Syndicate bounty cards small analysis (a try, at least)

Hey all SY lovers and Gwent players as well. To organize my thoughts at least a bit, I've decided to start a discussion about the newest bounty package. A common knowleadge is that control beats engine, therefore, I believe, SY will have a good time in rain, mages, assimilate meta. The questions are – will the new bounty cards add value to LP control, form a new control archetype, become a pointslam with different leader ability or something else?

Please note, that some of the cards are new, not tested properly and all of this is my opinion – I don't claim I'm right, I'm merely theorycrafting loudly. The cards I at least consider for now are:

– The Scoundrel – really good card, probably best played first round for nice 12 pts slam and disrupt turn 2/3 engine. Plus a nice spender, with bounty, if left untouched, he can probably delete a unit per turn. As for now, I consider it auto-include in todays engine heavy meta.

– The Witchfinder – a staple, no bounty without her I guess? Too good to pass, auto bounty is the most powerful ability in the package.

– Caleb – that's why Caleb is huge too. Right now, until the decks are unrefined, he's has saved my ass too many times. Maybe later he may be skipped, but this will require a really good bounty/damage flow.

– The Brute – theoretically good profit and a huge slam, but only in a perfect world. In reality, he's often 10-12 for 13 with 5-7 profit – not bad, don't get me wrong, but not something I expect from 13 prov. After a few games I consider switching him off, but still not bad if played carefully. Might be a good finisher with Cleaver or some other spender.

– Graden – well, even without huge relicts Graden will be a staple in bounty decks.

– Professor – staple before Harvest of Sorrow, staple after Harvest of Sorrow.

– Kurt – same as above. Purify is great to have against a chonky defender, to not grind through the armour with damage.

– Moreelse – not sure about him yet, so far he's out but probably first in. Paying 6 in bounty is easy and unconditional auto kill is good to have.

– Purge and Hysteria – both good, Purge often puches for 5 plus carries over the bounty, plus coins; Hysteria is less obvious, but still to get rid of the Smuggle I'm fine with it.

– Witch Hunter Executioner – nice and simple spender, bleed is fine too if the draws are bad.

– Vigilantes – I like them so far, they help make Hysteria damage for 5 with 5 additional coins right of the bat, Professor for 6, pay for Scoundrels tribute (pay the tribute, please, pulling Mage Torturer ain't fun…) and generally I've noticed the game flow is much smoother with at least one on the field. Plus it's a bronze which screams KILL ME/LOCK ME OR U SCREWED! instead more valuable targets.

To sum up, I think bounty is a nice package, not a deck on its own. From the beginning I haven't tried to build a different deck – instead I've just modified the LP deck and so far haven't experienced 200 points rain, resilience mages. The deck can cope with early engine set up very well with abundance of damage options ranging from 3 up to 6 from hand, not counting Vigilantes.

Time will tell if:

a) bouny adds value to LP – I think yes, it has both points and damage, the deck is more control, although less active with the obvious removal of Smuggle for example or Novigradian Justice.

b) any other leader abilities are more viable – hard to answer after one day, but, like I've wrote earlier, in my opinion it's a package, not a deck and bounty will and can adapt to any other archetype. And since LP are the most powerful indeed, adding the bounty will be just a matter of preference.

Thanks for reading and please share your experience.

EDIT: https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/c836e7db91dd39c8e6aba58f721cc49e – my current version.