Mysterious Effigy?

[Gorbad]

I was just wondering if anyone had much experience with the Mysterious Effigy. Been looking at the Arcane Effigy to go with my Arcanists and thought I'd take a look at the Neverborn one as well bit I'm less certain about that one.

Like all the effigies it's moderately difficult to kill, especially for its points. Rapid Acceleration is situationally useful, but could in the right situation be a life saver.

Disguised Fate is cool, but really short ranged, and obviously card dependent.

I just don't know, unlike the Arcane one where I can see a clear reason to take it ( condition removal), the Mysterious one seems to be much more of a luxury. Good if you happen to got 4ss spare, but probably much lower down the priority list than a lot of other models.

Or am I missing its use once its actually on the table?

[zFiend]

I have been having the same problem, I can't seem to find a spot for it. I tend to hire models to fill a role I need in the crew and Mysterious Effigy is one I can't find to seem one. I mainly play Lynch as Neverborn and for 4ss I get a Depleted that has direct synergy with Lynch or use the 4ss to get Mr Tannen, who is hard to find a role as well but just for the fun of fielding that rat

[Hateful Darkblack]

It's the only one I haven't bought, because I'm not impressed with its abilities.

[Myth]

I think the Mysterious Effigy is unquestionably the weakest of the lot. It certainly isn't worthless - the base Effigy statline is pretty solid for 4 SS, so he'll always have some use. But he definitely got the short end of the Effigy shtick (a shame, since they were originally a Neverborn concept to begin with, but have now cut ties with everyone other than Collodi.)

In general, each Effigy has three unique features:
1) Their Attack
2) Their Effigy Buff
3) Some final unique benefit.

The Attacks

Let's look at the attacks. The Mysterious Effigy gets a very basic attack (Ml 4, Rg 1", Dmg 1/2/4), while all the others seem a bit more unique:
-Brutal (Guild): Attack is ranged, higher moderate damage, and can Slow.
-Carrion (Ressers): -0/-1/-2 damage, but +1 Ml and a trigger to Slow or Poison.
-Lucky (Gremlins): +2+2/+3 damage, in return for -1 Ml.
-Arcane (Arcanists): Ca instead of Ml, and thus bypasses Incorporeal.
-Hodgepodge (Outcasts): +1/+0/-1 damage, and a trigger to bypass all forms of reduction.
-Shadow (Ten Thunders): Always does 1 damage, but Ml 7.

Sure, you can argue some of these are a trade-off rather than being superior. But I'd take just about any of them over the basic one the Mysterious Effigy has.

 

The Buffs

 

The Mysterious Effigy gives out Rapid Acceleration, the ability to push away from an enemy after resolving an attack. Now, don't get me wrong, I think this is certainly useful. It can be great for stopping an entire enemy attack when Charged, for example. Part of my issue, though, is that it isn't very good for Neverborn. Lilith can make good use of it, I suppose. But Pandora, Collodi and Lynch already have access to similar abilities. Zoraida and Lucius already discourage charges and encourage being targeted by single, Focused attacks. Sure, even outside of charges, free movement and disengaging from enemies can be useful. But that is counterbalanced by the fact that the enemy knows you have Rapid Accelleration, and can position their models to minimize where you can escape to.

 

Guild, Ressers and Gremlins each get Effigies that give out healing, and typically enough to reliably recover ~2 Wds a round. Carrion Effigy you have the most control over but costs a card; Brutal relies on hitting, but can also gives you bonus cards when you kill enemies; and the Lucky Effigy is a gamble, but one that can pay off big when weathering a lot of attacks. All of those are useful to most any Master.

The Arcane Effigy either boosts your damage or diminishes the enemy hand. As long as you are attacking the enemy, that's useful.

The Hodgepodge lets you gain Soulstones (at the cost of cards) when you kill enemies. Most Outcast Masters are pretty killy. Very good.

 

Ten Thunders gets the one most similar to the Mysterious Effigy. Like with Rapid Acceleration, it can only be used once per turn. When attacked, you can burn it to give the enemy a negative flip. So similar... except that Rapid Acceleration only really comes into play when an enemy is planning to attack you multiple times. Blend into Shadow, from the Shadow Effigy, pays off as soon as a single attack is incoming. That makes it a lot more reliably worthwhile.

 

So, again, the Mysterious Effigy seems to have the weakest buff of the lot.

 

Bonus Feature

 

In addition to the attack and the buff, each Effigy has one other 'perk' that is unique to it. The Mysterious Effigy gets Disguised Fate, which lets nearby models cheat, face-down. This is quite handy, and great for bluffing your opponent. It is especially good with Jacob Lynch, who can recover cheated Aces when you attack - but then, he already has access to a similar effect at a larger range.

 

The fact that it is an always active Aura is the saving grace of the ability, and makes it the only really worthwhile thing the Mysterious Effigy brings to a crew. 

 

Many of the other Effigy buffs are much more powerful (Hodgepodge provides Cover, Carrion removes Immunities, Gremlin draws attacks, Shadow helps drop Scheme markers, Arcane removes Conditions) - but they all require an action, which seems to balance them a bit. The Brutal effigy, with the guild, is the only other one with a passive effect in the form of Finish the Job.

 

Of course, this gets back to the first issue - the Mysterious Effigy's subpar attack. He might have more AP than his cousins to spend, but doesn't have anything very useful to spend it on, especially since he needs to stay near other models to provide his Aura.

 

Conclusion

 

If the Mysterious Effigy has something more functional with his attack, or if his effigy buff was on par with other effigy buffs, or if his Aura had a bit more range, I'd probably look into taking him. But with all three of them being rather lackluster, it seems unlikely he will see much use. Many of the other Effigies not only bring useful abilities to the table, but they bring unique benefits that I can't get anywhere else. But everything that the Mysterious does is pretty much redundant with other abilities in faction, while also being weaker than what other Effigies bring to the table, and that makes him an awfully hard sell.

[Thaarup]

Well, on its positive side it is a bit tanky and have a high Df combined with an engagement range which actually makes it a pretty effective scheme runner/distracter...I have used the brutal a few times and the missing melee attack really is a downer!

But yea generally the Mysterious Effigy really lives up to its name

[Undisclosed]

It's been in every Collodi list i've played so far, and i have a hard time leaving it at home. I just think Rapid Acceleration is great.

[Ierocis]

Bought because fun to paint. Have no idea if I'll ever have need of it except might cram in into a collodi game with other effigies.

[Mister Shine]

Been left behind after extensive trying to use it in a Collodi list. His access to the other effigies just makes it so much better. Healing negates Strum which makes Mysterious a meh choice.

[EntrepeNinja]

His only boon is the cheating face down. And that depends on your poker face. If you can bluff someone into defending with a 13 when you've face downed a 3, you're gonna feel like a boss. Or vice versa, if you facedown a 13 with a trigger, and sell the bluff they'll think you're trying to pull one over and not cheat up, and then you're doing more damage, and with triggers. I think that can be kinda cool, and an interesting way to play. Do I wish it's range was larger? Of course.

 

ENinja