Welcome to our third Syndicate card review. This time around, Andasama and Hippotompotomus will be taking a closer look at the Blindeyes gang and their elusive leader, King of Beggars.
You can also take a quick look at our reviews of the other gangs. Tidecloaks - Crownsplitters - Firesworn - Cutups.
King of Beggars currently reigns supreme amongst all the Syndicate leaders. Offering a higher floor, but lower ceiling than Gudrun, his active ability can give you coins in a pinch, while his passive ability makes your Tribute effects cheaper. This makes cards such as Renegade Made proc their Tribute ability for free, which raises the power level of your bronzes. King of Beggars gets away with playing a lot of cheap cards, granting him more room for the luxurious cards like Renew.
Tinboy is a very expensive card with a powerful Tribute effect. While you would like to use him as your finisher, he isn't great at the moment. He would shine in a less removal-oriented and more swarm-oriented meta. Cards like Freak Show and Ewald are currently too strong and often clear your opponent's board, which nullifies Tinboy's value. You need a long Round 3 to get respectable value with him, whereas the lucrative alternatives in other factions such as The Great Oak are just more flexible.
Madame Luiza fills an interesting niche of making your next Tribute effect free, which makes her compelling when coupled with the most flamboyant Tribute cards like Tinboy, Moreelse, Graden and Adriano the Mink. Sadly, consistency is the issue and at 9 provisions, the sweet Madame doesn't see any play.
Adriano the Mink also known under his less appealing alias "Garrunah" is a decent proactive high-end card and could be compared to the likes of Katakan. You can consider using his Tribute ability if you need to make use of your leftover coins. Against more proactive-oriented decks such as Big Monsters, Sly Seductress might even survive, presenting a nice engine.
Doadrick Leumaerts is a great engine that can cycle through your deck each turn. However, Syndicate bronzes are powerful and you don't really need him. Syndicate has enough thinning and cards like Eavesdrop are just more efficient than Doadrick. Nilfgaard is the opposite case. Doadrick makes a solid addition to the NG ranks. Their bronzes are among the very worst ones. Nilfgaard relies on finding Letho, Serrit and Auckes. This makes Doadrick helpful, especially if you have Infiltrator on the board. In Round 3, he can be utilized with Shilard who gives him Zeal.
Rico Meiersdorf is another dual-faction card for NG and SY. He is more of a fun card, only ever getting respectable value against decks that play very tall units, such as Big Monsters.
Kalkstein is finally making his Gwent appearance. He plays for decent 7 value and his Purify ability can remove a Lock, Bounty or even something innocent like Bleed. Kalkstein is a wonderful Midrange utility card and can easily fit into any Syndicate deck.
Pickpocket would be the ideal way to earn 6 coins if Swindle wasn't in the picture. 6 coins isn't a crucial breaking point for Tribute and Hoard effects. There isn't a good reason to play it when you have the cheaper options in Swindle and Eavesdrop.
Eavesdrop is an improved Heymaey Skald or Vicovaro Novice. On top of granting you the precious coins, you also get to cycle through the deck, while disposing the worst card in your hand. Eavesdrop is insane on red coin since similarly to most crimes, it gives the initiative back to the opponent, which forces them to play proactively. You can confidently take all your mulligans, as Eavesdrop unbricks Sewer Raiders and The Flying Redanian.
Line of Credit makes humans lust after the dwarven ladyfolk. In swarm decks, this card can kill a token for value, while often "saving" you from over-swarming your board. You can use it to destroy The Flying Redanian, which makes it a reliable 6 for 4.
Courier is the third and last dual-faction card for NG and SY. Despite synergizing with Vivaldi Bank, neither card sees play, as Syndicate certainly doesn't lack consistency. Nilfgaard can look at the top of their opponents deck and exploit Cantarella or Viper Witcher. The best use for Courier by far has been in Nilfgaard Shupe decks, thanks to the synergy with Doadrick.
Blindeye Apothecary is the strongest 4 provision card we've seen to date. She plays for 10 value in KoB decks when used on a 1 health Whoreson's Freak Show. The very threat of her forces inefficient trades, similarly to Nilfgaard's Slave Infantry. Cheap and powerful cards like Apothecary are the main reason why Summoning Circle can be ran to great effect in KoB decks.
Renegade Mage offers very solid value in KoB decks. He plays as a 6 for 4 with removal value, allowing you to claim a Bounty whenever short on coins. This card is played in every KoB deck.
Beggar isn't the flashiest of cards. He gets average value for his provisions. If you don't reliably trigger his Bonded ability, the other 4 provision cards outclass him. However, he has the Blindeye tag and if Apothecary or Renegade Mage get nerfed, we can see Beggar being played as a one-off for Sigi Reuven.
Sly Seductress is a 3 power engine, meaning that a stronger gust of wind is enough to blow her directly into the graveyard. Her Bonded ability, while possibly useful when playing against special-heavy decks, isn't worth the investment into cards like Portal to put both Seductresses in play at once. In the current removal-heavy meta, this card unfortunately isn't any reliable.