How Many Initiates with Marcus?

[yool1981]

Hi,

I am a NB/Arcanist player. I already have the old Marcus box painted and based as my Arcanists.

I will likely pick the new Marcus box to paint it and base it as my NB.

I was wondering how many Initiates you bring along in your lists. Do I need to Special order Initiates as well to have at least 4 of them (I doubt you need more than 2 in a single crew) or are 3 enough because you only realistically need one in each crew (so I paint 1 as Arcanist, 1 as NB and the last one is a spare).

[Hawkoon]

I'm not sure I'd take even 1 of them to be honest. The other beast/chimera options availiable in nvb just seems far better for how much you're paying.

[muraki]

Order Initiates are rare 3, so not sure why you would want 4 (unless you're basing them differently for Arcanist / Neverborn).

I haven't played a ton of Marcus, but so far they rarely get into my lists / friends lists with him.  They're kinda pricy and do a lot of the same as marcus / myranda, and since marcus' keyword is a bit top heavy, their stones usually go to better things like cereberuses.

[Ogid]

I guess you'll have to try them to know.

Their stats are average, their call or the wild don't have the charge trigger, and lack the mobility and tricks of other beast, however they have their advantages:

• "Aspect of the Wild" means you will draw 1 card per activation (as long as they stay near of Marcus), plus they can feed their own Adaptive Evolution if needed.
• Their damage could be 3/4/5 or 4/5/6 in the right scenario (!)
• Stampede is a nice extra chip damage.
• They are beast (so Marcus may use protected and command them)

If you feel you lack card draw, need some cheap muscle near of Marcus, plan to bubble or are against someone who will attack your hand, 1 or even 2 may be worth a shot.

[Morgan Vening]

1 hour ago, Hawkoon said:

I'm not sure I'd take even 1 of them to be honest. The other beast/chimera options availiable in nvb just seems far better for how much you're paying.

I wasn't excited by them at first, and while I'm still not excited, I definitely think I see their value.

With Aspect of the Beast, it means they can start off a lot more independent than some of the other Beasts, and not rely so much on crowding around Marcus.

And with AotW, it can adapt when it needs to.

It's got several neat little tricks (like CotW to get out of combat without disengaging). 

Again, not saying it's necessarily worth it, but I could see where it'd be nice to have, possibly even OOK (as the tax is essentially paying for the free upgrade).

[yool1981]

2 hours ago, muraki said:

Order Initiates are rare 3, so not sure why you would want 4 (unless you're basing them differently for Arcanist / Neverborn).

You are correct, I base and paint them differently. If I realistically only need up to one per crew at most, I will not put a special order to have access to the same options in NB & Arcanist (if I needed up to 2, then I would need 4).