The Design
Design is a huge topic. No matter what you are designing. But today we will be looking specifically at the design of the Latest addition to the Print and Play that was just released, The Ivory Syndicate!
The Ivory Syndicate is part of the Frifolk Alliance, an alliance of gangs, thieves, anarchists and assassins. The Ivory Syndicate is no different. The Ranks of the Ivory syndicate is primarily filled with Assassins. Now, after the fall of the black queen, they also recruit thugs, mercenaries or just about anyone who want to take up arms for the Syndicate.
As an Assassins guild, the Ivory Syndicate needs to be able to handle units well, but also sabotage and deal with enemy units that aren’t hiding behind walls. To create this claustrophobic feeling for the enemy. There are 2 cards that help with this. we have the Murderers’ Gate. The best single target removal in the game as it can kill any unit in play, in any zone. But it has the weakness of being a fortification, meaning that unless you can destroy it yourself or have your enemies destroy it. You can’t really use it again.
Finally, the Second Card that help with getting the feeling right is the Cutthroats’ Turf. An extremely powerful card. For 1 Gold and Exhausting it you can deal 2 damage to a Fortification. If you opponent doesn’t have a fortification, you can shoot a unit or a building instead. This effect is easily played around by your opponent dropping some fortifications. But if they don’t watch this card tear through anything your opponent builds in seconds.
The Units of the Ivory Syndicate
But how do you make units that feel amazing and thematic to play with. What do master assassins do on the battlefield. They strike unseen and before anyone else. Both The Repossessor and the Ivory Ambusher help with strengthening the strike from the shadows feeling with the Keyword “Ambush”.
Ambush in and out of itself is a powerful keyword. It allows a unit to skip the normal alternating combat round and strike first. Multiple Ambushers increase the value of ambush. As they all skip the regular combat order. Allowing you to not only strike once before you enemy, but several times, each taking out Key Units.
Volley, the other keyword that the Ivory Ambusher has, allows it to strike enemies without taking damage. This allows the Ivory Ambusher to kill enemies without repercussions. They won’t know what hit them.
The Repossessor is a unit that becomes infinitely better with Ivory Ambushers. The Ivory Ambushers Protect the Repossessor, letting the Repossessor strike whatever you need for a huge 7 damage.
As one of the greatest assassins guild in the kingdom of Scathia, I hope that you will feel tempted to pick them up and try them out after this little insight. There will be no Devlog Next Week as I will be attending Wiscon! I will try to show of images of the game and the people who play it, post discussions and thoughts from the testing and just overall event Coverage. For more direct Coverage I would greatly recommend you to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
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