Growng Ten Thunders

[Colonel]

Hi there. I have some TT stuff (Shenlong box, 2 Katanaka Snipers, 3 Ten Thunder Brothers, Izamu, Lone Swordsman). Going to grow my forces, but dont want to buy many things. Which one master box and 1-2 unit boxes should I buy to have 2 synergic and versatile bands?

[thatlatinspeakingguy]

Misaki loves Sensei Yu, so I would suggest her box as an addition to Shenlong. She offers different gaming experience, but simultaneously does not require too many models different from those you already have (like Lynch, who prefers Samurai over Snipers, Mei Feng, who likes Obsidian Onis and Mechanized Porkchops, Asami who needs something to summon etc.).

As for unit boxes, Shadow Emissary is never bad for most TT masters. If it's too expensive, then maybe Shadow Effigy (staple in Misaki's crew) and Low River Monks (you will never use more than one though) or Yin the Penangalan (no particular synergy with Shenlong or Misaki, but her ability to prevent charging is always fine and opportunity to impose on enemy casters can drain their AP/soulstones - even more if they are going to attack her).

[Kogan Style]

Lynch box set and the Emissary (if the cost of the Emissary prohibits another box purchase)

 

Lynch Box and Emissary, and Wandering River Monk for a dedicated scheme runner. Low River and Shadow Effigy are good other options for the second unit box

[Colonel]

Thanks for an answer. I'm thinking about Misaki, she has priority 1 in my buy-list. But all TT masters looks interesting, so any others suggestions?

Personally I like Samurais, are they good with Shenlong and anyone else, who is good with Shenlong?

[Dogmantra]

Samurai are quite fun imo. If they're near Shenlong they get to use Focus as a (0) action, and they have an ability that gives them an extra Focus +1 when they first focus in an activation, for Focus +2. That lets you get some really nasty high damage flips. They're also good with Jakob Lynch's ability to pick up any discarded aces since their gattling gun flips at to attack by default, meaning you're more likely to go through your deck and find the 1s. They work really well as a late activation once your opponent has used most of their good cards because the triple positive attack flip will probably beat their straight defense flip, so anyone who can force discard works nicely too, including Misaki's Assassinate trigger which makes enemies discard cards or just immediately die.

 

You have a pretty good mix of stuff already. I'd be looking at maybe a little more support and some cheaper activations. Low River Monks spring to mind, at 4 stones and with a nice heal, they'd be pretty useful.

[thatlatinspeakingguy]

5 minutes ago, Colonel said:

Personally I like Samurais, are they good with Shenlong and anyone else, who is good with Shenlong?

I know that there are people who like Samurai and play them with Shenlong, so it's up to the personal taste I think. I don't believe I would ever consider them though. Their ridiculous amount of positive flips makes them really good ace fishers for Lynch, and that's the only reason they are picked up in his crew I believe.

Every good beater is good with Shenlong, beacuse he can make him even better: I am thinking of Kang, Ohaguro Bettari and Yasunori.

[Tokapondora]

If you have Shenlong you already have about 90% of all schemes covered. I would go for Lynch (partly because he's just about my favourite master alongside Brewmaster). He's very strong, very killy, and can work with most units. If you go for Mei Feng or McCabe you're gonna need the Emissary who is about the same price of a new crewbox, so you might want to hold off on that. Samurai don't do anything for Shenlong. They already have 's galore. One can be decent with Lynch, but in general I'd say they're rarely worth it. The problem with Misaki is that she's just not as good as a lot of other masters (Brew, Yan and Misaki really scrape the bottom of the barrel in TT), so depending on how competitive you are you might find yourself leaving her on the shelf a lot. Fun, to be sure, but definitely on the lower end of the spectrum.

With Snipers and TTB you already have the gist of TT staples. One inclusion might be the LRM, who can heal up just about anything, though without the Shadow Emissary you shouldn't really be taking them with Shenlong. The Shadow Effigy is also a nice little something. 

Izamu and the Swordsman are all you need for beaters which go well with just about all masters. Wouldn't need to get more. Well, Yasunori is something that's always brilliant to have and you'd have a big beater in three different price ranges, so... but like the Shadow Emissary he's about as expensive as a crewbox.

If you pick Lynch's box you'll have Illuminated who are really quite amazing. Sturdy and hard hitters who are really just top of their price range. I've found a Yin to be quite nifty with her Terrifying and Huggy's obey (obey into terrifying, cheat in ace, paralyze unit and get ace back (rinse and repeat)) and a decent all round piece that works well with a couple of TT masters. The Terracotta Warriors are also a nice addition to a lot of crews, though they're not out yet. 

If you're going Misaki... There's really not a whole lot to suggest besides general models because she operates fairly independantly of her crew. 

McCabe and Mei need the Shadow Emissary and Mei needs a fair amount of niche purchases to really make her tick. McCabe would like a high cost minion and a set of Guild Hounds that again, will only be used by him. 

Brewmaster and Yan Lo I'd not recommend. Fun, to be sure, but very hard to master and even then not very competitive. Also, their boxes bring minions and in Brewmaster's case a Henchman that can't be taken outside of that master, so you'll be left with a lot of models that will rarely (read, never) be taken. 

Asami requires at least Jorogumo and Obsidian Oni to boot (and realistically, Yasunori), which gets quite expensive fast. 

If you're stuck on a budget Lynch and Misaki would be your best bets, and with those I'd go for Lynch for both being more forgiving and all-round stronger (and more fun).

[Colonel]

Lynch looks very interesting, card manipulation, good flavor... But does he realy need be a Ten Thunder rather Neverborn? He needs Darkened, most of them are Neverborn.

[Kogan Style]

The only darkened you want are the Illuminated, which are TT anyway. Stitched can be fun, depleted are cheap (but we have some great ones anyway) but I rarely if ever field them. 10T bros loves the discard and pick up because you can gurantee the suit you want if you have the Ace of that suit. 

[Colonel]

Ok, if I have Shenlog and Lynch, which "must have" box should I buy except the Emissary?

[Eclipse]

What you have should be pretty much enough, If I were you I would only add the Emissary (because it is very good) and Samurai (because I also have a lot of fun with them). You can skip the Samurai

[Patzer]

Lynch box 

Emissary 

Depleted 

 

[Colonel]

Thanks for answers. I think I'll buy both Misaki and Lynch boxes, and in the future, Emissary box.

[thatlatinspeakingguy]

That's up to you, but if you are going to buy two expensive boxes anyway, I would rather choose to buy Lynch and Emissary, and only then Misaki. first, because you can (and should) play emissary with both Lynch and Shenlong, second, because you can't play Misaki with Lynch nor Shenlong I mean, I don't know how many games per week are you going to play, but it may happen that you won't have enough opportunities to learn and enjoy both new masters. but, as I said, decision is yours. don't feel obligated to reply if you are not going to change your mind

[spect_spidey]

I am not sure how much of a factor it would be to you, but the Misaki box is a hard kit to put together in my opinion. I built it last night. There are a lot of thin, tiny pieces. The pieces for a particular model are not all grouped together. They are numbered such as A1, A2, etc for each model. But it seemed like some pieces didn't have the designation on them. When I finally finished building it, I realized that it was kind of a waste. I have the vintage Misaki so I won't be using her model. I probably won't use Shang. I might use one Torakage. This is mainly due to the frailty of the chains on two of them and they seemed undersized. And then Ototo, well I have other beater henchman to use in TT and Outcasts. So basically, I ended up getting this kit for one model and the Misaki upgrade cards. A Ten Thunder Brother will probably replace the Torakage if they die as easily as everyone says. And I can probably get the upgrade cards from print on demand. LOL

[Tokapondora]

With Shenlong and Lynch Yu will suffice when you're just starting. With Lynch Yu is miles better than the Emissary anyways since Lynch packs enough of a punch to make up for Yu's lack thereof (giving you two Mulligans and a fast Lynch or Illuminated) and while the Emissary+LRM gets Shenlong 3 cards a turn without both there's no real point taking them (and even then Yu is really quite good). For Mei and McCabe the Emissary is a staple but the rest can do quite well with Yu instead. I'd still suggest Yin, Yasunori and some Low River Monks before going for other masters/the Emissary.

Edit;

I don't see why you'd leave Shang behind - he lets you pick from seven card each turn and gives you an extra activation for 3 SS. He doesn't really need to do anything beyond that. The Torakage are kind of decent if you'd like the extra mobility and want to deploy him somewhere across the map (especially if there's some 4 or 5 SS schemerunners on that side). And Ototo can do quite well in some lists. I'll ususally pick Izamu because of his armor but if it's not about survivability I much prefer Ototo. And picking both makes for some great lists with Lynch, McCabe and Shenlong who have easy access to cheap activations.

[thatlatinspeakingguy]

1 hour ago, Tokapondora said:

giving you two Mulligans

sorry for offtopic, but is that official ruling? we agreed in our community that you can't do that, because sensei Yu does not discard the cards.

[Tokapondora]

@thatlatinspeakingguy Pretty sure I've always seen it described and played like that. It doesn't say you can't discard cards, it says discarding cards turns it into something else and with the effect you still discard(but then not discard) up to three cards from your hand and then you draw the same number of cards you've just done something with. I always just read that as not saying the cards needed to be discarded, but rather that the number of cards you've chosen to discard is what you draw (even if they're not discarded in the end).

It's a bit awkwardly worded, but the only reason Yu's ability even says to put them back in the deck is to make sure you can't discard three aces and then get them back. I wouldn't mind a little offical clarification on that though.

[Patzer]

On 2017-07-07 at 1:00 PM, spect_spidey said:

I probably won't use Shang. I might use one Torakage. This is mainly due to the frailty of the chains on two of them and they seemed undersized. And then Ototo, well I have other beater henchman to use in TT and Outcasts. So basically, I ended up getting this kit for one model and the Misaki upgrade cards. A Ten Thunder Brother will probably replace the Torakage if they die as easily as everyone says. And I can probably get the upgrade cards from print on demand. LOL

Torakage is a nice model for casual play. They have some fun rules, and their offensive output can be quite nice. Their problem is that they don't do enough of anything in a game where there are a growing number of specialists. If you want to play really competitive, the Torakage aren't enough lean meat.

Shang is pretty neat! An extra card, as well as a perfect target for Misdirection. Shang usually runs after Misaki, heals her once, and takes a hit from misdirection. Its pretty ok for 3ss!

On 2017-07-07 at 1:01 PM, Tokapondora said:

With Shenlong and Lynch Yu will suffice when you're just starting. With Lynch Yu is miles better than the Emissary anyways since Lynch packs enough of a punch to make up for Yu's lack thereof (giving you two Mulligans and a fast Lynch or Illuminated)

Yu with Lynch is not (miles) better than the Emissary. In previous GG I think that Yu was a good option for Lynch. I still preferred the Emissary, but Yu where the better choice at times. Now, I don't think that is the case at all. The offensive prowess with the good CA attack (great for mixing up the crews offence), giving Huggy Fast, a (0) push which most of the times gives you another card, and the lesser cost makes the Emissary better to me. Also, one of Yu's big selling points before was his no-trigger punch, but now the faction got Betty.

Not saying Yu is not an ok option, but I think there are better, more cost efficient, ways to build your Lynch crew.