Arcanist Masters GG2016

[RustAndTheCity]

There was a great post a few months back with which masters people thought worked best with each strategy. With the new strategies in Gaining Grounds 2016, which masters do you think are best for each strategy?

Extraction

Interference

Headhunter

Guard the stash

Collect the bounty

Turf war

Reckoning

Reconnoiter

Squatters rights

Stake A claim

 

[Fog]

 

Extraction - Ramos

Interference -Ramos or Ironsides

Headhunter - Colette

Guard the stash - Ramos

Collect the bounty - See below

Turf war- Ramos

Reckoning - See below

Reconnoiter - Ramos

Squatters rights - Colette

Stake A claim - Colette

 

For the primarily kill focused schemes, I find "whichever master you're most comfortable with" is the best answer.  Everyone either murders enemies or boosts their teammates so there is no bad choice.

[admiralvorkraft]

Basically the same as GG'15. Ramos is still the closest thing to an "all comers" master I've come across in this game, so long as there are schemes that play into out activation or allow me to score full points turn five he's golden.

[Mxbedlam]

Extraction - Colette and Marcus

Interference -Colette and Marcus

Headhunter - Colette and Marcus

Guard the stash - Colette and Marcus

Collect the bounty -Colette and Marcus

Turf war- Colette and Marcus

Reckoning - Colette and Marcus

Reconnoiter - Colette and Marcus

Squatters rights - Colette and Marcus

Stake A claim - Colette and Marcus

 

Pretty much. If the two of them can't do it, it can't be done

[Patzer]

Quite interesting to hear that Ramos is an all comers masters. I thought that the consensus on him were that he is a great option for Interference, and Reconnoiter.

[Adran]

49 minutes ago, Patzer said:

Quite interesting to hear that Ramos is an all comers masters. I thought that the consensus on him were that he is a great option for Interference, and Reconnoiter.

He's also good at flooding a set area with significant minions, so great for guard the stash, Turf war and Extraction. Or getting enough activations to squat and stake claim and collect heads. Even at a push lowering the Df of enemy models for Reckoning

I can't remember the post Rust refers to, but if it was only 6 month or so ago, then it would have had the 2015 Strategies in already, they haven't changed.

 

[Breng77]

Extraction - Ramos-good for holding ground, lots of significant, durable models.

Interference -Ramos- similar reasons to extraction, easy to tie up opponent for arcanists in general, Ramos brings more models to hold your own quarters.

Headhunter - Colette-ability to prompt to pick up heads, makes picking up heads a 0 for some models.

Guard the stash - Ramos- see extraction

Collect the bounty -Colette- hard to kill, prompt makes killing things easier.

Turf war- Ramos-see extraction

Reckoning - Colette- see collect the bounty.

Reconnoiter - Ramos-see interference.

Squatters rights - Colette or Ramos- both can claim markers easily,.

Stake A claim - Marcus-lots of movement tricks in his crew.

 

 

[trikk]

Nobody likes Kaeris apparently

[bertmac]

37 minutes ago, trikk said:

Nobody likes Kaeris apparently

I love her! 

Turf war, guard the stash and extraction would be my choices for kaeris!

[Breng77]

I don't always play the masters I listed I just find them easiest.

[decker_cky]

1 hour ago, trikk said:

Nobody likes Kaeris apparently

Kaeris is a lot of fun. Just arcanists have some super flexible heavy hitter masters who are amazing in most strategy/scheme combinations (Ramos, Colette, and Marcus are all top tier in most situations).

[Griffin839]

Here is how I normally do it. When I go to a tournament I bring the entire faction with me. I will then pick the Master build I feel is best for the Strategy and then use my crew selections to deal with the schemes and counter my opponent's faction. I know some people like to go with a single master or two for tournaments, or pick a master that is good against a certain faction first, but that isnt for me.

Extraction - Ironsides with Arcane Emissary. In her current incarnation, Ironsides does best in these kinds of scenarios. Between negation and his melee prowess the Emissary will quickly overrun the object, allowing you to use hand picked men to buff your own models. Keep pulling/leaping/throwing Ironsides into combat with the enemy and using warding runes to prevent conditions and negate points to the opposing player.

Interference - Ramos with Mech Rider. Ill go with a summoner build on Ramos and put the mech rider and a spider on one corner and the rest of my crew on the other. Use both to summon onto their respective corners and slowly push forward from there. This way the opponent has threats on two fronts and has to split their forces to deal with it. With so much summoning it is pretty easy to gain activation control and prevent Interference points.

Headhunter - Colette. This is the strategy I feel Colette is truly the best option for. Prompting Cassandra or Howard to kill something and then prompting them again to pick up the head makes it very easy to accomplish.

Guard the stash - Kaeris. Guard the stash rewards players for being able to hold two points on the board at the same time. Her mobility, she can easily handle being in two places at once.

Collect the bounty - Marcus. I prefer Marcus over Raspy here because of mobility. Taking a highly mobile crew makes it much easier to dart in, kill a model, go up in points and then leap/get alpha'd back out of danger denying points to the enemy.

Turf war- Rasputina. I feel this one is her bread and butter. With Ice Mirrors granting the best angles of attack possible, it is very easy to table unsuspecting opponents who try to rush the objective too greedily. You also have snowstorm who can blast opposing models off the objective at the end of turn denying points to the opponent.

Reckoning - Kaeris with Rail Golem. While it may be surprising to some people, I find Kaeris does really well at reckoning. When players build a crew for killing, they take their biggest baddest things. These things tend to die really easily to fire, even more so when the crew is built for killing, not removal of conditions. Firestarter turns all these kills into points for you, and if you want you can take Rail Workers for their Shovel Faster expunge on burning actions to kill them much more quickly. Of course you also have a rail golem with 6-7 burning on it which will table an opponent by itself.

Reconnoiter - Ramos and Mech Rider. Same strategy as Interference.

Squatters rights - Mei Feng. Like Guard the stash this is a strategy that requires extreme splitting of a crew. Mei Feng excels at this situation and can jump between all 5 markers clearing them out where needed.

Stake A claim - Colette. The only Master Ive gotten this strategy to work with. Colette and her prompt triggers easily move her crew up the board very quickly, and prompt allows a model to stake a claim without losing their turn. You can prompt them afterwards to do what you would have done with them anyway.

[Mxbedlam]

Griffin how does this work for you? Do you find yourself stretched thin or at an impasse when it comes to choosing for a tournament? Have you gotten enough games with each master to feel confident with them all at tournament level?

[Adran]

I have a similar approach to Griffin, except even less focused. 

It can work well, but you do really need to know your faction well. I don't know that I would agree with some of the masters- strats view, but each to their own. I think Marcus is the best at Stake a claim, due to his ability to field so many leaping neverborn.  

I did The UK nationals last year and used 6 Arcanist Masters over the 7 rounds, winning 4, losing 2 and drawing 1. 

Marcus won stake a claim, colette lost Headhunter, Kaeris won turf war , Ironside lost interference, Marcus won reckoning, Ramos won squatters rights, Mei Feng drew collect the bounty. Ending on 25th out of 88. 

I've been playing Arcanists like this for over 6 years now, so its been a time getting there, and it doesn't fit everyones play style, but it does make you a slightly less predictable opponent. (Lots of people are starting to expect things like Ramos in Reconnotre and interference, and so build lists to be able to deal with them.)

 

[Griffin839]

3 hours ago, Mrbedlam said:

Griffin how does this work for you? Do you find yourself stretched thin or at an impasse when it comes to choosing for a tournament? Have you gotten enough games with each master to feel confident with them all at tournament level?

 

I feel pretty confident, but it helps being able to play a lot. I probably have 20-30 games with each master before I take it to a tournament. It will take me at least 10 games or so to fully grasp how the master is supposed to work and then another 10 or so games to find a crew I like to take with them.

I'm blessed with a very active community and that makes it easy to get games. Like Adran I've been playing over a few years so spreading it out has also helped. It takes a while to build up to that point.

[Mxbedlam]

Yeah at 20 games with a master I feel as if I have just broken them in. 

[Sybarite]

Guard the stash rewards being able to move enemy models away from the markers so I am thinking Mei with all her pushes, or Kaeris with grab and drop could work really well here, surprising the opponent at times. Rail golem could be cool here. Playing golf with rail bash.

I think Ramos got a bit worse in this years gg cause of hunting party being so common.

[Sybarite]

I am more into the 2-3 masters approach. I finished 14th of 88 in the uknationals last year with Colette and Mei. Mei was used in turf war (vs Mei) and when I knew I was facing Dita after getting smashed by Dita with Colette haha. I won 4, drew 2 and lost 1. I am sick of playing Colette though. Have been playing neverborn last four tourneys. Gonna switch colette out next time I am running arcs in a tourney.

[Fog]

17 hours ago, Sybarite said:

 

I think Ramos got a bit worse in this years gg cause of hunting party being so common.

I've played Ramos into reckoning from day 1. The way I view it, every attack at a def 6, possibly positive twist, armor 1, possibly regenerating, summoned model is an attack that isn't going into something that counts. If killjoy is cracking spiders instead of Hank, I'm good with it.

[RustAndTheCity]

You can also hide a spider at the back to stop your opponent from scoring 3 points from hunting party.

[Sybarite]

How does giving away reckoning pts not matter?

--

Do you mean hiding a spider in the back and then not summoning more spiders to avoid giving up pts? Why play Ramos then?

[Patzer]

23 hours ago, Sybarite said:

 

I think Ramos got a bit worse in this years gg cause of hunting party being so common.

I think so too, along with most summoners. I welcome that change though, especially in Interference and Recon. Hunting Party makes those strategies a lot more viable for non-summoners.

On a similar note. What is the general opinion about the Mechanical Rider these days?

[Sybarite]

I prefer more aggressive options. Mech rider makes for less tempo

[Fog]

8 hours ago, Sybarite said:

How does giving away reckoning pts not matter?

You'll be killing spiders to earn reckoning points. I'll be killing enforcers and henchmen.  You may get some reckoning points off spiders, but by turn four I'll still be bringing more spiders on the board.  You'll be running real low on combat capable models.

Yes, any real combat model will kill a spider in two attacks. You'll likely be trading that model for the spider, though, and I'm always okay with that trade. 

[katadder]

never faced a mei feng list, I will take 3+ of your spiders for no return that I am worried about

there are alot of people that can kill spiders for no return, either ranged or melee, yes joss and howard are good but howard is certainly a glass cannon who should die after killing one thing.

some people dont worry about spiders or the amount you bring, especially wounded ones that die in 1 hit.