Maybe I'm mistaken

[DeadManTalking]

I will admit that I am new to the faction so you can take what I say with a grain of salt. Maybe I have missed the threads, but it feels like the resser forums are sleepin on Yan Lo. I have about 10 games with him now and he is just a super solid leader and his keywords are strong as well. Ive gone up against Shen Long, Misaki, McCabe, Asami, Parker Barrows, and Marcus. I've been able to pull out ties against players who normally crush me. That's whats really sold me, like I'm still learning him and I'm putting strong players on their back foot. Yan Lo and his crew are deceptively fast, very tough, can dish quite a bit of damage, and can scheme fairly well. Now I did start playing him after the FAQ and Errata so maybe he had really bad matchups before that I didn't experience or have yet to. Give me your thoughts though. I'm having a hard time not choosing Yan Lo for every game. 

[Wyamphri]

He's a very solid master, but since competitive games are only 2- 2 1/2 hours, it's harder for him to shine since you might not make it to late game. 

That being said, I've been playing him alot as well, and feel he's very well suited for every strat and scheme. He has fast scheme runners, access to solid beaters, support, and tar pits. He really is just solid.

[Thatguy]

Yan Lo's crew is very good. 

Yan Lol doesn't become a beater until late in the game, when things may already be decided, or over if you're playing on a clock. But he has plenty of utility before then.

[Graf]

I would play him, if his M3E boxes were available... 

[Maniacal_cackle]

Pros of Yan-Lo:

• Super strong keyword.
• Some awesome positioning shenanigans.
• Hits like a truck.
• Super strong lategame.

Cons:

• Currently does not have a core box.

That's basically why you don't see much talk about him. Basically each master gets a lot of talk when their core box comes out or a big change happens.

[Adran]

Yan lo seems to get more fans on the TT forums. I 'm not sure why, I don't know what extra he gets there. He will also be a bit subdued without his Gokudo released, who at least look very useful.

He also has tempo issues, which  throw a lot of people (You see a lot of games that seem decided by turn 3 so get called at that point. I generally doubt they are that decided, but if both players are happy its up to them). Yan lo takes game time to get up to strength, and you need to realise that and realise that he has strong turns 4 and 5 that have the potential to counter a weaker turn 1 and 2.

If anything, Yan Lo has got weaker after the errata, so go forth and enjoy.

[Ogid]

33 minutes ago, Adran said:

Yan lo seems to get more fans on the TT forums. I 'm not sure why, I don't know what extra he gets there.

I guess is how different both factions are; in RES no one will give you a medal for being sturdy; but TT has way more glassy models so a crew as tough as this one stand out.

[thatlatinspeakingguy]

3 hours ago, ConfuciuSay said:

I will admit that I am new to the faction so you can take what I say with a grain of salt. Maybe I have missed the threads, but it feels like the resser forums are sleepin on Yan Lo.

First of all, our subforum is and always was (as far as I can remember) the least active. It could sometimes go without any activity for week or more. [Side note: This has changed to some degree after Maniacal Cackle joined the game, as (s)he posts a lot (which I greatly appreciate).] So if we do not discuss a master it doesn't mean he does not see any play. I would even say that very often the opposite is the case: once everyone knows what's the meta, underperforming crews get more attention than top tier crews (like now happens with Reva).

Speaking of Yan Lo specifically, I think he might be underrepresented among RES players (if he really is, I don't know if that's true) due to the lack of Gokudos (some people are reluctant to go Mindless Zombie route and proxies are not always a way to go for them), the fact that many players don't own him yet (he was really bad for the most part of 2ed) and the fact that almost every RES keyword is competetively viable, so no one attracts much more attention than others.

Anyway, I am happy that you've joined Yan Lo Bros. He's among my favs since wave 5 of 2ed and his new design is like he should have been from the beginning!

[Cursed25]

Yan Lo was a monster before the errata! I played him a lot and quite enjoyed his super elite and sturdy playstyle but since then, this playstyle got nerfed a lot! (super elite/impossible to kill) He still has a strong keyword that is sturdier than average but Ancestors are not the monster they were before!

My core before was Chiaki, Manos and Izamu. But now with the Manos' nerf I think to sub him for Yin because she has a better reliquary, is cheaper and can scheme well too.

 

you will have lots of fun with him and he has a lot of tricks up his sleeves!

[Wyamphri]

I dont know, I think the change to Manos is still super strong. Shutting off demise in a 5 in aura on something size 3 is really good. I suppose that could be due to my meta and regular opponent, though. >.>

[dannydb]

I think manos might be more of a tech pic now 

 

i do like yin's upgrade on a kominu with GST.... keep meaning to try it with a hanged or something 

[DeadManTalking]

3 hours ago, Wyamphri said:

I dont know, I think the change to Manos is still super strong. Shutting off demise in a 5 in aura on something size 3 is really good. I suppose that could be due to my meta and regular opponent, though. >.>

I agree, although I never got to play with the demise Eternal version Manos has shined for me in every game. It could be a meta thing as we have several TT players but his anti demise aura has been a thorn in people's sides. Even if that wasnt coming into play hes surprisingly sturdy, super mobile and still hits pretty hard. 

Yin has been a great utility piece for me. He can tarpit fairly well, but has overall been a better schemer/antischemer for me. His upgrade is also usually the first one I rip off and give to a Gokudo before it runs off to score me points.

Izamu is just a big scary beater and I love him for it. Its been weird because usually if I have a big beater like that I have trouble using them because I'm afraid of them dying before I get use out of them. Izamu honestly hasn't killed much for me yet but has soaked up so much AP from my opponent that its swung games in my favor.

In terms of Yan Los exponential play style, I do agree that turn 1 for him can be a little lack luster. I however dont feel he has to wait until turns 4 and 5 to do anything. By turn 2 his defenses are on par with many other masters and if you need him to start getting involved he can. By turn 3 he has reached critical mass and if your opponent hasn't put serious effort into killing him by this point they might as well leave him to do what he wants. I have committed Yan Lo turn 2 by out maneuvering my opponent and forcing them to activate models that could threaten him early before I send him in. I'm not trying to say that Yan Lo is the end all be all, but he and his crew are just so solid at every aspect of the game that I'd easily take him to every tournament. Maybe thats his role? I usually like to have 3 masters I can play at a tournament so having 2 masters that are hyper specialized for scheming or killing and then having Yan Lo as my solid pick for matchups I'm not sure about or if the pool is well rounded.

[Morgan Vening]

2 hours ago, ConfuciuSay said:

Yin has been a great utility piece for me. He can tarpit fairly well, but has overall been a better schemer/antischemer for me. His upgrade is also usually the first one I rip off and give to a Gokudo before it runs off to score me points.

Just wanted to clarify, Yin is a she. As are all Penangalan (though Malifaux appears to only have the one).

[DeadManTalking]

1 hour ago, Morgan Vening said:

Just wanted to clarify, Yin is a she. As are all Penangalan (though Malifaux appears to only have the one).

I did not know that, thanks for the info.

[Maniacal_cackle]

Another nice thing about Yan Lo.

I feel like every Resser player should own eternal servitude for OOK picks.

Every model in there is worth having!

Manos feels like the new Archie with Archie's nerf. Yin can do take prisoner with ease and is a great schemer. Toshiro can stop assassinate and I suspect is crazy on symbols of authority.

So once the core box comes out it will be just two more boxes to complete Yan Lo.

[NoahScape]

His crew got a slight nerf, I think its heavier than people think not being able to give a demise out to a beater model, but he won me a lot of games. I think they nerfed Manos' upgrade a little too hard. Regen 2 with the lantern would have been fine, I don't understand knee capping it considering I still need a mask for spirit flute AND now i have to pitch a card in a crew with zero card draw... 

 

but whatever, I'm not bitter about it or anything. 

 

[Maniacal_cackle]

6 minutes ago, IronmanKC81 said:

His crew got a slight nerf, I think its heavier than people think not being able to give a demise out to a beater model, but he won me a lot of games. I think they nerfed Manos' upgrade a little too hard. Regen 2 with the lantern would have been fine, I don't understand knee capping it considering I still need a mask for spirit flute AND now i have to pitch a card in a crew with zero card draw... 

 

but whatever, I'm not bitter about it or anything. 

 

Yeah, a double nerf for a crew is almost unprecedented it feels like. Shenlong got one, but he was a super big outlier.

Bit confused by that, but by all reports Yan Lo WAS an absolute monster. I'm still going to play him with the nerfs as soon as his box comes out.

[NoahScape]

1 minute ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Yeah, a double nerf for a crew is almost unprecedented it feels like. Shenlong got one, but he was a super big outlier.

Bit confused by that, but by all reports Yan Lo WAS an absolute monster. I'm still going to play him with the nerfs as soon as his box comes out.

I was confused as well. I just don't understand why they felt the need to force a card out of my hand for the trigger. It feels heavy handed. Maybe I'm just in my feelings about it because i loved playing Yan Lo because it was always interesting which upgrades went where etc and the different types of crews I could make. 

Now I'm just disappointed, and thats probably more about me then the nerfs. It just feels bad to me. 

 

 

[Maniacal_cackle]

3 minutes ago, IronmanKC81 said:

I was confused as well. I just don't understand why they felt the need to force a card out of my hand for the trigger. It feels heavy handed. Maybe I'm just in my feelings about it because i loved playing Yan Lo because it was always interesting which upgrades went where etc and the different types of crews I could make. 

Now I'm just disappointed, and thats probably more about me then the nerfs. It just feels bad to me. 

 

 

I dislike heavy-handed nerfs in principle, so you have my full sympathy!

Hopefully the crew is still fully viable, but it is always annoying when your playstyle gets nerfed.

And of course, overall it is worth having some nerfs, and it is impossible to make everyone happy (lots of people would complain about weak nerfs).

[NoahScape]

2 minutes ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

I dislike heavy-handed nerfs in principle, so you have my full sympathy!

Hopefully the crew is still fully viable, but it is always annoying when your playstyle gets nerfed.

And of course, overall it is worth having some nerfs, and it is impossible to make everyone happy (lots of people would complain about weak nerfs).

I need to come up with a new core list for Yan Lo. I'm perplexed now, but I really haven't look at him in awhile. I've been focusing on Kirai and Albus. 

 

[DeadManTalking]

I dont think its overly heavy handed personally. I think the reason they dropped the regen is because there is already GST if you want that. If I can essentially get that for free just by ripping it off Manos why would I ever pay 2 stones for it? Thats what I think their thought process was at least. 

My go to list for Yan Lo has been this
Size: 50 - Pool: 6
Leader:
  Yan Lo
Totem(s):
  Soul Porter
Hires:
  Manos, The Risen
  Chiaki, The Beacon
  Yin, The Penangalan
  Izamu The Armor
  Gokudo
  Gokudo 2

[Wyamphri]

My list is usually pretty similar, except I'll take Toshiro+ Ashigaru instead of the gokudo. I find I usually don't need stones. Getting 1 or 2 reliquaries a game is usually all I find I need from Chiaki 

[DeadManTalking]

51 minutes ago, Wyamphri said:

My list is usually pretty similar, except I'll take Toshiro+ Ashigaru instead of the gokudo. I find I usually don't need stones. Getting 1 or 2 reliquaries a game is usually all I find I need from Chiaki 

The whole not taking stones thing is something I really dont understand. How do you get away with it? Maybe its just a difference in metas but mine tends to be hyper aggressive so if I start the game with no stones or even only like 1 or 2 my opponent is going to put so much pressure on my master and henchman that they will fold. 

[Wyamphri]

It's really hard to answer that question since metas/opponents can be so different xD 

My main faction is neverborn, which often lives and dies based on positioning, so that helps me play more carefully. I will say, my usual weekly games, are against an aggressive opponent, so I suppose it's helped me learn to respect ranges on alot of things, also a reason why I take Ashigaru. Take a hit, armor 1, anti charge, hard to kill, 2 in melee...it's hard to deal with that without a good amount of ap.

Perhaps give a sample match you remember struggling with, and perhaps I or someone else can give ya a bit of advice 

[Thatguy]

2 hours ago, Wyamphri said:

My list is usually pretty similar, except I'll take Toshiro+ Ashigaru instead of the gokudo. I find I usually don't need stones. Getting 1 or 2 reliquaries a game is usually all I find I need from Chiaki 

It seems to me that Toshiro would be nuts which  Gokudo. From Toshiro and Risky manouver they should have easy focus stacking and a bonus twist from both Toshiro and a Relic they should be hyper competent for 5ss minions. 

And if they die you can bring out ashigaru.