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[Lokibri]

Hello ladies and gentlenerds,

after having a couple of games of McCabe under my belly, I decided to check out Mei Feng. As an arcanist and gremlin player i was very interested in her.

So, this is a thread that will show you some of my experiences with her. It will give some thought on general strategy, some hints and tips and some of the thinking process "behind the scenes" you could say.I

Her Box:

To start off with some new masters, we had a little sealed box tournament with 35 Stones. I went undefeated with Mei Feng (while i got a draw against Misaki) because i faced Tara and Parker, where Vent Steam single-handedly won the matches on their own.

Here are some sum ups for you:

game 1: Mei Feng vs Parker Barrows

Parker had a disadvantage because almost everything his crew does, is shooting. Mad Dog Bracket was not as bad as i thought getting into melee, while Parker still had the chance to blow something up with his actions. I had to double vent most of the time to deny those outcast bandidos to rob my rail workers while doing their job. It was extraction, so i could safely clump in the middle and just score points. The emberling was pretty fine doing his thing and run schemes with incorporeal which was nice. My Rail worker almost always had a card to ditch and charge into the enemy with plusflips. Mei Feng switched their behaviour turn 3 when mad dog killed kang and she took revenge. Was a pretty good, but clear game for me.

Result was something like 7:2

Game 2:

Mei Feng vs Tara on symbols

Mei Feng railwalked in and vented steam like a steamy steamgirl that she is. It totally wrecked my opponent shooting and casting with everything except for tara. His last desperate move was to send Tara in and hope for the best, but the retaliation strike from a pumped up railworker within Kangs aura and a railwalking mei feng that followed up, was just too much and he conceded turn 2 after having no master and being on minus flips all game long.

 

Game 3:

Mei Feng vs Misaki

Misaki charged in immediately and boy does she hit hard! She did so much damage, that also could easily deal with the railworker and their df trigger, which was quite useful. I couldn't pin her down and the torakage did well popping up where i didn't want. Her Ototo just did not want to die and at the end i just had Kang left who could kill a Torakage and denied another score on guarded treasure.

Mei Feng with just her crewbox was super versatile and did a great job at switching from defense to offense. Her upgrades are good and her mobility is just insane!

Kang: he is very, very good. He hits hard, is hard to kill, can heal up and is versatile enough to include in a crew!

Railworker: those guys really surprised me! 2\4\5 dmg track with plus flips, hard to kill, armor and a trigger to reduce an additional 2. Those bad boys are low cost, high damage, good sustain! Love them after i played them.

Emberling: well...i don't like him, but he is a decent scheme runner. Almost useless actions and bad stats.

So, after this little opener will be followed by a list and a battle report about the first game i had :-). Hope you enjoy it.

[WWHSD]

20 minutes ago, Lokibri said:

Kang: he is very, very good. He hits hard, is hard to kill, can heal up and is versatile enough to include in a crew!

Railworker: those guys really surprised me! 2\4\5 dmg track with plus flips, hard to kill, armor and a trigger to reduce an additional 2. Those bad boys are low cost, high damage, good sustain! Love them after i played them.

Emberling: well...i don't like him, but he is a decent scheme runner. Almost useless actions and bad stats.

Kang: The worst thing about Kang is that he isn't dual faction but that's not something that matters for Ten Thunders.

Railworkers are awesome 5SS models if you can get them where they are needed.

Emberling - This guy might be the best 3SS activation that Mei Feng can hire. His actions aren't great but his stat line is good for a 3SS model and he's a minion that's significant. I've only player Mei Feng as an Arcanist so Ten Thunders might have some better low wSS cost options. I really wish that Kaeris could hire him.  

[Milutki]

I've wanted to start a new topic about Mei, but I'll write here. I really like Mei's miniature, but I have trouble in using her. For me, she is really a hit or miss. Sometimes her vent steam can be devastating, for example when facing Perdita or other sh/ca relying master, but then if you field her against a crew smashing faces in melee she is really underwhelming for me. I just can't see any interesting stuff she can do except venting steam. She can dish out some damage, but it is usually one turn only when I use recalled training.  In other turns her dmg tracks are really bad with min dmg 2 on all her attacks and in order to make more attacks she needs to spend soulstones. Moreover, her ML 6 is not that good for a melee master. I've tried summoning with Toshiro, but in GG18 i think that it is not that good. What do you use with her ? Any ideas for some combos or lists ? 

[StormLordXIII]

In my experience, Mei's best trait is her mobility (although I'm certain that other players have other aspects of her that they use more). Her Railwalker action that allows her to place in B2B with a Scrap Marker or Construct means that she can flit between different targets very quickly, contest board quarters, or eliminate supporting units that tend to stick away from the front line. The Passenger Line trigger granted by the Rail Lines upgrade lets other models hitch a ride, so Mei can essentially become a delivery system for other models to get up the field. This may be especially useful since Kang can be quite slow, and he need to be engaged and beating away at the enemy to be most useful.

In line with this theme, I usually run an eclectic Mei list that pulls from different factions (all within TT or Foundry) to capitalize on Constructs and Scrap Markers:

Mei (Rail Lines, Recalled Training)

Sparks

Toshiro (Command the Graves)

Rail Golem (Smoke Grenades)

Mechanized Porkchop

Obsidian Oni x 2

Cache = 4

I like this list because most of its models are constructs (Rail Golem, Porkchops, Komainu summoned by Toshiro, at least one or two a turn) or have the ability to place Scrap Markers, either directly (Porkshop) or by causing Damage (Obsidian Oni). They can also cause Burning, which synergizes well with Mei and the Golem, and they can heal the Rail Golem so long as it still has its upgrade with the Strong Grow Stronger ability.

This list tends to struggle against enemies that ignore armour (Swine Cursed, I'm lookin' at you!), but can be tanky.

 

[Lokibri]

Well, hello and welcome to part II of this little blog-ish thread, to ignite the spark of being interested in playing Mei Feng again :-).

I am happy to see your responses, questions and help. I want to be as much of a help as possible. So, first let's take a look on a list i have been working on and then see if there are questions left, that want to be answered.

So, after the sealed event, i went back to the drawing board and tried to figure out a list that is good in GG18. Interestingly enough GG 18 has 2 strats, where you have to interact with your opponent, which forces your opponent to come to your crew and interact if he wants to score full points. That is a huge advantage for a crew that relies on defensive mechanism that are based on Auras and areas around models, instead of single buffs. Symbols is a semi centered strat and as i play it, i normally give up 1 marker and try to protect 2 as long as possible. The incredible mobility of mei allows her in crucial situations to switch her playstyle and pick up a marker or kill a lone model and go back. This is also incredibly useful when playing Ours and things do not go as planned and you have to be anywhere on the board to swap it in your favor with 10 very mobile points.

So, all of those strat benefit a defensive playstyle with models surviving and doing their thing instead of outactivating and scoring via many ap as it was in gg17.

So, without further ado, here is the list we are talking about.

Declared Faction: TenThunders
Crew Name: my mei 50ss
Leader: Mei Feng - Soulstones:(5)
   Seismic Claws 1ss
   Vapormancy 1ss
   Hard Worker 1ss
Toshiro The Daimyo 9ss
   Command the Graves 1ss
   Smoke Grenades 1ss
Sparks 7ss
   False Target 0ss
Yamaziko 6ss
   Death Contract 1ss
   The Peaceful Waters 0ss
Shadow Emissary 10ss (with Meis conflux)
Mechanized Porkchop 6ss
Monk of Low River 4ss

This lists general idea is to stay defensive, slowly but securely making its way towards the enemy while denying most actions against your crew. Also, Sparks ist just pure pain for your opponent, if he is well positioned.

So, let's take a look on the individual models.

Shadow Emissary: There is not much to add about this model in general as it is one of the best (if not the best) emissary in the game. Nevertheless, we have a little twist here with mei Feng. As usual you can use Rite of Strenght to push and give essentually whoever needs fast, but most of the time especially in turn 1 and 2 it will be Toshiro. But, here is the little twist. You can push the emissary and place a scrap marker. That doesn't sound like much, but those 3' often allows the emissary to use the double focus and attack without spending another ap on moving and getting in range. Additionally this scrap marker is an auto-railwalk needing any 1 or higher.

Mechanized Porkchop: this little piggy is incredibly awesome with mei. It produces scrap outta nowhere and allows all, i repeat, because this is sick, ALL models to take 1 dmg and charge in with + on Attacks! This is so sweet, that you really don't want to miss out on that one. Especially on 6 stones it is a bargain. It is kinda squishy, so try to keep it safe. Good thing is he got bayou two cards, which is nice.

Toshiro: oh boy! If anyone would earn the "Employee of the month"-Badge, this one and a half eyed Damiyo would get it within a heartbeat! He is an idol on the working bench getting 2 komainu per round on the field and even giving out fast to some. This bad boy is also pretty hard to killand with his glorious intestines falling out motivating all minions to get plus flips. Add that to the porkchop and you are able to charge a midnight stalker with a relatively high chance to succeed with a hit. He is working overtime for mei and not even tagged as a foundry model. What a shame!

Monk of Low River: i love models with condition removal and this one also gives a heal. Removing slow or healing are his options and both are good! He is just sanding out those little dents and bits toshiro left while hammering together those komainus.

Yamaziko: Now we arrive at the flex slots for this list. Yamaziko is one of those Henchman which can excell on what she does or fail miserably! However, she is nimble with a walk of 4 not the fastest model, but a range of 3 can make up for it. The main reason i put her in my list was her ability to "Brace Yari" and give those charging models a harsh entry! A thing to note: this action protects all models in aura 3, which is incredibly good, because you can cover her with expandable komainus. The good thing here is, that it is very unlikely, that she will lose her brace yari due to very high WP and the steam venting through the air! I also love her ability against masters to discard 2 cards, for each unrevealed schemes. The good thing is: if your opponent doesn't want to lose cards, he needs to cheat in a high card. If he wants to deny that, he has to reveal his schemes very early, which gives you more information. The psychological effect is incredible and she is a model people want to get rid of very fast, but in this case, will have to pay a huge price with death contract and brace yari.

Sparks: Another flex slot and i decided to try him out a bit. At first glance he is an okay-ish model. The real value is generated with scrap marker giving out armor and the construct characteristic (careful! Johan is waiting for just that!). Everything that is a construct, can be made fast and if you have ever seen a fast izamu with Armor 3, you will know what i am talking about! Same counts for a rail golem btw. This model is similar to Mechanized McPorkchop, fragile, but good! He is also a henchman, which increases his survivability a bit. You can swap the false target and death contract with each other, because Sparks will also be a thorn in your opponents foot or eye! The hostile work environment denies another angle your opponent could use against you. There are plenty of models that target other friendly models. Let this be an obey, a heal, a buff or anything else that manipulates models and their actions. If it is in 8 to sparks and LoS, it is denied!

Mei Feng is used very defensively and is just giving out some kicks and punches if necessary. Normally i spend 1-2 turns just venting steam, before she goes to full action. I have to agree that she is no vik with min dmg 5, but hitting burning targets, can hurt a lot. Charging in while near a porkchop is also fun! The real value is the combination of attacks, that hit multiple targets and push models around. Even though it is pretty difficult, she can dish out some dmg though.

Komainus are the back of this crew. They are expandable, peetty tough, punish the opponent for casting and deliver burning or slow. Those boys are awesome and the reason why your important models survive. The 0 to place is the haymaker when scoring hold up!

Flex slots: the flex slots can be filled with a little bit more hard hitting models like lone swordsman with recalled training or an izamu or rail golem. If you want to go crazy, add a hans or 2 katanaka sniper using the advantage to shoot and summon models while your opponent is not able to hit back from distance.

 

So, this is it for the Moment and a battle report will follow in a few days!

If you like it, leave me a thumbs up and i hope i could help a bit 🙂

 

If you got questions, feel free to ask!