Bane

LOL. The hyperbole never ends when it comes to Sandeep. Heaven forbid we accept the reality that all Masters will never equal, or even close to equal. Player skill and Master parity are the biggest factors in winning games. Any good player who uses a good Master can beat Sandeep. Hamelin, Nellie, Lady J, Viks, Nico, Kirai, Reva, Lilith, Asami, Collodi, Somer, Zipp, Wong. Any of these can beat Sandeep. Be a good player, pick smart schemes, play the Strat. Yes he’s strong, and I’m sure there will be adjustments, but to act like the only solution is nerf him into the ground is ridiculous.

This thread is ridiculous. There's no issue with Myranda; she's an excellent model in her own right. Sacrificing her for 4 cards isn't free, it costs the upgrade and costs a very solid model that brings + Df flips for your glass cannon Marcus crew and a very decent heal. No one complains that the Cerberus is overpowered, so why is becoming one an issue? It's a 1" engagement model - definitely a significant drawback - and is hardly difficult to drop with df5 and no armor, HTK or HTW. The Blessed also is overpriced, that's why you don't see it. It's not because Myranda is somehow the issue. Does everyone whine about literally ANYTHING that's good in this game? The Arcanist errata thread ideas are a train wreck.

Everyone clamoring for the nerf to Sandeep's Beacon is just blowing my mind. Not sure why in this age of Wave 5 and power creep you're now trying to tone down one of our Masters that levels the playing field. If Acolytes were 8ss, no one would take them. 7ss is right for them. Most of the other Frozen Heart models are overpriced, none more than the Blessed of December. Make that thing 7 or 8ss. Buff or reduce Cojo's cost. The Captain is far too expensive with his upgrade at 12ss. He should be 10ss, upgrade should be a 0ss upgrade, or else Captain 9 / upgrade 1ss, so it counts for Show of Force.

This idea that Gremlins are supposed to be the swarm you army of cheap activations and minions sounds great in theory. Then you look at their mid-tier priced units - Burt, Francois, Swinecursed, Trixie, Taxidermist - and you realize that these models all punch way above their 7ss price tag. Looking at the data across the country is meaningless, because middle tier and bottom tier players skew the results by playing subpar crews or subpar Masters and there are many more middle-tier or lower-tier players in Malifaux then top tier. This isn't Warhammer where you can netlist a particular build and get lucky throwing a handful of dice at a game-winning Magic Spell. In my experience, the bad players in Malifaux are much worse than the bad players in WHFB, and their chances of beating me in a game are much lower than in WHFB as a result. When you look at the competitive gamers in the Malifaux tournament scene, I think if they're being honest about it, most will tell you that 2ss activation spam is oppressive and too strong for the investment - particularly when it's included in the same faction that after out-activating you, alpha strikes you with the likes of Glowy Burt or 2x Swinecursed, or pulls Francois up with a Skeeter and goes Fast/Reckless/Charges for likely 4 dumb-luck attacks on your Master or key piece. It's why the Rat Engine was broken. If you don't think activation control is more important than ever in GG 17, I don't think you're playing enough. And yeah, you won't see Piglets now, but that's because Bayous should be 4ss. No one should have access to spammable, summonable, Significant Minions at 3ss. Sorry.

Wind Gamin change was smart re: them not dying, because immunity to strats and schemes infuriates people. Piglets being 3ss is a great move. However, Bayous should be 4. No one should have Significant Minions at 4ss, barring a drawback like Guild hounds have or something like Marionettes being a totem, etc. They shouldn't be a hirable, summonable model. Activations are super valuable in GG17, and ones that can interact and go Reckless are even more valuable.

Why exactly do you think it works better than the dozens of other options available to Levi? It's mediocre even in Arcanists. Pass.

I'm still in the minority I suppose, but my position isn't that Sandeep's power comes from Wind Gamin; their modification will come, and his strengths will endure. Keep in mind, of the Gamin he Summons, only 1 can truly fight effectively and in exchange, it's locked in position, making the Shackles in Earth best for Banasuva IMO. I hired 1 or 2 Wind Gamin at most in my 5 games. Sandeep's strength lies in his flexibility and his ability to hire diverse crews for the schemes without giving up effectiveness. Our team strategy was to have me thrown wherever I fit in the end, choosing to accomodate the more inflexible masters like Collodi or Hamelin or Tara, that truly shine in certain pools. Case in point - I played Reckoning 1 and 5, Turf round 2, Recon round 3, and Extraction round 4, and only snagged the supposedly-broken-for-Arcanists LYM in Game 5. TL;DR - Sandeep is super flexible, like Marcus. Play them both.

First and most importantly - Mike, you ran an amazing event! Great venue, easy to get to, super cheap by New York standards, and the event ran without a hitch. Definitely glad you made the pairing process 30 minutes, as even with the extra 15 minutes there were *plenty* of games that didn't finish. Second, re: Clubs and National Teams. We played by the rules of the event - show up with 5 people, play 5 rounds, see what happens. If the idea was National Teams, like an ETC, you would have likely had the same 5 of us there. There is this unfair notion going about that we aren't a "club," that we formed this team off of the rankings etc., and that's all I'm seeking to correct here. Yes, we are highly ranked in the USA Malifaux Rankings (which truth be told are pretty shoddily maintained and missing lots of data ). But we're also a Club. Is it so hard to believe that people in the same very-competitive Club are also highly ranked? We've been friends since 2005. Since ETC 2013 in Serbia, when we all were able to finally attend an ETC together, we've been playing almost exclusively together at all team tournamnets and national events. We then went back to Serbia for ETC 2014, and I captain'd the 2015 team but Alex and Travis took a year off after years of ETC burnout. We've only ever played with each other for Bragging Rights 4-man events, generally splintering off with the others in our Club that didn't attend ITC. For the Malifaux UTS, we did a draft with 12 of the members of our Club to form the 3 teams. The definition of "Club" in the UK quite clearly means something different than it does here, and I'm certain geography has a great deal to do with that, but as a New Yorker, I've gone through several gaming stores through the years. I've had friends I wargamed with for 15 years leave New York for reasons unrelated to Malifaux. Does that mean they aren't my Club mates anymore? Hengl's entire former WHFB club went to AoS, leaving him to game alone when it comes to Malifaux. Does that mean they're his Club? Is there a rule that he can't be a part of a Club that exists on the East Coast? When we went to CaptainCon in February, basically the entirety of our Club made the Top 8 cut to Day 2. We spend all of our 2-day events together. We talk to each other daily in our club Facebook Messenger chat. I talk to these guys more than anyone else on Earth. Maybe the UK could have had a few stronger unified teams - no one is disputing that. But Poland sent some of their top ranked players all in one team, and they even merc'd someone who wasn't Polish, and no one seems to care. I know our team didn't care at all, they were great opponents and more importantly, great sports, but for some reason since the end of Saturday we've been hit with this "Super Team" moniker, as if it somehow diminishes anything that we did, and the other teams that took highly ranked players escape the same scrutiny. Define it how you want to paint the picture that you want - just know that you're wrong. Ask the Admins on AWP. Look at our Facebook photos and posts. It's easy to see who is with who, regardless of any geographical distance, and I'm sorry but trying to knock what my teammates did this weekend just comes off as sour grapes. Perhaps most importantly, there wasn't a single rules complaint or sportsmanship issue with ANYONE on Team Trump Card. Not one. We were visitors in the UK, we had a great time, and we were respectful. Just tip your caps, say congrats, and gear up to win the trophy next year. - Larry

Never stone for a Surge - unless you're Colette and it's free. ;-) Stone for Overpower.

I listen mostly for competitive purposes, so to that end, Before We Begin is my personal favorite, and Arcane Reservoir is new(ish) but also excellent.