What is a good mix of tournament masters?

[Khyodee]

So I'm wanting to focus in on 2-3 masters for tournament play. Which combinations of masters provide you great options for any situation?

I'm leaning towards Shenlong and McCabe as probably my first two to practice.

[Eclipse]

Shenlong and McGabe (all-rounders), Mei Feng (counter Ca/Sh).
Lynch (killy), Shenlong (schemes, blasts), Brewmaster (schemes, control).
Yan Lo (control, tanking), Misaki (killy, speedy), Asami (summoning).

Depends on what you prefer, really. Most of our Masters are pretty flexible and can do everything with some crew help). Brewmaster and to a lesser extent Misaki, Yan Lo, Mei Feng are better in specific scenarios IMO.

[Tokapondora]

I'd go for Shen/McCabe + Lynch

Shen and McCabe are great for scheming, and while McCabe will be a bit better for just scheming, Shen is a bit better at dealing with other models. And Lynch with his huge damage output and high hands can turn anything in a killingmachine, covering most scheme pools. And all three of them let you hire just about anything for a crew, so you have plenty of wiggleroom there. They are also far more consistent and deal better with poor matchups than the others. 

[Patzer]

My first options would be Lynch. He can do most pools very well and has some impressive out of factions options in The Depleted (a 4ss outstanding tank) and Stitched Together. Lynch can form very impressive eight model elite crews, or very diverse nine model crews for strategies like interference. His crews are not super quick, but they are far from slow either. Depleted can push to other models with Brilliance, Shadow Emissary get another push with Lynch, and there are plenty of other pushes in the faction too. Lynch's crews can dish out a lot of punishment too and excels in killing strategies. Lynch has resilience, hitting power, and can bring well balanced crews to the mix.

Secondly the team needs a dedicated schemer. Lynch and his crew might not be slow, but compared to the likes of McCabe and Shenlong he is left in the dust. One of them would be the choice for interact heavy pools, when speed is better than resilience, or in pools where it is possible to get a lot of VP down early.

Lastly the team would need a specialist. A master who can excel in specific meta match ups, or who can do a specific strategy and scheme pool very, very, well if it were to come up.

 

 

[scarlett fever]

Good question. I've played the faction since m2e hit and I still feel like I ask this question of myself everyday. 

Pretty much agree with above. Shenlong and McCabe are my two favorite masters to play, but they do feel like they have a lot of crossover, sometimes I struggle to pick one over the other. It often comes down to whether I want the sabre (cut down arcanists/ressers) and austringers. Or if I want healing, blowing around scheme markers or if there's long open lanes to exploit with sniper, I also just love what the emissary does to boost Shenlongs killing potential with all those cards. They can both field elite crews, violent crews or scheme crews. 

Lynch fields ultra violence, plus he's adaptable.

I feel like all three can be manipulated to fit any pool. 

Outside them I'd probably go Mei. She doesn't melt under Gremlin or Guild assault and has strong summoning options, she's just slow compared to the others. 

I'm enjoying Asami but she doesn't appear as flexible as the above options, certain schemes cramp her style. She's not a classical summoner either, which is fun but means she fills a different purpose. Still I'd use her over Lynch but that's just a preference thing rather than being objective. Misaki and Brewmaster are very niche,  but there's nothing like a good run with misaki, total devastation. Yan Lo I don't have enough games to have a solid opinion, but he seems like he's flexible enough to be up there as well. 

[InvokeChaos]

I am of the opinion that the Master's we have split into three categories and I would take one of each (there's some overlap). In order of my personal rating:

Kill-y
Lynch
Misaki
McCabe
Shen Long
Mei Fang
Honorable Mention:
Yan Lo

Scheme-y
Shen Long
McCabe
Asami
Honorable Mentions:
Brewmaster
Misaki

Control-y
Asami
Yan Lo/Brewmaster
McCabe
Shen Long
*Mei Fang - needs more testing/better opinion than mine

I don't think there's a "wrong" choice here, but my personal choice at the moment is Lynch, Shen Long and Asami for tournament. 

Misaki, McCabe, Brewmaster is another combo I've been looking at. But I need some serious tabletime with Brewmaster now that I have Bettari.

The one thing I will disagree with is that I'm not a fan of Shen Long and McCabe as a pairing, because I really feel they perform a similar task of being really strong at pretty much everything for different reasons. I like having more depth to my "set" then to have two Masters that are basically going to be picked for the same stuff. 

[SuperSalami]

The last tournament I went to, I took Shenlong and Yan Lo and didn't feel like there were any pools that I couldn't deal with.  Shenlong is a bit more schemy and Yan Lo is a bit more on the killy side.  Both of them have ways of moving enemy models where they don't want to be, so they can be good at holding points or interference/recon.

That said, there is a fair bit of overlap between them.  Both of them field crews that are very survivable and that like to be relatively close to each other.  Shenlong can get people where they want to be incredibly quickly, but for the most part, his crew likes to stick near each other because of his aura and the relatively short range of Low River and Wandering River styles.

I could see swapping out Yan Lo for someone a bit more overtly killy, like Misaki or Lynch, or just adding the third master.  I could also see only taking Shenlong and being fine with it.  He can take basically anything in his crew and be decent and his styles make him incredibly flexible.  He's a Tyrant, he's awesome at everything (except taking relic hammers to the face).

[santaclaws01]

12 hours ago, InvokeChaos said:

I am of the opinion that the Master's we have split into three categories and I would take one of each (there's some overlap). In order of my personal rating:

Kill-y
Lynch
Misaki
McCabe
Shen Long
Mei Fang
Yan Lo

Scheme-y
Shen Long
McCabe
Asami
Brewmaster
Misaki

Control-y
Asami
Yan Lo
Brewmaster
Mei Fang
McCabe

I don't think there's a "wrong" choice here, but my personal choice at the moment is Lynch, Shen Long and Asami for tournament. 

Misaki, McCabe, Brewmaster is another combo I've been looking at. But I need some serious tabletime with Brewmaster now that I have Bettari.

The one thing I will disagree with is that I'm not a fan of Shen Long and McCabe as a pairing, because I really feel they perform a similar task of being really strong at pretty much everything for different reasons. I like having more depth to my "set" then to have two Masters that are basically going to be picked for the same stuff. 

It's interesting to me that you put McCabe in control and not Shenlong. Shenlong has more control through his upgrades and ability to steal conditions than McCabe IMO.

[Tokapondora]

13 hours ago, InvokeChaos said:

I am of the opinion that the Master's we have split into three categories and I would take one of each (there's some overlap). In order of my personal rating:

Kill-y
Lynch
Misaki
McCabe
Shen Long
Mei Fang
Yan Lo

Scheme-y
Shen Long
McCabe
Asami
Brewmaster
Misaki

Control-y
Asami
Yan Lo
Brewmaster
Mei Fang
McCabe

I don't think there's a "wrong" choice here, but my personal choice at the moment is Lynch, Shen Long and Asami for tournament. 

Misaki, McCabe, Brewmaster is another combo I've been looking at. But I need some serious tabletime with Brewmaster now that I have Bettari.

The one thing I will disagree with is that I'm not a fan of Shen Long and McCabe as a pairing, because I really feel they perform a similar task of being really strong at pretty much everything for different reasons. I like having more depth to my "set" then to have two Masters that are basically going to be picked for the same stuff. 

Misaki has no business being anywhere near scheme-y, and even Brewmaster is a weak addition. Yan Lo is a much more capable control piece than Asami and the Brewmaster is miles above even Yan. And as Santa said, Shenlong should definitely be in control. Somewhere around Mei.

Also I'm not suggesting both. In Shen/McCabe I mean one or the other plus Lynch. Those two will really do. 

[InvokeChaos]

On 9/23/2016 at 9:01 AM, santaclaws01 said:

It's interesting to me that you put McCabe in control and not Shenlong. Shenlong has more control through his upgrades and ability to steal conditions than McCabe IMO.

Just an oversight, I was multitasking when I put the list together. I agree that Shen Long has plenty of control, though I do think McCabe has more because it's not restricted to just the Master. His ability to make any model a threat, scheme runner or harder to shift just outclasses Shen for control I feel.

Will edit above post  

On 9/23/2016 at 10:10 AM, Tokapondora said:

Misaki has no business being anywhere near scheme-y, and even Brewmaster is a weak addition. Yan Lo is a much more capable control piece than Asami and the Brewmaster is miles above even Yan. And as Santa said, Shenlong should definitely be in control. Somewhere around Mei.

Some thoughts on why I did what I did 

Schemes:

Misaki has Disguise and is incredibly mobile. I have often played her as a harrier/scheme runner and as long as you don't over commit, she's impossible to stop. Is it the "correct" way to play her? I don't know. I am not good enough at Malifaux to make any kinds of those types of claims. But that's why she's at the bottom of my personal list. Because I feel she CAN, but it's probably not the best use of her. But it's good to keep in mind that by forgoing stalking bisento, you lower her damage potential significantly, but she is basically the best scheme runner in the game at that point. She moves 18" on her own, can't be charged, has bulletproof, can stone, has a built in trigger to push 4", can charge in and out of combat with abandon... She absolutely punishes people who try to send little dudes to scheme in a corner. Again, not necessarily the best use of her, but it's one that I feel has quite a bit of merit.

Brewmaster has obey and some push mechanics. Again, not saying he's great at schemes, but I do like him for scheme running. Especially with Terracotta warrior now, it opens up some interesting options. Again, like Misaki, listing as something to take note of that they CAN do this. 

That being said, I will make a note above that they are considerations, not solid picks, as I agree that there are definitely far stronger options. 

Control:

Asami has far more control than Yan Lo. She may be the most controlling piece we have. Yokai are ridiculous, Asami can consume schemes and she can deliver threats to her forces or just deliver forces to her threats. Her mobility is greater, her offensive potential is greater. The only thing that Yan has over her is a ridiculous amount of tankiness and his healing. He is an insane control piece, don't get me wrong, but Asami just eclipses him in flexibility. 

Brewmaster is awesome at control, especially controlling an opponent's hand, but I think that Yan Lo has the ability to control a board easier. He's tankier, more mobile, and with his ancestor summons has more overall staying power. Brewmaster has a better close range control, but I think Yan has a better mid-long range. They are probably on even tier, really. Will adjust. 

I actually feel Shen is under McCabe in that regard, for reasons listed above. But on second consideration, I think Mei Fang might be beneath them both. I don't have enough table time with her to make that educated an opinion there. Again, I will annotate.

On 9/23/2016 at 10:10 AM, Tokapondora said:

Also I'm not suggesting both. In Shen/McCabe I mean one or the other plus Lynch.

My apologies! I didn't mean to imply you were. I know tons of people who like that combo of Shen and McCabe. Was just saying I don't agree with the sentiment in general, nothing more.