Abominable Rasputina

[Euryale]

Abominable Rasputina has been revealed from the new book, and she certainly looks interesting. Seemingly more of a summoning model with a bit more damage behind her.

She's lost:

- Ice Shield

- Harsh Winter 

- Frozen Touch

- Winter's Strike

- Freeze Over 

- Ice Pillars (the named ability, not the ability to create them in general)

- Shatter

She gained:

- Absolute Zero; tome WP/DF trigger to end an activation

- Cryosleep (one of the most interesting changes for December imo)

-  Ice in the Veins (works well with Kaltgiest and Snowstorm's push, as well as Northern Winds)

- Cold Snap (decent damage and doesn't cost a card to trigger from an ice pillar)

- Northern Winds (nice push to boost move on your own models, and give shielded sometimes, and always gets a crow)

- Fissure of Frost (a useful quick ability - yay! Really like how it sets up an ice pillar as well as dishing out slow and low damage. Nice to have a draw a card effect too - can trade a low-ish tomes out)

- Sub-Zero Statues (a good summon that gives armour +1 and demise (frozen heart); not sure the best model to summon here, but gives options)

Overall, I really like these changes and they make Rasputina feel like a much more active master - certainly better than setting up a board of ice pillars and hoping. 

One questions; as you can count an ice pillar as a corpse marker, can you ignore the impassable, size, and cover of an ice pillar (counting it as a corpse marker) when using a December model?  

[Cats Laughing]

Should add in the summon upgrade card (though you mostly describe it above).

 

As for best Summon, that depends.  I play Asami (who has a wide range) of summons and I often summon a different model each time (depending on opponent, situation, cards in hand, etc...).  If you activate Raspy last and do the Summon as a last action, an Acolyte can just pick back up the card you used to summon when it activates.

 

As for the Ice Pillar = Corpse thing, I would guess that the result is that it counts as both, so you wouldn't ignore the Pillar's traits by counting it as a corpse marker.  That said, I could be wrong.

[Euryale]

14 minutes ago, Cats Laughing said:

Should add in the summon upgrade card (though you mostly describe it above).

Done

14 minutes ago, Cats Laughing said:

As for the Ice Pillar = Corpse thing, I would guess that the result is that it counts as both, so you wouldn't ignore the Pillar's traits by counting it as a corpse marker.  That said, I could be wrong.

Yeah, that would make sense. Would definitely like to see the consensus.

[Fluffaluffacus]

I was considering making my own topic, but I'll just post here instead!

Rasputina
Abominable

I'll say, one of the big things I see is that this raspy wants double Silent ones even more now since she wont be making the bulk of the ice pillars.

Cryosleep was something called out for, so I'm happy to see it. If we do in fact get to choose to see them as Height 0 corpses to ignore their traits, it'll change SO much.

I personally think Ice mirror needs to get rid of the card discard for triggers as we have so many other arcing attackers with better abilities and damage that dont need to discard cards for triggers.

Giving out lots of shielded is nice too, since between her and snowstorm, you're gonna be inching your crew up quite a bit.

I like that turn 1 she is basically a support master, pushing your crew up and giving them shielded so that any early pot shots do a little less, and then summoning a model.

Speaking of her summons. Armor 1, demise frozen heart? Means snow storm can move them around, they're more survivable. December acolytes playable in 2021, here we go. Just...still don't hire them. And if you summon them last and your opponent doesn't make you do a duel, you can activate them to pick up that generally high card, which is great! especially if was a tome so you can just use it on the next acolyte.

Cold Snap: Seems good. Very Reva feel but...less powerful. Her triggers are fantastic on it though, so acceptable. Also amazing jump in damage. 2/4/5? I'll swing mod on that all day. Especially with mutilate around.

Northern Winds: A fantastic ability, but I hate that Ice Mirror discard. It'll still be good, but ugh. Get out of here! LET ME BE THE ORIGINAL ARC NODE MASTER WITHOUT BEING THE WORST ONE AT IT! A ranged 4" push and damage against non December is great, it is funny if you have a mirror match though. Creeping Ice is a really cool trigger.

Fissure of Frost: Your new pillar maker. Mv 13 slow? Solid, but you have less ways to give staggered out now so less likely to go off than before. A low tome though gets you a card, a duel, and a marker. Not a bad bonus action.

A big, but understandable, loss is Harsh Winter. That does mean slow will be harder to slap on opponents. I'm not sure if the loss of that makes Cryosleep worth the trade? It does mean you're models are more likely to live, especially with the shielded you give and the armor your summons have.

And then her support model. 

Kaltgeist

I adore them in lots of ways. 5ss, 5/5/5 defensive, 4 mv sadly. Armor 1, frozen vigor means they aren't as easy to kill as they may seem, Frostbite is neat and Icy Form is fantastic! More mobile pillars. Especially with Raspy1 using Freeze Over on them. Frostbite and Freeze over means a 3 damage shockwave. Preeeetty spicy.

Hard Slam: They can get shielded +2 quite easily in Raspy2 with Ice in the veins, meaning they have at least 1 3/4/6 damage attack in them per turn. Not bad. Can also use Icy winds to get another shielded on a rams, and depending on if it can push itself with the pulse coming off the ice pillar, maybe another 3/4/6 damage attack.

Jagged Ice: This is how we get staggered back into the crew in Raspy2, and how you double down on the staggered in Raspy1. Its basically a mini Freeze over, especially if you get the tome trigger. Shattering surprise is a fun extra. Overall a fantastic ability. 

Icy Winds: Okay. A super solid movement tool in December. Dont have to be fully clumped up since you use it and an ice pillar, meaning you can push your crew along. A question I would have is, obviously you dont get hit by your own pulse...but what about a pulse not centered on you? Can a Kaltgeist push from the ice pillar centered pulse? This will change the power of the ability for me, but overall its fantastic. Especially if you get the rams for more shielded shenanigans like I mentioned earlier.

My only real complaint, is not being able to summon them. But I get why. 

Overall? I love both of these models. IDK if Kaltgeist is better with Raspy1 or Raspy2, but I know I'm excited to see both use this new tool.

[HomelessOne]

Kind of annoyed, Wyrd might've convinced me to actually buy Raspy now.

[Maladroit]

5 hours ago, Euryale said:

Abominable Rasputina has been revealed from the new book, and she certainly looks interesting. Seemingly more of a summoning model with a bit more damage behind her.

. . . . 

In addition:

She's lost:

A 30 mm base

She gained:

- A 40 mm base

 

Can't see from the artwork why, is there a bigger picture (so not from the card) floating around - really why I am asking is I'd like to see a pic if there is one!

[Fluffaluffacus]

2 minutes ago, Maladroit said:

In addition:

She's lost:

A 30 mm base

She gained:

- A 40 mm base

 

Can't see from the artwork why, is there a bigger picture (so not from the card) floating around - really why I am asking is I'd like to see a pic if there is one!

I dooooo wanna see her art/sculpt

[HomelessOne]

The art on the summon upgrade suggests she has a big frost wave effect, but it might be relatively arbitrary.

Paul Crockett's on a larger base than "posed dramatically on a rock" 3e Marcus for example.

[Jordon]

So my big concern here is by giving her options to summon living December models, they won't receive any changes that they desperately need. Acolytes, Hoarcats and Ice Dancers are in a really bad state right now. Using summoning as a way to make them more palatable just doesn't sit right. I hope its not the case and these models get the buff they deserve soon. 

My second gripe is that I feel like the Kaltgeist just feels like a superior ice gamin. For just one more stone you get so much more utility. The fact that they are mobile ice pillars alone basically invalidates the gamin. If you could summon gamin then I'd be more forgiving, but you cannot. Not sure if anyone else is feeling this or not? 

As for Raspy herself. The artwork doesn't really do much for me as I feel like she's lost lot of the Wyrd-ness or arcane feeling. She still has Ice Mirror, which I wasn't expecting. Too bad it still requires discards to actually use. Again I hope we see that change in an upcoming errata as well. 

Beyond that, I'm pretty happy with her new role and I like that it emphasizes different models. SnowStorm looks like an auto include which is pretty refreshing. 

[Fluffaluffacus]

8 minutes ago, Jordon said:

So my big concern here is by giving her options to summon living December models, they won't receive any changes that they desperately need. Acolytes, Hoarcats and Ice Dancers are in a really bad state right now. Using summoning as a way to make them more palatable just doesn't sit right. I hope its not the case and these models get the buff they deserve soon. 

I 100% agree. I am hoping they do get better and this isn't just a "well you can summon them now" cover up.
 

9 minutes ago, Jordon said:

My second gripe is that I feel like the Kaltgeist just feels like a superior ice gamin. For just one more stone you get so much more utility. The fact that they are mobile ice pillars alone basically invalidates the gamin. If you could summon gamin then I'd be more forgiving, but you cannot. Not sure if anyone else is feeling this or not? 

I definitely feel that. To be fair, Gamin were never really worthy of hiring anyways so its not a huge loss. But also, I'd like to be able to hire models in my keyword for some reason. I love the Kaltgeist, but having a reason to play my snowmen would be nice.

 

11 minutes ago, Jordon said:

As for Raspy herself. The artwork doesn't really do much for me as I feel like she's lost lot of the Wyrd-ness or arcane feeling.  

I will say. If you look at the upgrade, it looks like she is doing a giant ice wall spiral wave thing? and she is on a 40mm so maybe there will be more to the sculpt that we can see in the card art.

[Maladroit]

22 minutes ago, Jordon said:

So my big concern here is by giving her options to summon living December models, they won't receive any changes that they desperately need. Acolytes, Hoarcats and Ice Dancers are in a really bad state right now. Using summoning as a way to make them more palatable just doesn't sit right. I hope its not the case and these models get the buff they deserve soon. 

My second gripe is that I feel like the Kaltgeist just feels like a superior ice gamin. For just one more stone you get so much more utility. The fact that they are mobile ice pillars alone basically invalidates the gamin. If you could summon gamin then I'd be more forgiving, but you cannot. Not sure if anyone else is feeling this or not? 

As for Raspy herself. The artwork doesn't really do much for me as I feel like she's lost lot of the Wyrd-ness or arcane feeling. She still has Ice Mirror, which I wasn't expecting. Too bad it still requires discards to actually use. Again I hope we see that change in an upcoming errata as well. 

Beyond that, I'm pretty happy with her new role and I like that it emphasizes different models. SnowStorm looks like an auto include which is pretty refreshing. 

 

9 minutes ago, Fluffaluffacus said:

I 100% agree. I am hoping they do get better and this isn't just a "well you can summon them now" cover up.
 

I definitely feel that. To be fair, Gamin were never really worthy of hiring anyways so its not a huge loss. But also, I'd like to be able to hire models in my keyword for some reason. I love the Kaltgeist, but having a reason to play my snowmen would be nice.

 

I will say. If you look at the upgrade, it looks like she is doing a giant ice wall spiral wave thing? and she is on a 40mm so maybe there will be more to the sculpt that we can see in the card art.

Not being able to summon the models that Raspy v2 comes with feels a little strange . . . I'm not sure it's a problem that needs solving in terms of Gameplay yet. And thematically the summoning seems a little strange as well - you'd think if you were summoning using an ice pillar you would be summoning a ice creature of some sort , but again that isn't a rules or gameplay issue.

 

I agree with Jordan that the art isn't doing it for me - but like you said, the proof is in the model. Hopefully we'll see a nicely painted one revealed soon.

 

Edited September 17, 2021 by Maladroit
Edit to add missing word

[Jordon]

I will say that I do think that Ice Dancers got at least a little more appealing. With Raspy2 they can pickup corpse markers and carry them around (not a huge deal but it's something). Ice Path also now gives them shielded since its a push which is a nice bonus. 

However I think its the Kaltgeist themselves which provide the biggest benefit. The Ice Dancer can scoop them up since they count as ice pillars. This means you can move them 12" before activating. Not only that, but by having mobile Ice Pillars, it makes using Ice Path a lot easier as both a movement tool as well as an attack. 

Freeze Corpse does seem a bit redundant with Raspy2 now. 

Now I'm not suggesting they are "fixed" but it does at least give them a somewhat more defined purpose. 

[Jordon]

Another question regarding the timing on Sacrifice To December. Does this allow an Acolyte to kill a living model and get a stone from it via Cryosleep? My thinking is no because you trigger kill effects before dropping the marker? A shame as that would actually be a nice boost for the Acolyte. 

[dancater]

2 hours ago, HomelessOne said:

Kind of annoyed, Wyrd might've convinced me to actually buy Raspy now.

Hah, vengeance

[dancater]

So.

Love this Raspy, love the summoning. Lots of good here, not overpowered.

But she is a lot better than OG-Raspy. So OG-Raspy needs a buff, hell Cryosleep alone on her card would be huge.

This also emphasises that several Frozen Heart models do also need a buff to some degree. Because they can now be summoned the Hoarcats, December Acolyte and Ice Dancer can't be buffed to much but they need something, especially for their play into OG-Raspy. In addition the Kaltgeist does demonstrate that the Ice Gamin (and Golem) both could use a little love. Nothing huge, a light buff across all these models and OG-Raspy is all that would be required, especially if something on OG-Raspy also helped the living Frozen Heart models a little (to prevent Abominable Raspy summons from going from OK to unreasonable).

Hopefully Wyrd is aware and working on this, they have generally impressed me so far, so I've got some faith in storage. Love this. 

[Peturd]

53 minutes ago, Maladroit said:

 

Not being able to summon the models that Raspy v2 comes with feels a little strange . . . I'm not sure it's a problem that needs solving in terms of Gameplay yet. And thematically the summoning seems a little strange as well - you'd think if you were summoning using an ice pillar you would be summoning a ice creature of some sort , but again that isn't a rules or gameplay issue.

 

I agree with Jordan that the art isn't doing it for me - but like you said, the proof is in the model. Hopefully we'll see a nicely painted one revealed soon.

 

You are summoning ice creatures. You summon living or beast, but they lost those traits from the card. Then get armor and the demise from gamin/golems/kaldgist. Her lore blurb explains it too. She is forming new people from the ice and giving them life. Tempted to repaint a silent one and some acolytes in icy form!!

[Maladroit]

8 minutes ago, Peturd said:

You are summoning ice creatures. You summon living or beast, but they lost those traits from the card. Then get armor and the demise from gamin/golems/kaldgist. Her lore blurb explains it too. She is forming new people from the ice and giving them life. Tempted to repaint a silent one and some acolytes in icy form!!

Ah cool, I haven't seen the entire page yet but thanks for clarifying. The only site I've seen posting pics only has all of the cards listed. Still seems a little strange that she cannot make a creature like a gamin then, but I'm not too bothered - from what you've said these are not exactly "living" in the normal sense (since they don't count as living in the game)?

[thatlatinspeakingguy]

She's a huge improvement over her OG version, who is, let's be clear on that, among the worst designed masters in this edition. Creating Ice Pillars via bonus action is how it should be from the beginning. What I like the most is that she makes other models better too. Wendigo was a very weak totem (ever tried to create an ice pillar with him?), now it's great being able to use northern winds easily. Ice Golem needed suboptimal models to support it's mobility, now it needs nothing except northern winds from Raspy and Wendi. Not to mention that there will be more ice pillars aka corpse markers for him to heal, boost his damage or make his hazardous aura stronger. On the other hand, new Rasputina is very susceptible to counterplay, as her crew relies on armor and shielded and she's very vulnerable if Stunned.

And Kaltgeists are absurdly good.

[Mycellanious]

I dont see why you would ever play Raspy 1 anymore. This doesnt seem like a Title, it seems like what Raspy should have been in M3E

[Fluffaluffacus]

15 minutes ago, Mycellanious said:

I dont see why you would ever play Raspy 1 anymore. This doesnt seem like a Title, it seems like what Raspy should have been in M3E

There are minimal reasons. Raspy 1 Slams down more pillars, staggered and slow than Raspy 2. Raspy 1 is a far heavier board control, forcing your opponent to have to grind through the tundra you've created before them. As I stated above, Kaltgeist with Raspy1's freeze over ability turns into 3 damage really fast, With Kaltgeist being an ice pillar meaning its 2 damage, stag slow, and then once they have slow, Frostbite kicks in to do another point. 


Also, in other news. I had a brain blast moment earlier today at work. Northern wind's Creeping Ice trigger. You can use it as a pseudo laugh off on your own model that also gives cover. And then on your model's activation? Eat the marker with grim feast, or Golem can reform, and then go about your day. Or use it to hold a point forever(kinda). Going against a crew that wants to just move you off points? Creeping ice!

[dancater]

1 hour ago, Mycellanious said:

I dont see why you would ever play Raspy 1 anymore. This doesnt seem like a Title, it seems like what Raspy should have been in M3E

 

1 hour ago, Fluffaluffacus said:

There are minimal reasons. Raspy 1 Slams down more pillars, staggered and slow than Raspy 2. Raspy 1 is a far heavier board control, forcing your opponent to have to grind through the tundra you've created before them. As I stated above, Kaltgeist with Raspy1's freeze over ability turns into 3 damage really fast, With Kaltgeist being an ice pillar meaning its 2 damage, stag slow, and then once they have slow, Frostbite kicks in to do another point. 

The Kaltgeist does boost Raspy-1 but I agree she (and multiple models in her crew) need a slight, emphasis on slight, buff still and hopefully she will get it. The trick is what to buff, if you do buff the Dec Acolyte and Ice Dancer, well they are summons for the Abominable, that could get frosty. If you buff the Ice Gamin and Golem you may hit issues with the Sandeep's. If you do buff her and her crew you could over correct in combination. I'd like to see something but very small.

1 hour ago, Fluffaluffacus said:

Northern wind's Creeping Ice trigger. You can use it as a pseudo laugh off on your own model that also gives cover. And then on your model's activation? Eat the marker with grim feast, or Golem can reform, and then go about your day. Or use it to hold a point forever(kinda). Going against a crew that wants to just move you off points? Creeping ice!

The marker is Destructible and, in addition, multiple of the titles (or accompanying models) have marker removal, so holding a point indefinitely seems unlikely unless your opponent has fallen on their face, in which case it is simply icing on a likely smooth, untroubled victory. Nevertheless, yes I actually very much saw this first as a defend your own model ability, although thinking now about its offensive potential it could cause lethal pressure for models/crews that rely on bury to operate and survive (OG-Colette would loath this).

Also this ability, and several others across the titles, create a awkward situation, the Ice Pillar dropped by Creeping Ice makes a marker like any other Pillar, but it also includes the additional special rule to prevent Bury, so, especially if you have multiple Creeping Ice Pillars out, you will need to differentiate between these Pillar markers and the more "mundane" Pillars. This will be critical, the confusion and conflict it could otherwise create would be significant. So time to have clearly distinct types of Ice Pillar marker. (Note one of the most important of these "distinct" markers is Lucius Dishonourable, he throws out [a fortunately special only for the single round] Scheme Marker, so whether you are playing with or against titled-Lucius make certain you have a unique single Scheme Marker to signify this special ability).  

[Fluffaluffacus]

36 minutes ago, dancater said:

The marker is Destructible and, in addition, multiple of the titles (or accompanying models) have marker removal, so holding a point indefinitely seems unlikely unless your opponent has fallen on their face, in which case it is simply icing on a likely smooth, untroubled victory.

Thats why I said Kinda after! But yes, they can get around it, but must use other actions to remove the marker before they can do that. And if no one is within walk, remove marker range....they either deal with it or have to spend multiple actions to push a model close enough for it to do it! I'll take either victory!

[Jordon]

Raspy1 is certainly in need of attention but the Kaltgeist do a lot for her. However they do just as much for Raspy2 so the issue still remains of the disparity between these two titles. 

Raspy2 did a pretty good job at bringing up some of the weaker models. Those models still need some love IMO, but they're certainly in better shape than they were prior to Raspy2. The problem now lies in that making models good for one and good for the other. If Acolytes, Dancers and Hoarcats see a significant boost, then they might be good with Raspy1 but might be busted with Raspy2. 

So I think Raspy1 can take a page from Raspy2 and provide her own unique buff so that both masters are more or less playing on equal fields. Or maybe Raspy1 could focus more on the construct side and buff the gamin/golem/Kaltgeist more directly.  

Maybe a nod back to M2E Raspy where she loved blasting off her own models just as much as the enemy. Maybe her winter strike caused 0 damage to gamin, allowing you to better control those blast markers. Maybe Raspy1 gets her old "perfect mirror" ability that allows her to mirror without discarding for triggers. That would make her stand out a bit more favourably from Raspy2.   

[Fluffaluffacus]

43 minutes ago, Jordon said:

Maybe Raspy1 gets her old "perfect mirror" ability that allows her to mirror without discarding for triggers. That would make her stand out a bit more favourably from Raspy2.   

I actually made this suggestion! BUT, I gotta point out that its the opposite actually....It was a shattered mirror that let her declare triggers! But yes, making her be the more obvious blasty spell caster that doesn't have to discard, but Raspy2 does? Would be solid. 

[retnab]

Raspy1 is dead, long live Raspy2!