Seed Faction cards not really best for their trade

[brynsul]

Don't know if this has been discussed or not but I am finding that the new (seed) faction cards tend to not be really useful for the trade they represent.

The Arcanist's by far have the best ability on any of the new factions, able to look at the top card of their deck and put it on the bottom not only enables rogue to auto-call any of its 'name the top card' effects but it also allows players to avoid potential unwanted draws by putting the card to the bottom of the deck. I really think this should have been costed at 2 instead of 1 (going second turn 0 look at top card up to twice and opt it to bottom is pro-tier)

Mechanist IMO has the second best faction with a pay 3 for a +1str +1life for 3 can really add alot of survival power to low/mid life characters and occasionally dodge kill spells or edge in the last point of damage on a structure, character or even a faction.

Banker is really good for decks that love discard pile tricks or just milling through their deck (i think Arcanist faction is better at this but my friend disagrees)

the other two (rogue and warlord) are just downright terrible. Rogue is loose less and Warlord is win more. Both are pretty much overcosted for their effects.

I have a strong suspicion that arcanist will see use in many decks that dont even use arcanist cards. Like the rogue deck I currently have built.

A suggestion to the future faction cards: powers that specifically enable faction boosts (a pay x get x+1 to play a faction specific type of card for example) would help prevent obvious abuse of unintended effects.

maybe even effects that let you pay influence for effects? (warlord faction that can pay up to X influence to deal X damage to a character where X is the number of RAGE you can spot)

[Furtive Investor]

Here in the Boulder CO area - some would call it the "Enchanted Land of Assorted Fruits and Nuts" - we see a bit more Alliance of Handy Weirdos (Suprise! Not!) than Moist Cave of the Dark Pump (Arcanist Faction). Even if you never use the ability (of Weirdos) - just the threat of being able to use it will at least complicate life for your opponent, and that is rarely a bad thing ;)

When SEED first came out, some players dabbled with Order of the Golden String (Banker Faction), but I haven't seen it used lately. However, on the surface, it would seem to make sense with Gold Summit in one of those annoying Banker Life Gain decks.

Otherwise, I concur with your analysis. The only reason I can see playing Halls of Justice would be if I didn't have a play set of Noble Sacrifice yet. It is way overpriced at that. I think it should be X is the number of Rage you control (like Godwing) - now were talkin! As it is, not so much. Although I once had a passing thought about trying to build a deck around this faction with Reckless Challenger (cheap 7 STR dude from 1st Edition), but I just couldn't make the numbers work.

I have never seen the Rogue Faction played other than with the Pre-Constructed Decks. Just way too expensive. And many of the Rogue characters are already Covert. Maybe a ReversO where you make an opponents character Covert so you can destroy it with one of your Coverts or swing in with your non-Coverts? Nah! Not worth 5 Influence.

Being a Bear of Little Brain, I think Tourney Faction will continue to predominate, Weirdos and Dark Pump trailing somewhat, Golden String off the back (way behind in Cycling speak) and the other two never seeing competitive play.

However, as the game evolves, some of these factions might see more play due to synergies with new cards and expanded metagame.

Looking forward to the ride!

[captiantiny]

alright agree on the power of the factions.. but as for being "better suited" for other trades i do not.. just because there is synergy among faction to trade does not mean it should be that trade.. if you re-look at arcanist cards, you will see they have the synergy you wanted for your rogue cards, the looking of the top card... this is because arcanist are the best at deck/hand control... and so forth.. so i believe they fit and do what the trade is good for

[brynsul]

i see what your saying, but that is also neglecting that dark pump is flat out better for rogue than rogue's faction (worst faction out of the 5 imo)