The Malifaux Boxing Triangle

[daniel sprayberry]

This is just something I've been working on in my head and I wanted to get feedback on its merits and holes 

So, followers of boxing will know what I'm talking about straight away, for those that don't here's a quick run down. Think rock paper scissors but your opponent is trying to beat you senseless. The three points of the boxing triangle are sluggers (power hitters who look to take you out one swing, Mike Tyson), Swarmers (prefer to be close and launch a flurry of attacks, can't think of a boxer off the top of my head), and Outboxers (like to tire the opponent out and keep distance, Ali).

I've noticed a similar dynamic in Malifaux, but the points are Area Denial (through lures/model count/teleport etc) , DPA (damage per activation), and Tactical Denial ( adding conditions/attacking the hand or fate deck). Area Denial trumps Tactical Denial which trumps DPA which trumps Area Denial. Each master I've looked at so far is not a paragon of any one point but they do heavily tend towards one point with a minor in another. For example, Hamelin (when played as a summoner with Benny) is an area denial with a minor in DPA. This is due to the plague being a choice in the mind of the opponent based on area (Nix is a tanky beast), amount of models that he can put down, and the lure at a solid stat 7. Then of course the bleeding disease just nuking models late game. Jack Daw (Res style) is a Tactical Denial and is the closest thing to a paragon I can think of.  The hand cycling and discarding along with the terrifying and the discard to just take 1 damage is brutal if your crew relies on a suite or high numbered cheats to dish out damage. Even with the triangle analogy there are sub-categories of boxers so I assume if taken to its most logical end there will be some pop up in this game so please go nuts with the concept and let me know what comes of it.