Misaki, Assassinate and general Scheming

[scarlett fever]

Hey all,

 

I have a question for you Misaki players out there.

I've a had a reasonable number of M2e games now (20+) and nearly always take Misaki.

 

You'd think that the Assassinate Scheme would make sense with her but I've seldom had success with it. I would take it for the fun of it but never if I was being competitive. If it's in the scheme pool usually my opponents will take it, as Misaki is an easy kill and unlikely to take out the opposing Master. The amount of time and resource I need to take out a Master just isn't worth the VP, everything else suffers.

You either need plenty of serious beatstick support or you can try to break their card/stone protection, which usually involves Yamaziko and/or Misdirection, but these are more opportunistic approaches rather than a solid game plan.

 

On the other hand anything with Scheme markers seems pretty easy (Torakge with Smoke and Shadows and/or Tengu are Scheme machines).

 

Obviously this is somewhat dependent on the Masters you face and the board you're on, still it's difficult to see when I'd ever seriously take Assassinate.

 

What are others experiences?

 

H

[EnternalVoid]

I have tended not to use her like an assassin against masters but rather have had her chop down the list's next big beatstick or that model that ties the whole list together.  Mind you she had taken out masters before, but rarely are they my first target unless I am trying to stop something *such as casters or shooters* namely due to Soulstone reduction.  I will sometimes target henchmen just because I can often drain a few stones from their pool before they decide to just let it die.

 

In contrast though I rarely run Torakage in numbers and don't generally take Smoke and Shadows and instead use her with a team of 10t models.

[Serigala]

Not taking Assassinate can be as useful as taking it.

 

Knowing that your opponent will take Assassinate against Misaki does allow you to deny 3VP fairly easily by holding her in the backfield. She can still be very useful picking off models trying to place scheme markers for breakthrough or protect territory etc. and can usually easily outmanoeuvre heavy hitters.

 

The fact that your opponent will suspect that Assassinate is an auto choice for Misaki, might make other schemes easier to complete.

[MasterDisaster]

Misaki was the first Master I played in M2E and given the right upgrades and crew build she is quite capable of Assassinating most Masters out there. She can also be a sly little fox to pin down thanks to all her movement shenanigans and Misdirection. She is very much a guerrilla fighter type Master, think hit and run tactics. Run in, beat face, run away again. This is how I tend to get Masters down and usually with a fair amount of success to boot but don't go sacrificing her for the sake of 3 VP and bombing the enemy Master. If the enemy Master is in an unfavourable position then have Misaki focus on schemes or picking apart the rest of the enemy crew. 

 

What Serigala is also a very good point, many people consider Misaki the "Assassination Master" because she can unload a tonne of damage onto one model at a time. By not taking Assassinate your opponent may assume you have and be more cagey with their own Master. This you can use to your advantage by focusing on other schemes it also feels kind of fluffy deceiving the opponent when that sort of thing comes up. 

 

What upgrades do you normally give Misaki when taking Assassinate as a scheme?

[scarlett fever]

I almost always take Stalk and Recalled Training and sometimes Misdirection.

 

These are all good comments. I think my play style may be weighted towards more schemey play. Recently I've gone completely towards play where I barely attack at all but it feels like a comfort zone.

I'm keen to practice a more aggressive play style and attempt to Assassinate without over extending myself. Round out my repertoire

[MasterDisaster]

That sounds like a fairly solid setup for Misaki. I tend to go with the following 

 

Offensive 

Misaki - Staling Bisento, Misdirection & Recalled Training

 

Defensive

Misaki - Disguise, Misdirection & Recalled Training

 

The offensive build makes her like a missile that can really pound out some hurt and even the toughest of Masters will struggle to shrug off the amount of damage she can put out. The defensive build makes her very difficult to engage and keep engaged, if they manage to catch her then she can shrug off the damage using misdirection. Both have their merits and work really well but are obviously suited for different roles. 

[chris_havoc]

I have to be honest if I see Assassinate I am taking it with Misaki. I have played Misaki a fair amount and I don't think I have lost a game since the end of the first Beta where I took Assassinate. I don't even really care if I give up 3VP in the process. Misaki is a model that absolutely thrives on disrupting a crew and so allows the rest of your crew to win the game while she engages the majority of your opponent's crew. I am generally lucky to get some Crows in my hands playing her but the tactic I use is to take 4-5 SS Pool and Misdirection, Stalk the Master/intended target, wait until I have Crows in my hand, and then charge into a group and go ballistic with her. I don't try to get her out of combat I just aim to burn through resources with Assassination. Then as attacks come in burn SS to Misdirect as you will have burned through cards you are controlling that group of models for a turn or two. In that time Misaki will likely kill the master and your other models will have been able to run objectives. Granted it's not as simple as that with Wp attacks and such but her willpower is pretty great too. Masters that are card or SS dependent like summoners are the absolute best for this tactic.

[Malicte]

Misaki and Assassinate is almost automatic for me, unless I see a *really* survivable master on the other side of the board, like maybe Leve or Daw.  4 Attacks in a turn is easy to do with Stalk, 5 if you play her Outcasts and use Oath Keeper.  With her Ml 7 and recalled training, she should be putting out minimum 8 damage to whatever target she's going in on, and you'll of course save your cards to use with her.  As long as you have a crow in hand you can stone for a crow to threaten assassinate, forcing the opponent to play more conservatively with their resources.  As mentioned above, when you start to drain resources like this for a crew that *really* needs high cards or specific suits to work, like summoners, this is almost enough damage already even if you don't put them down.

 

Misaki's also actually on the more durable side of the master spectrum.  Decent Df and Wp, 12 wounds, bulletproof, misdirection, her movement tricks all add up to her taking a lot of resources to put down.  Add in Shang's healing, since he often is overlooked by enemies, and even if she doesn't quite finish the job off one of your other units can, and Misaki's burned enough of the opponent's resources in cards, stones, and ap, that you may have won the game elsewhere.

 

Obviously anecdotes only go so far but my last Misaki game I had her personally put down Ramos, Howard, and the Rail Golem and still end the game on 9/12 wounds.  This is a solid game for her but not especially outside the norm.