PiersonsMuppeteer

I think the Viks are a pretty good crew for the Assassin/Swordmaster archtype. Both Viks1 and Viks2 have this playstyle, but each offers a different approach. Viks1 plays the finesse Assassin game, while Viks2 is more of a Brawler. The crew itself has good mobility and one of the best minions in the game, so they are pretty generalist and can take on many pools (they may not crush the pool but they also won’t fall flat). Misaki and LJ offer an Assassin/Brawler and a Title that Controls/Supports, so they can offer you a different aspect if you don’t want to be solely assassin/swordsman. I don’t have any experience with or against either, so I can’t comment on anything else for those two.

Pg. 22:

If the heal was part of the effect causing the duels, then you would have a separate heal for each enemy model the effect resolves on. As is, the heal is a separate effect (resolved after all the duels) and is singularly resolved on "this model". How much the model will heal is calculated during the "determine amount to be healed" step.

MTK would still be resolved after BYS due to Sequential Effects (p. 34), so they CAN be used together. Any Place effect from an Action, Ability, or Trigger during the Activation Phase will cause MTK to be generated. The only times MTK won't trigger are when you Place the model during the Start or End Phases. MTK's "after resolving the current Action" is specifying that if an effect of an Action generates MTK, you will resolve MTK during Step 6 of resolving an Action instead of in Step 5.

Since the second clause doesn't state a different object from the model with Beneath the Leaves, the generating object is the model with Beneath the Leaves. Malifaux Mining Law on Prospectors would be an example of a model generating an from an object other than itself. The phrase is like that simply for clarity/ease-of-use. With it, you don't have to have the Aura rules memorized in order to know how to resolve the effect.

The effect disappears when Brewmaster is killed. Open the Gourd is on Brewmasters stat card and is only in effect while the model the stat card belongs to is in play. To show the inverse, what could you reference to resolve the effect after Brewmaster is killed and the model/stat card are removed from play?

Search the forums for “building on a budget”. A member did a beginner shopping list for each faction broken down per master. A very good starting point for buying 2-3 boxes and putting a decent crew on the table for games.

Black Blood will still deal damage even if the model dies. Black Blood’s effect is resolved in step 5 of damage timing. After assigning Black Blood’s damage to all models in range, you continue through the young nephilim’s damage timing until fully resolved. Then you resolve the damage timing for each model that suffered damage from Black Blood. This is pretty explicitly spelled out in the first paragraph of the damage timing section.

No, it couldn't. You can't just split clauses. If the target model is able to declare a melee action that can target the Bring It model, it must. Otherwise, it doesn't take any action.

There is. The “must” also includes targeting the model that used Bring It. If the target doesn’t have a large enough engagement range to target the Bring It model, no attack action is taken. In your example, the target model must take the attack action that is able to target the Bring It model or take no action at all.

I'd be inclined to agree if resolving a duel had a Step G for resolving "after" effects similar to how resolving an Action has Step 6. Also, there is this: Unless there is explicit language to specify timing like Step 6, the duel is resolved once failure/success is determined. Since the effect (the duel) is resolved, the card is discarded. Finally, any "after" effects from abilities that trigger off of success/failure of a duel will resolve. I suppose maybe simultaneous effects could let the player determine if the discard or "after" effects resolve first, but that seems a little too gamey imo.

#2: Most seem to play that once a Duel is resolved, the cards in the Conflict are discarded (the Duel is the effect which caused the flip). See this thread for more info: https://themostexcellentandawesomeforumever-wyrd.com/topic/154439-misaki-abandon-honor-and-discard-timing/#comment-1259963 As such, the card in the conflict when the duel is failed would be the card added to your Configuration. Cheating would cause you to add the cheated card to your configuration.

The Viks are melee murder machines that have a good amount of play into most pools/masters due to a mix of a well rounded crew and Outcast’s decent selection of Versatile models. Summon based masters are also strong for an all comers option. You get more options for how you want to solve scoring & killing.

I think your friends are too worried about model competitive viability. Have them focus on aesthetics and gameplay, personal competitive viability will come with experience. A person is more likely to learn from their mistakes if they enjoy the crew more than if it is supposed to be competitive (in which case most go “why doesn’t X work for me!?!”). I selected my first crew just off faction/crew aesthetics and the wyrd site master gameplay blurbs (Asami/Oni), and it remains my favorite crew after trying plenty of others. Kind of like a multiple-choice question, your first choice is usually the correct one (the sub-conscious knows what the conscious doesn’t).

The FAQ specifically calls out that Manipulative is different from “targeted” abilities like Terrifying… Manipulative is not a long term effect, it resolves in Step 4 if a model is the target (passive target) of the action.