Soloing A Master- Viable in 3e?

[Cranky Old Man]

I'm one of those who don't like to have to many balls in the air at one time. I'm a plodder. As such i find it hard to swap between masters. In 3e is it viable to solo masters now? Who are the better solo-able masters in your opinion?

[Jesy Blue]

Could you elaborate on what you mean by "soloing"?  cause it sounds like you want to take just the master and nothing else... and if you do that you're gonna have a bad time.

[Nikodemus]

My initial feeling is that it'll be as viable as it was in 2nd ed. That is to say I did just fine as a midtable mediocrity in previous edition. I don't have enough experience to say for sure but I'd be surprised if some keywords weren't more suitable for this than others.

Having only really played Misaki and Yan Lo (tt) in 3e, I'd feel reasonably comfortable soloing either. Some optimisation would be lost, but nothing I'd feel bad about.

I think any keyword that's reasonably good at staying alive and mobile will do well in current set of strategies.

[Trample]

There are certain masters you could absolutely solo in M3e. They may not always be the best for any given strategy or pool, but should be reasonably competent across the board. They have to be a master that isn't easily hard-countered in a keyword that has some mobility and killing power. Some of the masters that may be more generalist and fit that category include Titania, Leveticus, Molly, Mei Fang, Shenlong, Sandeep, Lucius, and Marcus come to mind. There are probably many more out there that could do a pretty good job. It may actually be easier to come up with a list that absolutely cannot solo. Those may be more because of hard-counters (like Colette into 10T) rather than lack of any particular ability. I probably wouldn't take the Viks into Plant Explosives though if I had another option. 

 

[Jesy Blue]

I often take Mercenaries into Plant Explosives and do amazing with it.

What you don't take them for is Corrupted Idols!  Oh no no no no no....

[Vangerdahast]

4 hours ago, Trample said:

It may actually be easier to come up with a list that absolutely cannot solo. Those may be more because of hard-counters (like Colette into 10T) rather than lack of any particular ability.

I often plays Colette versus Asami and Misaki and have good results. Why are TT a hard-counter for her? Is it about the numerous positive flips they can have or am I missing something else?

 

2 hours ago, Jesy Blue said:

I often take Mercenaries into Plant Explosives and do amazing with it.

What you don't take them for is Corrupted Idols!  Oh no no no no no....

Why? I played versus the Viktorias in Corrupted Idols and I think that their healing is a good mean to compensate damage  dealt by placing the idols.

I agree with you that they are very good in Plant Explosives.

 

[Nikodemus]

5 minutes ago, Vangerdahast said:

I often plays Colette versus Asami and Misaki and have good results. Why are TT a hard-counter for her? Is it about the numerous positive flips they can have or am I missing something else?

Masked Agent upgrade turns off her resistance trigger.

Shenlong as Leader or a hire hits her with due to Drunken Kung Fu and does irreducible damage.

Even without Shen, there's enough sources to hit her on a straight flip that she ought to be worried.

[Vangerdahast]

12 minutes ago, Nikodemus said:

Masked Agent upgrade turns off her resistance trigger.

Shenlong as Leader or a hire hits her with due to Drunken Kung Fu and does irreducible damage.

Even without Shen, there's enough sources to hit her on a straight flip that she ought to be worried.

Good point for Masked Agent. My opponents don't usualy take it. Maybe they should. For this matter, there is also Bettari with Asami, I then try to play around her to avoid her attacks. But Bettari and two other models with Masked Agent could be very difficult for Colette by restricting where she can safely move or unbury.

Don't have Shen Long in my meta. I fear most irreducible damage thant Drunken Kung Fu. I don't put a lot of Distract and Focus already balance Serene Countenance. Shen Long don't need to use Focus with Drunken Kung Fu. When I will face him perhaps I would change my mind (hoping it won't be too hard for me to learn the lesson).

 

Concerning the original question: I am soloing Colette for the moment. My biggest issue is with Reckoning where she struggles (as it should be) but depending on Schemes, she can do it quite well. Corrupted Idols is relatively easy for her (the damage puts pressure on her and Cassandra). Plant explosives and Turf War are bread and butter for her (in my experience).

 

[Maniacal_cackle]

Some masters definitely seem like solo material. My Molly for instance has fantastic idols and explosives matchups, and pretty good reckoning and turf war matchups (especially if claim jump or harness the Leyline are present).

Throw in the fact that you can fill gaps with versatile and OOK models, and you can be prepared for everything.

I just picked up my second master, and honestly I now feel so stretched mastering both, going solo master might actually be optimal.

I think the bigger deal is picking up "sideboard" models that you bring in only for specific matchups/scenarios. If I was aiming to play competitively, I'd have a much bigger focus on that.

Disclaimer: I'm still new, only been playing 3E for maybe 4 months.

[Adran]

On ‎8‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 11:40 AM, Hoff’s Ball said:

I'm one of those who don't like to have to many balls in the air at one time. I'm a plodder. As such i find it hard to swap between masters. In 3e is it viable to solo masters now? Who are the better solo-able masters in your opinion?

Soloing masters is probably about as viable. Its worth remembering that your opponent knows your master before they build the crew, so if you announce Hoffman you will have to expect anti armour everywhere, but at least you get that regardless of your opponent knowing you. 

There should not be a scenario that you know your master can not win before you build your crew. You might need to have as large a collection to support that solo master as someone trying to support 2 or 3 masters from that faction has, although that depends on the master, and the player. So for example, if you play Hoffman you might need to look more to out of keyword models to do some of the missions well. such as corrupted idols because he might want to normally group together, but if you're the better player even using a more standard Hoff list will give you a chance to win.