New player... entering the Rezzers Coffin

[Harlekin]

Hello everycorpse,

I am totally new to the game. And while I am surely not able to add a lot of insight to your beloved faction I, at least, want to share my first few week steps into the underworldly wonderful world of Malifaux. Maybe it can provide some help for others who try to get into Malifaux (M3 that is). Let's be honest, the game is so cool, hundreds and thousands will eventually swarm the Malifaux tables in every city around the globe - how could they not?

So far, I did 6 games and I am totally on fire with the game in general. The first crew I picked was McMourning as he looked rather straight forward without too much need for (not-so-very-obious) combos. I was not disappointed: the whole crew/Keyword is all about poison. In the 5 games I did with McM I was lucky enough to not having faced an oposition which was rich on Condition removal. I guess, that will be the main problem for any McM crew as they don't do so very well without a crap load of poison everywhere (be it your own models or the enemy models). 

So, here are my first few thoughts and experiences about the Mc Mourning crew/Keyword:

McM, himself.
Hell, what a beast. Precise lets him ignore Armor, H2W, H2K and Shielded. Kaboom, there you go. the damage output from his attack isn't this good but the Precise thing makes him a beast. Best thing about his attack is the Injured+2 - after one or two attacks, literally everything in your crew will be able to finish the opponent.
Next, he heals whenever he damages a model. With ignoring Shielded and Armor he is damaging the opponent veeery often. Especially with a 7 attack stat and a build in trigger.
Blood Poisoning is one of the main sources of damage (or healing for your own models) with transferring up to 5 Poison directly into damage. This just rocks after you softened up the opponent with those many build in triggered Poison attacks. 
Dr. M's summoning of Flesh Constructs also helps a lot as those are really really great minions. 
Same goes for the bonus action Doctor's Orders as this really helps giving the crew a bit of the direly needed speed.

Sebastian.
So far, I mainly used the tiny helper as a source for Poison or Summoner for Canine Remains, until I have enough Corpses to get a proper Flesh Construct. His attack is quite good but I never got him into close combat up to now. 

Rafkin.
In one game I substituted Seb by Rafkin and it worked pretty good. Especially valuable seems to be the option to share Poison+8 to multiple models within a single turn. Transfusion also helps preparing an enemy model for Blood Poisoning.
I still guess, I will prefer Sebastian most of the times for summoning more Canines. When my opponent's crew denies me Corpses Rafkin might be the better option, though. 

Rogue Necromancy.
Terrifying. H2W. H2K. Fading (Toxicity) (aka more healing). Nice setup. 
And the story of joy continues, when I have a look at the Actions of the beast: a  on an attack of 6 with Min3 including Puncture for pluses on damage / Pouncing Strike for killing even more models in one activation / Infect for more Poison -> 3 different triggers on a plus-flipped attack! Nice!
The ranged attack also is pretty cool with its possibly multiple  and Distracted or even Slow. 
The bonus action Ambush helps compensating the rather slow model (and crew in general). 

Kentauroi.
Talking about slow... Here is your solution. 
The main thing (for me) with the undead human-horse-thingies is Ride With Me. Bring your models where you need 'em. 
Besides that a reach of 2 with a nice variety of triggers helps annoying your opponent. 

Flesh Constructs.
Sadly, those Frankenstein's Monster's Cousins can't be dragged to hell (or war) by the Kentauroi but they can become Fast - just like this (by spending a bonus action and receiving one damage). 
So far, they have been my main beaters (unsurprisingly, I guess). The attack isn't this hard (2/3/5) but they can tank quite good aaaaand the (usually) heal a ton, when you buffed them hard enough with poison. Also, as soon as the party started they should easily be able to deal those 3 attacks per activation. 
Best thing about FCs: you can summon them. Just like this. Okay, by removing 3 Corpses, but still. 

Guild Autopsies.
Well, I am not so superfond of those. They don't really seem to do much. The ranged attack is superweak (stat 4 and 1/2/4). They do better in close combat, but still.
For me a Canine plus two Soulstones looks like the better alternative.
Autopsies compensate their really weak movement of 4 by Creep Along but so far they mainly have been a hindrance for my opponent. With H2W and 6 Health they aren't this easy to kill for their 5 stones. 
I guess, they really might come in handy, when your really have to deal that single point of damage from afar. 

Canine Remains. 
Cheap, fast. That's it. 
With H2W and 3 health they also don't auto-die. 
The main thing about them could be that they are able to drag those Corpses around - including those Zombies Asura summons for you. Did this (summoning a ton) in one game and it worked pretty fine. 

Little Gassers.
I have no idea what to do with them. For scheme running the seem to be to slow even with flying. They spread some poison, true, but almost anything in Dr. M's crew does so. Range 0 weak attack, no bonus action. 
If anybody can give me a hint about what to do with them, I will appreciate it. 
So far, they didn't do anything in my games besides handing out a few meager points of poison and eating one or two activations from an opponent. They might do better when facing a crapload of dirty cheap models, though. 

Nurses.
Oh, dearest Tyrants, are those good. 
As far as I have seen (yeah, not much I know), some of the best buffers in the game. 
Bedside Manner really helps a lot to compensate the lack of defense triggers within McM's crew and can get your precious models to a safe place.
Assisting as some kind of bonus bonus action. 
And the main thing: Bottle of Painkillers with 4 (yes, 4) different buffing triggers as a bonus action. Never ever leave your Rezzers lab without them, double so when in Keyword. Stat is 6, TN 10 - nuff said. 

 

I already tried Asura for more summoning and thus Corpses and thus summoning and thus.... with Dr. M. Worked really really good. Especially when the game is about placing some Scheme Markers. All those Zombies suddenly have to be dealt with by the opponent. 

Also used the Effigy, but it didn't really add anything new. With all the poison and the Nurse, I usually do enough healing. 

The next model I will give a try in an McM crew is the Carrion Emissary. I am really looking forward to see more Terrifying and Movement to surprise my opponents. There should be rather good synergies with more Poison on attacks and the summoned Zombies. 

Also on my list are the Bone Piles for a rather cheap but still good ranged attack. 

And, obviously, the Gravedigger(s) for another Flesh Construct at least every other turn. 

 

As I am absolutely new to the game I am very much looking forward to get some feedback from the community and tons of tips and tricks. 

[Harlekin]

Reva and her Revenants - or is it Reva-Nents? 

Up to now, I only did one game with Reva but I really liked how the crew works. It's not too complicated but offers a bit more things to do compared to my first M3 crew (see above). 
The whole Keyword is focused around killing stuff and thus creating Pyre Markers (Burning+1, not Destructible) and/or just creating Pyre by burning corpses. It worked surprisingly well. I suspected that there won't be many of the Pyre Markers on the board - at least not enough to make some use of them - but from turn 3 on I had created some quite nice spots of area denial on the board. The Corpse Candles and Vincent helped a lot, here. Being able to move the markers to where the action is really important. 
Besides creating Pyre Markers whenever a model is killed the second shtick of the crew is getting not only Burning from said Pyres but also Shielded. And lastly, a lot of Reva's friends heal 1 when another model is killed within 6. 

Now for some more specific insights (if you'd call a newbies thoughts such):

Reva.
She is a rather weak Master for her 15stones, I'd say with no H2W/Armor/Incorporeal on herself. Also no reliable regeneration or healing. BUT she close to never has to get into the fight. I not once had to attack with her by charging into the middle of the action, as...
Ethereal Reaping allows her to measure range from any Corpse Marker or friendly model with Shielded within 8 - which was always the case in my game. Her main attack pushes the opponent or even transforms Schemes into Corpses - if you have the triggers. That's definitely nice to have. 
She also has a finishing spell for some healing and even replenishing the precious soulstones. 
Sadly, none of her attacks come with a built in trigger. 
When it comes to tactical actions, she offers more damage from Pyres (TN14 WP within 2" of a Pyre Marker) and Injured. This could really help.
Embrace the Flame, her bonus action, could help those of your models, which accumulated too much Burning on themselves for some healing, which could come in handy every now and then. 
Strangely, Reva has no Summons besides Corpse Candles. 

Corpse Candles (Totems). 
Ooooh, I like those. They count as Corpses for you and thus can/will be your first sources for Pyres in the game. As a bonus, you can summon one of those with Reva each turn for removing a Corpse or Pyre and discarding a card.
The Candles not only are one of your sources for Corpses but also have Death Urge which helps getting the enemies closer to your Pyres. Muhahar. With a stat 5 versus Wp it's not this bad. 

Vincent St. Clair. 
This guy is maximum badass for a mere human: H2W, Df6, Wp7. 
His main thing is shooting with his Sanctified Crossbow. Range 10, build in trigger for pushing Pyres (you shoot through) towards your target. I was a little worried about this being too situational but it worked pretty good. 
For discarding a card Vincent can take an extra shot per activation - nice. 
Also helpful is his bonus: Friendly models within 3" gain Shielded+1
All in all a really good Henchmen for Reva.

Restless Spirit.
Well, he's mainly there to offer some Corpse Markers and Shielded+1. 
Remarkable about him is his CC attack: Tombstone - it is resisted by Mv and can dismember for more Corpses everywhere. But beware, two attacks could already be enough to bring him down. 

Draugr.
Now, we're talking. On first glance those look like quite average zombie beaters. But they come with Blaze of Glory - the can use their own Burning condition to receive  on duels; on any duel. So, just stack up a lot of Burning with them, when you expect a few attacks from the opponent. 
The Draugr are quite sturdy with H2W and Df/Wp5, plus they gain Shielded when using those Pyre Markers. 
Their attack is "only" min2 but comes with Puncture on the the right trigger. Alternatively, you can push the target and yourself (up to) and then attack a different model.
Their main thing is jumping (placing) to a target with Burnging within 8"; with a bonus action. Sadly they draw the Burning (at least partially) from the target but it helps their own attacks for those precious s.
And last but no least, they have Juggernaut for 1/2/4 healing; always nice for a first row model. 

Shieldbearers.
Nice as canon fodder, somehow. They can protect your models with Take the Hit but it costs cards and they aren't his much of takers. Yes, they come with Armor1 and can get Shielded on top of that but they aren't H2W (H2K, helps every now and then) and only come with 5 Health. For me, they seem rather meh for 6 stones.
Their main attack is okay, including Heal1 and offering extra damage or Corpse Markers with triggers. The secondary pushes the target up to 2" and triggers with insta-burn or another 4" of pushing. 
They also can support your models with Focus with removing a Corpse or enhance their Shielding but suffering from Staggered. 
As their main role seems to be your tanks for holding, they didn't do so well in my game but I will offer them a few more chances to proof themselves. 

Lampads.
Those look really good on paper. I didn't use them, yet (those miniatures are a real pita to assemble) but they close some gaps in Reva's crew: You don't have to worry about them burning as they reduce damage from said condition to 0. So, they should be quite nice for collecting the Burning condition for the Draugrs or for Reva's healing. They also don't die easily as they have 9 health and Demise (allows you to appear at a Pyre nearby). And they can drag the Pyres along with them when walking. 
Sadly, they aren't incorporeal but they still look good.
Their attacks are okay (stat 5) and spread some Burning which is always nice in Reva's crew. Their Breath of Fire only has a range of 6 but can  - might be helpful.
Bonus action is moving up to 5" while ignoring other models and every model touched gains Burning+1. 
The Lampads should really help with spreading the word - and most of all the fire. 

Mourners.
I sadly don't own those, yet. But they seem like a rather meh addition to Reva. They don't help with their Scarlet Temptation as the Keyword doesn't attack Wp often. Weeping Widow also doesn't really offer much; no Revenant is terrifying. They come with a Corpse Marker in DZ which might be a boon. I guess they will mainly be annoying for the opponent and nothing he really has to care a lot about it.
The Mourn the Dead bonus for having Corpses count as friendly Schemes is highly situational at best - but might decide a game once in a while. 

 

Next game with Reva will probably be with Bone Piles: they offer more healing and a valid ranged attack. Good thing about Piles is that they don't care about Burning as they can't get conditions. Plus, they are rather tanky for 6 points. If things go right, there should be plenty of Corpses for your Piles to Heal and then it's all bone party time. 

Besides the Piles Asura should be a great companion for Reva. More Corpses (in more than one way) for Reva through which to attack and which can become Pyres. 
Same goes for the Emissary, I guess. 
Will share my experience, when I gave it a try. 

Edited September 24, 2019 by Harlekin
Content.

[Harlekin]

Molly and the Forgotten.

I had my first game with Molly and her crew on Friday. 

As I was playing with a guy being the same kind of newbie as I am we went for 25stones. 

It was still enough to give my Forgotten a little table time.
As we did a very small game, I brought the Marshal for being able to summon everything that didn't make it into the starting crew. I am also not so very convinced about Philip & the Nanny - not really sure what he is meant to do in this Crew (or at all). 
So, I ended up with being able to see all the Minions in action throughout the game and here is a first resume of my experiences:

Molly.
Damn it, I love this Master. She is such an annoyance for  the opponent with all her little tricks. She is able to remove any kind of markers which really comes in handy almost every single turn - best thing is you even get to draw two cards for removing those markers. Awesome. 
Her Fading Ability is really nice; automatically dealing some Distracted+1 to enemies helps a lot when the opposition comes closer, especially when you are able to discard (almost) as much as you wish with Constructive Criticism and thus re-activating another model. 
She doesn't really deal relevant damage on her own but One More Question mainly helped my with getting rid of focus on enemy models which really cost him a lot during the game. 
Handing out some focus and a 2" push to your models as a bonus action was also very mighty in my game. With only 25stones and as such not many actions every little bit helped a lot. This might vary in bigger games, I guess, but should still be quite nice. 

Necrotic Machine.
The thing did what it probably is supposed to do: it provided some healing. Mainly for freshly summoned models in my case as I brought The Forgotten Marshal to the party. 
What I totally underestimated was the potential of Strange Behavior. In one turn I moved 9" and was able to kill the enemy Totem with the last action. It was my last activation anyways and my opponent already had all his models done (at least all of them which were close to the action), so handing him a few Moderates didn't hurt me at all. 
Another really nice factor to consider when it comes to NM is that it is _not_ Insignificant. Great. A totem which can get extra movement and which is able to score. What's not to like about it?

The Forgotten Marshal.
The drawbacks first: He is only halfway of a Forgotten imho, as he doesn't have a Fading ability. So, no bonus for him when he discards. Molly's Premonition is thus less helpful for him. Next, he actually is the summoner but a rather weak one: no Henchman but Enforcer and in dire need of the right suite to summon - this can really be challenging for your hand. He also can only summon up to two of those Forgotten minions and thus doesn't offer too much variety. 
But: he is a straight shooter. 12" with the typical 2/3/5 and a stat of 6. Okay when it comes to Rezzers, afaik. He only comes with one trigger on his main attack, so don't expect too much. 
What makes him rather special in Molly's crew and in Rezzers is the fact that he burries with an attack. On Crows he can even deal damage to the/a burried model or deal even more damage if your opponent doesn't discard. 
And the summoning really goes well with Molly's crew. You usually should be able to draw some without the turn and if you don't have a fitting card at the beginning of the turn, just wait until Molly is going and you get a second chance. Although he can 'only' summon from a pool of three different minions this still brings a lot of option and flexibility as you will see in a minute, when I talk about the minions. 
The 'summoning sickness' for his summons is damage - not so hard to deal with and a limit of two summons.

Crooligans.
4 stones. You probably won't expect much. But you really get a very impressive package (when the right Schemes are out). 
General things: Df5, Wp5, 5 wounds, H2W. For 4 stones. Neat. From the Shadows - I don't have enough experience to really make use of this ability but I guess it can especially help with confusing your opponent and not letting him know what you are up to when it comes to Schemes. Two CC attacks with 1": one forbids cheating for the enemy if circumstances are right (poor Crooligan has fewer cards in hand than opponent) and the other one is able to steal soulstones from enemy soulstone users! Those expensive enemy Masters and Henchman shoudl usually be willing to avoid getting too close to a meager Crooligan. 
Now, the real deal: Crooligans teleport. Just like that, without spending an action. At the beginning of their activation they can just get placed within 2" of a friendly Master, Henchman or Enforcer. Just awesome. So much flexibility. It was just balls even in my tiny 25 stones game.

Rabble Risers.
I like them a lot. A 6 stones model with Flurry. And guess what, when you discard to do your flurry you get Focus+1 on top of that because of the Rabblers' Fading ability. Next thing is that they have Blad Rush which allows to move through other models when charging plus dealing 1 damage to enemies when doing so. This shoudl be 1 point of extra damage when charging, pure and simply (often enough, at least).
They are real killers for their 6 stones but don't take much before they go down. But hey, as cruise missiles they are just fine. Plus, you can summon them... Here, Mr. Opponent, have some more of them and stay busy with dealing with them. 

Night Terrors.
I guess I just didn't understand them, yet as I didn't do much with the one NT I summoned. On the other hand, he caught the enemy Totem in CC and even dealt 1 damage. From my perspective their main purpose is to further debuff (aka annoy) the opponent: they can be able to deny defensive triggers when attacking and they can activate an aura with a bonus action which doesn't allow cheating for the enemy within 3" unless the opponent discards a card - that could be a) costly or b) make the opponent go for the NT instead of something more valuable. 
Besides that they are rather fast (because of Flight) and the You're Coming With Me trigger on their attack (move the enemy 3" and then place the NT in b2b). Even more mobility provides their Fading ability but they only can discard on their own with a trigger on their attack. I still was able to use it once within the two turns the Terror was alive whith Molly's Premonition and those extra 5" were very helpful. 

 

All in all I really enjoyed Molly and her crew a lot. She surely will stay on my top list of Masters for a very long time with all the flexibility and utility she brings. I am not seeing her bringing when it's Reckoning too often when I am done testing her but fior all other Strategies she should be great.

More about her after my next game
 

Edited September 29, 2019 by Harlekin
First game done.

[Harlekin]

Not-so-soon: Von Schtook (or von Stuck as we would call him in Germany - in a very Prussian way)

[SebastianResser]

I am also new to McMourning´s crew, but I think that you approach is correct. A very tanky crew that excels in Reckoning and Turf War.

The guild autopsies can give you precious soulstones with no action spent, just removing a corpse marker and you get the soulstone (possible gravedigger combo). 

The nurses are pretty important, if they get killed you won´t have access to the card they get when activate or the healing or the valuable triggers... They usually stay in the rear of the crew. 

Sebastian can summon but his attack is more than ok. 

The use of transfusions is also a key to victory with this crew. We have to think that our models are like vessels that have to be filled with poison and then... dump the poison on the enemy!

I have playes many battles with Molly so I hope to see your review soon

[Maniacal_cackle]

I've only played against McMourning, but one word of caution is to not go overboard on self-poisoning.

You're already going to be hitting yourself with lots of incidental poison, you don't want to be hamstringing yourself to throw out a bunch. You're super tanky with 3-4 poison already; shooting for 7-8 is often unnecessary.

An especially easy trap is to bunch up all your models at the start, but this has a hidden cost of meaning lots of effectively lost movement (since you could have started in better positions).

[Harlekin]

6 hours ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

An especially easy trap is to bunch up all your models at the start, but this has a hidden cost of meaning lots of effectively lost movement (since you could have started in better positions).

This defenitely is an important thing to keep in mind. So far, I still did the ton of poison thing at the very beginning.
But I nevertheless deployed as aggressively as possible (aka as close to the enemy/middle of the board) as possible. With the Canines being able to drag Zombies and the Kentauroi doing the same with almost everything I didn't feel too much lack of speed. 
The Doc himself and the Nurses with their pushes also help. 

So, even though the crew looks rather slow on first glance, there are a few work arounds for this (imho). It's nothing compared to Crooligans or Archie and rather predictable but still helpful. 

[Harlekin]

Updated my first impression of Molly. 

[KingJocko]

On the topic of the Little Gassers, in my experience they're best used as front line support. Wait until your beaters are engaged with the enemy, then with flight you can easily position yourself to be just behind your models but within' 2" of the enemy, then spend your turns farting on them. The strength to the Little Gasser is on a good turn you'll pump out 3 Poison on everything within 2" and there's no resisting it. They're the only model in the keyword who can do that at that volume and it only costs you two 5 cards to pull off. Then your opponent has to make a choice, keep fighting with the beater who keeps healing from the poison or try to attack the Gasser where they'll have to waste they're whole activation just to deal with it. If they don't kill it, just cheat a 5Mask and float away to toot another day and if they do kill it you have a new corpse near the front line, ready to be turned into a Canine Remain or a Flesh Construct. I've ran up to two in a list, but not three of them as I think that's where you pass the threshold of diminishing returns. Like you said they're not good in melee with their crap attack and no H2W, Flight and Mv5 is okay for schemeing but Canine Remains do it better for less. But that unresistable cloud of gas has been the easiest means of filling up enemies and allies with a lot of poison.

[Maniacal_cackle]

6 hours ago, Harlekin said:

This defenitely is an important thing to keep in mind. So far, I still did the ton of poison thing at the very beginning.
But I nevertheless deployed as aggressively as possible (aka as close to the enemy/middle of the board) as possible. With the Canines being able to drag Zombies and the Kentauroi doing the same with almost everything I didn't feel too much lack of speed. 
The Doc himself and the Nurses with their pushes also help. 

So, even though the crew looks rather slow on first glance, there are a few work arounds for this (imho). It's nothing compared to Crooligans or Archie and rather predictable but still helpful. 

I agree McMourning is a very mobile crew, but be aware savvy opponents may punish you for this. For example, if you bundle in the centre on Standard deployment, that gives a lot of board to work with for the first few turns.

For Molly, have you read the other threads like this one? 

Most people don't rate Philip and the Nanny, but they're our tankiest, mobile option. I love them. They're a tar pit, bogging everything down. They're great on plant explosives or anything with claim jump. They combo really well with crooligans. Their fading ability is also quite powerful, repeating rabble riser focus or NT move.

Summoning wise, I've not played either, but I suspect taking Kirai as a second master is superior to Forgotten Marshal most of the time.

Most of my other thoughts are scattered through the Molly threads like the above link.

[Harlekin]

@KingJocko Thanks for the tip about the Gasers. I will definitely give it a try, soon. 

@Maniacal_cackle Also thanks for the hint towards the Molly thread. I not only had a look at this but also listened to a few podcasts episodes about Molly. I definitely do _not_ want to convince anybody that my point of view is the right one. I just want to share my entry into M3 (or Malifaux in general) from the very beginning. Hopefully it might be helpful for other new players. 
Also thanks about the heads up on P&N. Will definitely give them a try. 

Up to now, I am very reluctant about bringing a second master. I just don't know the game good enough to see the synergies. And I generally prefer to to take more options into my lists. When it comes to Molly, I am fine with a 7stones model doing my summoning instead of spending 15+1 even though the other model might be way better... But I am very sure that the day will come when I start to bring 2 masters to a table and experiment with my crews on the next level.

[Maniacal_cackle]

For sure, best to experiment! Otherwise how do you learn? I'm by no means an expert either. None of us are, with how new the edition is.

Oh, one more tip about Molly. Her disturbing story requires setup, but does tons of damage in the right circumstances. Against armor 2, for instance, it is the same as hitting for 5 damage.

[Harlekin]

So, here I am, now. A few month later, a lot of listening to podcasts, a lot of reading in the forums and about 15 games wiser. 
Malifaux is even more awesome than I initially thought, as i just start to see all the tiny things and the value in models I didn't recognize on first glance.

I still am very glad with picking Rezzers as my first faction and own all the Crew boxes, now (besides Von Schtook - still in delivery - and Yan Lo; very likely will get him, too).

My main crews atm are Doc MacM and Molly and I am just starting to get into Reva (didn't play her after the upgrade but already liked her a lot). I am still struggling a bit when not being able to summon as it always is a tough choice for me to pick a model as sacrifice or bait. But I guess I will get used to it when starting some other crews. 

My typical setup for McM is Sebastian and Asura for more Flesh Constructs and Doggies. 

With Molly I usually bring the F Marshall to cruise missile  Rabble Riser into the opponent's crew as often as possible. Besides that Molly does Molly things

And Reva is mainly dealing out damage and I have my Draugr dealing out even more here and there. 

I even win a game every now and then and already visited my first tournament. 

 

What I am still struggling with is match-ups and I am hoping for some advice from you guys: 

Which Master should I never pick versus a certain faction - and why (which are the main models/combos to be afraid of)? 

And which Master is the perfect choice versus a certain faction - and why (why are my main ressources and what do I prevent/counter with it)? 

 

I am totally lacking the knowledge and experience to have an even close overview and math hammering only gets me this far. So, any feedback and advice will be greatly appreciated. 

[Maniacal_cackle]

Molly has been very strong against almost everything in my experience, but have struggled against Ten Thunders. The stuff she does well (card advantage and maneuverability) is outclassed by TT in my limited experience.

Her marker removal and condition removal/immunity on Archie makes her very solid against Arcanists like Raspy and Kaeris.

Von Schtook is someone I want to take against TT just in case I get Shenlonged, who knows if it will work.

Against Neverborn, you're probably wanting very tanky crews (Molly, McMourning, Yan Lo, Von Schtook, Jack Daw... Our faction is really good against Neverborn actually).

Haven't played much against Bayou or Guild. I haven't played enough variety to really have a good answer (my regular pool of players is about 5 people, so I know people better than factions.

[Maniacal_cackle]

Perhaps more useful would be specific counterpicks to specific masters. That's easier to learn than the faction picking step.

Vincent - good anti summons.

Anna - good anti place (including some summons).

Archie and Bone Piles - good against condition crews.

Nurses - healing and condition removal.

Toshiro - preventing alpha strikes with Ashigaru.

Projectile vomit for mass distract (and slow) against bubble crews.

Manos - anti demise.

Carrion emissary - slow, lumbering crews that can be bogged down.

Philip and the nanny - some tax effects, easy access for one more question with debt of gratitude. Also useful against weak willpower crews.

Mourner - removes ruthless.

Night terror - grants concealment.

Still learning my way around this, so just some suggestions.

[nishi]

Im really interested in carrion emmisary with doctor. He was autoinclude for me during M2E. On paper he looks pretty synergic with corpse generation, powerfull range with poison and ability to block paths and funnel enemy crew into place where you want them. On the other side noone mentions him . . .

[Graf]

9 hours ago, nishi said:

On the other side noone mentions him . . .

Wait... what? You mean specifically with McM?  That's maybe because McM generally does not have much discussion around here atm. Otherwise the Emissary is played *a lot*. Imho it's one of our most prolific models. You can expect the Emissary to always do at least a decent, probably good job. How well he performs with McM specifically I can only theorize. McM has enough Undead, so The Flesh Crawls can make an impact. It puts out poison. Injured and no heal/reduce damage always are handy to have access to. More zombies and/or terrain creation never hurt as long as you've got enough corpse supply. So to me he looks like a good fit, just be careful with your poison AOEs.

[nishi]

19 minutes ago, Graf said:

Wait... what? You mean specifically with McM?  That's maybe because McM generally does not have much discussion around here atm. Otherwise the Emissary is played *a lot*. Imho it's one of our most prolific models. You can expect the Emissary to always do at least a decent, probably good job. How well he performs with McM specifically I can only theorize. McM has enough Undead, so The Flesh Crawls can make an impact. It puts out poison. Injured and no heal/reduce damage always are handy to have access to. More zombies and/or terrain creation never hurt as long as you've got enough corpse supply. So to me he looks like a good fit, just be careful with your poison AOEs.

yep thats what i mean, on paper he looks great with McM, but in lists/reports hes not mentioned frequently. Maybe the keyword has all you need so there is no need to go with versatile, except specific matchups . . .

[Harlekin]

2 hours ago, nishi said:

 Maybe the keyword has all you need...

There is only one thing the keyword lacks to some degree: creation of corpse markers, as the summons of more Canine Remains by Sebastian and the even more important summons of Flesh Constructs by the Doc himself depend on Corpses around. 

 But this gap can be filled by the Emissary (at least to a certain degree). Gravedigger, Mortimer, Grave Golem can also give a hand, here. I usually prefer Asura, though, as she is very reliable (although with expediture of a few stones) for those precious 2-3 Corpse tokens on turn 1. Still not 100% sure if spending 2-3 stones and 3 actions (2 on Asura, 1 on McM) are worth the "free" Flesh Construct on turn 1 but up to now it worked quite well for me. 

3 hours ago, Graf said:

... just be careful with your poison AOEs.

No need to be careful with the poison AOEs as literally all Keyword models profit from more poison. Just go all in and spread the green ooze as much as possible. It might be a different story only versus Brewmaster or to a degree versus Oxfodians but that's very special matchups. 

[Nikshe]

15 minutes ago, Harlekin said:

only versus Brewmaster or to a degree versus Oxfodians

Von Schtook will thank you a lot for a Poison on your models too)

[Harlekin]

7 minutes ago, Nikshe said:

Von Schtook will thank you a lot for a Poison on your models too)

Would you mind to elaborate? Didn't face him, yet. But will add him to my collection, soon ^^

[Adran]

10 hours ago, Harlekin said:

Would you mind to elaborate? Didn't face him, yet. But will add him to my collection, soon ^^

He has an action which removes conditions and then a trigger deals damage equal to the highest value removed.

[Graf]

3 hours ago, Harlekin said:

No need to be careful with the poison AOEs as literally all Keyword models profit from more poison. Just go all in and spread the green ooze as much as possible. It might be a different story only versus Brewmaster or to a degree versus Oxfodians but that's very special matchups. 

Yeah, but we were talking about the Carrion Emissary... which is a Versatile models and doesn't have Perverse Metabolism.

[Maniacal_cackle]

Re: emissary and McMourning.

I think Experimental just has such awesome keyword synergy, you don't really need to grab versatile models a lot of the time.

Where you want those strong versatile models is where they have specific synergies (like with Transmortis and Redchapel), or where the keyword options just suck (like Redchapel), or where the versatile models are just stupidly powerful (Archie pre-nerf).

That said, the game isn't solved! Most things are untested, and most synergies are not clearly written on cards (Emissary blocking terrain especially is hard to gauge on paper).

Try it out! That's the real answer to any question about a combo.

[Graf]

Yeah, I think so as well. You could play the Emissary, it's still a good model, but it hardly does anything unique in Experimental. The big thing is the terrain creation but I would think twice if that's enough.