Shadow Moon Syndicates: Syndicate Profiles - The Aggressors

This is the second in a four-part series profiling all the syndicates in Shadow Moon Syndicates and the Illicit Company expansion. Part one covered the four syndicates built around placing and protecting influence efficiently: Founders, MFB, MMU, and Off World Holdings.

Part two covers The Aggressors: Feral, Glaze, Messiers Reach, and Court of Saffron. Three of these four carry the game’s highest aggression rating. Two are from the base game; two are from the Illicit Company expansion. What they share is a strategic identity defined by attacking opponent resources directly — influence on the board, cards in hand, or control of sectors opponents are trying to build. Playing against an aggressor heavy deck is a fundamentally different game from playing against the Influence Builders covered in part one. The board state is less stable, threats are more immediate, and positions that look secure can be dismantled in a single turn.

Each profile covers what the cards are intended to do, the strategic priorities they reward, specific cards worth understanding deeply, how complex they are to play well, and what the table should be watching for when these cards are in the mix.

Feral

Home Sector: Underhive | Aggression: High | Complexity: Low | Set: Base Game

What These Cards Do

Feral cards are built around Eliminate: removing opponent influence from the board. Almost every card in the set places influence Above the Line and then eliminates opponent influence Below the Line, with most effects requiring that your own influence is present in the targeted sector. The placement, spreading into Underhive, Presidio, The Maze, and Space Docks, is not incidental. It is what makes the elimination possible. A smaller number of cards use the Burn Pile to find targets, trading the co-location requirement for dependence on what has recently been burned.

Strategic Priorities

The first priority when holding Feral cards is ensuring you have influence where you want to Eliminate your opponents. The majority of Eliminate effects in the set require your influence to be in the sector you want to clear. A player holding Feral cards who spreads presence into sectors opponents are actively building creates persistent Eliminate threats everywhere their tokens land. Spreading across multiple sectors is better than stacking deep in one, because each presence point is a potential Below the Line trigger for removal.

The second priority is Burn Pile awareness. Feral 002 burns a card and then eliminates 1 in all sectors named on the burned card. Potentially two or three sectors can be cleared in a single Below the Line resolution, with no co-location requirement. Feral 005 and 009 also use the burned card to target sectors at a distance. Managing what is in the Burn Pile, and timing when to burn, expands Feral’s reach considerably beyond what the core Eliminate cards would otherwise allow. Without Burn Pile management, the set plays narrowly. With it, the removal range doubles.

Key Cards

Feral 002 is the set’s highest ceiling card. Its Below the Line effect eliminates 1 in every sector named on the burned card, which can mean simultaneous removal across multiple sectors if the burned card covers broad territory. The Above the Line setup is modest — Add 1 Underhive, Burn 1 — but the Burn is the point. Choosing which card goes to the Burn Pile determines how much Feral 002 does, and a well selected burned card turns a standard Eliminate into a multi-sector clearing event.

Feral 010 is the set’s most freely targeted removal. Eliminate 1 in any 1 sector carries no restrictions: no Burn Pile dependency, no co-location requirement. It is the one card in the set that can reach anywhere on the board unconditionally. The secondary effect — Add 1 adjacent to the eliminated sector — lets the player advance directly into the space they just cleared, combining removal and placement into a single sequence.

Feral 009 offers the tightest Eliminate and advance combination in the set. Eliminate from a sector of the burned card Above the Line, Add 1 adjacent to that sector, Add 1 Underhive Below the Line. It rewards players who understand both what’s in the Burn Pile and which sectors adjacent to burned card sectors are worth claiming next, turning the removal into a board expansion rather than just a clearing action.

Complexity

The floor for Feral cards is genuinely low. Eliminate is a direct and immediately readable effect. The skill ceiling is narrow by design. The skill for this syndicate lives almost entirely in influence placement decisions and Burn Pile management, not in parsing complex card interactions. A player who ensures influence lands next to opponent influence and then fires Eliminate on the right Below the Line trigger is playing Feral close to its ceiling.

What the Table Should Watch

Feral cards punish static positions. Any sector where Feral influence is present alongside opponent influence is a sector that can be cleared on a Below the Line trigger without warning. The instinct to consolidate influence into a few key sectors, which is sensible against most syndicates, becomes a liability against Feral. Concentrated positions are easier to co-locate against and more rewarding to clear. The table should also track the Burn Pile carefully when Feral is in the deck. A well-positioned burned card can turn a single Feral play into a multi-sector clearing event that reshapes control across the board.

Glaze

Home Sector: The Maze | Aggression: High | Complexity: Low | Set: Illicit Company

What These Cards Do

Cards 003 through 008 share a near identical structure: Add 1 and Pull 1 in a named sector Above the Line, then Replace 1 in that same sector Below the Line. Pull draws opponent influence in from adjacent sectors. Replace eliminates opponent influence in the targeted sector and adds your own in a single effect, a two-influence swing from one Below the Line trigger. The six sectors covered across this pattern span most of the board: The Spire, Supply Depot, Bio Division, Arcano Complex, Underhive, Embassy. Glaze can execute this sequence almost anywhere depending on which cards are in hand.

Card 001 takes a different approach entirely, opening with two consecutive Usurp effects — The Maze Above the Line and The Spire Below the Line. Card 010 offers Replace 1 Anywhere, the most powerful and unconditional Replace in the set. The game description of Glaze is that it can be weaker in uncontested sectors, and that is accurate. Pull and Replace both require opponent influence to exist in the sector before they can generate value.

Strategic Priorities

The first priority when holding Glaze cards is finding contested sectors with opponent density. Pull does nothing if there is no opponent influence adjacent to draw in. Replace has no target if opponents have no presence in the sector. Glaze is inherently reactive to board state. The player needs to move toward where opponents are building rather than selecting their own preferred battlegrounds. The set rewards players who read where opponent traffic will be and position ahead of it, not players who try to impose a fixed strategy on the board.

The second priority is understanding the Replace swing. Replace eliminates X and adds X simultaneously. A single Replace 1 produces a two influence difference: one removed, one gained. In sectors where control margins are close, this swing is often decisive. The player holding Glaze cards should be looking not just for sectors where opponents have influence, but for sectors where a single Replace would cross a control threshold, turning a contested location into a controlled one.

Key Cards

Glaze 003 is the set’s most targeted Spire play. Add 1 The Spire, Pull 1 The Spire, Replace 1 The Spire. All three effects trigger on the same sector. When The Spire is contested and an opponent has influence adjacent to draw in, this card can shift Spire control in a single Below the Line trigger. The Add and Pull together stage the Replace to fire on the most valuable sector on the board, with no wasted effects.

Glaze 010 is the set’s most dangerous card. Replace 1 Anywhere carries no sector restriction, which means it can target any sector where the Glaze player and at least one opponent both have presence. The unconditional targeting makes it the one card in the set that always has a relevant use regardless of which sectors are in play. The Below the Line Invest or Riot The Maze adds a token to the home sector, building compounding value if The Maze sees ongoing contest.

Glaze 004 extends Replace reach through the Burn Pile. Replace 1 in a sector of the burned card allows the Glaze player to hit sectors outside the fixed targets on cards 003 through 008, with the destination determined by what has been burned rather than a named location. In games with active Burn Pile usage across multiple syndicates, this card can reach sectors the rest of the set cannot access.

Complexity

Low, despite the tactical depth of the Pull + Replace sequence. The pattern on cards 003 through 008 is very easy to track to: position in a contested sector, Add, Pull, Replace. The decisions are about sector selection and timing, not card interaction complexity. A player new to Glaze can execute the basic pattern immediately. The skill lives entirely in identifying which Replace opportunities are worth prioritizing and which sectors will see enough opponent traffic to make the Pull and Replace fire with impact.

What the Table Should Watch

Glaze punishes consolidation. The more influence opponents stack into sectors where Glaze has or can gain a foothold, the more each Replace swing matters. A sector that looked like a secure majority can flip on a single Pull + Replace sequence in the same turn. The table should treat sectors named across the set’s core six cards as persistently contested territory whenever Glaze is in the deck, rather than positions that can be held passively. Spreading presence across many sectors rather than consolidating deeply in a few is a stronger defensive posture against Glaze specifically.

Messiers Reach

Home Sector: The Spire | Aggression: High | Complexity: Medium | Set: Illicit Company

What These Cards Do

Messiers Reach cards are built around March. Marching moves at least X of your influence from one sector into an adjacent sector and carries an optional Eliminate 1 in either the sector you moved out of or the sector you moved into. It is simultaneously a movement and a removal effect, conditional on having the required minimum influence to move. Seven of the ten cards name Supply Depot explicitly, making it the staging ground the set builds around before deploying. Cards 001 and 006 are the most aggressive in the set. Both carry two consecutive March effects in a single play, each with its own minimum threshold and optional Eliminate, allowing two movements and two eliminations in one turn.

Strategic Priorities

The first priority when holding Messiers Reach cards is building toward March thresholds. March cannot fire with fewer than the minimum required influence, which means the set’s most powerful effects are locked behind these influence limits. Cards 002, 003, 009, and the Above the Line effects on several others are setup plays. They build Supply Depot and adjacent sectors into staging positions. A player who treats these as filler rather than as investment will arrive at critical turns without the mass needed to March, and the payoff cards will underperform.

The second priority is understanding the elimination choice that comes with every March. Each March allows Eliminate 1 in the sector you moved out of or the sector you moved into. Not both, and only one per March. These are different tactical options. Eliminating in the origin sector clears traffic from where you departed, and eliminating in the destination sector clears space before you consolidate. The correct choice depends entirely on where the threat is at the moment of the March, and getting it right consistently is what separates good Messiers Reach play from average Messiers Reach play.

Key Cards

Messiers Reach 001 is the set’s highest tempo card. Push 1 from Supply Depot Above the Line displaces an opponent and opens space, then March With At Least 2 and March With At Least 3 deliver two consecutive movement and elimination actions. Two Marches in a single play means two optional Eliminates — up to two opponent tokens removed while repositioning influence across the board. When Supply Depot is well stocked, this card can reshape the board state around two sectors in one turn.

Messiers Reach 008 compresses setup and deployment into a single card. Strengthen 2 Supply Depot Above the Line deepens a position that is already controlled, then March With At Least 3 Below the Line immediately deploys that mass into an adjacent sector. The sequencing, build and march on the same play, eliminates the lag between accumulation and action that can cost tempo against faster syndicates.

Messiers Reach 010 is the most flexible card in the set. Usurp 1 Anywhere Above the Line contests any sector on the board regardless of Messiers Reach’s home sectors, then March With At Least 2 Below the Line redirects existing influence immediately after. The combination of unconstrained Usurp and an attached March means this card adapts to wherever the most important contest is in a given turn.

Complexity

Medium, driven by the threshold management and the elimination choice attached to every March. The minimum influence requirement creates a resource management layer that doesn’t exist on simpler sets. Players need to track whether they have enough to March before counting on those effects. The elimination decision also requires reading two sectors simultaneously. Where you are leaving and where you are arriving, and which is the higher priority to clear? Both elements are manageable, but they make Messiers Reach noticeably more demanding than Feral or Glaze despite sharing the same aggression level.

What the Table Should Watch

Messiers Reach is most dangerous when it looks passive. A player who has spent several turns building Supply Depot without marching may appear to be running a slow placement strategy. When cards 001 or 006 appear, that accumulated mass can execute two consecutive Marches with two Eliminates in a single turn, crossing two sectors and clearing twice. The table should track how much influence Messiers Reach has staged in Supply Depot and adjacent sectors at all times. Focus on not just where they currently have presence, but where the next March is building toward. By the time a large March fires, it is usually too late to contest the staging position that made it possible.

Court of Saffron

Home Sector: Avante | Aggression: Medium | Complexity: High | Set: Base Game

What These Cards Do

Court of Saffron cards are built around two things: Beguile and influence movement. Beguile appears on five of the ten cards. It takes the top card of any Agent Stack and moves it to any other Agent Stack — a direct intervention in another player’s card sequencing. The movement half of the set uses Push, Pull, Transfer, and Ship effects that reach across the board, with particular attention to Avante, Neural Network, Bazaar, and The Spire. Court of Saffron is the syndicate that steals turns rather than influence.

Strategic Priorities

The first priority with Court of Saffron cards is reading the Agent Stacks before committing a Beguile. Beguile is a targeted disruption tool, not a random one. The player holding it needs to know whose upcoming card they most want to reroute and where sending it would do the most damage. Every Beguile resolves differently based on what the board and the stacks look like at that exact moment.

The second priority is The Spire. Court of Saffron has substantial Spire reach built into the set. Court of Saffron 006 adds 1 and pulls 2 from The Spire in a single Above the Line sequence, 008 adds to both the Bazaar and The Spire simultaneously, and 010 adds 2 to The Spire and pulls 1. This gives the syndicate credible Spire contention in any game, and the Pull effects mean they can displace whoever was building there while placing their own influence at the same time.

Key Cards

Court of Saffron 006 is the set’s most impactful individual card. Add 1 The Spire Above the Line, Pull 2 The Spire as a second Above the Line effect, Beguile Below the Line. Pull 2 from The Spire in a single card is the largest single pull available in the set, and pairing it with an Add and a Beguile means one turn can shift Spire control, place presence, and disrupt an opponent’s hand simultaneously. The three effects are each strong in isolation. Together they make this card a decisive turning point whenever the Below the Line triggers.

Court of Saffron 002 is the set’s most disruptive positional card. Push 2 from Neural Network is significant because Neural Network is frequently a staging ground for multiple syndicates. Being able to Push 2 influence out of it in one play disrupts any strategy relying on Neural Network presence without spending an action on direct removal. Push can also put two opponents’ influence into conflict with each other, removing their focus from you for the moment.

Court of Saffron 004 combines two forms of disruption in one card. Add 1 Corp Sec and Beguile Above the Line, Replace 1 Corp Sec Below the Line. A single trigger can flip influence in Corp Sec and steal a key opponent card in the same turn. The combination is narrow in scope but high in damage when Corp Sec is contested and the right stack is readable.

Complexity

High, and genuinely earned. Beguile requires reading all visible Agent Stack tops, understanding whose sequencing is most worth disrupting, and predicting where redirected cards will do the most damage. In games where stacks are deep and cards are partially obscured, this is meaningful deduction under pressure. Players who treat Beguile as a passive disruption tool will underperform the potential of the set. It is an active targeting decision with a significant skill ceiling that rewards players who are tracking every stack at the table.

What the Table Should Watch

Court of Saffron makes Agent Stack management a collective concern. Any player who routinely keeps high value cards visible on top of their Agent Stack is providing the Court of Saffron player free targeting information. The table should be more deliberate about Interfere and Burn plays that obscure stack tops when this syndicate is in the deck. Beyond card theft, the Push effects from Neural Network and Bazaar can displace opponents from positional plans. A Push 2 from Bazaar doesn’t remove influence from the game, but it can push opponents out of scoring range in the turn it needs to matter most.

Part three of this series will cover The Controllers: Black Star, Revenants, Belt Corp, and Lost Suns. These syndicates claim and hold territory through persistent token effects and positional mechanics rather than direct removal.

The Syndicate Profiles Series

Part one: The Influence Builders
Part two: The Aggressors
Part three: The Controllers
Part four: The Schemers — coming soon

Media provided courtesy of the publisher.