Gorar's "Mold of the Other" combos?

[Maniacal_cackle]

I didn't realise, but Gorar's Mold of the Other says "name a friendly minion or enforcer that was killed this game." That means it can come from anything in the faction, as long as you hired it into your crew! That is far more flexible than I had initially assumed if it was Fae only. I'm sure lots of you realised this already, so I'm wondering what sorts of models you like to combo Gorar with?

He seems like he would pair well with destructive glass cannons. Send something in to do horrific amounts of damage, die, and then be resurrected by the Gorar. Particularly potent on Vendetta, when the Gorar can declare another Vendetta target and then transform into something scary to obliterate it potentially? Some initial thoughts on combo potential:

• Hooded Rider. Perhaps the most potent form Gorar can take (requiring a 13, so may be a bit tricky to line up), this could allow you to get solid action out of your rider early game, then bring it back late game for huge amounts of tokens.
• Mature Nephilim is another obvious one, being able to come in off a 12 or higher. Mature Nephilims are already a potent threat, but are somewhat squishy if the opponent flips the right cards or can take it down with ranged. Being able to threaten resurrecting it makes them have to reassess whether it is worth the resources.
• Iggy and other niche models. Iggy is an important piece for some crews, and being able to bring him back if he is killed enables riskier play. He is super easy to resurrect as well, requiring only a 9 or higher.
• Serena Bowman seems pretty brutal, since she is so hard to kill already. A 10 or higher can bring her back, so you're virtually guaranteed to have the card if you want to force it.
• Teddy seems okay, but probably not the best thing you can be doing.
• Vasilisa is neat if you've decided to go for a puppet subtheme, but that seems wonky in a Fae crew.
• And of course, there's probably some great synergies within the Fae keyword as well!

What else are people trying? Keen to hear your thoughts! 

[Ogid]

29 minutes ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

I didn't realise, but Gorar's Mold of the Other says "name a friendly minion or enforcer that was killed this game." That means it can come from anything in the faction, as long as you hired it into your crew!

It's even better, it said it was killed, not hired. You may bring back thing you didn't hired (like a Mature grown from a BBS or a Stitched/Insidius summoned by Vasi/Dreamer).

About the models... 10 and 11 SS are possible but as Fae doesn't have exactly the best draw engigne of the game, it's better settling up for 6-8SS options (plus the rider won't get any fate tokens that turn). If by chance you got the card to get the 10SS back then great, but it's better not overely on it. Also 7 Wds is the max a replaced model may get.

[Maniacal_cackle]

I agree you shouldn't rely on a 13, or perhaps a 12 even with double ancient pact (you have about a 56% chance to draw the card from 0 cards saved/discarded). But even getting a Mature Neph 56% of the time when you need it is pretty potent.

For instance, consider the following crew:

• Titania
• Gorar
• Serena Bowman
• Hooded Rider
• Rougarou
• Rougarou
• 1-2 Bultungin

Initially in the other thread I had Aeslin in the Serena slot, but given that Gorar can't turn into Aeslin, Serena seems pretty solid.

Additionally, your opponent has to be careful about committing to kill the Hooded Rider - they don't know whether or not you're going to have a 13+ in hand, so they have to play around the possibility of a returning rider. If you can't return the rider, you can still return Serena or a Rougarou (and 7 health is pretty decent for returning any of those models!)

So why I'm interested in the various combos is to build a list where you're likely to have a couple of good options during the game, and you can pick something based on how the game progresses.

[Deathinabox]

I had an opponent who used it to bring back the Mysterious Emissary. It worked really well as the Emissary has HtK and Armor +1 as well as DF and WP 6 so it was an annoying model to put down twice. The crew already likes running it so it's not like you're giving up synergies to make it happen. Needs a 12+ though. ( I did see the play coming and tried to kill the Gorar, but Black Jokered an attack flip so it survived with two wounds. But at least the Emissary came in with less wounds and somewhat out of position.)

[Ogid]

Unless you really need the extra mobility, I'd swap a Rougarou for Serena; Aeslin cannot be brought back but it's very very good.

Another point is Gorar isn't very hard to kill and mold cost 1 action; so the new model would get replaced with only 1 action and not in the middle of the fray (because Gorar cannot survive there). So models useful out of position are also to consider:

• Grootslang, it has cost 8 so it only needs a 10 and Gorar may be in/near of one of its Lair Markers to be replaced by it and then use "Lair to Lair" 
• Iggy, cost 6 so super easy to bring back. Iggy may kill himself in a suicide run doing a lot of damage and then be brought back for deny duty.

Teddy+Kade pair could also be nice, both would only pay the SS tax once, work very well together and Gorar may resurrect any of them to keep the duo going.

Being said that, it's a very cool ability, but as it require one good model dying first; it's probably not worth it building a crew around it. Just pick whatever you need for the game and if you can bring back something big like a Mature or the Emissary then great, if not a Knight or a Rougarou are also very welcome.

[Ogid]

On 11/30/2019 at 1:20 AM, Maniacal_cackle said:

So why I'm interested in the various combos is to build a list where you're likely to have a couple of good options during the game, and you can pick something based on how the game progresses.

Thinking about Gorar... funnily enough Myranda and Marcus' crew gives it a lot of flexibility and some extra cool options. Check this list out:

• Marcus, Jackalope, Titania (IR), Gorar, Myranda (IR), Rougarou, Will o' the Wisp. 6SS cache.

The idea: Myranda will expend most of the game in Rougarou form; using shapechanges and beast form to refill her Wds when needed and the healing to heal the other Rougarou also if needed, but it may also use other beast form like Azde, Rattler or Grootslang that are quite good. If Rougarou or Myranda (in beast form) are killed, then Gorar may be replaced by another Rougarou/the beast Myranda was when killed. Titania works well as an independent piece as she may generate her own underbrushes and place near of the target she want to attack. The whole Marcus crew is unimpeded and the Wisp has flight so the extra Underbruses won't be a problem for them.

In this list Rougarous have to be fearsome, they hit like a truck but are a bit squishy; Marcus mutations and crew solve that problem with extra defensive tech and healing. Armor+1 and H2W are a terrific combination, add to that BJW and/or Disguised/Stealth and the wolves start to be nightmarish to dealth with.

This list also have some cool controling tricks thanks to Myranda (Grootslang/Adze slows and Azde Aura) and the Wisp. Funnily enough a Rougarou hitting an Onslaught trigger (or a Into Thorns trigger) near of an Adze/Wisp aura will generate Distracted+2 (so a possible total of Distrated+4 in one activation). Titania and a Wisp with Camouflage could be also a terrific pair because Titania's Injured may set up a defense low enough for the Wisp to attack, and the Wisp with Camouflage is hard to kill.

There are other options tho, instead of a Rougarou other models like a Sabertooth, the Scorpius or Ferdinand Vogel can also be brought back using Gorar.

[Maniacal_cackle]

Sweet list  one thing I'd worry about is having enough resources (cards/stones) to support two masters?

One thing I like about flooding the list with potential Gorar targets is it basically says to your opponent "if you kill anything but Titania/Gorar, I can bring it back." That's why I was thinking a list of purely minions/enforcers.

What about Aeslin has you liking him so much? The scheme marker placement seems awkward, but he is a pretty good beater.

 

[Ogid]

11 minutes ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Sweet list  one thing I'd worry about is having enough resources (cards/stones) to support two masters?

One thing I like about flooding the list with potential Gorar targets is it basically says to your opponent "if you kill anything but Titania/Gorar, I can bring it back." That's why I was thinking a list of purely minions/enforcers.

What about Aeslin has you liking him so much? The scheme marker placement seems awkward, but he is a pretty good beater.

Glad you like it . The good thing about Marcus is he is mainly a support and it's not as resource hungry as other masters, in fact he helps with resources generating some card draw. Call of the Wild and Primar Roar have built in triggers so these won't require a lot of resources. Chimerancy is the only thing that may worth a card or an stone to get the Quick Reflexes, and only in turns 1-2. He has an stat 6 attack with a Pouncing Strike (or Onslaught with Horns mutation), but it's not what he does best so you won't usually want to spend stones or high cards there. He will always give a card from turn 2 with Primal Domain + Guided Evolution in his activation; it also generate draw if mutation upgrades are discarted in other activations, like when paying for the Jackalope trigger or if mutations are cicled by Myranda with Aspect of the Wild or Flames of change. He also has card draw in the surge trigger in Primal Roar.

The full Minion/Enforcer list is pushing the concept too far imo; models are going to die anyway and Aeslin are usually a bit safer than models like Rougarous or Knights.

I like Aeslin mainly for her built in trigger. As long as she is near of an underbrush (and she will be), She is a min-3 beater (versus the main target) with blast attacks that give Injured to all models damaged by it (and taking in count other into thorns triggers and ways to reposition models of the crew, it's not that hard to hit more than 1 model. The target models ends in the middle of a underbrush struggling to leave and also vulnerable to the heavy hitters of the crew. If there are several underbrushes in the Area you might move a model around 10'' towards your crew while doing that. Injured may also make cheaper models with good effects or triggers like Waldgeist, Wisps or Iggy be much more accurate. Then the "Drawn Out Secret" trigger is very good for score (dig, detonate...) and she got also some good abilities (Honorable, Counterspell). Study is situational but not bad. Plus is nice having another ranged model.

[ShinChan]

The Emissary is usually my target to bring back. He's big and scary, so one of the main targets for my enemy.

I play him a but aggressively in order to force my oponent to invest resources in killing it. Then bring it back to, heal with Serena and he's still rocking