Freezer Burn

[Jordon]

Hey everyone, this is going to be a long post, but I wanted to see if we can cook up something interesting here. So some of you ver 1.5 veteran arcanist players may have remembered a certain list that used to be quite interesting to run. I am of coarse referring to "fire and ice" which consisted of running Raspy and Kaeris (cause she was a henchmen back in the day). I personally never ran the list myself, but I heard it could pump out some serious damage, but at the cost of being soul stone intensive. 

 

Well it's now m2e and that list is no longer valid, but I still think the spirit of "fire and ice" can still be achievable. I was wondering if anyone can think of some neat synergy by running both frozen and smouldering heart models? I know it's probably not the most competitive list as both smouldering and frozen heart models generally synergies well with each other and not so much out of theme. This list is meant to be striking, thematic and fun to play, with maybe a few neat twists to throw at your opponent. 

 

I know both the gunsmith, miner and december acolyte are technically frozen and smouldering models. However nothing they do really demonstrates fire or ice and so I'm not sure i'd include them in my list personally. The blessed of december I feel also falls into this category. 

 

Here are some of my thoughts:

 

Master

 

Has to be either Raspy or Kaeris. I know mei can also kind of be considered as fire and i'm sure she has some decent synergy with both crew's, I still think thematically it should be Raspy or Kaeris. 

 

In my mind I think Raspy is the better choice and that's because I think frozen heart functions better as the backbone of the crew and because of the fact that Raspy can give other models "frozen heart" it opens up more functionality. For example you can put frozen heart on the firestarter, giving raspy a highly mobile "arc node" for her spells, while also allowing the firestarter to play more aggressively with the added benefit of +2 armour and also being able to benefit from "bite of winter" 

 

 

Crew

 

So here is where you can really experiment and see how things work together. I think there are a few "key" models that really must be included to make this list run well. 

 

Firestarter:

 

He's the big deal for the fire side. He basically functions as Kaeris Jr. and there are a few key abilities that make him a must take. First off he's M&SU which grants him access to "powered by flame" and seeing how many of the fire and ice models happen to be constructs, it feels quite fitting to have in this crew. His mobility and access 3ap makes him ideal to maximize this upgrade. His mobility is also a welcome addition to a Raspy crew as most of her models tend to be slower. Also his twirling with a gas can is one of the few abilities that works off of the burning condition so it's a nice fit for this crew. Also he's extremely cheap for a henchmen and that's very important for this list as it has to share space with our next model.

 

Ice Golem:

 

This is the big deal for the ice side. It's role doesn't really change much from what it usually does for Raspy, but it's a great sturdy model that can compliment a few abilities on other fire models. I also enjoy giving it both the "killswitch" upgrade as well as "sub zero" or "armour of december". Sub zero can greatly improve the survivability of the ice gamin who have the trigger built in and who are also a critical part of this list. Also the armour of december can push it's own survivability into the absurd level if the opponent has no way to deal with armour. There are also many ht1 models who can benefit from being tossed as well. 

 

I now wan't to talk about a trigger on the ice golem that has always been boarder line useless for me in the past. That is of coarse decembers sigh. Usually -2 wk/cg was never something that interested me as generally if it was engaged with the golem, it would likely be dead, or would simply attack the golem instead. The really neat thing in this list however is that there are two models that can benefit from this -2wk. Those models are the rail golem and the firestarter. Now realistically you probably won't be running both golems, but who know's it could happen... The rail golem uses the opponents "wk" value for it's vent boiler ability and the fire starter uses it for his "twirling gas can" ability. Now that trigger doesn't seem quite as useless.

 

Ice Gamin:

 

These little guys are my next mvp's of the list as they can give frozen heart models +1 dmg. Now we can give out frozen heart to our fire friends and have them benefit from +1 dmg. Even the humble fire gamin can do a very respectable min damage of 3 with burning+1 or +2 if you have powered from flame close by making it sort of like min damage of 5!! That's mainly they're biggest use, but it's quite an important one and hence why I like sub zero on the golem to help keep them alive. Oh and they explode, which Raspy tends to enjoy nuking her own stuff from time to time.

 

Fire Gamin:

 

As mentioned above, they get to ridiculous levels of damage and they also explode. They are also the best way to "spam" burning for their cheap cost. 

 

Wendigo:

 

Another reason why I prefer Raspy to Kaeris is because the wendigo is one of the best totems available. The main benefit in this list is it's magical extension which allows it to further dish out frozen heart to the fire models. Aside from that, it's highly mobile and non-insignificant and from time to time might even be able to give raspy "fast" which is always a win.

 

Arcane Effigy:

 

Yet another reason why Raspy win's over Kaeris in my books is because she can make better use of "arcane radiance". She has blasts and loves to use them. And under radiance, can now also set the opponent on fire, which doesn't really make a lot of sense but fits beautifully in this list. Also condition removal is super handy and can even help put out some flames if you accidentally set your own stuff on fire. 

 

 

 

The next few models are where you can play around to see what fits. They are not "mandatory" but they fit the theme and deserve a mention. 

 

 

Metal Gamin: 

 

They are an ice golems best friend. They can also dish out lots of burning and with frozen heart they reach absurd levels of resilience. I'm not sure if you'd really count them are "fire" but I think they fit the theme. Magnetism can be effective as you'r already taking fire/ice gamin and the ice golem who can explode, which can be handy at times. I'm not sure if the 2 damage from magnetism will get the benefit from bite of winter or not, but if it does, that could be a bad day for a hoffmen or another arcanist player. 

 

The Captain: 

 

Again, he seems more like wind then fire, but there is certainly a fire sub theme to him. His pushes are excellent for allowing the ice golem to get off his mighty "smash" attack. Or for moving Raspy much quicker then she'd normally be able too, or get her out of danger if she becomes engaged. He's also a big fan of the +2 armour from frozen heart and the +1 damage from bite of winter makes that relic hammer hit even harder. 

 

Rail golem:

 

He certainly fits the bill for a fire themed model but he doesn't really gain a whole lot from this list. The firestarter can fuel him up and frozen heart makes him a real tough nut to crack. Thankfully the rail golem kind of does his own thing anyway and doesn't really need support. I'm reluctant to bring both golems in a list, and I feel the ice golem does more if I had to choose one, but it's still a decent option either way. 

 

Silent Ones: 

 

They are a definite consideration and they can fill in the gap that Kaeris would have provided in that they are excellent healers. They are less effective in this list due to the lower amount of frozen heart models. The fire gamin also tend to bring more ranged firepower and thats why I don't think they're always a must take model.

 

Snow Storm:

 

For similar reasons as to why I don't think the silent ones are a must include. He/she a fantastic model in a frozen heart crew, but his/her effectiveness lessens when you introduce non FH models. He/she can use pushes to move the crew into and out of danger, however I think the captain does this just as effectively and also cheaper to boot. He/she is very expensive and I think those points are better served elsewhere.

 

Mech Rider: 

 

Now I know she neither has anything to do with frozen or burning. However she can summon gamins like a champ and the gamins are the real bread and butter of this crew so thats why I think she can also be a consideration mechanically, but not thematically. 

 

Sue:

 

He's only being considered due to his "ring of fire" ability. He does also give "finish the job" to model, which can be pretty handy on gamins, especially raspy lead gamins. But he is also pretty costly at 9ss

 

Freikorp specialist:

 

He's pretty neat and can put out some serious levels of burning. I see him using similar tactics to Raspy in that he won't hesitate to BBQ the gamin to try and get those blasts out. He also doesn't mind hanging around gamin as when they die they won't hurt him with their explosions.  Unfortunately 9ss is a pretty heavy price tag on this guy as well. He's certainly have more weight in a Kaeris lead crew, but he's not necessary with Raspy. 

 

 

So that's my thoughts, but i'm sure we can think of other synergies that I may have missed. I'd love to also hear people's opinions on Kaeris lead crew's and what you could pull off with her as well.  

[Thedirtofluck]

I am new to the game but i really like this idea of using the fire and ice gamin together. It does seem a bit hard to get off though needing a 1ap cast to get frozen heart onto the model and then discarding a card for the ice gamin to boost the fire gamin and the whole time needing to remain within a relatively tight group to boost each other.

 

I just think if an ice gamin is close enough to a fire gamin to buff it to push out damage this turn, you are probably in range and more likely to want to use Raspy's AP to cast straight through the ice gamin with December's curse.  

[MetaphoricDragn]

Another thing to think about would be the Oxfordian Mages, bringing both fire and ice options.  I'm curious to see how a casting brick would work with Rasputina, a couple interns (Oxfordian Mages) and the Essence of Power

[Jordon]

@Thedirtofluck:

The nice thing about december's touch is that it also grants +2 armour so on a fire gamin, that is armour +3, which can take considerable resources to put down. Also the wendigo can use magical extension to cast decembers touch and thus saving raspy's AP for killing.

 

@Umbra:

I've thought of running the mages, but points are pretty tight. They can be extremely effective with the EOP but I feel like a large portion of your list would be very static. Sure they can get buffed up with frozen heart, bite of winter and the EOP for a very impressive 3AP (furious casting) Ca7 min damage 3 (4 if you use the fire trigger), however that requires a lot of cards to burn and basically your whole list to brick up. All one needs to do is engage the brick and that could easily shut down a huge portion of your list.

 

You can do a similar thing using the silent ones however and while they can't quite reach the same damage output as the mages, they can provide more support, able to heal and disrupt using ice pillars. They also are way more survivable with their DF trigger, and don't suffer from being engaged as none of their abilities are

 

 

 

I know it's not the most practical of lists, but I'm wondering what scenarios this list may be strong in and which it may have trouble with? I'm thinking turf war and reckoning are probably it's stronger matches, while reconnoitre is probably it's hardest match. I'm not sure how it would perform in squatter though. Clearly the list is designed around damage output making it ideal for killing schemes. However burning makes this much more difficult as death by fire doesn't count as being killed by this crew. The firestarter helps out in this way, but it also places a bigger bullseye on his head making it tricky to say if killing schemes are a good idea for this list.