The art of the crooligan: part 1 of a Molly guide.

[Maniacal_cackle 1,647]

By popular demand, I'm working on a guide to Molly. But there's too much to say, so I thought I'd do a deep dive on one of the most important models to the crew: the Crooligan. In my view, a large chunk of the reason to declare Molly is to give you access to full-power crooligans. So let's dive into the tips and tricks that unlock their power.

The role:

Crooligans are a lynchpin of the crew, unlocking tons of things you want to be doing:

• Hand size control (being able to discard when you need, and sometimes pick up cards out of your discard pile with Forage).
• Super scheming potential.
• Scheme marker denial.
• Little murder children of doom with damage your opponent can't cheat against.
• Marker production for Molly's card draw.
• Constructive criticism target for Molly.
• Engagement fodder when you need it
• And more!

Let's dive into the details.

Crooligan Beacons:

The most important text on the card is By Your Side. Being able to teleport around the board is absolutely essential to playing Crooligans. Indeed, it is so important I've discarded 13s to make it happen before when my hand was mismanaged!

The only catch is they have to teleport to a Forgotten non-minion. Let's review the options.

Philip and the Nanny - if you hire Philip and the Nanny, they should be dedicated full time to scoring points. This coupled with the extreme mobility of the model (it is the most mobile model in the keyword) means that crooligans will frequently be teleporting to P&N. Of course, Philip is not a great hire most of the time.

Archie - I take him in every Molly crew, and that's because he is a perfect blend of useful model that can carry crooligans in his pocket. I view Archie's primary role as scheme-runner, and part of the reasons is because he carries crooligans around to keep scoring.

Molly - She is a bit of a weaker target since she doesn't spend much time moving; I've had games where she moved 5 inches the whole game. That said, when Crooligans need to return to your side of the board (for Plant Explosives for example), Molly is a good target. Not to mention sometimes you need to get near Molly to reactivate or to drop scheme markers near her to use lost knowledge. There is always the last turn of the game "walk three times so crooligans can teleport to you and score points" option as well. An important part of the toolkit.

Necrotic Machine - Typically Necrotic Machine has better things to do than teleport crooligans, but it is an important option in some matchups. If your opponent leaves a part of the board undefended, a machine can just walk across the board and crooligans get an extra movement boost. Even easier with Ride With Me, but typically you use Ride With Me on Molly or Philip.

Rogue Necromancy - eh, I play it near Molly, so it often is unnecessary for crooligan beacons.

Forgotten Marshal - I don't really play it, but I can imagine it can be used occasionally. It's not mobile, though, so is basically like Molly but worse.

Overall, Molly, Archie, and Machine are your beacon options you'll use almost every game, while Philip and the Nanny is a tech pick for certain matchups (like Leylines).

A note about timing - many players ask if you discard a card to By Your Side, do you remove the scheme marker before or after teleporting? The answer is ambiguous, but most players play it that you remove the scheme marker pre-teleport. However, always best to talk to your opponent first - especially since this is the stronger interpretation for crooligans (since your bonus action lets you remove a marker at the destination anyway).

From the Shadows:

This ability I almost never use on Crooligans. You need at least one minion near Molly on turn 1, sometimes two minions. And typically Crooligans are the only minions I take. Additionally since Crooligans can teleport, I want them to be able to interact and drop scheme markers on turn 1 most of the time.

That said, there is an extremely important niche tactic with From The Shadows. Some games you want to threaten points by placing a crooligan somewhere awkward. For example, you can deploy a crooligan near symbols of authority, threatening to score. Your opponent will be forced to send models running after your crooligan. At that point, you can activate the crooligan and teleport it safely away.

It is a powerful way to bluff/force a response from your opponent and it can cause your opponent to run around the board at essentially no cost to you. It is niche, but very powerful when it comes up.

Activation Control:

One of the things that makes Molly very special in terms of mechanics is activation control.

Molly's Constructive Criticism allows you to double activate a minion. Since this doesn't produce a pass token, it means you get more activations than your opponent. You can get guaranteed last activation!

Crooligans produce the least value for Constructive Criticism in some ways (Rabble Risers gain focus when they discard, and Night Terrors get a free push), but since they are the best minion overall I just take Crooligans.

My typical turn one with a Crooligan is focus, drop a scheme marker. Then Molly reactivates the Crooligan and eats the scheme marker with lost knowledge. Then it either does something useful at the end of the turn, or focuses again. Getting 2 focus on a Crooligan turn 1 is extremely powerful, as covered in the damage section. Against some crews with their own forms of activation control, you want to do this to two Crooligans to maintain your advantage.

Doing this means you get last activation turn 1 without giving up pass tokens, which often means you can smash Archie into something at the end of turn 1, then win initiative turn 2 and run away with Archie before he takes any damage (perhaps double attacking before fleeing).

Or if you're playing overpowered mode, your last activation of turn 1 can be Kirai double summoning two beaters and you just get several activations in a row.

Always go second on turn 1 if you get the option, to increase the odds of getting last activation(s).

These same principles apply to turn 5 as well - last activation of turn 5 wins games. I've had a 4 point swing by using a crooligan correctly on the last activation of the game!

Scheming and anti-scheming:

The most obvious use for Crooligans is their scheming and anti-scheming potential.

Thanks to By Your Side, they can be teleport to any of your 'beacons' and drop scheme markers. You can almost always avoid engagement by placing correctly when you teleport, and forage can be used even when engaged.

Most of these plays are pretty obvious, but some other highlights of ways to abuse crooligans with last activation guaranteed by Molly:

• Crooligans can reposition your lodestone in Corrupted Leylines if something went wrong.
• Scoring things like Breakthrough is trivial with a Crooligan jumping to the right spot.
• Take Prisoner can be scored by crooligans in a pinch.
  • But Dead Rider and Yin are your go-tos.
• Crooligans can Vendetta surprisingly well.
  • But due to the awkward nature of the timing and wanting to kill the model, I tend to pick other Vendetta targets.
• A crooligan + Archie is a fantastic hidden martyrs combo, but your opponent may see it coming.
• Catch and Release - a crooligan can teleport in end of one turn to score, and teleport away at the start of next turn. Often this is 2 points with your opponent having 0 chance to disrupt you (if you can win initiative the next turn).
  • I think Crooligans are probably the best in faction for this scheme?

And don't forget, Crooligans with their Fading and Bonus action can eat tons of scheme markers. Anyone who picks a scheme marker scheme against Molly & Crooligans is going to be filled with regret.

Insane Damage Potential:

During the world series, I frequently hear people commenting they had no idea how dangerous crooligans are. These little murder demons are AMAZING at dealing damage. Let's look at why.

Recall that I tend to get Crooligans stacked with focus turn 1, so they've got two focus to work with. Also check out the crooligan italics on their melee attack: you can't cheat against them if your hand is bigger than the crooligans!!

So crooligans will teleport in, take a focused attack, and you can't cheat. This typically gives them a straight flip. If they get a moderate, that's 3 damage that you couldn't do anything about. If they do this twice, that's 6-7 damage!!

Some tricks to make it happen/to adjust hand size:

• You can use By Your Side to decrease your hand size, even if you're already engaged with the model you plan to kill.
  • Note that you need a beacon to teleport to, of course.
• If you use focus, you can intentionally choose the LOWER card from your positive flip. Then you can cheat a higher card. This lowers your hand size by one before they get a chance to cheat.
  • Combined with the above tactic, this drains your hand by 2 before they have a chance to respond. An opponent may think that a crooligan with 5 cards is no threat against their 4 cards, but they'd be wrong.
• If you cheat to win initiative and your opponent does not, your hand size is smaller than theirs - consider murder-stabbing!

This is niche and only comes up once or twice a game, but having the threat of unstoppable damage in your back pocket is what takes crooligans from "oh, these are nice scheme runners" to "these do EVERYTHING."

Other tips and tricks:

Crooligans are super useful, and I work very hard to keep them alive. Since they can teleport, always keep them super safe until they're ready to cause chaos. However, occasionally it can be worth sacrificing a crooligan, or putting it to engage a key target that you need to tie up. Stopping an opponent from interacting in advance by engaging it is good, and crooligans are a 4-stone option that are surprisingly tanky (unless your opponent has min 3).

Dropping scheme markers near Molly is a convenient way to power up Lost Knowledge.

Hand size is a critical skill with Molly! I hope to write up a separate guide for hand management, but for Crooligans... Remember to ear-mark cards in your hand for discarding for crooligans for By Your Side (and Constructive Criticism). I've had turns where my crooligans eat up 4, 6, or even 8 cards. At the right time, they can be worth that many cards. So use your cards wisely.

Well, that concludes a start to conveying how to play Molly. I hope that people have found this useful, and I'll start thinking about what to write up next. Maybe hand size management or list building.

[Maniacal_cackle 1,647]

Yes, I know someone made a joke that my guide would just be a guide to using crooligans.

... It's what gave me the idea to focus on crooligans >.>

[doubleW 22]

4 hours ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

You can use By Your Side to decrease your hand size, even if you're already engaged with the model you plan to kill.

... can you discard and decide not to teleport or are expecting to have a non minion also engaging it?

[Maniacal_cackle 1,647]

Just now, doubleW said:

... can you discard and decide not to teleport or are expecting to have a non minion also engaging it?

You have to have a non minion near it.

However, almost every turn I move crooligans via By Your Side, so the Crooligans that are engaged are almost always near something.

[Cats Laughing 202]

For new players to Molly, it might be good to explain the timing of By Your Side and Fading (Footprints)

 

Also would be good to add in (to the main body of the guide) the clarification above about using By Your Side (needing the friendly keyword model there already) to lower your hand size before attacking. 

[Maniacal_cackle 1,647]

2 hours ago, Cats Laughing said:

For new players to Molly, it might be good to explain the timing of By Your Side and Fading (Footprints)

 

Also would be good to add in (to the main body of the guide) the clarification above about using By Your Side (needing the friendly keyword model there already) to lower your hand size before attacking. 

Thanks for the feedback! I have added those improvements

[doubleW 22]

On 3/1/2021 at 4:45 AM, Maniacal_cackle said:

If you use focus, you can intentionally choose the LOWER card from your positive flip. Then you can cheat a higher card. This lowers your hand size by one before they get a chance to cheat.

... nice trick - never thought about that  

... good job on part one - really looking forward to the next part - hope its coming soon  

[Maniacal_cackle 1,647]

7 hours ago, doubleW said:

... nice trick - never thought about that  

... good job on part one - really looking forward to the next part - hope its coming soon  

I will try to crack it out next weekend.

Let me know if anyone has requests for next section, but I'll probably do hand management or list building.

[Butch 379]

On 3/2/2021 at 8:26 PM, Maniacal_cackle said:

Let me know if anyone has requests for next section, but I'll probably do hand management or list building.

Hand management is one thing I feel I don't get right.

But everything will be highly appreciated! Thanks a lot for this guide!

[Mr. Crows 18]

Great info on Molly and a great start to the guide! I am looking forward to the rest of the series thanks. I really like the niche parts, like feigning symbols of authority with a crooligan, and focus stacking for unforeseen damage potential. Thanks again!