Jordon

It's still a bit too early to tell I feel. IMO Malifaux has never had a shakeup as large as Malifaux burns barring an edition change. I'm also not hyper competitive so I can't talk to the cutting edge best stuff as I mostly play in theme for the most part. That being said here is my run down of Arcanists Colette1 got nerfed a while back and seems to be in a good spot overall. Colette2 Doesn't seem as good as Colette1 IMO but I haven't gotten the table time to really test that theory. Overall I think they're both in a good spot. Raspy1 got a complete overhaul and will need some time in the sun before coming to any solid conclusion. Raspy2 does still seem better overall but the margin is a lot more narrow than what it used to be. Overall I think both are in a good place. Marcus1, while not bad, doesn't seem like he's going to be taken over Marcus2, who in my opinion just does everything Marcus1 does, but better. Not sure I'd call Marcus2 over powered, or Marcus1 under powered. However I do think there is a balance issue between these two titles. That just my opinion. Sandeep1 is still fantastic despite the numerous nerfs he's taken. From summoning changes to the Kandara nerf, I still think he's got a lot going for him. Sandeep2 also seems solid. While loosing the ability to summon, he gains a lot with his ability to generate additional actions on many models. Overall they both seem perfectly playable. Ironsides1 is great. Ironsides2 changes up her style so much that it makes it tough to compare. I think both still have plenty of uses but overall I'd say Ironsides2 is the stronger pick due to her focus on scoring. I still think they're both totally viable. Kaeris1 is a great utility master and seems to be taken a lot from many competitive players. Kaeris2 is a bit more swingy but still seems powerful. Thankfully they fixes the stupid unresisted damage nuke Kaeris2 was capable of, which seemed to balance each title quite nicely. Both seem to be in a good place. Mei1 tends to catch some flack for being a bit underpowered. I tend to like her myself and have done reasonably well in the past. Mei2 however seems to be causing some trouble. I haven't tested any of the particularly broken combos but I can see where people may think she's over powered. Overall this is another instance where I think there may be a balance issue between each title. Hoff1 has always seemed solid but having to bubble was a big limitation. Hoff2 (now that you can push his markers around) seems good but I can see how some may take issue with the super laser. I think outside of that, both have their merits and drawbacks. I personally think Hoff2 is the better but that may entirely be due to the fact that he matches my play style more. Overall I think the Arcanists did pretty well with the titles. Kaeris and Hoff both got nerfs already (deservedly so). With Marcus and Mei being the only instance where I think the new titles are just outright better. The rest seem like they compliment the original but doesn't overshadow them. At least that's my two cents.

So its been a while and I've had a few more games with the performer keyword and despite the nice buff that distracted got, I still think the showgirls just aren't pulling their weight. My opinion is still the same. I just don't think they have a defined role within this keyword. They have lure, but to what end? Are these models supposed to be scheme runners? Are they supposed to be disruption models? Are they meant to support your crew? In any of these cases, they seem to fall short. I look to the direct comparisons within other factions. The obvious ones being the Beckoner and Rotten Belle. In the case of the Belle, the goal is to lure them close and pounce on them. They can take a punch and are meant to gang up thanks to Scarlet Temptation. I clearly see the intention. Lure it in, gain fast, gang up and beat the hell out of it. Looking at the Beckoner. They're not really about killing. I see them more as a means to draw the opponent into their lines. Lynch has a lot of disruptive auras and their crew is relatively slow on the whole. The beckoner herself can lock down models as they are on negative flips versus brilliant tokens and can further put out distracted. So again, I clearly see their purpose here. Draw them in, shut them down, stack up brilliance. In the showgirls case, they seem to lack the defensive capabilities of these other models. So luring something closer is often detrimental to their own survivability. Again what is the end goal here? To lock down a model? To stack up distracted? To accomplish schemes? It doesn't seem obvious. It also doesn't really help that Colette (both versions) has insane mobility. Why Lure when you have Presto Chango or Magical Flourish. Carlos and Cassandra can easily do the scheming equivalent of two showgirls. Anyway so I had a think as to what I'd change to make them useful. Let's start with what I do like about them. Don't Mind Me and Celebrity are easily their best abilities. Unresisted Distracted likely means your trading AP, hopefully with a significantly scarier threat to shut them down. Lure is also good, but only if they have a reason for it and currently they don't. What I'd love to see is to give them a role. Probably lean into celebrity and expand upon it to make these models into shutdown/manipulation pieces first and schemers as a backup. The idea being that they want to lure you in, shut you down and then maneuver you into suboptimal positions, and score points. I also feel like the crew on the whole has a very subtle affinity for scheme markers but it's not strong enough to really lean into. I'd like to see showgirls leverage that a bit more. So the big issue for them is Focus. Manipulative just encourages the opponent to focus, gaining a positive to damage, and obliterating their measly 5wds/Df5. I think they need an ability to prevent the opponent from gaining focus. Something like Attention Stealer: Opponents engaged with this model cannot reduce their focused condition and are unable to take the concentrate general action The next thing is Seduction. While I don't think it's a bad ability, I do think its a bit redundant seeing how they have celebrity. Why would I take a chance on a Duel when I can simply do an interact action for an unresisted distracted. Yes you do remove focus, but celebrity would burn that off anyway. Honestly it could just be converted into a trigger on their lure or melee attack instead and free up the space. So instead of seduction, I'd give them Lead the Way: 2" Stat4 Df 11 - Push target 4" and push 4" towards them. This would be useful for manoeuvring friendly/enemy models for scheme purposes. Shutting down a model and taking them for a ride. Hopefully enabling you to accomplish schemes. Lastly I'd give them a free action. Just as a way to better leverage celebrity, while also having some scheme potential AND leveraging scheme markers that the crew kinda sorta does. Disappearing act: 3" Stat5 TN11 - Remove target friendly scheme marker. This model may take an interact action. The idea being that you can leverage scheme markers to basically interact as a free action. This helps them so that they can move and scheme, while also giving them another vector for celebrity. One other thing I had been toying around with would be to give their Poisoned Hairpin a positive attack versus distracted models. Mainly for disengaging strikes. Again trying to double down on the idea of locking up enemy models. Anyway this was fun trying to come up with ways to give showgirls more of an identity. What other thoughts do other people have? Or do you think the showgirls are fine as is?

Agreed, there will always be those models who will benefit more than others. However I still believe there is a better way that would at least open upgrades up to more than the same select few. Maybe it doesn't make sense for everyone, but my hope is that every keyword has it share of decent carriers. Make those who serve to benefit most, have to pay the higher cost. I also agree that this has some relation to the current state of the game. Where low cost minions are simply not the optimum choice in most games. If cheap models had more value, than they may at least have some slight considerations when it comes to upgrades. Even still, I think this problem will still remain and as long as we have such a huge discrepancy between minions, the upgrades that treat all minions equally will never make sense.

I'm just tired of always seeing the same models getting the usual upgrades. SoDP on Hanged is just too efficient to ignore. The model might as well cost an extra 2ss and staple the abilities to the card. I'm sure every faction has them and it's a shame that the cheap minions will never get their chance while these super minions exist.

While I do agree that a 4ss significant model on it's own does have some value. My issue is mostly that the effigy does it better. Armor+1 and H2K, plus a heal that actually works. So strictly as a scheme runner, the effigy just seems a better option pretty much every time

Definitely hear you there... SoDP is okay-ish but the others I have never taken, nor have I ever seen others take them. Maybe at 1ss I could see them appear on a few specific models but overall I do think Outcasts need a total redo on their upgrades. Station should really only be used for allowing multiple hires, summoning, and other ability interactions. I don't like having schemes/strats work with "minions" either as I think it just promotes the same problems. Hire big, win big.

I guess locking abilities could still work but again I would probably base it on cost instead of station. 1-5ss models gets you 3 abilities 6-8ss models gets you 2 abilities 9+ss models gets you 1 ability

This edition has been in the wild long enough and I'm curious about how people play their faction upgrades. The problem with upgrades in the previous edition was that you'd always see them on the same models. Any boost in efficiency will typically be felt more on the models that themselves can do more. I feel like M3E has tried to address this issue by giving a minion specific incentive on all their faction upgrades to offset the fact that they are on weaker models. I do think that in some ways, it has helped but in my experience I'm still seeing much of the same issues as I was seeing in M2E. I think the issue lies with the fact that no two minions are considered equal. In fact there exists, in most factions, minions on equal footing as enforcers and even henchmen. You know the one's I'm talking about. Those 8-9 costed minions that seem to get way more of a boost from upgrades disproportional of those in the 4-5ss range. I don't want this to devolve into "what makes something a minion" or "why low cost minions are never taken". I'm more interested in how to make the upgrade system better. To that end, I don't think we should be locking away abilities behind the minion station. I feel like we should give full access to all abilities and simply increase the cost of the upgrade based on the model its attached to. For example. All faction upgrades cost 1ss They cost 2ss if hired on a model that costs 6-8 They cost 3ss if hired on a model that costs 9+ All faction upgrades are Rare 1 Obviously it would require some reshuffling and re balancing but the idea is that it would give more options and less obvious picks. Having only one means no doubling up if one upgrade is inevitably stronger than the others in a given list. Having it only cost 1ss means less risk if taken on weaker models. Anyone else have any thoughts?

Or even allowing it to suffer 1 irreducible damage to add a suit to your duel. I would have rather it do one thing that all crews benefit from instead of trying to hook into several different mechanics. I'm sure brilliance tokens are useful, and I know fate tokens are great but it's only good for that one specific crew. Which makes it a dead ability in other crews.

I played a tournament this weekend and ran Levi2 almost exclusively. Had a blast and learned a ton but one thing that still perplexes me is the Soul Battery. The main issue I see is the unfavourable comparison to the effigy, who just does everything this thing does but better. Both can be cheap scheme runners, but the effigy is far tougher thanks to the armour. The Battery can do a no-flip heal, but the timing and positioning makes it extremely difficult to get much use out of. Whereas the effigy can do a single target heal with accomplice for some actual significant healing. The Battery can kill itself for 2 stones which honestly is a great ability. The problem is that you'll still want to get some use from it before using this ability and everything it does requires it to be in the danger zone and it's defences mean it can blown away without much effort (especially things that target Wp). Again compare that to the effigy who can stick back and feed you stones for killing things (which is an easy thing to do in both version of Levi) and still contribute meaningful heals all the while. Desperation is a joke. It can get a bit more milage in Levi1 admittedly. However this is a terrible trade for a rider. It's just a crappy version bayou two card. Riders have precious few wounds and burning one for a CHANCE to flip better just doesn't make sense. So really it boils down to Empower and Energy Drain. Empower can be a cool ability but it's very niche and not likely to come up often. I'm not sure about others, but my stones are usually spent on drawing extra cards and damage prevention - neither of which benefit from empower. Energy Drain is great in theory. Giving out fate tokens cannot be undersold. However it also paints a huge target on the Battery and the short range means he's always in harms way. The big issue however is that this ability is completely useless for Levi1. All this to say that I think the Soul Battery is unfocused and a bit all of the board. Maybe he's better with Lynch, I cannot speak to that. Desperation seems okay for Levi1 and bad for Levi2. Energy drain is good for Levi2 and useless for Levi1. The heal and soul stone generation are just done better via the effigy. The model just seems confused as to what's it's role is and seems like a mishmash of random things.

The tourney I'm attending is allowing proxy titles so yes I would count one master as two. Which means a lot more flexibility and why taking 2 masters is not as detrimental as it once was. When factoring in titles, I feel like Ironsides is far and away the best. Both titles are vastly different from one another, which makes Ironsides cover a lot of bases all on her own. Unfortunately she really needs the Dredges in order to properly run her title. I do love Colette but if I'm honest, her new title has let me down a bit. It does some cool things and looks decently fun and unique. However I do feel like there isn't as much of a difference between both versions as there are with the other masters. New Raspy looks great but I have no experience with her and both versions feel a bit limited until the new Kaltgeists come out. I do think both versions look great and I look forward to seeing them both in action. Kaeris is probably my most played master and the new title, while more restrictive, feels quite powerful. Sandeep compliments so many other masters that it's difficult not taking him. If I take Kaeris and Raspy, then I would only need a handful of other models to have a fairly comprehensive Sandeep list. Maybe just Banasuva, 1-2 wind gamin and Kandara (along with Sandeep himself) would be all I need to run a decent Sandeep list.

I have a tourney coming up and space is pretty limited. I can probably only bring two crews and a couple of versatile models. It got me thinking. Which crew(s) would people generally feel is well versed enough to take on most schemes, strats, and opposing crews?. I'm mostly talking about an in-keyword crew. I guess you could pull models from the other crew you'd be brining as well. Obviously this isn't the most optimal way to play but it does open up some interesting discussion. So the question is... If you could only take two crews and a handful of versatile models, which would they be and why? My initial thinking would be something like Colette and Ironsides for example. I think both crews compliment each other and each focus on different aspects of the game. Colette has the mobility and ability to interact with ease but can't really give or take much damage. Ironsides can take a punch and give it just as hard but the crew is bubbled up and lacks real efficient schemers. An alternate approach would be something like Kaeris who I would consider a good all purpose list. She can tackle most things but doesn't really excel in any particular area. Marcus is another one who is pretty good all around thanks to his superior mobility and punchy models. Then the follow up question of which versatile models would you also include? Again space being a limiting factor.

I will say that greed is much better in CR7 than she seems in guild. However even in CR7, she's one of the weakest links. I think she has the potential to do some cool things but those things are very niche and if the opponent ever does feel threatened by her, it doesn't take much to put her down. Frantic search is bad, guitar bash should be 1" and Unchecked Avarice should do min 1 damage before checking the aura. The front of her card is pretty decent except for the obvious fragility.

I don’t really see her as a damage dealer. I think Kaeris is still a better fit if your looking for consistent damage. I see Raspy as a control piece. Mostly as I think she was intended to be originally. Having a blast on weak damage and two triggers that can work on those blast markers makes it a lot easier to apply those triggers now. Also that 3” push trigger can also work on friendly models as well which might make for some big plays occasionally. I think a weakness will be singling out models as the investment needed is probably too great to get any sort of real benefit. Her strength lies in her ability to affect crowds. Raspy2 being the more directed option. At least now she can keep pace with her own abilities if she decides to use her ice mirror. Also letting pillars act as cover for you but not your opponent is pretty huge. Ice gamin are a real shame. Kaltgeist are just head and shoulders better with both version of Raspy. I assume they wanted to get Raspy herself in a good spot before messing with the rest of the keyword.

Still wrapping my head around new Raspy. I’m curious how she’ll compare to Raspy2 now. When do you see yourself reaching for one over the other? Seems like both have some powerful movement tricks and both can hit decently hard. The big difference seems to come down to summoning Vs card draw.

Wonderful! So I guess that’s technically a buff for Cassandra/Colette then. That’s a pretty significant change

So we now have an official wording on how decoys work. Sounds like it's essentially treated as if Colette teleported to the decoy's location. The decoy ceases to exist for the duration of that action. Anything gained during that decoy action would be passed along to Colette after the action ends. So my question is what happens if Colette dies during that action? Does she drop a corpse in base contact with the decoy marker? Does the original Colette also drop a corpse? Or is it one or the other? Follow up question. I'm a bit confused about Cassandra borrowing Colettes free action. People have been playing it as Cassandra using both a general action, as well as counting towards her bonus action. However looking at the last paragraph on page 12, it states. "Bonus actions generated by actions, abilities or triggers may be taken even if the model has already taken a bonus action during the current activation. So doesn't that mean that she could in fact use her own bonus action to walk and then use upstage to copy smoke and mirrors?

Oh and Colette2 received some clarification. Not sure how people were playing her before, but hopefully it at least removes confusion.

Largely agree with others. I feel like the Moleman change missed the mark a bit. Mainly with the lack of mutation synergy. Locking upgrades on them is just bad for Marcus, so you'll just end up not mutating them. Which at that point, why are you even bringing them? Now that Marcus has the eagles, I still don't see Moleman as a viable pick outside of very specific matchups. Oh well there's always next year! As for Raspy, she's got a total revamp and it looks much improved. It also does appear to help out some of the struggling December models as well. Acolytes now can shoot without worrying about pillar cover. Tools of the job is also made better with all the card draw. Hoarcats will like Decembers passage. Ice Dancers moving pillars seems to be more viable now. Is it enough to warrant hiring these models? Not sure yet. Neil looks fine. Loosing reckless hurts, especially with the Rock Hoppers Salvage Site allowing him to ignore the damage. However, most of his abilities seem less niche now so overall it's probably fine. Pushing markers and capping poison/burning is just good for the game so no complaints there.

What if damage flips were always uncheatable? Seems like cheap minions are too easily one-shotted due to the ease of focused damage flips cheating a severe. Without being able to cheat damage flips (maybe certain models can have exceptions) you'r relying on naturally flipping a severe, which is statistically a lot more unlikely. However I also agree that it'll be nearly impossible to fix the issue with one graceful core change.

While I don't disagree with the potential NPE of the Tara/33 kidnap. It doesn't sit right with me to nerf a model before it's even been released. Might be good to allow time to see whether something is actually a problem or if it's just paper theory. Again, I'm definitely on the side of saying its NPE. However I think it might need some time on the board before going about what exactly that change should look like. Explorers got the same luxury despite people screaming about nexus. The game needs some time to settle with the new stuff before we start changing the new stuff. However this is all coming from a non-competitive gamer

My main issue with the Oxfordian mage is still my main issue with the Vidiya Guard as well. Wyrd wants to sell me three of these guys and I usually don't have room for even one... The other issue is that once again, these guys are all about punching things which as we know we have an abundance of. However unlike the Oxfordians, these models are actually approaching golem costs so that direct comparison is a lot more obvious. So that got me thinking of what a 6ss Vidiya Guard would look like? I don't hate their current set of rules. My only real complaint rule wise is that they feel a bit boring and don't really synergize with the arcane feel of the rest of the keyword. And as mentioned above, I don't like them being simply hired muscle when we have way better options with the golems. So at 6ss I think they'd need to drop some stats. Likely Df5 and 6Wds. Their Mantra is okay but is probably the weakest Mantra of the bunch IMO. The rest of the front of their card is solid. On the back, if moving to 6ss, they'd probably need to drop to a stat 5 on their balanced sword. Triggers are fine. I don't think they need Follow My Path seeing how their Mantra does the same thing. Personally I'd rather see this dropped and the Chakram moved to a free action (keeping the trigger but loosing the built in suit) In replacement of Follow My Path, having Heroic Intervention seems like a better fit. While it's not a free action, it does still scoot models out of engagement and allows this model to gain a pseudo charge from it. This would give it a bit more of a unique role outside of the Golems, but still retaining the martial feel.

Another idea would be to focus on the attack but more on the triggers. Arcane Fury: Rg:8 Stat:5 Rst:Df Target suffers 1/2/3 Blaze: Models damaged by this action gain burning +1 for each in this actions final duel total (to a maximum of burning +2) Chill: Models damaged by this action gain slow Strong Winds: Push the target up to 2" away from this model for each in this actions final duel total (to a maximum of 6") Patchwork Plating: This model gains Shielded +1 for each in this actions final duel total (to a maximum of Shielded +2) Arcane Conduit: Rg:- Stat:5 TN:10 Rst:- This model may add + to its duel totals for each differently named elemental model within 4"

Taking a stab at the Oxfordian Mage and tossing out some suggestions on what I'd love to see as an update to this model. Right off the bat, I'd prefer this model to be 5ss. Sandeep has a keyword jam packed with very high cost models. He also has the issue of wanting to run Academics and Elementals both. Given that all the golems are 10ss, Vidiya Guard are 8ss, Kudra is 9ss... It really doesn't offer much in terms of list diversity. Everything is just prohibitively too expensive. The Oxfordian Mage should be the backbone of the academics. However, with the Vidiya Guard and Kudra being 8ss and 9ss respectively, there simply isn't room for academics in any real quantity. It also doesn't help that these models don't really work as multiples, nor do they bring anything particularly special. So they have awkward condition manipulation, confused abilities, and no real direction. They're mostly there to blast things and that's definitely not what Sandeep needs. Elementals have plenty of that, much more efficiently or cheaper. At 5ss I'd probably drop it to 5 health. The rest of the stats are fine. Arcane Shield +1 and the Healing Mantra are both fine. Counterspell..... I really wish this ability was better. This isn't a Ox Mage problem, counter spell across the board should just get changed. The effect is fine (needing to discard) but the aura makes it so bad. It should either affect just the counter spell bearer regardless of range. Or it should provide some kind of benefit to friendly models within the aura range (not necessarily the current discard effect) Onto the back of the card. They have two attack actions. I'm not sure they need it. Certainly they need something to defend themselves but it shouldn't be their focal point. So looking at Flaming Fury, I feel like it should get more generalized. Sandeep's keyword is supposed to be "elemental" but it seems entirely too fire focused. Ox Mages in M2E had much more general elemental vibes. I'd love to see that part make a return. Pushes for wind, staggered for ice, burning for fire, poison etc. As for Elemental Bolt, I think the trigger is the interesting bit and the one worth being the focal point. If you want to have a trigger that does some damage then so be it, but I don't think it's really necessary. Arcane Conduit is super awkward and highly situational in its current form. I would probably just drop this entirely for something new. Likely something to do with markers. Ice pillars, pyre and scrap markers don't really have any particular synergy with Academics despite many of the elementals utilizing them. Maybe something that targets an ice pillar/pyre/scrap marker and drops a ice pillar/pyre/scrap of your choice in contact with it. TLDR Drop to 5ss Fix Counterspell into something actually relevant Change Flaming Fury into a Arcane Fury (Stat 5 but essentially the same as the effigy) and give it a bunch of triggers based on elements - not just fire Replace Elemental Bolt with Elemental Transference. Change Arcane Conduit to manipulate the elemental specific markers. So these changes serve to focus the Ox Mage into more of a support piece. Backing up the elemental models on the front line, providing healing (mantra) and messing around with conditions and markers. Not a powerhouse model, or a particularly durable one. However, they have the tools to carve out a unique role and has enough utility to form as the basis of Academic crew. At 5ss, maybe you'd consider running multiples.

I also feel like Marcus varies more than most since he access to different beasts in each faction. So your Neverborn experience may not represent your Arcanist experience. One thing you can count on is that Moleman are terrible in either faction.