on this card. It should probably say “Action: If you did not resource a card this turn, you may attach a card from your hand…” Anyway.

jhaelen - 2 out of 5
And another Ghoul, this time with the usual companion subtype 'Monster'. For the same cost as a Twilight Cannibal or a Ghoulish Predator he falls somewhat flat. While he doesn't have the disadvantage of being crippled while it's Day, I'd think twice before attaching a card to him to give him a boost. In the early game I'd much rather resource a card, and in the late game I'd rather not resource at all. Without Toughness or some other kind of protection he's just too wimpy. He might find a place in a themed deck, but that's about it.

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
Unfortunately for the Ghoulish Scavenger, players are already spoiled with amazing 2 cost Shub characters. Also, without a clarification on his action ability, it’s tough to get a true feel for where Ghoulish Scavenger stacks up in the competition. Still, Ghoulish Scavenger should not be overlooked. No weakness to Day (which is a prominent theme of this very expansion) and the ability to walk around with 3 or more combat icons is normally reserved for characters with a higher cost (of course they require less work). With enough effort though (2 facedown attachments), he can even go toe to toe with some Ancient Ones. That being said, most situations you’ll be better off simply playing the other card as opposed to attaching it to a Scavenger. Thus, only (with exception to any combos) at times when you have more cards that you can’t use in a turn (and have no need to resource) will Ghoulish Scavenger shine.

Kamacausey - 2 out of 5
Another ghoul... Maybe if twilight cannibal and ghoulish predator didn’t exist this guy would get to see some playtime. Even with the focus on Day and Night cards in this set I still don’t think it’s really going to affect how much they are played. Not being penalized by Day is nice though.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_baleful-reveler-tiv.jpg'] Baleful Reveler

dboeren - 2 out of 5
OK for cost 1, but if you don’t have Night in your deck there’s no reason to even look at him. If you are though, and especially if your Night card is immune to non-Day, then it’s not a bad deal for 1.

Danigral - 2 out of 5
A decent vanilla chump if you don’t have anything better to include and you’re running night. It’s nothing wow, but I like that they are still printing somewhat useful vanilla cards with no power creep.

jhaelen - 2 out of 5
While nothing to write home about, this guy is a solid cost 1 character. He would get a really nice boost from Savio Corvi...

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
Not terrible for 1 cost, and with some Night effects, Baleful Reveler is turns into quite a useable card. Nothing earth shattering to see here, but will find a home in a few niche decks.

Kamacausey - 2 out of 5
He’s ok I suppose but nothing that makes you get excited. Like jhaelen said with savio corvi this guys becomes a lot better. I could see those two in a weenie rush deck together. Outside of a few decks I don’t see him seeing too much play. Decent chud though.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_dark-rebirth-tiv.jpg'] Dark Rebirth

dboeren - 3 out of 5
Loyal keeps this from being a 4, but it’s a boon to Shub’s subtype themes from Mi-Go to Ghouls to Dark Young. A bit hard to pull off in a dual-faction deck, but you might be able to do something with a cross-faction subtype like Cultist or Monster… Still, it had better be hard to pull off (Loyal *and* Night) because it’s extremely powerful. I expect a lot of people to play around with this one, it’s irresistable.

Danigral - 3 out of 5
So you don’t want to wait until Shub-Niggurath rears her horrifyingly beautiful head in person? This is a similar effect at a lower cost. The downside is that it pretty much has to be a mono-Shub deck, and yeah, it has to be night. Pretty restrictive, but that’s a good thing for a card with this much power potential.

jhaelen - 4 out of 5
Oh, how I'd wish this wasn't Loyal! As it is, at cost 3 it will typically not be a reliable option for most multi-faction decks, particularly since it has the additional drawback of being only playable at Night. So what's left? A circumstantially very powerful card that could allow a Shub player to turn the table or recover instantly from a wipe. Oh, and it really looks as if it was meant to be used with Untimely Burial (see below).

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
Dark Rebirth is cruel. It seems so amazing, but all it will ever do is leave a player ‘wishing.’ Wishing that it wasn’t loyal, wishing that it had a lower cost, wishing that it could target Ancient Ones, wishing that it didn’t require it to be Night, wishing that were easier Shubby ways to fill your discard pile, etc… Dark Rebirth just isn’t the knockout punch people wish it to be. Although, as a quick way to recur even 1 or 2 characters, it is still worth a deck slot in a Shub heavy deck with even the slightest focus on Night cards.

Kamacausey - 3 out of 5
The mono faction player in me loves this card. Awesome effect. However, it is very restricted. For good reason too. If this hadn’t been restricted than this card would be everywhere as it is an awesome recursion card. This card is awesome with untimely burial. I wonder if it was planned… :-)
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_untimely-burial-tiv.jpg'] Untimely Burial

dboeren - 3 out of 5
A good combo card, you play this to set up something else. If it’s Night it becomes a solid 4, and it works great with any faction’s recursion although you can only seed a Shub character. A versatile effect.

Danigral - 3 out of 5
So here we have the sister card to Dark Rebirth. Using sac effects and this card, you can fill your discard up and then spring them all into play. This might be good in a Mi-Go deck or a Dark Young deck or maybe a Ghoul deck. A lot of potential and a fun card. Since there’s no limit either, if you make it night you can do this multiple times a round to set up, then swing hard. Fun card.

jhaelen - 3 out of 5
And here we have a tech piece for preparing discard pile shenanigans (like Dark Rebirth above). Have you ever been miffed when you wanted to play a Hungry Dark Young and didn't have a suitable cost 2 character available to get full use out of it? Or a Harvesting Mi-Go? Or a Corrupted Midwife? Or...? Well, here's a potential answer. It's only drawback is that it only works on Shub characters - but on the plus-side it even works with Ancient Ones! As an added bonus you can use it over and over when it's Night. It's like a little sister of Shocking Transformation. I think I could use this.

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
I had been hoping for a nice, cheap card that let me pull a character from my deck and put it into my discard pile. Now… I just need a worthwhile shub character to get! Curses! Anyway, if you haven’t guessed already, this card is clearly meant to help out recursion decks. Whether you’re setting up a mass revive(ie. Dark Rebirth) or looking to trick in a shub faction Ancient One Untimely Burial could be a great card for you.

Kamacausey - 3 out of 5
Comboriffic! Well here is the second piece to the dark rebirth puzzle. I have been tinkering with that combo in my mono shub monster themed deck. It takes a little time to set up but it is so much fun when you pull it off. Neat card. Has to be night for you to get full effect out of it though. It will see some play.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_elisabetta-magro-tiv.jpg'] Elisabetta Magro

dboeren - 2 out of 5
Her skill is good, but other than that you’re going to have to work at making her useful with meh icons and no ability unless there’s a Conspiracy out. Even if there is, you have to put a little effort into making it useful - basically by having more characters with “enters play” effects than your opponent or similar since each player chooses his own character to be affected. I do love the 2-fers that come out of “enters play” characters but even so I think it’s not quite worth it. Good enough for a casual/fun deck but that’s about it.

Danigral - 3 out of 5
It’s hard to wrap my head around ST cards sometimes. This one looks like it could work well with any character with an “enters play” ability such as Yog or ST, while simultaneously slowing down your opponent. It’s important to note the response doesn’t happen until all stories resolve, but the cool thing about her is that she can even bounce herself when she has 3 tokens.

jhaelen - 2 out of 5
After B. Ramsdale Brown, here's our second Fated character for the Lodge. Like most Fated characters to date, she comes at cost 3 and has skill 4, but only brings two icons. Being a Conspirator she only really gets interesting if there's a Conspiracy around. Then she gets a variant of the, oh, so familiar bounce effect. Since you get to choose when to use it, you will make sure to get the better deal out of it. I suppose Lodge fans will find a good use for her, but I liked Mr. Brown's ability a lot better.

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
Ms. Magro looks a lot better than what she actually is. While she has some potential for stall, and/or re-using some key ‘enter play’ effects… her effect is too slow to be relevant in most situations. Your opponent already got their success token or you’re reducing your field position after it would’ve mattered (for re-use/effect avoidance trickery). So, Elisabetta is nothing more than a knockout punch to me. As in, you’re already in control of the board, and the service she provides is a way to help keep your opponent from making a comeback. While a useful feature, it’s not what I typically prefer.


Kamacausey - 3 out of 5
I like her. I didn’t read her correctly the first time. I thought you could only return 1 character back to the opponents hand but she lets you return 1 character per story. You could also throw her back to your hand to do the same thing to the opponent again next turn or a lord jeffrey farrington or some other useful character. Sometimes it may be too little too late but I could see her potential. Her icons are meh though.

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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_guardian-of-dawn-tiv.jpg'] Guardian of Dawn

dboeren - 4 out of 5
Silver Twilight’s been needing a good 1-drop and she fits the bill. Day isn’t hard to achieve and then she turns into quite a strong character. You can start off a really good ST deck now with Guardian of Dawn, Keeper of the Silver Sphere, The Guardian, and Hermetic Seal. Try it, with the right opening hand it’s a monster as The Guardian activates BOTH your cheap characters into powerhouses. Hermetic seal is so good you actually can run it just for her.

Danigral - 4 out of 5
It’s a decent 1-drop on its own with the investigation and 2 skill, but with the (relatively easy) cost of making it day, it turns into the most efficient 1-drop in the game. This is almost worth running a couple day cards in any ST deck just for this gal.

jhaelen - 4 out of 5
Wow, he's even better than comparable cost 1 Miskatonic characters! Really solid, even it's not Day. Definitely better than Shub's Baleful Reveler. A really great addition for any (rush) deck.

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
Sure, why not. Like most 1 cost characters, you can’t expect much. That being said, an investigation icon and 2 skill makes for a decent stat block. Make it day and you end up with a pretty efficient character. Will see play in aggressive decks, especially in said decks that utilize Day cards.

Kamacausey - 4 out of 5
A good character that becomes great if it’s Day. Yes please! She is an all around solid card. Without Day she is still good. Any silver twilight deck looking for a little early game will benefit from having this card in their deck. If you have any Day cards in your deck she is a no brainer.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_zanni-tiv.jpg'] Zanni

dboeren - 3 out of 5
Gives you some cheap control, and gets better the fewer available characters your opponent has. So, early game, or when you’re taking them out or keeping them away. Lots of ways to combo into making that work for you. Even just making them use two guys to kill Zanni (oops, did you accidentally just crazy him instead?) while your other characters get off light is worth it.

Danigral - 3 out of 5
I’m not quite sure about this guy. He seems that he could be a very good distraction to slow your opponent down, IF your opponent is low on arcane icons. But he only works on offense and he’s susceptible to terror, so he is just a situational support character that probably won’t make much of an impact. However, he’s slightly better because he’s non-unique and getting him out early can mean a few extra tokens.

jhaelen - 3 out of 5
Another cost 1 character for the Lodge, he has an ability that should be extra useful in the early game, especially for rush decks. Considering the plentiful bounce effects that the Lodge has in its arsenal, it's quite likely there won't be many characters in play. It also works to a degree to counter characters put into play from your opponent's hand. And if combined with other effects that prevent characters from committing to stories he can stay useful even in the late game.

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
This guy is legit! Aggressive decks are going to love this guy! Decks focused on keeping the board at a minimum could/should find a use for Zanni. Combo with Binding Worm for a guaranteed unopposed story. Yes, this is only useful as an offensive card, but ideally you want to be making an offensive move every chance you get and this guy makes it a lot easier to do so.

Kamacausey - 4 out of 5
Another awesome aggressive 1 cost character. He will help you win stories early on with silver twilights shenanigans of bouncing people off the board to where they won’t have enough people to block your stories. I see him being a contender for the silver twilight.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_hermetic-seal-tiv.jpg'] Hermetic Seal

dboeren - 5 out of 5
What a card! Gives you Day (and activates Guardian of Dawn), plus it’s hard to destroy, plus it can cancel a lot of annoying stuff AND be replayed to reestablish itself. And all for just 1 resource. Great for any deck, and no limiters like Unique or Steadfast either.

Danigral - 4 out of 5
This card can hit a lot of things, forcing your opponent to either have to burn through it or play around it. And since the cost is returning it to hand, it can also potentially be tricky for night-based decks to play around.

jhaelen - 5 out of 5
The Lodge's version of an immune Day card is notable for two reasons: It's only cost 1, and it's not Unique. This makes sense considering it's effect: It serves as a recurring cancel for (Forced) Responses. This will clearly ruin the day of any deck relying on Museum Curator or James Logan and protect against popular cards like Deep One Rising, Many-Angled Thing, or Grasping Chthonian, or ... - you get the idea. And even if it gets destroyed by a Night card, there are quite a few ways to get it back, considering it has the Artifact and Item subtypes. Oh, did I mention it's not even Steadfast? I really like this!

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
What an annoying card! Opponents have to play around it, and you have to keep playing it. Odds are this card will see some play in the current meta as there are a lot of useful ‘enter play’ effects worth negating. Though, I wouldn't be shocked to see some decks also include cards like Eldrich Nexus as Silver Twilight already has to re-play a lot of its own cards.

Kamacausey - 5 out of 5
OMG! This card is fantastic! It turns it to Day, it can only be destroyed by Night cards, it repetitively keeps cancelling your opponents come into play responses, and you get to do this all of this for the low low cost of 1! One of the best cards in the set. I’m not a big silver twilight fan but I dread playing against them now. This card will get annoying fast. Expect to see this card a lot in the months coming up.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_volto-tiv.jpg'] Volto

dboeren - 4 out of 5
I love this card, anything that can uncommit a character of your choosing is golden. Nor does it ready them, they stay exhausted. You’ve got to keep them alive, and it mostly only works on defense - but what you can do is commit another character that does something when they commit and then retreat them. Niche, but maybe useful someday.

Danigral - 4 out of 5
This card can really throw your opponent for a loop in story math. Being able to remove any character from a story is very powerful. The only reason it’s a 4 is that it really only works on defense (unless you have a character that does something by committing), and it doesn’t work in a ST bounce strategy, which is probably one of the more functional deckbuilds for them right now. And oh yeah, it’s an attachment.

jhaelen - 3 out of 5
Our first non-Relic Mask in the LCG days. In contrast to the CCG Masks which either turned characters into Avatars of Nyarlathotep of had a detrimental effect, Volto is quite beneficial for it's wearer. Being able to uncommit a character from a story is a powerful effect, especially since it even works on Ancient Ones. And the only protection against it is ... wearing a Mask! Of course it has the usual drawbacks of an Attachment, but, hey, it only costs 1. Also note it's not Unique, for even more uncommitting fun.

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
A defense only card unless you have a way to commit a character after your opponent does on your turn. Though, there are only a few Masks in existence right now, and even fewer are ever played so Volto is essentially a portable, unrestricted (beyond the, easy to acquire, steadfast) push effect. Still, I don’t expect Volto to get much playing time due to its’ lack offensive capabilities.

Kamcausey - 2 out of 5
Another attachment…I just don’t like them. They have to be utterly fantastic (i.e. khopesh) for me to want to play them. If this card worked on offense as well as defense I could possibly see this card being playable but as is I’m not that impressed. Better than some attachments I’ve seen in this set though.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_look-to-the-future-tiv.jpg'] Look to the Future!

dboeren - 3 out of 5
This card is to reset your ST (or other faction) characters so you can re-use their enters play abilities and/or remove their Fated or possibly Wound tokens. It’s not a filter though, it’s just getting some good cards early at the expense of drawing worse cards later. Try combining it with something that can mill your own deck if you want to improve that part a little. Steadfast 3 isn’t a big deal, you’ll usually have that by turn 2 or 3 which is easily as fast as you’ll have the kind of characters out that you’ll want to bounce with it so it’s not a limiter. The real drawback is requiring Day, without it it literally does nothing at all.

Danigral - 4 out of 5
An effect that bounces your Jeffrey Farrington AND allows you to filter and stack your deck? Nothing is more perfect for the Lodge. The 3 steadfast is a potential annoyance for multi-faction decks, and it’s not a 5 because it has to be day.

jhaelen - 3 out of 5
The Lodge has quite a few characters with nice triggered effects on entering play. This event allows you to return them to your hand and get some additional benefit from it. It costs zero, so it could even be worth it to 'heal' a wounded character or 'reset' a Fated character. It's most useful when you aren't satisfied with your hand but can even be of interest just to have a look at some cards on the top of your deck and re-order them any way you like. The only drawback: it only works when it's Day. But considering you'll want to have Hermetic Seal in every Lodge deck, that's okay.

Tom Capor aka Magnus Arcanis
This card’s only saving grace is that it costs 0. If Day isn’t a big deal for you this card could have some use. But, without a shuffle effect all you’re doing is seeing cards 1 or 2 turns ahead. Which can be a nice perk or a boon if your digging for something. Beyond that, Look to the Future! is really only useful for reusing ‘enter play’ effects. So, could see some play, but I wouldn’t expect much from this card as it is useless without a Day card in play.

Kamacausey - 2 out of 5
I’m not that excited about this card as some. It has a neat ability but I don’t know if it’s really worth all the effort to play it. It is 0 to play but it has steadfast 3 and it requires it to be Day. Pass.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_cascio-di-boerio-tiv.jpg'] Cascio Di Boerio

dboeren - 3 out of 5
Decent icons and Toughness is useful, but his ability is conditional. If you’re taking Conspiracies you’ll want to look at him, but if you’re not there’s no reason not to take somebody else instead and the slot for 3-cost characters for Syndicate is getting a lot of competition from guys like David Pan and Peter Clover these days. Can you fit one more? He’s actually a good companion to David Pan in a skill deck though because anything that gives you the skill edge will amplify your power so he might find a home there which is actually a relatively common archetype for the faction.

Danigral - 3 out of 5
Well, first of all he’s only good with conspiracies, which may bump him down overall, but then again, how many decks do you think won’t have at least one copy of The Mage’s Machinations? And yet again, if they do have The Mage’s Machinations, wouldn’t they just remove him from play?:. Regardless, IF there is a conspiracy, he alone makes it so much easier to defend them, and hence more likely to win it. He also serves as a deterrent for opponent’s going to conspiracies when paired with other skill reduction effects or things like Ice Shaft or Parallel Dimension.

jhaelen - 2 out of 5
Well, I think I prefer Peter Clover to him. The only thing Cascio has going for him is his inherent Toughness. Oh, and his ability might come in handy in a deck built around Mr. David Pan. It's a pity it only works for Conspiracies.

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
This cards strikes a solid ‘Meh’ on the Wow-o-meter. Decent stat block, toughness +1 and an effect that only affects conspiracies, keeps him from overreaching into the competitive arena, though if the right conspiracy comes along… (say from the recently previewed Syndicate Expanion, Denizens of the Underworld! *fingers crossed*) he could find a home. Unlikely to make any waves competitively regardless though, but we’ll have to see.

Kamacausey - 3 out of 5
I’m still debating on this guy. He has stiff competition at the 3 cost slot but paired with the right conspiracy he could get very annoying quick. Overall there are better choices but he shouldn’t be counted out so fast. The trick is to have him make it hell to complete a conspiracy that your opponent doesn’t want to see.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_restless-caporione-tiv.jpg'] Restless Caporione

dboeren - 2 out of 5
The most interesting thing about him is his Night effect, Syndicate has a couple of characters that can go to stories while exhausted now like Clover Club Bootlegger and that could be a cool theme to try out. Good skill, but his icons aren’t so hot. One extra combat would have really amped him up a lot.

Danigral - 3 out of 5
While his skill ratio is pretty good, so that he may find himself in a skill-based deck with Mr. David Pan, he really is a meta call. If you don’t want to run a ton of Day/Night cards, you could depend on your opponents to play them and just take advantage of the situation. A versatile card depending on the meta, but overall some better choices at that prices point.

jhaelen - 3 out of 5
Ah, here we have the first sign of our new (would-be) masters over Day/Night effects: He gains a neat effect, no matter what - unless it's neither Day or Night, of course. Even then he has a nice skill for his cost and a welcome investigation icon, though. It's also a good thing he's not Unique. Still, there's quite a bit of competition in Syndicate when looking for cost 3 characters, e.g. Lookout or the Clover Club Bootlegger.

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
No relation, haha. First of the cards to have two ‘modes’ depending on the time of Day. Perhaps not the most competitive of basic strategies, but if your meta is filled with Day and Night effects, Syndicate is positioned well enough to cut through the clatter. That being said, Restless Caporione doesn’t offer much outside of applying his 4 skill. Then again, Syndicate rarely does these days so with some skill trickery he’ll be fine in certain metas.

Kamacausey - 3 out of 5
Another character competing for that 3 cost slot. He has decent icons and good skill but he is just too vanilla imho. There are better characters out there. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure he will see some play but he doesn’t get me excited when I look at him.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_carnevale-sentinel-tiv.jpg'] Carnevale Sentinel

dboeren - 3 out of 5
Three icons and some sort of useful keyword *if* it’s Day or Night. So, if you’re controlling that he’s a good guy. Ideally you’ve got the Gold Pocket Watch and you can force your opponent to have to cover both possibilities which really makes him mean.

Danigral - 3 out of 5
Similar to Restless Caporione, he is very good if the meta has and Day/Night at all, but without a least a little of your deck dedicated to Day/Night, there are much better options for Syndicate at the 2-cost range.

jhaelen - 2 out of 5
Like Restless Caporione he gains a different bonus depending on whether it's Day or Night. In either case he cannot be made insane. He's not particularly good when it's neither Day or Night, though. Then you would be better served with plenty of other Syndicate characters. He also has the disadvantage of not being a Criminal, excepting him from a lot of beneficial synergies.

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
Man that is a creepy mask. Anyway, Carnevale Sentinel is a much more useable card that the previous, Restless Caporione. Either Day or Night, this Independent will have a pretty decent stat block. Shame he wasn’t a criminal. Though, if no Day or Night is present… he’ll be better off as a resource.

Kamacausey - 3 out of 5
I can see him being more useful than caporione but he is again thrown into the same category because his usefulness is determined by the Day or Night mechanic. Not bad icons either way but he is probably better suited when it’s day time because he gets the investigation icon.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_bauta-tiv.jpg'] Bauta

dboeren - 1 out of 5
It’s a Carnevale Sentinel you can wear on anyone. Except wouldn’t you rather pay 1 more and get two characters instead of one? Wouldn’t you rather not give your opponent a possible 2-fer for killing him and not have to worry about it being destroyed at the wrong time? I’d just take the Sentinel. Oh yeah, and Sentinel also does something even when it’s not Day/Night.

Danigral - 1 out of 5
I have to agree with others on this. Paying one for an attachment that may be blank is just stupid. However, it’s not steadfast, so you could splash it in a Night-based human deck for additional terror protection, or a Day-based monster deck for some extra rush potential. That sounds like a bad idea though.

jhaelen - 1 out of 5
Our second Mask in this set, it follows the theme of the new Syndicate characters, providing different bonuses depending on Day/Night. In either case it's a bit like a poor man's Alhazred Lamp. Oh, and it does absolutely nothing if it's neither Day or Night. Okay, that's not quite true, since it will still protect a character against Volto's effect and can be used to feed Cthulhu's Carl Stanford, but that's really rather far-fetched.

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
While I often that feel icon manipulation is under-rated… this card will do nothing more than look pretty in your collection. Even in a Day+Night theme deck, Bauta will struggle to find a home. Not the worst card in existence, but competitively irrelevant.

Kamacausey - 1 out of 5
More terrible attachments. I wish there was a way to make attachments more useful. Alas, this attachment will be doomed to my binder never to be seen again like so many attachments before it and so many more that will come I’m sure.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_the-gold-pocket-watch-tiv.jpg'] The Gold Pocket Watch

dboeren - 3 out of 5
Really cool concept for a card, but it ends up being expensive having to pay every turn. Nor does it have the “immune to non-Day/Night effects” that some of the other supports have in this set. Mainly what it does is screw over your opponents who try to play Day/Night and it does that well. It also makes Carnevale Sentinel annoying because you don’t know what he’s going to do. If this was an exhaust effect instead I’d like it a lot more, but I still love the theme. Since this card is fresh in the developer’s minds I expect the Syndicate box will have something else to benefit from this though.

Danigral - 2 out of 5
This gives all of your Syndicate cards with both Day/Night to be more adaptable to the situation of the board. A very cool idea, very cool. But! If your deck is dependent on this support for that flexibility then your deck will potentially fall apart. If you have backup cards, your deck would just be too inefficient. It will be a fun to try it out though.

jhaelen - 2 out of 5
Unlike the other factions (excepting Yog-Sothoth), Syndicate doesn't gain an immune Day/Night card. Instead they get a support card that works like a silver bullet against said immune Day/Night cards. It's also what makes the other Syndicate cards in this set tick(!). In theory I love it, but the problem is: It's too vulnerable to support destruction to rely on it. You also have to pay 1 every time you use it, so it's unlikely you'll get its benefit both in your and your opponent's turn.

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
This is the answer to the Day/Night metagame should it ever come to pass. Beyond that it is only useful for cards like Carnevale Sentinel, which doesn’t say much.

Kamacausey - 3 out of 5
Really cool concept for a card. I don’t understand why it didn’t get the immunity like all the others before it though. I agree that it should have been an exhaust effect too instead of the pay 1. This will be a metagame card and it’s nice to have some cards like this in the format. It won’t see a whole lot of play but when/if it does people will not like being on the receiving end of it.
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[CRB='/forums/uploads/coc/med_early-start-tiv.jpg'] Early Start

dboeren - 3 out of 5
The timing window limits some creative uses you’d otherwise have, but what do you expect? It hasn’t got Loyal on it, or a skill/cost limit, so it has to have some sort of drawback or else it would be overpowered. The best use is exhausting everyone at Night on your opponent’s turn to get a clear turn for yourself, but you need to make it Night first which keeps it from rating higher. Maybe try it with Death Comes for All, sounds like fun to me.

Danigral - 3 out of 5
This is similar to Panic! in that it will be a great defensive card. While it is slightly more situational than Panic! in that it has to be Night, it is slightly better in that you don’t have to scale the cost to match their biggest dude’s skill to exhaust them. And it’s not loyal!

jhaelen - 3 out of 5
And finally, here's an event with a dual effect. If it's Day it's a more expensive version of Miskatonic's Restless and Wary with the added restriction of only being playable in the story phase, and if it's Night it's an unconditional, and hence somewhat less useful Panic! effect. Unfortunately, it's useless in case it's neither Day or Night. It's not terrible, but somehow I expected more from a cost 3 event. It would work actually best if used in conjunction with one of the immune Day/Night cards from one of the other factions.

Tom Capor - aka Magnus Arcanis
Behold the reason for Syndicate to bother with Day and/or Night! Extremely versatile and powerful. Typically used on your opponent’s turn (before they commit), Early Start can really open some doors to a victory. No steadfast, no loyal, just a Day or Night (usually Night) requirement and you have an always useful, board wide, effect.

Kamacausey - 3 out of 5
I can see uses for this card. Again its usefulness depends on whether it is Day or Night but given the right situation I can see the potential. The syndicate can almost build another archetype with all of their new Day/Night cards.
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Stay tuned for the final installment featuring Miskatonic University, Yog-Sothoth, and the Neutral cards next week.